Brothers Grim Games and Collectibles

Building a Blood Bowl team, the Dan way (and as we all know, Dan and winning go together like peanut butter and ham).

The first step is to select a race. Now you can just use the models you have, or you can use the new and improved Brothers Grim Turn Seven Blood Bowl League Team Generation Rubrik Created by the Dream Team of Ziggy Stardust and The Grammar Hammer (also known as the BGTSBBLTGRCBDTZSTGH).

Ask yourself these three questions…
#1 What kind of team are you looking for? Strength, Agility, Mixed, Difficult
#2 Is this a short league or long term? Short, Long
#3 How important is being competitive? Not, Somewhat, Very

strength, short, not => Norse
strength, short, somewhat => Dwarves
strength, short, very => Orcs
strength, long, not => Nurgle
strength, long, somewhat => Chaos
strength, long, very => Chaos Dwarves
agility, short, not => Amazons
agility, short, somewhat => Wood Elves
agility, short, very => Skaven
agility, long, not => Dark Elves
agility, long, somewhat => High Elves
agility, long, very => Elves
mixed, short, not => Chaos Pact
mixed, short, somewhat => Underworld
mixed, short, very => Undead
mixed, long, not => Humans
mixed, long, somewhat => Lizardmen
mixed, long, very => Necromantic
difficult, short, not => Halflings
difficult, short, somewhat => Goblins
difficult, short, very => Khemri
difficult, long, not => Ogres
difficult, long, somewhat => Vampires
difficult, long, very => Slaan

This is derived by taking the races style of play, the starting rosters, and determining their room for growth (as well as the emotional impact of the team, ie playing Dwarves can get very boring, very quickly. Goblins are fun, but only in small doses. After five games with Goblins, you start looking for a new team. After ten games with Goblins, you start looking for a new game.)

Once you selected the race you are using, now it’s time to determine your goals. This is a crucial stage in your teams development, as the decisions you make now will shape the entire team. Going back to question #2 above, is it a short term team, or is this going to be for the long haul?

If it is a short term team, then you build for short term success. This means limiting positionals to needs, and then using the extra cash for rerolls. For example, if you are a “win now” Skaven team, you would start with 2 Blitzers, 2 Gutter Runners, and 7 linerats, 5 rerolls and 1 fan factor. This gives you plenty of scoring threats, enough rerolls to let your Runners do their job, and harassers to cover your backfield.

If it is a long term team, then you build for the long term. This means maxing out the positionals you need, not taking superfluous pieces, and developing a team building strategy. For example, a “long term” Skaven team would take 4 x Gutter Runners, 2 x Throwers, 5 x Linerats, 4 x Rerolls, and an Apothecary. The idea is to have as many skill players as possible, so they can skill up early. The apothecary keeps your skill guys alive, and the rerolls fill in the gaps until you can start to get the inherent rerolls on your studs (catch, sure hands, etc). You want to have as many skill players as possible, so the odds of getting an MVP on a valuable player goes up. If you only have 2 linemen, then there is only a 2/11 chance a lineman gets the MVP. Also, since hitting teams rely on casualties to get their points, and casualties don’t come easy, you will want as many games as possible to increase the number of hits thrown. As for agility teams, dudes are expensive. Having extra dudes who only get in the way and suck up team value isn’t something that helps. Every lineman you have is a bribe or reroll for your opponent. Why give him those advantages?

As for a win now team, just take what you need, and work from their. Having 4 Gutter Runners is nice, but you only need one to score reliably. 4 only weakens your defensive ability. Further, you can take advantage of the fact that you are playing fast and loose, while your opponent worries about next week, next month, next year… Sometimes you can get your opponent to play against himself, as opposed to playing against you. When this happens, just sit back and smile, you’ve already won! The problem with a win now team is that you have a small window to win, and after that, you have to start over again. This is fine as long as you accept that you aren’t building a dynasty, you’re building a one hit wonder. But if that wins a championship, then who cares?

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