Blood Bowl PlayBook

by Ian Williams (Games Workshop)

For as long anyone can remember, kicking a player when he is down has been an integral part of the game. In fact, many Blood Bowl players would happily stamp on their own mother, let alone a dazed star holding his bits, if they thought it gave them an advantage. Even the daftest Goblin knows that a well-timed kick can win the adulation of the crowd and maybe even the game!

by AFK_Eagle (FUMMBL)

Humans are the great all-rounders of Blood Bowl; depending on their opposition, they can run the ball, pass it, or stomp some heads! This can even happen halfway through a drive, when a change of tactics is needed. They started off as the average Blood Bowl roster, but recently introduced new races have pushed them more towards the light-weight end of the spectrum.

by Martin (Paradigm Central)

But before we start, Tricksta, the roster you sent to the list, is that a starting roster? I see no skills gained, but yet you have gotten an awful lot for your buck!

by Coach Blacknife with Mark Roberts (Coach Blacknife's Dugout)

The most basic of all Blood Bowl teams, the Humans get runners, passers and catchers combined with decent speeds and access to the right skill tables at the right times. Reputidly one of the easiest teams to Coach, this team can be very forgiving of early upsets and bounce back remarkably.

While not as specialised as other teams, Humans can provide their own challenge for league play as you will find it difficult to win against experienced Coaches. Oh, and they come free in the box!

by Simon Danielsson (Paradigm Central)

So, you’re thinking about playing Dwarves? Good Choise. They are IMO the best basherteam around (Orcs come close though). This is the story of how I built my very successful Dwarven team Zeus Slayers. It was used in a No Starplayers (except Secret Weapons), No Wizard (i.e. no Alchemist) league.

by Paul Gegg (Games Workshop)

It’s late in the match, the opposing star player is looking for a last-second game-winning touchdown and your fans are already drifting off to get drunk. But then one of your players somehow fashions a block on the ball-carrier and the ball squirms loose – another player picks it up by his fingertips and launches a hopeful pass into opposition territory – your marked catcher pulls it down, dodges out and dances into the Endzone for the winning score. Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat – is there a better feeling? This end to end play is beyond most teams but with the awesome Skaven, it isn’t too uncommon. Sometimes they really can achieve the seemingly impossible.

by Andy Meechan, with Harald Hedlund (Blood Bowl Home of @rnholm)

Ask anyone to name the worst team in Blood Bowl and Chaos Dwarf isn’t far from their lips. This doesn’t sound unreasonable for a team where it’s best players on par with the Dwarf Longbeards and it’s Linemen are notoriously stupid. Welcome then to the tactics you need to make your opponents shut up and take notice of you Big Hats and learn that the Hobgoblins are hardly notoriously stupid. Dangerously stupid perhaps…

Prepare to be enlightened.

by James Stewart (Games Workshop)

In this article veteran Blood Bowl coach James Stewart lays down methods for leading your Ogre team to victory on
the pitch, including team design, tactics, flying Goblins, and… philosophy?

by Coach Blacknife, Dr Pestilance, Coach Bubonic Plaguers, with help from Nigel Buckle (Blood Bowl Home of @rnholm)

Skaven are an uneasy blend of low armour and very fast players. The Wood Elves have an advantage in that all of their players are more agile – which balances the low armour; the Skaven have to rely on their low cost to keep them supplied with plentiful replacements.(Which seems appropriate for rodents really.)

The Skaven are fast, but they break easily. Actually it’s remarkable as to just how fast these rats can run – this can infuriate your opponent if they’re not used to it. A good thing too, as it can throw them off their gameplay!

by Sigurd G (Blood Bowl Home of @rnholm)

Overall, the Dark Elves start out as a fairly lowpowered team. Their movement is generally insignifficant, but not to scoff at either. Their AV of 8 allows the to get stuck in and survive a few punches. They lack high-speed catchers, and they are not going to win any fist-fights.