A Sample Amazon Blood Bowl Team

The beginning of a new Blood Bowl league season means it's time for some tough choices.

Who makes it onto the new roster? Should I bother with a thrower? How many re-rolls are enough? Can I skimp on the blitzers to save money?

Good questions! Although I can't give you definite answers to these and other questions you might have, I can share with you my favorite starting roster. First, a few thoughts about my general strategy and tactics. Then, the roster. Finally, some justifications for my choices.

What Do I Need from My Amazon Team?

The make-up of your roster should depend on your style of play. So, before we get to the actual roster, here's a little bit about the way I like to play.

I love to hit stuff and to stand in and get hit. It's a bit nerve-wracking because of the low armor, but the dodge-iness of the Amazons makes it feasible. It also means that I want to maximize the number of blitzers, so that I have a lot of players with block on the pitch.

Defense involves standing up to the other team, hoping that dodge saves my girls, and then pummeling back. Keep in contact downfield, don't let anyone get away, and always get a few people behind the line to break into the cage from the back.

Offensively, I like short passes and runs. On a typical posession, my thrower starts with the ball. She'll hand it off or make a short thrower to a catcher or a blitzer, who will then carry the ball into the end zone. While I often have people down-field to make big plays, these plays still rely on short passes. For example, the thrower might break out of the cage, move up field five or six squares, and make a quick or short pass to the catcher, who then runs another six or seven squares out of everyone's tackling range (or into the end zone!).

A Balanced Roster

With that style of play in mind, here's a balanced roster that I find very successful.

For players, I opt for 1 x Thrower (70k), 2 x Catchers (140k), 4 x Blitzers (360k), and 4 x Linewomen (200k). Instead of a twelfth player linewoman, I pay 50k for an Apothecary. That leaves enough cash for 3 Re-Rolls (150k) and 3 Fan Factor (30k).

If my math holds up, that should be 1,000k - the typical starting treasury for a new Blood Bowl team.

Why Did You...?

Some choices are obvious. I don't know who would play Amazons and not take 4 blitzers. Some of the other choices aren't so clear cut, so here's my justification.

Thrower. Some people don't like the Thrower, since she doesn't come with Sure Hands. However, I find that I typically have enough Re-Rolls that I can spend a team Re-Roll on picking up the ball if necessary. Taking a thrower lets me diversify the team a bit with different skills, and the Pass skill can provide extra Re-Rolls at critical points. She's not necessary, but I like her. If you don't, take a fifth Linewoman and buy an extra 2 Fan Factor.

Three Re-Rolls. You could skimp in other areas (like skill players) and buy a fourth re-roll. But why? With dodge on every player, skill re-rolls (pass/catch), and block on four of my women to start, I rarely end up using my team re-rolls. I'll burn extra cash later in the season on a fourth or fifth re-roll, but three is plenty to start with.

Apothecary vs. 12th Player. At first glance, this could be interchangeable. Either you buy an Apothecary with your first 50k, or you buy an extra Linewoman with your first 50k. However, the Apothecary has the potential of saving you money during the first game. What happens if your twelfth player dies? Also, if you should get beat up and have less than 11 players available for the next game, you get free Journeyman to fill up the roster. If you start with the extra player, there's always the chance that you'll lose a few players and have to "catch up" for a couple of games before you can afford the Apothecary. In a one off game, the extra player is better, but in the long term you want to start with the Apothecary.

Only Three Fan Factor? A few years ago, our league was crazy about having the maximum total fan factor. Under the old rules, this brought in a much bigger gate and enable each team to win a lot more money. Fan factor has less of an impact on winning, and your relative fan factor has more to do with it than the total fan factor of each team. While there are certain advantages to be had with a high fan factor (a little extra cash, kick off table results), this doesn't concern me that much. Moreover, since the league I play in doesn't value fan factor that highly I can start with three and not be that far below the other teams (average of maybe 4 to 6). If you play in a league where everybody else is starting with a 9 fan factor, you may want to cut some corners and raise yours - but I'm not.

Bottom line. This is a good, balanced team. Everyone has dodge to stand in and take a whacking. You've got lots of blitzers to hit back. Your thrower and catchers can mount a great running and short-passing game from inside a dodge-y cage, and you should always have a Team Re-Roll or two when it counts. Oh, how I love the Amazon team.