It’s been a while since we got an updated team, but oh boy did we get a big one with the new Vampire Blood Bowl team, meaning we better get cracking with some Vampire Starting Rosters right? The team has received a pretty major shakeup, Bloodlust has been adjusted for the better and the 6 Vampires have been split into 3 different sets of 2 positional, all with new skills to reflect their new roles. Not only that, they gained their own Big Guy, the Vargheist, giving the team some additional punching power. These are honestly some pretty great changes and give the team a proper facelift, not just from their 2016 rules but also the placeholder Teams of Legend rules that, left them a little underwhelming.

So, before we get into the team builds, let’s look at some of the changes to the new Vampire team. If you know what’s up and want to go straight to the builds, CLICK HERE

Bloodlust: The biggest change is that Vampires no longer get sent off when failing a Bloodlust, which is huge and benefits the team mechanically and makes them more fun. It’s still a turnover unlike other negative traits, but far, far less punishing than before. The trait itself is very similar to Animal Savagery, after declaring your activation, roll a D6 (adding 1 if making a Block or Blitz) action, and you succeed if the result is equal to or above the Bloodlust (x+) value each player has. Succeed you carry on as normal, fail and you bite an adjacent Thrall and make an injury roll against them. If there are no thralls nearby, you lose your tackle zones, drop the ball if you had it and then a turnover is caused. The full rules can be found for this here.

Thrall – The same statline as before, the Vampire punching back we all know at love!
Vampire Thrower – The first of our new Vampires, with Bloodlust 2+ and Pass! Same statline as the old Vampires, but with a very attractive PA2+.
Vampire Blitzer – Comes with Bloodlust 3+ and Juggernaut, so a little risker to use unless you’re hitting with them, which you should be doing anyway!
Vampire Runner – Loses a point of Strength and Armour, but gains MA8 and is 10k cheaper. Bloodlust 2+
Vargheist – Brand new Big Guy, Frenzy, Claw, Regen and Bloodlust 3+. 150k puts him in league with the Minotaur and Rat Ogre, but, he’s very well-costed honestly.
ReRolls – 60k, not shabby.
Warhammer Community has the full skill and stat list here:

A massive and much-needed overhaul. Not only do the Vampires actually get positional, they’re honestly all great and the team has overall received a pretty significant buff. PA2+ on the Thrower with the MA8 of the Runners turns them into a potent passing team, especially as it’ll be very easy to get some Catch and Accurate on the team. Bloodlust is way less punishing, you’ll usually keep your Vampires on the pitch now and with Pro now being 3+, they’ve had a big bump in reliability. They’re still going to be a challenging team but players are going to get much more out of them now. GW are putting them in Tier 2 which I agree with honestly, BL will still clear you of your Thralls and they’re the biggest target, but you now start with more skills off the bat at the Vargheist is potentially one of the best Big Guys available.

All of the Vampires, 3 ReRolls | TV1000 Vampire Starting Rosters:

If you want all 6 Vampires, you’ll only be able to afford 2 ReRolls sadly, so you’ll need to think about when and where to ReRoll your Bloodlusts. You can go for just 5 Thralls which will put you at 960k, which gives you 40k for either the 12th Thrall, 40k towards the Vargheist later, or 4 lots of Dedicated Fans. For me it’s a toss-up between the 12th Thrall and Dedicated fans, having an extra Thralls is very nice for mitigating Bloodlust, but the Fans will give you that buff in cash for your Vargheist or even an Apothecary.

All 6 Vampires does mean a lot of Bloodlust going on and only 5 Thralls on the pitch means you could run out fairly quickly if the rolls aren’t in your favour, but it does mean everyone is getting SPP from game 1. Shy of adding the Vargheist this is your strongest lineup as well, with all four Strength 4 players and both MA8 Runners. It’s a very potent start, but has a little more management than dropping a Vampire or two.

All of the Vampires, 3 ReRolls, 7 Thralls | TV1000 Vampire Starting Rosters:

If you want a bit more of a bench and 3 ReRolls, you can drop one of the Blitzers, and grab yourself the 3rd ReRoll and a 7th Thrall. This gives you a bit more reliability while still maintaining a decent Vampire lineup. Of the 3 Vampires, it is the Blitzer I’d be dropping first before the other two. Bloodlust 3+ is tricky to manoeuvre and will get harder to manage as the game goes on and you lose more Thralls. Alternatively, you could drop one of the others of course, but I’d be tempted to keep the Throwers above the other two, purely because they have Bloodlust 2+ over the Blitzer and Strength 4/AV9+ over the Runner.

The above gives you 10k spare for some Dedicated fans which is always worth grabbing, if you drop the Runner however you’ll be at an even 1000k so keep that in mind when selecting which of the Vampire types to drop.

Vargheist, 3 ReRolls, | TV1000 Vampire Starting Rosters:

This would be my personal go-to build. The Vargheist for me is a must-take, as are the two Throwers and I think you can live with just the one Blitzer and Runner to start with. The Varg is essentially a Vampire Blitzer on steroids (and probably more besides) so he makes for a very good replacement in that sense and your 1 Runner is still MA8, so your scoring threat isn’t greatly reduced. I also think 3 ReRolls is a must as well as it’s not just Bloodlusts you’ll need to worry about, Runners don’t come with Catch so your hand-offs and passes might need a reroll to complete, along with any Dodges you need to make as well. Hypno Gaze should help you with Dodges but it can fail too, so I think it’s worth having a decent bank of ReRolls to keep you going.

Afterwards, I’d look to get the additional positionals or even more Thralls.

Maximum Bloodlust!!!! 0 ReRolls, | TV1000 Vampire Starting Rosters:

Much to our dismay, you cannot afford the entire team and have a ReRoll in stock. But, if you’re feeling particularly spicy, then this is the build for you. You can afford a spare Thrall which honestly you absolutely should be getting as you’ll probably be burning through Thralls at a ridiculous rate with potentially 7 Bloodlust Rolls per turn, some of which could be 3+s if your Blitzers/Varg are out of position.

Your priority of course should then be to get ReRolls with any cash you make, but at 120k a pop, it might take a while. Still, this build could be a ton of fun and I think everyone should try it at least once!

Vampire Starting Rosters BB2020, Conclusion:

It’s very hard not to love the new Vampire team, it’s a major glow-up that makes the team far more interesting and less punishing to play. They will still be a challenge, Bloodlust is going to remain tricky to navigate and you’ll have games where it’s relentless, but now your Vampires stay on the pitch at least you’ll have an opportunity to bounce back. I do think the Varghiest has the potential to be one of the best Big Guys too, he’s an absolute monster of a player and with a couple of skills with break through pretty much anything you throw at him.

Personally, I’d be starting with 3 ReRolls and going from there, prioritising the Runners who are just solid and then the Varghiest if you fancy him on your team. From there, grab your Runners and round off with Blitzers and as many Thralls as you can fit in. The Throwers honestly look like the real stars of the team and are going to be the workhorses for sure.

If you want to see more of our builds, make sure to check them out as well as our player builds, of which the Vampire ones will be coming soon!