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Well, after having only played one physical game of Blood Bowl well over 10 years ago (but a bunch of games playing the video games a couple of years ago). A friend is thinking of splitting the starter with me (with a potential third person from our gaming group buying in as well).

Going to let the person splitting the starter pick his team, and will end up playing what's left. After a few games to familiarize myself with the rules again, going to end up giving the other starter box team to our potential third person since they are on the fence about playing... so a free team should at least get them to try a few games haha.

But, I have been looking at the third party and GW options for other teams since I want to try playing something different. What I think I have settles on is:

-Amazons
-Dark Elves

They both seem somewhat fragile, but really fun to play. What do you all think of getting back into the game with those two teams, will there be issues running them against people brand new to the game?

And all I should need to play those two teams is just the Coach's Handbook (plus errata) right?

The Dark Elves may be a bit rough on the player who ends up with the Humans, but the Orcs should be fine against them.
The Spike magazine/BB almanac for the Dark Elves will give you a bit more info on them and some new star players, but isnt necessary.
Amazon don't have an official team for minis or updated rules yet so the handbook should be enough.
Welcome to the game, I'm quite new to it myself.

Welcome to Blood Bowl, GW's best game!

I play and like both teams and agree that either should match well versus Orks. However, the stock Human team is a little lower tier and more likely to get beat by Amazon or Dark Elves. I have seen Amazon teams more frequently (and winning) at BB tournaments lately. Team-wide Dodge is really strong, but Dwarves will be your kryptonite. Dark Elves can be more tricky to play IMO, especially with their Witch Elves. But Agility 4 can carry you through some surprising wins. Never underestimate elf BS.

One suggestion: proxy the stock starter Human team as Amazons and see how you like playing them. I have proxied my oldschool 3rd edition Human team as Amazons before ("The Manly Maidens") as they have the same positionals (Linemen, Throwers, Catchers, Blitzers).

Edit: And yes, the new Coach's handbook is really all you need. Too bad GW couldn't bother to proofread it, as it is full of significant typographical errors for stats that haven't changed in years.

 Gnarlly wrote:
Welcome to Blood Bowl, GW's best game!

I play and like both teams and agree that either should match well versus Orks. However, the stock Human team is a little lower tier and more likely to get beat by Amazon or Dark Elves. I have seen Amazon teams more frequently (and winning) at BB tournaments lately. Team-wide Dodge is really strong, but Dwarves will be your kryptonite. Dark Elves can be more tricky to play IMO, especially with their Witch Elves. But Agility 4 can carry you through some surprising wins. Never underestimate elf BS.

One suggestion: proxy the stock starter Human team as Amazons and see how you like playing them. I have proxied my oldschool 3rd edition Human team as Amazons before ("The Manly Maidens") as they have the same positionals (Linemen, Throwers, Catchers, Blitzers).

Edit: And yes, the new Coach's handbook is really all you need. Too bad GW couldn't bother to proofread it, as it is full of significant typographical errors for stats that haven't changed in years.

Oof, yeah, when doing some research beforehand I noticed quite the controversy surrounding the Coach's handbook. Thankfully when I downloaded the errata, it just looks like the only thing that applies to either team was a single armour value point change for the Dark Elves.

I remembered liking the Amazons in the Cyanide Blood Bowl games, but most of me wanting to play them is out of determiniation to play Amazons since I owned a team of the old GW minis for years but had nobody to play against. Second reason is the amazing minis I found for both the Amazon and Dark Elf teams. While they are a bit pricey, it comes with full 16 person teams with each sculpt being unique, so no reason to buy two boxes to get a full team/max positionals.

If I played with fewer or no Witch Elves, would that provide a pleasant enough play experience for newer players? Same with the Amazons, would probably start with fewer Blitzers to make them less punishing to play.

Yeah, been drifting back to Blood Bowl mainly because my interest in mainline GW has been drifting, and the price tag on armies for larger games is likely enough to scare off people new to the wargaming hobby. Oh, and thank you both for the responses so far!

Wow! Cool minis!

Been trying to watch some of the MANY streamed Blood Bowl 2 matches on YouTube to see how they the teams play, and what I can pick up.

Kind of funny most matches I have seen have the Dark Elves getting obliterated haha. Haven't seen much for Amazons yet, but queued up a few videos I recently found with them in it to take a look.

All these Blood Bowl games get me really itching to play again.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, but thinking of picking up a star player to go with each team, for Dark Elves I am thinking of Roxanna Darknail since it seems she was added back to the star players list with the GW Blood Bowl rules.

For the Amazons I was thinking of Zara the Slayer, but it doesn't seem like she is in the GW Blood Bowl rules. Does anybody ever have issues with people running a star player GW doesn't have current rules for?

Those are both good star player picks. Most tournaments still allow Zara. But since Zara is not an "official" player under the new ruleset, check out Karla Von Kill as an alternative to play for the Amazons:

220k 6,4,3,8 Block, Dauntless, Dodge, Jump Up, Loner

While I really like Dark Elves, and they were the second team I picked up when starting playing in the mid-90's (after Orks of course), these days I lean more towards Amazons if deciding between the two teams. If you don't play against Dwarves that often, then I think Amazons are the better team now.

Welcome to BB! It really is an awesome game.

I actually like neither of those teams - I find DE pretty dull and everyone hates Amazons, right?

Seriously, assuming you're playing rookie-level rosters then Amazons are a very strong team - they start with a good bunch of skills (4 x Block, sure hands, catch and team-wide Dodge). The AV7 isn't such a problem when you're not getting knocked down a lot.

When I've played against Amazons more damage has been done by Zons failing dodges than by me hitting them.

If you want to dabble in different teams can I recommend FUMBBL as a way to play online? Feel free to PM me if you're interested.

 Gnarlly wrote:
Those are both good star player picks. Most tournaments still allow Zara. But since Zara is not an "official" player under the new ruleset, check out Karla Von Kill as an alternative to play for the Amazons:

220k 6,4,3,8 Block, Dauntless, Dodge, Jump Up, Loner

While I really like Dark Elves, and they were the second team I picked up when starting playing in the mid-90's (after Orks of course), these days I lean more towards Amazons if deciding between the two teams. If you don't play against Dwarves that often, then I think Amazons are the better team now.

Gotcha, I will probably pick up the "totally not Zara the Slayer" and "not Karla Von Kill" the company I am thinking of ordering my teams from makes. At that that way I will have a backup to the Zara that is themed to match the Amazon team I posted a picture of. Would be a bummer to one day go to a tournament and find I can't use Zara if she doesn't have a model or new rules by that point.

 RobS wrote:
Welcome to BB! It really is an awesome game.

I actually like neither of those teams - I find DE pretty dull and everyone hates Amazons, right?

Seriously, assuming you're playing rookie-level rosters then Amazons are a very strong team - they start with a good bunch of skills (4 x Block, sure hands, catch and team-wide Dodge). The AV7 isn't such a problem when you're not getting knocked down a lot.

When I've played against Amazons more damage has been done by Zons failing dodges than by me hitting them.

If you want to dabble in different teams can I recommend FUMBBL as a way to play online? Feel free to PM me if you're interested.

Hah, yeah, I have been seeing a lot of Amazon hate in the streams of games I have watched and discussions about teams on other websites.

Interesting you find Dark Elves dull though, would love to know your reasoning behind it as I am still new to the teams and what makes them feel so different. Would a different team be better as a second team to go with the Amazons?

Looks like one of the potential players is thinking of picking up Lizardmen and a Skaven team, so may end up totally giving away the box set teams to other people, and it looks like we will have a decent variety of teams.

Actually created an account on FUMBBL, but my Chromebook doesn't run Java so I can't play or observe games on there sadly.

 RobS wrote:
Welcome to BB! It really is an awesome game.

I actually like neither of those teams - I find DE pretty dull and everyone hates Amazons, right?

Seriously, assuming you're playing rookie-level rosters then Amazons are a very strong team - they start with a good bunch of skills (4 x Block, sure hands, catch and team-wide Dodge). The AV7 isn't such a problem when you're not getting knocked down a lot.

When I've played against Amazons more damage has been done by Zons failing dodges than by me hitting them.

If you want to dabble in different teams can I recommend FUMBBL as a way to play online? Feel free to PM me if you're interested.

Hah, yeah, I have been seeing a lot of Amazon hate in the streams of games I have watched and discussions about teams on other websites.

Interesting you find Dark Elves dull though, would love to know your reasoning behind it as I am still new to the teams and what makes them feel so different. Would a different team be better as a second team to go with the Amazons?

Looks like one of the potential players is thinking of picking up Lizardmen and a Skaven team, so may end up totally giving away the box set teams to other people, and it looks like we will have a decent variety of teams.

Actually created an account on FUMBBL, but my Chromebook doesn't run Java so I can't play or observe games on there sadly.

Oh yeah, most people hate Amazons. But don't let that put you off.

Hard to put my finger on what I didn't like about DE - I guess, early on they have so few skills it's hard to do much. I've felt completely helpless on defence with rookie DE (remember, taking team Rerolls out of the equation, amazon linos dodge more reliably than an elf). And as I play a lot on FUMBBL you have to bear in mind team development, and there isn't a lot you can really do with DE apart from block, dodge, sidestep and then just stifle the other team out of the game. Lots of people like them a lot but they weren't for me.

My favourite teams are probably Lizardmen (I find them so easy to use it almost feels like 'cheatmode') and Norse.

It's a shame you can't get Java to work. There are development plans of a non-Java client but I think it's a way off being fully functional yet.

I have been playing Dark Elves for about 25 years.

Pro:
- 4 Blitzers & AV8 with the exception of Witches and Runners.
This means they can reliably brawl with non-bash teams.

-Witch Elves & Frenzy
Perfect for removing players from the pitch with a BLITZ. Though take care that she doesn't end up in no man's land at the end of her action.


Contra:
-Linemen & MA6
They are quite slow for elves and this means you have to deploy a deep defense vs. fast teams.

-Expensive players
You need to pay attention to what you are doing at ALL times otherwise you will be obliterated sooner than latter. AV8 will protect you somewhat but don't count on it.

 RobS wrote:


Oh yeah, most people hate Amazons. But don't let that put you off.

Hard to put my finger on what I didn't like about DE - I guess, early on they have so few skills it's hard to do much. I've felt completely helpless on defence with rookie DE (remember, taking team Rerolls out of the equation, amazon linos dodge more reliably than an elf). And as I play a lot on FUMBBL you have to bear in mind team development, and there isn't a lot you can really do with DE apart from block, dodge, sidestep and then just stifle the other team out of the game. Lots of people like them a lot but they weren't for me.

My favourite teams are probably Lizardmen (I find them so easy to use it almost feels like 'cheatmode') and Norse.

It's a shame you can't get Java to work. There are development plans of a non-Java client but I think it's a way off being fully functional yet.

I actually ended up trading a spare Warmachine army for an Xbox One plus a good chunk of cash, and picked up the Legendary Edition of Blood Bowl 2 for dirt cheap. Looks like the community for that is still pretty active, so have been trying out a whole bunch of teams.

Have to say, man have my skills seriously deteriorated, because I get thoroughly trounced in online matches haha. A lot to take in coming back to the game after so long, but man has it been fun.

The Amazons have for sure solidified a place as one of the two teams I will buy for tabletop though.

Played a few games as Orcs, and it was frustrating. Mainly because the Black Orcs are a Block skill away from being reliable... so many Turnovers with double die blocks and getting less than ideal rolls. Seems like the Blitzers do all the heavy lifting, and they get targeted so fast.

Made a Dark Elf and Chaos team, but only have one game with the Chaos and none with the Dark Elves yet. Mainly because I am struggling with starting rosters.

Brettonians were tons of fun to play against, even with the annoying skills they start with. And Khemri... wow, their Tomb Guardians are rough.

 Strg Alt wrote:
I have been playing Dark Elves for about 25 years.

Pro:
- 4 Blitzers & AV8 with the exception of Witches and Runners.
This means they can reliably brawl with non-bash teams.

-Witch Elves & Frenzy
Perfect for removing players from the pitch with a BLITZ. Though take care that she doesn't end up in no man's land at the end of her action.


Contra:
-Linemen & MA6
They are quite slow for elves and this means you have to deploy a deep defense vs. fast teams.

-Expensive players
You need to pay attention to what you are doing at ALL times otherwise you will be obliterated sooner than latter. AV8 will protect you somewhat but don't count on it.

Been reading up on guides for the Dark Elves today when I have free time, pretty excited to give them a try next week after I play a few more games with other teams. Didn't want to play both the teams I was thinking of getting right away, otherwise I probably wouldn't try anything else out for a long time .

Appreciate the help so far!

Well, decided to finally pull the trigger and order the Amazon and Dark Elf teams I showed pictures of earlier. Picked up some star players for those teams from the same company.

Can't wait for them to get here!

Both teams evolve convergently (blodge). Both of them can be very difficult for noobs to handle, particularly the handicapped teams of the starter boxes. Depends on how you play.