Understanding Blood Bowl

[- Q -]

I've never played Blood Bowl and I'm bit curious as to what someone needs to play the game. If there are any blood bowl aficionados out there, maybe you could answer a couple of questions for me.

1. Besides the team box, what other models do you need to buy to field an effective team?
2. How many and which rule books do you need to play?
3. Are the cards necessary?
4. What role does the Spike Magazine play? Is it needed?
5. How good are the Lizardmen compared to other teams? Which teams are strong and which ones are weak?
6. What else does one need (or need to know) in order to start playing?
7. What teams are you guys and gals fielding?
8. Is it a popular game?

 

[Imrahil]

Interesting questions and good to learn from this thread. I myself don't know any of the answers, but I do know some who might know.

@Warden and @WildColonial Boy are both Blood Bowl players if I recon correctly.

Grrr, !mrahil

 

[WildColonial Boy]

I've never played Blood Bowl and I'm bit curious as to what someone needs to play the game. If there are any blood bowl aficionados out there, maybe you could answer a couple of questions for me.

1. Besides the team box, what other models do you need to buy to field an effective team?
2. How many and which rule books do you need to play?
3. Are the cards necessary?
4. What role does the Spike Magazine play? Is it needed?
5. How good are the Lizardmen compared to other teams? Which teams are strong and which ones are weak?
6. What else does one need (or need to know) in order to start playing?
7. What teams are you guys and gals fielding?
8. Is it a popular game?

Q,
I've played for a number of years so I'll try to assist with your questions.

1. Each team (apart from snotlings) has a maximum of 16 players. This includes Star players and big guys. Most GW team boxes have only 12 maybe 13 players. Some are better than others for supplying different positionals, (catchers, throwers, linemen, blitzers, blockers - these are the basic positions. Some teams they may be called other things but do the same as one of those just listed).
If you know or have an idea of what team you want to play then I'd go with a 3rd party supplier as their teams usually include all 16 players including big guys (ogre, troll, minotaur, ice troll, monster) and sometimes extra minis such as coach, apothecary, wizard, team markers, re-roll markers etc.
A starting roster for most teams will only allow you to field a team of 11 or 12 due to cost of each position. This is why most tournaments usually allow a little more to the starting roster plus extras based on the tier level of each race.

2. The main rulebook should get you by. Team stats and details can be downloaded if needed.

3. Don't bother with the cards unless you have just won lotto. Expensive and a waste of time and effort unless you like collecting.

4. Spike is an interesting read and is usually specific to any new teams introduced, giving stats, teams of renown and some fluff. For example Spike! Journal issues 16, 17, and 18, containing all the team rosters and Star Player rules for Vampire, Gnome, and Chaos Dwarf Teams.
Team stats can be found elsewhere and if you buy the GW teams, then the stats are also included.

5.Each team has its own way of playing and race specific skills and traits. The good thing about Blood Bowl is god did not create everyone equal.
Lizardmen are a fun team with some tough saurus, some speedy but weak skinks and a strong big guy in the Kroxigor. Its a good mix of strength and speed. The saurus hold the line and the skinks run and dodge around to score.
I mentioned that in competitions and tournaments, teams are categorised in tiers. This is a rough breakdown of what I mean.

Tier 1 contains the strongest teams in the game which are generally more forgiving and more likely to win games. Tier 2 teams require a bit more experience to coach and Tier 3 is the “stunty” teams – which are generally considered the hardest teams to master.


Tier 1: Amazon, Chaos Dwarf, Dark Elf, Dwarf, High Elf, Lizardmen, Norse, Shambling Undead, Skaven, Underworld Denizen, Wood Elf

Tier 2: Black Orc, Chaos Chosen, Chaos Renegades, Elven Union, Human, Imperial Nobility, Khorne, Necromantic Horror, Nurgle, Old World Alliance, Orc, Tomb King, Vampire

Tier 3: Goblin, Halfling, Ogre, Snotling, Gnome

These tiers change and evolve as new teams are introduced, or depending on the popularity of certain teams at tournaments.

6. Just start playing. Its good if you have a mentor to teach you as you play. There are also plenty of youtubes regarding learning to play.
The best piece of advice is to remember that during your team turn, do everything that doesn't require a dice roll first. The Blood Bowl Gods always ensure you will fail your crucial dice roll. So do any necessary other stuff first.

7. I personally have nearly every team available and sometimes 2 or 3 of that team (because I like specific models or wanted to change team colours. I have 4 chaos dwarf teams.
I generally like to play chaos dwarves, chaos and orcs. I took a necromantic team to my last tournament (The Cane Toad Cup 2025) and they did remarkably well. I came in in the top 10 of about 60.

8. Is it popular. EXTREMELY!!!.
It is has been played world wide since 1986. In fact the world player base and The NAF kept the game alive when GW washed their hands of it in 2000 until 2016.There are dozens of tournaments world wide every year plus its very popular with gaming clubs etc. Nearly every miniature manufacturer and 3D designers include some fantasy football miniatures. Many (in my opinion) far better than GW ones.

 

[Warden]

I will defer to @WildColonial Boy 's expertise in this topic as I have only played a handful of games, and only one three teams (so far ).


I like the aesthetic of the game, it heightens that tongue-and-cheek humor of old Warhammer Fantasy up over the 9000th degree. I made myself a blitz bowl board with plenty of this humor in mind, honestly I would have made it for the billboards alone. The minis and board were such a fun project!



The three teams in question, along with a couple other items such as referees:



The game is lots of fun! My experience is with the slightly smaller version of the game known as Blitzbowl. Very quick and dirty game, my brother and I played a bunch of games in a single afternoon that went quick, but were fun! By now he has nearly all the full blood bowl teams (and is in the process of making at least two or three stadiums fill with spectators).

Tier 1: Amazon, Chaos Dwarf, Dark Elf, Dwarf, High Elf, Lizardmen, Norse, Shambling Undead, Skaven, Underworld Denizen, Wood Elf

Tier 2: Black Orc, Chaos Chosen, Chaos Renegades, Elven Union, Human, Imperial Nobility, Khorne, Necromantic Horror, Nurgle, Old World Alliance, Orc, Tomb King, Vampire

Tier 3: Goblin, Halfling, Ogre, Snotling, Gnome

If I were starting down the path of Blood Bowl (or Blitz Bowl) again I would go ahead and buy two teams to start with, at least one from the tier 1 category to start with for sure, and convince a friend to do the same (that is what my brother did to me ). Main reason I only have half a team in the pictures is I split my Necromantic Horror team for half of my brother's Lizardmen.





There are a ton of great 3rd party manufacturers out there, I am a big fan of Greebo Games who make some beautiful Bretonnians. They were my only source of true-to-form Bretonnians (Florentine Knights) until the relatively recent return of the Old World:





The little extra minis are also hilarious to me. My brother got me this goblin referee for instance



Anyway, love the game and the minis. It was super fun to put the minis together, and I hear the community around the game is also fantastic.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

I have 4 chaos dwarf teams.

I generally like to play chaos dwarves

 

[ChapterAquila92]

I've never played Blood Bowl and I'm bit curious as to what someone needs to play the game. If there are any blood bowl aficionados out there, maybe you could answer a couple of questions for me.

1. Besides the team box, what other models do you need to buy to field an effective team?
2. How many and which rule books do you need to play?
3. Are the cards necessary?
4. What role does the Spike Magazine play? Is it needed?
5. How good are the Lizardmen compared to other teams? Which teams are strong and which ones are weak?
6. What else does one need (or need to know) in order to start playing?
7. What teams are you guys and gals fielding?
8. Is it a popular game?

@Warden answered quite a bit earlier, so I'll just add on to what he's already said where needed. Suffice to say I will be linking a number of Goonhammer articles that can better articulate what I'm adding on than I can.

1. It really depends on the team you're playing. On top of the 16-man max team size, each team will have its own limitations on what how many of each type of player you can take, and some team boxes don't inherently have the types you might want for that team (let alone the quantity). Here's Goonhammer's evaluation of the team boxes alone to give you an idea of what more you might need for each team.

3. The player cards are useless if you're writing a roster anyway. The special play cards on the other hand are more useful, but only as inducements or if you have a lot of gold in your team's treasury to burn.

5. Defining a team as being "strong" or "weak" is entirely dependent on what elements of the game they focus on. Here's Goonhammer's analysis on the kinds of play-styles each team caters to the best, but suffice to say that a team whose strengths are their ability to dodge and run the ball as far and as fast as possible will not (and should not) try to compete in the same aspects of the game as one whose strength is its ability to deal brutal beatdowns on the scrimmage line.

6. It bears repeating again that Goonhammer is a valuable resource for learning how to play Blood Bowl, from kick-off formations to risk management. They're a wealth of information that GW doesn't really provide beyond handing you the rules in the core rulebook and saying "bon chance".

7. Where do I start? I play a number of teams for Blood Bowl: Skaven, Lizardmen, Vampires, Halflings, Underworld Denizens, Humans, and Chaos Dwarfs.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

and Chaos Dwarfs.

 

[- Q -]

Thank you @WildColonial Boy , @Warden and @ChapterAquila92 for all the amazing information. Thanks to @Imrahil for tagging people to the thread.

Tier 1 contains the strongest teams in the game which are generally more forgiving and more likely to win games. Tier 2 teams require a bit more experience to coach and Tier 3 is the “stunty” teams – which are generally considered the hardest teams to master.


Tier 1: Amazon, Chaos Dwarf, Dark Elf, Dwarf, High Elf, Lizardmen, Norse, Shambling Undead, Skaven, Underworld Denizen, Wood Elf

Tier 2: Black Orc, Chaos Chosen, Chaos Renegades, Elven Union, Human, Imperial Nobility, Khorne, Necromantic Horror, Nurgle, Old World Alliance, Orc, Tomb King, Vampire

Tier 3: Goblin, Halfling, Ogre, Snotling, Gnome

These tiers change and evolve as new teams are introduced, or depending on the popularity of certain teams at tournaments.

Based on the models, it looks like most of my favorite teams belong to the weaker tiers. With only a few exceptions.

I personally have nearly every team available and sometimes 2 or 3 of that team (because I like specific models or wanted to change team colours. I have 4 chaos dwarf teams.

Now that is an impressive collection. Must have taken a long time to collect that many teams and even longer to paint them up for the field! Do you have a group picture of them all together?

Team stats and details can be downloaded if needed.

Is this a good website for details and stats:
https://bloodbowlbase.ru/

I took a necromantic team to my last tournament (The Cane Toad Cup 2025) and they did remarkably well. I came in in the top 10 of about 60.

That is some solid playing. With a tier 2 team no less!

I like the aesthetic of the game, it heightens that tongue-and-cheek humor of old Warhammer Fantasy up over the 9000th degree. I made myself a blitz bowl board with plenty of this humor in mind, honestly I would have made it for the billboards alone. The minis and board were such a fun project!

That is a very cool board! Did you make the billboard images yourself or can you download them from somewhere?

The three teams in question, along with a couple other items such as referees:

Very lovely. A beautiful collection. You've always got such great stuff. Which team is your favorite and why?

I would go ahead and buy two teams to start with, at least one from the tier 1 category to start with for sure, and convince a friend to do the same (that is what my brother did to me ).

I guess those starting boxes must be good for that. Two armies (but not tier 1), rules, board and dice. I'm guess that it offers a better value? They even have some big guys and star players. Not my favorite teams though.

From the rumor thread, it looks like GW are on the verge of releasing a new one. Bretonnia and Tomb Kings. Maybe the Tomb Kings tier will change and who knows will Bretonnia will land.

Suffice to say I will be linking a number of Goonhammer articles that can better articulate what I'm adding on than I can.

Thank you so much for those links. I had a good read through them and they were very helpful.

I play a number of teams for Blood Bowl: Skaven, Lizardmen, Vampires, Halflings, Underworld Denizens, Humans, and Chaos Dwarfs.

Who is your favorite? Did you choose them based on tier ranking, playstyle or because of the team models?

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Based on the models, it looks like most of my favorite teams belong to the weaker tiers.

You're in luck. If you're looking for a tier one team, I have a really fantastic recommendation!

 

[ChapterAquila92]

Who is your favorite? Did you choose them based on tier ranking, playstyle or because of the team models?

Halflings, amusingly enough. Even though I play them in a competitive league, I don't necessarily play them to win, but for the silliness that is hucking them down the pitch with a "fastball special" via treeman to try scoring touchdowns (or failing that, throwing teammates at opposing players). There's even been some impetus in my group to suggest a "stunty" league on the side if enough people buy in.

It also generally depends on the kind of playstyle I really want to go for. I get as much enjoyment out of speeding with my Skaven, Skinks, and Vampires as I do going into tackle mode with my Saurus, Humans, and... Vampires. My Chorfs on the other hand are a tad insufferable to play against (Block, Tackle, and Guard is a nasty combination on AV10 players). My Underworld Denizens team is also in a weird spot where, until they gain enough advances to have a distinct playstyle, they're trying to compete with both my Skaven and Halflings in mechanics.

Insofar as team rating is concerned, the only two that ever were decided upon that way were my Vampires and Underworld Denizens. Up until then, I had only my Lizardmen and Skaven - both Tier 1 teams - and I was given the suggestion to pick up a Tier 2 team. Incidentally, no sooner had I gotten both teams when the teams were re-evaluated and UD got bumped up to Tier 1.

Model-wise, apart from my Skaven (Grey Coast Scuttlers) and Lizardmen (Miq'dundi Kroxigors), I went third party with my teams, specifically with models from Punga Miniatures. This included a "second" Skaven team in pirate garb as kind of the "home team" to my official GW "away team" models. The pirate theme also extends to my Vampires and Halflings - Harkon's Privateers and Harkon's Bloody Cooks, respectively. Apart from that, my UD are miners (Underminers), my humans are Kislevite (Ursun's Claws), and my Chorfs are... well, Chorfs (Chikaka Bulls).

 

[- Q -]

There's even been some impetus in my group to suggest a "stunty" league on the side if enough people buy in.

That sounds like the best kind of mayhem. How do the five stunty teams compare in terms of power level? All tier 3, but are some better than others?

Personally I really love the look of the Ogres, Gnomes and Snotlings. The Halflings are pretty cool too.

Insofar as team rating is concerned, the only two that ever were decided upon that way were my Vampires and Underworld Denizens. Up until then, I had only my Lizardmen and Skaven - both Tier 1 teams - and I was given the suggestion to pick up a Tier 2 team. Incidentally, no sooner had I gotten both teams when the teams were re-evaluated and UD got bumped up to Tier 1.

How often do the Tier levels change?


Another question, the team boxes come with some extra stuff. The use of the ball is self explanatory, but what are the coin like things and additional maker(s) used for?

You're in luck. If you're looking for a tier one team, I have a really fantastic recommendation! View attachment 165738

I won't lie, they look pretty good. They are pretty strong candidates along with 5-6 other teams.

After reading the Lizardmen team discussion you guys were having over on the rumors thread, I took a closer look at the Games Workshop models and they do look a bit strange. At first they would have been my top choice, but I think I like a few of the other teams better.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

I won't lie, they look pretty good. They are pretty strong candidates along with 5-6 other teams.

Something to inspire you to the right choice:

 

[ChapterAquila92]

That sounds like the best kind of mayhem. How do the five stunty teams compare in terms of power level? All tier 3, but are some better than others?

They all trade relatively equitable with one another on average.

Goblins can make use of secret weapons, though caution is to be exercised that they're liable to only be around for one drive before being ejected from the game. Sometimes their two trolls can also get the munchies and decide to eat the team mate that they were supposed to be throwing.

Snotlings and Ogres both get more access to Big Guys (2 trolls and 2 pumpwagons for snotlings, 4 ogre blockers and 2 ogre kickers for Ogres), but mostly at the cost of their little guys being easier to knock out or casualty compared to the other stunty teams. They largely compensate by being able to bring on d3 more of the little guys than the 11-player field cap would normally allow (not to be confused with team size), and don't count the little guys for the purpose of determining money for inducements.

Haven't seen the Gnome team in action yet, but from the looks of things both them and the Halfling team are arguably two of the more varied stunty teams. Halflings in particular have throwers and catchers in addition to their "hopeful" linemen, which when coupled with two treemen (big guys whose only drawbacks are their 2 squares of movement and the chance of becoming rooted) make them pretty versatile.

How often do the Tier levels change?

Rarely, really. Last I recall, it only ever happened once within this past edition.

Another question, the team boxes come with some extra stuff. The use of the ball is self explanatory, but what are the coin like things and additional marker(s) used for?

The coins and markers are for the scoreboard, turn tracker, and re-roll counter. These are found on the dugout pieces provided with each Blood Bowl pitch. You can technically flip the coin as well for determining the first kick-off, but the coins themselves are not weighted properly for that.

 

[- Q -]

Goblins can make use of secret weapons, though caution is to be exercised that they're liable to only be around for one drive before being ejected from the game.

That secret weapon rule looks pretty harsh (from the perspective of a complete noob like myself). Do you find that their effect is great enough to justify the fact that they will be ejected from the game? For the short time they are on the field, are they better than their non-secret weapon equivalents?

Rarely, really. Last I recall, it only ever happened once within this past edition.

Maybe some movement with the new season 3 edition release?



Looking at the teams, purely from a model perspective, I think my favorites are:

Snotlings, Ogres, Chaos Dwarfs, Dwarfs, Tomb Kings, Vampires, Gnomes

 

[ChapterAquila92]

That secret weapon rule looks pretty harsh (from the perspective of a complete noob like myself). Do you find that their effect is great enough to justify the fact that they will be ejected from the game? For the short time they are on the field, are they better than their non-secret weapon equivalents?

They normally should be, though that also depends on their gimmick. The chainsaw is useful for getting tough players off the board, the bombardier is good for disrupting tight formations of players, and the fanatic is a Strength 7 maniac that doesn't need to call blocks or blitzes to hit adjacent players, so long as its scatter-based movement directs it into an opposing player. They're fun, they're goofy, but they also take up team roster slots that could be used for more consistent players, including the doom diver and pogo-stick guy.

As for the Secret Weapon special rule, it only applies to players on the pitch at the end of the drive, and you can argue the call before the player is ejected from the game. On a 1, the coach is ejected and can't argue further calls. On a 2-5, the player is ejected. On a 6, the player continues to be in play. The same also applies to fouls and special ball kicks (goblins have these in spades compared to most other teams, one of which being a ball packed with dynamite).

 

[- Q -]

They normally should be, though that also depends on their gimmick. The chainsaw is useful for getting tough players off the board, the bombardier is good for disrupting tight formations of players, and the fanatic is a Strength 7 maniac that doesn't need to call blocks or blitzes to hit adjacent players, so long as its scatter-based movement directs it into an opposing player. They're fun, they're goofy, but they also take up team roster slots that could be used for more consistent players, including the doom diver and pogo-stick guy.

As for the Secret Weapon special rule, it only applies to players on the pitch at the end of the drive, and you can argue the call before the player is ejected from the game. On a 1, the coach is ejected and can't argue further calls. On a 2-5, the player is ejected. On a 6, the player continues to be in play. The same also applies to fouls and special ball kicks (goblins have these in spades compared to most other teams, one of which being a ball packed with dynamite).

That fanatic sounds like fun! Random hilarious fun. So do you typically include secret weapons on your teams?




Also, what do you think of the teams I mentioned earlier?

Looking at the teams, purely from a model perspective, I think my favorites are:

Snotlings, Ogres, Chaos Dwarfs, Dwarfs, Tomb Kings, Vampires, Gnomes

 

[ChapterAquila92]

That fanatic sounds like fun! Random hilarious fun. So do you typically include secret weapons on your teams?

I don't play any team with default access to secret weapons (outside of star players I don't own models for, anyway), but a resident goblin player in my local league has gotten into the habit of including both the fanatic and the chainsaw in his team roster, but not the bombardier. His reasoning is this: being potentially down three players because all of your secret weapons had to be on the pitch at least once can be a terrible blow to a team that needs the backup numbers, and players with the Stunty trait are easier to put out of action than most other players once you break their armour.

Also, what do you think of the teams I mentioned earlier?

Snotlings and Ogres, while fun to play, aren't the best suited for getting into the game, and especially not for winning games unless you've got the skill and experience to pull it off.

I however can recommend Dwarfs and Tomb Kings as being among the more beginner-friendly teams (plus, they really like the physical game as bash teams), while Chaos Dwarfs and Vampires take a while to pick up steam.

Again, no experience with gnomes, but with them being a stunty team I'd wager that they're in the same camp as the other ones - play to have fun, but don't expect to win games with them unless you have the skill and experience to pull it off.

 

[- Q -]

Again, no experience with gnomes, but with them being a stunty team I'd wager that they're in the same camp as the other ones - play to have fun, but don't expect to win games with them unless you have the skill and experience to pull it off.

I read somewhere that they might be the strongest stunty team... but still only a stunty team Not sure if that is accurate though.


Any guesses on how much things are going to be shaken up with the release of Season 3? How big was the change when they transitioned from season 1 to season 2?


What are some of the better Star Players in general? I imagine it is team dependent, but overall who is considered to be really good?

 

[ChapterAquila92]

Any guesses on how much things are going to be shaken up with the release of Season 3? How big was the change when they transitioned from season 1 to season 2?

The biggest changes between Seasons 1 and 2 were the additional caps on maximum characteristic values (i.e. no more MA 10 gutter runners), the changing of AV from a number you needed to beat to a threshold number (i.e. AV 9 became AV 10+), and divesting Pass and other throwing abilities away from being Agility-based by assigning them their own Pass characteristic. Season 1 also allowed for players to always be able to draw at least two cards from the Special Play decks each game, which got consigned to being 100,000gp/card Inducements in Season 2.

What are some of the better Star Players in general? I imagine it is team dependent, but overall who is considered to be really good?

Haven't really played with any apart from Glart Smashrip (the really fat skaven) and maybe Hakflem Scuttlespite (two-headed four-armed skaven), but yeah, some are very team-dependent. It also really depends on what you're looking for to complement your team.

In general, Star Players are expensive, be it as hired team members or as inducements, but that's often more than justified in their characteristics, skills, or other special rules. The only major downside to taking them, especially in league play, is that they can't gain Star Player Points if they accomplish a task that would otherwise reward them, which essentially denies a regular player on your team the ability to gain SPP themselves instead.

 

[- Q -]

The biggest changes between Seasons 1 and 2 were the additional caps on maximum characteristic values (i.e. no more MA 10 gutter runners), the changing of AV from a number you needed to beat to a threshold number (i.e. AV 9 became AV 10+), and divesting Pass and other throwing abilities away from being Agility-based by assigning them their own Pass characteristic. Season 1 also allowed for players to always be able to draw at least two cards from the Special Play decks each game, which got consigned to being 100,000gp/card Inducements in Season 2.

Were any of the teams, players or Star Players changed at all, or do they largely remain static from one season to another?

In general, Star Players are expensive, be it as hired team members or as inducements

I had thought that they were only bought through inducements, I didn't know you could hire them directly. Good to know. Which method is better, via inducements or direct hire? Pros and cons?

The only major downside to taking them, especially in league play, is that they can't gain Star Player Points if they accomplish a task that would otherwise reward them, which essentially denies a regular player on your team the ability to gain SPP themselves instead.

They also have the Loner negative trait, right? Not sure if all do, but I've seen it on those that I've taken a look at.