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Chaos Strategy

Summary:

Chaos teams are justly feared for their awesome ability to injure opposing players using mutations. They are less renowned for their ability to win games; many coaches tend to get carried away with killer mutations, and forget they actually have to score when they receive, and defend when they kick-off. Chaos teams usually employ a bash-running style of play.

Strengths:

• Strong Chaos Blockers
• Beastmen are excellent blitzers
• Decent overall stats
• Mutation access

Weaknesses:

• No starting skills
• No ball positionals
• Slow to develop

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Chaos Strategy

Chaos is a very bash orientated team. The Chaos Warriors start with a great starting stat line and beastmen all have horns, giving them the ability to boost their strength during a blitz action. This provides the Chaos team an exceptional amount of strength on the pitch. They also come with the choice of a troll, ogre or a Minotaur. One of the most notable features of a Chaos team is Mutations access, which can give them a variety of roles if specialized correctly.

Some important key points to know about Chaos:

• It is important to conserve re-rolls at the start so position your players first before making any dice rolls if possible
• Be prepared to accept poor block dice initially. Sometimes it is better to lose the turn than waste a re-roll
• Give as many players block ASAP
• Always keep at least one beastman back field as a safety
• Try to maximize the amount of 2 dice blocks by clever use of your Horns blitz per turn
• Never pass unless it is a crisis situation

However the Chaos team takes time to develop. Let's look at some of the team positions.

Beastman Runner

• Skill Choices: Block
• Sacker: Wrestle, Tackle
• Ball Carrier: Sure Hands,Two Heads, extra arms
• Secondary: Dodge
• Killer: Claw + Mighty Blow

Beastmen start with the basic 6 3 3+ 4+ 9+ statline. They have an overall decent statline but don't start with any skill but horns. This can be an issue at the start so it's important you conserve re-rolls during early turns of a drive. They essentially play multiple roles, ball carriers, blockers, blitzers, safeties and in desperate times, passers. However what makes beastmen great are their horns. Giving them strength 4 on a blitz, Beastmen are arguably among the best linebacks and safeties in the game. A single beastman can match even a stray bull centaur who has broken up field for a 1 dice blitz.

Furthermore, Beastmen can also crack open a cage, requiring at most 1 assist to pierce a cage corner to get through Str4. For your first skill, sure hands is ideal to make ball carrying easier. The rest should get block as soon as possible.

Chaos Warriors

• Primary skills: Block
• Secondary Skill: Dodge
• Scrummer: Block, Stand Firm/Guard, Mighty Blow

Chaos Warriors are easily one of the best blockers in the game. With a stat line of 5 4 3+ 5+ 10+, they are strong, durable and reasonably fast and capable of dodging and handling the ball as most normal players. This allows them to be deceptively maneuverable and can sometimes save a drive if a hand off or pick up is necessary. Generally wherever the fighting is, the Chaos Warriors should be at the forefront of it.

Developing them all with block to increase safety and reliable blocking is essential.

Minotaur

• Primary Skills: Claw, Juggernaut
• Secondary: Block, Pro
• Roadblock: Tentacles, Break Tackle

The Minotaur is one of the most controversial positional players in the game. It is the glass cannon of the Big Guys, capable of causing serious damage with frenzy and mighty blow but not the best at taking hits due to its armour of 9+. A lot of Coaches dislike taking a minotaur, while others swear by him. While the Minotaur suffers from Unchanneled Fury, it also starts with Mighty Blow and Strength 5. 6 on a blitz due to horns. It adds muscle to the already exceptionally strong Chaos roster. With frenzy, it can also be used as an excellent crowd surfer during the early stages of a Chaos team.

It can be used as a sledgehammer to not only break open a cage, but to overwhelm it with pressure, allowing Chaos Warriors and beastmen to mark the carrier and flood the surrounding players with horns and spiked armour.

It is suggested when using the Minotaur you set up 3d blitzes, requiring one assist on Str3 pieces. Give it the Claw/Mighty Blow combo ASAP as it will result in your team likely causing catastrophic damage to opponents in short order. However, it is also important the Minotaur does not get isolated, so be sure to know that you are capable of following up any advance it makes following its frenzy.

Chaos Ogre

• Primary Skills: Tentacles, Guard, Brawler, Claw
• Secondary: Block

The Chaos Chosen team can now field a Chaos Ogre. The middle ground of the three big guy choices, providing a good mix of durability and strength. Functionally identical to a normal Ogre with the exception that it has free access to mutation skills. This allows the Chaos Ogre to be specialized in a number of different ways. For example, the Ogre can be given tentacles as its first skill to make it a formidable roadblock or claw to cause serious damage. Unlike the Minotaur, the Ogre can also act independently and is also more durable. For those looking for the most balanced Big Guy choice, the Chaos Ogre is it.

Chaos Troll

• Primary Skill: Tentacles, Claw, Stand Firm, Guard
• Secondary skills: Block

The Chaos Chosen team can now field a Chaos Troll. The toughest of the three big guys with regeneration and armour 10+. Identical to a normal troll with the exception of having access to mutation skills. The troll, like the Ogre, can be used as either a blocker or a roadblock. It is recommended however you use the troll more as a roadblock than a blocker due to the need to take care of it thanks to Really Stupid. It can provide an exceptional bulwark on the line of scrum and with the support of Chaos Blockers and beastmen, can overwhelm the enemy lines.

One significant advantage of the Chaos Troll is that it is the only Big Guy the team can start with and also take four Chosen Blockers and two rerolls at the same time. This starts the team off with a tremendous amount of power and allows Chaos Chosen to maximize their strength from the very beginning of their team creation.

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Starting Rosters

The most important thing as with most teams is to decide what roster you are going to build. Here are some sample rosters which tend to be the most popular or may be the most prominent in Blood Bowl Season 2. These rosters are designed around a League or perpetual setting. For tournament builds, generally they begin at 1100k TV with free skills. These rosters can be easily tailored with the additional cash on hand, be it an apothecary or extra rerolls. It is recommended to put as much block on tournament teams as possible with one sure hands player.

Roster 1 (Standard Build) :

• 4 Warriors
• 7 Beastmen
• 3 Rerolls

The standard and safest roster at exactly 1000k. This gives you a nice balance of strength and reliability. You will want to buy an apothecary and a 12th player in the form of a beastman as soon as possible.

Roster 2 (Minotaur Build) :

• 3 Warriors
• 7 Beastmen
• 1 Minotaur
• 2 Rerolls

Starts out at 990k. Tough to use and a less reliable build but has extra muscle and kill power. The Minotaur can 3d blitz and if fortunate, can get claw early which gives your team obscene kill power. For experienced Chaos Coaches, high risk but high reward.

Roster 3 (Troll Build) :

• 4 Warriors
• 6 Beastmen
• 1 Chaos Troll
• 2 Rerolls

A new roster variant introduced in BB2020. Starts out at 995k. Very powerful and gives you all your positional players. With 4 Chaos Warriors, a troll and two re-rolls, you can have an incredible amount of pitch control at your disposal from the very beginning of a season. Your first priority should be to purchase an apothecary and third re-roll.

Roster 4 (Big Guy Build) :

• 4 Warriors
• 7 Beastmen
• 1 Minotaur
• 1 Reroll

Starts out at varied TV. Chaos on Hard Mode. Depends heavily on good fortune but gives you extraordinary power on the field. If you don’t fail two dice blocks you can overpower nearly any team in the game. But if you fail certain rolls and the dice aren’t with you, it can be tough. High risk, high reward.

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Defense and Offense as Chaos

Chaos may start out with no skills but they can still put up a fight even from their humble origins thanks to having strength 4 across the field due to horns and the great stats of the Blockers. This allows them to field a surprisingly decent defense and offense.

Defense

Some general advice for defense.

• Always keep at least one beastman back field as a safety. Ideally two.
• Always do non dice rolling moves first
• Screen until you know where the opponent is committing.

This is general advice which will serve any Chaos coach well on defense. Assuming the opponent is a strong bash team, it is suggested your line of scrum consists of three beastmen. If however it is a weaker team, a Chaos Warrior Line of scrum can be an exceptional block to stop the opposition pushing through mid field.

In the initial stages of a defensive drive, it is best that you attempt to screen the opponent while doing hit and run blitzes. Once the opponent commits to whichever area of the pitch they are advancing, the Chaos Strength 4 comes into its own. Attempt to crack a cage or screen with a beastman blitz and if the drive is in the latter stages of the half, you can attempt to aggressively mark the opposing ball carrier with Warriors and beastmen.

If you wish to apply pressure, man marking enemy positional players (assuming they are strength 3) with Chaos warriors can be a good way to force the opponents hand or to commit unnecessary man power to get the Chosen Blocker off.

In terms of formations, always be sure to cover the wings and maintain a strong presence mid field, roughly two spaces in.

Offense

Chaos Chosen's high strength and decent speed come into its own here. Generally you should aim to do the following:

• Smash open the line of scrum with your Chaos Blockers
• Attempt to "trash mark" multiple downed players with a single beastman
• Aggressively mark weaker enemy players to force them to either dodge or commit players to stop you
• Have at least two safeties with your ball carrier

Your standard strategy is a loose box while using your beastmen and Chaos Warriors to march and grind slowly up the field. However there will be times when there may be a weaker layer to the opponents screen. Once again, this is where horns and the high strength of the blockers come in. Once you identify a weak section in the enemy formation, be sure to blitz it open and, if possible, flood the area of the pitch using your Chaos Blockers to mark weaker players and forcing the opponent to dodge or commit resources.

Don't be afraid to hand off during emergencies and always remember to do your safe moves first.

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Team Management and Redraft

Chaos are slow to develop. With the new rules of Blood Bowl 2020, having players for an indefinite amount of time is a thing of the past. This changes Chaos Chosen from previous editions where they would propel to the top to become more and more dangerous as more SPP and skills were obtained.

To summarize, after a certain amount of games, a team will be provided a certain amount of gold per games played, wins and draws as well as treasury and then be required to rehire the team from the ground up. A season can last up to a predetermined amount of games but for the standard FUMBBL divisions such as Ranked and Blackbox, season length will be fifteen games. To give a brief outline:

• 20k (10k for FUMBBL houserules for Ranked and Blackbox) per game played
• 20k per game won
• 10k per draw
• Add any remaining gold to treasury

The original cost of the player is the same cost to rehire them with the additive that it now costs an extra 20k gold per previous season played. This means the Chaos Chosen team will need to always have another fresh round of replacements to recycle more experienced players who invariably become too expensive to keep.

This has a dramatic effect on Chaos Chosen in the long term as a team will be limited on their redraft budget. For a team like Chaos Chosen who start with no skills, every skill is highly important but still a significant cost.

As a team grows experience, certain things may need to be cut to continue affording players. Although controversial, a Chaos team could consider dropping 1 reroll in order to gain 60k extra gold towards rehiring players. Assuming the team has built up a nice foundation of skills, such as block, the less need for rerolls.

So what is a Chaos Chosen coach to do? Well, there are a few options:

Random Skills

One of the most notable features of BB2020 is the capacity for teams to generate random skills. Assuming you score at least one touchdown and the MVP lands on a different player, you can generate two skills per game on average. This significantly increases the development speed of the Chaos team in comparison to before and is a nice, soft compensation for the difficulty in maintaining high TV teams.

Plan Ahead for Season 2-3

A Chaos Chosen Coach can at least assure a significantly stronger start in forthcoming seasons. The addition of treasury to refraft budget is a huge boon and depending on the length of the league you can bank gold for the last 2-3 games to ensure a mostly intact squad the following seasons.

Overview

These are just some considerations for how a Chaos Chosen coach can adapt to the new redraft meta. The meta itself has yet to be established but these are all worthwhile considerations to take into account for the future of Chaos teams.

Gone are the days where Chaos Chosen become brutal butchers who massacre entire teams down to the last man with a swathe of Claw/Mighty Blow and Piling skills stacked. Now Chaos Chosen must seriously think about their approach long term if they want to compete over numerous seasons. That said, despite the changes in team management, Chaos Chosen still remain a strong, if challenging, team. But change is not always bad and besides, Chaos do have Tzeentch the Changer of the Ways as one of their deities. They will find a way. For those of you who will stick with Chaos Chosen into Blood Bowl Season 2 (BB2020) I wish you the best. I hope to see you carrying the Chaos banner high and still show the Blood Bowl world that Chaos is still nothing to sniff at.

May Nuffle and the Chaos Gods bless your dice! - Wolbum

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Conclusion

Chaos Chosen are a tough team to coach and the new redraft and winnings rules makes their previous super developed murder squad days a thing of the past. However they are still an excellent team in the right hands and when coached sensibly, having access to some very potent and murderous mutations as well as their solid stat lines and strength makes for a powerful team. While not quite able to reach their original peak of killiness, they are still capable of dishing out some serious damage to the opponent. The meta has yet to be found with Chaos Chosen but there will always be room for the crazy, psychotic murderous followers of Chaos on the BB pitch and with a bit of patience and planning, they will still prove to be an awesome team.

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Star Players

While Chaos teams generally aren't known for being the underdog, there are certain situation they may find themselves at a disadvantage. This can occur normally if a Chaos Chosen coach is entering an established league or they have had the misfortune of losing some key players during a rough match or two. As such, there may be some opportunities for the Chaos Chosen coach to hire a Star Player and knowing which one does what is important. Below are costs and descriptions of each one.

For detailed information on Star Player stats and abilities, go here:

https://fumbbl.com/help:BB20ChaosSetUp

The list and costs are as follows

• Akhorne the Squirrel - Star Player Squirrel - 80k
• Max Spleenripper (Favoured of Khorne Only) - Star Chaos Chainsaw Looney - 130k
• Helmut Wulf - Star Human Chainsaw Looney - 140k
• Withergrasp Doubledrool - Beastman Blitzer - 170k
• Bilerot Vomitflesh (Favoured of Nurgle Only)- Nurgle Blocker - 180k
• Glart Smashrip - Fat Rat Blocker - 195k
• Scyla Anfingrimm (Favoured of Khorne Only)- Chaos Spawn - 200k
• Hakflem Skuttlespike - Two headed Skaven Runner - 210k
• Grashnak Blackhoof - Star Chaos Minotaur - 240k
• Grak and Crumbleberry - Ogre and Halfling Duo - 250k
• Lord Borak the Despoiler - Chaos Lord Blocker - 260k
• Morg 'N' Thorg - Star Ogre - 380k

Akhorne the Squirrel

At 80k, Akhorne the Squirrel is a small but sneaky star player. At Str1 and AV 6+, he is among the weakest players in the game but at MA7, stunty and titchy he is also very quick and can dodge almost anywhere. This is complimented with Claws, Dauntless, Frenzy and Jump Up, meaning Akhorne can actually fight above his weight. With blind rage he also has an in-built reroll for his dauntless, giving him the chance to smack someone in his favour more often.

Very fragile but can be utilised to dive into a cage to attack a carrier, surf players or if he is lucky, cut open some high armoured targets. Akhorne is a cheap choice if you’re looking for a simple and fairly low investment star and while he is very likely to be removed once he is hit, he can sometimes pull some fairly savage and interesting plays with a bit of luck.

Max Spleenripper (Favoured of Khorne only)

At 130k, Max Spleenripper is a Chaos themed chainsaw. With Str4 he is quite capable of having a form of protection from retaliation if given support. While cheaper than Helmut, he cannot freely reroll a kick back, which means he can be somewhat unreliable. However his special ability, Maximum Carnage, allows you to attack two players once per game which could be perfect for tearing open a box. While situational, Max is a Star Player who will perform one of two extremes: Being useless or being stupidly good.

Helmut Wulf

At 140k, Helmut wulf is now freely available for all teams as a chainsaw star. However with both pro and his special rule which allows him to reroll a single armour roll, Helmut is extraordinarily dangerous and also reliable as he will not waste rerolls if he kicks back. A decent choice if you can get him in addition to bribes.

Withergrasp Doubledrool

Doubledrool is a Beastman runner at 170k with a myriad of abilities, including tentacles, prehensile tail, two heads, wrestle and tackle. He is an exceptional safety and excellent at facing off against opponents with a lot of block and dodge and Str3. With Ag4+, he can only dodge on a 3+ with two heads which doesn't make him the best at escaping but if covered, he can be an excellent asset at catching, blitzing or pulling down any potential blodge heavy players. Excels against Str3 teams with a lot of blodge.

Bilerot Vomitflesh (Favoured of Nurgle only)

Bilerot Vomitflesh comes at 180k. He has Str5, Foul Appearance, Disturbing Presence and Dirty Player. He is fairly affordable and can be useful if you want some additional muscle with a bit of extra field control. Naturally without block, it is best to use Bilerot to occupy and mark up players, but without a negative trait besides loner, Bilerot can act as a great asset to any Chaos team.

Glart Smashrip

Glart is a cheaper option for blocking duty. Coming in at 195k, a solid choice as he not only has a safety skill with block but also comes with claw to cut down high AV teams. A very good choice against high armour bash teams.

Scyla Anfingrimm (Favoured of Khorne only)

A Chaos Spawn Big Guy who comes with Claw, Mighty Blow, Prehensile Tail and Unchanneled fury. For a price point of 200k, Scyla can add a solid amount of muscle albeit in an unreliable package. Against heavily armoured teams like Dwarfs and Orcs Scyla excels, as he can potentially tear through their high armour while being durable enough to take hits. Scyla must be used with caution however, especially because he may malfunction with Unchanneled Fury or 1/9 himself. Ideal when facing heavy av10+ teams like orcs, black orcs, lizardmen or dwarfs. An alright choice but inconsistent.

Hakflem Skuttlespike

A Skaven Gutter Runner with extra arms, prehensile Tail and two heads. Exceptionally fast and if you urgently need someone to score quickly and reliably, an absolute must have for just 210k. Easily one of the best stars in the game. Assuming your team is at full strength, Hakflem can win you games.

Grashnak Blackhoof

The legendary Minotaur Grashnak Blackhoof returns to the field with both a buff and a nerf. With Strength 6 and MA 6, Grashnak is an extra strong, extra fast Minotaur. Unfortunately he now has Unchanneled Fury making him significantly less reliable but has taken a major price drop from 310k to 240k. Still an extraordinarily powerful player but now with the caveat of behaving like a regular Minotaur. Grashnak can be useful as a powerful blitzer and with adequate support, a roadblock.

If you are down strength, Grashnak can be a great asset to 3d block and blitz his way through the enemy lines. His special ability too, which allows him to roll an extra block dice regardless of the enemy strength once per game during a blitz. This can be used as a "soft" reroll where, during the first block on a blitz, if it would result in a turn over you can activate Grashnak's ability to add a third dice. In this way, Grashnak can be used to blitz while having a safety net in case a bad roll is brought up or you really need a particular target, who may be protected, knocked over.

Grashnak excels in matchups where he can get 3d blitzes fairly easily i.e Chaos Dwarfs, Elves, Humans and Orcs. Avoid using him however in matchups with a lot of strength 4 on the field, like Lizardmen and Black Orcs. A decent choice for the strength he brings but needs to be used with care due to his Unchanneled Fury.

Grak and Crumbleberry

Coming in at 250k, Grak and Crumbleberry give you two star players in the form of a decent, albeit slow, ball carrier halfling with sure hands and a standard Ogre. He also provides the Chaos team with the chance for a one turn touchdown, something they normally would not have access to. Expensive but a decent choice.

Lord Borak the Despoiler

Lord Borak returns for Blood Bowl Season 2 and has come not only with a price reduction to 260k (from 300k) but also now provides an extra team-reroll. As well as this, Lord Borak now has a bonus to his Dirty Player skill (+2) on top of Sneaky Git making it much harder for him to be caught fouling!

Lord Borak acts as an extra strong, reliable Chaos Warrior who provides his team with a massive road block like a Big Guy with none of the drawbacks and can be depended on to throw out blocks, blitz and take a few hits for the team. On top of providing an extra team re-roll, Lord Borak comes with block and mighty blow, making him a reliable and hard hitting player. Lord Borak is now a solid choice for any Chaos Chosen team looking at fighting at a disadvantage.

Morg 'N' Thorg

Coming at 380k, Morg has seen a significant price reduction from his old price (430k) since previous editions. On top of that he now has Mighty Blow +2, meaning he can now add +2 to either the armour or injury roll.

While Morg is very good however, with his extremely high price, do consider other inducement options before taking him.