Today we’re talking about control. About those tasty skills that take the blessed c-word from your opponent and snatch it for yourself. Those skills that let you foil his plans, throw spanners in the cogs.

Shadowing

Oh Shadowing, that most underrated defensive skill, how I love you. Shadowing says, basically, roll two dice, add the Shadowers movement, subtract your own movement, and if the result is a 7 or less then the Shadower can move into the space you were just in. This triggers when you leave the space for any reason, provided it was part of your own action. Let’s start the discussion with some numbers. A MV6 piece shadowing a MV6 piece will successfully shadow 58% of the time. Not overwhelmingly brilliant so far. However, let’s see what happens when you increase the difference.

A MV7 piece shadows a MV6 piece 72% of the time. Heyhey, that’s looking much better! MV8 shadows 83% of the time. Here’s a quick and easy cheat sheet for your pleasure:

Difference in movement:

5+ 100% (≈ having fun when playing halflings)

4 97% (≈ odds of knocking a skill-less player down on a 3db with a reroll)

3 92% (≈ making two GFIs with Sure Feet)

2 83% (≈ breaking av5 with mighty blow)

1 72% (≈ to knock down a skill-less player on a 2db when you have block)

0 58% (≈ odds of knocking a skill-less player down on a 2db with another skill-less player)

-1 42% (≈ of a big guy with loner and a reroll taking down a blodger)

-2 28% (≈ breaking av8)

-3 17% (≈ knocking a blodger down with one dice)

-4 8% (≈ breaking av10)

-5 3% (≈ double skulls)

-6+ 0% (≈ me winning the SWTC)

(bracketed numbers are not exact, but for estimation purposes)

Interestingly, there is no critical success of failure after a certain point. Even if you roll a double 1, if your movement is 6 or greater than your opponent you will always escape. This works in reverse, too. A Gutter Runner will succeed 100% of the time in shadowing a Mummy or a Mreeman. Obviously, that’s quite rare, but can have potentially game-changing circumstances. A Mummy with Break Tackle isn’t going anywhere if you stick a mv8 shadower on him.

In fact, let’s look at a few more of the ways of using Shadowing. First, and perhaps the use for which most people initially think of, is it’s great for chasing ball carriers. Normally you give Shadowing to fast pieces, so you’re likely looking at good odds to chase him should he wish to escape. Why would you want to do this, though? Obviously, you can force your opponent to have to roll more dodge dice. More dice = more chance of failure. Combine with Tackle to make the most out of it, and, if you can, Diving Tackle. Those three skills together mean your opponent has almost no choice other than to block your shadower out of the way. If you can dictate what your opponent is doing, and where he throws his blocks, then you are taking control from him and stealing it for yourself.

To make life even better, take Side Step or Stand Firm to make your opponent scream. Slann Blitzers are particularly good at this, which is why Lottabottl, the Star Blitzer, exists. MV8, Shadowing, Diving Tackle. Beautiful.

Secondly, you can use it in a less aggressive way. Shadowing can be used when an opponent performing an action leaves your tackle zone for any reason. He can be someone that’s dodged. He can be a Wardancer that’s just lept. He could have just blocked someone and has followed up. If it’s your opponent’s turn and he’s performing an action, you can shadow it. Again, this wrests control away from your opponent. You can get pieces up in his nose, block off pathways, make him think twice about following up.

Lastly, a rather funny use of it is for following Frenzy pieces. If you think you’re going to get surfed, stick a Shadower nearby to follow the frenzy-surf piece. I’ve seen an assassin surf a Rat Ogre before after shadowing him, and have surfed a Minotaur myself after shadowing him.. Feels pretty good.

Fend

– Fend is another tasty little morsel of a skill. While its applications aren’t as numerous as Shadowing, it’s another reactive skill designed to get in the nose of your opponent, and can be fantastic when applied right. In case you’re unfamiliar with it, is basically means that you can choose whether your opponent has the option of following up when he blocks you. You don’t have to remain standing to use it. It’s again one of those skills that works best the more you have of it. So, here are the ways to utilise it:

1. Mind Games. There’s a lot of fun to be had at announcing to your opponent that you have elected not to use fend. “Why?” they ask, “what are they planning?”, you can hear them mutter. Even better when your opponent decides to not follow up, purely because you decided not to use fend.

2. Longevity. A player using fend is going to wind up in less tackle zones than one that isn’t. Less tackle zones = less blocks/dodges, less blocks/dodges means less armour rolls and less injuries. It’s also the only hard(ish) counter to ClawPOMB, as it stops the Piling On action. You still get ClawMB’d, and it doesn’t make a difference if they took the Both Down (or have Grab), but hey, it could be worse. It also outright cancels Frenzy, which is a nice bonus.

3. Buggering Up Your Opponent’s Plans. This is the most important use. A player that has not been followed up is free to run away next turn (obviously provided he isn’t in any other tackle zones, and hasn’t been killed!). That’s potentially a saved dodge roll. They’re also further away from whatever big nasty brute punched them, and the further you are the better. It’s much tricker to blitz a gap and run a piece through if you’re potentially being fended.

It’s a great meatbag skill to stick on the LoS. The best way to advance players if you’re a slow, grindy team like Orcs or Dwarves is to punch people down and follow up, so you don’t have to make the dodge rolls. Fend keeps them right where they are.