Deathroller & Big Guys

just add bone head to it and call it engine stall

After playing a few games I've noticed a few things. Like many vocal players on this forum, I don't think this rule is a good idea.

The theoretical reason for the rule is play balance, right? I feel that this rule actually harms balance more than it contributes. First off we have the problem with grandfathered teams that are already past this rule. I faced 2 treemen and a death roller last night, boy was that fun. Sure that team couldn't be created now but that's the problem. This gives teams like this a huge advantage that we're prohibited from being able to compete with. I rarely see a successful balancing that gives a small segment of players a huge advantage and a larger segment a disadvantage.

The grandfathered teams are far from the only issue with this "balancing". This rule effectively makes one of the base teams, the Light Wizards, unplayable for new players. The ability to field 2 Treemen and a Deathroller, like the example above, is a major strength of this team. Without this advantage you're only able to use the middle section of your team for a single Treeman and then some underpowered halflings. I think that others will agree that this is too much of a sacrifice to create a team from this college. That effectively kills one of 7 possible teams right out of the gate. Sure, most teams have access to be able to field more than 2 high STR guys, but they don't necessarily rely on it. The Bright wizards, for example, rarely field a Yhetee from their norse contingent but more often field a pair of werewolves. The Rainbow wizards however share the same fate as the Light Wizards also having the halflings as their middle faction. Effectively eliminating 2 of the 3 teams from the base game.

I'm sure that a better solution can be found than what we have currently. Let's find a solution that affects all players equally, doesn't ruin the viability of any team at creation and actually does something. Maybe a limit on big guys in play in the dungeon at one time but not necessarily on a team?

The benefit of being able to take halflings (and goblins & snotlings) is that you can get to 11 players easily while still getting the stars of the game (i.e. wood elf wardancers & catchers for rainbow) *and* enough rerolls to make your team workable. My rainbow team started off with a lot of halflings for this very reason. As I've lost them through natural wastage (opening chests is a very risky business ) I replace them with elf linemen.

I'm sure that a better solution can be found than what we have currently. Let's find a solution that affects all players equally, doesn't ruin the viability of any team at creation and actually does something. Maybe a limit on big guys in play in the dungeon at one time but not necessarily on a team?

I remember spotting a good idea somewhere in this thread.

The benefit of being able to take halflings (and goblins & snotlings) is that you can get to 11 players easily while still getting the stars of the game (i.e. wood elf wardancers & catchers for rainbow) *and* enough rerolls to make your team workable. My rainbow team started off with a lot of halflings for this very reason. As I've lost them through natural wastage (opening chests is a very risky business ) I replace them with elf linemen.

While I definitely understand that purpose of taking halfings upon initial team creation, I'm looking past that toward what you want your final team to look like. I'm guessing at SOME point you plan on using both treemen, right? Let's not be short-sighted here, that seems to already have gotten us one bad "balancing" in this matter.

Halflings having a place on a team has nothing to do with this thread though, we're simply examing the impact of not being able to fully utilize the tools available to given teams and how this affects them. The inability to field 2 Treemen, along with another big guy, severely hampers the long-term viability of this team, that's my point.

While I definitely understand that purpose of taking halfings upon initial team creation, I'm looking past that toward what you want your final team to look like. I'm guessing at SOME point you plan on using both treemen, right? Let's not be short-sighted here, that seems to already have gotten us one bad "balancing" in this matter.

Halflings having a place on a team has nothing to do with this thread though, we're simply examing the impact of not being able to fully utilize the tools available to given teams and how this affects them. The inability to field 2 Treemen, along with another big guy, severely hampers the long-term viability of this team, that's my point.

I started my main Rainbow team with 1 Ogre & no treemen. After ~15 games I sacked the Ogre and took an extra human blitzer instead, as the Ogre was too unreliable and slow. My win:loss ratio with this team is around 4:1. I don't miss treemen at all because I play a fast & aggressive game - if I get to the stage where two ST6 roadblocks are needed to defend my endzone then I've already lost.

I started my main Rainbow team with 1 Ogre & no treemen. After ~15 games I sacked the Ogre and took an extra human blitzer instead, as the Ogre was too unreliable and slow. My win:loss ratio with this team is around 4:1. I don't miss treemen at all because I play a fast & aggressive game - if I get to the stage where two ST6 roadblocks are needed to defend my endzone then I've already lost.

Especially if it's not a good idea we shouldn't limit it. Don't force people to make good choices.

Especially if it's not a good idea we shouldn't limit it. Don't force people to make good choices.

lol! Very true