This article was written for a previous version of the Blood Bowl rules and has some outdated information in it. You might still find it contains some useful information.
There is now an an updated Blood Bowl 2020 Second Season Dark Elf Starting Rosters article.
Dwarf Starting Roster Overview:
Dwarfs are a very good team at the typical starting levels when spending just 1million gold, even despite the cost of their rerolls going up. They already had the cheapest ones to begin with so this hasn’t really changed much in reality and it was more than offset by the fact you don’t need to spend money on Fan Factor.
Your biggest choice is if you want to start with a Deathroller or not and generally you will find most coaches don’t bother. With them having secret weapon and a high starting cost, you have to save money elsewhere for a player that will miss most of each match. Also while your basic players in the guise of Blockers are very good, they also cost quite a bit compared to Linemen on other races.
Full Positionals Dwarf Starting Roster:
| Quantity | Player / Item | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Blockers | 350k |
| 2 | Runners | 160k |
| 2 | Blitzers | 160k |
| 2 | Troll Slayers | 180k |
| 3 | Rerolls | 150k |
| Total | 1,000k |
This is probably the most common way to start a Dwarf team and I would probably pick this myself. It gives you all your standard positional players right from the outset. You really need both runners as the team is very slow even with them both. Along with that I would also take both Blitzers as this gives you all four of your maximum allowed AG3 players. You don’t do a lot of ball handling past picking it up, but take too few and they can easily be singled out.
I would also start with both the Troll Slayers, they can be slow to skill up though they are pretty good anyway as they start with Block. Frenzy is also helpful for making space to move your cage into and also provides a threat near the side lines. It does add more lower armour to your team but AV8 isn’t exactly low and it may take some attention away from your Runners.
This gives you six players which leaves exactly the right amount to get five Blockers to get the minimum eleven players and 150k left over to afford three rerolls. You don’t have any change to put towards an Apothecary but hopefully your high armour will carry you through until you do. Nine of your eleven players also start with Block so usually your players are going to stay upright a lot more than opposing players and you will waste less rerolls when blocking.
A slight variation can be made on this by dropping both Troll Slayers and one Runner for an extra three Blockers which gives you enough money to start with four rerolls. I think you are losing more than you are gaining by doing this so I wouldn’t advise it. Also your rerolls are a lot cheaper than other teams even at double cost after team creation.
Deathroller Dwarf Starting Roster:
| Quantity | Player / Item | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Blockers | 420k |
| 2 | Runners | 160k |
| 2 | Blitzers | 160k |
| 1 | Deathroller | 160k |
| 2 | Rerolls | 100k |
| Total | 1,000k |
If you wanted to fit a Deathroller into the starting team, I would suggest you are doing it more on the grounds of it being fun than for more tactical reasons. By all means go ahead, there are some famous Dwarf teams who like to use as many weapons on the pitch as possible every game! The biggest problem as I mentioned already is that they will get sent off most games and leave you with only 10 players. For a low agility and slow team like Dwarfs being outnumbered can cause a lot of problems. You also only have ST3 on all the rest of your players which can make things even harder against certain opposition.
In order to fit the Deathroller into the starting lineup you need to drop both Troll Slayers and one rerolls. That means you are starting with only two rerolls which can make things pretty hairy towards the end of drives. You lose the advantages that having Troll Slayers brings to the table but you do get a monster ST7 player who can go pretty much where he pleases and hit whatever is in the way. You could drop a Runner and a Blitzer in order to take a Troll Slayer as well though I would prefer to have all four AG3 players rather than just the two.
Dwarf Starting Rosters Summary:
I tend to find there isn’t a lot of variation in starting teams for Dwarfs and for good reason. The high base cost of their cheapest player doesn’t leave a lot in the way of options. It doesn’t cost a lot more to get the positional players over the cost of a Blocker and they tend to add a lot to the team and give you more options during a drive.
That isn’t to say these are the only options you could opt to take one or no rerolls and load up on more players. That should stop you being outnumbered but you will find it a struggle playing when one roll can end your turn straight away. While Dwarf players do come with very good starting skills, the only one that gives you a reroll for anything is Sure Hands. Everything else you rely on rerolls for and even with Block you will still need them for blocking as well as ball handling, dodging, go for its etc.
Pah, dwarves. So boring. Even complaining about them is boring. I’m putting myself to sleep as we sp
Dwarves are fun with a death roller because against a lot of teams you’ll have at least a two die block so you can always kill things and with mighty blow he can take things out easily, also the first thing you do with a death roller start up is to save up 90k for a troll slayer so that if you don’t receive you put him in instead of the death roller
That’s not very nice. I personally like Dwarves just fine. They at least have more unique to them then some other teams I could name…
Unfortunately i have to agree with Dalryk, although perhaps im a bit biased as i only play on Cyanide now. Unlimited matches tend to favor dwarves and they are over-represented online.
I also find them a pretty boring team though in that almost all of them will get the same skill build – guard, mighty blow, perhaps some stand firm. Although its fun when you play against dwarf teams that go non-traditional routes!
There is also virtually no variation on the starting roster, with 9/10 dwarf teams going the full positionals starting roster.
But this thread isnt made to whinge about dwarves, so i will say something constructive. I don’t think the deathroller is worth it. Save your money instead. The deathroller just bloats TV considering you can only use it for 1 drive per match. The dwarves are tough enough without it, so just stick to them.
N.
It’s not that Dwarves are one-dimensional, it’s that the unlimited league Cyanide implemented for it’s main multiplayer options stop the interesting builds which try to do something different, as you just can’t win with them.
More importantly, your skills need to be effective all the time when you have an unknown team to face, so Guard, MB, SF – all those skills are going to be taken. I would never play Dwarves competitively in that sort of league for this reason: I’d much rather prefer to do something abstract that people would always find fun to face, if the alternatives are being mocked for thinking outside the box, or doing something which everyone hates for good reason.
In the conventional “fixture-based” leagues, Dwarf teams are more interesting, as a number of coaches mix it up depending on their opposition. I’ve seen one using NoS Diving Catch Runners and a Hail Mary Pass Blocker, just for fun.
That said, I have to say I too would run the full-positionals and then boost it with a Deathroller, if only because the DR isn’t enough fun to make the starting line-up. After all, while a Dwarf team in general doesn’t need eleven players on pitch all the time, and often can make do with eight or nine, something which is super-expensive AND will likely only manage to make it on average six turns of a game, rounded up due to the occasional bribe, is simply not worth the loss of the two Slayers and one re-roll for it’s purchase.
Thanks for your comment, though that was a lot to say you basically agree with me. In any league format nearly every Dwarf team will start out the same way. Sure perhaps different league formats may vary their development but this was purely about the starting roster.
what about the “cheap” starting roster?
9 blockers
2 runners
4 rerolls
the blockers skill up just fine, though usually considerably slower than the runners. With 4 rerolls, you can handoff to blockers that find themselves near the opponent’s endzone to try to spread out SPP and level them all to 2, where they pick up guard.
the slow movement is easily offset by the fact that they effectively stop opponents from running through their line on the first turn or two, and can start to converge on the enemy ball carrier. you might lose the occasional game vs wood elves or skaven that manage to make 3 dodge rolls without their didge skill working, butits going to eat up their rerolls and make them REALLY risk turnovers like crazy.
Honestly, i do find this roster a little bit boring, but it tends to be a consistent winner, forcing low scoring games that favor your high ball possession time and keeping all your dwarves on the field while 9 tackle players eat up anyone with dodge at an alarming rate
Personally I choose dwarfs for there strength in numbers and thick skull with block but I want to know if the formation I’m using a the start off getting a team is any good….. 1 troll slayer, 2 runners 8 blockers 2 reroles an apothocary 2 fan fac 1 cheerleader and 1 assistant choach just because of the extra 40k
I woudl recommend not starting with the apothocary and taking 3 rerolls as rerolls double in price after your first game. Id also not take any fan factor or cheerleaders/assistant coach. Then you have 40k money left over so you are certainly able to get the apothocary after your first game.
My starting dwarfs lineup is more true to what the dwarfs motto is… who cares about the ball :-D.
I add 2 blitzers and 9 blockers – 4 re-rolls and 1 fanfactor.
I’ve always found myself killing the other teams players before even bothering with getting the ball anywhere near the end-zone. With this setup and a lot of fighting you have a different lineup than most dwarf-teams and even if those two blitzers are easy to mark out I’ve had some quite successfully games with this setup. Having the full team with AV of 9 means you very rarely loose players and the block and tackle skill makes the opponent fall over very often. Keeping your blitzers safe is what you need to do as one will be thrower and one will be catcher most times.
I use the Runner as Passer, letting my Blitzers get the first touchdown and then try to get the next one with a Lineman or Troll Slayer to up their SPP. On Defense I take the Runner out for an extra Lineman.
Death rollers aren’t a bad option just instead of buying an apothecary save up for an troll slayer
I’d warn new players who are aiming for something other than one massive brawl agains the blocker approach.
Yes, it nicely emphasises the AV 9 nature of a dwarf team. And yes, your blockers are some of your best players. But the loss of MV and AG you suffer from having no runners or no blitzers can be felt quite severely. Especially if you play again more experienced coaches.
Also, the meta game of being a Dwarf team is important:
When you win the toss, elect to kick first, receive in 2nd. Then gauge the situation: If you find it unlikely you can stop your opponent completely from scoring, then let him do it quickly. In 1 or 2 or perhaps 3 turns. Then you have enough time to develop your own, slow, grinding running game – without having to endure too much punishment first.
If you CAN stop the opposition then by all means to close down the 1st half and pick out a winner in the 2nd.
If you lose the toss take your time. Your offence will often take 6-8 turns to bring to a TD. So you need to both exploit that time to punish your opponents and to keep developing your play and bring the ball forward without risking it.
Planning for when you hope to score and possibly giving up a TD here and there to be given the initiative is often worth it in my experience.
Well, right now I’m on a League, with my Dwarf Team.
As a 13 Team League is a very looooong path when chosing the roster I decided to emphazise survival above everything else, on the long term it will give me more experienced players,with more abilities. So AV 9, there we go!
I started with 9 Blockers and 2 Runners and tried to play smart against big guys and faster teams like skavens or elves the results have been pretty good.
So far so good, 8 games, 6-2-0. 0 killed and most of my blockers getting Guard as the first ability.
Deathroller is a waste of money as you are paying 160k for a (maximum) 8-turn player, and a dwarf team needs every one all the time.
The point is you have to prevent your small MV by putting your blockers in the right place to force your opponent to dodge as much as they can, the more he dodges the more chances he has to draw a “1”. Use your runners efficiently acting as a safety, or to outnumber you rival and play basically to deny easy points and scoring your TD on each half.
Remember, Dwarf TD is always in Turn #8.
The best starting dwarf team in my opinion consists of the following:. 11 Longboards, 1 Runner, Two re-rolls, and 1 Apothecary. For gameplay on Cyanide, I have found this to be the best to maximize winning chances. However, you have to play positionally and patiently. Do not go for wins that are just not there. Be content with ties against wise opponents. Feast on young, edgy fools who throw themselves at you in moronic attempts at wresting the ball from your caged Runner.
just take 12 long beard bois. Trust me, Nuffle will be laughing so hard at the dwarf juggle that he’ll let you win