I’m not going to lie, I was incredibly hyped to see the new Gnome Blood Bowl Team, as a Halfling player I have a certain affection for stunty teams anyway so seeing these little fellas pop out of nowhere was a very pleasant surprise indeed and immediately starting wondering what players we were getting for some gnome starting rosters!

They come with a surprising amount of positionals for a stunty team as well, consisting of the Gnome Linemen, Illusionist, Beastmaster, Treeman (like the Halflings) and then a sneaky Fox. We’ll go through each of these in more depth when we cover their player builds, but this array of characters makes for one of the more interesting new teams to come out since the new edition launched. They’re still very much a Stunty team, low AV and Movement mean you’re going to see your KO and Injury box filled to the brim with gnarly gnomes and their furry friends, but they have quite a few tricks up their sleeve that definitely make them more interesting, fun to play and potentially give you a decent chance of winning some of your games… at least for a stunty team.

All of your Gnomes (so Linemen, Beastmaster and Illusionist), rather than starting with Dodge, all come with Wrestle instead. One of the biggest hard counters a Stunty team can face is Tackle/Block, so starting with Wrestle means getting hit isn’t always going to result in an armour break and dragging your opponents down means they’ll spend more time getting up, thus less time hitting you. It also gives you some nice opportunities to foul, which of course all stunty teams love to do! Combined with Jump Up means they’re not quite as slow as they seem, although will be doing less dodging initially until they level up… assuming they survive long enough.

You’ve then go your two Treemen who will do, Treemen things and much like the Halflings they don’t come with Loner which is a nice bonus. The Foxes are also bonkers, with AG2+, Stunty, Dodge and MV7! Did someone say better skinks?! They’re absolutely amazing ball carriers, which is all they can do as their “My Ball” skill means once they get it, they can’t pass or hand-off to anyone. Not that you’ll mind, considering they’ll just saunter into the TD zone with 2+ dodges. They’re an absolute STEAL for 50k.

I’m looking forward to getting some game with the Gnomes, they seem incredibly fun and completely different to a lot of the other teams in the game, whether they’re going to be any good is a different story, but for now, let’s get started with some Gnome Starting Rosters

Maximum Positionals, 3 ReRolls | TV1000 Starting Rosters:

Much like other Stunty teams, the Gnomes are very cheap and their Positionals are damn cheap as well! You can quite easily fit everything into this team with plenty of cash to spare for 3 ReRolls (the bare minimum I’d go with) and 4 Gnomes on the bench.

While I could take or leave the Illusionist, the Beastmaster, Fox and Treemen are must-takes for this team. The Foxes as mentioned above are insane ball carriers, even despite their AV6+ meaning they’ll die to a stiff breeze. It’d be tempting to only ever field one so you have a spare ready for when they get inevitably removed from existence by a light tap. Good positioning with the Beastmasters will give you either some fun fouling assists, or at least hinder the overwhelming amount of 2 dies you’ll be receiving, especially as no Dodge on the team means running from tackle zones is less of an option now.  The Treemenare are going to be your primary defensive unit and will be your only source of damage outside of fouls, as well as your Throw Team Mate option.

With 20k left, you could grab some Dedicated fans, probably a good idea as even with the Foxes, you’re still stunty so you’re not going to be swimming in Touchdown money. But with the team so damn cheap, you’re not going to worry too much about being able to afford replacements unless you get unlucky and you lose a Treeman.

The only thing I’d change is maybe dropping an Illusionist for another ReRoll bringing you to four. With no Dodge on the team, it’s going to be very hard to break away, so an extra RR to get away from horrible things with Mighty Blow could be useful.

Star Players | TV1000 Starting Rosters:

There is of course the option to drop some players for enough petty cash to grab some Stars. Personally, I’d look to drop the Illusionists first, they’re fine but, you’re not really looking to pass on this team so that’s 100k saved right there. Then you can drop some of the regular gnomes and maybe some ReRolls until you get to around the cash mark you want. Deeproot is obviously a top-tier pick here, 3 Treemen on the line can dominate a Line of Scrimmage and if you’re feeling brave you can use your Beastmasters to provide Guard assists and easy 3 die blocks. Rodney Roachbait looks like a fun pick as well (and his model rocks) and looks perfect for TTM attempts, able to nab the ball from 3 squares away then use the rest of his movement to hand off the ball. He’s only 70k as well, so you’d only need to drop the one Illusionist and you’ll be getting him most of the time.

Blood Bowl Gnome Starting Rosters BB2020, Conclusion:

With everyone bar the Treemen so cheap, you can pretty easily get to 1000tv with everything you need. Much like similar teams, they’re going to be hard to develop, even with the Foxes decent at scoring they’re not going to last very long and your Gnomes are as tough as a Halfling…. and those Coaches will tell you there’s no point getting attached to your players at all!

They’re looking like a very fun team, however, if not necessarily competitive but that’s rarely in the discussion for this kind of team anyway. The models are absolutely fantastic, especially the Beastmasters and they’ll certainly stand out on the field.

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