Good news everyone… we’re back again!

Yes, it’s just about time for another absolutely barking mad season of GRUMBBL, with all the chaos, nonsense, and the general all-around catastrophe we all know and love, Blood Bowl!

Season Five is THOROUGHLY UNDERWAY, with a continuation of our second Blood Bowl campaign. That means all of the coaches have had an opportunity to either continue their teams from Season Four or take up the challenge of piloting a brand new team against their fellow coaches. Indeed that’s the beauty of these campaigns, we get to see some amazing rivalries and stories form as the coaches get to face each other all over again. Some will want revenge for their previous losses, some will want to prove themselves in a new division and some (like me and my Halflings) just want to survive another season!

We’ve already had a few great matches so far, but I just want to highlight some of the teams I’ve personally got my eye on for this Season of GRUMBBL

Malthead Marauders, Division One
Coach: Leman_x_Russ
Team: Lizardmen
League Prediction: Champion, Top 3

Originally, Leman joined us in Season 3 by taking over a team for the Cup and while he didn’t have much luck there, his first foray into a full Season went rather well!

The mighty Lizardman team was crowned both the Division Two and GRUMBBL Cup Champions in their first season, boasting an impressive 15 wins out of 19 games, with some pretty good numbers in the Touchdown and Casualty department too. 

This team also homes the infamous Jonnie Walker, a frankly disgusting MV9, AG4 Skink, along with two Dodge wielding Saurus’s, in case you didn’t think this team was ridiculous enough.

Division One is a different beast, but Lizardmen have historically done well there and the Maltheads will surely want to follow in the footsteps of the Sons of Lustria…. if not surpass them!

Schittsburg Shockmasters, Division One
Coach: Patrick
Team: Elven Union
League Prediction: Champion/Top 4

Patrick’s GRUMBBL career has been a fun one to watch. Season One was his very first season of GRUMBBL and while the Basilar’s Bruisers were an entertaining team to watch, they found themselves quite firmly in the middle of the table. Not so the Schittsburg Shockmasters!

While their Cup run fell a bit short, their League campaign was a pretty darn good one. They managed a very good 26/39 points, granting them a second-place finish as well as the coveted promotion spot. They were also one of the few teams to take points off the Malthead Marauders too, a feat it seems in its own right! 

This will be Patrick’s first go in Division One and I think he’ll do well! There’s some good teams there but I think his choice of Elven Union gives him some speed in a league that has quite a lot of slower teams that he can exploit, whilst also keeping up with the likes of the Skaven and Lizardmen.

Maimy Dolphins, Division Two
Coach: TPR13
Team: Dark Elf
League Prediction: Promotion Spots

It’s no secret I love an Elf team and the spikier versions are some of my favourites. TPR was another backup coach that took control of this team roughly halfway through the season, giving them 3 out of their 5 wins. They also were just shy of a Cup Final place, being one of the few unbeaten teams too in the Swiss Phase. 

They’re here because I’m interested to see how TPR does in a full league against some teams that maybe they would have beaten if they had a chance to go against them. They’ve gone some very stiff competition though, they were amongst the teams just below the promotion spots, so a lot of those teams are going want to fill in the gaps left by those that went up. I can see them competing!

People PUNchers, Division Two
Coach: Aurora
Team: Ogre
League Prediction: Mid Table

Aurora is actually one of the most decorated coaches we have, winning a bunch of trophies back in the SQ Invitational days and boasting the only team to go unbeaten in both the League and Cup stages (Strong & Skimpy only managed the League!).  Aurora took a break during Season Three & Four, but is now back with a vengeance, wielding the first Ogre team to be seen under the GRUMBBL branding.

We love seeing the Stunty teams and more often than not they punch well above their weight in GRUMBBL, so I full expect Aurora’s experience and talent for winning to finish in a good spot considering the choice of Ogres. As a fresh TV1000 team, it’s going to get a ton of Inducement cash to spend, so expect to see some interesting games!

Rotterdam Rotters, Division One
Coach: ZG4T
Team: Nurgle
League Prediction: Top Half

It’s always a bold choice to take a fresh team into Division One, especially if it’s your first time up there! ZG has been with us for a while now and successfully piloted their Norse team into a promotion spot, before deciding that they needed more armour and diseases! They also managed the startling feat of being promoted with a negative goal difference so, there’s that!

Nurgle is another team that’s done fairly well in GRUMBBL before, being able to grind down all manner of opponents with their durable players and stopping Elf BS with their Disturbing Presence, so I can see a decent finish even for this fresh team. Moreover, I think this will be a good proving ground for ZG, they’ll be up against a lot of opponents they wouldn’t have normally faced so, it’ll be a very good learning experience.

And with that, I wish the best of luck to all the coaches in Season 5 of GRUMBBL!