BB2020 Imperial Nobility Starting Rosters

Imperial Nobility Starting Rosters Overview

One of two new teams introduced in 2020 Blood Bowl Second Season are the Imperial Nobility. As a more modern creation they have a mix of abilities that are less commonly seen, with a mix of Fend, Wrestle and Stand Firm. Whilst the Linemen are cheap everything else about the team is fairly pricey, including the rerolls. It’s going to be tough to get everything in so let’s take a look.

Ogre + Three Rerolls Imperial Nobility

Despite the high costs you can actually still get a fairly strong starting lineup. The Ogre is there to provide some much needed muscle. I really like the Bodyguards as Wrestle is a rare skill for teams to start with and it’s great at taking down Block ball carriers. They also have strength skill access which is needed to get Guard. You can also just about squeeze a single Blitzer into the lineup which I would take for the extra speed and Block is better than Wrestle for a ball carrier. They also have agility access so you can get them Dodge pretty quickly. The fact they also have Catch as well is unusual but a nice little bonus. They are very likely to be hogging the star player points so this is something to be wary about.

Even with those players and an Ogre, three rerolls is still within budget and this would be the lineup I personally would choose. I’ve ignored the Thrower for now as they only have 3+ for passing and the team have very average agility. You’re not desperate to get Leader as you already have three rerolls. Having six linemen is a downside as they are the most fragile players on the team, but Fend can be handy and they are very cheap to replace. I’d get an Apothecary as soon as possible and then look to add the extra Blitzer and Bodyguard in whichever order you prefer.

Well Rounded + Ogre Imperial Nobility

Dropping a reroll and going down to two frees up enough money to upgrade a couple of the Linemen into a Thrower and the fourth Bodyguard. Whilst I prefer having three rerolls I can see this being a popular option. You have higher average armour and five players to do hitting with that have either Block or Wrestle.

The Thrower can also work towards getting Leader to make up for having less initial rerolls. There aren’t that many great passing skills for them anyway as you’re most likely be either keeping hold of it and scoring with them, handing it off, or just doing quick passes to the Blitzer. You probably would like to get Block on them if they are holding onto the ball and it helps keep them on their feet more too. You may be able to get that second skill quicker than a team who started without a Thrower at all can afford to buy a Thrower and skill them up.

You can also then put your funds towards getting an Apothecary and that second Blitzer. As much as I like starting with as many rerolls as practical, especially when they are this expensive, this roster has a lot of merit.

No Ogre Imperial Nobility

I played around with rosters after removing the Ogre and I couldn’t find a good reason for doing so. If you swap the Ogre for a Blitzer that only frees up 35k which only lets you upgrade a Lineman to a second Thrower. This is the lineup that’s shown above but you have a couple of other options which I consider below.

If you drop the Ogre for an extra Reroll you have to get back to 11 players and only have enough for another Lineman. If you swap the Ogre for an Apothecary you could get another Lineman or a second Thrower. None of these options seem as good as just starting with the Ogre. I’ve included it here as an example and if you have a better idea then please share it in the comments.

Imperial Nobility Starting Rosters Summary

It seems to me that you’re going to be best off taking an Ogre and working around that. The trade offs that you get by not taking the Ogre all seem to leave you worse off. All of these are with eleven players but as the Linemen are so cheap, you could drop a Bodyguard or Blitzer for two Linemen in order to have a substitute. I think that leaves you worse off on the pitch, both in terms of abilities and the fact the Linemen have lower armour.

I think the Bodyguards are really useful players even though Wrestle and Stand firm are a bit of unusual combination. Like standard Human teams you’re going to need to get some Guard in order to compete as teams develop so that’s another reason to get them as soon as possible. Wrestle and Guard are also don’t have great synergy but Guard plays really well with Stand Firm as a nuisance to deal with.