Skill Progression for an Amazon Catcher

I love my Amazon team. I win a lot with them... but some of the players lack the pizzazz of, say, a wood elf catcher with a lot of skills.

Really, what do you give an Amazon catcher to make her special? She doesn't have incredible mobility (like a human catcher), nor does she have higher agility. She's basically your average human with catch.

Since Amazon catchers are nothing special to begin with, I typically go with a very standard and straightforward skill progression for them. Here are my thoughts on what skills to take in a short Blood Bowl season (~10-12 games).

First Skill - Block

Without a doubt, the first skill I would take is Block.

The Catcher already has Dodge, which makes her tougher to take down. With Block, she will only be knocked down with one outcome on the block dice (a straight-up POW). If you've read up on the probabilities of two-die blocks, you'll know that an attacker would only have about a 30% chance of knocking over a Block + Dodge (Blodge) catcher. By way of comparison, an attacker with block would have about a 56% chance of taking down my Catcher if she didn't have block.

On offense, I typically pick the ball up with my thrower and quickly shuffle it off to my catcher. Since she holds the ball most of the drive, I want her to be as reliable as possible.

Second Skill - Sure Feet

I just settled on this skill this year, after several seasons of playing Amazons. I used to play Skaven, and I sorely missed the incredible mobility of the Gutter Runners.

With two Go For Its, an Amazon catcher can move 8 squares. That's pretty far, but it can be risky if you run out of team re-rolls. Attempting a Go For It without a re-roll has about a 17% chance to fail. Yikes! With a re-roll in hand, the odds drop to about a 3% chance to fail. That's something I can live with if it means getting out of range of a blitz from my opponent.

In order to ensure that I always have a re-roll to back up these Go For Its, I like to take Sure Feet. This gives them the extended mobility to go along with the added durability from block. I don't Go For It on every move, but this allows me to be confident in my ability to make those Go For It rolls when it will be beneficial.

Third Skill?

This is where things get fishy. Hopefully you score enough with your team that you can get a third skill. In my current season, both of my catchers are poised in the high 20's as far as skill points after 7 games. With three games to go, they'll likely get that third skill before the season ends (and the play-offs begin).

At this point it's time to get a bit more creative with the skill choices. Here are a few things I'll be thinking about...

Side Step. This is a good stand by, and at least one of my two catchers will probably take it. You stand a good chance of getting pushed around, and this allows you to move closer to the end-zone (or your friendly blockers) instead of the other way.

Leap. With an Amazon Catcher, you'll be able to Leap on a 4+ roll. That's not great odds, but with a re-roll you've got a 75% chance of success. It might be the best way out of a tough situation, and having Leap on one of your two catchers could be a way to force some big plays in those post season games.

Jump Up. I'm not entirely sold on this skill for an Amazon, but it could be useful. I could see a situation where the catcher ran down field with the ball, got knocked over by a lone blitzer, and then jumped up the next turn to pick up the ball and (hopefully) score. But, this is less useful for getting up and running downfield without the ball - because my thrower doesn't have an amazing elf arm!

Sure Hands. This is something of a metagame choice. If you know that your late season (and post-season) opponents have taken strip ball with one or two players - you should get Sure Hands. It's no good to stay on your feet if you fumble the ball!

I'm not sure that there are any other skills I'd consider for my Amazon Catchers (although Sprint is a possibility, but three Go For Its is kind of pushing your luck). I find that these skills - Block, Sure Feet, and one of the final skills - allow me to execute my game plan the best. They don't make for the amazing plays a Wood Elf Catcher or a Wardancer might make, but they get the ball in the end zone. And that's what counts...