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Northern Nippon Teams

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Turtlemen

Chaos Samurai

Chaos Sumo

Oni


Famous Teams
Nippon Nibblers, first mentioned in 2nd edition stars supplement, though these are a halfling team, but show blood bowl is played in the region.

Background
Nippon teams have existed since the early days of Bloodbowl, back when the NAF was still running, though few teams and players from the region ever left their homelands to play in the Old World where Bloodbowl gets it greatest audiences. Only Hoshi Komi a famous human ninja from Nippon and a Halfling team called Nippon Nibblers left their mark in the Old World.

Later Nippon teams started increasing in number. They are now found throughout The World playing their unique brand of Bloodbowl. Their teams are incredibly well equipped and skilled and most pundits believe it is only a matter of time before Nippon teams start Winning major trophies.

Not long after teams that became known as Northern Nippon started appearing, they came from the same area of The World but had a very different brand of Bloodbowl. They used brute force instead of finesse and struck fear in to the heart of their opponents. The Northern Nippon teams came from Haikido; the northern most part of Nippon. For centuries these lands were kept seperate from the Nippon main lands, a Great Wall was built before the Honsu Channel, to keep the inhabitants of the Cursed Isle at bay. The touch of chaos had cursed these lands. Daemon known as Oni in the region stalked the area known also as the devils crater. The humans that remained there devoted them selves to the chaos gods, some gaining gifts of great strength and great girth for their allegiance.

Nippon and Northern Nippon teams are sworn enemies one fighting for Good and the other for Chaos and when these teams meet on the Bloodbowl field the games are brutal and bloody affairs, even more so than usual.

Rationale
This roster, called Northern Nippon (to help differentiate between them) is based more loosely on the existing material for the region, though still drawing from the original WFB Nippon army list and fluff as well as the Armies of Antiquity from the same era as 2nd ed, Ravening Hordes to 3rd ed WFB.

The roster is more heavy hitting that the other roster, taking a Northern Nippon Daemon of Chaos from the old WFB army list, this also had a model as well. The roster also includes Sumo Wrestlers as well, which is a departure from the background material as they never appear in any Bloodbowl fluff, WFB or Antiquity’s fluff that I could find. They are included to add to the heavy hitting feel of the roster and it isn’t too big a departure from the source material as Sumo is deeply entrenched in Japanese culture and Nippon is obviously meant to be Japan.

The Sumo’s stat line was straight forward – because of their size and build St4 seemed appropriate, though they wear little armour Av8 still seemed right because of their huge size, and how strong they are. Their Ma is 4 and Ag is 2 because they are a bit slow and cumbersome. Stand Firm and Grab seemed the best fit for skills; Stand Firm because it would be extremely tough shifting a big unit like a Sumo Wrestler, and grab to represent their grappling moves.

Chaos Samurai were a must have in the roster. They have appeared in all the source material I used for creating the roster, they are a staple of Nippon fluff. They are basically human Blitzers.

This roster also represents the darker side of Nippons fluff, the fact they have Daemons of Chaos fighting alongside them shows that the tide of Chaos has reached Nippon and no doubt turned many to Chaos. The Oni (a Daemon of Chaos) has Horns and Razor Sharp Claws (translates to Claw), this is based on the fluff and models from 2nd ed WFB. They regenerate like all Daemons, so that was added. I wanted this Big Guy to be one of the most powerful in the game, more powerful than a Minotaur, though starting with a lower St than a Treeman, though weaker than all the Greater Daemons. Giving them Claw makes them initially weaker than many Big guys though when combined with MB later will make them very powerful. Wild Animal and Frenzy fitted the fluff perfectly and I added Juggernaut which gives them that extra hitting ability to raise them above the likes of Minotaurs. Similarly Av9 and Thick Skull were added to make the Oni tougher than a Minotaur again to mirror the fluff and add to the themes of the team, tough and powerful but lower than average Ma.

Season 2 (2020 Edition) Changes
I changed the Samurai name to Chaos Samurai, and Sumo to Chaos Sumo. Then changed the linemen to Turtlemen. Turtlemen are Chaos Beastmen and had a model back in 2nd edition WFB, I felt this was fitting as it is a nod to Kappa from Japanese mythology and also I wanted the roster to me Chaosy in feel, and more of a reference to the Tzeentch (or Lord Tsien-Tsin as it is known in Nippon) influence in the region, the beak on the turtle also felt very fitting for a Tzeentchian Beastman. Further the addition of M access to the team made them better so nerfs were needed in other areas. The roster is still firmly tier 1 but the challenge comes now from the Oni attacking it's own team and also moving the ball becomes much harder now with such a slow team. This is one of the biggest changes for this edition and will be watching it closely.

Team design by Garion and Zakatan
Background and rationale by Garion
Icons by Kingmad and trofimovitj
Pictures by Knut Rockie and coloured by Garion