This article is out of date as of October 2022 and the release of the new Amazons rules. Click here for the current Amazons Starting Rosters!

Amazon’s aren’t quite in BB2020 yet, in fact, they never made it into BB2016 either and are currently only available on the Teams of Legend sheet very kindly provided by GW. They are, however, a pretty popular team and one that tends to do very well in the early stages of a League thanks to Dodge being everywhere and a fair amount of Block! They have typical Human stats alongside AV8+, which makes for an interesting team that can hit and move the ball at an ok pace. There are no real “standout” players, everyone just does their jobs well and for a Blood Bowl team that’s often more than enough. the Koka Kalim Blitzers however, can get pretty scary with their Strength access and even though they’re only S3, they’ll soon get plenty of Guard to make up for it.

The Teams of Legend puts them in at Tier 1 which I’d be inclined to agree with. They are, arguably, the best team at low TV by being frustratingly hard to put down, with Dodge more than making up for AV8+. Pass & Catch means they can play a pretty safe short game and as mentioned, their Blitzers can do some serious work. They’re also pretty cheap overall, so even when the losses stack up, replacements are easy to acquire and with Dodge built-in, you already gain a pretty effective piece for the cost.

Unfortunately, it’s the latter stages and High TV where these ladies struggle. Tackle is their BANE, making their AG3+ Dodge far less reliable and their AV8+ very, very present. These are one of the few teams that have a hard counter in Dwarves, who if you speak to any Amazon coach, will often just write off those games as a loss and just do their best to minimise casualties for the next match.

In terms of the Amazon Starting Rosters, well there’s not really much in the way of variety. Unlike some teams, they don’t have expensive star players you need to try and fit in, so really it’s about how many players you want and how many rerolls you like. Obviously, the new cost changes will affect things but, most Amazon teams will probably be fairly similar.

We will, of course, be going through this below but first, we gotta check out the differences between the Amazons you know and love in Blood Bowl 2/2016, to the new, fresh out the box rules!

Tribal Linemwomen: Same cost, PA4+ is a little better than expected too!
Eagle Warrior Throwers: Up 5k with a PA of 3+. Not bad as they’re not really going for much more than Quick Passes anyway.
Piranha Warrior Catchers: Up 5k, nothing else to see really. PA of 5+ is typical of what we’re seeing for Catcher types.
Koka Kalim Blitzers: No change, PA of 5+ is fairly inconsequential.
ReRolls: Same cost.

Seems about on par with what we’ve seen in the new book!

DOOOODGE!, 3 ReRolls | TV1000 Amazon Starting Rosters:

I’m not saying all these little 5k increases across the new edition have been painful for getting to an even 1000k team…. but it’s been PAINFUL!

Anyway… in the old days you used to be able to get 4 Rerolls, an Apo and a nicely rounded full team of 11 for your one million gold, but with the extra 5k on the Catchers & Throwers, well, that build will have you at 10k too many. So instead I’ve adjusted things slightly by changing one of the Linewomen into a Catcher. Amazon Catchers aren’t face-paced scorers like those on Elven or even Human teams, instead, they’re more of a short-ranged receiver who dips in and out of play, so doing a simple swap here for an extra skill is fine. Having two means you can have them on either side of the pitch, meaning you can threaten both flanks with a Quick Pass or Hand Off.

You’ll always want all four Blitzers, Blodge is ridiculous especially during the early stages of the league and they give you some fine hitting pieces who won’t go down easily unless there’s ample Tackle on the field. The Thrower is there as a runner more than a typical passer, holding onto the ball while the Blitzers make space and Catchers provide support and get into threatening positions. You’re not going to want to do more than a Quick Pass with these until they get a few skills due to PA3+.

3 ReRolls is also fine, ideally, you’ll want to get some Touchdowns with your Blitzers during the first few games so you’ll need them for when they try to catch a Quick Pass or Hand Off, as well as when your Thrower or a Blitzer tries to pick up the ball. The Apothecary feels mandatory as well, particularly with AV8+ and what seems a bigger chance of serious injures with the new Casualty Table.

But I wanted Four!, 4 ReRolls | TV1000 Amazon Starting Rosters:

If you do really need four ReRolls, this is the one you’ll want. The Extra Catcher & Thrower have been downgraded to Linewomen, but I don’t think you’ll be missing them too much. I’d keep the Catcher over the Thrower as having someone to ReRoll a Hand Off is far safer than just having Pass on it’s own.

With this team, you’ll probably want to use a Linewoman as your runner, who then either Hands Off to a Blitzer or Catcher depending on who’s available. As mentioned before, keeping all 4 Blitzers is a must due to how good they are and I’ve kept the Apo for safety.

With four ReRolls, you have a little bit more leeway now and can potentially pull off some fancier plays. With Team ReRolls no longer limited to once per turn, you could in theory use a number of them to push the ball much further up the pitch than Amazons could normally do with a couple of extra Rushes one would not normally make. It’s risky, but that extra RR could come in a pinch for a last-minute TD.

Amazon Starting Rosters, Conclusion:

There’s not much variety currently in the Amazon teams, for the most part, it’s going to be down to how many RR’s you want and then adding or removing Throwers/Catchers depending on what you need. The Blitzers are the main attraction here, so I’d never take less than four and the Apothecary is basically mandatory. Hopefully, we’ll see some fun updates to the team once their plastic kit is out, it might be a while until then but if you have an old team or they get added as they are to BB3, these builds might help you get started!

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this look at the Amazon Starting Rosters, we’re nearly done with our 2020 guides, so check them out, if you haven’t already. With the release of Season Two now, there’s never been a better time to get into the game and brush up on your team builds for those new leagues!