I'm starting this post with a caveat: I've not played dungeon bowl since 2nd ed (some 15 years ago) - so I've been thinking mostly about starting rosters, rather than developed teams, for the moment. As there are a lot more options for player choice open to dungeon bowl teams I think that discussions on team development will be a lot more involved (and will include debates on which interim players are best to take while you save up to buy your 12th positional player - a problem we generally don't have in BB) - so I'm going to leave this subject well alone for now, and concentrate on what will be my picks for Light College starting rosters. These will be entirely personal choices - so please do tell me why they are completely wrong!

The Light College has the team options:
0-16 Dwarf
0-6 Halfling
0-2 Norse


Big Guy Roster
Apparently there will be a limit of 2 "loner" players on any one team. This will limit the number of big guys - however (as has been pointed out elsewhere) the Treemen in Halfling teams don't have loner, so the Light College may well have the opportunity to take one of the most bashy starting lineups:
1 Deathroller......160k
1 Yhetee...........140k
2 Treemen.........240k
2 Dwarf Runners..160k
2 Dwarf Blitzers..160k
3 Halflings..........90k
1 Reroll.............50k -> total 1000k (11 players)

This is a very bashy roster - though with 4 big guys on the roster there's not much money left for rerolls or supporting players. I'd be inclined to start with the deathroller and treemen guarding the end zone (and the treemen moving as *little* as possible to avoid taking root!), with 3 sacrificial Halflings out searching for the ball. The dwarf blitzers and yhetee would come on next, to hunt down key opposition players, while the dwarf runners would come on last to collect the ball and score. With so much invested in the deathroller and treemen I think this is going to be a very slow lineup - a lot would ride on if the yhetee and blitzers can catch potential scorers before they get into a position to run rings round the slower big guys. Team development would depend on getting the troll slayers as fast as possible, along with a norse catcher to give the team at least a slim chance in hell of scoring.

Deathroller Roster
With only one drive per game I reckon the deathroller will be the best value big guy in the game - so this team is built around taking the roller as the only big guy. This frees up the two norse slots for taking ball-handlers, and should lead to a much faster game.
1 Deathroller........160k
2 Norse Catchers...180k
2 Dwarf Blitzers....160k
2 Dwarf Runners....160k
2 Trollslayers........180k
2 Halflings.............60k
2 Rerolls..............100k -> total 1000k (11 players)

This is almost as bashy a roster as the first - indeed with 8 players with block (4 of whom have dauntless) I'd argue it is bashier. I'm inclined to take the Norse Catchers, over werewolves or blitzers, because their speed and access to agility skills makes them the best Norse complement to the Dwarves' bashiness. I'd start, again, with the deathroller in defence, supported by one, or both, of the trollslayers, while the remaining troll slayer, both dwarf blitzers and a sacrifical halfling go out hunting the ball (and opposing players). The dwarf runners and remaining halfling would be brought on next to help with the ball-hunt, while the norse catchers would be saved for either scoring once the ball has been found, or going out hunting the opposing teams fast catchers. With all the positional players already bought team development would focus on getting a couple of dwarf blockers to support the deathroller in defence, and perhaps one treeman.

Both starting teams are very reroll light - for more rerolls I'd be inclined to swap out one (or two) of the dwarf runners for halflings (plus a reroll). Both lineups also have only 11 players (which is the minimum?) - a trollslayer or treeman could be swapped for 3 or 4 halflings to deepen the benches some more. Without the 11 player limit on the pitch it maybe better to go for more players to swarm through the dungeon (especially as the Light college will be one of the slower teams in the game).

What are other peoples thoughts on their starting rosters for the Light College?

I think in Dungeonbowl you need more reroll. 3 is a minimum for me.

Both lineups also have only 11 players (which is the minimum?)

Do we know this is the minimum?

Tristelune wrote:I think in Dungeonbowl you need more reroll. 3 is a minimum for me.

Quite possibly - I do tend to start teams with too few rerolls. Not played dungeonbowl for a long time - but hoping to start it up again at our gaming club - so I'll see if I do find myself regretting the lack of rerolls more than usual.

dode74 wrote:

Both lineups also have only 11 players (which is the minimum?)

Do we know this is the minimum?

No - I'm assuming that it is, based on Cyanide wanting to make minimum changes to the bloodbowl rules. Not sure if I'd want to start a team with less than 10 players even if we were allowed to though, as I can see it getting quickly over-run. I'll see if this is the case when we start playing table-top again though.

I confirm your roster must have 11 player mini.

After for reroll a match of DB could played on 3 turn or 30 and the reroll are for all long the match. A roster with many big guy have not many chance to win on 3 turns his stratégy is more on the longest of the match.

Tristelune wrote:I confirm your roster must have 11 player mini.

This is good to know - thanks.

Tristelune wrote:After for reroll a match of DB could played on 3 turn or 30 and the reroll are for all long the match. A roster with many big guy have not many chance to win on 3 turns his stratégy is more on the longest of the match.

Ahh. This is a good point, as I'm used to having 2-3 rerolls for each 8-turn half of a game - not having to carefully save my couple of rerolls to get through a (potential) 24+ turns. This makes the Pro skill a *hell* of a lot more useful than it is in the standard game too - as it's always there, on turn 25 as much as on turn 1.

Can't imagine sticking to only 11-man rosters once the team starts leveling. But I really enjoyed the rosters. It has been so hard to fathom what this game is actually going to play like. I'm definately not scared of the Treeman roster. Take Root is too big of a hinderance for me to even worry about fielding or facing. My light roster would probably have six halflings. For 180k, you get six guys to scurry around with Stunty trying to open chests. The real players can defend their end zone and mount a drive once the ball scatters out.

So many skills will be awesome in Dungeon Bowl- besides Pro, it is gonna be interesting to see what happens when this goes live.

Think I'd like to do this to begin with. It lets me have three rerolls which isn't a lot- but fields 13 players. Mainly was looking for speed out of the Light Roster. You can imagine I would be adding in players (Dwarf Blitzers!) and more rerolls along the way. I was really debating between a pair of Blodge Catchers or a pair of Werewolves. I decided to split the Norse picks.

Rerolls were a mixed bag with my last LRB dungey games.

For the elves they allowed some expert passes and were well worth the value. I think for the more bash sides they are not as essential as you might expect. Possibly with players issolated more often you can factor a rr to help, but it is probably wise to stock up on players in preference.

I might actualy play without any RR and see what sort of bonus the extra players gives. The game can be long. The game be short. So if RR are for 20 ish turns then I dont see they hold the same value as we expect. Thus I might go without.

Certianly a big guy with stand firm is to be feared if they can position on defense into a narrow area. The 2 wide corridors might even promote SF as a 'broken skill' in dungey. It used to impoosible to shift a big guy from a 2 wide corridor. SF would be mental. Leap and SF I think will be awesome and I might predict be the first big overall tactic that people think is the best - and hence common place.

juck101 wrote:Certianly a big guy with stand firm is to be feared if they can position on defense into a narrow area. The 2 wide corridors might even promote SF as a 'broken skill' in dungey. It used to impoosible to shift a big guy from a 2 wide corridor. SF would be mental. Leap and SF I think will be awesome and I might predict be the first big overall tactic that people think is the best - and hence common place.

Pish... I see your Stand Firm big guy, and raise it with a Strong Arm big guy and a stunty missile over the top.
TTM will be the way to get down a corridor quickly...