It’s alright! I figured it out! – Kaldor Draigo, 2018 

THE ELF TEAM USED LIGHT SCREEN! IT WAS SUPER EFFECTIVE!

So last week I talked about Marking, why we use it and how we use it, who to mark and who not to. This week however I’m going to Leap (heh!) into another defensive strategy that newer coaches are introduced to early on, Screening. It’s a little more complex than basing, but it can have a very high pay off when used effectively, essentially making it nearly impossible for the opponent to score in some situations. As mentioned with Marking, some teams are better at it than others (Elves and other fast teams are particularly good at it) but a body in the way is still an obstacle to overcome.

So what is Screening? Well whereas with Marking where you’re in base contact, Screening requires you to stand off and form a “Screen” of players and tackle zones for your opponent to try and break through. This limits their movement options and their blocking attempts to just the single blitz, meaning you’re less likely to be put down and it slows down the ball carriers progress down the pitch. With each passing turn, your screen slowly gets deeper and deeper into your own half, frustrating your opponent as they struggle to find a clear shot at the endzone. In essence, where marking attempts to put pressure on the ball and force errors in the opponent dice rolls, Screening is more of a delaying tactic, whittling down the turns making the players riskier and riskier as time goes on. In the final moments of the drive, the attacker is either ground to a halt or is forced to make a high-risk play, maybe having to make difficult handoffs and passes, hoping they get some really good blocks, or forced to dodge through multiple tackle zones that even an AG4 Skink would nervous about! This is also why Elves excel at the screen, even as the attacker attempts to mark the defensive players, AG4 across the board means your players can easily dodge out and reform the screen. Even teams without this advantage can set up a good screen well by choosing not to follow up on blocks, chain pushing (pushing a player into more of your own players, who then push them some more!) and using key blitzes to create the space needed and free up players.

Core Aims of a Screen:
Delay the ball getting near the end zone by limiting the opponent’s space and movement
Limit blocks against your own players
Force mistakes by winding down the clock, creating desperate attacking plays
Capitalise on mistakes/bad rolls and steal the ball

So what does a Screen look like? Well unlike the last blog I actually decided to include some VISUAL AIDS (Mostly so I can add them alt tags for that sweet SEO!)

What you’re seeing above what you might have heard called a “Column” defence where the defender stacks their player in lines at with only 2 squares between them. This creates a very robust shield of bodies and tackle zones. You’re getting all manner of nasty negative dodge modifiers if you try and dodge through and even if you blitz and knock down, or even remove one of the players in front, you still can’t get through thanks to the defender behind him. So you’re forced to either try and run around them or hold out and hope you get a few more removals before breaking through. That or you roll nothing but sixes and expertly dodge through. By slowing moving the screen back just one square at a time, it means the attacker is only moving at that speed as well or they have to try the long way around, limiting their movement just as much if not more if they’re a particularly slow team.

Some Screen-play 😉

Initial set up as before.

Attacking teams heads down where there’s a bit more space and blitzes to allow the Ball Carrier to run as far as they can and still keep some support without any GFI’s. 

Defenders respond with a few dodges, creating a new screen in front of the carrier. 7 goes further to the right to stop an easier gap being made near the sideline (I worked out there would be two -1 dodges.)

Even as they punch and blitz, all the attacking team can do is create enough space for, at best, two -2 dodges (11% chance of succes with AG3, 25% with AG4 not including rerolls). This is without the defenders making any blitzes or hits themselves. Lots of assumptions made here but hopefully this shows the potency of a screen.

It’s worth noting that you don’t want to have ALL of your team dedicated to such a formation, a screen is best used in conjunction with targeting key attacking players and putting pressure on the ball. The main idea of the screen is the stall them out and slow them down, forcing mistakes as time goes on. If you’re JUST screening and nothing else, then you’re not forcing those mistakes and eventually you’re going to lose players through blitzes, surfs or even dodging away to reform the screen. So you want to make sure that the ball is also a focus, keeping them occupied while you halt their progress with your shield of players. In essence, you want you’re more defensive, hard to put down players in the screen, while your hunters try to exploit a gap in the formation to slow them down even more and aim for a steal.

This is why you’ll see this tactic being deployed commonly in agility vs strength matchups. Stronger teams tend to be slow and as such can’t really run around a screen and will be forced to try and break it instead. High agility and movement mean an easier time forming and reforming your screen, but it also makes it easier to circumvent a screen, especially if you’re lacking skills or are against a particularly fast team (Wood Elves and Skaven for example).

However, it’s a naturally quite “standoff-ish” tactic, meaning that you’re not really going to be getting lots of removals and you’ll probably end up at times with a player disadvantage if their blitzes hit hard. You’re also a little more reliant on your own dice rolls, especially if you’re dodging without Dodge or AG4. If you’re blocking to free space as the enemy advances on your lines, you might find yourself struggling to find 2 die hits unless you’ve got some guard or block to help mitigate the risk. Your positioning has got to be spot on as well, otherwise, you’re going to get tied up by being man marked while the ball carrier and their entourage run past your lines. Screening requires you to be flexible yet steadfast in your goal to prevent that touchdown.

Now the column defence isn’t the only screening strategy, any formation that has your players blocking off areas of the pitch with their tackle zones counts, but having players behind one another just makes it that much harder to break through. It’s not just the endzone you can screen off as well, it’s an effective way to protect key players so you can use them to strike next turn without worrying about them being knocked down. You can also screen an offensive screen as well but we’ll talk about that another time.

If you can keep your opponent by the sidelines as well it makes your life much easier! Without having to worry about 2 flanks, you only have to think about 1 as the edge of the pitch acts as a natural barrier. If you can box them in with a layer of players, you can practically bring the ball to a stop with nowhere to go and the only option is to try and grind their way through or make some risky plays. Be careful though! Any play near the edge always runs to risk of being surfed and if you commit too much to one side, you might find yourself out of position by being too far to one side, meaning the opponent can keep you locked in while heading into acres of open space.

To the left stands the crowd. Here the right side players have moved up a little to put a bit more pressure in the middle of the area while retaining their defensive line.

Useful things for Screening:
Tackle – Big bonus here, helps put down any cheeky sods trying to sneak through into the ground!
Block – Obvious one a usual, helps if they try to break your line, great skill for the guys in the front row of a column
Stand Firm – Sorry you wanted me to move??? Forces them to knock you down and even then they can’t follow up
Fend – Just like the above, means they can’t really break the screen thanks to a lack of following up
Sidestep – One of my favourite skills in the game (I’m a Pro Elf player after all!), not only is it annoying as hell, but it means you can easily reposition.
Dodge – Feeling the pressure? Run away and reform!
Guard – Always good no matter what, makes hitting you harder.
Elves – They’re just REALLY good at it.

STR4+(maybe) – I usually prefer getting these guys in the fight, but, higher strength makes the lines harder to break. The problem is unless you get a STR level up, these guys tend to be slow (Unless you’re Lizardmen…….uugghh)

Things to be wary of when Screening:
Stunty – Very rarely will you hear someone say “BE CAREFUL OF STUNTY!!!” but this often overlooked skill means your tackle zones mean NOTHING when it comes to dodging. Everyone with stunty has dodge as well, so at MINIMUM they’re going through each tackle zone on a 3+ with a reroll unless you have tackle. Two Heads makes this even harder to deal with!
Leap – Very good against single man screens! Who needs to run around you when they bastards can jump over as if you’re not even there! (another reason why columns are so good as they’re going to be leaping into a tackle zone, meaning they need to make a dodge to get out)
Block/Might Blow/Claw – All things that will shatter your beautifully made screen!
Wrestle – Going to put this here as the last thing you want as a screener is your line being broken and guys on the floor. This practically removes your block guys and their tackle zones, making running or dodging through easier.
Frenzy – A nightmare for both your own players and if the opponent has it. On your own player, it disrupts your formation making the screen less effective. On an attacking player, it disrupts your formation making the screen less effective.

I hope that’s helped a little! My last blog seemed to do quite well so it’s motivated me to make some more xD! If it helps even just one newer coach I’ll be a happy guy!

ALSO HALFINGS NEW POSITIONALS YESSSSS!!!!!!

– Aaramus 😀