Chaos Minotaur Overview: #
Minotaurs make a fantastic addition to a Chaos team and can be used in a couple of different ways. There are two schools of thought about when to take them though. Some coaches like to start the team with them in order to give them more games to try and get them developed sooner. The other school of thought is to get them later on to avoid the issues of unreliability at the start and to spend their high value on getting more rerolls from the start. Each method has its own benefits and it is down to your own preference which you choose to do.
As they are on a Chaos team, Minotaurs get the advantage that they can take mutations on normal rolls, as well as the standard strength skills all big guys have access to. This ability is what gives you the flexibility to build the Minotaur in ways that other big guys don’t usually have open to them.
Minotaur RoadBlock #
This Minotaur Build focuses on trying to hold up the opposition players. For this Tentacles is fantastic, combined with the high strength of a Big Guy you can prevent opposing players from getting away, especially useful weaker, agile opposition. Next up you want to take Stand Firm, as this prevents the opposing team from blocking your Minotaur away from the targets he is tying up. These two skills are great for keeping opposing players next to you in order to have targets to block every turn, which goes some way to negate the Wild Animal trait. It will also help in keeping players next to your Warriors to give them targets to block as well. Hopefully by the third skill you would have got a double roll so you can get Block, to both keep him on his feet more and getting more knock downs as well to aid development. The other option is Pro, which can help against Wild Animal and also make Tentacles perform a bit better, also like all Loner players, Pro will save on rerolls as well.
If you haven’t got a doubles at this point though there are still other useful skills to take. Which one is down to personal preference and I would suggest to consider which would have given the most help in previous games to how you have been utilising him in them. Guard will help to keeping the strength in your favour, especially against the other strong and/or Guard heavy teams. Break Tackle will stop you getting tied down by the other team and let you tie up as many targets as possible with your Tentacles. One thing to consider though is that for a move action, Wild Animal requires you to roll a 4+, which may just result in a lost action.
Stat Increases as usual would leave you hoping to get +ST, this will make Tentacles even more potent, make you harder to hit and also help with getting three dice blocks, which will help avoid turnovers. Some coaches will say to use the doubles to take Block instead of +ST and it certainly has its merits. Minotaurs don’t really make good use of +AG so I would skip that for a skill and keeping TV down. For +MV or +AV, on doubles I would take Block or Pro, otherwise you could consider either. +MV will let you get around the pitch better and help keep targets you want to mark in range, or +AV will keep you more survivable, as AV8 is a bit low for a player in the thick of things. There would be nothing wrong with skipping either and just taking a skill instead though and I would certainly consider that.
Blitzing/Killer Minotaur: #
- Normal: Juggernaut/Claw, Stand Firm/Break Tackle/Piling On
- Doubles: Block, Pro, Jump Up
- Stat Increases: +ST, +MV/+AV
Whilst the other build counters Wild Animal in trying to give you someone to Block every turn, this build does it by using the Minotaur to Blitz each turn. Of course you may need to use your Blitz elsewhere though so there is merit in trying to keep options to block as well. There are two ways to start in my opinion, I lean towards Juggernaut personally though. This will let you turn both down results into a pushback, which will avoid turnovers and make use of Frenzy to get that second hit in. It will also keep him on his feet by ignoring Wrestle (an added bonus if you later or already have Block) and keep you next to players by countering Fend as well. The other method is to start with Claw, combined with Mighty Blow this is a great combo for removing players and generating casualty SPP. This will speed up development but will give you more turnovers, which ever you pick first I would take the other second unless you roll a double. If you get Block first then Claw second will be less of a turnover issue. As the Minotaur has Horns as well, always try and get an assist against ST3 players as you can get three dice blitzes instead of two. This will lower the turnover risk and increase the knock down percentage as well.
The next skill will be more down to what role you want to use him for within the team. If you want to use him to try and clear players off the pitch, then Piling On will really let you get players off the pitch. Be wary though of getting fouled by the other team (which will happen a lot if you get this build) as you do only have AV8. You could also get Jump Up on a double roll if you want to push the risk reward boundary. If you tend to go for a lot of crowd pushes then Stand Firm would be a great choice for those times you end up standing on the sideline, like the other build you can also not be pushed off opposing players, leaving blocks open. Break Tackle will let you blitz targets you prefer, rather than the guy you start the turn next to. This build doesn’t suffer with Break Tackle like the other as you will be blitzing with this guy quite a lot and not have to worry about Wild Animal as much.
Stat wise, as usual +ST is great, you can then get three dice blitzes against ST3 players by yourself if there are no assists either side. Again you may want to consider Block as it is a double, though with Juggernaut the risk isn’t as great and I like the +ST. +MV will give you a greater range and avoid some go for its that you would be forced to make with Frenzy on blitzes. If you went the Piling on route then you may want to take the +AV to help against fouls. Again though with either strongly consider Block or Pro if you rolled double five.
Chaos Minotaur Summary: #
As always with Big Guys you need to be careful about their negative traits and the Loner skill when doing any action with them. Use them to compliment the rest of your team and try not to use them as the main focal point as you will get bitten by their reliability. There are also other builds you could consider if you wanted as well. If you get +AG first skill roll for example, you could go down the unusual route of making an agile Minotaur going with Two Heads and Extra Arms afterwards. A ST5 ball carrier could be great fun and be a real headache for your opponents. As with any other Chaos player they can be made in quite a varying number of ways and there is no right or wrong way to go.
