Snotlings live around Orcs and Goblins, infesting their caves and huts, scavenging amongst their rubbish piles, and stealing anything they can get their hands on. Their larger relatives regard Snotlings with a certain amount of affection and treat them as wayward and rather mischievous pets. Sometimes an Orc or Goblin will capture a few Snotlings and train them to perform entertaining tricks, or to perform simple tasks.

It was a Night Goblin Shaman, Nabling Wartnose, who first decided to set up a Snotling Blood Bowl team, the Snotshire Dribblers, and he was so successful that his players sometimes even survived a match! Wartnose led his Snotlings to the dizzy heights of the first ever Blood Bowl open competition before tragically dying of a mushroom overdose just before the Dribbler’s first match, against the Redmeadow Rangers. Without Wartnose’s inspirational – some say manic – guidance the Dribbler’s were so badly mauled that the two Snotling players who survived the first half were killed when several hundred Dribbler’s fans invaded the pitch in disgust. Since then, the only Snotling teams that have lasted more than one match are those who’s Head Coach has the sense to invest heavily in Troll Blockers.

Having undeniably the worst players in the game is a problem no Snotling Coach has yet overcome, although the availability of Trolls almost compensates for the team’s total lack of ability.

Snotling teams can have Snotling and Troll Star Players for the cost listed on their card. Alternatively the team can hire Orc or Goblin Star Players for twice the cost listed on their card. Note: Snotling teams can only hire Orc or Goblin Star Players, not any player who will play for an Orc or Goblin team. So, no Morg N’ Thorg. (A selection of additional Star Players, which Snotling teams can hire for the cost listed, is detailed at the end.)

Snotling teams may also hire Minotaur players, but a Head Coach has an almost impossible task in trying to control the beast’s blood-greedy nature. Snotling teams may hire Minotaur star players or allied ‘rookie’ Minotaurs for the standard cost as normal, but after every match – before you work out the post-match sequence – you must feed each Minotaur left alive within your ranks with a Snotling. This can be any Snotling left alive after the game, even one who has been badly hurt or seriously injured, and note that you must still feed a Minotaur if he has himself been injured.

The Snotling team is a totally unique one, and it is a brave, or somewhat stupid Coach who would choose to lead one out onto the Blood Bowl pitch. That said a Snotling team does have some advantages, however insignificant they may be. Due to their small size, and the fact league officials cannot tell one Snotling from the next, there is a huge limit to the size of a Snotling team. You can only have up to 4 rookie Trolls. Note you may still only have up to 4 Star Players in your team at any one time.

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.

Snotlings suffer the same penalties as Goblins, in that they must increase the range by one category when thy make a pass and opposing Coaches may add +1 to the dice roll whenever he makes an injury roll for a Snotling or Snotling Star Player, in addition to any other modifiers that might apply. In addition, Snotlings may never gain Strength skills, even if they roll a double on the Star Player table.

The player is incredibly tiny, even smaller than a Halfling or Goblin, and is almost impossible to tackle as he runs between players’ legs and generally acts annoyingly. To represent this the player makes all Dodge rolls with a +2 modifier (instead of the normal +1) and may ignore any enemy Tackle Zones on the square he is moving to when he makes the roll. This means that Snotlings will usually Dodge on an unmodified 2+, unless they suffer an AG decrease or a nearby opposition player has Prehensile Tail or a similar skill.

When starting a Snotling team the temptation is to buy as many Star Players as possible to make up for the weakness of your main players – ignore it. If you have a team like this your opponent will simply spend the first half removing the few Snotlings you have on your roster, leaving you with four Trolls lumbering about on the line of scrimmage while he wins 4-0. A good starting team needs lots and lots of Snotlings and at least two players with the Throw Teammate skill. Below I have listed a basic starting team, which will serve you quite well:

This may seem obvious, but you should save the Apothecary in case the Trolls fail their Regenerate roll – don’t even use it on Bogi as he is cheap enough to replace.

Using a Snotling team requires a lot of patience, and after your first few games, you may feel like you are fighting a lost cause, but like all teams, with the right tactics a Snotling team can win a game, honestly! Snotling players only have two real strengths; their dodging abilities and their numbers and you must exploit these to the full. If on the defensive, make sure your opponent’s ball carrier always has at least three Snotlings next to him at the end of all of your turns. Remember Snotlings have Sidestep so if your opponent fails to knock one over you can keep the pressure on. Bogi Dungbreath is an absolute must when attacking your opponents’ pockets, use normal Snotlings to cancel out any Assists and watch Bogi go! His Dauntless skill almost never fails against Strength 3 players, who are most likely to be holding the ball. Your opponent will try and beat you into a pulp, so just dodge all your Snotlings away only leaving any Trolls you may have to soak up the punishment. Your opponent should usually only be able to block one Snotling a turn, unless you have some players near his ball carrier.

On the offense there are a few ways you can go, although probably the safest and most useful is using ‘Ripper’ or ‘Basher’ to throw a Snotling down the field to score. A more risky option is to run 3 or 4 Snotlings into your opponent’s half as receivers. If your opponent bites and brings players back to mark these Snotlings, use your Trolls to pummel the rest of his team a bit, then throw a Snotling to score. While you are doing this, your receivers should be dodging away from their markers so your opponent has to declare a blitz. Alternatively, if your opponent ignores your receivers, simply run the Snotling with the ball through his lines, handoff and score! The dangerous part of these last tow tactics is leaving the ball with a Strength 1 player for at least one turn. Ro prevent your ball carrier being mashed, set up a large pocket around your ball carrier with some of your other Snotlings. They maybe Strength 1, but their tackle zones are just as good as an Ogre’s! Eventually your opponent will surround the pocket – just dodge the Snotlings away and reform the pocket somewhere else.

Finally, never use your Snotlings to block without a lot of assists, and if you get a players over, make it count and foul!

Once you have got some money in your coffers it’s time to spend! Your first purchases should be to replace any Snotlings killed in the previous game, and them to buy some more. The amount of Snotlings I like in my team may seem slightly excessive, but remember you can have up to 16 players on the pitch at any time due to the special rules, and that Snotlings really do get pounded so you’ll need lots of replacements. If a Snotling player gets a characteristic decrease due to a serious injury, retire him; Snotlings are so cheap it just doesn’t mater. If you get enough money saved up, extra Rookie Trolls would always be a welcome addition.

Some of your players may advance fairly quickly, but you should never rely on them being around, as Snotlings are just a bit too fragile for comfort. This said if you get any really good players you could always protect them with a personal apothecary for only 20K (see the Citadel Journal #18 for details). Snotling players should be given skills like Sure Feet and Sprint to compensate for their low movement, and Catch is very useful to make those handoffs safer. If you’re lucky enough to roll a double, skills like Sure Hands, Dirty Player and Dauntless are worth their weight in gold pieces. When your Rookie Trolls eventually gain enough SPPs for their first skill, Block is possibly the best option, although a Troll with Break Tackle, or another player with Throw Teammate could be worthwhile considering.

I think this should be fairly obvious, but I will briefly mention the models available to represent Snotling players. There are two main ranges to choose from, either Snotlings from the Warhammer range or from the old Blood Bowl range, which should be mounted on normal 25mm round bases in either case. It may be a good idea to get some pre-filled slottabases to save time and effort on milliputting.

(Note: the standard Snotling player, listed in the team roster above, comes with Right Stuff and Sidestep. These Star Players do not have these skills listed. I believe that they should. – Tim)