Blood Bowl Season 3 Team Guide - Snotlings

Today we’re taking a look at one of the most unique teams in Blood Bowl, a team that has caused more than its fair share of rules headaches and shenanigans in its brief time in the game; none other than the swarming Snotlings! The Snots had a few major changes in Third Season, and there are a few restrictions to consider when building the team now, so we’re going to sort through all the minutiae of the the tiny hordes to help you field the best version of this utterly unique team.

Pros

Can field four ST5 players
Normally able to take advantage of powerful inducement support
They can field more than eleven players?!

Cons

Team can rapidly disintegrate or fall to stupidity
Terrible ball-carrying options
Complex and hard to play well

The Roster

Team Rules

Blood Bowl Snotling Team, "The Violent Phlegms" painted by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms

Before we look at the players, Snotlings have some very important Team Rules that contribute to how the team works. Bribery and Corruption means they can get cheap bribes and reroll the first 1 on an Argue The Call attempt. Low Cost Linemen means your Snotling Linemen don’t count towards CTV value, which means even more inducements on match day. But most importantly of all is Swarming, which allows you to add 1d3 extra Snotling Linemen to the field of play at kick-off. And while a few extra Snots might not seem that great, this is the same rule that was so broken on Underworld that it first got nerfed, and then removed from them completely. Swarming’s main benefit is to allow a very oppressive playstyle in which your opponent finds themselves fighting through a horde of your players to accomplish anything, all while you relentlessly bash and foul them. We’ll talk about this in more detail later.

Snotling Linemen

Snotling Linemen painted by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms (Joey K)

Matched only by its cousin the Gnoblar, and the Norse Beer Boar, the Snotling holds the title as the weakest and most easily injured player in the game. Not a good start for your most ubiquitous player. Thankfully Snotlings do have some saving graces; Dodge and Sidestep mean they can actually be extremely annoying to pin down, and the Stunty and Titchy combo means they can dodge anywhere on a 2+. They are also astonishingly cheap, at 15k a pop.

Third Season brought a couple of little changes to the little guys, the first being a new trait, Insignificant, which means that you cannot build your roster with more of them than players without the trait. In practical terms that means you now have to include at least some of the Snotling positionals in your roster. Secondly, Snotling Linemen gained access to the Devious skills category, which means a plethora of fouling and annoyance skills are within easy reach.

There’s a strong argument for never giving Snotlings skills, as it more than doubles the cost of a player who could be removed by a stiff breeze. But, if you insist, Dirty Player and Lone Fouler are good devious options, while Diving Tackle has strong synergy with Dodge and Sidestep and can be incredibly annoying in the right circumstances.

Fungus Flinga

Snotling Fungus Flingas painted by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms (Joey K)

The first of the Snotling positionals is the Flinga, which is identical in almost every way to the humble snot, but comes with Bombardier and Secret Weapon. With PA 4+ the Flinga is sadly unlikely to deliver his payload with great accuracy, but bombs remain an extremely powerful tool that can massively disrupt your opponent's offensive drives.

Accurate and Pass are both worthy skill-up options for Flingas that can elevate them to real threats. Safe Pass can prevent calamity, while Hail Mary Pass is mostly suicidal but potentially very fun.

Fun-hoppa

Snotling Fun-hoppa painted by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms (Joey K)

Our next positional is the first to deviate from the standard Snotling mold, with a crucial difference that is also shared by the Stilty Runna. Both these positionals do not possess the Titchy Trait, which means they make 3+ rather than 2+ dodges, but also do apply normal modifiers for opponent dodging purposes. The Hoppa also has a movement advantage over a regular snot, with a whopping MA6.

The Fun-Hoppa’s unique skill is Pogo, but unfortunately the use case for this is a bit limited because with its weak stat line, being able to boing around doesn’t really let it do anything. It has some potential as a ball-carrier, but is outclassed in that respect by our next player.

Stilty Runna

Snotling Stilty Runnas paitned by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms (Joey K)

Like the Fun-hoppa, the Stilty also boasts MA6, and goes a little further by adding Sprint to the mix. The Stilty is one of your best choices for ball-carrier simply on the basis of having that higher MA ceiling. It's also a good candidate for ball-carrier on TTM attempts.

Leaning into that role, skilling the Stilty with ball-carrier and movement skills that help conserve team re-rolls like Sure Feet (to complement Sprint), or Catch is a good way to go.

Trolls

Blood Bowl Trolls (sculpted by BruteFun) painted by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms (Joey K)

As with all stunty teams, the little guys have some big friends, and in this case it is the classic Troll, as seen on numerous other greenskin teams. And the Troll has all the benefits and drawbacks we have come to love(?). It is strong, tough, and actually quite cheap; but they are slow, and Really Stupid is one of the worst negatraits, meaning they require constant babysitting to accomplish anything. Third Season brought an unexpected and welcome buff for Snotling Trolls by removing the Loner trait, meaning they can now reliably use team Rerolls, which is a major boon to their general play and the team’s chances of scoring a Throw Team-mate touchdown.

Trolls benefit hugely from Block, though it is a Secondary, as it helps in their roadblock role and in preventing turnovers. Guard is also good as an easily obtainable Primary, but it doesn’t help Snotlings as much as it does other Troll teams. Stand Firm is a strong positional skill. There are plenty of other fun options such as Bullseye, but the reality is these will rarely yield results.

Pump Wagon

Blood Bowl Snotling Pump Wagons painted by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms (Joey K)

The Pump Wagon was an important but difficult piece to run on Snotlings’ original release, as the Secret Weapon trait meant it could only really be used effectively when deployed at the right time, or by being backed with Bribe inducements. But somehow having a murder vehicle with multiple crewmembers is now just peachy with the powers that be in Third Season, and we’re not complaining! Pump Wagons also gained a movement buff, which all adds up to a huge upgrade for Snotlings and a must-take piece. Pump Wagons do still possess Really Stupid, so managing assists to ensure their activations remains a requirement, and arguably having both wagons and the two Trolls is asking for trouble, but this is a coaching decision you will have to balance versus their undeniable impact on the field.

With Juggernaut in their starting skills, Block is not a priority concern for skilling up Wagons. An exciting development brought by Third Season is Break Tackle, which can really help their mobility. Guard can also do work, while fouling skills like Lone Fouler and Sneaky Git are worth consideration, but doubles down on the risk of losing a very valuable piece to the referee's whims.

Star Players

Hakflem Skuttlespike, Blood Bowl Star Player painted by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms (Joey K)

My opinion is that Snotlings still require Star Support to be a truly competitive team, but luckily they have access to the Underworld Challenge Stars, which is one of the best selections in the game. The Skaven super-Gutters Hakflem Skuttlespike and Skitter Stab-Stab are the prime candidates, giving the team a stronger and more agile ball-handler with outrageous speed. Scrappa is a significantly worse, but viable, alternative. A good blitzer -type would be next on my list, with Glart Smashrip the best option (and very cheap too). Ripper Bolgrot is an amazing piece in Third Season, but arguably his Throw-Team Mate skills are more valuable than the extra Strength he provides. Regardless, he will be hugely influential (if he’s not banned). Bomber, Fungus, and Kreek are also really good for their price, but just take a ball carrier first, trust me.

Tactics and Playstyle

Snotling Team by Mark Hampson

As touched on earlier, Snotlings have a fairly unique potential amongst stunties by being a truly oppressive control and bash team. Between their extra players and their strength options, they can make it extremely hard for opposing teams to find easy blocks and a way through their lines. While you have the numbers advantage, Snotling screens can be almost impenetrable for opponents, especially if Dodge and Sidestep prove effective. That said, Snotlings can snowball in both directions; either by gaining the early bash advantage and then doubling down on smothering and fouling opponents; or by suffering the early damage themselves and seeing the team disintegrate in a hail of Snotling casualties and inactive Big Guys.

One of the team’s major problems is ball-carrying and ball-safety. In the vanilla roster, carrying with any kind of Snot means a ST1 carrier, which is inviting trouble. Making things worse is the fact that Titchy is a double-edged sword, granting easier dodges for you but meaning your opponents do not take modifiers when moving through Tackle Zones. The ubiquity of Titchy through your team means you cannot simply shuffle any old player in to make your cage, and will have to be very careful in positioning the few players you have without Titchy in order to create any kind of meaningful defense. Otherwise any AG2+ or 3+ players can trivially walk in and get 3 dice on the ball.

Complicating matters further is the need to keep Snots near your Trolls and Pump Wagons to prevent Stupidity. All of this combines to mean positioning of your Snots, who you also cannot afford to cheaply expose to hits, becomes one of the great skills of coaching the team. Fortunately you will generally start the half with an abundance of the little guys, but you have to make the best of your early turns to push for damage, as this will determine which way the rest of the drive swings. Snotlings can easily maneuver around the pitch to provide assists for 3-dice Big Guy blocks and gang fouls, so take advantage of this.

As with other stunties, Throw team Mate, despite the unreliable nature of Trolls, can give you a number of tactical options. Scoring one-turn touchdowns is the most obvious, and you should absolutely study the best setups (and the rules!) to make sure you are confident in how to execute these. Throwing Snots as missiles is also a viable tactic, especially if you have Riotous Rookies to give you plenty of ammo, but don't underestimate the value of using TTM to get Snots into empty parts of the field to allow them to contribute in other ways.

A Special Word on Inducements

Blood Bowl Star Player, Glart Smashrip painted by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms (Joey K)

More than any other team in the game, Snotlings can realistically expect inducement money on match day, and plenty of it. Coaches should remember this fund exists to make up for the major shortfalls in the quality of what you are putting on the pitch. My priorities when looking at inducements for Snotlings run in the following order:

A ball-carrier Star

=2. A blitzer Star / Other useful Star

=2. Riotous Rookies

4. Any other useful inducements, such as:

- Bribes
- Wizard
- Prayers To Nuffle (if your league or tournament is crazy enough to allow them)
- Team Mascot
- Biased Referee

Rookies got a cost increase in Third Season to a hefty 150k, but allowing you practically infinite Snots is a big deal. Snots can easily suffer heavy attrition, and fielding less than 11 players at the start of a drive is a quick recipe for defeat. Rookies can be more or less important than a second star depending on the matchup. Against agility teams you may not suffer the attrition that you do against teams like Orcs or Undead, so you'll need to make a call based on your opponent's build.

Starting Team Builds

Snotlings have an interesting time with team building because it is almost impossible to spend your treasury. For the builds below we’re going to assume a variety of inducements are in play and build accordingly.

League Play

2 x Troll
2 x Pump Wagon
1 x Fun Hoppa
1 x Fungus Flinga
1 x Stilty Runna
7 x Snotling Linemen
3 x Team Rerolls
3 x Dedicated Fans

This team has been built to let you have the maximum number of regular snots in proportion to non-Insignificant players, while carrying all the big guys, a good number of rerolls, and then leaving some room for inducements and maneuver. This comes in at 815TV, but thanks to Low Cost Linemen this will be 710 on matchday. This means you can guarantee a ball carrier and some other kind of inducements even if your early opponents are sub-1kTV themselves. The positionals are completely flexible here, so pick whichever ones you like.

League Development

As with team building, Snots are really one of the exceptions to standard wisdom when it comes to development. If you've built per the above you have everything you want in your starting build, and a good goal is not to increase your TV further in any way, in order to continue to receive the largest amount of inducement money. Staff and team goods like Apothecary, coaches and cheerleaders have very limited benefits for Snotlings versus those you can gain by potential inducements. Remember as the underdog you can top up inducements by 50k on matchday, so having a pool of unspent cash available will serve you well.

Tournament Play

2 x Troll
2 x Pump Wagon
2 x Fungus Flinga
1 x Stilty Runna
7 x Snotling Linemen
2 x Team Rerolls
Either Skitter/Rookies or Skitter/Glart

Snotling tourney builds are highly dependent on what rules packs allow. This build has been designed for a fairly unrestrictive 1.1m pack. Sadly many fun-hating TO's will ban Skitter, in which case Scrappa is worth considering. We have had to drop a Team Re-roll to get the best inducements, so taking the (very cheap) Team Mascot inducement, or Leader on a Flinga, is worth considering. There are many, many possible variations on this build depending on the cash and rules restrictions of your event.

Tournament Skills

If your pack allows secondaries, Blocking up the Trolls is the prime goal. Everything after that is a matter of taste really, but I would prioritise the Pump Wagons and then some fouling skills on the Snotlings. Accurate or Pass can also be very useful on the Flingas to get more consistency out of them.

Tier

Snotlings now live in the new lowest GW Tier 4 with the rest of the stunty teams. In many tournament environments they will tend to be placed higher or tweaked in some way because of how well they scale with inducements. Like most of the stunties in Third Season, Tournament Organisers need to be very careful with what kind of money and inducement rules are available to Snots, as they can be a really frightening vehicle for Stars.

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Tags: Blood Bowl