Drafting a Blood Bowl Team

Now that you know how to play a game, it's time to explain how to put together your own Team Roster. There are numerous different types of Blood Bowl teams from Humans to Dwarfs, Elves to Orcs, and even the Undead amongst many others. In this section we will take you through the process of drafting your team and provide you with a Team Draft List that you can photocopy for your own personal use.

TEAM ROSTERS

There are a number of different Team Rosters that you can choose from, which can be found on pages 160-188. Each of these will have a number of important bits of information; from which players can be taken in that team, the profiles of those players including their Hiring Fee, the cost of Team Re-rolls, any Special Rules the team has, what Leagues the team can play for, and more.

TEAM DRAFT LISTS

When you are drafting your team, you will need to complete a Team Draft List as you do so. This contains space to record each of your hired players, their name, position, Hiring Fee and player profile. There is also space for recording their Star Player Points (SPP), which are used for the player's advancement - don't worry about this for now, we'll cover player advancement later on page 96. The Current Value of a player is equal to their Hiring Fee plus any Value Increase they have had as a result of player advancement.

There is also space for information such as if the player is needing to miss their next game (MNG) or if they have any Niggling Injuries (NI). These are only used for League Play, which we will cover later.

Finally, there are spaces for other important information such as any Sideline Staff that have been hired, any Dedicated Fans the team has, the number and cost of a team's Team Re-rolls, the amount of gold pieces left in the Treasury and whether the team has an Apothecary.

GAME RECORD SHEET

On the other side of the Team Draft List is a Game Record Sheet. This is ideal for keeping track of the games your team has played and the outcomes of those matches. You can record the likes of the score, number of Casualties caused, what Inducements you hired (if any), your Team Value (TV) following the game, your winnings and whether the game was part of a League or was a Friendly, amongst other things.

TEAM DRAFT LIST

TEAM DRAFT BUDGET

The Team Draft Budget is the amount of gold pieces your team has to spend when building your team. When starting a team during League Play, you will usually have a Team Draft Budget of 1,000,000 gold pieces - this is the most common value for a rookie team. During Exhibition Play or Matched Play (and even in League Play there are some odd situations) you may have a higher Team Draft Budget to spend on your team.

You can spend your gold pieces on players, Sideline Staff and Team Re-rolls. In Exhibition Play and Matched Play, you may also be able to spend gold pieces on Inducements.

HIRING PLAYERS

The most important part of any Blood Bowl team is its players - without them, you won't be able to play a game of Blood Bowl! Each Team Roster will have a list of different players available to them, and their Hiring Fee will be listed in their profile along with the maximum number of each player type that can be taken.

When you have selected the players you wish to hire for your team, you will want to write them down on your Team Draft List along with their Hiring Fee.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS

The most important thing to note about drafting a Blood Bowl team is the minimum and maximum number of players that are required on your Team Draft List.

A team must have at least 11 players on their Team Draft List when it is first drafted. In League Play these players must all be from the chosen Team Roster. However, in Exhibition Play and Matched Play this could include any Star Players the team wishes to hire.

A team may never have more than 16 players on their Team Draft List.

In League Play you may find your team in a situation where they have less than 11 players on their Team Draft List either due to players being injured or worse, dying. This is allowed, though not ideal, and will be covered later on page 94.

PLAYER POSITIONS

In each player's profile they will have a number of keywords, one of which will always be their position. Though these don't have any specific rules as such, there will be instances where certain traits interact with certain player positions, so it is important to know what each of these is. This will also help give you an idea of what each player's role is on the pitch. In some rare situations, a player may have more than one of these positions listed on their profile.

LINEMAN: The backbone of any team. All teams will have at least one player with the Lineman position, which they will be allowed to take 0-16 of.

THROWER: The Thrower will often act as the team's captain, calling the plays on the pitch and directing the flow of the game. They will also be responsible for delivering those precision passes to their team-mates.

CATCHER: It is the job of the Catcher to get on the end of a pass and Catch the ball before running it into the End Zone to score a Touchdown.

RUNNER: Some teams prefer to employ a Runner rather than Throwers or Catchers, relying on speed rather than risking passing the ball over the opposition.

BLITZER: Often used on offence, a Blitzer is tasked with breaking through the opposition line and creating holes for their team-mates to run through.

BLOCKER: Tough, defensive players, a Blocker will often be found anchoring the lines and using their physicality to smash the opposition into the turf.

BIG GUY: Many teams will employ a Big Guy; a larger than life player that is used as a battering ram to crush opposition defensive lines. The likes of Trolls, Ogres and Minotaurs would fall into this category.

SPECIAL: Not every player will fit into one of the above categories, and those unique individuals are referred to as Special players. Whether they enjoy the use of secret weapons, or have a particular gift in another area of the game, they are all classed the same.

PURCHASING TEAM RE-ROLLS

Any team may purchase Team Re-rolls, the cost of which may vary and will be outlined in each team's specific Team Roster. Teams may purchase a maximum of 8 Team Re-rolls, though they may never have more than 8 Team Re-rolls on their Team Draft Roster.

In League Play, if a team wishes to purchase a Team Re-roll during the course of a league rather than at the start, then it will cost double the usual amount of gold pieces in order to do so, though it will still count as its usual value when it comes to working out a team's Current Team Value (CTV) (see opposite).

HIRING SIDELINE STAFF

Many Sideline Staff can be vital for helping out their team, offering assistance in a number of specialised ways. Teams may purchase Sideline Staff from the following list when drafting their team.

ASSISTANT COACHES

A team may hire up to a maximum of 6 Assistant Coaches. Each Assistant Coach costs 10,000 gold pieces to hire. During the course of a league, additional Assistant Coaches may be hired for the same cost. A team may never have more than 6 Assistant Coaches on its Team Draft Roster.

Assistant Coaches benefit a team during the Brilliant Coaching result on the Kick-off Event Table, as described on page 48.

CHEERLEADERS

A team may hire up to a maximum of 6 Cheerleaders. Each Cheerleader costs 10,000 gold pieces to hire. During the course of a league, additional Cheerleaders may be hired for the same cost. A team may never have more than 6 Cheerleaders on its Team Draft Roster.

Cheerleaders will benefit their team during the Cheering Fans result on the Kick-off Event Table, as described on page 48.

APOTHECARY

Most teams may hire an Apothecary who can attempt to patch up an injured player during the game. Whether or not a team can or cannot hire an Apothecary will be listed in its Team Roster.

A team can only ever have a single Apothecary on its Team Draft Roster. An Apothecary costs a team 50,000 gold pieces to hire.

The effect of an Apothecary is described on page 68.

OTHER INFORMATION

There are a few other things that need to be recorded on a team's Team Draft List, including the number of Dedicated Fans the team has, their Treasury and their Team Value, each of which are explained here.

DEDICATED FANS

Every team will be followed by a number of fanatical supporters that will support them through thick and thin, and will travel all across the known world to watch their beloved team. These fans have many reasons for supporting their favourite team: usually this will be because they are from the same city or region as their team and so it makes natural sense to support their local club. Some fans will support a team because their parents do, whilst others have less logical reasons, such as their team was top of their division when they started watching Blood Bowl, or they simply find the colours of their team's kit rather fetching!

When you draft a team, it will automatically have a Dedicated Fans Characteristic of 1 (representing 1,000 Dedicated Fans). When drafting your team, you may improve the Dedicated Fans Characteristic of your team up to a maximum of 3 (though this may increase further as a league progresses), at the cost of 5,000 gold pieces per Dedicated Fan improvement. For example, a team could improve its Dedicated Fans Characteristic from 1 to 3 at the cost of 10,000 gold pieces.

In League Play, your Dedicated Fans Characteristic can change after each game depending on the result, though it can never rise above 7 or fall below 1.

TREASURY

After you have drafted your team, any gold pieces left over are recorded in your team's Treasury. In Exhibition Play and Matched Play games, this has no effect and so in those game types it's always best to spend all of your gold pieces if possible.

In League Play, this is where you record the amount of gold pieces your team amasses during the course of the league. Winnings are added to your Treasury and should you decide to purchase more players, Team Re-rolls or Sideline Staff, you will do so from your Treasury. We will cover this fully in the League Play section later on page 94.

TEAM VALUE

The final thing to do when drafting your team is to work out its Team Value and Current Team Value.

A team's Team Value (TV) is worked out by adding up the Current Value of all the players on the team, plus the cost of any Sideline Staff and Team Re-rolls the team has. Dedicated Fans and gold pieces in a team's Treasury are not included when working out a team's Team Value.

A team's Current Team Value (CTV) is only used in League Play, and is equal to the team's Team Value minus the Current Value of any players that are unable to play in the next game, such as those that suffered a Miss Next Game result on the Casualty Table.