Block, Leap, and Dauntless: A Great Combination of Skills for a Skaven Gutter Runner

I love the mobility that the Skaven team has. Gutter runners are insanely fast, and it's so easy to move the ball to the end zone.

The only problem is that if you load up on Gutter Runners, you're short on beefier players to play defense. Should you leave some Gutter Runners on the sideline? Or can you outfit them with skills to make them more useful?

I'd go with the second option. It's not the most immediately obvious choice, but with the right selection of skills a Gutter Runner can turn into a great cage-popping machine.

First Skill - Block

The first skill I'd take is Block. This is useful in any number of circumstances. It keeps the Gutter Runner up if he has the ball, and he can more effectively throw a block if he finds himself in a situation where he's got some assists.

If you're not developing a one turn scoring machine (+ Movement and/or Sprint), Block is a pretty standard skill to give at least one of your Gutter Runners. You want a durable ball handler on the field.

Second Skill - Leap

Leap is an amazing situational skill.

It can be used to great effect on offense. Let's say you receive the ball and establish a cage two or three squares into your opponent's half of the turf. They press up completely on your cage, but can't break through. You, however, don't have the requisite amount of strength and/or assists to push them out of the way. What do you do? Leap over the front lines, dodge out, and race towards the end-zone!

It requires a few rolls, but making a leap and one dodge - assuming you have a team re-roll - is a fairly ordinary risk. You run about a 11% chance of failing the leap and a measly 3% chance of failing the re-rolled dodge. A conservative course of action is sometimes called for, but it's great to have this trick up your sleeve.

But, leap can also be used on defense. In the same way that an Amazon Blitzer can use leap to jump into a cage, a Skaven Gutter Runner can hop right into a square that's surrounded by three guys. No matter how many tackle zones are around, the Gutter Runner needs a simple 3+ to land - which works out to about an 88.8% chance of success with a re-roll.

It can also help you get around your opponents line and blitz from behind the cage. Maybe you can get one guy up front for an assist, but you can't get a guy up front to throw a blitz. Leap over the line, run around the back, and pop the ball carrier from behind with that one assist.

But, what if you need to hit a Strength 3 player without any assists...?

Third Skill - Dauntless

Dauntless used to be a trait - meaning you needed to roll doubles to take it. Now it's a plain old general skill, and most players (Gutter Runners included) can take it with any skill roll.

With Dauntless, a Gutter Runner can block a Strength 3 player at even strength with a simple 2+ roll. If the Gutter Runner wants to hit something bigger - say, a Strength 4 Black Orc - he only needs a 3+. Those are some manageable rolls.

Now, leaping into a cage, rolling for Dauntless, and successfully executing a one-die block is no easy task. But, it is a dynamic play that is a great addition to your repertoire. You won't necessarily want to use it on every drive, but this may be the only way to stop a conservative Orc or Dwarf team from steam-rolling down the field, eating up an entire half of clock, and winning the game by a one touchdown margin.

What, exactly, are the odds?

Let's say that you need to Leap once, pass the Dauntless roll, and then hit your target. The Leap roll is a 3+, the Dauntless roll (against Strength 3) is 2+, and the one-die block only has a 1/6 chance of knocking you over (see this article on one-die blocks for more details). Your chances of knocking the opponent over vary with his skill set, but sometimes even a push is enough to get the ball carrier to the outside of the cage where somebody else can put a tackle zone on him.

If your Gutter Runner gets a lot of points, you can also progress to the fourth skill with Strip Ball. But, that depends on how long your season is...

Try a Cage-Popping Gutter Runner

This isn't the way you should go with all four of your Gutter Runners. But it is a specialized skill set that can make for one awesome, dynamic player. When you're in a clutch situation in the championship game, you'll wish you had someone that could leap in and bust a cage...

Since Skaven don't get Wardancers, you'll just have to settle for a Block, Leap, and Dauntless Gutter Runner.