Defensive Setup in Blood Bowl
Part VIII: Specialty Defenses
by JackassRampant

Some of the full-pitch and asymmetric defenses described already benefit from having a player or two with specific skills to hold position, or with the Kick skill. But how do you build your whole defense around weird positioning skills? Here, I will lay out defenses for teams that can amass these skills and use them to their fullest: Imperial Nobility and Necromantic Horror.

Imperial Nobility

Imperial Nobility have their problems, but being able to field large numbers of Fend and Stand Firm opens up two major defensive options unavailable to most teams. First, having Fend across the defensive line means you can put players 1 square back behind scrimmage and between the 2 columns and be confident that a Quick Snap won’t put them in danger. Second, having players who can’t be followed up on usually frees you up to play looser “fence” formations in the wide zone, unless you’re facing Juggernaut/Frenzy players.

B = Bodyguard, L = Lineman, Z = Noble Bitzer (or an Ogre).

Imperial Defense I: “Broad-Head Arrow”
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 column
- - - -|- - L L L - -|- - - - Line
- - - -|- - - - - - -|- - - - -1
- B - L|- B - Z - B -|L - B - -2
- - - -|- - - Z - - -|- - - - -3

This is basically an arrowhead, but staggering the Bodyguards and Linemen in a fence-style formation takes the pressure off the midfielders and gives you great responsiveness, especially against teams that can’t blitz at Strength 4 or better, so they need to fill their own lanes with assists. You can move the line of scrimmage around if you want, and you can also pull the screen back another square against Undead, so they can’t blitz with the Mummies. Don’t use this against strong teams or those with Juggernaut: go for a boat, chevron, or ziggurat instead.

Imperial Defense II: “Inside Job”
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 column
- - - -|L - - L - - L|- - - -
- - - -|- B Z - Z B -|- - - -
- - L B|- - - - - - -|B L - -

This defense uses a 303 line screen to let you load up the middle right behind scrimmage. It can be devastating against Khorne, or on turn 9 against a team you’ve already got down in numbers. It’s pretty situational, but shows you some of the clever things you can do with an all-Fend line.

Necromantic Horror

Necromantic have easy access to Stand Firm on the Golems and Side Step on the Wraiths. The Wraiths also benefit from Block and Foul Appearance, while the Golems have ST4. This means you can be a lot more effective with line defenses than most teams, and against all-ST3 teams, an Arrowhead is actually a fairly viable defense.

F = Flesh Golem, W = Wraith, X = any player (Werewolf or Ghoul, probably), Z = Zombie.

Necromantic Line Defense
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 column
- - - -|- - Z Z Z - -|- - - - Line
- - - -|- - - - - - -|- - - - -1
- W X -|X F - - - F X|- X W - -2

Necromantic Arrowhead
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 column
- - - -|- - Z Z Z - -|- - - -
- - - -|- - - - - - -|- - - -
- W X -|F - - X - - F|- X W -
- - - -|- - - X - - -|- - - -

This is just a taste of the roster-specific defensive possibilities, but it should give you a sense of how to use the particulars of your team to your advantage. Next up, we’re going to discuss manpower disparities, where one side or the other is running low on players. Until then, have fun and good luck!

— JR

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