Big Troubles With Lizardmen

[Quetzal]

I'm currently playing in a recently created new league. I play with humans and my first game was against Lizardmen. I was beatten... More than a third of my team ended in the dugout KO'd or injured. I would like to be given some advices in order to not have such a bad time next time I play vs. them. My Roster was this one

7 Linemen
3 Blitzers
1 Thrower
1 Catcher
4 RR
4 FF

Thx.

[DoubleSkulls]

Against rookie lizardmen teams you have to take out the skinks - use your blitzers for this.

Try to tie up the Saurus - either by marking them (and hope they don't get through armour too much) - or ensure they can't get into the action with your TZs.

[MickeX]

As a lizards coach, I know some tactics that might work:

- Take out the skinks, as Ian said. Just make sure you use guys with Block or Tackle for it. Mark them and hope they fail the dodges. Foul them. Take Both Down results if the TO isn't too harsh on you.

- Make sure you protect the ball properly - skinks are fast and often get irritating skills rather fast. Don't pick up the ball without marking it with another player first.

- As Ian said, the sauruses can be stopped very easily. You'll have to pay for it with knockdowns though. When the situation gets critical, mark all of them at once.

- Note that the sauruses don't have block, and lizards need rerolls for the ball-handling. Once they're out of RR they become very risky to play. Skinks failing 1/9 dodges independent of RRs doesn't exactly help.

- The lizards will always be looking for a hole where they can blitz through and create a new cage far into your half. If they succeed, you probably won't stop them from scoring whatever you do. This means: a) don't give them an opening, b) if you can't hold the line, tie up the sauruses and send a player further back as a blitzing threat.

- AG3 and no Sure Hands means big trouble with ball-handling. Use that. Your blitzers are perfect to suddenly get next to the ball - they're fast and able to knock down a skink.

Hope that's gives you a decent start.

Micke

[slick_nick]

killing skinks is harder than it seems, damn stunties. but if you can its a good thing, pushing them in the crowd is often the best way, saurus' can be taken out of the game with some luck just by staying on your feet. a movement of six is no good when you can't dodge (beware break tackle- its done me a couple of times now). still i always lose to our lizardman team but i am the worse player and he the best, so no surprise there really. the point about them not picking the ball up is very true can allow- with some luck- an early pick up for you- i suggest a blitzer, catcher pairing.

[Cthulhu]

I am playing a lizard team, and the only time I have trouble is when my saurus are taken out. Even with 6 saurus and 2 skinks I manage to score pretty easily.
I gave guard to 4 of my saurus, none of them has block yet, and it works vell. When the opponent tries to pin them down, I can usually get one or two to get free and protect the skink who has the ball.. or blitz the opponent ball holder. And with that much guard, skinks can ofter block with 2 dice.
Opponent usually needs about 5 players to really pin 3 saurus. Otherwise I can easily free at least one.

I dont have trouble when the skinks have the ball. I usually give it to one with sidestep, and I run close to the border, with 2 skinks for protection. Opponent needs to dodge to get him, and cant even push him out.

But I am starting to realize the big weakness of this team is the saurus. I mean, if too many are taken out, you cant do anything with a bunch of ST2 with only agility skills.
So to win against lizards, take out the saurus. It's hard with AV9, but it's the real weak point. Once he's left with 4 saurus or less, lizard team gets pretty weak.

And I dont have too much trouble picking up the ball.. I usually make sure I have a reroll to use for that, which is rarely a problem, so I have 8/9 chances of picking up the ball.

[MickeX]

You're forgetting that we're talking rookie teams here, Chtulhu. Look at his humans - will they be taking out 6 sauruses from the game? Same goes for RR. The lizards shouldn't have more than two, maybe three.

Micke

[Blackscale]

I always start lizzie teams with three RR and most of the time I have burned through them by turn three, because the Sauri keep throwing skull/blockskull combinations.
If you can take out two Sauri (stunned is ok), the game for the lizardman player becomes much more difficult, because he cannot outhit you anymore. So take a risk and force him to make many blocks early on. You may lose some players, but you may also get your opponent to suffer a lot of turn-overs.
Also, watch the skinks, the can get almost anywhere. Getting two skink assists for a blitz/block with a third is really easy.
If you take down skinks, remember that the lizardmen function fine with only two skinks on the field, although I prefer to have at least three.

[Robotorz]

I dont know why but I dont seem to be blocking a lot with Sauri
I only dodge 3 or 4 times, blitz the ball carrier with 2 dices his choice
Dodge 3 or 5 times, pick up the ball, make 3 gfis and score the same turn

So the hint with taking out the skinks is the way to go against Lizardman! Especialy if the has more Sauri then Skinks.
6 Sauri, 1 Krox and 4 Skinks