As our second Campaign of GRUMBBL fast approaches, we’ve had an influx of new players, not just to the league itself, but also to the game! For a while, we’ve wanted to create some Blood Bowl Beginners Tips that quickly go over some basics that a coach should be thinking about when they’re playing their games. This guide does assume a level of familiarity with the rules and mechanics of Blood Bowl but aims to give some tips and tricks a new coach can follow and help up their game and get some wins under their belt. There are probably many more than the below to think about, and we urge you to comment at the bottom on anything you think we’ve missed out.

So then, let’s get into GRUMBBL’s Blood Bowl Beginner Tips

Stand Your Players Up!

It cannot be overstated how important it is to do this. While on the floor, your players are utterly useless as they provide no assists, tackle zones or alternative targets for your opponent. Something I’ve seen countless times (and I still make this mistake!) is doing a bunch of actions before standing up my players, failing said actions, then watching my opponent’s players go exactly where they need to go without hindrance, overrunning my lines and putting my team way out of position. There will, of course, be times when you want to do something beforehand, but as a general rule, get your guys up first, particularly your valuable players (Blitzers, Catchers, etc) as they may become a tasty foul target should a Turnover occur.

I’ll put a note in for “Jump Up” as well. Get your regular guys on their feet first, then consider your Jump Up players next as you’ll often need to spend a bit more considering what you want them to do. If you’re blocking from the ground, make sure it’s a 2 die first before committing, if not, just stand them up without blocking and move onto the next player.

Make your non-dice roll actions first!

If you’ve ever watched a Guide video or read other posts, you’ll have absolutely seen this as one of the Blood Bowl beginner tips. The reason being is Blood Bowl is, at its core, a risk management game and moving or standing up are entirely risk-free! Of course, when we say move, we mean without dodging or making a Rush/GFI as those require making those fickle dice rolls. The less dice you roll, the less chance of failure!

Block Order

In general, the order of Blocks should go as follows:

3 Dice with Block
3 Dice
2 Dice with Block
2 Dice
1 Dice with Block
1 Dice

You’ll see that order it most other guides as well because it’s right! In the average game, you’ll mostly see 2 Die Blocks anyway so make sure you do the ones with Block first, for the simple reason is it’s both harder to fail and you have more chance of succeeding. Consider as well if you really need to make the Block, sometimes just having a man in the way is a better option than attempting another dice roll, particularly when it comes to single dice rolls. When it comes to Wrestle, it’s up to you, you just need to consider whether potentially having a man on the floor is going to be detrimental or not, although of course dragging an opponents Block piece down can provide space for your players to get through.

A lot of newer players will also be tempted to make 1 die blocks, it’s a bit of signal to more experienced players they’re against a beginner when they start making lots of them. Do them last, if at all and only when you have block/wrestle and getting the opposing player is vital.

As for uphill dice or “Red Dice” as we call it when you’re hitting someone stronger than you, as a Beginner, I’d try to avoid them entirely. The only time you should be making these is when it’s a last-ditch attempt to prevent a score. As you get better at the game you’ll see times when an uphill block isn’t a bad call to make, but even then you should only ever make them with you have Block/Wrestle, when failure of the block isn’t going to hurt you and when a Success is very beneficial.

Keep a Man Back

One thing I’ve learned in my time playing this game is the importance of a “Safety” or “Sweeper” player. The best ones are often very fast and are well skilled at dislodging the ball, (Frenzy, Wrestle, Strip Ball, Grab, Tackle, Horns, Leap) so that when a Ball Carrier threatens the score, the player is able to get in easily for last-ditch defence. It’s also a player that your opponent has to consider when moving into an attacking position, so there are some mind-games going on with a player like this as well.

Even early on, when you may not have these skills yet, just someone in the backline who can respond to scoring threats is very valuable. Players like Wardancers, Witch Elves and Werewolves are perfect for this early on, even without any level-ups. I’d even consider players like Ulfenwerfers, Troll Slayers and bog-standard Blitzers (of all kinds) as good safeties as well if you keep an eye on their positioning.

Don’t Always Follow Up

As a beginner, there can be a temptation to always follow up on a block and keep the fight going. However, sometimes it’s best to play a bit more cautiously and keep your line solid. Yes, blocking is fun, but remember that by following up you’re often allowing your opponent to hit you back, which could be a removal.

When following up consider the following:

• Will my opponent be able to hit me next turn (either by failing to knock the player down, following into a square next to an opposing player, or something like Jump Up
• Will I create a gap in my lines that an opposing player can easily get through? (either by giving up a free square, or easy dodges)
• Will I lose an assist by following up? (by following into a square no longer adjacent to an opposing player you can still block)
• Am I overcommitting to a particular side or moving too far up the pitch (particularly when defending)
• Will following up allow put my ball carrier in danger (when attacking)
• Will I put my player in a position to be surfed (by following into a square adjacent to the side-lines, or one square away in the case of frenzy.)

Of course, following up can, of course, be helpful and certainly adds some pressure to your opponent, but do consider it and don’t just blindly follow up all the time.

Consider the worst-case scenario

A lot of coaches, particularly experienced ones, will have a mindset of “always assume failure”. While I think it’s a fair one to have, I think it’s a little bit negative and can take the fun away while also discouraging risky, exciting plays. However, you should absolutely be thinking about what could happen should an action fail. As we said, Blood Bowl is a risk-management game and you’re bound to fail even the safest of actions. When doing anything, consider what could happen if you fail and make a plan just in case.

This could be the aforementioned safety players, keeping players around the ball in case you fail a pickup, creating a screen around your thrower in case they fumble the pass, making sure players are not next to the sidelines. Rather than thinking “this is going to fail”, make it more “I have X in case it does fail”. It’s a bit like Chess where you keep a piece around to discourage your opponent from taking another one of yours.

There’s also nothing wrong with hoping for success and I love players who get excited about making risky rolls, but a good player will always have a backup plan.

Keep an eye on the clock

This is something I’ve seen quite a bit when watching games, is players will be overly cautious and spend far too much time in their own half. Any defence is hard to crack in this game, some harder than others, but you need to keep the momentum up and push forwards. I’ve seen so many games where players will work themselves into position when they need to make risky plays to score, even if their opponent hasn’t been putting up much of a defence, so keep an eye on how many turns and plan ahead.

Conversely, it’s a great idea to slow your opponent down and force them into those risky plays. You don’t always need to so steal the ball to stop the score (see the Grand Final of Season 3 as a great example of that).

Also, keep an eye on the turn timer! We have 2 minutes here at GRUMBBL and at times they’ll feel like the fasted 2 minutes you’ll have ever experienced.

Don’t GFI/Rush

… unless it’s ABSOLUTELY necessary.

One of the biggest causes of turnovers are the infamous Go For It’s (or Rush as it’s called in the new edition). Honestly, as a beginner, avoid these like the plague because failing one will do more harm than good. Players with the Sure Feet skill (ReRoll a GFI/Rush) are very rare, to begin with, and it’s not a common skill when levelling up a player either, so failed rolls will often require a Team ReRoll to make a second attempt. These rolls utterly CONSUME ReRolls so honestly, unless you really need to make one, don’t!

Have fun and keep positive!

Blood Bowl can be a frustrating game and I’ve seen many a beginner drop it, just due to the very nature of the beast. The best thing to do is find yourself a beginner-friendly league (like us!) and watch the other coaches and ask questions about the game. If you’re having a bad game or a bad run of games, ask someone to have a look at your replays and they may give you some advice on how to improve or point out some plays that were inherently risky and you should avoid from now on. Take a break if you find yourself getting a bit worked up and remember that it’s not your opponent’s fault if you get some bad dice, but also don’t be too harsh on yourself and remember that we’re all here to enjoy the game together!

Early on, don’t get too hung up on winning and instead, focus on getting the basics right consistently, you’ll find that by doing that you’ll more often than not come out on top of similarly skilled opponents… and better ones to be fair! Remember that the more dice you roll, the more likely you’ll fail, so keep that in mind at all times, but also make your opponent roll lot’s of dice as it means they might fail as well!

Plan for the worst but hope for the best!

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I hope these Blood Bowl Beginners Tips & Tricks were helpful. If you think we’ve missed anything comment below or ping us a message in Discord, we can always make more of these!

If you didn’t know already, Season 4 is starting soon and we’re accepting new players into the fold, whether you’re a fresh-faced rookie or a grizzled veteran, we’d love to have you!