BB2020 Goblin Starting Rosters

Goblin Starting Rosters Overview

Goblin starting rosters are probably one of the most varied you could try to deal with. They have lots of different secret weapon players you can take, most of the players are really cheap and you can also consider the option of not spending all your budget in the hope to pick up some cheap bribes via inducements. As the rules stand today there are a lot less options for Star Players to take via inducements than there were before, however this will probably change over time.

Basic Goblin Starting Roster

Just as I did the last time I wrote up on Goblin starting rosters back in 2011, this is an outline of the bare minimum I would look to take then try and tailor it from there to your preferences. The Trolls have had a slight price increase but they are slightly more reliable now when it comes to using rerolls and they’ve got the Projectile Vomit skill as well. You don’t really need to worry so much about an Apothecary, Goblins are pretty expendable and cheap, the Trolls have some built in protection in the form of Regeneration.

This leaves you 230k to play with, or to save for inducements. Bribes are 50k as an inducement for Goblin teams, though don’t forget that not all your opponents will have spent their full budget either. Bribes are handy for either getting another drive from one of your Secret Weapon players, or to help in the fouling game. Given the outline above only has eleven players you will want to include some more, even if they are basic Goblins, as they are fragile and you may also get some sent off.

I’m a big fan of the Fanatic (Ball & Chain) as strength seven is hard to deal with and for slow teams like Dwarves to move a cage by. ‘Ooligans are the easiest way to get a Dirty Player on your team. They also don’t have Secret weapon so you aren’t automatically going to lose them and Disturbing Presence can be a useful addition.

The Chainsaw Looney is one of the most iconic players in Blood Bowl and they’ve also had some slight benefits in the new rules. A turnover isn’t caused if they end up hitting themselves and falling over. They are going to get sent off but they are also very cheap, hopefully you can do some damage before the referee decides their time is up. Get Sneaky Git on them and you can do hit and run fouling.

There are two more players without Secret Weapon and that is firstly the Pogoer, they are the most expensive of the Goblins and offer a bit extra movement. They can also get out of tight spots easier but with Dodge and Stunty a normal Goblin at nearly half the price is already fairly slippery. There is also the Doom Diver who can make a Throw Team Mate touchdown that bit easier.

Lastly you have the Bomma who I think will be a bit more dependent on the other teams in your meta. If you’re playing against a lot of high agility teams then you can expect the bomb to get caught and thrown back (though it can still just explode half the time in the hands of the player who caught it). Against low agility teams that group up (like Dwarfs) then like the Fanatic it can cause a lot of disruption. They do also have Secret Weapon so you need to plan on losing them, they are however pretty cheap.

Secret Weapon Goblins

This is an example of how I would probably start the team. You get three rerolls and 15 total players, two of which have Secret Weapon (the Looney and Fanatic). That gives you an extra 2 substitutes to deal with the likely injuries (against teams like Dwarves) or for fouling against more expensive but less Block / Tackle teams (like Elves). Your extra numbers and two great fouling options in the Looney and ‘Ooligan should help prevent you getting outnumbered.

If you’ve a preference for other of the other available Goblins then you can tweak your starting lineup accordingly. An alternative option is to drop the Fanatic and bank the extra 70k, this would likely let you induce a cheap Bribe against a lot of teams and then you can try and get more out of the Looney. The issue with this is that a lot of opponents will try and blitz the Looney and hope the Chainsaw injures it’s owner, though you do still have a Dirty Player ‘Ooligan who could also make good use of a Bribe.

Goblin Starting Roster Summary

With so many different player options and low prices there are probably more different starting roster options than for any other team. Rather than attempt to list every single variation and go over the pros and cons hopefully the above will give you some guidance on how to go about setting up your initial team.

You can get a full team of fourteen Goblins, two Trolls and three rerolls for 970k, though why are you playing Goblins if you’re not going to mix in some of the unique players they have?!

As Goblin players are pretty fragile, starting out with a pretty deep bench is going to be useful and as they get injured you can either do a straight swap replacement or start experimenting with the other unique players you don’t yet have on the team.