Heresy & Heroes

Stupid (yet entirely necessary and sensible) lockdown. There’s a brand new edition of Blood Bowl launched and I haven’t played a single darn game of it. Those nights, sat in Bugmans, enjoying some beers as my orcs were demolished by, well, pretty much everyone, were great fun. We will get there again. But, this break has meant that I’ve got time to work on a brand new team. However (boy, this opening paragraph has a lot of twists!) the team that I wanted to work on has spent a lot of time out of stock. I’m talking about the magnificent little Snotling team, who I think are just great. I know I’m unlikely to win a game with them, but I struggle to win with top tier teams, so I figure if I’m going to lose, I may as well have a lot of fun doing so. 

Like I said, the Snotling team have been out of stock for a while, and a little while back, I posted the above on Twitter, mentioning that I would reveal what it as all about. I can tell you now – I’m working on a Chaos Familiars Blood Bowl team. Here’s a few more of them:

Well, I had the minis. Most of them anyway, and it only took three ebay purchases to bring me up to 12 tiny dudes. Why 12? Well, because I’m going to be basing the way these guys play on the Snotling team and trust me, with the amount of dead snots you end up with on these super stunty teams, you’re going to want plenty of subs (especially as you can also swarm the opposing team with them when the ref’s back is turned). Anyway, these are the three retro dudes I picked up:

So, I had the basis of my team, but not all snotlings are created equal. As well as your bottom-of-the-bog standard linemen, there are Fungas Flingas (who essentially throw mushrooms like bombs at the enemy), Stilty Runnas (who have a little more speed due to the fact they’re on stilts) and Fun Hoppas (who, despite sounding like some sort of marital aid, bounce around on Squigs). These are pretty useful to have at your disposal in a team that needs every bit of help it can get, so I wanted to make sure my little weirdos had the same access to these types of players. Obviously though, I couldn’t mount any on squigs, and mushrooms, while kind-of witchy, aren’t really chaosy, so it was time to get the brain bubbling, and crack open the greenstuff.

Fun Hoppas were pretty easy. I wanted to give them wings, but not big wings that implied flight was possible, but more vestigial wings that with some frantic beating, might carry them off the ground for a step or two. I used the wings from the Graveguard banner pole on the tiny skeleton chap, and I used plasticard to fashion some small dragonfly like wings for the daemonette (who I also gave some clothes – because it’s 2021, and far more practical for Blood Bowl besides). 

Fungus Flingas throw bombs, so I just went with old-school cartoon-inspired round bombs with fuses. I piled up the round balls on the bases, glued on the fuse holes, and then finally the flimsy little fuses. All made from green stuff, and I’ve given these to the two most wizardy looking guys. It’s important in a game of blood bowl for your opponent (and for you) to easily work out which player on the team does what, and both the wings and bombs should do this pretty well.

The brainwave for the Stilty Runnas though is what I’m most proud of. I thought about making stilts but that just didn’t seem right for familiars. And then it hit me. Tiny Balewind Vortices. It will elevate them (like the stilts) and you could see these little dirt devils zooming around the pitch too. A twist of greenstuff and an eight pointed star from one of the Chaos vehicle kits, and there you go! I’d also suggest running a pin through these – I didn’t and they feel mega flimsy so I’m just waiting for them to topple over.

Here’s a close up of some of my favourite paint jobs. I’ve completed six so far, so we’re half way through the little guys!

The bases are representative of a lava-field – probably one of the few sorts of “fields” that are available to play on in the Chaos Wastes. The cracks represent the lines on the pitch, and the height of them help to make these teeny-weeny familars stand up a little taller (making them easier to see and pick up during the game). And you can learn how to create them in yesterday’s post!

There’s a lot more to come though. Along with the six more familiars, you’ll be aware that Snotling teams also get access to a couple of tamed trolls and, of course, the infamous Snotling Pump Wagon (again, two of them). I’ve got ideas for these but I’ll keep that to myself for just a little while longer – they should be a lot of fun though. But I can show you their manager:

So that’s one of the fun little projects I’ve got on. I’ll keep you posted with any more news. Fingers crossed, by the time we’re allowed to play Blood Bowl in Bugmans again, I’ll have a brand new team to enjoy. Until then, onwards!