NEB-only rosters and a special star

The following are unofficial rosters which are permitted in the Never-Ending Bloodbath only (i.e. can't be used the leagues or in any competitions which involve League teams). Effectively they're just a bit of fun.

Apologies to FUMBBL (for the Snotlings and Squig Herders) and MBBL (for Araby, Border Princes and Kislev) and plasmoid (for the Bretonnians) for having "borrowed" their ideas. Thrudd has be re-imagined for LRB5 by Emrys and Paranoid Jim.

Araby

From the depths of the Araby Peninsula the nomadic people of the desert have ventured into the Old World in marauding war-bands for centuries, now they come with a new vengeance, to be masters at the sport of Blood Bowl.

Nomadic Arabian Blood Bowl teams originate from two opposite schools of thought, Holy and Unholy. The first of these, Holy, is one of divine reverence, that they are sent forth to battle infidels of their faith, and the Blood Bowl pitch is a natural proving ground. The second, Unholy, is one of much darker portents. These teams seek out the services of forbidden necromantic allies and are thoroughly shunned in all social circles, but outright loved by the fans when they take to the pitch.

Arabian teams can hire Apothecaries but they can only ever (attempt to) treat living players.

The majority of the Arabian players are lightly armored bedouins. Specialist players include bedouin throwers, brutish palace guards, and fanatical dervish.

* After a game during which a player from this team (NOT an opponent) is killed, the team's Necromancer can raise one player as either a skeleton or a tomb guardian. A player keeps his skills and any injuries from before his death. Adjust the player's stats by the modifiers listed in the table and decrease his value by 10,000 gp if raised as a skeleton or increase his value by 50,000 gp if raised as a tomb guardian. Note that a player being embalmed to be raised as a tomb guardian misses the next game and no journeyman will replace him.

For example if Lineman Abd al'Hazrad (7337 Block 15spp 70,000gp) is killed the team's necromancer can raise him as a skeleton or a tomb guardian. If raised as a skeleton he'll have the stats 5327 Block, Regenerate, Thick Skull 60,000 gp. If raised as a tomb guardian he'll miss the next game but will then have the stat line 5519 Block, Decay, Regeneration 130,000 gp. In both cases he'll still have 15spp. Note that his cost has increased by 60,000 when raised as a tomb guardian as Block is only available to a tomb guardian on a double.

** Thrahnkenkahman will only play for Unholy teams.

Border Princes

In the Empire, the province of Sylvania has an evil reputation and in ages past its Vampire Counts waged war against the rest of the empire. Then there is the cursed city of Moussillon, the Zombie-haunted swamps of Skavenblight and the ancient tombs of the Grey Mountains. The Barrow Hills of the Border Princes is a land of dread that all living creatures avoid where possible.

The Border Princes domain borders with the Dwarfs of Barak Varr, caught between the Empire to the North and the Badlands to the South. Over time, the Border Princes have become the Old World's first line of defense against the evil armies of the world even though they are the outcasts of the many races. These heroes exist in villages of their own kind throughout the world. The effect of the Chaos Winds or Warpstone in the drinking water may have mutated these heroes to some extent, but they have not lost their goal to prevent the spread of Evil. Besides, why should all the bad guys get to play Blood Bowl and not them? They're out to change that right now.

The Border Princes are a mutated team that hail from a colony of mutant outcasts who still hold true their anti-chaos beliefs and honorable traditions even after being ostracised for their appearance. As outcasts they often align themselves with local Vampire Lords of Sylvania who are focused on the defeat of Chaos more than victory over the Empire. These outcasts are not as trained as human or elf teams, their coaches have tried to use their mutated abilities to their advantage.

Border Princes teams can hire apothecaries.

Brettonians

Today, blood bowl is a very well respected sport in Bretonnia. It is considered a great test of martial skill, and is considered equal to jousting, in preparing knights for the rigours of war. Every baron wants his own team, and it is considered a great honour indeed to compete in the royal court leagues. Even fair damsels, who set the errants for budding young knights, have started to request "the scoring of many touchdowns".

But this is not, how it has always been.

In the early days of Blood Bowl, the Bretonnian nobility disdained it as a sport for the filthy peasantry and lesser nations. This was only changed by a mistake on the part of Jean Pierre Sansfortune - a brave, but unlucky, questing knight. Roaming the grey mountains, he heard of a huge grail adorned with skulls, held in the imperial city of Altdorf. This was surely the grail, he thought.

Jean Pierre travelled to Altdorf, and learned of the terrible ordeal he had to endure in order to lay hands on the grail, a trial worthy of the bravest knight - and so he joined the Reikland Reavers. For many years he struggled, until finally one day, he lead (well, sort of) his team to victory at Blood Bowl XI. Imagine Jean Pierre's disappointment when he finally held the grail, for there was no liquid in it from which to sip, and no lady of the lake to present it to him. Shattered and disgraced he quit the team, to return to his native Brionne.

However, on the first night of his journey home, he had a true visitation from the lady of the lake. She granted him her favour, for succeeding in his arduous quest. Back in Bretonnia he was greeted a hero, and since that day, the 4 major Blood Bowl trophies have been considered worthy alternatives to the grail itself. Now, young aristocrats out to earn a name for themselves will often form a team with a handful of likeminded nobles and their most trusted yeomen - and some useless peasant levy from local all-peasant teams to take care off the less glorious aspects of the game. Many an errant knight has proven his mettle in the Bretonnian leagues - and the most succesful ones will proceed to quest for one of the coveted Blood Bowl grails.

Bretonnian teams can hire apothecaries.

Kislev

From the icy wastes to the east of the Empire come a team that just won't lie down. Lightly armoured but fierce, if their werebears can take their bear forms they can be devastating. If they can't, however ...

Kislevite teams can hire Apothecaries.

At the beginning of each drive roll a D6 for each werebear on the pitch. On a 5+ he manages to take his bear form and uses the second row of stats and skills for the rest of the drive. On a 1-4 he is stuck in his human form, using the top row of stats.

Snotlings

Not all snotlings are happy to make up the numbers on Ogre teams. Some are so stupid that they demand the right to play on their own teams (albeit with assistance from a scary number of muscle-bound trolls and the equally feared and derided Pump Wagon).

Snotlings can hire apothecaries (although why you'd bother is another matter).

New skill: Too Many To Count
The small stature of a Snotling means that once a match is underway, it is very hard for a Referee to keep tabs on just how many Snotlings are on the pitch at any one time. To represent this, at the start of every new drive the Snotling Coach may bring an extra D6-1 Snotlings onto the pitch in addition to substituting for injured players, assuming he has enough players left alive! If this takes the number of Snotlings on the pitch over 11, roll a D6. On a roll of 1 the referee has noticed the infringement and sends off D3 randomly determined Snotlings for the rest of the match. If there are still more than 11 players on the pitch you may continue with the extra players.

Pump Wagon rules
The Pump Wagon is a combination of Death Roller and Fanatic and moves D6+1 squares per turn. Use the throw-in template to determine direction, the Pump Wagon continues along that course until it runs out of movement or hits someone. After each block, re-determine its direction for the rest of its turn - repeat if it then hits someone else. The Pump Wagon must use all of its alloted move until it goes off of the pitch or is knocked over.

Squig Herders

Taking a different approach to Bloodbowl than their secret weapon-obsessed brethren, the night goblin squig herders have trained their fearsome beasts to play the game. Well, when I say "trained" that may be overstating things - squigs have the unfortunate tendency to feed on their herders rather than attack their opponents.

Squig Herders can hire Apothecaries (although they tend to specialise on healing squigs rather than herders).

* Roll for Really Stupid before rolling for Blood Lust

Thrudd the Barbarian

Thrudd the Barbarian occasionally turns up for Never Ending Bloodbath games but is (thankfully) banned from appearing in league matches.