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Zoat Teams

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Zoat Juven

Zoat


Background
Zoats are creatures of legend, not many have heard of them and fewer seen them. They inhabit the forests throughout the old world, living close to Wood Elf colonies where possible. Scribes of The Empire have tried studying these rare and strange creatures for years but little is known about them. Many theories are made of their existence, much of it hyperbole. It is not uncommon to hear the scribes tell tales of Zoats planning to use their great magic to enslave the human race and conquer the earth. But in truth the Zoats are a relatively peaceful race who have never waged war in their history. They survive in the forests and only fought when their homelands were threatened.

As Bloodbowl rose in prominence and war throughout The World subsided the Zoat numbers grew. Though they still remained hidden from the world deep in the forests, and lived a peaceful existence.

They were first introduced to Blood Bowl by their Wood Elf neighbours and the Zoats created teams with their young. The games were friendly in nature and the Zoats never won much, the Wood Elves were too fast and agile for the Zoats.

In recent times Zoat teams have started appearing in more far off locations. Some Zoats grew to love the game and travel The World playing their own brand of the sport. Though their teams are still very rare they have started to gain a name for themselves as an extremely tough and powerful race.

Rationale
Zoats were only around for a brief period from 2md to 3rd edition WFB. They were allies of Wood Elves and sworn enemies of Lizardmen. Lizardmen actually feared the Zoats. Zoats have only just resurfaced in 8th edition WFB and are mentioned a couple of times in the Storms of Magic supplement.

Zoats only had 2 models for WFB one was the standard Zoat, the other was released briefly though never had a stat line to support it. The model became known as the Baby Zoat. If you Google this or look on stuff of Legends you will see these.

The normal Zoat was big like a dragon ogre in proportion. While the 'Baby Zoat' was the size of a standard human. Because of this it was obvious that the Baby Zoat would have to be the lineman unless we made this an Ogre type roster and gave the Zoats a negatrait, however that was not possible as Zoats are highly intelligent beings, so bone head and really stupid would not fit at all. Similarly they are not wild animals so that was a no go.

After considering all of this it became clear that this roster would fit well in to the Khemri mould. The normal Zoats standing in for the Tomb Guardians and the Baby Zoats standing in for the Linemen. Because of the standard Zoats huge size and enormous fists St 5 was a must. Break Tackle was selected over Might Blow as the starting skill as it seemed more fitting, the players using their huge bulk to shake off any tackle-zones. Mighty Blow would have fit too but I didn't want the team to be too bashy. Sure Feet was given to the player because they move around on 4 legs like a Bull Centaur who was given the skill for this reason so this was a must, but their Ma was made 5 and Sprint was not added because they are described as having a 'shuffling, nervouse gate' in WFB 3rd edition which doesn't make them sound too fast, or worthy of the skill, and from a balance perspective I didn't want them being too quick. Because of their high St and access to G skills they needed some negatives, ag1 was a must, again to mirror the Khemri roster, but also representing their huge bulk and the difficulty they face interacting with the ball because of their elevated torso. Av8 was given to them because they needed to be a little easier to hurt than Tomb Guardians, this was to make up for how much more mobile they are than Khemri, and they need to be mobile if staying true to their fluff, I also felt that St5 was a good reflection of their Toughness and Strength anyway and giving them Av9 would make them too powerful.

The Baby Zoat basically started with a human stat line, as they are human in size and proportion, they lose 1 Ag as dodging and ball handling would never be easy for a centaur type creature. They gained Sure Feet because of their 4 legs, like a Bull Centaur.

The trickiest part of the roster was deciding on which star players to give the Zoats. Technically speaking they should have the same star players as the Wood Elves as they were long standing allies of the Wood Elves in 3rd edition wfb. However this would potentially make the roster too good when playing as the TV underdog, as the Ag4 and ag5 players the Wood Elves stars have would be too great a boon for such an unagile bash orientated team. This is the only real departure from the source material I have had to make for the roster though and settled on the same star players as Ogre teams who don't have the best selection of star players and they also fit in to the bash style of the team.

Season 2 Changes
330 games played with a win percentage of 55.6%. This is fine for a Tier1 team, though some people anecdotally find them a bit too strong. I will be keeping a close eye on them and if needed the Zoats will lose their G access in future.

Season 3 Changes
270 games played this year and still performing as a tier 1 team in SLO, in excess of 50%, however in Scheduled leagues they are causing much bigger problems, and they are performing far too well, which is the more telling environemnt. The result of which is the team has been nerfed harder than any team to any team to date. It will not be to everyone taste and I am sorry if it hits you. The Zoats lose Break Tackle and G access, with a price decrease of -10k. Their RRs increase in cost by 10k which still works out as a net saving in TV. Having tested this nerf a lot I can assure you the team is still very good even after these nerfs, they just require more thought to play with now and you need to be more cautious. This team is still not locked down, if the nerf is too big they may get Prehensile Tail on the Zoats, however early signs suggest they are fine as they are.

Team design rationale and background by Garion
Player Pics by Knut Rockie, coloured by Garion
Icons by Cowhead and Garion