Blood Bowl Teams Overview

This Guide will explain the strengths and weaknesses of each team in blood bowl, Please note Info was taken from bbtactics.com and made mainly by Coach.

Amazon Teams

Overview:

The Amazon team has one great and apparent advantage over most teams and that is that they all start with the Dodge skill. This gives them some versatility with regards to moving players around as well as making them harder to knock over. They also start with four players who come with the Block and Dodge combination. These four Blitzers also have access to strength skills and can be easily loaded up to become very troublesome for teams to deal with. The rest of the team can also be give Block easily and a whole team of Block and Dodge will most often be standing on their feet after being blocked.

It isn’t all good though and some teams, most notably Dwarfs, who have a lot of Tackle skills can negate your biggest advantage. The players are all fragile with AV7 when they do go down as well. Every player has an average stat line, they aren’t fast, they aren’t agile and they aren’t strong. Though they aren’t slow, weak or terrible at handling the ball either. Whilst all your players do have the Dodge skill, that doesn’t mean it is best to do as many dodges as possible, with AG3 you will soon realise there may be better ways forward with this team.

For beginners they make quite a good team, they aren’t really poor in any one area and with the team being rather cheap overall you can afford quite a few players with skills and have a fair few rerolls as well. They can be fairly forgiving in that respect and as they are harder to knock over than most teams, most of them time they will have players for the coach to utilise. That being said leagues with lots of Dwarf and Chaos Dwarf teams may prove to make Amazons a tricky proposition.


Strengths:

Everyone has Dodge
Fairly Cheap Players
Fairly Cheap Rerolls

Weaknesses:

Low armour
Average Stats on Everyone

Chaos Dwarf Teams (Chaos Edition Only)

Overview:

Chaos Dwarfs whilst they prefer the running game like their counterparts, the Dwarfs, they have a somewhat different approach in how they execute it. They have stronger players than the Dwarfs and some much less skilled, fragile and cheaper players as well. This mix makes them more like Undead, though they have more starting skills and more high armoured players as well. The Bull Centaurs are one of the best players in the game, strong, high armoured and can move a fair distance. This makes them great blitzers, the Minotaur is also great at blitzing, both able to make more space to move a cage and at attacking the opposing team. The cheap and somewhat dispensable Hobgoblins are great for carrying the ball as well as fouling and they round the team off nicely.

The drawbacks for the Chaos Dwarfs are that the Hobgoblins are fragile and start with no skills, the Centaurs don’t start with any blocking skills and low agility, the Chaos Dwarfs themselves are slow and have low agility and the Minotaur can be unpredictable and unreliable. Their rerolls are also very expensive and with no ball handling skills you really don’t want to do more with the ball than pick it up and hopefully just run the length of the pitch with that same player to score. If you find yourself needing to start doing lots of dodges or passing then you are going to end up in trouble.

I think they make a great team for a beginner, they have a good mix of players who can dish it out and take it. They can be somewhat forgiving to mistakes, Centaurs normally get blocks in their favour, the Dwarfs have block and tackle and the Hobgoblins can move the ball about if you have rerolls to hand. High armoured players and cheap players won’t leave you outnumbered too often as well.

Strengths:

High Armour
Bull Centaurs
Cheap disposable players

Weaknesses:

Expensive Rerolls
Low overall Agility
Not that fast

Chaos Teams

Overview:

Chaos teams have the benefit of being the most agile of the bashing teams. Their chaos warriors have high strength yet can still dodge and ball handle as well as the average player. The beastmen benefit with horns and can blitz with good strength. The fact there are a lot of them on the pitch means you can’t avoid them either.

The trouble with chaos is that their players aren’t that cheap, their rerolls are very expensive and they don’t start with any skills. Early on a chaos team can be very hard to deal with as a result of all these factors. The other teams that have average agility across the board tend to start with ball handling skills to compensate. Chaos do not have that luxury, though they do have easy access to mutations on their players. These mutations allow you to convert the players into a specific roll easily. The whole team also has access to strength skills, so once you start to develop the team they can be built into one of the best in the game.

For beginners they really aren’t a good starting team. Expensive rerolls and no skills is very unforgiving and makes them really hard starting out. If you can last through this period though they are one of the best in the game once developed.

Strengths:

Strong
Easy mutation access
Very good when developed

Weaknesses:

Expensive players
Expensive rerolls
No starting skills

Dark Elf Teams

Overview:

Out of the four available Elf teams that you are able to play, Dark Elves are perhaps the most challenging. They favour a running play over the passing play that the other Elves will use more. They don’t have any catchers unlike the others though they are the only one who has the ability to start with four Blitzers. Coupled with the higher armour like the high elves, this gives them the best ability of the four should a fight develop. They also have Witch Elves, who whilst perhaps a little bit fragile, come with three great starting skills.

Dark Elves are the slowest of the four Elf teams and the lack of dedicated catchers does make it harder to build a team really great at passing. Their players are also not exactly cheap as is true of most Elven players. Some of their players can be tricky to use, the Assassins are unusal and Frenzy can get Witch Elves in trouble. The Dump Off Runner can off load the ball when hit, but does have low armour.

For a beginner team, Dark Elves are mentioned at the end of the rulebook as perhaps needing slightly more advanced skills to coach. This comes down to the pricey players and they don’t start with the passing ability that the other Elf teams do. The fact the Witch Elf also starts with frenzy and without block can lead beginner coaches to getting into trouble with them. They do present a slightly different feel compared to the other Elves and with AG4 they aren’t exactly terrible at moving the ball or dodging when needed.

Strengths:

Four AG4 Blitzers
Witch Elves
Agile

Weaknesses:

Expensive
Some Low armour players
Positionals that can be tricky to use

Dwarf Teams

Overview:

Dwarf teams are probably the most resiliant team in the game. Most of their team has very high armour and they have thick skulls which makes them harder to get off the pitch even if you do manage to break their armour. They also start with some good skills, most the team has block, they have a lot of tackle and the runners are good at picking up the ball. Dwarf teams also have the option of a deathroller which is the strongest peice in the game, though it tends to get sent off by the referree quite a lot!

It isn’t all good for dwarfs though, due to their diminutive stature, dwarf teams are very slow. They are also rather average in the strength department compared to other of the traditional bashing teams. To combat these weakenesses it is important to position your players well or you can quickly find yourself out of position and stranded in the wrong part of the pitch as faster teams run off. Dwarfs also benefit from sticking together to assist each other, also if you are close by to each other should the ball come loose, you should have a lot of players nearby to try and recover it.

For a beginner their slow movement and lack of ball handling skills may be tricky to deal with. The fact that they are hard to get off the pitch though should provide you with a full team most of the time. There are certainly easier options to start out with.

Strengths:

High armour
Thick skull
Start with lots of block and tackle
Cheap rerolls

Weaknesses:

Very slow
Lack good ball handlers

Elf Teams

Overview:

Elf teams are the cheapest of the four elven races that are available to play. Their biggest feather in their cap is their Catchers. They are by far the best Catcher in the game, being fast, average strength and starting with Nerves Of Steel. Their ability to catch a ball in heavy traffic makes the team very hard to defend against. The Catchers are also really good at getting interceptions if you place them well and this can help force the other team to play the ball where you would prefer. They don’t suffer from the low strength that other players of their type have. The Blitzers are also good and have a nice starting combination of skills which make them great at harassing the opposing ball carrier.

The bad news is the Blitzers and Catchers aren’t cheap and will get targeted. Though their Linemen are the cheapest of all the Elf teams but they do have low armour, so you don’t want to get involved in a brawl. The fact that the Catchers are so good at what they do, you may find they tend to hog all the SPP and you have to be careful about spreading the skills around the team.

For beginners their low armour can prove to be difficult for defending against certain teams and there may be games where you have few players on the pitch. However the ease at which they can score may counteract that at times. They are probably on par with the high elves, a bit more fragile at the trade of a more explosive offence.

Strengths:

Best Catchers in the game
Cheapest AG4 Players
High Agility

Weaknesses:

Low Armour
Expensive Positionals

Goblin Teams

Overview:

Goblin teams are one of the weakest and most challening teams to play. Their players are cheap, weak and break easily. Goblins do however enjoy the biggest access to secret weapons and you will often see them deploying players with things from a chainsaw to a pogo stick. They also have the ability to employ two troll players to help stiffen the team up on the line of scrimmage, as well as giving the threat of a one turn touchdown.

As mentioned, the goblins are weak, have low armour and break easier than most players if you penetrate that armour. Their secret weapon players that are often seen on the pitch, tend to get sent off and trolls aren’t reknown for being reliable. They are fun to play but they are also a challenging team as well. Goblin teams are also known for giving bribes to referees so they can keep their weapons on the pitch, though should this not work, they are cheap enough to be able to have a full bench of substitutes.

The fact that goblins by design are one of the hardest teams to use, they aren’t suited to a beginner unless they are happy enough to try the challenge and have fun with the diversity of the team.

Strengths:

Very cheap players
Access to lots of secret weapons
Can have two trolls
Dodge and Stunty

Weaknesses:

Low strength
Low armour
Fragile (stunty)
Unreliable players

Halfling Teams

Overview:

Halflings are the weakest and slowest of all the teams in the game. They are designed to be one of the most challenging races to use and they certainly fulfil that criteria. They can start with two of the strongest players in the game in the guise of Treemen, who at ST6 and AV10 can really hold their own. The teams often make use of a Halfling Master Chef as well, the cooking aroma can put off the other team and enhance the performance of the Halflings by stealing the other teams rerolls. Due to the poor ability of the Halfling players though, they are very cheap to purchase and you can have a lot of them, which is great because you probably will need them!

Onto the bad news and as I hinted at they are a slow team. The numerous Halflings are a nice slow MV5 and the two Treemen have a speedy MV2. Now seeing as you need to MV3 to even stand up, should a Treeman get knocked over you will have to roll to see if they can stand up. The Treemen may on occasion decide to Take Root and not move at all from the square they are in for the rest of the drive. Whilst they can block an area of the pitch off they aren’t hard to avoid either. The Halflings are also weak at ST2, and have a low armour of AV6, combined with being injured easier cause of Stunty, the opposing teams will not have much trouble in removing them from the field. Don’t expect to have a lot of them staying around for a long time. Though you may get one who turns out to be resilient and gain a few skills, this is more the exception than the norm.

As you may have guessed the Halflings are very much not a team for a beginner, unless you really like a challenge and don’t mind losing both games and players on a fairly regular basis. In the right hands though, they can be quite rewarding and it is great when you win games due to the extra humiliation you can heap onto the opposing team and their coach.

Strengths:

Very Cheap Players
Two Treemen
Can Steal Rerolls
Dodge & Stunty

Weaknesses:

Slow
Weak
Very Fragile

High Elf Teams

Overview:

High Elf teams usually adopt a passing strategy as they posess one of the best Throwers in the game, certainly the safest with the lowest chance of interception. They are also as well armoured as the Dark Elves and Human teams. They have access to four strong and fast Catchers backed up by a couple of harder hitting Blitzers. This set up means you can usually get one receiver free to accept a pass when on offence, and the speed and strength of the team is great for harrassing the opposing team when on defence. Of the four elven teams, they are the joint second fastest, joint first resiliance and the most reasonable cost across all positions.

Their disadvantages to the other teams is that they aren’t as fast or manouverable as the Wood Elves, don’t have as much hitting power as the Dark Elves and don’t have the cheap Linemen and excellent Catchers of the standard Elf teams. I’d say the High Elves are the most average of the four but the combination of players they have all work well as a team.

I’d recommend them as the best Elf team for a beginner though, their average armour and blend of starting skills without the players getting as costly as the other Elf sides means they can be the most forgiving. You can quickly skill up the Thrower and the Catchers and have a very good passing offence that can be hard to stop and will let you spread the ball around the pitch very quickly. In conbination with the speed of the Catchers you can get the ball away from the opponent in one turn if needed, or you can sit back deep and then bypass the oncoming players of the opposing team.

Strengths:

High Agility
Fast but not fragile
Safe passing game

Weaknesses:

Higher than average player costs
Not much hitting power

Human Teams

Overview:

Human teams are the standard Jack of all trades, master of none, when it comes to Blood Bowl (as they seem to be in most things to be fair). They are fairly fast but not the fastest. Can beat up the weaker teams but not the stronger ones. Can out pass the stronger teams but not the weaker ones. They have a fairly average costing on their players with a fairly average stat line, though they have the advantage of starting with a lot of skills and have access to all the main skill groups.

As a result this can make humans a bit tricky to play. You have to be very adaptive in your game plan during a match and change your tactics to best suit the opposition you are facing. If you try and out score the Skaven and Elven teams in a shootout, chances are they will out do you. If you try and out bash some of the harder hitting teams, your players stand a good chance of eating mud.

The flipside of course is that you are able to change the way you play during a game a lot easier than other teams. If you start off an offensive drive with a cage that falls to pieces, you have the skills and players to change to a passing play. If a passing play looks to be breaking down, you can also get by in a fight as well. All the starting skills that are available on the varied players all have their uses. The way to get the best from Humans is to learn how to get the best out of each player and the skills they posses.

I wouldn’t suggest they are a good team to start out learning the game with as they can’t really do a single strategy well. You will have to learn to play in a very flexible manner which may come slowly to new players as they get to grips with the rules as well. They are by no means a bad team though and there are certainly a far few worse teams to try and win with if you are new to the game. The benefit of starting out with humans is that you will have to try out different strategies and this perhaps will improve your overall game. If you want one of the more straight forward teams to start out with though, I recommend you look else where.

Strengths:

Fairly cheap
Lots of starting skills
Flexible playstyle

Weaknesses:

Average at everthing
Can be hard to coach

Khemri Teams

Overview:

Khemri teams are generally known by the fact they have four ST5 Mummies, which makes them very strong. They are the only team in the game where every single player regenerates, which makes then very resiliant, especially if they hide behind the Mummies. Cheap Skeletons also let you flesh the roster out which means they will rarely have to start a drive without the full eleven players.

The downsides to the Khemri team is the fact they are a little bit on the slow side but their biggest weakness is the low agility across the team as a whole. This means you really need to cage well, if the ball carrier gets isolated or the ball becomes loose the team may really struggle to recover it, let alone move it to the end zone for a touchdown. Rain is also something that the Khemri team does not want to see, this exaggerates their low agility disadvantage even more.

For beginners, the Khemri may prove really hard to coach because of their low agility. As even picking the ball up in the first place can prove futile, trying to do a hand off or a passing play, may frustrate to the point of wanting to quit. I would suggest to perhaps start with another team when you have a better grasp of the game mechanics and odds before progressing to coaching Khemri.

Strength:

Four ST5 Players
Every Player has Regenerate
Very Cheap Linemen

Weaknesses:

Expensive Reroll
Low Agility

Khorne Daemon Teams (Chaos Edition Only)

Overview:

Looking at the stats we see, much to the surprise of many, that Khorne Daemons isn't a particularly high-strength team (minimum of 10 ST3 players on the pitch), but it is surprisingly fast and maneuverable for a bashy team (universal MV6, minimum of 10 AG3 players on the pitch). Ignoring the big guy, stat-wise this team is most similar to a heavily armored amazon team. Also like the Amazons, you are a team that wants to hit stuff but needs assists to improve your reliability, lacking both high strength and the ubiquitous block of the Norse or Dwarf teams.

Similar to Chaos, this team boasts a very impressive blitz, since 7 of it's players blitz with an effective strength of 4 or more and, unlike Chaos, these blitzers all have the benefit of the juggernaut skill, making those blitzes even more reliable and better at moving their target around the pitch. And like Chaos, you're looking at a bunch of AG3 players with no ball handling skills and expensive re-rolls. While the Pit Fighters do have access to the Pass skills, you generally won't see much passing from this team, and every time the ball gets picked up or changes hands you should always try to have re-roll at the ready.

However unlike Chaos, KD doesn't cage exceptionally well. ST3 corners, with or without an abundance of guard, means you are likely to have a corner blitzed open, and widespread frenzy will make pushing the invaders out and re-forming the cage risky. Instead, plan on trying to screen the enemy away from your ball carrier, and using blitzes and/or AG3 dodges to escape further down the pitch. Like most of KD's strategies, anticipate your offensive involving a fair amount of planning unless you've managed to get a numerical advantage on the pitch.

For a beginner team, Knorne Daemons aren't a bad choice with there well rounded and strong players, great blitz and a focus on the less risky running game they can be great for learning. But not being able to cage effectively could cause some problems.

Strengths:

More Agile than most Basher Teams
Good at Blitzing
Best Big Guy

Weaknesses:

Weak Cage
Weak Passing

Lizardmen Teams

Overview:

Lizardmen teams have an unusual mix of speed, strength and agility. The Saurus players have high strength and speed, but they can’t dodge or handle the ball very well. The Skinks are very fast, can move about the pitch well, though are weak, low armoured and terrible as passing. The key to this team is to use the two player types to support each other. They have the ability to score quickly and the strength to hold off bashing teams and hit agile ones.

They suffer from the fact they have very little in regard to starting skills and the Saurus can be very slow to develop. If you don’t use them in combination well you may get into trouble. Should the other team be allowed to keep attacking the Skinks you have no chance to handle the ball. If you run the ball away from the protection of the Saurus they may get tied up and be unable to keep up.

For a beginner they can be quite tricky, not great at handling the ball and don’t have the skills for reliable blocking to compliment the strength. If you let the team get split up on the pitch the opposing team can pick on the Skinks.

Strengths:

Fast
Half the team is strong and high armoured
Dodge and Stunty

Weaknesses:

Half the team is weak and fragile (stunty)
Lacking good starting skills
Very poor at passing

Necromantic Teams

Overview:

Necromantic are the less strong more speedy version of the Undead team. They have immoveable Golems instead of Mummies and sacrifice two of the Ghouls for Werewolves. Both player types are great, the Golems can really tie up players and slow down cages as well as blocking paths against weaker teams. The Werewolves are more resilient than a Ghoul and are great Blitzers taking out players regardless of their armour.

Amongst all the more hard hitting teams, they are probably one of the worst at caging initially. They lack either the strength or the initial hitting skills that other teams of this type have. This may prove to be a challenge to deal with as perhaps their play style may involve more of a cross over to a faster running play than a more straight forward hitting style.

For beginners I don’t think they are the best team for the reasons outlined above. Along with the tricky skills the werewolves start with, I feel that they may prove somewhat too complex for a coach just starting out.

Strengths:

Lots of Regenerate
Cheap Linemen

Weaknesses:

No Ball Handling Skills
Expensive Rerolls

Norse Teams

Overview:

Norse teams are characterised by most of their players starting with the Block skill. This makes them pretty good out of the box and one of the more reliable teams for the blocking game. They have some great players who come with Frenzy meaning they can really open up holes in the defence and get a lot of knock downs.

The downside for Norse is their fairly low armour values. Whilst they tend to get knocked down less on the whole, they will break more often when they do go down. The teams also have no dedicated Catchers and average agility isn’t great for passing. The amount of Frenzy on the team can also be quite tricky to handle, having players dragged out of posistion or making dice rolls you would rather avoid.

For beginners they can be hit or miss, the amount of Block they have can be forgiven but a priority must be made to learn to utilise Frenzy and avoid its pitfalls. Should the team take a beating though, journymen Norse players make a great stand in. I quite like them as a beginner team but with the caveat regarding Frenzy.

Strengths:

Most Players have Block
Lots of Frenzy

Weaknesses:

Low Armour
Lots of Frenzy

Nurgle Teams

Overview:

Nurgle are more specialised version of the Chaos team with some more expensive versions of similar players but with some cheap injury prone Linemen. They start off with Regenerate on most of the player types as well as the useful combination of Foul Appearance and Distubing Presence. They are great at disrupting the passing game and are more resiliant then their Chaos counterparts. The team is slightly less strong overall only having access to four players with horns (though the difference is negligable) and the Warriors are less agile as well.

The cheap Linemen in the guise of Rotters however differentiate the teams even more. They are great as cheap fodder and for putting in fouls as they are pretty expendable. Rotters also allow you to have a fairly deep bench to keep a full compliment of eleven players at kick offs. You can’t really rely on them staying around for long though, with decay they suffer badly when injured and unlike the rest of the team they don’t have regenerate and the team can’t hire an apothecary.

For beginners I would look else where, they start with no ball handling skills, no proper blocking skills and have expensive rerolls. Some of the players are rather expensive apart from the Rotters which don’t really last long anyway. The team is fairly slow as well so moving the ball around could be problematic. The team does get better when you gain more skills but I wouldn’t recommend a slow starting team for a beginner coach.

Strengths:

Beast of Nurgle
Foul Appearance/Disturbing Presence
Regenerate

Weaknesses:

Expensive Rerolls
No Ball Handling Skills
Fairly Slow

Ogre Teams

Overview:

Ogre teams are one of the worst in the game. What they do have going for them though is the fact they can have a strong line of Ogre players. They can deal out damage and are very hard to get past if they remember what they are doing. The Snotling players are also very cheap (the cheapest in the game) so you can have a full roster of reserves which you will probably need to use.

The team is riddled with lots of disadvantages though. The Ogres all suffer from Bonehead which can make your plans go awry and your defence disappear. The Snotlings are very weak, poor at tackling and break very easily. The team has no ball handling or hitting skills to start with and moving the ball around can be problematic.

They are very much not a team for beginners, they have all kinds of disadvantages coupled with expensive rerolls and unreliable players makes it hard to do anything. Coaches really need to realise what they are dealing with and having a team that you will struggle to use isn’t the best way to learn the game.

Strengths:

Strong Ogres
Very Cheap Snotlings

Weaknesses:

Lots of Bonehead
Very Weak & Fragile Snotlings
Expensive Rerolls

Orc Teams

Overview:

Orcs are one of the toughest teams in the game. Most of the players come with high armour and with having some strong players makes it hard to get them off the pitch. Their access to cheap goblins and relatively low overall player costs combines well to mean an Orc team will rarely start a drive with less than the maximum eleven players.

They come with a fair range of starting skills, though they don’t have any real dedicated receivers. Their main strength relies on the ability to bash the other team and running the ball rather than using passing plays. Their high armour comes in useful for this strategy and they can start with four players who come with block alongside their four strength four players. There is also the ability to use the throw team mate combination of a troll and a goblin to score in one turn if need be.

Overall the Orc team is rather well rounded and the fact the players tend to stay on the pitch means that they make a fairly nice choice for a beginner team. They are fairly average when it comes to speed but hopefully outnumbering the opponent makes up for that. Also running the ball usually requires less dice rolls involving the ball so turnovers are easier to avoid.

Strengths:

Strong
High armour
Fairly cheap

Weaknesses:

Average speed
Weak as passing

Skaven Teams

Overview:

Skaven are the fastest team in the game and are also have quite cheap players. The Gutter Runners are by far their best players and can be a right handful for the opposing team to deal with. Skaven teams can also have mutations, though not as easily as chaos teams and these can be really useful. With the right skill combinations and a movement increase the Skaven have the ability to score in one turn with a player capable of moving half the length of the pitch. Their cheap players give means you can have a fairly deep bench to account for the inevitable injuries, or you can use disposable player to foul the other team.

Skaven however are rather fragile and apart from the Gutter Runners, they have quite average agility. So while most of the team is as fast as the Wood Elves, they don’t have the agilty to move like them. You will also find the Gutter Runners are frequently targeted for fouling by the opposition. Thankfully they are easy to skill up so don’t be too worried about losing them.

Skaven aren’t a bad team for beginners, the cheapness of the players means you can have some substitutes and scoring comes easy to Gutter Runners. You may not develop outstanding tactical understanding with them though and some games the team may get destroyed if the other team can get lots of blocks in.

Strengths:

Very Fast
Cheap
Mutation Access

Weaknesses:

Fragile
Can develop really one sided

Undead Teams

Overview:

Undead are one of the best teams in the game. They have a great mix of strong, fast, resiliant and cheap players. They have access to the strongest standard players of any starting team. Most of the team has the ability to regenerate allowing them to shrug off injuies and death! With cheap players to use for fouling or tieing up big guys, and the faster more agile Ghouls give the team a strong running game.

The bad news is the high cost of Rerolls, the Ghouls are fragile and have no regeneration or a team apothcary to keep them alive. They will often get targetted as the easiest players to get out of the game. They also aren’t that great at passing the ball, normally having no access to passing skills and you don’t really want to run ghouls off into the opposition half to be catching the ball.

For a beginner they are a great team, if not the best team, to start with. Strong, tough Mummies for hitting the other team and hiding your players behind, Zombies are cheap and fairly resiliant and the Wights and Ghouls give you some ball carrying ability. If you can keep the Ghouls safe and start with a few Rerolls, this is my recommended team to start with.

Strengths:

Great mix of players
Resilient
Great Beginner Team

Weaknesses:

Expensive Rerolls
Weak Passing game
Ghouls need to be protected

Underworld Teams (Chaos Edition Only)

Overview:

Underworld teams are a mixed race team combining Chaotic Goblins and Skaven, which makes for an interesting line up. Everyone on the team can get Mutations as normal skills and the players are fairly cheap. While none of the players are particularly great players, mutations will let you develop them in useful ways and let you co-ordinate the team well. Stunty players with mutations can really get some combos that can create issues for other teams for instance. The team also has the ability for one turn touchdowns using throw team mate, very much a high risk, high reward team in play style.

On paper though the disadvantages appear to out weigh the advantages. The team has low armour and low strength and can really suffer in games of attrition. They don’t have much in the way of core skills from the start and most of the team doesn’t even have access to general skills on normal rolls. Team rerolls are expensive and the Animosity between the races on the team can cause problems with ball handling.

Certainly one of the trickier teams to use and so perhaps not the best for a beginner. Animosity can get you into trouble at the worst times and the low strength and armour players won’t be that forgiving. If you are up for a challenge though they can be very entertaining and cause unexpected problems for opponents that other races can’t utilise.

Strengths:

Normal Mutation Access
Fairly Cheap Players
Unusual Player Builds

Weaknesses:

Low Armour and Strength
Animosity
Expensive Rerolls

Vampire Teams

Overview:

Vampires look really good at first glance and they have the potential to be one of the best players in the game. They are the only players who start with ST4 and AG4, couple that with Regenerate and Hypnotic Gaze and you can see why. These great players are backed up by cheap Thralls to flesh the team out. They are probably the best equiped team for breaking a cage, two Vampires working in tandem can usually get through to the ball carrier. Utilise Hypnotic Gaze well and you can really surprise the opposition.

Unfortunatly the Vampires are hindered by Bloodlust, this can make them really unpredictable and sometimes fatal to your own players. Neither of the player types start with any ball handling or blocking related skills as well. The team rerolls are also expensive and this team really needs them. The more Vampires you have on the pitch at a time the more unmanageable the team becomes.

They are very much not a team for beginners. They probably are one of the hardest teams to coach, that goes for experienced coaches as well. Vampires are capable of things other teams aren’t but they require a lot of planning and management to use successfully. I would highly recommend a rookie coach to start elsewhere as they are guarenteed frustration.

Strengths:

ST4 AG4 Vampires
Cheap Lineman
Hypnotic Gaze

Weaknesses:

Expensive Rerolls
Bloodlust
Lacking Skills

Wood Elf Teams

Overview:

Wood elves are the second fastest race in the game, combine that with their elven agility they are very good at moving the ball about the pitch. All the players can be a potential scoring threat and this is what makes them a dangerous opponent. They are also the only elven team that has access to a big guy player.

Of course it isn’t all good and the wood elf players tend to be quite fragile. They have low armour and their starting skills and stats are more orientated towards the ball rather than hitting the other team. The Treeman does a good job of soaking up some of the pressure and the players are agile enough to run away if needed. Their players are expensive however and you need to be careful with protecting them on the pitch. They also posses one of the best players in the game which is the Wardancer. The Wardancer comes with great starting skills and as a result they have a big target on them for the opposition.

As a beginner team their speed and agility can help get out of bad spots when it comes to handling the ball and scoring. However their high cost and fragility can leave you with few players left to use which can make it really tough to play. I would say that perhaps they aren’t the best team to start out with because of this.

Strengths:

Fast
Agile
Wardancers

Weaknesses:

Expensive
Fragile

[sporethumbsup]

@SOCKMONKEY yes bb1 and bb2 run the same game just different ui controls graphics etc gameplay is all the same and any guides made before bb2020 rules update will still apply

[SOCKMONKEY]

dose same play style for undead here also apply to bloodbowl2? my brother agreed to get me bloodbowl 2 and a dlc of my choice but i cant find any guides to bloodbowl 2 to know if its dlc undead are the same as described here for bloodbowl 1

[Dastzarn]

also i have a question i got this game last week and this guide has really helped alot but i was playing a norse team and they did this horn thing on all their players can someone please explain what this is

[Dastzarn]

dont mean to be a grammar freak just sayin :)

[Dastzarn]

also you mispelled khorne :)

[Dastzarn]

np m8

[Kris]

@Seargent Eagle Oh thanks I didn't see that

[Dastzarn]

Amazing guide also you mispelled ogre :)

[paolo.nesti.00]

Thanks for this guide.

[Berry]

Good writeup for beginners! I will direct friends here!