It’s been a bit longer than I planned, but part two is here! Now we’re having a look at which team suits one’s blood bowl coach experience, whether you’re a fresh-faced goblin with everything to prove, or a grizzled veteran with a slew of dead teams and thousands of touchdowns behind you. Which Blood Bowl being the way it is, each time provides it’s own unique challenges when it comes to how much you’ve played and your knowledge of the game. Not all teams are created equally, some are much easier to handle and are fairly forgiving, while others are difficult to manage and require an in-depth understanding of the mechanics to get the best of.

Here we’ll be splitting them into teams for New Players, Intermediate Players, Experienced Players and Veterans, which should hopefully give you an idea of what team to choose, based on your blood bowl coach experience. We probably won’t cover every single team in detail as this is a vaguer topic than the previous one, but I’ll mention what I think are the best teams for that experience bracket.

This is of course not to say that certainly, teams are only for certain levels, any team can be played at any level really, but when it comes to learning the game or trying a new challenge, some teams do that better than others. This isn’t a discussion (although I may do one in the future), of what teams are the best or most competitive, but rather what teams you might want to consider depending on where you think your experience roughly lies. 

New Players

Teams: Orcs, Humans, Dark Elves, Undead

Key Attributes: Lots of Skills, average or higher armour, few or no negative traits, forgiving nature.

Blood Bowl can be quite daunting to begin with, although the premise is simple there’s a lot of rules and little things one needs to remember, so a beginner needs a team that’s forgiving and easy to handle. In the world of Blood Bowl that means plenty of skills and players that won’t crumble after being hit by a stiff breeze.

Orcs are, in my opinion, probably the best beginner team. For a start they’re almost entirely AV9, meaning a new player won’t have their team slaughtered in the first half, as well as a good amount of block to begin with and four ST4 pieces that make for good roadblocks. Beginners probably won’t understand things like screens, so will tend to base their players by following up on lots of blocks, thus AV9 becomes important here for when they get hit back. They may also not quite understand assists, so Black Orcs are a good source of 2 die blocks, even if us more experienced coaches understand that they can be unreliable thanks to no starting skills. Speaking of, they also get access to the Orc Thrower, providing a reliable method of picking up the ball. Trolls & Goblins are a bit harder to manage but are certainly fun for a newbie to play around with, plus if they look up team builds online they’ll find that they’re missing most of the time anyway.

Undead as well provide plenty of tools for a new player to learn the game and have a good time. Mummies are the only big-guy to have no Negatrait, which compared to others make them reliable. They have cheap, disposable linemen that can be tossed into the meat grinder and take a hit thanks to AV8 or Thick Skull, and their Wights make for dependable blitzers. Ghouls are a little harder, but introduce a player to the more Agility focused style of game without committing fully to it. It also gets them to losing to key players on a regular basis, a very important lesson in my book!!

I’ve added Humans & Dark Elves here too, as both have an abundance of AV8, a good number of starting skills and will be far less punishing when it comes to the passing game thanks to Human Throwers/Catchers and the Elven AG4. The lack of Strength makes them a bit easier to hit, but AV8 is ok and can take a few punches at lower levels. Ogres and Witch Elves also provide an extra management challenge for those who are starting to get to grips with the game.

Intermediate Players

Teams: Amazons, Norse, Dwarves, Chaos Dwarves, Necromantic, High Elves, Skaven

Key Attributes:  Variety of different skills, Players who rely more so on skills, More emphasis on positioning 

These players will have learned the basics and may even be looking to participate in their first leagues and tournaments. So these teams are still a bit forgiving but require just that little bit more know-how. More specialised skills are introduced and a few “Star players” pop up.

I was originally going to add Dwarves to the first list, but while they’re reliable and can cause a lot of damage, even while just playing on autopilot, I feel that they can be the cause of a few bad habits. Mass Block is great, but I think you can become dependant on it and even overconfident, making single die blocks and thinking AV9 will save you from mistakes. At this level, positioning starts to become important and with their low-speed Dwarves can find themselves out manoeuvred fairly easily. There’s also Frenzy to worry about, which even more experiences coaches can find causes more harm than good at times. They are, however, incredibly resilient and thanks to a ton of block, very rarely go down. As mentioned they introduce slightly more advanced tactical decisions such as positioning and how to form an effective cage, as well as how to use skills like tackle and dauntless. A player of this level will also learn whether they love or hate dwarves, there is no in between!

Chaos Dwarves are much the same but have a little more to them with their Centaurs and Hobgolbins. They’re still a dependable bunch, but provide their own unique challenges at this level thanks to needing to protect your fragile hobs and learning how to get the best of your Centaurs. That said, they’re a bit easier to handle than regular dwarves as said Centaurs and Hobs are much better are recovering from bad positioning. 

Necro & High Elves also add a bit more nuance compare to their previously mentioned cousins. Necro add-in that volatile Frenzy we talked about (yes Witch elves have it but they can be excluded to begin with, not so many Werewolves!). High Elves as well are far more passing focused and I think are a good way to learn a throwing game in as safe a way as possible in Blood Bowl thanks to AG4 and the best throwers in the game. Again, both teams aren’t just going to fall over easily either, but lack a bit of block that Humans and DE’s provide.

Speaking of Block, Amazons & Norse provide lots of its….lots of it! Amazons, of course, are more set in the mass Dodge camp, but both teams provide, I think, a cool and different playstyle than that of regular humans. AV7 is its own beast to deal with and I think these teams are a good way of learning how to cope with it, especially with the team’s very aggressive and “in your face” playstyle despite their fragility. Compared to before where AV8/9 is a bit of a crutch, now it’s about learning how skills really work and where best to apply them and I think these teams are great tools for that.

I’ve chucked Skaven here as well rather than in the first level, as they require a bit of a tactical shift from simply playing whack-a-mole and moving the ball around a bit. AV7 is all over the place except for Blitzers, but now you get players that really turn games on their heads… Gutter Runners. There are very few players, I think, that do their job so well to the extent that these guys do, so I think Skaven will provide a great chance for an up and coming coach to get to grips with one of these types of player. There’s also the management of your fragile linemen, as they don’t have the starting survivability that Norse & Amazon’s do by comparison, yet you have far more scoring potential.

Experienced Players

Teams: Wood Elves, Pro Elves Chaos, Nurgle, Lizardmen, Bretonnia 

Key Attributes: Positioning is vital, Target Prioritisation, Good Formations, Few skills early on or less “valuable” skills

Lot’s of teams in this one! This is probably where the bulk of players (At least in GRUMBBL) are. Players who have a lot of games under their belt participated in leagues & tournaments and have a good knowledge of the game. They’re not experts but are more than capable of taking on any team and in this case, maybe looking for a new challenge.

Chaos & Nurgle are here, rather than in the middle, simply due to a lack of reliable starting skills and is pretty easy to work around at the start. There’s not block or mightly blow, so while Warriors are getting 2 die blocks, at this level you’ll be seeing more screens and cages, meaning those skills are far more important at the beginning. You’re going to have fewer chances to cause damage and players of this experience level will be more than capable of piloting teams even 2 or 3 players down to a victory. Nurgle has their own way of playing as well, being more about pitch control and frustrating the opponent compared to pure bash. Chaos are amazing and high TV’s, but at lower levels, they struggle to do the damage they need to do and their ball-handling is lacklustre. Therefore positioning and knowing when and who to hit is important, all things that come with time and practise.

Wood Elves are paper-thin, and if you’re in the habit of basing your players they’re going to die… a lot. But Wardancers are arguably the best players in the game, especially so with that higher level of play where they become utterly monstrous. Advanced screens and good passing/running play are paramount for victory and knowing which pieces to sacrifice to Nuffle in order to make those plays. The same goes for Pro Elves, who are very similar but lack Wardancers, instead, getting my personal favourite piece in their Blitzers and amazing Catchers. Both teams just need that bit more coaching experience compared to other elves, who are far more resilient, to get the most of. 

I also wanted to put Lizardmen earlier, but having thought about it I think here is right for them. Again, it’s the lack of skils and less experienced bad habits that make them weak in fresher players hands. Saurus are amazing but can be drawn away from the lines by better coaches and Skinks need protecting to get the best from them, otherwise, they’ll be targeted, taken down and then you lose your own real ball-handling players. They are of course, so hard to play against in the hands of a good coach (just check out our own resident Lizardmen teams), which often gets them to the title of being “OP”, something I’ll leave better coaches to argue about. 

Bretonnians take some good piloting as well. Fend-men can be a boon or a curse at times, as it means either gap appearing in your lines ripe for exploiting or allowing your to reposition and get your disposable peasants in the way to tie down valuable targets. They also have some pretty cool dudes in their Knights & Blockers with their own set of skills that make for wholly different playstyles compared to their other human counterparts. Where they struggle really is doing one thing really well. Humans are like this as well, but early on they have the skills to pull off pretty much everything. While I love Blockers because Wrestle is great, it’s a tough one to get right and takes a bit know-how to use right. Blitzers/Knights are also, awesome, but are easily targeted and tend to need a handoff based passing game rather than a true long-ball strategy thanks to no early passing skills. Again, positioning is key and they have no high strength to stop themselves being pummelled. 

Veterans

Teams: Halflings, Goblins, Underworld, Vampires, Khemri, Ogres

Key Attributes: Stunty, Poor Ball Handling, Negatraits, Low Movement, Poor AV, Tough to score with

These players know all there is to know, have played most if not all of the teams and are Nuffle’s chosen when it comes to Blood Bowl. All of the teams, in theory, go here, but we’re choosing the ones that are unforgiving and tough to manage without that knowledge. 

Stunties are here, obviously. Why? Because they’re easy to murder, often have an abundance of nega-traits that are hard to manage and will almost always result in space for your opponent, particularly of this level, to exploit. Ogre’s are easy to run around and Runts/Snotlings/Gnoblars are pitiful. Halfings are halfings, can’t run, can’t pass and are only good for Treemen ammo (I still love them though!!!!! <3)

Goblins are a bit different. Of all the true “Stunties” they’re arguably the best of the bunch, with crazy weapons and two trolls for slapping linemen around. But, they’re just so unreliable. Two lots of Really Stupid and Fanatics, Bombardiers & Looney’s will do just as much damage to your own team as they will do the opposition.

Underworld are a mix of Skaven & Goblins, but without the stuff that makes them good, that means no weapons and no runners. What you do get, however, are mutations, which are a great laugh! I personally really enjoy them, but you tend to struggle to score and being a few guys down is hard to recover from. Claw/MB Blitzers are scary though!

Vamps have Bloodlust and Thralls. Nothing more to be said really! Tough as hell to manage and will screw themselves over regularly. But they have a cool theme and the Vamps themselves are a daunting player to go up against. 

Khemri have no AG3, which means they will drop the ball CONSTANTLY. Tomb Guardians, although super scary (you get four of the gits!) they die easy thanks to Decay and no block means it’s even tempting to hit them on 2 red dice just for a chance for Decay to go off. They’re slow, can’t move the ball and much like the others are just too unreliable for fresher coaches to do well with. 

THAT BEING SAID. I do think it’s important for newer players to give these guys a go at some point (you should really play all the teams if you want to get “good” at the game). They teach you a lot of important lessons, particularly in not getting attached to players, but more importantly in trying to make the best out of dire situations. Being on the backfoot is something you will always experience in your games, and these teams are like that from Turn 1. Therefore I think it’s good to play them and experience that feeling.

And thus concludes part 2! Stay tuned for more… at some point! Hopefully this will help you choose your team based on your Blood Bowl Coach Experience!

If you want to read more of my random thoughts regarding the tabletop game, you can go here! Plus if you’re new to the site, come hang out with us on our Discord.

-Aaron