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Dust Goblin Teams

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Dust Goblin

Morbid

Bone Giant

Tomb Scorpion

Ushabti


Background
The deserts of Khemri were once lush green plains; the setting of great battles in an age long forgotten. These cursed lands are now little more than a barren waste land, a vast sandy tomb preserving the endless remains of the casualties of war.

As Ruff the Unwise hypothesised in his book - the Ruff Guide to Khemri: the lands were cursed in a great cataclysmic event that imbued the sands with a necromantic magic. The dead rose again and stalked the lands living out a parody of their former lives, trapped in eternal wait, until a Liche Priest summons them to their bidding.

As Blood Bowl rose in popularity throughout the world Khemri teams grew in number. Liche Priests from each region of the Land of the Dead toured the world with their undead teams. Each bringing new and unseen wonders of an ancient forgotten world; Giant constructs, mechanised weapons and animated statues to name but a few. The most obscure of all the new teams in Khemri were the Dust Goblins.

Dust Goblins are the reanimated remains of Goblins that once fought in the age of war. Unlike most undead beings - the Dust Goblins seem to have a glimmer of life, malevolence and mischief in their eyes, a remnant of their former life. The lands of the dead teem with hordes of Dust Goblins led by the Morbids the former chiefs of the Goblin malignities.

As with most races involved in the sport it took one outlier to pave the way. A team named Bhagar Dust Mights led by their Liche Priest head coach - Hassam El Badry. The team was made up of Dust Goblins, Morbids, two Tomb Scorpion constructs, two Bone Giant constructs and two great Ushabti. They were a great spectacle capable of causing carnage. But it was the Dust Goblins themselves that really won over the neatural fans. The worthless creatures were good at nothing, they couldn't run, dodge, deal with the ball or fight, but even in death the Dust Goblins retained their dirty cheating nature, fouling at every opportunity even at times against the will of their Liche Priest head coach, it was as if the former goblins cheating nature was rooted in their very bones, even in death that malevolence remained - much to the delight of the fans. The Dust Mights never won any silverware but they did pave the way for the many Dust Goblin teams now playing the sport the world over.

Rationale
The Ushabti and Bone Giant are existing players in other Khemri style rosters in secret league, so they are exactly as found in those other rosters, you can read their rationale in their respective teams pages. The only difference is Bone Giants get Throw Team Mate. I decided to give the team this option because only the Dust Goblins have right stuff and not the Morbids, which means the chances of success are low, and the team is fairly weak already in terms of its scoring ability. The reason these big guys are in the roster is the theme of this team is Dust Goblins supported by the constructs of Khemri. It has a similar dynamic to Ogre teams, though it is regen based stunty team with Khemri themes

The Tomb Scorpions were added as they were a Tomb King/Khemri construct that were not represented in any Khemri teams so far. Inside the Tomb Scorpion is a sarcophagus and inside the sarcophagus is Liche Priest that controls the Tomb Scorpion. This is why the Tomb Scorpion has Bone Head rather than Really Stupid which the Bone Giant had, even though they are both constructs. Bone Head in this instance representing a malfunction of the mechanism similar to rationale of the Gnomish Contraption. The Scorpion is made of metal and fused bone so Av9 and Thick Skull seemed appropriate. Stab was given to represent the Scorpion Tail attack, and Claw was the obvious choice representing the two great Claws of the Scorpion.

Dust Goblins are undead goblins, using the standard rules for turning undead -1 Ma, -1 Ag, and gaining Regeneration over their living counterparts. I decided to give them disposable for a few reasons. Firstly their background talks of undead goblins roaming the land of the dead, of them being a parody of their former selves (so large numbers and even worse than Goblins). But also their stat line makes them one of the worst players in the game, only Snotlings (Gnoblars in the official new rules) are as bad, but with ag2 they really are very limited in their uses. Finally after play testing the roster - because of the added cost of regen throughout the team (even though there are discounts in places) without disposable it made the team as bad as CRP ogres, which was a roster I never liked. CRP ogres were so bad it made the team pointless to play with unless playing in a pool of inexperienced coaches. They were a team that in all formats had a win percentage below 30%. After giving the team disposable it made the a little better, I still expect the team to perform around a tier 2 level but they are least a challenge for other stunty teams now, and offer something a bit different- a regen stunty team, and a team in the Ogre mould that are a little more competative.

Morbids are, or rather were elite Goblins. Leaders of a malignity of Goblins. As such they gain Ag over the Dust Goblins, lose Disposable as they add value to a team and gain Sure Hands to give the team some balling ability even though it is limited to only 2 a team. Again after testing it was apparent that some ag3 was needed otherwise the team became too dicey, and too often turn overs were occuring too early in a turn.

Season 4 changes
After a year of playing the new roster 349 games and a win percentage of 35% I removed Disposable. It made this roster feel too TV efficient in scheduled leagues and rookie rumbles. In the open division it didn't cause any problems and the win ratio was exactly as expected. But in scheduled leagues there were a few examples of the team performing at too high a level for comfort. So it has been removed.

Team design by Garion and the CIBBL team.
Rationale and background by Garion
Player pics by
Icons by Cowhead, Kingmad and Fanky