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Nippon Teams

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Ashigaru

Samurai

Warrior Monk

Ninja


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.

Recently Nippon teams have been 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.

Rationale
This is the first of two rosters based on Nippon. Because of the wealth of background material for the region I felt that creating two rosters each with their own play style and players was a good idea.

This roster, simply called Nippon is based more closely on the existing material for the region. Drawing from Nippon on Bloodbowl, the original WFB Nippon army list and fluff as well as the Armies of Antiquity from the same era as 2nd, Ravening Hordes to 3rd ed WFB.

First up was the Linemen, based on all the material is was clear that these should be Ashigaru. These are your basic Human Linemen.

Next up were the Ninjas. There is already a Ninja in Bloodbowl from Nippon called Hoshi Komi. This player was based on his stat line, though starts with a St2, the star player has St3, but I felt that this should be a stat increase for him and one of the things that makes him a star. Dodge and Leap were kept as they are perfectly fitting for a ninja based on the fluff. Catch was also removed as this is something else that makes the star player unique and it didn’t really fit the theme of a ninja and would have made him over described. Ag4 and Ma8 were a must, so they are as fast as a Human Catcher but more agile. After all these ninjas are the same people that taught Skaven Gutter runners the secrets of ninjitsu. This player is a slight cause for a concern for me though and if the team performs too well I will remove Dodge from them as a starter skill.

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.

Finally I added the Warrior Monk to the roster. Many internet Nippon rosters have Sumo Wrestlers in their team, based on the Japanese culture. However there is no record of Nippon having sumo wrestlers. Whereas Warrior Monks with razor sharp claws are found throughout their material and have miniatures to support it, most often referred to as Vim-to Monks. Ideally I would have given them Razor Sharp Claws, but this skill was removed for the current version of the game, so this gets translated as Claw, like Snow Trolls and Werewolves etc… Their stat line was pretty straight forward, they are a glass cannon type player, very fragile with little armour – Av7. Very agile though not as much as a Ninja – A access and Ag3. They need to be fast though again not as quick as a Ninja so Ma7. Although warriors I did not want them to have S access. They are an agile warrior similar in style to how Werewolves operate in Bloodbowl teams.

Season 2 Changes
Nippon teams played 450 games with a win percentage of 56.6%. They were designed to be tier 1, and a match for teams like Wood Elf, Skaven, Undead etc.. They are performing as expected, so no change needed. If I do make them weaker one day the two options are to make the linemen av7 or reduce the blitzers to 0-2, however they are performing at an acceptable level currently.

Season 3
Games played - 469 games played with a win percentage of 50.32%. Although tier 1 this is actually a little low than expected. This team was meant to be in amongst the best teams in the game, as mentioned in the Season 2 info above. As such I did not lock this roster in for fear of being too good. It would appear that is not the case from these stats. I will still leave it unlocked for now though, and wait another year or so to make sure the roster is ok, as I still believe it is a tier zero roster.

Season 4
I had concerns about this team, that it was possibly too good, but after another year has passed and another 400 games played with a win percentage of 50% I am happy they are performing as expecting. I have now locked this team.

Team design by Garion and Harvestmouse
Background and rationale by Garion
Icons by harvestmouse and Whatball
Pictures by Knut Rockie and coloured by Garion