On the heels of the Norse, it’s the turn of the Amazons to get an update for Blood Bowl 2020 (or Season Two if you prefer!) and thus time for the Amazon Starting Rosters 2022 edition.

There have been some pretty major changes to the team, arguably one of the biggest changes alongside Bretonnians to Nobility (if you count that, which I do!) with the Catchers replaced by the Blockers and the Blitzers having a pretty impactful makeover as well. Overall they’re still the Dodge Spam, AV8+ human statline team we all know and love hate, but they’ve picked up a bit of strength and some speed too with the changes. You’re still gonna die horribly to Dwarfs though… even with those changes.

So, like with the other teams, we’ll go through the adjustments first before diving into the Amazon Team Builds. We’ll be discussing the changes as well in the future and what it means for the team in a separate article, as well as the Player Builds when we get to them.

So Amazon Blood Bowl changes:

Eagle Warrior Linewomen – No changes here, still the same Amazonian statline we’re all familiar with.
Piranha Warrior Blitzers – Big changes, now MV7 and start with Jump Up and Hit & Run (new skill) instead of Block. Also 0-2 as opposed to 0-4.
Python Warrior Throwers – 5k more gets you On the Ball & Safe Pass
Jaguar Warrior Blockers – Gone are the Catchers, behold the Blockers! ST4 with Defensive (YES!) and AV9+
ReRolls – 60k now!
If you want the complete list of players, go here!

Some pretty major changes overall. It’s a bit weird to see a dedicated throwing piece after ditching the Catchers, especially as they’re still PA3+ but I suppose it’s not out of the ordinary. On the Ball makes them more of a reactionary piece than normal, so perhaps they envision some sort of defensive thrower that recovers and throws into space for a Blitzer to pick up later? Who knows, we’ll talk more about it in another post.

I think a lot of Amazon players are sad to see Blitzers lose Block, the team has gone down from 4 Blodgers to 0 which is a big hit for sure and hurts their survivability, but I think it gives the players a bit more flexibility going forward with how you build them and the increased movement is very welcome on an average speed team. Hit & Run will be interesting to see how it performs, although I think I’d of preferred them to keep Block instead, then maybe sacrifice the extra two Blitzers for MV7 and JU.

The Blockers, however, I’m in love with. It provides some much-needed Strength and Armour to the team and I’m so happy to see a player start with Defensive which was one of my favourite additions even if it’s not the most competitive skill to pick. They’re still AG3+ dodge too, which means they’re still as agile as ever, then as fast and as strong as Saurus. Again it’s a shame you only get two, bringing the total Amazon positionals down from potentially 8 to only 6, but these stronk ladies are going to be seen in every team and very welcome indeed, even at the sacrifice of the catchers.

I also love the new models. I know I keep saying that but I do (although seems I’m in the minority here… oh well!). In good news too, you can also build the entire team with one box, hurrah!

With that, let’s get to the builds!

Max Positionals, 3 ReRolls | TV1000 Amazon Starting Rosters 2022:

With so few positionals, there’s not going to be huge amount of variance outside of how many throwers and Linewomen you’re going to take. As a spoiler alert, every build will and should have both Blockers & Blitzers, there’s just no reason not to take them unless you’re going for some sort of Linewoman spam build… which while fun will get old pretty quickly!

This build gets everyone and a nice three rerolls for 990k, giving you 10k to put towards an apothecary, or you can grab some dedicated fans. I’d definitely get the fans as Amazons have never been a big-scoring team, so you want to maximise the amount of cash the fans are giving you. This build also means you’ll be maximising the amount of time your positionals are earning their SPP, which is going to be important for getting Block on your Blitzers and Blockers as early as possible.

Going forward, a bench is always nice for Amazons as you’ll find yourself down a few players each game thanks to your low armour, especially when coming across Tackle teams. I’d grab an apothecary first for sure, your Blitzers and Blockers aren’t the cheapest to replace and seeing as you have so few of each, will be targeted by killer players pretty quickly and probably fouled too.

More ReRolls!, 4 ReRolls | TV1000 Amazon Starting Rosters 2022:

This build ditches the Throwers for two more Linewomen and another ReRoll. Without your 4 lots of Block, Both Downs are going to be a threat this season, so an extra ReRoll is going to seriously come in handy. I’m not convinced about the Throwers just yet and while they come with a bunch of skills for relatively little cost, I’m not sure how much value they bring to a team that no longer has any Catchers, so losing them isn’t a big deal for me. They’re not silly money, so it shouldn’t take you much longer than a couple of games to get one if you really wanted.

I feel like Amazons are going to benefit nicely from using multiple ReRolls per turn as well, so having four is going to give you a bit more flexibility and with their increased cost, getting one early days is always a bonus. Plus you have 10k for a Dedicated Fan which again, is absolutely worth picking up.

This would probably be the build I personally pick, looking to grab an Apothecary first followed by a Thrower provided I don’t need to replace a Blocker or Blitzer first.

Bit of a Bench!, 4 ReRolls | TV1000 Amazon Starting Rosters 2022:

Quite simply, trades a ReRoll for another Lineowman, giving you 12 players overall. It’s probably not a bad shout if you find yourself in a Tackle heavy league where a spare player will come in handy, plus you could be a little more liberal with your fouling if you find yourself a player up!

Amazon BB2020 Starting Rosters, Conclusion:

Overall the changes are certainly interesting and I think everyone is going to have a different opinion on them. I love the Blockers, even at only 0-2, I think they’re going to really help the team get over their lack of Strength and I have some fun ideas on how to build them! I’ve slowly come around to the fact, I think the Blitzers probably should have kept Block, maybe staying 0-2 but then keeping Jump Up and the MV7, but having said that I’m grateful for the flexibility in builds they now have, I don’t think we’ll just see a wall of Block/Dodge/Guard/Stand Firm anymore which while effective, was boring. I’m still not sold on the Throwers, I think some serious considerations about how to use and build them are in order, which of course we’ll get to in their Player Builds and our discussion about them too.

If you want to see more of our builds, make sure to check them out as well as our player builds, of which the Amazon ones will be coming soon!