Blood Bowl 2020 Teams of Legend

This will be an ongoing and updated article over time so please check back! With the list of teams now almost certainly leaked for Blood Bowl 2020 Second Season Edition that also means we know which existing races haven’t made it into the initial publication. I’d expect to see most of them make it into various supplements but also initially in a new Teams of Legend with initial rosters.

GW have just put out the new 2020 Teams of Legend. Some strange choices there that I expect we may see a revised version come out fairly promptly:

Below you will find my take on how I’d like these extra races be tweaked and updated with the new rules. Feel free to share your suggestions in the comments below, some of these I feel strongly about, others less so, but I know that every race will have it’s die hard fans. I’m not touching on player prices but rather skills and ability stats.

Amazon Teams

Already a pretty strong team at low team values and despite first appearance can hit pretty hard. I believe they drop off at higher values due to low armour and their across the board Dodge being negated a lot more.

I’d expect the Thrower to get 3+ passing with the rest of the team being 4+ 5+ in some manner. Will we see a redesign with Dodge not being on everyone? Will getting a Big Guy help at higher team values (I like that not all teams have a Big Guy though). I think overall they are fairly well balanced but I’d be interested to hear what Amazon coaches think.

Bretonnian Teams

I was never a fan of Bretonnian teams as it was a push towards a more Warhammer orientated Blood Bowl rather than a purer Blood Bowl orientated world. Either way they have basically been replaced by Imperial Noble teams so I don’t see Bretonnian teams making an appearance in their Blood Bowl 2 PC Game format.

Chaos Dwarf Teams

Perhaps the team that I got the most known for who have suffered a lot over the various editions. Their reroll price went up not once but twice. They also got hurt when the dodge component of Stand Firm got removed. Gaining Mutations access (imo) wasn’t needed and ended up just being used to get Claw.

The new rules are likely to also make things worse for a team that’s been overly hampered already. I think we can expect to see Hobgoblins getting PA 4+ which will be a downgrade. Break Tackle for ST4 players now only grants +1 to dodging (this is probably due to the power of Saurus and Lizardmen teams overall which I can’t complain about). Most teams with ST4 players wouldn’t really take Break Tackle anyway, though Bull Centaurs it was typically a high priority.

Factoring in this change along with how many players use them as ball carriers (even if I don’t typically agree on doing this) I would like to see the Bull Centaurs get AG 3+. They still won’t be able to dodge as well as they could with the old Break Tackle, though they could still take it to get that same single 2+ dodge roll back. I know traditionally ST4 players would be AG2 (AG 4+) at best, though there are only two on the team and having played this team a lot I can’t see it elevating them that greatly, especially if you give them PA 5+.

I was a bit surprised to see Dwarf Longbeards not get a tweak on the standard Dwarf team like the Old World Alliance shift to Arm Bar and Brawler instead of Block and Tackle. I’d expect the Chaos Dwarf Blockers to probably stay the same in that regard based on that, I’d be intrigued to see how much of a difference swapping Tackle for Arm Bar on both races would do.

High Elf Teams

My personal favourite of the Elf teams, known for having the best long passers in the game and also not having any truly great miniature options that don’t look like Warhammer army extras rather than a sports team. Compared to their far more abundant cousins the Dark and Wood Elves they generally get shunned due to the lack of starting core skills.

When I say core starting skills, I’m referring to Block and Dodge. Dark Elves can start with 6 potential players with one or the other (4x Blitzers with Block, 2x Witch Elves with Dodge) Likewise Wood Elves can start with 6 players (8 core skills), albeit all with Dodge (2x Wardancers with both Block and Dodge, 4x Catchers with Dodge). High Elves have only ever had the option to get 2x Blitzers with Block. This makes them a lot harder to play at low team value and Exhibition formats which is why they have a lot lower representation. I’d like to see the simple change of changing 2 of the 4 Catchers into 2x Runners (7 3 2+ 4+ 8+) that start with Dodge. Or change Catch on the Catchers to Dodge on all four, though I can see that causing more objections.

So onto the High Elf Thrower, Safe Throw has been split into two skills (Cloud Burster being the new skill to help avoid interceptions). I’d like to think that they keep both components of Safe Throw to maintain their status as being the best long passer in the game. Losing either of these would be very disappointing so I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Khemri Teams

Probably one of the hardest teams to use when it comes to ball handling, they are going to suffer when it comes to the new passing rules. All the other existing players who have AG 5+ are terrible at passing. So how good will the Khemri Thro-ras get as a passing stat, could a 2+ be justified given they have no one great to throw the ball to? I’d expect to see 3+, though a straight translation from their old agility would be 4+.

I don’t have much in the way of game time or indeed love for Khemri personally. Any Khemri coaches I’d especially love to hear your thoughts below.

Khorne Teams

Another team I’ve not much experience with, I don’t feel best placed to comment on them. I’d expect to possibly see them in some way, though far down the priority order.

Norse Teams

I’m not sure why Norse teams didn’t make the cut. They seemed to be pretty well balanced already so I wouldn’t expect to see much in the way of changes to them. Feel differently? Then let me know below and tell me why!

Slann / Kislev Teams

These are tricky teams to predict what will happen too. A fun and different roster so I’d like to see them but I’ve no idea if we will in an official capacity. Like some of the other races I don’t feel I can really suggest much when it comes to changes so let me know below.

Vampire Teams

Probably my favourite team to play and I was heavily involved with their development giving feedback during the Living Rule Book era. At the time myself and the community were wary about making players who had ST4 AG4 too good. At time has gone on though I personally feel there is room to give them a buff and the previous rules were too harsh / cautious.

Hypnotic Gaze works fine and has been left the same already anyway. I’ve a few concerns that would need addressing. Firstly the new passing stat, most non Thrower positions have been given quite a hit on passing compared to their agility. After giving it some thought I’d like to see Vampires get PA 3+. Whilst better than a lot of other AG4 players have gotten, the Vampire team is a lot slower than those teams. They don’t have any starting skills that help with ball handling in any way across the whole roster. Those factors make me feel justified in them not getting 4+ instead, they are already a dice intensive team with Bloodlust on the Vampires and no starting skills. Even passing on 3+ is a nerf compared to what they already have.

Next up would be Bloodlust, the mechanics work really well in hampering the play of such strong and agile players. The trouble I’ve found with it though is that a lot of games can just end up one sided due to a lack of players. With most of the team being made up of AV 7 (8+) Thralls I’ve played quite a few games where I can lose three of them from the line of scrimmage straight away. If I’ve then got my Vampires and the other team (who now have a numbers advantage) taking more of them off it can quickly snowball into a one sided game where neither coach is having much fun.

So experience tells me Bloodlust should just be a straight stun (bypassing armour still) and still being able to feed on downed Thralls. You can often being taking one of your own standing players and then losing them for your turn and the opponents turn. It’s still enough of a penalty, along with the restriction it gives to the Vampire player. This is a change I’ve wanted to see even before there were rumours of a new edition coming.

Pro has had a slight buff which is a popular choice for a lot of Vampire coaches. I was never a fan though Pro working on a 3+ now may even make me consider taking it. It’s a slight bonus for Vampire teams but I doubt it will make a huge different to their overall power level. All of those changes will still make them tricky to play but overall quality of life and fun games should be the result.

I’ve seen people suggesting a new positional player for the team. I don’t think they require it but I probably wouldn’t be upset if that happens. The Bloodlust change is the most vital change I think all the teams need.

Teams of Legend Summary

I’ve got strong thoughts on my three favourite races, all of which coincidentally didn’t make it in to the initial second season release (if the leaks are true). As you can probably tell those are Chaos Dwarf, High Elf and Vampire. The latter two changes being the most important in my eyes.

I’m interested to hear what the community at large feels about various teams. Any comments on my suggestions, ideas of your own for those teams or thoughts about the ones I didn’t really talk about.

Finally if any of the above are your personal favourite then don’t fret about it. See it as an opportunity to hopefully get your voice heard and get the tweaks or improvements you feel they need officially put into the game.