Talk Fantasy Football

I'm the most experienced coach in a new league so I thought I'd try Nurgle for the first time, with a Beast, 4 Warrior, 5 Rotter, 1 Pestigor, 2 Reroll build.
Got 30 k in my treasury and skilled up my Pestigor in the first game.
With a 2nd Pestigor 2-3 games away I thought I'd pick the brains of more skilled coaches as to what to do in the meantime while I save up for my Apothecary.
As I see it, 4 perfectly reasonable options present themselves--Block, Wrestle, Sure Hands, and Extra Arms.
I'd love to hear people's experience with these choices, since I have none. What do you think I should choose and why? By the way, there are no elves in the league.
Thanks!

Nurgle don't have apothecary. I think Extra arms is a good skill for Pestigor, because of the first matches he will be the lonely ballcarrier. Also Block is always good, in terms of two dice block to take down the opposite ballcarrier.

I don't like sure hands (if there isn't a lot of strip ball) and Wrestle not sure at first skill, I'll prefer block because Wrestle don't "give you xps" (only is successful against lot of blocks and to force a fumble to the ball carrier, and I usually put wrestle on players with lot of movement like elfs or skavens/skins).

What are the other teams in your league and how many games do you have left?

Extra Arms is garbage. Block or Surehands.

Gave my first pesti to go up Extra Arms and never regretted it... very, ermmm, handy... or is that army? Sure Hands came next....

Great answers, thanks! Only on this website can one post on Wednesday and get fast and furious replies in time for a game on Friday.
I think I'll answer separately and in sequence.

Pedda wrote:What are the other teams in your league and how many games do you have left?

It's a short warm-up league, 1000k build, and I'll be playing 8 games. First (out of the way) Chaos Dwarves, then Chaos tomorrow, then in no particular order, Humans, Orcs, Undead, Necromantic, Dwarves, and Ogres. Not much in the way of speed, which is why I thought to prioritize ball handling over blitzing safety

Sainthropee wrote:Nurgle don't have apothecary.

Thank Nuffle! I hate Regen and Apothecaries, like when you have to agonize over Trolls and Vampires. Much better to have the decision taken out of your hands. Besides this means I get my second Pestigor maybe in game 3, definitely in 4. Makes a big difference in which skill to pick for the first one.

Jimmy Fantastic wrote:Extra Arms is garbage. Block or Surehands.

In due deference to your Super Star status, I have to respectfully disagree. Reasons to follow, based in part on other opinions in posts in this topic.

EricK wrote:Great answers, thanks! Only on this website can one post on Wednesday and get fast and furious replies in time for a game on Friday.
I think I'll answer separately and in sequence.

Pedda wrote:What are the other teams in your league and how many games do you have left?

It's a short warm-up league, 1000k build, and I'll be playing 8 games. First (out of the way) Chaos Dwarves, then Chaos tomorrow, then in no particular order, Humans, Orcs, Undead, Necromantic, Dwarves, and Ogres. Not much in the way of speed, which is why I thought to prioritize ball handling over blitzing safety

With that line up I'd probably go for block because you need a blitzer.
If you don't pick up the ball in your first turn it isn't as bad as if there were skaven and/or elves in the line up

My first game confirmed what I already suspected, namely that ball handling was a higher priority than hitting, especially given the combined power of the Beast and the Warriors, so the Pestigor needed to improve his ball handling skills, especially since only 2 rerolls in the build made the ball handling problem worse.

But before debating Sure Hands vs. Extra Arms, let me give my two cents on Block and Wrestle, which some seem to consider a no brainier.

Sainthropee wrote:Block is always good, in terms of two dice block to take down the opposite ballcarrier.
I don't like Wrestle as a first skill, I'll prefer block because Wrestle don't "give you xps" (only is successful against lot of blocks and to force a fumble to the ball carrier, and I usually put wrestle on players with lot of movement like elfs or skavens/skins).

If I had more rerolls and was facing elves or skaven, then maybe I'd go Wrestle just to jar the ball loose with my fastest player, but never Block--you get a both down and then they Dodge away and score.

Pestigors get SPPs by scoring, not bashing. They need Block or Wrestle for survival, and Wrestle is much more useful. True, you could get fouled, but then--to paraphrase Dr. Siegbert Tarrash--if you're afraid of being fouled, you should give up Blood Bowl.

So here it is: I'm choosing Extra Arms

Digger Goreman wrote:Gave my first pestigor Extra Arms and never regretted it... very, ermmm, handy... or is that army? Sure Hands came next....

Nice pun

If picking up was all there was, then Sure Hands, but sometimes a damn Rotter has the ball and it's easier to hand off to the Pestigor. And in those moments when you need an extra SPP by passing, the Extra Arms Pestigor catches on a 2+

So that's my choice. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Dudegrip wrote:If picking up was all there was, then Sure Hands, but sometimes a damn Rotter has the ball and it's easier to hand off to the Pestigor. And in those moments when you need an extra SPP by passing, the Extra Arms Pestigor catches on a 2+

So that's my choice. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Sure Hands is always better than Extra Arms for picking up the ball and that's why Sure Hands is better than Extra Arms. Later it also works against Strip Ball and if you happen to roll +AG, then Extra Arms becomes obsolete. You'll always play offence in a game at least once and for any offence, Sure Hands is better. Receiving hand offs (if a rotter has the ball, then he should probably score) or SPP passes happen rarely and aren't enough to offset the added reliability of Sure Hands.

If you're going to put Sure Hands and Extra Arms on the same Pestigor, then you should still pick Sure Hands first.

Ullis wrote:

Dudegrip wrote:If picking up was all there was, then Sure Hands, but sometimes a damn Rotter has the ball and it's easier to hand off to the Pestigor. And in those moments when you need an extra SPP by passing, the Extra Arms Pestigor catches on a 2+

So that's my choice. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Sure Hands is always better than Extra Arms for picking up the ball and that's why Sure Hands is better than Extra Arms. Later it also works against Strip Ball and if you happen to roll +AG, then Extra Arms becomes obsolete. You'll always play offence in a game at least once and for any offence, Sure Hands is better. Receiving hand offs (if a rotter has the ball, then he should probably score) or SPP passes happen rarely and aren't enough to offset the added reliability of Sure Hands.

If you're going to put Sure Hands and Extra Arms on the same Pestigor, then you should still pick Sure Hands first.

Extra Arms is obsolete? Evidently in your games are played in some sort of dome and the ball never scatters into a tackle zone.

Nurgle need at least one dedicated ball carrier with both SH and EA. You can debate which one is better forever, but if all the other teams are starting fresh I'd go EA because there's less likely to be any Strip Ball around. Also, is there a bigger bogey-man skill than Strip Ball?

Fassbinder75 wrote:Extra Arms is obsolete? Evidently in your games are played in some sort of dome and the ball never scatters into a tackle zone.

Nurgle need at least one dedicated ball carrier with both SH and EA. You can debate which one is better forever, but if all the other teams are starting fresh I'd go EA because there's less likely to be any Strip Ball around. Also, is there a bigger bogey-man skill than Strip Ball?

You're right that there's some use for Extra Arms if you get +AG, but probably not enough to even cover the 20k TV cost of a skill.

Sure Hands gives better odds of picking up a ball in nearly every situation compared to Extra Arms (situations where you have -3 on the pick up are a very small exception when the odds tip 67% to 69% in Extra Arms favour). Rookie Nurgle are best off starting with only 2 rerolls and they need those rerolls for other things, not picking up the ball.