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Brosian
Last seen 11 minutes ago
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3/2/45
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2025-07-05 11:30:57
2 votes, rating 3.5
To stall or not to stall?. KO´s are the question.
Well, I´ve just played a match. Orcs vs Necros. I´m a veeeeery poor player of this game but I really enjoy it. The thing is that after finishing the match I´ve realize one thing just taking a look at the resume. The match has finished 1-1 but not because of my merits but for a bad decision of the other player in terms of stalling.

He could make his first TD in the turn 3 of the 1st half. He has chosen to delay scoring. as I´ve no chance in avoid scoring I just prepare the second half. Although no major injures were done, the truth is that several KO were suffered by my opponent. Maybe you just consider that KO´s are minor issues but you have to roll them in order to have your players back.

As he delayed the scoring, two thing were amounted. Less chances of the comeback of the players and more Ko´s suffered.

With all of this, he didn´t recover any player so he started the second half with -4 players due to the KO no recovered.

It made me the second half very suitable and I drawn the match.

Don´t get me wrong. This is not "an attack" to the other player. As I said before, I´m a poor player but sometimes we think that stalling is a good thing and maybe you are losing a chance to reroll your KO players while more of them are filling the bench in the stalling phase.



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Comments
Posted by MerryZ on 2025-07-05 11:41:35
Didnt watch the game, but if you suffer lots of KOs and are down a lot of players its better to stall your offence if given chance.

If you score fast usually you just lose 2-1

Ps. you get 2 chances to roll KOs if you score turn 8 on your offence
Posted by MattDakka on 2025-07-05 11:49:27
Generally speaking, stalling and delaying the TD is a good strategy because it makes equalizing harder for the opponent.
Posted by Sp00keh on 2025-07-05 12:47:18
The only reasons to not stall are: it's no longer safe, OR you're confident you can steal the ball and score again


In this example the opponent got the kick, so gets first turn. If they score any point in the first half, both teams get 2x attempts at the KO rolls instead of just the 1x attempt at half time


There is a scenario where not scoring might make sense: you get the kick and the first turn, you KO most of their team
If you score, you'll give them 2x KO rolls, which would make the second half harder
It's a gamble though, and generally it's just better to get the score
Posted by Brosian on 2025-07-05 13:38:57
In a normal match, I´d lost 3-0 but because of the stalling and the KO´s it was just a drawn
Posted by Java on 2025-07-05 15:50:40
When you are on the offense and are sure of scoring, you get 2 KO rolls no matter what turn you score so there is no KO-related reason not to stall :)
Posted by Drrek on 2025-07-06 01:18:06
If the score is tied, it is almost always correct to stall, if it is safe to do so.

Occasionally you will be pretty sure (because of cas or whatever) that you will be able to steal the ball again, or if like you're facing goblins or snots and you want to remove their secret weapons it can make sense. But in general, stalling is correct if you are at parity.

If you are behind, it depends on how much you think you can go for the win. And that is very dependent on both game state, team compositions and relative coach skill.
Posted by JackassRampant on 2025-07-06 02:18:17
Rated 6 because you're trying, not because I think you have it right.

One time I think you are right: if you take the ball away as defense in the first half, and then suffer a bunch of KOs without inflicting a bunch, against a team that is unlikely to be able to punch in a one-turner, scoring on your own turn 7 is better than waiting for turn 8. This gives you an extra set of KO recovery rolls at the expense of an unlikely one-turner and whatever damage they do on the line. Even this equation might not be worth it if you're fragile or they're killy, but I've totally been there.

Otherwise, not stalling on account of KOs really isn't a thing. Stalling on account of KOs is, if you kicked in either half, and you take the ball away and INFLICT a lot of KOs, and you'd be happy with just the one result, this is extra pressure to stall. Even then, though, if all this happens early on, and you get some casualties and/or they have a short bench, the temptation to try a rinse/repeat would be strong.

Then there are the times where the number of KO rolls isn't the question, but the number of turns left after the roll means something. But it can mean anything. Then there's Kegs, which tend to leave the opponent thinking of your KOs as reserves, but you seeing them as KOs. There's also bench and overall lethality to consider, as well as personnel specifics: if it's three KO'ed Zombies it becomes a question of bench, but if it's two Mummies and a Wight, the number of rolls makes a big fat difference.

So yeah, KOs matter, KO recoveries matter, but as to "whether to stall or not" it's a lot more subtle than any kind of rule of thumb.