In our second Teams of Legend build, we’ll be looking at the mighty Tomb Kings, or Khemri if you prefer to use their Blood Bowl 2 name. This is a team that historically has done really well In GRUMBBL, which is great to see as they’re not often considered to be the most competitive team thanks to their low Agility, few starting skills and Decay on their big guys. They’re among the slowest teams in the game, but they make up for it with a very frightening Line of Scrimmage with 4 ST5 Guardians, decent Blitzers and cheap Skeletons that aren’t too fragile durable despite their low armour thanks to Thick Skull. While you’re not exactly going to be moving the ball around very quickly, a cage made up of Tomb Guardians is very hard to break down, especially if they’re all wielding Guard. They also, like other undead teams,come with Regeneration so you’re svaing some money on an Apothecary for a chance that your players keep fit and healthy…. for skeletons at least.

The Teams of Legend puts them in at Tier 2 which I think is about right, but in the hands of a good coach this team can be frustrating for an opponent to deal with. They’re a team that develops really well and can mask their shortcomings with a few level-ups, Anointed Blitzers can be terrifying once they get Tackle/MB and you’ll have more than enough Skeletons to keep between them and any counter strikes. Once

The Tomb Kings are not ideal for beginners, 4+ pickups even with Sure Hands can be frustrating and your entire team only starts with 2 lots of Block, making them quite easy to put on the floor and run past. The Guardians, despite being S5 have nothing to help them cause damage to start with and can be avoided pretty easily despite there being four of them and with only 2 Blitzers you can find yourself being dragged across the pitch in an attempt to catch faster teams. But, if you want a challenge that doesn’t see you going full Tier 3, these guys are worthwhile and you’ll learn a lot when using them.

Also in a Team Guide first, we have a special guest star to provide some more insight into the Tomb Kings Blood Bowl Team. Our resident Khemri coach and 3 times League champion, Jbazza!

When you look at Khemri they seem like a very simple team. Hit things with the 4 big, scary Tomb Guardians and use the rest to keep the enemy away from your Throwers. In essence, that’s correct. However, they are so slow and lack agility, which means that positioning is key to winning with this team. If you get too aggressive on defence then suddenly, you’ll find that your opponent’s ball carrier is behind your line with no hope of catching up to them. The same goes for offence. If you push forwards too quickly, then you’ll end up leaving the Tomb Guardians behind and lack the heavy strength required to help break through the defence. Therefore, the best advice that I can give you is this:

 

“Whilst slow and steady might not win you any races, it will certainly help you win with Khemri Tomb Kings. Take your time, position your players carefully, trying to channel the enemy towards the Tomb Guardians, and remember that the best elf is a dead elf!”

Thanks for that Jbazza!

So to start of with, let’s look and see if there’s any differences between editions.

Skeleton Linemen: Same cost as before, don’t worry too much about their PA!
Anointed Throwers: Same cost and nabbed themselves PA3+! You have nothing to pass to, but, hey the option is there!
Anointed Blitzers: No change here, PA6+ which is inconsequential.
Tomb Guardians: No change, no PA value which… again, doesn’t make a difference.
ReRolls: Same cost.

Basically the same team as before. The only sad thing is I quite like the old X-Ra names, they were far more fluffy!

Bunch of old Bones, 3 ReRolls | TV1000 Tomb Kings Starting Rosters:

In an ideal world, you’d have this roster but trading a Linemen for a Thrower, alas that gives you a total of 1020k so that’s no good here I’m afraid! You definitely want to start with both Blitzers and all four Tomb Guardians, these guys make up the core of the team and without them, you’re probably going to struggle a little in the beginning. Most teams you face are going to have around 2 to 4 Block players, so you need both Blitzers on the pitch to at least keep up. Four Guardians on the LOS is scary for any beginner team, plus it means you can spread them out a little so that the centre of the pitch is nicely defended, with a Blitzer on each wing to cover those areas. It also means you can put one on each corner of the cage when on your attacking drive which early on is a nightmare to break down for most teams. This is much better now that Leap has been nerfed so you’ll find those Pesky Wardancers don’t get in quite as often.

5 Skeletons gives you a healthy amount of bodies to throw at things and use as assists, maybe even sticking the boot in a few times if you get the chance. They’re cheap enough that you don’t need to worry much about their survival, but try not to lose too many as your Blitzers need help in the early stages of development and your Guardians can get tied down very easily by other cheap linemen due to their lack of Mighty Blow. 3 ReRolls is a nice amount and helps mitigate the need for a Thrower early on. I think you always need to start with three as getting a Thrower later is much cheaper than getting a ReRoll later (70k vs 140k) and you will need that extra cash around for when Decay bites you on the bony bottom.

With 10k left you can either start saving up for that Thrower or you could nab yourself some Dedicated Fans. I’m starting to warm up slowly to that idea for most teams now and considering you’re not going to be getting much cash from scoring Touchdowns with this team so getting one early here isn’t a bad shout at all. Your players aren’t too expensive either compared to most teams, so 10k here and there isn’t going to hurt much as long as you’re careful.

Attempted Pickups, 3 ReRolls | TV1000 Tomb Kings Starting Rosters:

Here we trade a thrower for a Tomb Guardian which I think is the best of the two swaps you can do. I personally think Block is too valuable to give up early on and while ideally, you want four, three Guardians is still more S5 than most teams can put out, so keep your second Blitzer. The benefit here is you now have somebody dedicated to carrying the ball, as opposed to the above build which requires either taking a Blitzer away from their main duties or using a slow, ponderous Skeleton Linemen, neither of which are ideal!

4+ pickups with Sure Hands is… fine, you’re looking at a 75% chance with the Thrower now without needed to use a team ReRoll, things that you’ll definitely need elsewhere. The good thing is, you should have a turn or two to attempt the pickups and our Blitzers should just be fast enough to keep up with any cheeky players trying to steal the ball from you. They’re also MV6 which for a Skeleton ain’t bad at all, so you’ll be able to get them into a Guardian cage fairly quickly assuming you don’t suddenly spread them out all over the pitch when on the attack.

You’ll notice I’ve also added the option for 6th Skeleton as Tomb Kings can get overwhelmed quite quickly once you start to lose players, so if you find yourself in a particularly block heavy league (lots of Norse, Dwarves, etc), having a spare player can really help. Plus if you find yourself ahead, you can stick the boot in without worrying too much if you get them sent off. Alternatively, you have a 40k headstart for your next Guardian, which should definitely be an immediate purchase once you gave the money. Again, you have some cash for some Dedicated Fans too, but I’d be tempted to spend no more than 10k as that Tomg Guardian is sorely needed.

Tomb Kings Starting Rosters, Conclusion

It’ll be interesting to see if the Tomb Kings stay as they are if they get a true 2020 update. For now, I think they’re still pretty good overall and there are some changes in the new rules that will help them. Things like Brawler are going to help the Guardians deal with Block from a much earlier standpoint and the changes to Leap make their cages much safer too. At the same time, however, the addition of Jump means when those Guardians do go down, and without Block, they will, it means the team’s slower movement is gonna hurt a lot more vs vaster teams that can now go through them, rather than around.

You’re going to learn a lot about positioning with this team, so I do recommend that you give them a go if you want a good challenge. A lot of coaches are so used to and reliant on AG3, so you’ll find yourself dealing with situations you’re not used to, which is a good thing as it means you can learn and progress as a coach. Once you do get the ball, it’s gonna be tough for your opponent trying to steal it away!

I hope you enjoyed this look at the Tomb Kings Starting Rosters, we’re nearly done with our 2020 guides, so check them out, if you haven’t already. With the release of Season Two now, there’s never been a better time to get into the game and brush up on your team builds for those new leagues!