Bashy - An unofficial term used to indicate players and/or teams that tend to focus more on beating the crap out of the enemy team, rather than trying to play the ball.
Big Guy - An exceptionally large and strong player type. Most teams don't get more than one of these, sometimes two, sometimes none at all.
Blitz - Players normally can't move and block at the same time. However, you can designate one of your players once per turn to perform a blitz, which lets them move and block at the same time.
Blitzer - A type of player specialized in blitzing, though they are almost always the bashiest players on their teams.
Block - The act of having one of your players bash another player in the head. Uses its own unique dices. Not to be confused with Block the skill.
Blocker - A type of player that focusses on direct combat. Similar to but not as mobile as Blitzers.
Cage - A formation of at least five players, in which a ball carier is completely surrounded by allies, making it impossible for an enemy to blitz him without first having to deal with the players on the outer edges of the cage first.
Catcher - A type of player that specializes in catching the ball when it's thrown.
Drive - A term used to indicate the current session of play. A drive ends when either side scores a touchdown or when half-time occurs.
Dodge - If a player wants to move out of an enemy player's tacklezone, he must make a dodge roll. Not to be confused with Dodge the skill.
Dugout - The left and right side of the pitch, where both teams place their reserve players, KO'd players and injured players.
Endzone - The topmost and bottommost squares of the pitch. If the enemy ball carrier makes it to your endzone, he scores! And vica versa.
FAME - Stands for Fan Advantage ModifiEr. Modifies certain kick-off events and increases your winnings at the end of a match.
Fouling - When an enemy player is prone on the pitch (or stunned) your players can try to stomp down on that player. This is called a foul. It forces an immediate armor roll for your victim, but your player performing the foul might get sent off by the ref! You can only foul once per turn.
Fumble - When you fail to throw the ball, your player can fumble it. This causes the player to drop the ball on a square next to him/her and causes a turnover.
Half-time - When both players have finished their turn 8, half-time starts. This immediately ends the current drive and starts a new one. The player that was the receiver in turn 1 will now be the kicker, and vica versa for the other player.
Hand-Off - If you "pass" the ball to another player in an adjacent square, it's called a hand-off. This only requires a catch roll on the part of the receiver. You can only do one of these per turn, in addition to a pass.
Line of Scrimmage - The name of the line that divided your section of the pitch from the enemy's. If you're deploying your team, you must have at least 3 guys touching the line of scrimmage.
Mercenary - A type of player that your team can hire for one match. Mercs automatically fill up teams that have been reduced below 11 players, don't earn SPP unless you purchase them and always start off with the Loner skill until you purchase them.
Pass - The act of throwing the ball from one player to the next at a distance of two squares or greater. You can only do one of these per turn, and you can't pass on a player that's blitzing.
Pitch - The field on which Blood Bowl gets played. Basically the collective of all the squares your players play on.
Reserves - Players on your team that you didn't place on the field. At the start of every drive, you can replace casualties with your reserves, or exchange players on the pitch with reserve players.
Runner - A type of player that specializes in running the ball past the enemy.
SPP - Basically experience points for your players. If your players earn enough of these by succeeding on noteworthy rolls or scoring touchdowns, they level up and unlock new skills.
Star Player - A special type of player that can only be recruited through the mercenary screen, never purchased permanently.
Touchdown - When one of your players carries the ball into the opposition endzone, you score a touchdown, yielding you one point.
Turnover - When you fail at certain rolls, such as a block or pass, you can cause a turnover. This ends your turn prematurely, meaning you can't do any of the actions still left to you that turn.
Thrower - A type of player that specializes in throwing the ball.
Wall - A formation of players that align their tackle zones in such a way that they create a "wall" through which the enemy can't move without having to make dodge rolls.

Before you get to playing, there are a couple of settings you want to change. In the main menu, go to "Extras & Settings," "Options," "Optional Skill Presets."

Next, check the following things to "Ask" you before it's used to make your Blood Bowl experience easier:
Diving Tackle
Dump-Off
Fend
Hail Mary Pass
Juggernaut
Multiple Block
Pass
Piling On
Pro
Shadowing
Stand Firm
Wrestle

This will prevent you from using these skills when you don't want too!

My second suggestion is, when you've joined a league with a random matchmaker (probably Auld World or one of the other bigger leagues), click on the "ranked" checkmark for the team you want to play, then check it again. This will cause an extra menu to pop up in which you can adjust whether or not you want to be matched with people in 40 second turns, 2 minute turns or 4 minute turns when you enter the matchmaker. This is important because even more advanced players can be overwhelmed by the pressure of a 40-second turn, and 4 minute turns can cause a match to take rediculously long.

My last suggestion when it comes to settings is, press G at the start of every match. This reveals enemy tacklezones in detail and makes it much easier to see what your opponent's defense covers and what not.

Now, one of the first things new players who pick up the Chaos edition will notice is just how many freaking teams there are! With twenty three teams, there's enough choice available to you to make your head spin. Therefore, this section is dedicated to helping you choose, or if you already chose a team, to help you understand the specialty and weaknesses of said team.

The easy teams

As a matter of fact, some teams are easier to play than others! These teams might have other weaknesses to make up for that, but many of the teams in the "easy" category usually have versatility on their side, making them a great choice for players who are just getting into the game.

The Amazon team is very well suited to beginners, due to the prevalence of the Dodge skill. Every single player has it, making Amazons very agile and easy to place where you need them on the battlefield, whilst also making them harder to knock on their butts. Their blitzers start off with the excellent dodge/block combo, making them exceptionally hard to knock down, and with both throwers and catchers in their roster Amazons can both run with and pass the ball effectively. On top of that, their players are cheap too, giving you plenty of room to buy extras to supplement your team when you first build your roster.
Their weakness lies in two things. First, their average armor is a measily 7, meaning every time your players do get succesfully blocked it's a high chance of an injury roll being made too. Secondly, they also don't have any players with exceptionally high stats in terms of movement allowance, strength or agility, since they don't get a big guy. This means they might not win a passing game against an Elf team, or a bashing game against a Chaos team. On top of that, while the prevalence of Dodge in the team is definitely a blessing, tackle-heavy teams (looking at you, Dwarves) will negate that advantage almost entirely.
Short: More skilled and more agile than the average team due to lots of Dodge and plenty of ball control, but lack a big guy whilst having average attributes and low armor across the board.


The Chaos Dwarves sacrifice the universal durability of their uncorrupted cousins for higher mobility and great Blitzes. Chaos Dwarf Blockers give the team a solid blackbone of skilled, durable players with Block and Tackle, Bull Centaurs are great Blitzers with strength 4, Hobgoblins are much faster than the average dwarf (and much cheaper too!) and the Minotaur gives the team a heavy hitter. Add to that the Chaos Dwarves getting access to Mutations on a double, and you can see why the Chaos Dwarves have a potentially much more terrifying bashing game than the regular dwarf team!
That being said, the Chaos Dwarves do pay some heavy prices for their increase in deadliness and mobility. Hobgoblins, whilst dirt cheap at 40k each, don't start off with skills and don't get mutations. The Bull Centaur, while having good stats, lacks skills that help it Blitz, and the Minotaur, whilst strong, lacks reliability due to the Wild Animal skill. It doesn't help that their rerolls are really expensive.
Short: Slow and sturdy players supplemented by a few more mobile players, the Chaos Dwarves are more aggressively orientated than the normal Dwarf team, but not as durable.


Personally, I hate facing the Dwarves, mostly because they have the tools for almost any job while being virtually implacable! Of all teams, I dare say none are as hard to bash off of the pitch as the Dwarves. With some of the largest armor values across the board and almost universal coverage with Thick Skull and Block, the Dwarves are incredibly hard to block under any circumstances. Many dwarf players also get Tackle, which severely cripples dodge-reliant teams. Therefore, the Dwarves favorite strategy is to either wall off an enemy ball carrier, or cage in their own and slowly push forward. If they really want to bash down the enemy, they can get either Troll Slayers, which are entirely designed to take down big guys, or hire a Deathroller, the strongest big guy in the game, and just bulldoze over anything that gets in the way!
However, the Dwarves do have a number of distinct weaknesses. While all Dwarves are very tough and most of them have Block to keep themselves standing, none of them are very fast, with the average MA of the team being 5 or less. They only get 3 players that are meant for offense, namely the Slayers and the Deathroller, and these are not very reliable (due to Slayers being reliant on Dauntless to do their job, more often than not, and Deathrollers being sent off of the pitch when someone scores or when halftime comes up). Dwarves also only rarely learn agility skills, and never learn passing skills, meaning they must use their runners to get the ball to the enemy endzone or they won't get it there at all.
Short: Implaceable and durable, great at defending their carrier or their side of the pitch, but very slow and you can forget about passing the ball around.


The Elf team, with its great agility ratings across the board and with one of the best catchers in the game, makes a great starting team for players who want to focus more on ball control rather than beating enemies to a pulp. Elf players are also much cheaper than the players of other elf teams, making them more forgiving to learn how to play compared to other Elf teams. Their catcher is also one of the best in the game, starting with Catch and Nerves of Steel, allowing him to catch a ball even when he's in the thick of the enemy team. Compared to the High Elves, they're much more aggressive with the ball, intent on getting it into the opposition's endzone as quickly as they can.
However, the Elf team doesn't have much in the way of Blocking, having only two Blitzers and only 7 armor on everyone that isn't a Blitzer. This makes the Elf team quite fragile, which counteracts the lower costs of its players. The main rule with an Elf team is to never get bogged down in a big melee. You'll never come out on top.
Short: Agile and mobile, Elf teams are fast and intent on scoring as fast as possible. Their passing game is comparable to that of the High Elves, but while their passes aren't as safe, their catches are superb.


Elf teams are universally good at playing the ball, and the High Elves are among the best, even among elf teams. If you're new, and you want to learn how to play the passing game, the High Elves are probably one of the best teams to learn it with. Being more armored than most of the other elf teams, with universal agility 4 and one of the best Throwers in the game, they make a show out of dashing past the enemy lines and then passing the ball almost from across the pitch! The fact that every player on the team can potentially catch the ball and score, thanks to their high agility and movement allowance, is what makes a High Elf team so dangerous.
However, high elves do have some clear weaknesses. First, not one of the players on the team is cheap, even Linemen are relatively expensive, meaning that a crippling injury or a death can really mess up the High Elves, especially in a private league where you only get X amount of games. The High Elves also only get two Blitzers with the Block skill, and don't have any other players that start off with bashing skills, meaning that High Elves struggle hard when they must fight their way out of a situation.
Short: Very agile and mobile, High Elf teams are fast and great at ball-handling and passing. However, they're quite bad at Blocking. They prefer avoiding blocks, rather than attacking the other team head on.

Humans

Among the monsters and undead and other strange creatures that play Bloodbowl, it's sometimes easy to forget that there's a Human team too! Like in many other similar settings, the Human team is the jack of all trades team, focusing on no strategy in perticular and excelling in nothing. This may seem like a bad thing, but the main advantage of the Human team is that they can change their strategy as the game demands. If they're facing a wimpy team, like the High Elves or the Skaven, they can focus on bashing and pummeling. If they're fighting a team that's bad at ball handling, like the Dwarves or Chaos, they can focus on running with the ball or passing it across the pitch. Thanks to their versatile roster, every strategy in Blood Bowl is open to the Human team.
That being said, their main disadvantage is their lack of a specialty. Their Blitzers and Ogre are good at Blocking, but they're unlikely to outbash a team like the Orcs or Chaos. Their Throwers and Catchers are good, but they're unlikely to win a passing game against a High Elf team, or a running game against a Skaven team. Therefore, a Human coach must be very careful to apply the right strategy under the right circumstances.
Short: Starting off with cheap players and lots of skills, the Human team can use any strategy effectively, but won't beat specialist teams at their own game.

Norse

The Norse team is one of the harder beginner teams, but for a coach that wants a team that can hit hard but without completely sacrificing ball handling, the Norse are a great choice. With lots of access to Block across most players, Frenzy, two strength 4 players and one big guy in the form of the monsterously deadly Yhetee, the Norse have all the tools needed to either bash their way through the enemy lines or to whittle down the enemy team until there aren't enough left to stop the Norse advance. They also have decent Throwers and Runners, both of who'm can also get stuck in the fray if needed, giving the Norse team resilient ball carriers.
However, the Norse suffer from low armor values across the board, with only Werewolves and the Yhetee not having armor 7, putting their players at relatively high risk of injury. To further aggravate the risks they take when Blocking, the Norse also have a lot of Frenzy in their team. This is a mixed blessing, since a Frenzy player can easily push players off of the pitch and has twice the chance to knock them on the ground, but if Frenzy isn't used well, also has twice the chance of causing a turnover.
Short: Bashy and still quite agile, the Norse team can beat the enemy down while still playing the ball. However, their ball game isn't great, and their low armor values and large numbers of Frenzy players make the Norse quite risky at times.

Orcs

If you really want to play a game of bashing and put playing the ball on a backseat, the Orcs might just be the team for you! With one strength 5 player, four strength 4 players and four Blitzers with Block, the Orcs are made fer bashin'! Their players aren't even that expensive, ensuring you'll get access to some team extras (like those delicious rerolls), and they have almost universal high armor values, making them quite hard to punch off of the pitch. The Orc team even has access to Goblin players, allowing them to use the Goblin-Troll combination to throw a Goblin holding the ball across the pitch and score an (if somewhat risky) touchdown!
However, the Orc team gets only two dedicated ball Handlers in the form of Orc Throwers. These guys start off with good skills, Sure Hands and Pass, but have low movement allowance, making them poorly suited for running past the enemy and better suited for maintaining control over the ball as the rest of their teammates open up a gap in the enemy's defenses. Low movement allowance is, in fact, a staple across the team, meaning that the Orcs struggle to keep up with much faster teams.
Short: Very durable and hard hitting, but slow all around and lacking ball handling skills on any but two players.

Skaven

If you like speed and numbers, then you'll love the Skaven. Having the fastest average of all teams, the Skaven team regularly runs circles around the opposition. Their Gutter Runners aren't just really agile, with both Dodge and Agility 4, but are also among the fastest players in the game, having the ability to move 9 squares in one turn, and that's not counting Going for It! Combined with their Throwers, the Skaven play a mean ball game, and the enemy must always take into account that a Gutter Runner may dash past his lines and run out of reach at any time. And even if the enemy takes one out, Skaven are cheap, meaning that losing one is never a big concern to a Skaven team. To top it all off, Skaven get access to Mutations too, which can make them far more intimidating than other agile teams.
However, the Skaven aren't that great at bashing. While they do get the hulking Rat Ogre, who is a great roadblock thanks to his Prehensile Tail, they lack Blitzers (getting only two Stormvermin with Block) and the rest of their team must make do with the low low armor value of only 7. To top it off, Gutter Runners are only strength 2, meaning that while they play a major role in the Skaven team, they can get blocked by just about any enemy player. Access to mutations on a double does do wonders and makes the Skaven far more dangerous than they'd be otherwise, but because it does require doubles, it's not something that can be relied upon.
Short: Extremely fast team that's great at running the ball, with cheap players if they suffer casualties. Bad at bashing, but better at it than the High Elves.

Undead

One of the best beginner teams out there, the Undead have it all. They have great ball carriers, great Big Guys, great Blitzers and their linemen are among the cheapest and hardiest out there. They start off with important skills on their main players (Dodge on ball-running ghouls, Block on Wights) and get Regeneration on everything except Ghouls, which makes their players exceptionally hard to injure or kill. Also worth mentioning are the Mummies, who are among the best Big Guy's around due to their huge Strength 5 and lack of any negative abilities like Loner, Really Stupid or Wild Animal. Their linemen are a mix between Zombies and Skeletons (your pick), with Skeletons being slightly more mobile and Zombies being slightly tougher. Both are incredibly cheap for what they do.
However, the undead do have their weaknesses, which manifest themselves in their players each having their own strengths and weaknesses. First off, they don't start off with any ball handling skills, meaning that until they can get a Ghoul with Sure Hands, even picking up the ball can be risky for this team. Mummies are super strong and much more reliable than other Big Guy's, but incredibly slow. Wights are great, but they start off with only Block & Regeneration, and you get only two. Both Zombies and Skeletons aren't that fast, and both have only agility 2, making them terrible at ball handling. This means that the enemy will often try to take out your Ghouls and Wights as quickly as they can, since then you'll have to use Skeletons/Zombies to handle the ball, which will inevitably end in failure.
Short: The undead team has a great spread of players that lets the team play several strategies well, though they lack early ball handling skills and have a few valuable players that risk being targeted.

Some of you may be wondering "Well what about the other teams?" and the answer to that is, I want to keep this guide for beginners. The other teams tend to have a lot of stuff they need to keep in mind. Khemri teams for instance have an awesome 4 guys with str 5 and no negative skills, yet they're quite hard to play because of their lack of ball handling skills.

So, for everyone that's curious, I've compiled a list of the other teams too. These descriptions are much shorter since I don't feel these other teams are for beginners.


Chaos - Very bashy team with loads of access to mutations and excellent Blitzers for linemen, but no ball handling skills early on at all.
Dark Elves - The bashiest of the elven teams, with the best armor ratings, but while the whole team still has the elven trademark of agility 4, they don't have any starting ball-handling skills.
Khemri - Very cheap linemen and a whopping four strength 5 Mummies, the Khemri team has amazing bashing potential, but while their linemen are cheap, their agility is universally very low and they lack skills such as Block and Dodge, or any ball-handling skills.
Khorne Daemons - Everyone in the team has frenzy. They have some of the potentially most devastating Blitzers in the game, but learning how to manage a whole team with frenzy takes some practise.
Lizardmen - A team of opposites. Saurus's are great at bashing with their armor value 9 and strength 4, and you can get up to six of them too! However, their main ball handlers are Skinks, who are strength 2, armor 7 and stunty to top it all off. Skinks are great runners, but if they get taken out the Lizardmen won't be able to handle the ball at all.
Necromantic - Similar to the Undead team, but they use Werewolves instead of Ghouls and Golems instead of Mummies. This team works like the Undead, but with more focus on speed and less on other things.
Nurgle - Similar to Chaos, but they trade in a lot of Chaos's speed and agility for extra skills. They're amazing on defense, with Tentacles on a base Beast of Nurgle and both Foul Appearence and Disturbing Presence on their Warriors, giving them an incredible ability to roadblock enemy teams and interrupt a passing game. They're also downright bashy, but possibly even slower than Dwarf teams.
Wood Elves - The fastest of the Elf teams, Wood Elves have Wardancers, which are amazing, and Treemen to take the heat off of their linemen at the front. However, their players are all very fragile, very expensive, and built around supporting Wardancers.



Goblins - Goblins themselves are weak, break easily, and form the bulk of the team. The main appeal of the Goblin team is a variety of high-risk high-reward strategies, like "throwing the goblin with the ball onto the enemy endzone with a Troll" or "murdering most of the enemy team using Secret Weapons." However, Goblins (and their equipment) are prone to failing when you need them not to do so. Goblins also get bribes at half off.
Halflings - The Haflings are the worst players in the game, having a similar statline to goblins but with even lower armor, and regrettibly, these guys form the bulk of the team. However, where the goblins gain access to two unreliable trolls, the Halflings get two Treemen, who are much better at throwing their teammates than Trolls and hit much harder. Halflings also get to steal the enemy's rerolls with the Halfling Master Chef inducement, which they should always get.
Ogres - With a potential 6 Ogres with both strength 5 and Mighty Blow, the Ogre team has absurd bashing potential from the get-go. However, you're unlikely to be able to afford 6 Ogres right off of the bat, and with Bone Head on all your Ogres things are gonna break down sooner or later. The only other player type you can fill up with is Snotlings, who might the cheapest players in the game and amazing at making dodge rolls, they're pretty terrible at anything else with their Strength 1.
Underworld - The Underworld team contains a mixed lineup of Skaven and Goblins, as well as an optional Troll. All of these can get mutations as normal skills, which gives them some unique setups you won't find in any other team. However, the team only has a small number of Skaven Blitzers and a Troll to fall back on when they must bash. To top that off, the entire team has Animosity, which means that when a Skaven tries to pass to a Goblin, he may suddenly decide he doesn't want too!
Vampires - Vampire teams seem great, at first. With a potential 6 vampires per team, all of who'm have strength 4 and agility 4, the team can be full of players that can bash hard and handle the ball well. All Vampires also get Hypnotic Gaze, which can really mess up enemies that are in base contact with the Vampires. However, all the Vampires also suffer from Blood Lust, which means that they must roll a d6 before their every action, and if it comes up a 1, they must run too and feed from one of their Thralls, which inflicts an instant injury roll for that Thrall (no, not armor, an injury roll!). Worse, if the Vampire can't do this, either because there's no friendly Thrall nearby or because there are no friendly Thralls left on the pitch, the Vampire gets placed in your reserves instead. They can do incredibly well if your rolls are good, or Vampires can end up drinking themselves into a defeat.

Once you've selected your team, you're probably overwhelmed by a huge variety of options that you get to choose from, and normally you get only 1.000.000 gold to buy them with! That may sound like a lot, but as you'll soon learn, that million is gonna run out long before you have everything you want.


First, you're going to want to buy yourself some players. After all, what's the game without players? It's important to note that, no matter what team you're playing, you must have at least 11 players by the time you're done building your team. This is, coincidently, also the maximum number of players you can have on the field, so you'll always start with a full team. However, you can also buy extra players, with the limit being a total of 16 players (11 on the pitch, 5 on the bench). Players in excess of the ones you put on the field are "benched," which means that they won't be playing until you put them into the pitch, which you can only do at the start of the game or at the start of a new drive. If you want to sort through the players you want on the field and those you don't want on the field, they will be on the right side of the screen, just left of your list of extras. Click on their names, then right click on any of your players on the pitch, and you can swap them out freely while you're setting up your team.
Note: If one of your players dies during a match and you're no longer at 11 players for your next match, and you don't have enough gold to buy a new player, don't panic! You automatically get free mercenary linemen of your race if you don't have enough men, though these will all have the Loner skill and will leave your team after the end of the match unless you purchase them immediately after the game is over.

Selecting your players, however, can be quite intimidating for a new player. Some teams can spend all their gold buying the best players available to their team, but then have no gold left for extras. Other teams have such cheap players that they can buy everything they want and still have gold left over!
Now, it's not feasible for me to explain all the different team compositions that exist for each team. If I did that, any new player would lose their interest in this guide long before they even got halfway down that list! Instead, just follow this general rule: Buy whatever players you see fit, but always leave enough gold in your coffers to purchase two rerolls for your team. Two rerolls give you enough breathing room when you're playing to let you take risks without risking an instant turnover.

For reference, I'll explain the different player types you'll encounter ingame. Note, these can vary quite wildly between teams, so they aren't hard guidelines for what each type can or should do. Some players even blur the lines between roles!

Linemen
These guys are your disposable masses, your cheap infantry, and occasionally, your replacements! They're the cheapest to purchase, but of all the players in your team, usually also have the least skills and the lowest stats. Some teams consist mostly of linemen, whilst others only use a handful. Regardless, these guys you'll usually buy as filler for your team, to conserve money or fill up slots you can't fill otherwise. (examples: Human Linemen, Skeletons, Halflings, Beastmen)

Blitzers
Blitzers are, ironically, not just really good at Blitzing, but in many teams also fill the roll of a Blocker. Blitzers tend to have higher Movement Allowance than the rest of their teammates, to help them get into position, whilst also having skills that help in taking down enemy players. Blitzers hit hard and typically aim to either push the opposition away, or remove them entirely. (examples: High Elf Blitzers, Bull Centaurs, Herald of Khorne)

Blockers
Specialist warriors, basically. Blockers typically have higher strength and armor than average, or have skills that help them beat down enemy players. Blockers also typically work as bodyguards to whichever player is carrying the ball. They might not be very manouverable. (examples: Chaos Warrior, Saurus, Chaos Dwarf Blockers)

Runners
Runners focus on getting past the enemy side of the pitch and hauling the ball to the endzone. They're typically very fast and have skills that help them pick up and hold the ball. However, they might have a lack of hitting power. They also often overlap with the role of Catcher. (examples: Dwarf Runner, Gutter Runner, Ghoul)

Throwers
On many teams, Throwers are the guys that pick the ball up first, and then pass it to the guy that's gonna score. Throwers usually have specialist skills that help them pick the ball up (Sure Hands is common) and Pass, which gives them a better shot at actually passing the ball. Throwers usually work together with Catchers.

Catchers
The guys who catch the ball and runs it to the endzone. They typically have specialist skills that make it easier for them to catch or even intercept the ball, giving them a great chance to catch a thrown ball. Often overlaps with Runners. (Example: Wood Elf Catcher, High Elf Catcher, Elf Catcher)

Big Guys
Not all teams have access to big guys, but those that do know that they're both an immense asset and occasionally a liability. Almost universally, all big guys have huge strength values (at least 5) and have one or more negative skills that make them less reliable than normal players. These include the Wild Animal, Bone Head, or Really Stupid skills. They often also have the Loner skill, meaning that often even a reroll won't save you from their failings. That being said, when a big guy does do his job, he usually has a huge impact on the pitch, and it's not uncommon for a big guy to permanently take out several opposing players over the course of a match. In addition to their other weaknesses, most teams can only get one big guy, and he costs a small fortune all on his own. Thread carefully before you buy one.

There are a couple of extras you can buy your team. These range from "incredibly useful" to "very rarely useful." Extras should always be taken into account when you're designing your team, but be warned against buying too many. Each extra you purchase further inflates your team's Team Value, so only buy what you need!

Rerolls
Rerolls are that one thing no team can do without. If you made a team that has no rerolls, thrash it and start over, because rerolls are love, rerolls are life. Rerolls allow you to turn a failed roll into a won game, so never underestimate them! However, there's no point in buying too many. Remember, you can only use one reroll per turn and your rerolls are renewed after half-time. This means that under no circumstances should you ever have more than 8 rerolls (if you even ever get that many) since you only have 8 turns to spend your rerolls, so even if you use the maximum of one per turn you won't be able to burn through nine. To top it off, you might get extra rerolls from certain inducements or from kickoff events, so the optimal number is most likely lower than eight.
Important note: Rerolls only cost 50% of their actual cost when you're setting up your team for the first time. This means that they're much harder to get once your team has been finalized.

Apothecary
Pointless for some teams, downright neccesary for others, the Apothecary's effect is very simple. Once per game, you can reroll one injury roll (which is one of the few roll types you can't use a regular reroll on) for one of your players when they get injured. I say "when," not "if," because this is Blood Bowl and you -will- see blood at one point or another. How effective the Apothecary really is depends highly on the team you're playing. A Goblin team might not want to spend valuable money on an Apothecary when their players cost less than the Apothecary himself, but a High Elf team might not be able to survive without one. That being said, an Apothecary is not foolproof. I've had games where I saved the Apothecary until a player I really wanted to keep died, and then the Apothecary's alternative roll was also a "dead" result. Sometimes he'll save your players, sometimes he'll be no help at all. That's Blood Bowl in a nutshell!
Note, some teams can't get Apothecaries, like Nurgle teams. They can instead buy an Igor as an inducement, which allows you a free reroll on a regeneration roll once per game.
Important note: There's a visual bug with the Apothecary. Sometimes when using the reroll, the reroll result will not accurately display what the Apothecary's reroll did. At one point I got a "injured" result on the reroll instead of the severe injury that I already had, and my Lizardman ended up not being injured at all when I selected the Apothecary's result! Your mileage may vary, but if you have a very bad injury roll (like a severe injury or death) and the Apothcary's reslt is not death, I recommend selecting the Apothecary's reroll result even if it doesn't seem like an improvement.

Cheerleaders and Assistant Coaches
While the cheerleaders do look nice (well, in the case of some teams), Coaches and Cheerleaders only serve a single goal. On the rare occasion that during a kick-off event (Namely: Cheering Fans or Brilliant Coaching) both sides Compare their FAME rating, plus the number of Cheerleaders or Assistant Coaches (respectively) that they have. The one with the highest value gets a free extra reroll until half-time or the end of the match (whichever occurs sooner). If you want an aproximation of how valuable that makes Cheerleaders/Assistant coaches... Well, there are a total of twelve kick-off events possible, and Cheerleaders (for instance) will only influence 1 of those kick-off events. Cheerleaders and Assistant Coaches cost 10k each. That means that they are both only good for a reroll one in every twelve times, and that's only if you assume that your FAME rating is the same as your opponent's. That means that Cheerleaders/Assistant Coaches are only worth it if your team's rerolls cost 120k each or more.
That being said, if you get lucky, you can get more value than that out of these things. They're also more valuable to teams that score quickly and often, since those teams experience more kick-off events. However, I personally try to avoid buying them, since they inflate your TV.

So, you got your team set up, you challenged your first opponent, and suddenly you get this huge screen of options with only barely enough time to read any of it! This is the inducement screen, and here you'll find all sorts of extras you can get your team.

How much money do I get for inducements?

Here's where your TV (Team Value) comes into play. If your TV is lower than your opponent's, you get the difference in gold *1000. So if you have a TV of 1000 (the usual for a starting team) and the enemy's TV is 1100, you get 100k in free inducement gold.
Important note: You can also invest your own money into your inducements, but be warned! If you would've gotten any money for inducements from the difference between your opponent's TV and yours, any gold you invest in your inducements overwrites that bonus gold. This means that if you would've gotten 50k from the difference between your opponent's TV and your own, and you invest 100k into your inducements, you will pay 100k from your treasury and only get 100k for your inducements, not 150k. You also increase your TV by spending money on inducements, which may mean your enemy gets bonus gold for their inducements if that pushes your TV above your opponent's TV.


Training is actually the only free inducement, but it's not without risk. You can train one player per game, and when you do, you have to select the player, select how intense and long you want to train him (this influences how far the bar will move), and then click "Train." Watch the bar carefully and stop it before the bar hits the end. Depending on how far the bar has moved towards the end, and how heavy the training was, your player gets a % chance of getting a +1 bonus in your chosen stat. However, if you let the bar fill up completely your player will -not- play that game!
Training is very valuable if you're playing in teams that have a lot of replaceable members, or if you're good in the minigame. However, the chance of you getting that stat boost are usually quite small, and... It's arguable if it's worth the risk.


Mercenaries are a potentially useful, but very expensive, addition to your team. Mercenaries are basically normal players for your team, but they cost 30k extra to buy and start with the Loner skill, giving them a lovely 50% chance of having a reroll spent on them not work. Mercenaries only earn SPP points if they are elected the MVP, but not through any other means, and at the end of the game, you must either hire them or they're gone. However, mercenaries can be used for something. After all, if you're just using the matchmaker, you won't know what enemy you're gonna be facing. In such a case, holding 150k aside to buy key players that counter the enemy team might be very effective. You can even spend an additional 50k to give that player specific skills. However, honestly, this is all extremely expensive and you might not want to spend all that money on a player that has loner.

Star Players, on the other hand, can be an immensely valuable investment. Star players are special unique players that you can only hire through the inducements screen. They're incredibly expensive, but they usually have a very special skillset (such as Morg 'n' Thorg, a strength 6 Ogre that does not have Bone Head). Star players can turn games around, but regrettibly, they can never be permanently hired and so will always have to be purchased as mercenaries. However, they also can't die or suffer permanent injuries. A legend never dies, after all!


The Wizard 150k
The Wizard is probably the single most influential inducement in the game. The Wizard can cast one of two spells. The first is Fireball. The Wizard casts a fireball at the target location, which hits all players in a 3x3 square. A 1d6 is rolled for each of them and if the result is a 4+ they fall down on the spot and immediately make an armor roll, with potentially an injury roll to boot. This means you can take out an entire cage in one shot, and force them to drop the ball! You can also cast Lightning Bolt, which can only hit a single enemy on a 2+. Now, the Wizard will normally only cast a spell once per game, but "supposedly" he does recharge over time. I don't know what the formula is, but supposedly, the bloodier the game, the more chance the Wizard will recharge before the end.

Cheering Fans 20k ea
Though not explained well, Cheering Fans increase the chances that your Wizard will recharge before the end of the match. Therefore, only get these if you bought a Wizard. It might still work off of how bloody the match is though, so do try to keep things messy if you want your Wizard to recharge!

Rioting Fans 20k ea
These guys reduce the speed at which the enemy Wizard recharges. Only get this if you know the enemy is getting a Wizard.

Wandering Apothecaries100k ea
If you don't already have an Apothecary, and the enemy team's rating is so high you get some extra inducement money, why not hire a mercenary Apothecary? In fact, why not hire two? Or when you really want more Apothecaries, and you already have one, why not hire the two Wandering Apothecaries and raise your total to 3? For those Blood Bowl coaches who really don't want to see their players die. Teams that can't hire an Apothecary get Igors instead, which just let you reroll a failed regeneration roll.


Bribes 100k ea
You know how when you foul an enemy player, there's a chance the referee will send your player off? Using a bribe, it's possible to stop the referee from doing that. However, when you use the bribe, you roll a d6, and if it comes up a 1, the referee ignores the bribe! The bribe is then lost. Bribes can also be used to prevent secret weapons from being sent off.

Bribing a Player 40k ea
For just 40k, you can bribe up to three enemy players. This might reduce their movement allowance by 1. It can work if you put it on an enemy Blitzer or Runner, but otherwise it's not that great.

Bodyguards 10k ea
Protects your players from bribery. For just 10k each it's the cheapest inducement (apart from training) but considering how little the bribe is bought, it isn't worth spending your inducement money on these unless you have nothing else to spend it on.


Extra Team Training 100k ea
This one's really easy. Pay 100k, get an extra reroll. Very worthwhile if you have the inducement money, but if you're drawing it out of your own treasury, why not just buy a permanent reroll?

Bloodweiser Babes 50k ea
Magical beer! Though strangely less useful on a Dwarf team than elsewhere, since Dwarves are harder to knock out anyway. Every keg of beer you buy adds +1 to the roll at the end of every drive to wake up players that were knocked out. Very handy if your guys are fragile, and for only 50k it's an obvious choice if that's all the coin you have.

Bad Habits 100k
You take away one reroll from the enemy team. Simple, and quite effective too, but you can only take one of these.

Halfling Master Chef 300k
The Halfling Master Chef is a gamble, but one that might pay off very hard. At the start of each half, you roll 3d6's. Every one that comes up a 4+ causes the chef to steal 1 reroll from the enemy team and give it to yours. Incredibly strong, but the best part is that Halfling teams only have to pay 100k for this.

Potions can also be bought. 60k for a strength potion, 40k for an agility potion. Drinking a potion gives your player a chance at +1 in that stat. it can be very effective, but an enemy can counter it by buying "I got my eye on you!" which costs only 20k each. If they guess correctly which player you gave a potion, that player is forced to sit out the match. Even without that inducement, there's a small chance players using potions will be caught anyway.

Before we start, the match, let's discuss the basics of how the game works. Note that for most actions, you'll roll what is known as a 1D6, or one six-sided die. As a general rule, while there are always modifiers to this roll, a 1 is always a failure, while a 6 is always a success.

Blocking is essentially hitting another player, violently, and attempting to push them to the ground. This has several benefits, since a player that's on the ground cannot hold a ball, cannot intercept, has no tacklezones, becomes vulnerable to fouling and has to spend their next turn getting up, which halves their movement on their next turn and doesn't allow them to block as well (unless they also Blitz or have Jump Up).
Note: A player cannot Block and move in the same turn, or move and Block, unless they Blitz.

The number of dices you get to roll during a block is dependant on the difference in strength between the blocking player and the defending player.
- If their strength is equal, the blocking player gets only 1 die.
- If the blocking player has higher strength than the defending player, you gets 2 dices.
- If the blocking player has over double the defending player's strength, you get 3 dices.
- If the blocking player has less strength than the defending player, you roll 2 dices and the opponent gets to pick which die to use.
- If the blocking player has less than half the strength of the defending player, you roll 3 dices and the opponent gets to pick which die to use.
You can raise your effective strength against enemy players by surrounding them with more of your own players. Every player that is in the tacklezone of the target enemy player, but isn't also in the tacklezone of a different enemy player, will add +1 strength to the player that Blocks that target. However, every enemy player that shares a tacklezone with your player that is attempting the Block, without also being in the tacklezone of another one of your players, will remove 1 strength from the blocking player.

Blocking is also unique in that blocking uses its own dices, the block dice.
The way Block dice work can be confusing early on, but I'll explain each result.
1 & 6: Pushback - This is the most common result you'll get on your dice. This allows you to push your enemy back one square of your choosing (unless they have Stand Firm or Side-step) and allows you to follow by moving into the square they were standing in. No harm gets done here, you just move your opponent around.
2: Defender Stumbles - This is a good result, in most cases. It will knock your opponent back one square (again, of your choosing unless the enemy has certain skills) and knocks them to the floor too. This will cause an armor roll (see below). However, be careful, because this result only counts as a Pushback against enemies that have the Dodge skill.
3: Attacker Down - The uniformly worst result, this means the player you used to block gets knocked down on the spot, instead of the opposing player! This also causes an armor roll for your player and causes a turnover, so avoid this result if at all possible.
4: Both Down - Under many circumstances the second-worst result, Both Down means both the blocking player and the opposing player get knocked to the ground on the spot, forcing an armor roll for both and causing a turnover for the owner of the blocking player. Note that players with the Block skill will not be knocked down by this result, meaning that they might be able to use a "Both Down" result similarly to a "Defender Down" result, since the player with Block won't be affected by this roll. However, an enemy with Block will be immune to this result as well. If either player has Wrestle, then regardless of the Block skill, both players will get knocked down by this result without triggering an armor roll for either, and without causing a turnover for the owner of the blocking player.
5: Defender Down - The best result under most circumstances. You push your opponent back one square and knock him down, forcing an armor roll. This is the best result, as there's no skill that defends against it.

Important note: Something every coach must keep in mind is that any player sitting on the very edges of the pitch is in deep trouble. This is because that player risks getting pushed out of the pitch if they get blocked by the enemy, and a player that gets pushed out of the pitch will be immediately removed from the pitch and make a forced injury roll, no armor roll neccesary. This is why it's incredibly dangerous to have your players on the side of the pitch, not only does it mean they're liable to get removed from the pitch on the enemy's turn, they're also very likely to get an injury this way! However, you don't get any SPP for injuring enemy players by pushing them out of the pitch, mind you.



Once per round, each coach can declare a Blitz on their turn. A Blitz will make a little lightning bolt appear above the head of the target player, indicating that player is Blitzing. A player that's Blitzing can move and Block in the same turn (or Block and move). Blitzing can be incredibly important as it allows you to create openings and potentially attack the enemy in places where they hadn't thought you would.



Under certain circumstances, a player gets into a situation where he/she is likely to get injured (for instance, when that player gets knocked down during a block). When this happens, whatever caused the armor roll rolls 2d6's, and might add modifiers (such as Mighty Blow). If the resulting value is lower or equal to the armor value of the target player, nothing happens. If the value exceeds the victim's armor, you move on to the Injury roll.

The injury roll might also have modifiers, such as from Mighty Blow. The Injury roll is also a 2d6.
On a 2-7, the player is only stunned. This means that instead of four stars above their heads, they'll have eight, and they'll be lying on the pitch facedown. A stunned player can't act on their next turn, not even to stand up! On the turn after that, they can stand up.
On an 8-9, the player gets KO'd. This is indicated by eight red stars floating above their heads, as well as a tolling gold bell. A KO'd player gets removed from the pitch immediately. They'll be placed in your dugout (which should be on your left side of the pitch), and at the start of each new drive thereafter they get to roll a 1d6. On a 1-3 result they remain knocked out and cannot be placed on the pitch that drive. On a 4-6 result they wake back up and you can use them again normally.
On a 10+, your player gets an injury. This is extremely bad, because now you start taking permanent casualties. An injured player will -always- miss the rest of the game. On the upside, if your player injured an enemy player, your player gets SPP for it. If your player takes an injury, another 1d6 gets rolled.

On a 1-3 on the 1d6 injury roll, the player gets only badly hurt. This means the player has to miss the rest of the game, but without any other effects.
On a 4-5 on the 1d6 injury roll, the player takes a serious injury. This means the player has to miss the remainder of the current game, the entirety of the next game your team plays, and may mean your player also gets a permanent negative effect, such as -1 strength or a +1 to all future injury rolls. In some cases, you may want to just fire this player if the negative effect is especially nasty.
On a 6 on the 1d6 injury roll, the player is dead! He gets removed from your team entirely, not just this match, but forever! Obviously this is the worst thing that can happen.

If you have an Apothecary, you can try to cure one injury per match, but it may or may not work, depending on how good your dices are.

Every player that is not lying on the ground has a tacklezone covering every square he/she is standing next too. A player can only Block players in his/her tacklezone. In addition, enemies that want to move through the tacklezone of one of your players must succeed on a Dodge roll first, which is a 1d6 rolled against their agility. The higher your player's agility, the easier it is for them to dodge, but if they're moving through multiple tacklezones then the roll gets a penalty. There are many skills that improve on your player's ability to dodge.


Obviously, even though we all love the violence in Blood Bowl, it's the ball that determines who wins and loses! Therefore, it's important not to ignore the ball entirely, even if you're playing a bashy team. Agility is the stat that governs how well your guys handle the ball, which obviously means that Elf teams are among the better ball-handlers out there. It's also important to note that most actions involving the ball require a roll, and failing those rolls usually causes a turnover.

Picking up the ball
It doesn't seem that hard, but even elves will sometimes struggle with it! Picking up the ball works on a 3+ for agility 3 players, so you'll usually succeed at it. However, every enemy player who's tacklezone covers the ball will add +1 to the difficulty of picking up the ball. If you fail at picking up the ball, the ball will bounce into a random adjacent square. Surrounding the ball before you pick it up is a great idea, since this means that even if you fail, there will be players with tacklezones covering the ball (meaning the enemy will struggle to pick it up on their turn) and there's a chance the ball might bounce into a square already occupied by one of your players, with gives that player a chance to pick catch the ball (However if you failed the 1st roll to pick up the ball, and it bounces onto another one of your players who then catches it, it will still cause a turnover).

Holding the ball
The guy holding the ball is called the ball carrier. Simple! As long as your ball carrier doesn't get knocked down, he won't drop the ball. However, if he gets blocked by a player with Strip Ball and he gets pushed, this rule gets broken and he will drop the ball on the square he once occupied.

Hand-off

A hand-off is similar to a pass, but only the catching player has to roll for catching the ball, and it's a relatively easy roll. You can only do one hand-off per turn (which doesn't count as a pass). If you want to do a hand-off, your player must be in a square adjacent to the player you want to hand-off the ball too.


Passing is the most complex of the ball-handling actions. It requires several rolls to be made so it's quite risky too, but if done well can allow you to score in a way that's otherwise inconcievable.

First, the player that wants to throw the ball must make a throwing roll. This is based on how high that player's agility is (lower agility players have a harder time passing) and on how far the ball has to be thrown. The difficulty of the throw is indicated by the rings that surround your player when you try to pass.
The shorter the distance of the pass, the easier it is for the thrower to make the roll. If the thrower fails the roll, the ball can scatter (in which case, the ball does go flying but doesn't land on the target player) or be fumbled (the ball lands next to the thrower). Failing the throwing roll causes a turnover unless the ball gets caught by your team!
Important note: It is harder for a player to make a throw/catch when he's in an enemy player's tacklezone.

Let's say you succeed on the throw roll, and the ball goes flying to your teammate. Now, if the enemy coach has players between the thrower and the catcher, then one of those players can attempt an intercept. This is a hard catch roll that allows that player to pluck the ball from the air, making him the ball carrier! This also causes a turnover for the throwing team, so it's best to avoid throwing the ball over enemy players, if possible. High agility players are better at intercepting than low agility players.

Lastly, if nobody intercepted the ball, the catcher must succeed on a roll to catch the ball. Again, this is determined by that player's agility and with negative modifiers if he's in any enemy player's tacklezones. If he succeeds on the catch (or another friendly player does) then that player becomes the ball carrier. If the catch fails and the ball lands on the ground, it causes a turnover.

Passes are an incredible way to score, sometimes the only way, but also very risky due to the number of rolls involved. It's important to note that while many teams have some thrower/catcher combo, few teams are as good at passing as the Elf teams, while few teams are as bad at it as Stunty teams (Lizardmen, Halflings, Goblins).



Some teams, in perticular those that have an overabundance of cheap disposable players, might make a game out of fouling your players. Fouling is risky, but potentially very rewarding for the coach that orders it.
If you want to foul an enemy player, you have to knock him down first. It doesn't matter if he's face up or stunned, as long as he's on the floor. Then have a player stand next to him, have that player selected and right click the player on the ground. This makes that player stomp on his victim, instantly forcing an armor roll and thus potentially an injury roll! Fouls can cause injuries relatively easy as a result.
Worse, for every extra player standing around the prone target who is not also in an opposing tackle zone, the player fouling the victim gets +1 to his armor roll! This means that if you have a total of 6 players standing around a prone opponent, and one of them stomps on him, the armor roll will be 2d6+5! That's huge!
However, fouling is not without risk. If the player fouling rolls a double on either the armor roll, or the injury roll, then the referee ejects that player from the game. This can be countered with a bribe.



After playing a game or two, you'll notice that your players will start getting SPP. This stands for Star Player Points, and they basically function as exp for your character. SPP is awarded based on certain actions:

• 1 SPP for completing a pass
  
• 2 SPP for making an interception
  
• 2 SPP for causing a casualty among the enemy team
  
• 3 SPP for making a touchdown
  
• 5 SPP for being the MVP (randomly selected more or less)

Players can level up a maximum of six times, and each time they level up they can pick a new skill. Depending on the player type, you can only pick a skill from certain categories. The categories are General, Strength, Agility, Passing and Mutations. There is no one category better than the rest, but the available categories for your players do determine what direction you can develop them in.
In addition, players can also unlock skills that are rare for their type by rolling doubles with the 2d6 they roll when they level up. For instance, a Skaven Gutter Runner automatically gets access to Agility skills when he levels, but only gets access to Mutations if he rolls a double when he levels up.
To top it off, players might also get stat increases. If you roll a 10 on your 2d6, you can add +1 to the players armor value or movement allowance instead of picking a new skill. If you roll an 11, you can increase that player's agility by +1. If you roll a 12, you can increase that player's strength by +1. These bonuses are extremely powerful and quite rare, but even if you're crazy lucky, you cannot increase one stat by more than +2.

The match can finally begin! The game is divided into various stages.


First off, a coin gets flipped. One team gets to decide whether they want heads or tails, and whichever team's side comes up gets to decide who gets to be the receiver and who gets to be the kicker. Under most circumstances, you want to be the receiver first, because then you get the first turn and you get control of the ball! Note, however, that if you are the kicker instead, you have the advantage of being able to play aggressively in the 2nd half of the match. Some people prefer be the kicker on turn 1 for that very reason.

Next, both sides get to set up their teams. An important piece of advice: if you're gonna be kicking the ball, try to place as few high value players on the line of scrimmage (the middle line) as possible. Your opponent gets the first turn, so it's likely he'll use his to surround your players and block them. You can't stop him from blocking your guys, but by putting some low value players on the line of scrimmage, you can avoid your high value players from getting their heads bashed in on turn 1. Alternatively, you can try putting your strongest guys on the line of scrimmage and hope they're tough enough that they'll take anything the enemy can throw at them. What the best strategy here is varies depending on what team you're facing, and what team you're playing.

If you're kicking the ball, remember that it can scatter incredibly far from the target location. If you want to be safe, aim for the dead center of the enemy pitch. This reduces the chances of the ball going out of bounds as much as possible (if the ball goes out of bounds, the enemy can immediately give it to a player, which is bad because every turn the enemy wastes failing to pick up the ball is one turn he won't be able to use trying to get it to your endzone).


Once its your turn, here is a general rule you should always follow. Always do all the things that don't require rolls before doing anything that requires a roll. Things that don't require a roll never cause turnovers, while most things that require a roll will cause one if they fail.

If you're the receiver, the first thing you want to do is get your players to the ball and set up a cage. A cage is a four-man formation in which all the players surround the ball (or preferably, the ball carrier!) and by doing so prevent the enemy team from reaching the ball/ball carrier without first having to take care of the players on the outside of the cage, or making several dodge rolls. Depending on what team you're playing, the cage might be very sturdy or not, so keep that in mind. A Dwarven cage is much sturdier than an Elf cage!

The best players to form the walls of the cage are those with skills that help them stand their ground in a block. Higher strength players are definitely prefered, but players with Block, Dodge, Side-step, Fend and Stand Firm are the best choices. If the enemy fails to pierce the cage, it'll likely cause a turnover and give you a chance to either reform the cage or create an opening and push through.

If you're the kicker, be prepared to take the first turn like a kick in the face, because that's probably what it's gonna be like. Since your opponent gets the ball, and gets to block first, expect that your guys on the line of scrimmage to be getting bashed. Prepare for this eventuality and make use of it. Make it risky for the player to pull that move on you, but don't give him free blocks.


There's a couple of different strategies you can apply. There's never one best strategy, and remember that without touchdowns, you're not gonna win, no matter what kind of team you're playing.

The Cage
The cage is a defensive-aggressive strategy by which you surround your ball carrier and then use your other players to push the enemy players back, creating space that your ball carrier can then move into again. Rinse and repeat, you just keep pushing until you're close enough to the enemy endzone to score. Always keep your ball carrier surrounded, he's the key to this strategy. However, note that perticularly implaceable teams, like the Dwarves or Orcs, are really hard to push back.
For reference, the cage is a square formation with one player to the top-right, top-left, bottom-right and bottom-left square of your player. This is an ideal defense formation since it prevents anyone from getting to your ball carrier without doing at least 2 tricky dodge rolls.

The Wall
A counter to the cage, it involves making a wall of players that completely block access to your pitch for the opposing team. The key here is to have multiple overlapping tackle zones, making it impossible for an enemy player to squeeze through without having to succeed on an absurd number of hard dodge rolls.

The Runner
First, bust open the enemy line with blitzes and blocks, then squeeze your ball carrier through and have him make a break for the enemy endzone. Works especially well with teams that have players that are very fast and agile, like the Skaven or Lizardmen, and works especially well against very slow teams that can't keep up with a fast player.

The Pass
Defend your ball carrier while you squeeze a player that's good at catching, and preferably dodging too, through the enemy lines. Try to create/find an opening in which the enemy can't intercept your ball, then use that opening to pass the ball to the player on the other side! Risky due to the number of rolls involved, and risky because the enemy will usually surround your catcher completely and beat him to death before he gets a chance to catch the ball, but if he can't do that/doesn't manage to do that it can mean the ball starts in your side of the pitch, but ends the turn in the opponent's endzone!

Attrition
Favoured by slow bashy teams, the strategy of attrition focusses on just beating the crap out of the enemy team and causing as many injuries as possible. Favored highly by Chaos/Nurgle/Chaos Dwarf teams, among others, for their proficiency at the bashing game. If you outnumber the enemy team by 11 to 7 it becomes extremely hard for that opponent win the game, since your guys are already stronger than his, and now you outnumber them too!

Are there other strategies?
There very much are! In fact, some teams have strategies that are entirely unique to those teams, either due to their unique spread of stats or skills or because they have access to skills that no other team has. Experiment! If you learn how your team works and what it's strong against, you'll soon also realise what other potential strategies that team might have.

Consider this chapter of the guide to primarily be for ease of reference, rather than to be read through entirely. Use this chapter to figure out what your players can do, and what to pick when they level up, but otherwise feel free to skip it.

General skills are pretty common in Blood Bowl, and they have uses for just about any type of player.


Block
Block is easily one of the most common skills in the game, and also one of the most desireable skills. What it does is very simple. If this character blocks/gets blocked, and the result chosen is "Both Down," the character with Block doesn't get knocked down. It's crazy good, since it makes your characters much harder to knock down and injure, and it'll prevent turnovers that would otherwise be unavoidable. A lot of people will put Block on just about anything, which isn't a bad idea at all. Just be careful around players with Wrestle. A player with Block cannot also get Wrestle.

Dauntless
Not a very common skill, but it has great potential. If the player with Dauntless tries to block a character with higher strength, the blocking character rolls a d6 and adds the result to his strength. If the result is greater than the enemy player's strength, then for this block, the player with Dauntless is counted as having the same strength as the player he blocks. This makes this skill perfect on anyone you intent to use to hit big guys with. However, it's useless (for the most part) on big guys, since it only works against enemies with more strength, and because you have to roll that d6 there's a chance it won't work and you'll be stuck doing a block that you'll have poor chances of winning. Note that Dauntless does not trigger if the player with Dauntless gets blocked.

Dirty Player
If you want to dedicate one of your players to the fine art of fouling, this is the skill you give him. It adds +1 to either your armor roll or injury roll when fouling. This means that if your armor roll comes up too low, you'll add +1 to it. If it doesn't come up to low, you add +1 to the injury roll instead. Potentially this skill is extremely deadly, just be aware that the act of fouling is dangerous to your players.

Fend
Fend is very handy for players that don't want to get tied up in a fight. If you get blocked, your opponent won't be able to follow your player if that player gets pushed back. This can really mess up an enemy's plan as his players can end up stuck after each block, slowing progress. Fend also stops enemy players from using Frenzy or Piling On. Pick it on players that you intend to use as road blocks, but in most cases avoid mixing it with Stand Firm.

Frenzy
Incredible potential offensive power is Frenzy's game. If a player with Frenzy blocks, he must follow up his victim and if the victim isn't already down, must throw another block (which he must follow up on again). This means your players throw two blocks for the price of one! Potentially devastating but the issue is that it may result in your players ending up in bad situations, such as only getting "Pushed Back" results on the first block, and being forced to make the second block surrounded by enemy players.

Kick
Most teams will probably have one player with the Kick skill. It halves the distance the ball scatters when this player kicks the ball. It gives you far more control over where the ball will land, which is great if you have players that can immediately make use of the ball's landing spot. Players with the Kick skill get higher priority than other players to kick the ball, but they must be in the center yard of the pitch (not the outer edges) and may not be on the Line of Scrimmage.

Kick-off Return
After the ball has been kicked off and scattered, but before the Kick-off event occurs, the player with this skill can move up to 3 squares. Can be handy, if you managed to guess where the enemy will kick the ball, since it might give you a free chance at picking up the ball. However, it doesn't let you move into the opposition's pitch, and you can't use it if the ball scatters out of the pitch.

Pass Block
If you have good catchers, and you're playing against a pass heavy team, this skill can be golden. If the opponent declares a pass, the player with this skill can up to 3 squares as long as this puts him in a square where the player can attempt to intercept the ball. All normal rules to movement (such as dodging through tackle zones) apply. Remember, even if you have a player in place to intercept, it may still be worth trying use this skill to move that player out of any tackle zones the player might be in, since those make it harder to make the intercept roll.

Pro
Very commonly put on unreliable players, such as Vampires or big guys. It gives that player a free reroll that he can use once per turn. However, if you want to use that reroll, you must roll a d6. If it comes up a 4+, the reroll is used normally. On a 3 or lower, you don't get a reroll from Pro. However, you can reroll the Pro roll with a team reroll.

Shadowing
Great if you really don't want someone to get away from your player. If an enemy player tries to move out of the tackle zone of a player with Shadowing, both players roll a d6 and add their players movement allowance. If the running player wins, nothing happens. If the player with Shadowing wins, the player with Shadowing automatically moves into the square vacated by the running player, thus putting the running player into his tacklezone again. This shadowing move does not require dodgerolls if the player with Shadowing tries to move out of an enemy's tacklezone and doesn't consume any of that player's movement on their next turn. Shadowing can be used an unlimited number of times per turn, but if a player tries to escape out of the tacklezones of multiple enemy players with Shadowing, only one of those players can follow.
Note, since Shadowing requires a check based on movement allowance, Shadowing is only good on players with good movement allowance. Slow players, like Chaos Warriors, don't benefit much from Shadowing.

Strip Ball
A player with this skill is a master at stealing the ball from enemy runners. If a player with this skill blocks an enemy with the ball, that enemy will drop the ball on their square if they get "Pushed Back" or "Defender Stumbles" as a result on the block, even if they don't get knocked down! Very dangerous on agile ball handlers, like Wardancers or Gutter Runners, since they can usually push an enemy, grab the ball and then dodge out.

Sure Hands
If a player with this skill tries to pick up the ball, they automatically reroll if they fail. It also makes the player with this skill immune to Strip Ball. Great on teams with average agility that focus on ball running, rather than passing.

Tackle
The big counter to Dodge. If a player with Dodge tries to dodge out of the tacklezone of a player with Tackle, they can't use their Dodge skill. If a player with Dodge gets blocked by a player with Tackle, they can't use Dodge to avoid being knocked down on a "Defender Stumbles" result either. This skill is devastating against Dodge heavy teams, such as the Amazons, Lizardmen and Halflings.

Wrestle
A counter to Block heavy teams, Wrestle causes both players to be knocked down on a "Both Down" result during a block, ignoring if any player has the Block skill. This does not cause armor rolls and doesn't cause turnovers, unless the player with Wrestle was blocking and was holding the ball.

As the name implies, passing skills are all about playing the passing game or interfering with an enemy's ability to pass properly.

Accurate
The player may add +1 to the d6 roll when he passes. Good on throwers, gives you slightly more chance of making a pass. Unless you have team rerolls to spare (you usually don't) it might not be as good as the Pass skill, but combines very well with it.

Dump-Off
If a character with this skill is holding the ball, and an enemy player throws a block at him, the player with Dump-Off can immediately attempt a quick pass (a pass at a friendly player up to 3 squares near him). The pass gets resolved as normal before the block is resolved, but does not cause a turnover if it fails (since it's the enemy's turn when it triggers). After the pass is done, the enemy coach's turn continues as normal. Dump-Off does not work on the second block caused by Frenzy, or in conjunction with Throw Teammate or Bombardier.

Hail Mary Pass
Do you like long range passes? What about extremely long range passes? That's what Hail Mary Pass is for! Hail Mary Pass has no limit on its range. When you try to make this pass, you roll a d6. On a 1, the thrower fumbles the ball. On a 2+, the pass occurs normally. However, a Hail Mary Pass is never accurate, and automatically scatters 3 squares. Always use in conjunction with Diving Catch, and preferably at a group of friendly players, not just one. That'll give you the best chance of catching the ball.

Leader
How about an extra reroll? As long as you have a player on the pitch with the Leader skill, you get an extra team reroll. This reroll also refreshes at half-time. Very handy.

Nerves of Steel
A player with this skill ignores all modifiers caused by tacklezones when he tries to catch, throw or intercept. No amount of surrounding this player will stop him from doing his job with the ball!

Pass
If you try to pass the ball, and you throw an inaccurate pass or fumble the ball, you can reroll the dice. Simple and highly effective on throwers.

Safe Throw
Decent on most teams, great on elven teams, Safe Throw makes it even harder than normal for the enemy to intercept your ball. If a player with this skill passes the ball, and the ball gets intercepted, the player that threw the ball makes an unmodified agility roll. If it succeeds, the interception gets cancelled out entirely!

A mixture of mobility, ball-handling and combat skills.

Catch
If a player with this skill fails a catch roll, he can reroll the dice. It also allows the player to reroll the dice if he fails to catch a hand-off or fails an interception. Players with catch are thus great offensively, since you can throw the ball at them for an easy touchdown, or defensively as you can put them in the way of enemy catches so they can intercept.

Diving Catch
If the ball lands in a square adjacent to this player, this player can attempt to pick up the ball as though it landed in their own square, without that player having to leave their own square. Great on catchers, and borderline neccesary if you want to use Hail Mary Pass, but if the ball lands in a square adjacent to two players with this skill, neither of the two can use it to pick up the ball!

Diving Tackle
If you really hate enemies dodging away from your players, Diving Tackle is a great option to go with. If a player dodges out of the tacklezone of one of your players, you can tell him to use Diving Tackle. This substracts 2 from that player's dodge roll and puts the player with Diving Tackle in the square the dodging player vacated prone. If the dodging player had the Dodge skill, the player with Diving Tackle can use this skill on either the first roll or the second, but not both. If a player dodges out of a square while in the tacklezones of multiple players with Diving Tackle, only one can use this skill.

Dodge
Almost as good as Block in many cases. Dodge allows a player to automatically reroll the dice if they fail a dodge roll, but only once per turn. It also turns any "Defender Stumbles" results against the player with Dodge into "Pushed Back" results, making players with Dodge very hard to put down.

Jump Up
Good on players that might get knocked down, but don't want to stay down! A player with Jump Up doesn't lose half their movement allowance from standing up if they were prone. A player with Jump Up can also declare a block to an adjacent opponent as though the player with Jump Up was still standing. If so, the player must make an agility roll with a +2 modifier to see if they can stand up and block at the same time. If the roll succeeds, the player can block as though they were never prone. If the roll fails, the player remains prone.

Leap
if your team is very agile, but not very bashy, Leap is a great way to get through an enemy's defenses. The player with leap can jump to any square within 2 squares without having to make a dodge roll to leave the square they started in. The player must then make an agility roll to land, with no modifiers unless the player has Very Long Legs. If it succeeds, the player can continue moving as normal. if it fails, the leaping player is knocked down and suffers an armor roll, and the leaping player's team suffers a turnover. Leap can only be used once per turn.

Side Step
A great defensive ability, especially around the edges of the pitch. If a player with Side Step gets blocked and suffers a "Defender Stumbles," "Pushed Back" or "Defender Down" result, that player's coach gets to pick any square adjacent to that player as the player's end location. This does not require dodge rolls on part of the player with Side Step if the player steps out of a tacklezone. This cancels out the ability of the blocking player's coach to select what square a blocked player gets pushed into.

Sneaky Git
If you like fouling, but hate seeing your players getting sent off, get Sneaky Git. Unless your player succeeds in penetrating their victim's armor when fouling, this player does not get sent off by the ref on a double!

Sprint
This player can take 3 Going For It! actions, rather than only 2. This increases their effective threatrange while moving by 1, but they still have to roll to see if they get knocked down for every Going For It! that they make. Risky and usually not very good as a result.

Sure Feet
If a player with Sure Feet fails a Going For It! roll, they get to reroll the dice once per turn. Makes Going For It! much safer to use, but even so, a double 1 will ruin your day. Some teams might be able to make better use of this than others.

A lot of bashing skills come from this category, both offensive and defensive ones.

Break Tackle
Potentially amazing on big guys, Break Tackle lets a player make one dodge roll per turn using his strength rather than his agility. For a Minotaur or an Ogre, that's a dodge roll resolves against a 5. Gives your high strength low agility players a tool to break out of places they don't want to be in. Can be really good, but situational, and it breaks down if you have to make more than one dodge roll.

Grab
If you want your blockers to break open enemy formations, try using Grab. Grab allows the player with that skill to choose any square adjacent to the player he's blocking and push that player into that square. If the target player has Side Step, Grab and Side Step cancel each other out.

Guard
Great for those massive brawls where every player gets stuck in. Guard causes a player to always assist in defensive or offensive blocks, even if he's in the tacklezone of multiple enemy players. This makes it really easy for you to set up unbeatable formations where every player is covered by a guy with Guard. However, Guard does not apply to fouls.

Juggernaut
A great skill for Blitzers, a player with Juggernaut prevents enemy players from using their Stand Firm, Fend or Wrestle skills when they get Blitzed. If the player with Juggernaut gets a "Both Down" result on a Blitz, he treats that as a "Pushed Back" result instead.

Mighty Blow
If you really want to go around injuring enemy players, Mighty Blow is a great choice. It adds +1 to either an armor roll or an injury roll made by this player during a block. This is great since it really increases your chances of penetrating armor and injuring enemies! However, it doesn't work on fouls, and it doesn't work in conjunction with the Chainsaw or Stab skills.

Multiple Block
A high-risk high-reward skill, Multiple Block allows a player to throw a block against two players at once. However, each of those player's effective strength is raised by 2, meaning it's best used in conjunction with lots of assistence from friendly players or on a big guy. Each block is resolved as normal, but the player that throws the Multiple Block cannot follow up on either block. Multiple Block cannot be used together with Frenzy, though a player can have both skills. He must select which one to use when he throws a block.

Piling On
Mighty Blow not good enough for you? You can also use Piling On. After your player throws a block, and the player that threw the block ends his move on a square adjacent to his now prone victim, his coach can put his player prone (without an armor roll) and in return reroll either the armor roll or the injury roll for the player that got knocked down. Potentially devastating, but remember you are putting one of your own players prone as a result. This can create dangerous gaps in your formation.

Stand Firm
If a player with Stand Firm gets blocked, that player can choose not to move from the square he/she is in. Very simple and very effective on players acting as road blocks. If a player gets pushed into a player with Stand Firm, neither player moves.

Strong Arm
Not a very commonly seen skill, since Accurate is better, but Strong Arm is still good on players that might not get many Passing skills. If this player passes at Short, Long or Long Bomb ranges (see chart in chapter 3.1) add +1 to the roll.

Thick Skull
If you really hate your guys getting KO'd, Thick Skull might be an option. If you roll an 8 on the injury table, your guy only gets stunned instead of KO'd. Might not occur very often, but when it does, you'll thank this skill.

A number of skills only available to a handful of teams. While situational, many mutations are really good! They also modify your player's looks in crazy ways.

Big Hand
A player with this skill ignores all modifiers for picking up the ball in enemy tackle zones or from Pouring Rain. While this means a player with this skill will have a relatively easy time picking up a ball, even when it's surrounded by enemies, that player must still dodge out of the square they had to step into to pick up the ball, which is why this skill isn't chosen much.

Claws
Extremely popular among Chaos, Nurgle and Chaos Dwarf teams, the Claws mutation causes a player to always break armor at a roll of 8 or higher, which means that effectively a player treats all armor values higher than 7 as 7. This is really strong against teams that rely heavily on their armor values to keep themselves standing, like Dwarf or Orc teams. However, Claws are useless against teams that only have armor 7 or worse anyway. Note that as long as target players have an armor of 8 or higher, Claws actually stacks with Mighty Blow, making for the infamous killer combo.

Disturbing Presence
Very common in Nurgle teams, Disturbing Presence substracts 1 from each attempt to Pass, Catch or Intercept made within 3 squares of a hostile player with this skill, even if that player is prone or stunned! It's a soft counter to passing teams, but multiple Disturbing Presences do stack!

Extra Arms
Add +1 to all attempts by this player to pick up, intercept or catch the ball. A good skill on any ball handler, or on catchers.

Foul Appearence
Again very common in Nurgle teams, if a player with Foul Appearence gets blocked, the blocking player must roll a d6. On a 2+, the block resolves as normal. On a 1, the blocking player fails to block and that player's move ends. A great roadblocking skill, if not very reliable.

Horns
Very common in Chaos teams, the Horns skill raises the strength of a player that's Blitzing by 1. Extra strength is always very strong, even if it's situational.

Prehensile Tail
Another anti-dodge skill, Prehensile Tail forces all hostile players trying to dodge out of this player's tacklezones to substract 1 from their dodge rolls. Great if you want to stop enemies from dodging past your guys.

Tentacles
Some players are exceptionally good at dodging, namely Goblins, Skinks and Halflings, since they all have both Dodge and Stunty. However, all of these players have very low strength. Meet their absolute bane, the Tentacles skill! If a player wants to dodge out of the tacklezone of a player that has Tentacles, that player and the player with tentacles first roll a d6 and add their strength. The player with Tentacles gets +1 to this roll. If the player with Tentacles gets a higher result than the moving player, the moving player is stopped in the square he/she tried to dodge out off. This does not cause a turnover for the moving player's coach and the moving player does not get knocked down or suffer an armor roll. However, if the Tentacle roll fails to hold the moving player, then the moving player must still succeed on a dodge roll as normal. Especially against dodge reliant players with low strength, this skill is crazy and can easily stop several enemy players dead in their tracks and leave them vulnerable to a block once the other coach's turn comes around. However, the Tentacles mutation comes with two disadvantages. If an enemy player fails the roll against the Tentacles, it doesn't cause a turnover for that player's coach, unlike when that player fails a dodge roll. To top that off, the Tentacles mutation works best on players with high strength.

Two Heads
Add +1 to any dodge rolls made by this player. Simple and effective, makes it much easier for this player to make his dodge rolls.

Very Long Legs
A specialised mutation that allows the player with this mutation to add 1 to the d6 when he/she attempts a Leap or attempts to Intercept. In addition, if a player with this skill attempts to intercept, the throwing player cannot use Safe Throw.

These are skills players cannot ever get by leveling up. Some of them are good, but some of them are actually quite negative!

Always Hungry
(see also Throw Teammate) If a player with this skill attempts to use Throw Teammate, he rolls a d6 first. If it comes up a 2+, the throw continues as normal. On a 1, this player will try to eat the teammate he's trying to throw! Another d6 gets rolled, and on another 1 the teammate gets eaten, which means he dies without even getting a reroll from an Apothecary. In this case, the ball will scatter 1 square from the "eating" player. On a 2+ the player gets fumbled instead. This causes a turnover!

Animosity
Only seen in Underworld teams. If a player with this skill attempts to hand-off or pass the ball to a player of a different race than him, roll a d6. On a 2+, the attempt continues as normal. On a 1, the player with the ball changes his mind and refuses to pass the ball to anyone but a player of his own race. This player can still do a hand-off or pass to another friendly player (as long as that player belongs to the same race) but can no longer move.

Ball & Chain
Exclusive to a Goblin secret weapon, a player with this skill can only Move. On every move, a d6 gets rolled to see what square he ends up in (he'll more or less try to move in the direction you're moving him towards). If the player moves out of a tackle zone, he doesn't have to dodge. If the player ends up moving out of the pitch, he gets swarmed by the crowd as though he got pushed out of the pitch. If the player with this skill moves into the square of another player, friend or foe, he throws a block at that player. This ignores Foul Appearence. If this player moves into the square of a prone player, an armor roll gets made for that player and that player gets pushed back away from the Ball & Chain player. A player with this skill must always follow up on his blocks. A player with this skill can use Grab in conjunction with his blocks, if he has Grab. A player with this skill can never learn Diving Tackle, Frenzy, Kick-off Return, Leap, Pass Block or Shadowing. If a player with this skill gets knocked down, immediately roll for injury without making an armor roll. If the result of the injury roll is "stunned," it is treated as a KO instead.

Blood Lust
Exclusive to Vampires. If an action gets declares with this player, roll a d6. On a 2+, nothing happens and the Vampire acts as normal. On a 1, the Vampire must feed! He must run to the nearest Thrall and attack it, causing an instant injury roll for that Thrall without making an armor roll. This does not cause a turnover unless that Thrall was holding the ball. If the Vampire does not have a Thrall in range, the Vampire leaves the pitch and gets put into your reserves instead, you suffer a turnover, and if he was holding the ball he drops it and it scatters one square. A Vampire will not score a touchdown if he fails to feed, even if he ends up in the enemy endzone with the ball before he gets sent off.

Bombardier
Exclusive to the Goblin bomb thrower. A player with this skill can choose to throw a bomb instead of any other action, as long as he wasn't stunned or prone. He makes a normal throw roll for the bomb (including being affected be the weather). If the bomb is fumbled or it hits something and knocks down a friendly player, it causes a turnover. If the bomb gets intercepted, it does not cause a turnover. If the bomb gets caught or intercepted, the player must immediately throw the bomb. If the bomb lands somewhere without being caught or is fumbled, any player in the square where it lands gets knocked down. Players in adjacent squares get a d6 rolled for them, and get knocked down on a 4+. Armor rolls are made for all players that get knocked down. Players that are prone or stunned that are in squares hit by a bomb can be hit as though they were standing. Casualties caused by a bomb do not grant SPP.

Bone-Head
Arguably the best of the negative big guy skills, Bone-Head is very simple. When a player with this skill declares an action, roll a d6. On a 2+, he does what he is ordered as normal. On a 1, the player forgets what he was doing. He gets three questionmarks above his head, loses all tacklezones, cannot pass, catch or intercept, will not assist in blocks and can't move voluntarily. These effects are removed once he succeeds on a Bone-Head roll.

Chainsaw
Unique to a Goblin secret weapon. A player with this skill must attack using the Chainsaw rather than blocking normally. When blocking, the player rolls a d6 instead of block dices. On a roll of a 2+, the opposing player gets hit. On a roll of a 1, the player with Chainsaw gets hit instead! Make an armor roll for the player that got hit, and add 3 to the result. If armor gets penetrated, the player that got hit gets knocked down and rolls for injury. If it fails to break armor, nothing happens. If a player with this skill fouls, he adds +3 to the armor roll, but must still roll a d6 to see if he hits himself or not (as above). However, if the player with Chainsaw gets blocked and knocked down, add +3 to the armor roll made against him. If the player that blocked the Chainsaw player gets knocked down himself, add +3 to the armor roll made against him. A Chainsaw attack cannot be used more than once per turn (meaning it can't be used with Frenzy or Multiple Block) and if used as part of a Blitz, the player with Chainsaw cannot move after attacking.

Decay
Unique to Nurgle Rotters, the Decay skill means that a player with this skill that suffers a casualty must roll twice on the casualty table and apply both results. If both results cause the player to miss their next game, they will only miss 1 game.

Fan Favourite
Only found on star players, this skill adds +1 to your FAME rating for Kick-off events, but not for your winnings.

Hypnotic Gaze
Unique to Vampires. At the end of movement for this player, an agility roll is made by the player with Hypnotic Gaze for one adjacent victim, with a -1 modifier for each enemy player with Hypnotic Gaze that has a tacklezone on the user, other than the victim. If the agility roll succeeds, the victim loses their tacklezones, cannot catch, intercept or pass and cannot voluntarily move until their next turn or until the drive ends.

Loners
Loners are not very reliable. All mercenaries start off with Loner unless you buy them (not hire, buy). If you try to use a team reroll on a roll made by a player with the Loner skill, roll a d6 first. On a 4+, use the reroll as normal. On a 3 or lower, the reroll fails and is wasted.

No hands
A player with this skill cannot pick up, catch or intercept the ball. If he tries to pick up the ball he automatically fails and causes a turnover for his team (if it is his team's turn).

Nurgle's Rot
Unique to the Nurgle team. If a player with this skill kills an enemy player and the enemy apothecary does not save him, and the dead player does not have the Decay, Regeneration or Stunty skills, or have more than 4 strength, your team gets a free Rotter at the end of the game! These have no SPP and count as full value new players.

Really Stupid
This skill works identical to Bone-Head (see Bone-Head above), with one small difference. The player must succeed on a d6 and get a 3+ on their roll to perform the action they were ordered to do, with the same effects as Bone-Head if they fail. However, if a friendly player is adjacent to the player with Really Stupid when his action is declared, the Really Stupid player gets a +2 modifier to the roll (meaning he only needs a 2+ to succeed).

Regeneration
Keeping your guys in the field almost indefinitely! If a player with this skill suffers a casualty, then after an apothecary roll is made (if possible) the player rolls a d6. On a 4+, the player heals the injury entirely and gets placed in your reserves. Regeneration rolls cannot be rerolled (unless you have an Igor). The player that caused the injury will still earn SPP, even if the injury gets healed.

Right Stuff
A player with Right Stuff can be thrown using Throw Team-mate (see Throw Team-mate). If a player with this skill is thrown and lands in an unoccupied square, he must succeed on an agility roll with a -1 modifier for every enemy tacklezone that overlaps his landing spot. If he succeeds, he lands safely. If he fails, he gets knocked down and suffers an armor roll. If the square he is thrown into is occupied, the player he lands on gets knocked down and he must make an armor roll, and the thrown player scatters. If he lands on another player, that player gets knocked down too. This continues until the thrown player lands on an empty square. As long as the thrown player was not injured upon landing, he can act normally that turn if he hadn't already done an action. A player that gets thrown outside of the pitch is treated as though he was pushed out of the pitch. A failed landing roll, or landing in the crowd, does not cause a turnover unless the thrown player was holding the ball.

Secret Weapon
Illegal weaponry! If a drive ends and a player with this rule has participated in the match up to that point, that player gets sent off by the ref automatically, even if he's no longer on the pitch by the end of the drive!

Stab
Primarily seen on Dark Elf Assasins. A player with Stab may choose to Stab instead of throwing a block. If so, the player makes an unmodified armor roll for the victim. If it succeeds, the victim suffers an unmodified injury roll. If used as part of a Blitz, the player that used Stab cannot move after stabbing. Because this skill circumvents skills like Block and Dodge, it's extremely lethal against teams with low armor.

Stakes
Only seen on a specific star player. If this player makes a Stab roll against a player from a Khemri, Necromantic, Undead or Vampire team, add +1 to the armor roll.

Stunty
The big rule behind Goblins, Halflings and Snotlings! Stunty players ignore all modifiers to their Dodge rolls from tacklezones. Regardless of whether they dodge through one tacklezone or four, the difficulty of the roll remains the same. However, if a player with this skill attempts to pass, apply a -1 modifier. The player is also easily injured and suffers a +1 modifier on any injury rolls made for that player. If a player with this rule also has the Secret Weapon rule, they no longer ignore modifiers from enemy tacklezones when dodging, but still suffer the other effects.

Take Root
Unique to Treemen. When a Treeman declares an action, roll a d6. On a 2+ the action occurs normally. On a 1 the Treeman takes root. A Treeman that takes root is considered to have a movement allowance of 0, cannot use Going For It!, can still block but cannot follow up, cannot be pushed back for any reason, and cannot use any skill that would allow him to move from his square until the drive ends. If he gets knocked prone, he can still try to stand up.

Throw Team-Mate
A player with this skill can throw a teammate that has the Right Stuff skill. The player must ends his movement next to the player who he is going to throw. The throw works like a pass, except it doesn't have to target a friendly player, the throwing must substract 1 from the d6 to throw, fumbles are not automatically turnovers, and Long Pass or Long Bomb range throws are not possible (see chapter 3.1). An accurate pass is always treated as an inaccurate pass, meaning the player will scatter three times. A thrown player cannot be intercepted. (See also Right Stuff)

Titchy
Unique to Snotlings. Snotlings are so small they add +1 to all their dodge rolls. However, Titchy players do not exert a -1 modifier on all dodge rolls through their tacklezones, unlike other players.

Wild Animal
Works just like Bone-Head, with a few differences. The player must succeed on a d6 to perform any action, and roll a 3+ or the action is wasted. However, if a Wild Animal player was ordered to block or Blitz, they get a +2 modifier to their d6 Wild Animal roll. Unlike with Bone-Head or Really Stupid, a Wild Animal player that fails his roll still has tacklezones and can still catch, pass or intercept.

"How do I earn gold?"
In the multiplayer, that's very simple. If you want a team to gain gold, play matches with that team! At the end of every match, you roll a single die (plus your fame modifier) that determines how much money you earn, with a higher roll yielding more money. The winner of the match (if there is one) will get a reroll on this die. Since you also get a modifier based based on your FAME, which increases as you play with that team, you earn more money per game as your team gets more experienced!

"Is fouling legal?"

Because the referee will call your players on it, some people have misinterpeted this as "fouling is essentially cheating so it shouldn't be allowed." However, like it or not, fouling is a part of Blood Bowl. It's perfectly legitimate.

"A bunch of my players have gotten seriously hurt/died, and now I can't win anymore because I keep being forced to play with mercenaries! What do I do?"

Hate to say it but sometimes the only answer is to delete the team and start over. I had a Dark Elf team that was going strong until I took multiple heavy casualties in one game. Thereafter it was just one loss after another.

"A guy just killed one of my best players! Where can I report him to have him lifted out of his bed at night by the police and spanked with spiked paddles?!"

You can't report someone for killing or injuring your players. It's a part of Blood Bowl none of us would want to do without. If you don't like it, well, there's a steam refund policy nowadays...

"The diceroller seems unreasonably unfair!"

It has been tested multiple times by different instances and all the tests have concluded that the dice roller, even when it seems like it's against you, is fair. You might have a bad game one day and a really good game the next. Remember that the human psyche is designed in such a way that it's easier to forget the good times when compared to the bad.

"When should I fire injured players?"

Due to the way you earn gold, it can be really difficult to hire new ones, so avoid this if possible. Of course, some injuries are more grating than others. You might not even notice -1 movement allowance or -1 armor, but -1 strength is very noticable. As a general rule, don't fire injured players until you can afford to replace them. If you're in a private league with a limited number of games, you probably don't want to fire anyone.

"How many players should I have in reserve?"
There is no universally correct answer to this question. If you get lucky on your armor rolls, your reserve players will be sitting in your dugout bloating your TV unneccesarily. If you get unlucky on your armor rolls, you might as well have full reserves and it won't do you much good. However, if you struggle with deciding how many reserves you should have, here's a general rule: Base it on the average armor value of your team.
If you're playing a stunty team, good lord, have 2 or more guys in reserve, cause they're gonna drop like flies.
If your average armor value is 7 or less, get at least 2 in reserve. At this armor value it's almost inevitable that you're gonna take a loss sooner or later, a reserve will ensure you'll regain some of your potency next drive.
If your average armor value is 8, get one guy in reserve. Casualties won't be that common for you, but they can still happen.
If your average armor value is 9, you're not gonna take casualties that often. However, you might want to take a guy in reserve anyway.

"Are there any teams considered bad?"

The Goblin team, Halfling team and Ogre team are generally considered bad, but bad is relative. The main reason these teams aren't played much is not because they don't have winning strategies, but because they're unreliable.
These teams can win games. They just require a lot of skill... And a lot of luck!

"Are there any bad and/or useless skills? Is it possible I gimped my team somehow?"

No and maybe. Every single skill in the game has a use. The issue is that you do have to find a way to make use of that skill. Giving Dodge to a Chaos Warrior is pretty damn redundant, for instance. Similarly, +1 armor value isn't that great either under most circumstances.
Remember, every time one of your guys levels up and gets a new skill, it raises your TV. The higher your TV, the more difficult the games you get put in will be. There are no bad skills, but always think carefully about "What do I want to accomplish with this player?" before you get a new skill on him.

"My guys are dropping like flies! Should I surrender?"

There is no clear yes or no answer to this question, since it depends heavily on circumstances. I'll have you warned that if you surrender, the enemy player will get 2 MVP's, and remember that this is Blood Bowl. Matches that seem like sure wins can still be lost by the grace of the dices, so don't surrender just because it's turn 12 and still 0-2 against you.
In fact, there's only one instance when I feel it's worth surrendering. If you've lost several of your players to injuries or KO's, the opposite team is way ahead of you in both score and number of players still standing, and the enemy team is spending his turns just stomping the remainder of your guys into a bloody paste, only then do I feel it's okay to surrender. At that point, anyone can see you've lost, and that the only reason you have to continue is so you can watch your opponent put more and more of your players into the Apothecary's office. Even then, please be aware that if you surrender, your players will still take casualties as normal, but you won't get an MVP bonus, and you won't earn any gold.
In privates Leagues, I rarely-to-never recommend surrendering because 9/10 times this means your opponent gets much more SPP than he would've gotten otherwise which unfairly inflates his team's skill compared to everyone else's.

"The enemy is just camping his ball carrier on the edge of my endzone and is wasting turns so that he can keep beating up my players!"

This is regrettibly seen as a valid strategy. People will do this deliberately to try and inflict more casualties, set you behind and farm SPP through inflicting injuries. My personal way of dealing with this strategy is... Fouling. If that comes as a shock, just think about this. If his ball carrier is basically on your endzone, that's minus one player he can use for bashing. He must also keep some players around in a cage so that the ball carrier remains safe from a sudden blitz. That's minus another two players, at least. Unless you were already horribly behind in number of players, that means you're now ahead in "players being used for bashing." So, surround one of his valuable Blitzers or Blockers, knock him to the floor, and foul him. Then move on to the next, do the same to that player. If you're causing injuries, you're making it a very unwelcome prospect for this guy to not score, since he'll either be behind in players (hopefully) once he finally does score, or he'll be missing out on players in his next game.

"I wanted to buy certain inducements to counter what my opponent was getting, but it said that they were not available!"

This is most likely due to the rules in your league. Every league has its own ruleset, and certain leagues don't allow certain inducements. There's no way around this, so, if you're looking to make inducements a big part of your game then make sure you read the rules of your current league well.

Special thanks to everyone I've been playing Blood Bowl recently. This game is super easy to get back into and I'd just like to thank everyone for the wonderful times they've given me, or will give me.

See you all on the pitch! Back to you, Jim.