Halfling Strategy

Summary

Very squishy beings of ultimate evil.

Strengths

Halflings are very cheap, allowing you to maintain a full roster (though you will still run out sometimes even so). Until they root, Treemen can be effective at limiting damage to the Halflings. Treemen are also decent at TTM.

The biggest Halfling strength though is the chef. Many low TR teams can be totally devastated by the removal of all their re-rolls. This, combined with a healthy dose of relentless fouling, can make Halflings lethal competitors at low TR.

Weaknesses

Low ST and AV plus Stunty mean Halflings can be broken just by average rolls. Agility skills are not that powerful and there is no access to General skills without doubles.

Because of Take Root, Trees cannot be relied upon to support an advance.

Galak's Guide to Halflings

This article is from a post by GalakStarscraper aka Tom Anders (without his permission, oh the shame!) on talkbloodbowl.com: http://www.talkbloodbowl.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7779

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Yes I advote starting TR 100 Halfling teams to freeboot Deeproot for their first game to help jump start the team. Its a nice way to pick up an extra 10k for the win, the casualties he'll hopefully cause will get you a +1 to your FF also ... also by being able to field all 3 Trees on the LOS with no Flings on the LOS for the game helps keep your casualties very light for that opening match. I'm 5 wins - 1 tie - 1 loss in my life with a Halfling team with Deeproot facing another TR 100 team.

After your first game, hopefully you'll have 120k. If you do, buy an Apothecary and a Fling, leaving 40k for more ingredients your next game. Your TR will be below 100 so you'll get another +1 to your gold. If you survive your 2nd game and get 70k in winnings (not difficult with a decent gate), buy your 14th fling. Then try to keep 40k around after each game to buy ingredients ... as you get 120k, buy a 4th reroll.

If you can while playing this team, try to always leave 40k around for ingredients each game to suck out your opponent's rerolls and increase your own.

My rules for money - always fill out your squad with your cash up to 15 players first. You need to have 15 players each game if at all possible. After that you can think about your other options at the end of game.

When to retire players

• Any Stat decrease other than AV.
• A 2nd niggling injury
• A niggle injury suffered before reaching 6 SPPs.

Skills to take on Halflings

Your 4 best friends are Diving Tackle, Sure Feet, Side Step, and Catch. With teams I focus on getting 6 Diving Tackle Flings.

Don't have more than 6 DT players on your team. Your team needs some Sure Feet to get placement and scorers. If find yourself getting out of position, develop the first 4 Diving Tackle players only ... then get 4 with Sure Feet, and then work on filling out your remaining 2 Diving Tackle players.

Your Diving Tackle players should grab Side Step for skill 2 and your Sure Feet players should grab Catch as their 2nd skill.

Side note on Catch: I really don't recommend trying many if any normal passing plays with 'Flings, but the Hand Offs are critical to TTM plays and Catch gives your Sure Feet players that are your best candicates for the toss a nice extra to save you the reroll for the turn for the Landing.

Side note on +1ST: +1 ST players should be Side Step as their first skill then Diving Tackle OR Sure Feet (depending on your playstyle and team needs). +1 AG and +1 MA should be Sure Feet, Catch, Side Step.

Doubles on Halflings

Use them to get (in this order):

• Kick
• 2 Sure Hands
• 2 Dirty Players
• then Block

The exceptions - Sure Hands on +1 MA, Jump Up on +1 AG, Block on +1 ST. Never turn down any stat increase on a Fling.

Skills to take on Trees

• Guard
• Multiple Block
• Break Tackle

Doubles on Trees

• Block
• Pro
• Pass

Turn down +1 AG on Trees in favor of a normal skill ... take MA and ST upgrades. If nothing else MA mean you can stand up more easily, and ST allows 2 dice Multiple Blocks against ST3...

For offense with the Trees - set up the Treeman for 3 dice blocks if you can - it is worth putting a halfling on the LOS for that. Also this means that they can throw if the defense is set up weak against a possible TTM play.

On offense with the Flings, no matter how tempting or game vital you think it is, never ever reroll a PUSH result from a block with a Fling unless its turn 7 of the 2nd half, will prevent the winning TD from scoring, and you don't really care if the Fling dies. There is a 1 in 4 chance eavery time a Fling gets knocked down of him getting KO'd or worse (if the opponent has Mighty Blow, Claw, or RSC the odds are really scary). Do not do your opponents job for him especially with your own rerolls.

Never get attached to Flings. The only Fling you are to ever apothecary (unless its turn 8 of the 2nd half) is one with 31 or more SPPs or with a +1 ST or +1 AG increase. Otherwise you've probably wasted your apothecary and then your good Fling players or a Tree will get killed within 2 turns, I pretty much promise this. If your +1 MA or 2 skill Fling dies .... well it was nice knowing him. Have the Trees Avenge his death (they seem to do well in avenge mode).

Always try to give your Trees one assist for any block they make against an ST 3 player - that's 3 dice for the block. Make sure you think about the push. Do not end up with the assisting Fling being in your opponent's TZ if you roll a push. If this is impossible, just take the 2 dice block.

Once you have 6 Assistant Coaches, don't get anymore. Retire the Fling without grabbing an assistant coach.

Don't get your team more than 4 rerolls - after that save your money for freebooting Deeproot or buying extra ingredients if you don't need to replace Flings. Along with the Chef, you won't need more than 4.

Before freebooting Deeproot a 2nd time for your team (the 1st time was your first game), buy 6 Cheerleaders. The MAIN goal of the Halfling team to win is reroll denial of your opponent and this is one more way of doing this. Once your team gets to the point where you are able to start saving money and freeboot Deeproot again, you'll want to trim the team down to 15 Flings so you have the free spot for him to play in (or always leave the 16th spot free).

Notes on Throw Team Mate

A failed landing roll without the ball is not a turnover, but a fumbled Throw Team Mate (TTM) is. NEVER ever under any (but one) circumstance use Pro or Pass to reroll an Inaccurate TTM - the goal with TTM is to just get the Fling downfield. Accuracy is a bonus, not a requirement. The one exception - you are trying to throw a Fling that has already moved directly into the Endzone for a last second TD.

Don't be afraid to throw a Fling to Short Range especially if he doesn't have the ball. A Short Range TTM has a 2 in 3 chance not fumbling (better if you have Pro). Also remember that a Fling that has not moved, can get up from a failed landing and move or de-stun to prone (or blitz - this can be very useful when defending against fast ST2 players).

Planning one turn TTM plays

Okay if you are going to set up to go for a one turn TTM, then do it right. The goal with this set up is to optimize your offense for the play. If the kick lands deep you aren't going to pull of a TTM one turner anyway, so you play a short range back line that is within no GFIs of the handoff to a Fling next to one of the trees. Now the key to this play is to free up one of the Trees so that they can throw with no TZs on them and take one step forward before throwing a Fling. Also you want Fling 4 or 5 to be free of tackle zones for the handoff. To do this use your other flings to get a 2 dice blitz to free up the throwing tree and receiving fling from any TZs needed for the play. So the play goes ... blitz the Tree and Fling free, pick up the ball and hand it off to Fling next to the thrower, the appropriate Tree declares the TTM pass, takes one step forward if needed and then throws.

The decision on whether the pass should be to Short or Long range (ie -1 or -2 to the TTM roll) should be based on the following:

1. Can a Long pass get behind the opponent defense so the Fling would not need to Dodge?
2. Does the Tree have Pro or Pass to avoid a fumble?
3. Does the Fling to be thrown have Sure Feet?

Frequently you'll be picking a Long Pass - make sure the target square if 4 squares away from the sidelines and as many as you can get from the endzone as you don't want to throw the Fling to far on an inaccurate pass. A long pass is better than 3 Dodge rolls to get through a defense line set up for TTM if you try a Short Pass. Also a Short Pass that inaccurately scatters 2 to 3 squares back towards your side of the pitch will mean that you won't be able to score anyway.

Positioning Flings

Try to always keep 1 Fling in an ordinal position (N, S, E, W) of a Tree. A team with ST 3 players won't be able to get more than a 2 dice defender's choice block against the Tree without getting rid of the Fling first. Even an ST 4 player will only have a 1 dice block option if you do this. This also has the advantage then of always having 2 flings that you can toss if need be.

0 SPP Flings go between the Trees on offense or defense. When you set up your team for a kickoff. Field all your players with skills, then field your Flings from that point in order of 0 SPP to 5 SPP. This will help you spread out the SPPs on your team as best as possible. It also reduces your losses of players in position to get skills from the MVP for the game. If you have a player get to 6 SPPs in a game so he earns a skill don't field him if you can - he's guaranteed to die if you do before getting that skill.

Get a Fling in scoring position

Always try to have one Fling run down field to get within 5 to 7 squares of the endzone. A TTM pass followed by a handoff could turn this into a quick score.

Don't forget to dodge dodge dodge. Never leave a Fling next to an opponent unless you really believe deep down that you need a personal TZ on that player. Odds are any Fling left in position to be blocked won't be returning to play again in your lifetime (cause his will be over). Flings dodge to any square with a 88% chance of success, so don't be afraid to Dodge. You'll occassionally kill a fling dodging - but you'll kill off more if you don't.

Finally, don't be afraid of risk. The occasional 1 dice block, Short Pass Fling toss, and lots of GFIs are staples of winning for the team. Play Flings consertatively and you will lose.

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Thoughts from having tried Galakstarscraper's strategy

It works. Having Deeproot makes a big difference to Halflings - it reduces your CAS, and increases the opposition's CAS. After 9 Games my flings are 7/0/2, +9 TD difference, +19 CAS difference. By spending money on Deeproot, Chef Ingredients, and keeping rerolls low (3) I've been able to keep my TR low while my Fan Factor has gone up. This keeps up earnings, and means that of those 9 games I fielded Deeproot 6 times.

I would suggest getting Dirty Player before Kick on doubles. You've got to play a bit dirty to hit back, and the odd gang-foul never hurt anyone. Use gang-fouls to take out any particularly dangerous players. You've usually got enough numbers to afford a sending off.

If you get an AG4 Halfling, keep him safe - he's a godsend for offence. Able to dodge through 3 squares most of the time, pretty safe catches, can land on his feet - what more can I say? Keep him for offence, or well clear of the opposition.

Positioning wise, I find I use my flings in a 'herding' approach - that is, they stick close together, and away from opposition players unless they can swamp them with numbers. This sort of play also works well with fouling...

Don't be afraid to lob rookie halflings into harms way, especially if one of your Trees takes root. And don't forget that Stand Firm allows Trees to try some outrageous dodges, though blitzing with them is inadvisable if you have a choice - they've a habit of taking root...

Notes on Cherrypicking

In general the opinion seems to be that it's okay to cherry-pick with Halflings - 'cos they're at such a disadvantage anyway, and it'd be suicidal to play against Dwarves (though people do - and survive, even win, sometimes).

Anyway, you may find that the sort of teams you'd want to pick yourself will pick you - for example, AV7 teams. 3 Trees can do a lot of damage to an AV7 team - but you'll find they'll challenge you, especially new coaches. I think of it as 'reverse cherrypicking' - loitering in Gamefinder until some new coach with a new team of Elves comes along. It's up to you if you think that's fun (and it is a bit fun)- but I reckon it'd get old pretty quickly.

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Plorg's Advice

Plorg agrees with most of Galak's article but disagrees with the Halfling Skill priorities.

Skills to take on Halflings

• Side Step
• Diving Tackle
• If three skills with no doubles or stats yet... retire the player or put them on the LoS without apothecary privileges.

Doubles on Halflings who don't have +stats

• Dirty Player
• Kick

Doubles on Halflings who already have +ST

• Block

Doubles on Halflings who already have +AG

• Sure Hands

Also, check the Halfling Advice thread.

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Blocking with Flings

To some extent, success with halflings depends on you having more players on the pitch than the other team. On many occasions it is the right decision to have several flings gang up on an opposing lineman.

But don't forget, because of your low AV, you are more more likely to suffer an injury than your opponent on a 1-dice block, unless they are AV7 with neither dodge nor block. Against AV8 you must have 2 dice, which normally means 3 halfings - and you are still best avoiding anyone with Block or Dodge!

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Links

• Return to the Halfling page
• Return to the Race Strategy page
• Skill Selection Survey page
• Halfling team lineups page
• Stunty Leeg Central