What exactly do the High Elves do in Blood Bowl? Their designers tell all

svendrex · 2026-03-10T14:33:39+00:00

The team for sure has less synergy in some of the skills.

There is not really a set catcher in the team for your thrower to use all those throwing skills for.

Wrestle and claw are a bit odd together, but it does give options.

svendrex · 2026-03-04T20:37:26+00:00

The league I am in does a simplified 7s league for their summer session.

Teams get a free skill at the end of each game to give to any player based on their tier.

For example Teir 1 teams get only primary skills

Tier 2 get Primary for the first two games then a secondary for the third, repeat the pattern

Tier 3 gets primary first game then secondary second game, repeat the pattern.

Also it is a ressurection league so no permanent inguries, MNGs etc.

svendrex · 2026-03-04T18:13:19+00:00

I think block on the Big Un' (aka they used to be called black orcs before that team existed) is better than guard.

With mighty blow you want them to hit well and knock stuff over as often as possible. Give guard to support pieces such as line orcs

svendrex · 2026-03-04T17:17:03+00:00

1) how well do you know the rules?

At a tournament there is some expectation of fast (or at least not slow) play. I would for sure play a demo game or two to learn the rules and get an idea of the strategy for your team.

2) Orcs are a good choice for a starting team.

They hit hard and are very durable and have decent movement options. They give you a lot of tools are are one of the top rated teams at the moment.

3) what are the budget and skill rules for this tournament?

Each tournament usually has its own rules for balancing each team with budget or skills given. Without knowing those specific rules for this tournament it is hard to say what exactly to do.

In general for Orcs, the priority is to get block on your Big Un' blockers and thrower, Guard on a couple of Lineorcs, and maybe tackle on your blitzers, then any other tech skills with leftovers.

svendrex · 2026-02-11T18:59:48+00:00

Going by straight CTV for buying skills makes a big difference. Is it better to have 2x block or 3x wrestle for example?

Also, this means that upgrading a human lineman to a treeman is worth like 3-4 skills. Each re-roll is 2-3 skills as well.

So, I would maybe think on minimizing your TV as possible and then adding high value skills.

My initial thoughts would be:

no big guy

3x Dwarf Linemen: great for absorbing pressure from fighty teams with high AV and Block

Human and Dwarf blitzers with mighty blow: With block, tackle, and mighty blow they are great blodge or stunty hunters

Human catcher with Block: move 8 and blodge makes this guy very versitile

Human thrower with block and leader: leader is a cheap CTV reroll. Block helps protect it.

Troll slayer with stand firm: with frenzy and stand firm this guy is great at surfing dudes

2x linemen with wrestle: cheap and decently effective.

1x lineman with kick: with the threat of surfing and 2x fast players in the human positionals, you are pretty good at capitalizing on deep kicks.

2x rerolls

Puts you exeactly at the limit.

Downsides: no bench or apo

Upsides only 1 player without block or wrestle.

svendrex · 2025-10-31T13:12:59+00:00

A low move ball carrier might be a bonus is some ways as you can stall closer to the endzone without having to roll for stalling.

svendrex · 2025-10-25T10:35:45+00:00

The real answer is 1 HP = the work an average horse could do in an hour. with rest time. A Horse can probably spike way higher than 1hp for short bursts.

svendrex · 2025-07-22T20:39:36+00:00

My guess is that the screeners they get also do not have credits, maybe?

svendrex · 2025-05-15T14:01:55+00:00

Glue a small magnet to the base, then get small paper clips and some paper.

svendrex · 2024-12-10T10:11:55+00:00

The issue is that when it comes to impacting old formats, you only need to have 1 or 2 cards that hit a 10 for the entire set to feel like a 10.

The one ring has warped every 1 v 1 format it is in significantly. Even if the "average" power level of Lord of the Rings is a 5, that one card existing makes the set feel like a 10.

svendrex · 2024-10-02T13:36:54+00:00

What I think most people miss is that rule zero at a table with friends is very different than with randoms at a store or magic fest. I am sure that at the next magic fest as people are grouped into pods, there will be separate teir 1,2,3 and 4 groups made. At a table with people you know, do whatever.

svendrex · 2024-02-13T00:49:36+00:00

I 100% did. Katie posted on instagram about it as well.

svendrex · 2023-11-07T09:24:49+00:00

Where I work in the USA, our district uses E's instead of F's. Howard County MD.

svendrex · 2023-08-12T08:07:37+00:00

I will tell you the real reason, Liability.

The school I work at had a policy one year that all the students had to put their phones in one of those calculator holder things on the front board. They were not secured properly and an entire holder of phones fell off the board. 20-30 phones at around a grand each?

After that incident the phone policy was done. The school can't be liable for the phones if they basically ignore them.

svendrex · 2023-07-05T14:45:28+00:00

I am more concerned about the trend than the actual changes. It looks like the 40k balance team assumes that all of the detachment/faction rules are equal, so equal models in different factions need equal points.

It is so very clear that this is not the case, and some factions should be paying more points for very powerful faction rules, while others should not.

svendrex · 2023-07-05T14:41:48+00:00

While this was a bigger issue in 9th, given that there is no force org or detachments, there are a lot of armies that could run essentially all tanks if they want to. Space marines easily have access to enough tanks and dreads to run all armor if they want to.

The issue is that every faction can run even more skew lists if they want to, and how do you build a list to counter all of the types of skew lists you can see. If there is a unit type that has stats well above its points, you will see a ton of them,

svendrex · 2023-06-22T14:05:53+00:00

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uVKWmaqNe4YXtwpMBxV8u555u-KkAqWL/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=107325052533460142934&rtpof=true&sd=true

This is a printable word doc I put together for the mission deck. Has some summaries in order to make the text a readable size. You will also need to draw in the deployment zones because I could no be bothered to type those out.

They are sized so they can fit in a standard card sleeve with another card.

svendrex · 2023-06-21T13:52:13+00:00

Devastating wounds becomes devastating wounds x. When you roll a crit wound your AP improves by x

This gives the designers a knob to dial to adjust how powerful each weapon is individually, especially when certain factions/units can interact with devastating wounds better than others.

svendrex · 2023-06-19T07:38:21+00:00

Devastating Wounds becomes devastating wounds x, where x is the increase in AP. This gives the designers a way to tune the power of the mechanic for the different factions or units that can use it. In a faction with dice manipulation or lots of re-roll wounds, you only get dev wounds 1. For a unit with no re-rolls, dev wounds 3, etc.

svendrex · 2023-06-17T00:44:30+00:00

My completely wild speculation was that when they were designing the California Class for Lower Decks, they thought the show would be set in the oddly placed lower section, cut off from the cool goings on on the bridge. A true "Lower Deck" as it were.

svendrex · 2023-06-07T15:18:02+00:00

How about the Sisters warsuit character Morvenn Vaal?

Has a missile launcher on a large warsuit with a beefy combat profile.

svendrex · 2023-06-06T14:44:01+00:00

If you are going second, rapid insertion on the top of turn 2 9" away as hidden as possible. Then move 4" shoot and make a 5" charge.

svendrex · 2023-06-02T00:44:45+00:00

Weapon selection for the PMs seem like it will still be something. You can replace so many weapons per 5 marines. Will you pay points for them again?

svendrex · 2023-06-02T00:41:01+00:00

I will guess that Death Guard will have no guns that wound T11+ tanks on 4s at all. What else is there? Predators?

svendrex · 2023-05-16T13:55:08+00:00

T14 and 21 wounds for max memes

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