Building a Blood Bowl Team… part 3

Building a Blood Bowl Team… part 2



Early Thoughts…

With my opening loss against the rampaging Orcs a couple of days ago now, I've had time to patch up the wounded, mull over what's been learned, and consider where we go from here.

The roster after my first game looks pretty ropey, with the Runner missing through injury and a lineman down to Strength 2. It is the dilemma with the lineman that has had me pondering options. Can I live with a ST2 player, given that my general ST of 3 is something of a weakness anyway?

I will get a free Journeyman player in my next game to cover the absent Runner. He will be a basic Lineman, but with Loner – meaning he doesn't get to use a team re-roll automatically, he has to pass a test roll first. As long as I play him sensibly and try not to put him in a situation where he might have to use a re-roll, we should be fine.

Talking of re-rolls, I still only have two. As eriochrome pointed out in the comments last week, this isn't really enough. I didn't notice it against the Orcs as I had a bonus re-roll from inducements, however, in my next match I won't get that. I did use all my re-rolls in both halves against the Orcs, just about, so will have to be careful.

One of my Blitzers – Adin Heartrender – now has the Dodge skill, in addition to Block, thanks to the touchdown he scored (and MVP points). This will be great when Blocking and being Blocked and makes me initially think he should now be on the front line, where he will be difficult to knock down. On the other hand he would make a good ball carrier for the same reason. Decisions, decisions.

The Blitzers generally felt like the backbone of the team. The fact that they are one of the fastest models I have, with the highest armour available to me, and they start with Block, makes them invaluable. I certainly need to do more the get the others skilled up.

I would look to get a second Runner as soon as I am able I think. The Witch Elves are nice, but fragile and expensive. I need Reserve players available to me, given how many end up off the field, and I think a second Runner would give me options.

Before that though I need to look at an Apothecary. He's a lot cheaper than any of my players and is essential to help avoid some nasty injuries. I need cash first though, and that means more games being played.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the commenters over the last few weeks, especially Tristan M who has been very helpful on both my blog and Bull's blog with comments and advice on our progress. Your thoughts are much appreciated and pointing out where we've missed rules has been invaluable – thank you!

Away from the playing, my box of plastic arrived mid-game on Friday. I sat down after the match to have a go at building the first of my 'Dark Eldar' inspired Dark Elves.

As you can see, my new Blitzers are already looking the business (above). I will be adding some greenstuff to make sure they're all unique and characterful. I'm thinking of getting these and then some runners complete before moving on to the Linemen. If I can get an entire team out of a single box of Warriors and a single box of Wyches (costing approx £30) I'll be happy.

I'm going to stick with a purple theme, but rather understated. The Blitzers will contain more black in their scheme than the Linemen, and the Runners will have more flesh exposed.

When I'm at a point where I need Witch models I will weigh up my options. I could try and make them out of the kits I have, or go for it and buy some more specific Dark Elf plastics as I discussed in part 1.

I found the above image on the Painting Miniature Wargames website and it is proving to be quite an inspiration. Visit the site to see the models in detail. This guy used multiple boxes of Wyches though, so I will have to be a bit more creative.

So we have a little time now, as everyone returns to work and routine after the holidays, to gather our teams together and prepare for the next game. Bull is threatening Skaven and Mr Awdry is contemplating throwing his hat into the ring as he looks at the options available to him.

Building a Blood Bowl Team… part 4