Today I would like to take a minute to write about arguably one of the most entertaining sides to Blood Bowl, Stunty teams. Stunty teams are defined by the majority of their roster having the ‘Stunty’ skill, being small and easy to squish backed up by big (but stupid) team mates i.e Ogres and Trolls. The main three Stuny teams are Goblins, Halflings and Ogres. Although these are the most common it does not mean they are the only teams that fit this mould, other teams such as Lizardmen and Underworld have a fair amount of stunty players and the option for the big guys but their other available options (Saurus and Skaven respectively) bring the quality of the team higher than your standard stunty. This being said some tournaments will allow these two teams to complete for their stunty cup if they do not consist of these additional players.

The difficulty in winning with these teams is widely acknowledged and as someone who has attended as fair few tournament I have had to opportunity to play against them on many occasions.  In fact I believe I have played them half a dozen or so times and have never lost to them creating a curiosity as to whether my opponents were actually having fun. When ever you play a stunty team, no matter the score, your opponent is more than likely going to say they had great fun. To me this is hard to get my head around, don’t get me wrong I lose as many (if not more) games than I win and still love the game but find it hard to believe that a continuous beating doesn’t become soul-destroying.

As you may or may not know I am trying to work my up to completing the NAF 24 by bringing a different race to each NAF sanctioned event which meant I was fully aware that I would have to give these teams ago in a competitive environment at some point. When the London Grand Tournament came along a the end of May, Goblins where the only models I had that I had not yet played with. So that was it, my first dip into the painful world of Stunties would begin at the London Olympic Stadium.

I was actually looking forward to it for 2 main reasons

1. The new Goblin team models are awesome and I was really looking forward to painting them in particularly the Trolls
2. All of a sudden the expectation and pressure to do well was lifted and I was able to enjoy myself more in the first game.

I wont go too much into the LGT itself as there will be a full write up coming soon, believe me there is a lot to talk about, but let me just say I did not do well in the rankings but had a unbelievably fun and relaxed time playing a game I love with some great people. One thing I also noticed was that I was less distracted and tied up with winning my games that I was more aware of my opponents paint jobs, their Blood Bowl story and met some awesome coaches.

Playing Goblins was an experience to say the least but one thing i did  find is it was more of an achievement when you finally get around to scoring a touchdown (especially when you threw a goblin with the ball to run in for the draw) Although i have been pitted against them and knew how they all worked, it was my first time using the infamous Goblin secret weapons. My build was not as competitive as it should have been due to not having the correct models yet but did have the 3 forgeworld Looney, Fanatic and Bomma (Chainsaw, Ball and Chain and Bomb). The combination of these 3 on the pitch at once lead to some great turns and turnovers despite under estimating and seriously struggling without the doom diver and  Po-goer. Movement 6 is pretty standard and any dwarf player would be jealous but when you have to get the ball into a cage quickly due to being strength 2 and easily squishable the extra movement from the Po-Go could have saved the game for me on more than one occasion. The Doom Diver on the other hand wouldnt of made a huge difference as I couldn’t land a bloody Goblin to save my life anyway but seeing the benefit of them in theory I 100% will be working on bringing one next time they come out to ‘Play’.

The first outing with the Goblins has wet my appetite for more Stunty madness in the name of Nuffle. This side of Blood Bowl is something new to me and after doubting whether it was for me or not I can now say I have caught the Stunty Bug! I am now in process of arranging ways to coach the whole range of stunty teams and with the gorgeous ‘Two Drunk Flings’ halfling team from kickstarter it has never been a more tempting time buy a new Blood Bowl team.

So lets see what the rest of the 2018/2019 Calender has in store and what antics await!