What is the deal with Wood Elves?

[MiKye200]

Every time I've faced Wood Elves, they always use the same play on offence.

They get a couple players downfield, dodging them through multiple tackle zones to get there.
They NEVER, ever miss a dodge, no matter how difficult.
I'll mark these players, getting one of my team behind and one in front of each Wood Elf within scoring range.

Next turn, the Wood Elf ball carrier will dodge into a reasonably clear throwing position and launch a long-distance pass to one of the Wood Elves in my side of the field(double marked by my players).
The thrower is always perfectly accurate and the receiver ALWAYS catches the ball, dodges out of the double tackle zones and scores.

The Wood Elves have never failed at this.
Not once.

[ToddB]

First off, they will successfully dodge 5 out of 6 times because they have AG4.
Secondly, if they fail the first roll, they have Dodge which gives them a reroll so they have a net 35 in 36 chance of dodging.

If your players have Tackle, they can't use the Dodge reroll.
If you force them to dodge into the TZ of another player, their chance decreases for each other player marking the square they dodge to.
Also, Prehensile Tail and Diving Tackle reduces their chance of dodging.
Tentacles can stop them from leaving your TZ.

Wood Elves are the masters of the passing game. Throwing is also based on AG so AG4 makes their throw more likely to succeed. If they have the Pass skill, they get a reroll. If they have the Accurate or Strong Arm skill, their chance increases too.

I deal with them by having players with Pass Block sitting between the thrower and catcher(s).

I have one Skaven Gutter Runner with AG5, Pass Block, and Very Long Legs that has 30 career interceptions.

[MiKye200]

Originally posted by ToddB:

First off, they will successfully dodge 5 out of 6 times because they have AG4.
Secondly, if they fail the first roll, they have Dodge which gives them a reroll so they have a net 35 in 36 chance of dodging.

If your players have Tackle, they can't use the Dodge reroll.
If you force them to dodge into the TZ of another player, their chance decreases for each other player marking the square they dodge to.
Also, Prehensile Tail and Diving Tackle reduces their chance of dodging.
Tentacles can stop them from leaving your TZ.

Wood Elves are the masters of the passing game. Throwing is also based on AG so AG4 makes their throw more likely to succeed. If they have the Pass skill, they get a reroll. If they have the Accurate or Strong Arm skill, their chance increases too.

I deal with them by having players with Pass Block sitting between the thrower and catcher(s).

I have one Skaven Gutter Runner with AG5, Pass Block, and Very Long Legs that has 30 career interceptions.

Well, I made a team of Wood Elves and tried playing them like the AI.

Couldn't even hand off to another player without fumbling.

While the AI continues to make a never-ending series of impossible-looking passes and dodges.

[ToddB]

Ok, you have to remember that there's a base 1 in 6 chance of auto-failing on any die roll.

Rerolls can mitigate this somewhat, but you only get one reroll attempt whether by skill or by purchased team reroll.

Handoffs and passes require two rolls, one to pass/handoff and one to catch the pass/handoff and both use AG.
If players have low AG (eg. Treemen), they are more likely to fail.
If either player has opposing players marking them, the odds of failure increase.

Reading the board game rules may help.

-> http://www.bloodbowl-game.com/files/BB_LRB6.pdf

[MiKye200]

Originally posted by ToddB:

Ok, you have to remember that there's a base 1 in 6 chance of auto-failing on any die roll.

Rerolls can mitigate this somewhat, but you only get one reroll attempt whether by skill or by purchased team reroll.

Handoffs and passes require two rolls, one to pass/handoff and one to catch the pass/handoff and both use AG.
If players have low AG (eg. Treemen), they are more likely to fail.
If either player has opposing players marking them, the odds of failure increase.

Reading the board game rules may help.

-> http://www.bloodbowl-game.com/files/BB_LRB6.pdf

Thanks for the rules link.
The AI handling of Wood Elves is very suspect; they are just too lucky.
I have never seen them fail a pass or dodge in several games.

[Ivlichnov]

If the computer controlled Elf team has dodging, passing and catching skills, then that increases the effectiveness of their passing and running game, and you can look at the ‘dice roll log’ in-game to see to see how the dice are rolling.

[Scipio]

Wood Elves is easily the hardest AI team to face, as they have the stats and skills that matter when looking to score and even the AI can only screw it up so much.

I've played a lot of solo campaigns in these games, and even with the lousy AI I occasionally lose to Wood Elves in the early game. If you fail to remove a fair percentage of them from the pitch (which requires Tackle, Block, MB/PO to do consistently) they are a handful if the dice roll their way and not yours.

[ToddB]

If you want to see an Elf team get annihilated without beating them all into the ground...

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2194887997