Norse teams have a well deserved reputation for ferocity both on and off the playing pitch. The Norse that takes up Blood Bowl is a truly unedifying specimen, interested only in beer, women and song off the playing pitch, and beer, women and bloody carnage while on it!
| QTY | Position | Cost | MA | ST | AG | PA | AV | Skills & Traits | Pri | Sec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-16 | Norse Raider Lineman | 50k | 6 | 3 | 3+ | 4+ | 8+ | Block, Drunkard, Thick Skull | G | APS |
| 0-2 | Beer Boars | 20k | 5 | 1 | 3+ | – | 6+ | Dodge, No Hands, Pick-me-up, Stunty, Titchy | – | A |
| 0-2 | Norse Berserker | 90k | 6 | 3 | 3+ | 5+ | 8+ | Block, Frenzy, Jump Up | GS | AP |
| 0-2 | Valkyrie | 95k | 7 | 3 | 3+ | 3+ | 8+ | Catch, Dauntless, Pass, Strip Ball | AGP | S |
| 0-2 | Ulfwerener | 105k | 6 | 4 | 4+ | – | 9+ | Frenzy | GS | A |
| 0-1 | Yhetee / Snow Troll | 140k | 5 | 5 | 4+ | – | 9+ | Claws, Disturbing Presence, Frenzy, Loner (4+), Unchannelled Fury | S | AG |
| 0-8 | ReRolls | 60k | Apothecary: Yes | |||||||
| Special Rules | Pick One: Either ‘Favoured of… (choose either: Chaos Undivided or Khorne)’ or ‘Old World Classic’ |
Norse Team Overview:
Norse teams are characterised by most of their players starting with the Block skill. This makes them pretty good out of the box and one of the more reliable teams for the blocking game. They have some great players who come with Frenzy meaning they can really open up holes in the defence and get a lot of knock downs.
The downside for Norse is their fairly low armour values. Whilst they tend to get knocked down less on the whole, they will break more often when they do go down. The teams also have no dedicated Catchers and average agility isn’t great for passing. The amount of Frenzy on the team can also be quite tricky to handle, having players dragged out of posistion or making dice rolls you would rather avoid.
For beginners they can be hit or miss, the amount of Block they have can be forgiven but a priority must be made to learn to utilise Frenzy and avoid its pitfalls. Should the team take a beating though, journymen Norse players make a great stand in. I quite like them as a beginner team but with the caveat regarding Frenzy.
Norse Team Strengths:
- Most Players have Block
- Lots of Frenzy
Norse Team Weaknesses:
- Low Armour
- Lots of Frenzy
Norse have always struck me as one of the better teams on paper, though I’m yet to see them live up to it in practice.
Still, I have to put them in my favourite five teams, their runners are surprisingly good and versatile, they have access to higher strength players while still having a decent thrower. Their linesmen are solid (though amazon lineswomen probably get a better deal) and they have one of the most expensive and least reliable Big-guys, but one of the best (Opinion)
Early in a league/tourney they suffer from a lack of ball handling/agility and of course the perenial problem of frenzy without block/tackle. But by the time you get a few skills accross them they can evolve into a very strong unit.
I’d be interested to know whether most who use them go with a passing offence, running game or cage-based offence.
I suspect most people will blend, since the team can do all three with a semblance of ability dependant on the opposition.
I’ve found them most efficient in a running game, anyone else found that? I’ve actually experimented with dump-off on their thrower for a true running game and that seemed to work ok.
Frenzy seems to make their cages a little unreliable and the lack of agility hampers passing (though they are as good as humans at it really with one skill on the runner)
The first sentence has been exactly my experience with them.
“Norse have always struck me as one of the better teams on paper, though I’m yet to see them live up to it in practice.”
One of their problems is that once both teams are mostly in base contact with each other, it becomes hard to position your players effectively.
The linemen also suffer when they progress. After you get kick and dirty player on one player each, there really isn’t much progress you want to make of them.
It’s just hard to grow. Gang fouling is effective with the fresh linemen, but that just bunches up your players that can’t get to where they need to be as say goblins could.
It’s been a long time since I wrote the above.
I’ve come away from my original perception. Norse are really good.
But their absolute best is when you start without any positionals. Just apoth+15 or just 16 norse linemen. Although you could sneak in one positional, that would also create a target on that player’s back. Another advantage with a bench that deep is that you can go toe-to-toe bashing even with dwarves and frequently have more players at the start of the 2nd half starting lineup.
You have the room to foul extensively, particularly near the end of a drive where you’re getting your player back quickly, but they might not.
The question then becomes: Where does the team develop from there?
I think you need a kicker, a dirty player, a tackler and a ball carrier (sure hands), in that order. Typically I’d like frenzy or dauntless, but you can get from saving up for either a catcher or a blitzer/berserker.
You always want to try to keep a deep bench and therefor enough money to buy two lineman in case a game goes badly. (if you have 80.000 going into a new match you’re relatively certain that your winnings will allow you to purchase two lineman after the game in case two die).
You can use the other money to build up your team. Blitzer first, then catcher (if there are a lot of orcs/undead/chaos/lizardmen you might want a catcher for dauntless first). Werewolfs and yhetee eventually join the team when you get to high TV values.
The team is really so incredibly strong to play with. There is one weakness. Sometimes you have three lineman missing a game, meaning significantly less strength.
Final tip; don’t give away blocks. You may be strong with all blocks, but you still have low armor. It’s fine to leave linemen down when the ball is safe if it means not having to dodge or give away free blocks. Also, whenever you can, take 2 die blocks to push the opposing team down or away from you so they don’t get blocks back. When it comes to big enemies like trolls, bull centaurs, minotaurs, saurus… most of the time you want to keep them occupied with a single lineman, as that is a waste of their TV, while the rest of your team does something useful.
I normally mix up a short passing game and a screening running game. I have been spoilt with my current team getting a +AG on my thrower, which gives me a viable long passing game as well.
Without that, the thrower is still good enough to pull off a short passing game. The Runners are good ball carriers, a few skills in, with access to AG skills, you have a blodging sidestepper.
I trialled Dump Off on one of my runners for a while, but the chances of pulling of a succesful Dump Off with an AG 3 player was terrible so I wasn’t upset when he died.
Key to Norse – learn to use Frenzy, always plan what happens if you get a push on the first block. Once you get into this habit, having five frenzy players on the pitch is awesome.
Seriously Coach give us a write another Brilliant article on the Norse please 🙂
How do people generally utilise the Ulfwerners? Not as fast as WWs but ST4 is very nice.
Check out the individual player write up http://bbtactics.com/norse-werewolves-ulfwereners/ and for more discussion try the forums.
What you do with them is get them just enough points that they can finally get a skill upgrade to Block, and then you go to town. With Block and Frenzy, these guys are formidable and I throw them into the mix ASAP.
But before that point, it’s just too risky, especially considering how tempting it can be to one-on-one some 3 ST sap. The problem is, then you tend to have pulled your ulfwerener out of position due to a push, and it’s even more risky against players with dodge.
So, until I can give them block (and, even tackle on top of it, if possible), I use them more as high ST supports for the linemen…
And don’t forget, if you’re a new player or if you need a second look, to read all you can on the Art of Blocking!!!
http://bbtactics.com/one-die-blocks/
http://bbtactics.com/blocking-statistics-odds-tables/
http://bbtactics.com/cage-basics/
Yes, I know, Norse look great on paper. And with block nigh across the field, and the only players without block havin Above average ST, this team is really tempting. We get caught up in planning out just how aggressive and bad-ass this team will be with some guard and might blow (Block, Frenzy, Might Blow for everyone! Bwahahaha!) so why am I continually disappointed when I play with them. The answers obvious even at first glance: armor 7. But then I go and play amazons and love ’em, so it can’t just be armor seven right? It took me months to figure it out, but the real issue isn’t the low armor alone, it’s the combination of low armor on a team that should be pretty focused on scrapping. Sure, I was mentally prepared to lose a few guys in the brawl that I had helped to creat, but I expected to have such a strong blocking game myself that it wouldn’t matter if I’d lost one, cause hopefully the other guy would’ve lost two. But what kept happening is that I’d be too outnumbered with guys constantly stunned or KO’d to even put up a solid defensive line, or to line up a good blitz, when blocking is supposed to be what this teams good at. I love the idea of the Norse, but what I’ve decided (and I am just dying for someone to prove me wrong) is that the Norse’s obvious weakness is in the same area as their strength, which unfortunately leaves them with neither. And I think it’s even more of a shame since the Yetee is tied for my favorite bigfig (mostly because he’s on e short list of guys who have easy access to the Claws, Mighty Blow combo).
This is a problem quite a few people have with Norse teams in more developed leagues. They do suffer as the Team Values get higher, try asking for some help on the forum for ideas that may help.
I’m very, very new to Norse (and fairly novice at BB in general), with my main experience previously being Orcs…
but I have to say, I’ve found Norse to have just the right balance of brawn and versatility (some strength, some speed, some throwing) that I need. If only they had anybody who could catch…
But seriously, the Frenzy is annoying at first, but it works great in these 2 scenarios:
1) Keep those guys alive long enough to give them Block and/or Dauntless (fortunately the berzerkers come with dauntless)
2) Use them near the sidelines, where you can hope for constant pushes and eventual out-of-bounds brutality…
One thing I’ve realized is that it’s a hard (and potentially short) life being a Norse linemen on the LOS. It’s not uncommon for me to get one or two guys KO’d or worse right away.
This is fine for elf teams, since with agility and a stand-off zone defence, they can get away with being a couple of men down. It’s not good at all for a bashing team though, especially one with 5 Frenzy players who benefit from extra assists.
I find myself doing one of two things: either adopting a stand-off game where I try to force crowd pushes on isolated guys with a couple of well-placed Frenziers, and capitalize on mistakes where they come up. Or, I go balls to the wall and flood one area (usually where the ball is) to get a local superiority so my light AV doesn’t matter, screening off other opponents from that area using linemen, or pushing them away with Frenzy, so they can’t reinforce.
Norse are a finesse team. Sure, you want to concentrate on beating up the other guy, but you have to really focus on limiting how many blocks you receive in return. Marking into opposing players like you might with Dwarves or Orks will too often leave you short players.
Having so much (too much!) Frenzy makes this tricky, and I think one of the keys is managing the Frenzy exposure well by pushing targets towards safe secondary blocks by players without Frenzy, and reserving your Blitz in case you need it to cover your ass.
Are Norse or Amazons more bashy?
this is for all tv levels, Amazons get blodge/wrodge everywhere a few guarders while probably having a lot of fend, while Norse have higher ST, frenzy, 2 guys with blodge supported by block and fend.
This isn’t against each other by the way, just who’s the most generally bashy.
I don’t think there is a great deal in it between the two teams. If I had to pick one I would say Norse though. You would probably get more responses if you made a thread on the forum asking this though.
If you set up linemen to help each other with blocks, you can break the line of a Khemri team with relative ease. Particularly if you put your Runners on either side of your Yhettee. Berserkers are phenomenal if you put them on the outside adjacent to Ulfwereners, and the strategy should be to collapse the other team towards the inside of the field or to push the fringe players out of the sidelines.
Having played Norse for a bit now I can say I have no idea exactly what their strength is and how I’m to play to it. Perhaps it is being able to block well in the short term and being able to do a relatively versatile game like the human team being able to do some bashing, running and passing. Except, of course, the AV7. I do like the team, but especially the linemen seem lacking given their lack of access to skills. I only they had easier access to Strength skills they’d be far more capable. They can’t get guard, mighty blow and dodge without doubles. That could make for a nice challenge for a prety good coach, though.
As it is, it seems that they start of reasonably well, but are actually not a team I’d recommend to a new coach if the team is meant to go the long haul.
Not played at a highly competitive level, but for me I think Norse are let down when people try to play the bash game with them.
Fend is your friend. Keeps your linemen mobile (and alive) without having to dodge so they can put in the assists where you need.
Ideally, end with nothing in contact except the Yhetee and maybe the threat of a crowd surfing Frenzy on the wings. Other than that, it is about creating a screen. Block just means you can avoid a turnover and hit them with someone else.
Guard is not that big a loss for me, usually just have the Ulfwerener and Yhettee take it (the Beserkers are usually down from Piling On). Even on doubles I’d consider Dodge instead of Guard for a lineman as it will give them a better opportunity to offer an assist where needed rather than charging into a scrum they will not survive.
Cheap linemen starting with Block is golden for quickly getting foulers and a kicker too.
I love ’em.
I´ve palyed quite a lot with Norse, and I´ve been quite succesful too.
The main idea is defense. I develop my Norse team to be strong in the defense and score easyly in a counteratack.
I keep my players close one to another, and I try to keep the center of the pitch as my domains. I give the side away to my rivals. With all that amount of block and ST 4+ players, with all of them close one anotherk, everyone tries to dodge them going to the sides. Once their players are on the sidelines, is easy to get some of them out of the pitch thanks to our Frenzy skill. And at the same time you will have the other team surrounded and in a weak position against the sideline.
That´s the main strategy I use with Norse teams. Focus on defense, get some players with the catch + pass block combo to prevent elves passing game. Develop a Berserker as a killer, and let all the other players grow strong for the line.
As I said I try to be strong in defense, I don´t mind about the ofense, I´ll score once I colapse the other player´s attack.