The Norse roster is one of the most recently updated in Blood Bowl, and you now have more ways to build your team than ever before.  In this article we’re going to take a look at some of the best builds for both Tournament and League play.  Before we get into those, let’s look at our roster options and how they help the team.

The Norse Roster

Linemen

The Norse Linemen is a strange beast, in that unlike many Blood Bowl Linemen they are not simply unspectacular punching bags.  AV8+ means you cannot just base up opponents with impunity as you can with, say, a Zombie or Orc Linemen.  And the fact that they all come with Block means opponents must respect their offensive capabilities.

Ulfwerener

These are one of your key positionals; with huge potential, but requiring careful management.  ST4 allows them to generate 2-dice blocks reliably against most of the Blood Bowl world, but Frenzy can certainly get them into trouble.  With AV9+ they don’t want to end up basing stronger opponents or being gang-blocked (or fouled).  Nevertheless they are one of your best methods of opening up defences and beating down opponents, and benefit hugely from skilling up.

Berseker

Even more caution must be applied to the Berserker, who with only ST3 can more easily get himself into Frenzy trouble.  However Block does mean you have some safety net, and it also means they are one of your best Stunty and Elf Hunters out of the box.  Jump Up is a great additional skill that can take opponents by surprise.

Valkyrie

The Valkyrie was the most changed positional from previous iterations of Norse, and it now plays as a hybrid runner/passer/sacker.  You can build them in almost any way you choose, but I would recommend you use at least one as your primary ball-carrier.

Yhetee

The Yhetee is one of the most fun big guys and has many synergies with the Norse playstyle.  Just remember if you do run one, you need to be Blitzing with it or basing with it to ensure it activates.  Like the rest of your roster it does not have high AV, so it must be used as more of a hitter than a roadblock.

Beer Boar

Lastly, the newest Norse addition, is our very unique Beer Boar.  These guys live and die by how much you like the Pick Me Up! Special rule.  If you can find clever ways to activate it (and make 5+ rolls) then it can give you some incredible momentum.  But the downside to fielding a Titchy ST1 piece with AV6+ should be obvious.

League Builds

The biggest problem for Norse in League play is that Norse positionals are pretty expensive.  Even without the Yhetee it’s not possible to build a 1m TV roster with all six of your Berserkers, Valkyries, and Ulfwereners.  If you do want to start with the Yhetee, the sacrifices become even more dramatic.  We’ll look at examples of both.

1m TV Roster w/o Yhetee

2 x Ulfwerener

2 x Valkyrie

1 x Berserker

6 x Linemen

3 x Re-roll

You could run this exact same roster but swap a Valkyrie for Berserker for 5k less.  I would personally always run at least one Valk for ball-handling duties, but otherwise both options are good.

This roster leaves 30k (or 35k) for other spending.  I would personally use that for Dedicated Fans, as that will provide a lengthy bonus to earned cash during the season, and help you fill out the roster more easily.  But another option is to buy a Beer Boar for 20k.

1m TV Roster w/ Yhetee

1 x Yhetee

1 x Ulfwerener

2 x Berserker

1 x Valkyrie

6 x Linemen

3 x Re-roll

This weighs in at exactly 1mTV.  You could sacrifice a Re-roll to provide spare cash for Dedicated Fans, Beer Boars, or to upgrade a LInemen into one of your other positionals (Ulferwener would definitely be a strong option).

League Development and Skill Choices

In terms of purchases during the season,filling out your positionals will be your main goal.  I would not personally add a 4th Reroll, but it is an option (definitely don’t go to 5). Apothecary is a good purchase for Norse as low AV tends to mean plenty of suffered casualties, and saving a positional from a niggling injury or stat bust can be a big deal across a league season 

Below are the best skills for each position in rough order of priority.  Secondaries are marked inItalics.

Position	Best First Skills	Notes
Yhetee	Block, Juggernaut, Mighty Blow	Do not take Juggernaut if you have Block, and vice versa
Ulfwerener	Block, Mighty Blow
Berserker	Mighty Blow, Tackle
Valkyrie	Block or Wrestle, Dodge, Tackle, Sure Hands, Accurate, Leader	Should be built for specific purposes, e.g. Ball-carrier, Ball-stripper, Passer, etc.
Linemen	Tackle,Guard, Dirty Player
Beer Boar	Sidestep, Diving Tackle	Do not skill Boars at all if possible!

Tournament Builds

In Tournaments, we are likely to have somewhere in the 1100-1200k range to build the team.  As Tournament packs vary widely, we’ll lowball these builds at 1100 and then show you how they can be adapted and upgraded for higher spending.

1.1m TV Roster w/Yhetee

1 x Yhetee

2 x Ulfwerener

2 x Berserker

2 x Valkyrie

4 x Linemen

3 x Re-roll

Conveniently this is exactly 1.1m on the nose.  The main downside of this build is it is only eleven players.  This is about as Glass Cannon as you can get.

If the tournament runs at 1150, you can address this problem by adding an extra lineman, and arguably at 1200 the best option is to add two.  Your other option, at all spending levels, is to drop a Re-roll for another Lineman, Apothecary, or one or more Beer Boars.  This is arguably a good idea at 1.1m, and becomes less necessary at higher values.  But whenever the tourney pack gives you an extra 50 or 100k, Linemen, Apothecary, and or Beer Boars are your go-to options to customise this build.

Builds including Stars

If your tournament pack includes the option to take Stars, you have a lot of interesting options in the 200-250k range.  Builds can get quite complicated and can require quite extreme sacrifices depending on the rules pack when you factor these in, so I’ll limit myself here to recommending some of the best options.

Star	Cost	Notes
Karla Von Kill	210k	ST4 Blodge at a cheap price
Mighty Zug	220k	Extremely good value “Big Guy” with no negatraits
Ivar Eriksson	245k	ST4, Block, Guard, and Tackle, makes an amazing all-rounder
Frank 'n' Stein	250k	Another pseudo-Big Guy, a tough road-block type
Skrorg Snowpelt	250k	A super-Yhetee with Juggernaut and Mighty Blow.

Tournament Skill Selections

Norse tend to find themselves in higher Tourney skill tiers, so skills are rarely plentiful.  You should consider putting skills on theYhetee,Ulfwereners, andValkyries as your priority.  In particular, Block on your Ulfwereners will get you a lot of mileage.

Below you can see the suggested skills for each positional in rough order of priority.  Secondary skills are marked in italics.

Position	Skills	Notes
Yhetee	Block, Juggernaut, Mighty Blow	Do not take Juggernaut if you have Block, and vice versa
Ulfwerener	Block, Mighty Blow
Berserker	Mighty Blow, Tackle
Valkyrie	Block or Wrestle, Dodge, Tackle, Sure Hands, Accurate, Leader	Should be built for specific purposes, e.g. Ball-stripper, Passer, etc.
Linemen	Tackle,Guard, Dirty Player
Beer Boar	Sidestep, Diving Tackle	Do not skill Boars