Do you like hitting things? Of course, you like hitting things!! And what better way to hit things than take up the challenge of the Khorne Blood Bowl team! The angry red boys finally hit the tabletop game after making a brief appearance WAY back in the first Blood Bowl Chaos Edition, giving us a team that does its best to please the patron saint of smashing everything in the face within a square mile. If you like Freny then you’ll love this team because BOY DO THEY HAVE A LOT OF IT. Your basic linemen, big guy and one of your positional all start with it, meaning you’re going to be throwing out a ton of block dice.

This does mean that they are a tricky team to play and choosing when and where to block is going to be more important with Khorne teams than most. If you’re not careful, you’re going to find yourself out of position very quickly as your formation breaks up, or making risky blocks because your player followed up into one too many enemy assists. They also come with a grand total of zero re-roll skills, no block, no dodge, no pass, no catch… no nothing, which makes them very prone to frequent turnovers if you burn your team re-rolls too early. So despite their aggressive nature, you need to temper the number of blocks you make early on until you start getting Brawler and Block on the team, otherwise, you’re going to be running into a lot of trouble. They’re also a bit of a glass cannon, with 8+ AV on your Linemen and 9+ on the positions, meaning this team is a little like Norse in that they can hit well, but can’t take punch themselves… doubly so as they lack Block for defence.

They’re definitely a very fun team and, honestly, I think they have some high potential. You’re naturally going to be forcing teams into very narrow lanes as almost all of your players can threaten to surf your opponent, not only that you can crack open cages pretty easily and you can get two tries at knocking down ball carriers. Once you start getting Block/Brawler, Tackle and Mighty Blow, you’re going to be removing a lot of players very quickly just by overwhelming them with blocks. You just got to get through the difficult early stages first!

There are no changes from the previous edition as they’re a new team for the tabletop at least so, let’s look at the Khorne Starting Rosters for Blood Bowl 2020!

I Choose Violence, 3 ReRolls | TV1000 Khorne Starting Rosters:

In the choice between maximum Bloodseekers or Khorngoors whilst also having 3 ReRolls, I think the ‘goors win out on top here. They come with Juggernaught which is your only real way to mitigate Both Downs, if only once per turn, plus their lack of Frenzy works in their favour a little, making them safer to use overall. They’re also your only true candidate for a Ball Carrier in this team, so having all 4 means you’ll have a couple of backups ready should you lose a couple. 4 Marauders gives you a good amount of assists and some decent sideline threat too, but don’t expect them to stick around too long, so try not to have them Frenzy themselves into Skulls or out of position. 3 Bloodseekers gives you a fairly strong lineup too, plus they’re going to take a while to get SPP outside the odd CAS or MVP.

As mentioned I think 3 ReRolls is as low as you want to go with this team, you’ve got no way of ReRolling pickups and Both Downs are going to be the bane of your existence, especially with Frenzy!

You could throw 10k on some Dedicated Fans if you want, but I’d look to get your next Bloodseeker or Apothecary next, probably the latter as you don’t want to have to keep replacing your ‘Goors too often.

Overall I think this would be a good choice for a League start, you’ve got a good core to work with and plenty of Khorngoors to keep your Frenzy at a somewhat manageable amount. I’d probably leave the Bloodspawn out until the Apo and 3rd Bloodseeker are on the team, maybe getting them a little early if you’re really struggling to break teams down.

Blood for the Blood God!!, 3 ReRolls | TV1000 Khorne Starting Rosters:

This build sacrifices a few Khorngores and a Bloodseeker for the Bloodspawn, whilst keeping all 3 ReRolls, which I like you need. What you get here is a pretty brutal Line of Scrimmage when receiving, you’re going to be getting 2 Die Blocks most of the time unless you’re up against Black Orcs, Chaos Warriors etc. Unchanneled Fury is pretty manageable too, especially compared to Animal Savagery so again, you should be able to make sure Frenzy doesn’t get you into trouble as long as the Spawn is supported so they’re not drowned in enemy assists. CLAW/MB is going to give you some much-needed removal too, something this team lacks at first. With the Spawn and Seekers working together, you should be able to push your way through the middle of the pitch quite easily against all but the most stubborn of teams, with Frenzy slowly splitting the opposing force in two, giving you a nice channel for your Goor’s to run through while Marauders threaten the sidelines.

This isn’t quite as durable as the first build, with swapping 2 AV9+ for 2 AV8+. There are fewer positionals as well so you’ll probably find the two Goors will likely be hogging SPP as they remain your best ball carrying option. There’s also more Frenzy overall, which one hand is great fun and something for your opponent to be very wary of, but also more chances to get in trouble, so be careful who you block with and when you do it, but you have plenty of Marauders to assist with.

Maximum Overkill, 2 ReRolls | TV1000 Khorne Starting Rosters:

A pretty simple one, this gives you all 8 of your positionals, giving you a very strong frontline of Bloodseekers and all of your Khorngoors. It also gives you quite a nice defensive set-up, with the Bloodseekers making a very decent roadblock thanks to S4 and the ‘Goors making for decent sweepers, seeing as you pretty much cover the length of the pitch thanks to having four. It also means all your key players can start getting SPP from game one, rather than being behind when they get bought later on. Having 4 Bloodseekers also gives you a pretty nasty cage too, if your opponent doesn’t get a corner down they’re going to take multiple hits, with the benefit of your cage moving up two squares too even if they just block, making it surprisingly mobile. With the ‘Goors roaming around protecting it and the Marauders pushing away any assist, it could be difficult to break down, particularly early on.

This might be my personal choice for a starting build, if only because it maximises the positional and as a more experienced coach I think I could get away with starting with fewer ReRolls. It’ll be tricky, however, as it only takes a few bad rolls to get into trouble and this team doesn’t have the skills or movement to recover like other aggressive teams such as Norse or Amazons so I wouldn’t recommend it for newer coaches (see the first build) Getting that 3rd ReRoll is going to be quite important and I’d get it immediately after the Apothecary, saving the Bloodspawn for later.

Khorne BB2020 Starting Rosters, Conclusion:

If you like Frenzy, you’ll love this team. They’re going to be tricky to play and I can see newer coaches picking them up based on their stunning minis and finding them hard to play, especially without any Block or Dodge on the team to start with. Still, I think they have a really high potential and it won’t take long for them to become a tough team to go up against, particularly if you’re using these in a longer league format like ours.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this look at the Khorne Starting Rosters, we’re well into Blood Bowl Season Two now, so make sure you check out our existing guides for all the released plastic teams. We’re super excited to try these out when Blood Bowl 3 comes out, so make sure to brush up for when that happens!