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ALBION TEAMS

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Player Icons
Pixies

Woad Beserker

Maiden Guard

Fen Beast


Famous Teams
Albion Wanderers - First Appeared in 2nd Edition 2nd Ed. 1988
Knotinthem Forest, Shuffling Woodsday, Ashton Villains : First appeared in Star Players, 1989

Background
Albion is a small island in the north of The Old World, just off the coast of Norsca. The island is cloaked in a perpetual fog and the rain never stops pouring, just as great winds never stop blowing. The lands are covered in fens, marshes, mires, and bogs. Mystical stone circles are scattered throughout the lands. It is a cold, inhospitable environment inhabited by Fimir, Giants of Albion and woad wearing barbaric human tribes led Truthsayers.

Blood Bowl is one of only a few sports played by the human inhabitants of Albion, the others are wrestling, and more unique to the region - Squig Ball. Squig Ball involves an inflated Squig corpse being kicked around a vast muddy field while the two opposing teams fight to get the Squig ball into a basket. Sometimes they even use a live Squig to add to the chaos.

The first Blood Bowl teams of Albion were Bretonnian teams during the Bretonnian and Tilean occupation of the island. The teams were made up of Peasants, Squires and Knights, a far cry from the current Albion teams. They were renowned for their honour on the pitch, very rarely fouling and rarely fielding a Big Guy. The most famous of all teams of that era were Albion Wanderers, though they never achieved any glory worthy of mention.

After the Bretonnian and Tilean forces left Albion the local inhabitants took to the fields of the now abandoned stadia that were erected during the islands occupation, The natives started to play their own unique brand of Blood Bowl. Truthsayers took on the role of team coaches and apothecaries. Their magical hold over Pixies combines with the raw power of the Woad Beserkers and Maiden Guard gives them a powerful team unlike any other to grace the sport. Not to mention the huge Fen Beasts summoned from the marshes, controlled by the Truthsayer’s magical abilities.

Albion’s climate doesn’t lend itself to a style of play imbued with finesse and passing plays and this suits the natives whose primary tactic is brute force and bashing their opposition into a pulp. They invariably field a Fen Beasts at the heart of their line of scrimmage and the Pixies are the only players in the team that have any inclination to go for the ball at all.

Rationale
Albion teams were first introduced in Blood Bowl 1st edition Deathzone, however they were very different from the Albion team I created here. Albion teams then were made up of Knights and Peasants and some teams of the region had a Treeman big guy. During this era of Warhammer Albion was split into 4 islands representing England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and the inhabitants were Knights and Peasants and their background was late medieval thematically, with nods to media like Robin Hood, Knights of the round table and other Arthurian and Germanic mythology. This Albion background stepped on the toes of Bretonnia and as a result was later retconned to the background the team is based on, in which Albion is 1 island and based on Celtic mythology.

The Blood Bowl Lore mentions 3 teams from the region (as above) and describes them as defensive teams that often have Treemen in their roster. I couldn't just make the team in line with the 1st ed Deathzone because that roster is too similar to the fairly well established unofficial Bretonnian roster. So I turned to the Warhammer lore for Albion to design the roster.

There was a Warhammer campaign played out in Albion with rules and background appearing in White Dwarf monthly, and I have based the players on the local inhabitants of the island of Albion, and made reference to the old Bretonnian teams that used to play there in my background. This fits quite nicely as Bretonnia was one of the main armies involved in the Warhammer campaign based in Albion and it also fits nicely with the 1st edition Deathzone background too. It explains how the new Albion teams learned the game, where they got their equipment and stadiums, whilst still remaining true to their newer lore portraying them as woad wearing barbaric humans.

I considered keeping the Treemen as one of two optional Big Guys in the team, as they were in 1st ed Death Zone and also feature in Albion teams Blood Bowl lore already. I even tested this for a year, however it detracted from the teams’ themes and the current Celtic themed lore. The Fen Beast was the other Big Guy. The Fen Beast is so central to Albion’s lore that I wanted them to be front and centre of every team just as they are on the Dark Shadows Warhammer campaign book. The Fen Beast is the most commonly referred to monster in Albion, and is a staple of all their background and even got a miniature release. The Fen Beast is a magical construct made up of the Fens and Swamps of Albion with an Ogham stone embedded in the centre of the beast. The team’s Truthsayer controls the Fenbeast with their magical abilities. I decided the most fitting negatrait to give the Fenbeast was Bone Head – which represents the Truthsayer losing control of the magic construct temporarily and the being collapsing into a pile of stone and mud. I decided to give the Fenbeast a stat line that is slow and plodding, with the worst possible Ag and Pa. Because it is a magical construct controlled by you the team Head Coach I decided to give it Loner 3+ instead of the standard 4+ just to show a little more control over the Big guy.

The Fen Maiden are local female barbarian warriors, guarding over the marshes surrounding their homes, and protecting the Oracles and Truthsayers. I gave them Thick Skull to show they are battle hardened and it felt fitting for a Barbarian to especially resilient to being Knocked out. Their Av is on 9+ because the inhabitants are fairly primitive. However as the Maiden Guard’s primary responsibility historically was guarding the Oracles, and Truthsayers it felt appropriate that they are the best equipped members of the team adding some much needed reliability to the roster. Finally I decided to give them Stand Firm as a good descriptor of their role in the tribes military history. I did not give them the standard Ma6 or Ag3+ of a Human because their extra size and bulk makes them less agile and slower. Also they are used to operating in marshy muddy conditions so they have evolved into a more stoic steadfast warrior.

The second positional I added was Woad Berserkers. These are berserker barbarians, wearing little to no clothes at all. They are also mentioned in the Dark Shadows campaign. Woad is a dye used to tattoo their skin with Celtic style symbols, in earlier iterations of the rules this would have translated as tattoos which used to make the wearer immune to armour and injury modifiers. In the current rules the nearest fit is Iron Hard skin, which prevents the player from suffering Av modifiers. Thick Skull was added for the same reason as the Fen Maidens. Finally I added Frenzy to fit their Berserker nature.

Pixies are local creatures that the druids (Truthsayers) have a strange control over. Because of the very high average St of this team, providing them with standard Human Linemen did not seem right, especially when all the humans on the island are meant to have the proportions of barbarians. So the only local lineman they could have was the pixies, I considered giving them Spites, like Treemen teams, but they are too intrinsically linked to Wood Elves and their allied Fae, whereas Pixies are spirits that are unique to the region. The team will function in a similar way to Lizardmen, with fast Stunty Linemen and powerful Blockers. The Linemen are weaker than Skinks and slower, but dodge on a 2+ instead of 3+ and the team also have the benefit of Throw Team Mate which Lizardmen do not. The barbarians both have lower Av than Saurus, but they come with starting skills which should stop them being too vulnerable.

Season 2, 2020 edition Changes
In season 2 edition it became possible to limit access to big guys again, so they now have Treemen or Fenbeasts again. However if this results in Fen Beasts being ignored they will be removed again next year.

I gave Pixies 6+ to Pa due to their size, gave Berserkers 6+ Pa in line with the standard rules by looking at similar player types, Berserkers in Norse teams are 5+, slayers are - and generally St4 players have low Pa. I felt 6+ was fitting. The team already has a number of easy bomb targets and I felt it would be too much of a nerf giving Berserkers - Pa as well. As the team's Blockers are more controlled and professional I felt they should be slightly better than the Berserker at passing, though fairly inept. 5+ felt correct.

2020 Edition Further Tweaks (2024)
The Woad Berserker gain Iron Hard Skin. This is to represent their tribal Woad Tattoos which gives them a feel no pain ability. I always wanted this represented in the team and now we have a skill that represents feel no pain to a certain extent I have added it to the roster. I have increased their cost by 10k as well. This theme of magical tribal tattoos or woad tattoos meaning Iron Hard Skin will be consistent throughout the rosters for verisimilitude.

I have removed Treemen, the reason they were added was because there is Blood Bowl lore specifically stating human teams from this region use Treemen big guys. However After trying this out since 2020 launched I feel that having a Treeman over a Fen Beast detracts from the teams themes set out in the Warhammer book set in Albion - Dark Shadows. The Fen Beast is so iconic and their lore states the Fen Beasts are psychically linked via their internal Waystone to the Truth Sayer that summoned them. When I adapted this team for Blood Bowl I stated that you the Head Coach are the Truth Sayer.

Fen Beast costs has been increased to 130k. This was reduced to 120k to encourage their selection over the Treemen, but with the remove of Treemen this is no longer a concern. So they have the correct pricing now.

Team design, background and rationale by Garion
Player Pics are drawn by Knut_Rockie and coloured by Garion
Player icons by Cowhead and Whatball