Black Orc Team Roster BB2025
| QTY | Position | Cost | MA | ST | AG | PA | AV | Skills & Traits | Pri | Sec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-16 | Goblin Bruiser (Goblin, Lineman) | 45k | 6 | 2 | 3+ | 4+ | 8+ | Dodge, Right Stuff, Stunty, Thick Skull | AD | GPS |
| 0-6 | Black Orc (Blocker, Orc) | 90k | 4 | 4 | 4+ | 5+ | 10+ | Brawler, Grab | GS | AD |
| 0-1 | Trained Troll (Big Guy, Troll) | 115k | 4 | 5 | 5+ | 5+ | 10+ | Always Hungry, Mighty Blow, Projectile Vomit, Really Stupid, Regeneration, Throw Team Mate | S | AGP |
| 0-8 | ReRolls | 60k | Apothecary: Yes | |||||||
| Badlands Brawl | Special Rules: Brawlin’ Brutes, Bribery and Corruption |
Black Orc Team Roster Changes
- Goblins gain the new devious skill category as primary skills
- Black Orcs lose passing skill access and gain devious skills as secondaries
- The Troll loses Loner
- The team gains the new Brawlin’ Brutes special rule
Black Orc teams were new to second season so I played in seven seasons in a tabletop league, taking them through six redrafts, all to varying success. My biggest takeaway from doing so was how bad their recovery was when situations went downhill. They’ve not been altered too much but overall it’s a net positive for them.
The Troll was very unreliable and it got to the point where I played the last few seasons without the Troll. Losing Loner on the Troll is purely a benefit to make them more reliable, though you still have to put up with them potentially going Really Stupid at a bad time. The Goblins have primary access to the new fouling orientated skill category making it easier to build dedicated foulers. The Black Orcs losing passing skill access isn’t much of a downside as far as I’m concerned. I never took a passing skill on the team at all, though some coaches may have wanted to take Leader, which you can now only get as a secondary on the Troll.
Overall a very small improvement to the team, though I don’t think it’s really moved the needle as far as their performance will go and I’d still rate them as a below average team.
How do you think the new brawlin’ brutes rule affects them in leagues?
I thought it would be pretty big to get skills faster on teams like orcs but from the writeup it doesn’t seem like its a big deal.
Hi Jackson, it didn’t come to mind when I wrote it up as there’s a lot of small chances to digest. I wish it had been a rule when I was playing them for 7 seasons! It’s a very useful change as it will let you get skills on the Black Orcs easier and the team isn’t usually scoring a lot of touchdowns. The Goblins also chipped in with their fare share of casualties over time as well.
Hey I’m new to Blood Bowl and I’m seeking advice on how to build a basic Black Orc/Goblin BB7s lineup using the 2025 rules/ Are you able to help me or point me in the direction of some online resources? Kind regards, Porter
Hi Porter, I’ve no personal experience with 7s. Hopefully someone else who has will see this and drop a reply. Good luck!
Did you get a reply to this from anyone? I love 7s so will try to give some advice – I’m running a 7s event in London later this month actually. All of this is just my opinion though and other opinions might be objectively better!
The rules for 7s are max four positionals, double costed RRs – I can’t see this changing when the Death Zone for the new edition comes out and, unfortunately, both Black Orks and Goblins rather suck at 7s…
With BlOrks, they kind of select themselves – you’ll always want to use all four of your positionals and even at 4 orks, you can’t squeeze in a reroll. Assuming you have a troll (you said basic lineup?), you simply want to go with 3 orks, 1 troll, and 4 goblins (or 4 orks, 5 goblins with no trolls) – both leave you with a small bench for your squishy gobbos and not much space for inducements.
The problem with BlOrks in 7s is that it’s a very mobile game with no line of scrimmage – BlOrks start with skills focused on Blocking while stationary (Brawler/Grab) so you can’t start off hot at the beginning of the drive and you’ll need to start basing people to use them effectively and they’re pretty slow to do that!
Goblins (and most stunties) suffer from the max positionals rule – you get so much more mileage out of your positionals with stunty teams – you then have much tougher choices over what you take… The small budgets make affording bribes a lot harder so you might not want to use your Secret Weapons as well – especially with Fanatics having the same problem as BlOrks above and Bommas getting a bit nerfed with more likely turnovers in 2025. Ottomh, I’d probably go with either:
2 trolls, ‘ooligan, looney, 4 gobbos, bribe; or
2 trolls, ‘ooligan, doom diver, 3 gobbos plus some combination of a bench and a bribe…
Not entirely sure though, I haven’t really thought this through yet – and partly because I think Doom Divers are fun! Again, you did say a basic team – but kitbashing goblin positionals is very fun indeed – my ‘ooligan is just stealing something (a rulebook from a biased ref model) and my doomdiver is using the wings from one my son’s pteradactyls!
Hope this helps – both teams would be a lot of fun but neither will be super competitive in 7s.
Coach – if you ever wanted some 7s content, I’m sure I could pull some together!! 😉