Imperial Nobility Bodyguards are the Yeoman/Blockers of old, but with a few changes up their sleeves for the new edition of Blood Bowl. They have the same statline as their Bretonnian ancestors and Wrestle to start with, but for an extra 20k they now come with Stand Firm to coincide with their, stockier, physique.

This is a fairly unique combo in terms of starting skills and one that I really quite like and find quite thematic overall. These guys are pretty decent defensive pieces, able to form part of a screen or a cage, whichever you prefer. While Wrestle isn’t quite as good as Block while defending, Stand Firm makes up for this by giving you an option to keep your body in the way and potentially requiring any Blitzers to perform Dodges in order to get past the Bodyguard they just hit, rather than the usual free follow up. On offence however, Wrestle is a great counter to Block as it allows you drag down players who may otherwise have stayed in your way if you too had Block and can give you a chance to pull down a Block Ball Carrier too if you get the chance.

These guys aren’t going to be winning any awards for flashy play, but they’re a very nice support piece for a team that’s going to be relying on making space for their Nobles to do their thing.

Randomised Skills:

Again, it’s a no from me. The Strength pool isn’t bad and you might grab a decent skill or two, but as support pieces, you’re going to want to build them in a specific direction I feel. RAW, you can get both Block & Wrestle on the same player, which is pretty much pointless, so I wouldn’t want to roll in the General column on the off chance this comes up.

Secondaries… just get a guaranteed primary.

The Wall of Nobility | Imperial Nobility Bodyguard Build

Primaries: Guard, Tackle, Grab, Arm Bar
Secondaries: Dodge
Characteristics: ST

This guy is all about getting in the way and being a right noble pain. This is a piece you stick into the thick of things to support your other players while being troublesome to shift in response.

Guard is the obvious first choice as it’s just a GOOD skill for the Bodyguard. Imperials aren’t a physically strong team by any means as they lack any STR4/AV10+, players to create walls of strength. Instead, you pile on the guard to make life hard for your opposing coach, making it easier for you to hit them, while harder to hit you.

Next up I’d be looking at Dodge, not to actually do any dodging (although it’ll certainly help and AG3+ isn’t awful!) but to keep them firmly on their feet. You really want Wrestle & Defender Downs to be the only way you’re ending up on the floor so that your Guard remains actively as much as possible during your turn. It’s also one less result your armour is being rolled on and with AV9+ being distinctly ok, you want to limit that as much as you can.  It’s not going to be cheap as your second advancement, but I feel Guard is too important for the Bodyguard to wait.

Tackle is up next, giving you some nice Dodge Counter, followed by Grab to give you some additional positioning antics. Imperials aren’t a big damage team outside the Ogre, so you need to find ways to make space and out opposing players in bad positions, as you can’t rely on armour breaks.

These guys aren’t going to be generating a ton of SPP, so it’s unlikely you’ll see them get past their 4th/5th advancement. If they do, however, I’d put in a vote for Arm Bar. Combined with Tackle, it really makes your opponent think twice about dodging away from you and even works if you’ve already had to use Wrestle!

The Bouncer | Imperial Nobility Bodyguard Build

Primaries: Guard, Mighty Blow, Tackle, Arm Bar
Secondaries: Dodge
Characteristics: ST

As mentioned above, their aren’t many ways for the Imperials to deal damage outside the Ogre, so adding a few of this more punch-oriented players can help there. Guard is still going to be your first choice just because these guys are so well suited to using, plus it’s going to be vital in getting those 2 die blocks anyway. Following on, Mighty Blow is the obvious choice for a hitter. It’s not quite as good on a Wrestle piece, but when combined with Tackle as your next advancement, it means you should be giving yourself a decent amount of opportunities for damage.  Again, I quite like Arm Bar on these guys and gives you some more +1s to the team.

Secondaries will be Dodge again, although it’s not quite as important as the Wall build. You’ll want to get it fairly early just to save you some SPP but hopefully you’ll have enough Guard to keep you safe until you get enough.

I didn’t mention it above but if you want a Characteristic, Strength is your most valuable trait. The issue is, it’s very expensive to get for a 1 in 8 chance and exponentially increases the TV of your Player. I’m not sure it’s worth saving up so much SPP for a chance when Guard so readily available to this player. They can make sure of the other values for sure, but not to the extent where I think it’s worth it.

The Sacker | Imperial Nobility Bodyguard Build

Primaries: Tackle, Strip Ball, Grab
Secondaries: Dodge
Characteristics: ST/MV/AG

Imperials don’t have a dedicated sacker and unlike the old Yeoman/Blockers who only have Wrestle to start with, the Bodyguard’s Stand Firm makes this job a little harder for them. Traditionally you’ll want Side Step to keep them on the ball at all times and position yourself to a more advantageous square to stop yourself from being bogged down by opposing players and potentially blocking off escape paths. While Stand Firm is certainly useful, it just doesn’t have the positional flexibility I like in a traditional sacker.

Still, Tackle & Strip ball are favourites of ball-hawk type players, negating dodge and giving you a chance to get the ball down regardless (unless they have Sure Hands of course). I’d then look to Grab to help you put the Carrier in a more advantageous position for your team, this will help with Sure Hands players as you can line them up for further hits or just get them away from their own supporting players. If they’re heading down the flanks, you can also place them next to the sidelines if you’re close enough to further pressure them.

For Secondaries, Dodge again is useful as it keeps you standing and also means you can run at the ball carrier even when you’re marked up. However, if we’re going for big SPP advancements, I’d very much want to go for a Characteristic. This is where you hope for an ST buff (and look at building one of the other two Bodyguards as above), or you get MV, making you MV7 and thus MUCH better at hunting down ball carriers. if you roll AG, I’d be tempted to grab it, as it’ll help you move about and even pick up the ball if you’re desperate.

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I do feel like the Bodyguard is just one of those solid players. They’re not fancy or going to make huge changes to a game, but they lay a decent foundation for a Nobility team, allowing you to control the pitch and make space for your ball carrier, whilst giving your Nobles the support they need to excel. Personally, I’d be looking to make as many Walls as I can, just as I think that’s where their strengths lie. Adding a Sacker or Hitter will depend on what your league is looking like and if you need some more hitting power or someone with Wrestle to drag the ball down. They very much play a supporting role and do it very well, so that’s how I’d build them myself.

That’s it for the Imperial Nobility Bodyguard Build, Head over to our Retainer Linemen, Noble Blitzer, Thrower & Ogre builds for more BB2020 fun!