Ever wondered which is the best team in Blood Bowl? I’ve played Blood Bowl now for many years, but it’s a question that’s never bothered me. Recently, however, my 11 year old son decided he wanted to start playing. After our first game, which he managed to draw, he asked me ‘Dad, which is the best team in the game?’ I asked why he wanted to know, with the obvious answer coming back that he wanted to win and the best team would obviously maximise his chances! A quick search on Google will show that this is a very frequently asked question, so I thought I’d try and answer it (both for my son and more generally!)
The simple answer is that no one team is all-round better than all the others – that is, they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Many players have a love of one specific Race (e.g. Dwarves) and they play this team because of that love, because they like the minis, they like painting in a certain style (grim and dark for Skaven, light and colourful for Elves) and it’s not all about the winning or losing. The ‘best’ team is often therefore the one which you enjoy the most, aesthetically and stylistically. OK, that may sound like a bit of a cop-out, so let’s dig into it a bit further.
The first thing to highlight is that different teams in Blood Bowl have different Tier rankings. This is an indication of how ‘forgiving’ the team is to play. Tier 1 teams are effective in most areas of the game, being well balanced with access to multiple player types and a good cross-section of skills. With a Tier 1 team, against an equivalently experienced player, statistically you should be winning more often than you are losing (excluding the dice factor – more on this later!). Tier 1 teams are the ‘all-rounders’ such as Humans, Orcs, Elves, Skaven etc.
Tier 2 teams are harder to play – they will have some specific skills or abilities that can work really well, but can also make you come unstuck. They also have less variety in the player types available to them, or more limited skills access.
A good example of this is Imperial Nobility. Humans are Tier 1, and have access to Throwers, Catchers, Blitzers, Halflings and an Ogre. That means they can throw, pass, catch and bash. Imperial Nobility are also Humans, but are more ‘specific’. As Tier 2 they also have access to Throwers and Blitzers (but fewer than Humans). They can take an Ogre but no Halflings, and their Bodyguard players with Stand Firm and Wrestle take a bit more skill to handle well.
Finally there are the Tier 3 teams. These teams are usually thematic and much harder to play well than a Tier 1 team. Tier 3 teams include Halflings, Snotlings, Goblins and Ogres.
Halflings are slow, weak and have very few skills apart from Dodge. They have Tree Men who are very strong, but also slow and prone to turning back to full-on immovable Trees.
Goblins are sneaky, spiteful and mean spirited. Fouling and dirty play is their thing. They are weak (only Strength 2 when the average is 3) and they don’t do much well, apart from Secret Weapons! Goblins can take Chainsaws, Bombers, Ooligans, Fanatics, Doomdivers and Pogoers. If you’re looking for all-round Chaos and mayhem, then you can’t do much worse.
Ogres are strong and dumb – if you just want to punch stuff they are great; assuming they don’t just decide to stand and stare in to space for turn after turn!
And Snotlings…well, they are smaller, weaker and even more chaotic than Goblins. They can take Pump Wagons, Fungus Flingers and they can swarm. It is never dull playing with (or against) Snotlings.
However, with all of these teams it takes a skilful player to win with them (but when you do…..!!!)
How to sum that all up? For the aspiring Blood Bowl player you want to start with a Tier 1 team, especially if that team ticks your boxes in terms of aesthetic and / or playing style. You can always move to a different team once you have some experience.
There is nothing harder than starting to learn the game with, say, a Halfling team and losing all of your matches because they are slow, weak and have few skills, and you haven’t yet learned the subtle arts of throwing team mate or employing a Master Chef. Tier 1 teams are fun, reliable (mostly!) and will help you learn the ropes.
There are loads of additional resources on line to help anyone choose the right team for them (rather than necessarily ‘The Best’). A great place to start is the Bonehead Podcast on YouTube – great content and really nicely explained. You can find their ‘Top 5 Blood Bowl Teams for Beginners’ here: (6) Top 5 Blood Bowl Teams for Beginners – Top 5 Friday (Bonehead Podcast) – YouTube
While I was hoping to answer this most popular of questions in one sitting, it’s obvious there’s much more to it and I don’t want this article to ramble on too long. So having dealt with Tiers, next time we’ll move on to different team styles such as Bash, Agility, Hybrid and Stunty and how these styles can mesh with your own play preferences and game approaches. Until then, have a ‘dice’ day! 🙂
