Oh the Dwarves, the Marmite of Blood Bowl Teams! Either you love them, or you hate their slow-moving, tackle wielding, AV10+, Block everywhere guts!

The stout boys of Blood Bowl have a bit of a reputation for being quite boring and it’s not exactly hard to see why. By design, they’re very slow so aren’t exactly going to be making big, flair filled plays with the ball. They’re also so hard to remove thanks to their high armour and the fact that they tend to develop into having multiple guard players means that hitting them in the first place is no easy feat. They’re also very good at hitting things themselves seeing as most of their players start with Block, plus their large amounts of tackle to begin with mean they’re very good at shutting down agility style teams as well (they basically hard counter Amazons!)

Unfortunately the same goes for the Dwarf Starting Rosters as well, with their positions being limited to just 2 each, they really only have the option of coming with or without the Deathroller. Even so, it’s still worth diving into their team builds as they too have been affected by some cost amends from James Workshop.

On a positive note, they are actually one of the cheapest teams in terms of real money to buy, as their plastic GW kit is one of the few that comes with all the pieces you need in from the get-go. I actually really love the design of the kit as well, much better than those in Blood Bowl 2 and the Troll Slayers are definitely in my Top 10 favourite Blood Bowl minis (it helps the team is gorgeously painted by the ‘Eavy Metal team, LOOK AT THOSE BEAUTIFUL BEARDS!).

They’re also, perhaps contrary to belief, a challenging and fun team to play if you’ve got the right mindset. I’ve seen the term “a game of cat and mouse” used when describing Dwarf games and they’re absolutely right. This is a team where positioning is key and any mistakes you make are easily pounced upon, you have to pay attention to where your players are at all times because you simply cannot catch up if there’s a breakthrough your lines.

So let’s get cracking on the Dwarf Starting Rosters shall we?

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to Block we go, 2 ReRolls | TV1000 Dwarf Starting Rosters:

I do hope a certain multi-billion dollar corporation doesn’t sue me for the name of this one…

Yes, even the Dwarf team has been hit by GW’s 2020 cost increases, apparently, it’s not just their kits that are getting more expensive!

The old standard team now costs 1020k so we’ve dropped a ReRoll to bring it down to 970k. Honestly, it’s not going to make that much of a difference considering how much Block you have, plus the only real ball-carrying you’re going to do is sorted thanks to the Runners Sure Hands. You’ll be using them for Hand-Offs to get SPP on your Blitzers, any Rushes you want to make and then for any Double Skulls that may crop up. Really though Dwarves aren’t a particularly ReRoll reliant team, so missing the third to get the maximum amount of players won’t be an issue for most coaches. Of course, you’ll want to save for the third, but you could treat yourself to an Apothecary before then if you’re finding yourself against Mighty Blow after a couple of games.

Other than that it’s the standard affair! You’ll definitely want both of the Slayers as they can be a little slow the level up, especially as you don’t get SPP for Surfing Injuries (a massive oversight from GW if you ask me!) so getting theme early is key. It’s the same story for your Blitzers as well, although with AG3+ they can at least receive hand-offs fairly well and score. You’ll want to score a few times with your Runners as well to make them better Band Carriers too, maybe even give one Wrestle and make them a Sacker seeing as you’re already filled with Block Pieces.

There’s nothing new other than the costs to talk about unfortunately with the Dwarves, they’ve stubbornly resisted any change in the transition from BB2016 to BB2020, other than the little cost increases.

The Deadliest Lawnmower, 2 ReRolls | TV1000 Dwarf Starting Rosters:

Speaking of cost increases, the Deathroller went up 10k as well!

For that, however, he’s got +2 on his Dirty Player skill, making him a right dirty git! Seriously this guy is now a fouling MACHINE (literally) and on a team that is very good at getting players onto the ground to begin with, he could be a real problem for some teams.

Annoyingly, you’re pretty much limited to the Blockers and Blitzers to fill out the rest of the team if you want to keep 2 ReRolls, which you probably do. You could if you wanted, trade a Blitzer for a Runner (995k) in order to get some Sure Hands which may be better for some coaches as it gives you some reliability and defence against a Strip Ball as well.

The issue is, you’ll be down to 10 players in the 2nd half until you get your 12th Dwarf, so you’ll need to hope he does some good work! You really don’t want to outnumbered as a Dwarf team so this build may force you to be a little more aggressive in order to get those much-needed removals. Just don’t expect to be scoring much with this one!

Dwarf Starting Rosters, Conclusion:

You might not make any friends if you play a Dwarf team, but who needs those when you’re having fun and winning games right?

Despite their reliability and sturdiness, it’s important to remember that positioning is key with a Dwarf team. It’s really easy to be pulled across the pitch and gaps to form in your lines, so keep to your game plan and don’t get sucked into places you can’t get out of. It’ll be interesting to see how skills like Brawler affect them as well, especially as Dwarves rely a little on their Block advantage early on, it might be something they want to consider themselves as said advantage dwindles as a league progresses.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this look at the Dwarf Starting Rosters, we’re slowly getting there with our 2020 guides, so check them out, if you haven’t already.