The damned and the cursed do not always lurk in the forests or in the graveyards of the Old World. Sometimes they come together, forming a group to hunt those more fortunate of souls. Finding relief in crazed outbursts of terrible violence, these groups do the best they can to ease their suffering – they pop off for a nice game of Blood Bowl.
| QTY | Position | Cost | MA | ST | AG | PA | AV | Skills & Traits | Pri | Sec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-16 | Zombie | 40k | 4 | 3 | 4+ | – | 9+ | Regeneration | G | AS |
| 0-2 | Ghoul Runners | 75k | 7 | 3 | 3+ | 4+ | 8+ | Dodge | AG | PS |
| 0-2 | Wraith | 95k | 6 | 3 | 3+ | – | 9+ | Block, Foul Appearance, No Hands, Regeneration, Side Step | GS | A |
| 0-2 | Werewolf | 125k | 8 | 3 | 3+ | 4+ | 9+ | Claws, Frenzy, Regeneration | AG | PS |
| 0-2 | Flesh Golem | 115k | 4 | 4 | 4+ | – | 10+ | Regeneration, Stand Firm, Thick Skull | GS | A |
| 0-8 | ReRolls | 70k | Apothecary: No | |||||||
| Special Rules | Masters of Undeath, Sylvanian Spotlight |
Necromantic Horror Team Overview:
Necromantic are the less strong more speedy version of the Undead team. They have immoveable Golems instead of Mummies and sacrifice two of the Ghouls for Werewolves. Both player types are great, the Golems can really tie up players and slow down cages as well as blocking paths against weaker teams. The Werewolves are more resilient than a Ghoul and are great Blitzers taking out players regardless of their armour.
Amongst all the more hard hitting teams, they are probably one of the worst at caging initially. They lack either the strength or the initial hitting skills that other teams of this type have. This may prove to be a challenge to deal with as perhaps their play style may involve more of a cross over to a faster running play than a more straight forward hitting style.
For beginners I don’t think they are the best team for the reasons outlined above. Along with the tricky skills the werewolves start with, I feel that they may prove somewhat too complex for a coach just starting out.
Necromantic Horror Team Strengths:
- Lots of Regenerate
- Cheap Linemen
Necromantic Horror Team Weaknesses:
- No Ball Handling Skills
- Expensive Rerolls
I like them, a lot. They are one of the very few teams that has access to both Agility and Strenght skills. The wolfs skill easily and fast. Giving them blodge and Diving Catch (I like this skill in LRB6) and they become the perfect multi-players. Ghouls for the ball handling with sure hands and block. Wights with guard and Golems with block. And Zombies as cannon fodder… The team is great. Just make sure to start your team with 3 re-rolls. They are a must in the beginning until the skill-rolls start to roll in.
As an old 3rd edition player Undead who came back to BB last year, I love Necros! The WWs are awesome, especially once blocked up (always take MB on a double for the killer Claw combo!), the Wights make great blitzers but can also score, at least 1 Ghoul to pick up ball (potential to hand off to WW who can sprint deep into enemy half to make a v fast 2 turn TD), shame to lose ST5 Mummies but FG’s good against most teams (avoid Khemri at all costs!), then flesh out, literally, w Zombies. Take care not to get to split up, as FG & Z simply won’t keep up but b prepared to punch hole/s in oppos line & break through w WWs, Ws & Gs. Take full complement of Ghouls Asap to give team options in both halves, as G will get targeted!
I’ve played Necormantic a couple of times in the LRB4 rules, and found them a great team. Flesh Golems are amazing at holding the LOS. And the werewolves are like Witch Elves on steroids.
I’m thinking of starting a new league with them, and wondering how people see this team playing, what sort of game to play? Passing, Running, Caging?
With only AG3 and no passing skills, a good passing game is going to be hard to develop.
You only have a few players with decent movement, so a cage is going to crawl along, and get stuck easily.
That leaves giving it to your werewolf, and making a run for it. The one player who you don’t want to expose to a blitz.
I find that offensively, the key is having a Ghoul to handle the ball which lets your wights and wolves do some damage hitting. You can usually screen for the Ghoul pretty easily, or cage him depending on your opponent. If the bashing is going well, you want to delay the TD and continue the bashing but if not or you’re in a rush, the ghoul is usually in a position to run forward and hand off to a wolf or possibly a wight who can then take it in for the score. The key to the team is the werewolves as they have an incredible balance between a bashing threat (especially if they get MB) and scoring (8 Ma, 3 Ag and agility access)
They are a variation on the Undead team and practice a typical cage game. I would think it is your Ghouls you would less likely want being blitzed though as they have lower armour and no Regeneration.
Werewolves make the team faster than an Undead team and also offer more of a crowd pushing threat. Golems are more use at tying players up with Stand Firm than a Mummy and have general skill access, though they can’t hit their way through as effectively. They are perhaps a bit trickier to play but they do have their advantages.
Hey coach, tried out negromantic team hereyesterday, But without any FGs, was this a bad idea or?
Take a look at the Necromantic Starting Roster article, starting without Golems can work, though they are just slow to develop.
I’ve been playing necromantics pretty heavily lately, I won the first legue we did, and did it without any FG’s, the werewolves ARE amazing, and as soon as they get a block or a dodge they’ll start really be worth their expensive paycheck. the FG’s are good and I’m running them now, but I did pretty well for a 3/4th of a season without them. Just putting out some alternative information. the necros are an awesome team, and you have a lot of options open to you with them, just be careful for your first few games, if a werewolf or FG gets taken out early you will be left really hurting for cash later on.
FEEDBACK REQUESTED: I have been playing blood bowl for years and run my own league. I have won it the past four years so i keep selecting different races to challenge myself. This year i selected Necromantic. My league is generally a beat em up league so i foresee myself struggling with them. I just purchased my second werewolf and now have 2 WW, 2 Ghouls, 2 wights, and rest zombies. Some of my zombies have st4 so i prolonged my purchase of FG. i LOVE how the wolves can send players in the stands. i have been using them as safeties who look to stand push players whenever i can. I have considered putting them on the line when i receive against higher armour teams to try and get some casualties. Problem is I am struggling to find good uses for wights and ghouls. Currently i just scramble around with a fast running game, trying to get the ball to ghouls or wolves and sprinting away. Any advice would be appreciated.
Gouhls cam be used as a QB. Wights stand next to the WW with guard and help him shred face.
With that line up your current tactics are probably what will work best. I think you are missing a trick not getting the Golems though, that extra armour and Stand Firm helps a lot, especially on defence.
For in more in depth discussion you may wish to start a thread on the forum.
@ Lee
If you win your league without Flesh Golems, I think that what you really need is better opponents. You will also find it much harder to crowdpush with your wolves against an experienced opponent.
Usually on my necro-team I use the ghouls as ballcarriers and use my wights in a supporting role with guard and tackle.
I wasn’t saying that i was going to forego FG. I simply meant that since I have three str4 zombies, i will purchase the rest of my team first, then add the FG towards the end.
One more st4 guy wouldn’t help me much in my bashy league. however the armour nine would help me survive longer so I’m reconsidering taking a FG earlier for staying power.
I have been playing Necromantic for a season and a half, (roughtly 15 league games as well as several ‘cup’ games within the league). my first season was poor to say the least largely due to the lack of block and damaging skills, i was constantly losing players to death and stat busts and im not just talking about the ghouls, ive lost 2WW, 1FG, and 2Ghouls just though the small amount of games ive played. this season however i have come back fighting, winning all 5 games so far and 2 cup games both against much stronger opponants.
if i had any advice at all, its play on that speed, i like to play the cage decoy method to draw the harder hitting teams into busting the cage while sneeking a ghoul/wolf within scoring distance, have a ghoul at the rear of the cage ready to receive the handoff and run it too the player within scoring distance. on defence never commit ur golems to big guys, yes they will last longer and are hard to take off the pitch but ur zombies are expendable, stick them in front of the big hitters and let them go down again and again, it doesnt matter as the extra strength and stand firm the golems provide will be put to far better use halting cages and getting the 2 dice blocks on the ball carriers. with the lack of strength in the team its really important to take dauntless on one or two players, i suggest the wolves. combined with claws they will become the ultimate big guy killer, and mighty blow on the double roll is a must. keep those ghouls out of tz’s as they are essential for ball handling, and try and use the wolves to blitz while keeping enough movement to remove them from danger as they will be head hunted along with ur ghouls to minimise ur scoring potential, and take that menacing claws off the pitch.
Az and madsen
Az
Pretty good advice. I agree with the zombie matched up to big guy tactic. I also agree with trying to get FG paired up on non-big guys, but that is easier said than done with their slow speed and agility.
But i noticed you didn’t have a plan for the wights. I like madsens tactic of guard and pairing them ball carriers. however an effective tactic i found effective at times. Putting FGs on the corners and a guard/wight inside of them, then i fill the remaining middle spaces with 1,2, or 3 zombies depending on how much line u want to control and ur opponents hitting ability. This really helps plant that line in the ground. Usually my opponent will use his big guy to first to hit my guys with guard. This means someone with loner is hitting my guy with block. it’s great for that surprise turnover when a big guy rolled block and fails his loner.
As for wolves it is hard to turn them into blitzers with their agility skills. Not to mention their incredible speed. So i am making one a blitzer and one a scorer. I gave one of them dogde and use him as my main ball carrier. That speed 8 really helps zip through openings. I will also try to get a ghoul with guard to join his run, therefore making it st4 if someone tries to block my wolf.
I am not sold on Ghouls as they are AV 7 and lack regeneration. I have a 1430TV Necro team with a Werewolf AG4 so she is my primary ball handler. I will be using the ghoul that I just bought as a safety with wrestle, tackle and side step. Ghoul ball handlers are just not tough enough.
Has anyone else followed a simular path with the Ghouls?
Necros are a great team that has the versatility of Humans coupled with the strength of a Black Orcs. What could possibly be bad about this team?
Well they have expensive players and not everyone will get an agility 4 Werewolf. That agility increase is a big game changer on the team, as generally any AG4 player is on a mostly AG3 (or lower) team. Most of the time though you will want the Werewolves to be your main Blitzers and the fact the Ghouls start with Dodge tends to usually make them the ball handlers. Though with Blood Bowl nothing is written in stone and there will always be exceptions.
i like them and if you murder the other team their corpses become part of your zombie legion
Being lured away from playing elves to try Necros .. loving them so far …
I started playing them to a more defensive roll before going for “offensive” strategy
zombies & Flesh Golems to stick like glue to opposition decent players
Wrights to back them up – blocks come in handy and a decent ag3 if any dodging or ball pick ups required
the Werewolves and Ghouls to take a blitzing roll ….
with the speed and abilities of these guys getting a turn over and racing away with the ball is aways a threat….
However having played a decent number of games with them … i fnd that the Flesh Golems get over powered by the more stronger bashier teams …
How does one play against the likes these ?
Usually screen side and run in TD. Feint which side you are going helps too.
If a Str 4 or Big Guy gets isolated… run in Guard Wight and zombies to blitz frenzy claw with 2 die with the wolf. Then foul him with DP zombie. Once a bash team loses a Str guy they tend to become more easily outnumbered.
its ok just read Az helpul advice lol
Cheers Az / Coach
great Stuff 🙂
hey coul the builds you posted also work for necromaric teams in real time? cuase i tend to play that alot
I’ve never played real time so I honestly don’t know. I’m a long time player of the actual board game which is why I created this site. The real time mode was tacked on by Cyanide when they made the translation of the board game to the computer.
If I had to guess though I would think they are probably fairly similar in the terms of useful skills.
I love Necro, the options to be speedy or bash depending on your opponent. Elves fear my fists, Chaos can’t catch me.
I find that ghouls are very inefficient. They get targeted quickly and without regeneration, they are taken out very fast. I’ve used my wights, not as blockers, but as my primary ball carriers. The WW are the scorers. FG and Zs make a great temporary cage, the wights cower in it until the WW are in position, then a quick/short pass and the WW take it in for a score.
The ghouls seem unnecessary. Wights do it better, can actually survive a cage breaker, and WW are better at blitzing than wights, especially since all the TD they score will mean they are your most skilled players.
It’s strange to here how many coaches like to play without the ghouls.
In my opinion you need all the speed you can get into this team, and AG3 too.
I had a few games where a wight and a Wolf got off the pitch and immediately your team is reduced to bad dwarfs (zombies) and 2 better Black Orcs (Flesh Golems) and a slow human blitzer. This means that you have no options left.
Normally you have a wolf left but I chose to start with 2 Flesh Golems, for better pitch control. One is too easily marked and doesn’t allow a big Line.
So maybe the coaches you play against aren’t too good at abusing the weaknesses of this team: kill any exposed positional player. Typically you play with a screen of zombies en FG and blitz your wights or wolves through the screen and back. Always choose wisely as decent coaches will try to set up frenzy traps. If you don’t have a Ghoul to manage the ball you are missing a player to put blitzing/blocking pressure on the pitch.
@El jairo
I agree totally on the ghouls, but for a bit of a wierd reason. I’ve skilled them both up to 4, and pumped sure hands, guard, tackle, and pass block on them.
I’ve tended to play a very aggressive running game, and there’s been too many times where that one blocker is in my damn way. I keep the ghouls out back, grab the ball, slap it on a ww and slip the ghoul somewhere that throws me some extra dice to launch my ww upfield.
It’s aggressive and the ghouls get munched. But I can usually get at least 4 tds on the slower teams. Faster like the elves I just try and pay the ol’ “it’s hard to score if you buggers are all dead” game.
@Troutmonkey
As a BB2 player first, I totally agree. As of the new 2020 rules however, the Wights no longer have hands! So your only options for ball carriers are WW or Ghouls. Talk about a nerf!
However, Necromantic Wights are now better at messing with enemy blocks, thanks to Foul Appearance (which helps when they are the ones with Guard). Also thanks to Side Step, they now do better tag teams with werewolves near the edges of the pitch. I’ve always used Ghouls and Werewolves as the main ball carriers, anyway, so I don’t see the nerf.
So I’m playing BB2 online, and really new to BB in general. My starting lineup is: 5 Zombies, 2 Flesh Golems, 2 Knights, 1 Werewolf, and 1 Ghoul. I have 3 re-rolls. I’m 2 games in and have 100K in the kitty, and wondering whether I should wait another game and hopefully have the cash for another Werewolf, or just buy a Ghoul now and sacrifice a Zombie in the startup?
I appreciate that’s a hard question to answer as it depends on my playstyle. Agility teams scare me. My two games so far were the Dark Elves (AI) and I lost 2-1 (it was raining throughout so wasted a lot of re-rolls on just picking up the ball); my last game was against Dwarves (player) and I won 1-0. So generally feel more confident against hybrid or bashy teams. I typically build up slowly – using my FGs to shield the ball carrier as we move tentatively up the pitch. I’ve no additional skills on my solitary Ghoul, and my Werewolf gained Block after my last game.
Lastly, a real noob question – if one of my players gets killed, will they just come back as a Zombie, or will the Necromancer return them like for like? Is the raising automatic, or is it a percentage chance?
Cheers, Jay
If you struggle more against faster agile teams than a Ghoul might be more useful than a Zombie. If any of your players die then they are dead and you have to hire a replacement. It’s only opposing players that you get to raise to your team as a new Zombie. I’m not sure the exact rules that are used for it on BB2 as I’m predominantly a table top player. I think it’s just automatic but only once per game and certain players are exempt depending on what their strength is and if they also have Regeneration.