HALFLING POSITIONALS? NOT IN MY BLOOD BOWL! – Someone probably

The new Halfling positionals and models were probably one of the few things I truly got hyped for this year. For me they’ve always captured a certain essence about Blood Bowl and are one of the few teams that bring a proper cheeky grin to my face (the other being Pro Elves when I lob the ball from one end of the pitch to the other, but we’ll talk about them some other time!), particularly when a ‘ling lands face first into an AG4 ball carrier and kills them both, sealing the 1-1 draw.

They’re also one of the few teams where I don’t feel any pressure to win. I don’t like to admit it, but I can be quite competitive, especially with my friends, but Halfings give a chance to sit back, relax, and watch the carnage unfold. Compared to a lot of the other teams, they really are just flat out fun to play with even if they lose players by the droves, the treemen are as useful as a chocolate teapot when it comes to moving around the pitch and you find yourself actually celebrating drawn games as victories!

So, as you can imagine, I got pretty excited when I saw both the new models and positionals. I had hoped that Games Workshop would make a few updates to the team, especially as with the 2016 rerelease we’d seem some changes (for better or worse!) to the game already. In my mind, I really wanted a Throw Team-Mate specialist, one who could link up with the Treemen and really make that play worthwhile. Well, we sort of got that in the Catcher, as well as some well-needed AV7 in the Hefty. So, below I’m going to… “review” them….sort of!

Bear in mind this is from the view of a halfling coach, we’re easy to excite!

The Halfing Catcher
Cost: 50,000gp. Quantity: 0-2
MA5 ST2 AG3 AV6
Normal Access: A. Double Access: GSP
Skills: Catch, Dodge, Right Stuff, Sprint, Stunty

Out of the new guys, the Catcher is definitely the better of the two. Catch allows you to be a little more reliable with those handoffs, and Sprint gives you that extra burst of speed to get away after being thrown into the opponents half. 20k extra for some in-built rerolls is definitely worth it in my opinion and gives the Halflings an actual scoring threat that they really, really do need! He doesn’t make half bad safety on defence either with that extra square of movement, although of course with AV6/Stunty, that extra square could mean a failed GFI turns into a removal very quickly, something to bear in mind. I’d omit from using him as Treeman ammunition, your regular, cheap ‘lings are much better suited for that.

I think this guy is a really good addition to the team, adds a few needed skills and allows those 1TT attempts to be just a little more reliable, especially if you’ve used up all your rerolls and need to score in turn 16! He’s definitely going to be your primary scorer and ball carrier thanks to Catch and might even get some level ups if he survives a few games! If you can get AG4 on this guy he actually becomes a pretty effective piece, with Catch now being a 2+ and landing after being Thrown much more likely to happen, as well as the hilariousness that is 2+ dodge with Stunty!

If he does manage to get a level up (and of all the Halfling pieces, he actually might!), the obvious first skill to get is Sure Feet, making that 1TT even more viable and just making him more reliable in general. Sidestep is always good on a Halfling too. I could see taking Nerves of Steel (personal bias… I love this skill!), just to make handing off to him easier if your opponent is basing you, which they probably are! If you get Doubles, Block/Wrestle could make him as close to a Blitzer as you can get on a Halfing team. As with all Halflings though, you don’t want him to get more than 2 levels due to TV inflation and honestly, he probably won’t survive long with the amount you should be throwing him!!

Overall, I really like them! Compared to other Catchers in the game, he’s not great but for a Halfling, he’s pretty good!

The Halfing Hefty
Cost: 50,000gp. Quantity: 0-2
MA5 ST2 AG3 AV7
Normal Access: AP. Double Access: GS
Skills: Dodge, Fend, Stunty

THANK NUFFLE FOR AV7! Honestly, for me, this alone makes him worth taking. A regular AV6 ‘ling gets their armour broken 58.3% of the time, while the AV7 Hefty is only broken 41.7% of the time which for Halfings is a HUGE amount, it’s almost a 20% decrease in armour breaks! Combine that with Fend and you now have a halfway decent roadblock. Quite frankly, coupled with Dodge, these guys are actually (IMO) better than the Brettonian Peasants (although… that’s not hard to do, even for a Halfling)

Of course the big omission is the lack of Right Stuff but honestly, you have better ‘lings to throw for scoring (as above!) and you shouldn’t be throwing your 50k guys at the opponent anyway.  What you do get, however, is a decent support unit for your Treemen. Most of the time, your Trees are hitting ST3 linemen but without an assist, they’re only hitting for 2 block dice. Get a ‘ling to help them and suddenly you’re hitting with 3, greatly improving your chances of a knockdown and armour break. The problem before with the old team is your bog standard Halfings DON’T SURVIVE FOR VERY LONG, meaning that usually after one or maybe two turns, your trees are left to fend for themselves. But now they have the Hefty, a halfling who might actually just survive more than a handful of turns thanks to his armour not being made of flimsy toilet paper. Fend as well means you can easily reposition him for more glorious tree punching with 3 dice, just adding that extra little bit of UMPH the Halflings need.

That being said, AV7 is still pretty bad and replacing them at 50k a pop is going to be trickier, especially if you’re losing Catchers, who I think should be replaced first.

Their skill access is … strange as well. Agility I get because, Halflings but Passing? How is that at all helpful?!!? OK you can get Leader but, that’s it!!! General access would have made way more sense and with only 2 of them, it wouldn’t exactly be a noticeable buff to the team either. You’re not going to giving them Pass/Accurate/Dump Off or Safe Throw because… y’know… STUNTY. Honestly the more I think about it the more irritating it gets. I really don’t think General access on these guys would have been in any way a big advantage, they’re unlikely to get Casualty SPP and the Catchers are the ones scoring so you’re reliant on MVPs (easier in the Tabletop to be fair but still, they’re competing with the Treemen for them). I don’t think access to Leader is that great either as you should be getting extra rerolls with your Chef anyway. It’s just very strange and well… a bit of an oversight by Games Workshop here… it almost feels like a mistake!!

For level ups, Sidestep is always great and Diving Tackle is a particular favourite of mine with Halfings, although your only AV7 pieces being on the floor could be a risk. For me, I’d personally hope for some doubles and get that Blodgestep going if you can, if you’ve got some spare cash around I’d even fire and rehire Hefties who don’t get them and try again. If you can get ST3 on them, they become pretty good linemen.

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So overall I like both the Catcher and Hefty, although the former is definitely the brighter of the two. Let’s be honest, neither of them are particularly good players in the grand scheme of Blood Bowl, but they add a bit of flavour and some more skills to a team that had…. well, nothing! Halfings aren’t suddenly going to be a decent team either and I’m ok with that! I’m glad they’ve kept the humour and silliness of the team while adding some more things to think about, even if those things are still throwing ‘lings all over the pitch and watching your team of 16 be reduced to nought but a couple of lonely treemen stuck on the line BECAUSE THEY TOOK ROOT ON THE FIRST TURN AARGGH!

The new models are by far my favourites of the new range though! I love them so much xD

But most importantly…

WHERE ARE THE NEW TREEMEN MINIS? WHY WEREN’T THEY RELEASED WITH THE TEAM? WTF GW!?!!!?!??!

The title background image is from the Warhammer Community, I haven’t finished my guys or popped them on the field….yet!