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Barrow King Teams

Player Art


Player Icons
Skeletons

Cairn Wraiths


Background
Barrows throughout The World were built to house great kings of old and their entourage, buried alongside them to protect them and to attend to their king even in the afterlife. These long lost cairns are very desirable for skilled Necromancers who are all too willing to sacrifice their soul and risk the wrath of Morr to dabble in these dark arts, all for glory on the Blood Bowl pitch. Each Barrow houses a ready-made Blood Bowl team from a forgotten time ready to be reborn under the Necromancers command. Though the control the Necromancers have over the Barrow King’s entourage differs from normal undead teams. While the Necromancer summons the players from the Cairns and has a unique hold over the Barrow King himself; the rest of the undead players have an ancient link to the Barrow King and only respond to his command, similarly the Simulacra were constructed to do his bidding alone. While the Barrow King is the head coach of these formidable teams, the Necromancer stands by his side controlling his command and controlling the Wicker Man automaton that was constructed with his dark magic.

Rationale
This team was thematically built around Lichemaster and his Barrow/Cairn Legions. As described in the Background above, the Barrow/Cairn houses a Barrow King and their legions ready for their command.

First I decided to give the team Skeletons as linemen as this was thematically the most fitting. I could have used Gloom as linemen however this would drastically change the team's make up and I also think it would step on the toes of the Ethereal team too much.

Next I added 0-2 Simulacra, these are Undead Constructs built in the image of Nagash, made from stone and animated with ancient magic to come to the defence of the Barrow King when in need. Like all animated Stone Constructs in Secret League they have Take Root to represent them turning back into stone while playing. The Simulacra are not big enough to be Big Guys, but they are very powerful warriors. Strength 4 and starting with Block felt sufficient in terms of representing how skilled they are martially. However I removed G access from them except in the double slot, as it did not feel right that they would be skilled in terms of playing the sport. Their remaining stats and skills are consistent with slow stone players.

The next player I added was the Barrow Guardian. These are the elite of the elite Wights. Grave Guards already represent elite Wights as found in Blood Dragon Teams. Barrow Guardians follow the same design principles however they are even more elite and unstoppable. Basically following the design of Grave Guard with an increased St to 4, while losing Block for Juggernaut, Block could potentially make the team too strong. and Juggernaut helps depict these players as the team's Blitzers with the Simulacra are the team's Blockers.

Next I added Wicker Man, these functionally work in the same way as a Fen Beast as found in Albion teams, an automaton linked to the Necromancer that created and controls it. They are built on top of burial grounds as part of ceremony used to animate them using Necromantic magic. I considered making a the Big Guy Tomb Stalkers, as found in the Return of the Lichemaster White Dwarf, however these are poorly described and defined in the lore and Wicker Man thematically fits with the Barrow/Cairn Themes and also has a nice symmetry with the Simulacra in that all 3 are Undead constructs a theme running through the team. In terms of their stat line and design, they are huge so St6 felt appropriate. They are constructs, so like the Simulacra they do not have Regeneration, they are also made of sticks and are quite fragile, so felt that av8+ was appropriate, and also very unique, it adds a tactical depth to the team around how to protect the Big Guy to ensure it can assert it's strength dominance, without being removed from play. Finally I added Foul Appearance and Disturbing Presence as the Wicker Man moves around with an illusionary fire engulfing it to make it look like a burning effigy. This flame would be both off putting hence Disturbing Presence and a deterrent from hitting it which translates as Foul Appearance. Foul Appearance also gives the Wicker Man a little bit of protection, which is much needed for this low armour player.

I added Cairn Wraiths from the Ethereal Team in this Barrow team to function as the team's runners. As this is Cairn/Barrow themed team they are an obvious inclusion, further the Barrow Legion in Total war started with Cairn Wraiths for the same thematic reasons.

Finally I added Glooms. Gloom are the same as Ghosts with the addition of Frenzy. This is to represent they are Ghosts but with a burning rage that carried on into their afterlife and unlike Ghosts Gloom retain some of their humanity and free will. They also give the team some unique tactical tools and play styles.

Team design by Garion, Kingmad, Sokeefe and C0ddlefish
Background and Rationale by Garion
Icons by Whatball and