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Zandri Teams

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Skeleton Slaves

Slave Throw-Ra

Catch-Ra

Skeleton Pirates

Tomb Guardian Ancients


Background
Zandri was the first city built in Khemri. It is said that written language was invented here and Blood Bowl may have originated in these parts; though this was of course before the lands of the region turned to dust and the populace died. For centuries Zandri was the greatest of all cities in Khemri. The sprawling market place found along the coast line were the largest found throughout The World; temples, monoliths, palaces and Blood Bowl stadia were erected in the city centre looking down on the coast line and a bustling city grew all around them. But the city had a darker side, the royalty were merciless and unwavering in their pursuit of wealth and power, the slave trade endemic, the ports were a hive of villainy and scum – pirates regularly sailed into the ports selling slaves and other spoils from far-off lands. Never has a city had such huge disparity between the rich and poor.

This was many many years ago. Khemri is now a very different place. Almost the entire continent was wiped out and rose again as walking dead. As Ruff the Unwise observed in his book the Ruff Guide to Khemri the entire population wander around in a parody of their former lives. The ports are still full of pirates though now Undead, skeletons wander through the market place and the Blood Bowl stadia are full. Opposing teams still stand off daily in a never ending game of Blood Bowl.

During the reformation of the NAF Tomb Guardians Ancients that once guarded the kings of the past started herding up the brainless Skeletons of Zandri and formed new teams that would travel The World playing Blood Bowl again.

The Blood Bowl teams of this region of Khemri are unique in many ways. First and foremost in Zandri the players were all slaves when living and now in death this tradition continues. Driven by their slave masters they were relentless players refusing to lay down for fear their punishment would be worse post-game than anything that could happen on the field of play. In death the Slave Skeletons continue to play in the same way. The most able slaves in each team used to be given the Helm of Throw-Ra (an old Khemri god) the helm contains magical properties that imbue the wearer with greater abilities of ball handling and passing. Where Khemri teams of Zandri differed the most was they had catchers rather than blitzers in their team. These were the only players in the team that were not slaves and only the most agile and speedy Blood Bowl players of the region would be given the honour of being presented with the Helm of Catch-Ra. This helm gave the wearer even greater speed and agility, and back when the teams were living they were the fastest and most agile players found in the world. In death they lost much of their ability though the Helm of Catch-Ra still imbues them with greater ability than anything a normal skeleton could hope to achieve.

Unlike the teams of the past the Tomb Guardian Ancients enlisted the help of the Skeletal Pirates that fill Zandri, though they have no thought of their own and find themselves in the alien environment of the Blood Bowl field they are very handy with their swords and when a foe comes close they will try and take them out. Finally the Tomb Guardians Ancients now play with the rest of their team mates, they are the most fearsome and powerful of all Tomb Guardians and Zandri teams are quickly gaining a name for themselves as one of the most relentless and dangerous teams on the Blood Bowl circuit.

Rationale
There were a number of reasons for this team’s addition to Secret League. First and foremost during the evolution of the Khemri roster in the official rules there was some talk in the forums of having the roster resemble the classic film - Jason and the Argonauts, with skeletons jumping up and never staying down, a relentless undead team evoking images of some of the iconic battles of the film. However as with everything Khemri related BBRC could not really agree on the direction they should take which is why we ended up with the half-baked roster we did. However from this idea did come - Sinnedbad the Skeleton Pirate star player which thematically certainly fits in with the Jason and the Argonauts idea. Another reason for this rosters creation was the addition of some of the other Khemri teams that I had created that were based on official Blood Bowl fluff, because they were included it was a must that Zandri the oldest and arguably most important of all cities in Khemri should have a team of their own too. I should also point out at this point; although I do like this roster I would not like Khemri official roster to move in this direction, just removal of Decay from the Tomb Guardians and addition of Thick Skull to their positions would suffice, but I digress….

After reading as much information as possible related to Zandri a few points really stood out to me, first and foremost this was the oldest of all the cities in Khemri (or Nehekhara as the area is referred to in WFB), the first great city ever built in the region. The humans that lived there were very advanced for their time and the city was the birth place of written language. The city was built along the coast and had great ports and markets, pirates and thieves etc frequented these areas. The city itself was built by slaves and so on. After reading all this it felt like this was the perfect setting for the Jason and the Argonauts themed Khemri roster that was discussed by the BBRC members et al back in 2008 ish. The coast line, the skeletal pirates, the skeletal slaves all fit the image of what I wanted this team to look like.

After looking at all of this I turned my attention back to the official Khemri backstory in Blood Bowl. This was written in most detail back in Blood Bowl Magazine Issue 5. In short Khemri were depicted as a race that one once living, a great event wiped them out and they now live again as skeletons moving around like a parody of their former selves. With this in mind Skeleton Slaves became an obvious choice of linemen, basically the same as normal Skeletons but as they act like a parody of their former selves they have the Jump Up skill which represents that they are slaves and they are never allowed to stop working. From years of working as Slaves both building and playing in the Slave Blood Bowl teams of the area, they gained this trait and in death they continue moving in the same way, without any thought or reason, instead just moving out of some deep rooted muscle memory.

For the Throw-Ras I again used the official background in BB Mag 5 about how they are normal skeletons given the Helms of Throw-Ra which is one of their gods in the BB universe and infuses the wearer with greater ball handlings and passing abilities. The only difference here is the helm is given to a slave so they also have the Jump Up ability.

As pirates are part of Zandri’s fluff it felt fitting that a pirate positional similar to Sinnedbad would play in these teams and again it fit perfectly with the Jason and the Argonauts theme.

Tomb Guardians were added to the roster, but I wanted them to have Mighty Blow and Jump Up. Mighty Blow and G access as a throwback to the LRB4 Khemri roster and Jump Up as it is in keeping with the theme of the roster and the relentless undead horde thematics that are also in keeping with Jason and the Argonauts. I did restrict them to 2 though as I didn’t want the roster to be too good as this roster also has Catch-Ras that are unique to this Khemri team (outside of 2nd edition Skeleton teams anyway).

The Catch-Ra got their name so they are in keeping with the official Khemri background from BB mag5. The reasons they are included in this roster are 2 fold. Firstly they were featured in the 2nd edition Skeleton team though they were just called skeleton catchers back then. As this region is meant to be the oldest in all of Khemri I felt it fitting that they maintained something of a throwback to 2nd edition in their teams. The 2nd reason is that there is still a star player skeleton catcher called Humerus Carpal, the stat line and skills of the positional were also based on this player as it is a pretty accurate translation from 2nd edition.

Season 2 Changes
183 games played, win percentage of 53%. The team is performing fine as a tier 1 team, its a little higher than I thought it would perform but I have no issue with this. No change required.

Season 3
221 games played, with a win percentage of 42.08%. This team has seen a fairly big drop in this year, however I still suspect they are tier 1.5 team even though they have more recently been performing as a tier 2 team. The team is locked in now, any fears of them being too good have certainly been allayed.

Team design, rationale and background by Garion
Icons by Machjacob, Whatball and Cowhead
Player pics by Knut_Rockie, coloured by Garion