Article published in Blood Bowl Compendium #1

Beef up your Blood Bowl Wizard with these race related special abilities and ‘tool up’ your team with some new-improved, awesome and horribly illegal items of mass destruction…

In the past the use of magic during a match was banned. However, one of the conditions demanded by MAD (organizers of the Dungeonbowl tournament) in order for them to join the NAF was that magicians be allowed a more direct role in the game. Now any team is allowed to include one Magician as a member of their coaching staff – as long as the team can afford to pay the exorbitant 150,000gp fee to the appropriate college of magic in order to hire the wizard for the team. The type of wizard a team gets depends on the race of the team; High Elf teams get High Elf wizards, Orc teams get an Orc shaman, Dwarf teams get a Dwarf alchemist and so on. The Wizard must be represented by an appropriate, painted Citadel Miniature. A team is not allowed more than one Wizard.

CHAOS SORCERER: Chaos Sorcerers use Dark Magic to cast their spells. Dark Magic is the most powerful and destructive of all types of magic, but it is almost as dangerous for the user as it is for the victim that it is used against! A Chaos Sorcerer may cast a bolt of destructive warp energy at an enemy once per match. The Wizard lurks in the crowd, firing the Warp Bolt at the appropriate moment. The Spell can be cast at any time, interrupting the opponent’s move if required. Roll a dice when the spell is cast. On a roll of 2-6 the victim is hit and knocked over by the Warp Bolt. Such is the power of the Warp Bolt that it automatically penetrates the victim’s armor, so roll on the injury table immediately to see what injuries were inflicted. On a roll of 1 then something has gone dreadfully wrong with the spell. Roll the dice again. On a roll of 1-3 the Chaos Sorcerer is destroyed by his own spell, cross him off the team roster. On a roll of 4-6 the Wizard is horribly injured but survives. However he may not be used in the next match while he recovers form his injuries.

CHAOS DWARF WIZARD: Chaos Dwarf Magic causes earthquakes, landslides and so on. Once per match a Chaos Dwarf Wizard is allowed to use his power to cause a miniature earthquake centered on one square on the pitch. The spell can be cast at any time, interrupting the opponent’s move if required. Anybody standing in the target square is knocked over on a D6 roll of 3 or more, while players in adjacent squares will be knocked down on a roll of 5 or 6. Make armor rolls for players that are knocked over as normal.

DARK ELF WIZARD: Dark Elves hate pure sunlight and Dark Elf Wizards are able to manipulate the weather, to create storms and bring rain clouds to blot out the sun. Before making a roll on the weather table (either at the start or during the match), a coach with a Dark Elf Wizard in his team is allowed to roll a D6. On a roll of 2-6 the Coach is allowed to choose the weather result rather than rolling it up randomly. On a roll of ‘1’ the result must be rolled up normally on the weather table. In addition, once per game the Wizard may call down lightning to strike a player anywhere on the field. The spell can be cast at any time, interrupting the opponent’s move if required. The victim is hit and knocked over by the lightning bolt on a D6 roll of 4+. Make any armor and injury rolls for the victim as if he had been knocked over with a player with the Mighty Blow skill.

DWARF ALCHEMIST: See Death Zone.

HALFLING MASTER CHEF: See Death Zone.

HIGH ELF MAGE: High Elf wizards spend much of their time stargazing and recording the astral conjunctions to foretell the future. This ability is represented by the Coach being allowed to draw twice as many Special Play cards as he normally should, and then discarding half of them after looking at the cards drawn. For example, if the Coach was allowed to take 2 Special Play cards for a match, he would be allowed to draw 4 cards and then keep the two that he like the most.

HUMAN WIZARD: Use the Wizard in Death Zone.

ORC SHAMAN: When Orcs are grouped together they generate a special type of magical energy called the Waaagh! Unless the energy is channeled it causes all kinds of strange poltergeist activity, causing objects to mysteriously move about or fall over. Orc Shamans are able to harness and direct this power. If an Orc team has a Shaman then he may be used once per match to cast the Hand of Gork spell. Nominate an Orc player, and then roll two dice and add their scores together. The total is the number of squares that the Hand of Gork moves the player. Because the spell lifts the player high in the air, he may ignore Tackle Zones and occupied squares as he moves. He must, however, come back to earth in an empty square!

GOBLIN SHAMAN: Goblin Shamans have the same magical abilities as Orc Shaman; they are just not as good at it! On the other hand, Goblin Shaman are always keen to work with Blood Bowl teams because it is difficult for them to make a living otherwise, and so they only cost 75,000 gold pieces to hire for the team. A Goblin Shaman is allowed to cast the Hand of Gork spell once per match, and may use it to move a Goblin from where he is standing to another square on the field. However, the Goblin version will only move the player a number of squares equal to the roll of one die, rather than the two dice for the Orc version of the spell.

SKAVEN GREY SEER: The Skaven worship their own Chaos God, the Horned Rat, the manifestation of their race and of all their evil plans to rule the world. Like Chaos Sorcerers, the Skaven use the power of Dark Magic to power their spells, but supplement it by consuming warpstone – solid pieces of black energy blown into the world by the howling winds of magic. A Grey Seer may cast the dreaded Death Frenzy spell once per game. The spell may be cast on a Skaven player at any point during a Skaven turn, just before the player takes his action. Roll a dice. On the roll of 2 or more the Skaven is empowered by the power of the Horned Rat and turns into a frenzied whirlwind of destruction. He may take two actions, one after the other, instead of only one! On a roll of 1, however, the Skaven suffers a dreadful warp spasm. He falls to the ground, writhing in agony, and dies on the spot. Remove the model from the field and place it in the Dead and Injured players box.

UNDEAD NECROMANCER: See Death Zone.

WOOD ELF MAGE: Wood Elf Magic is intimately tied to nature, the seasons and healing. Wood Elf Wizards have the same special ability as an Apothecary, except that a Wood Elf Wizard is able to use his ability twice per match, either to allow two players with Niggling Injuries to play in the match, or to heal two injuries during a game.

DWARF CANNON Penalty Roll: 7+

You may set up the cannon when setting up the team for the kick off. It must face the opponent’s End Zone and may not be moved once set up. The Cannonball player is considered set up inside the cannon, and is not placed on the pitch until he is fired (though he still counts as one of the 11 players on the pitch).

The player in the cannon may be handed the ball (roll to see if he drops the hand off as normal), but may not do anything else until he is fired. The Cannon may not be blocked or attacked in any way, and neither can the player inside it.

The cannon may be fired by any player in an adjacent square to the cannon as his action for the turn. Note that opposing players may fire the cannon. Roll 4D6 and add the scores together to see how many squares the player in the cannon is fired. The player lands using the rules for creatures thrown by large monsters (see the main rules). If he goes over the End Zone he scores a TD, but is Seriously Injured when he (crash) lands! If the Cannon is banned by the Ref then the Dwarf Cannonball is sent off with it (there is no penalty for firing the thing!).

The natural greed of Troll players is legendary, but even in such prestigious company as Ripper Bolgrot and Bork Bulgebelly, Vizgrak Pigczit is acknowledged as the greediest Troll player ever. Pigczit was especially fond of Referees, as he proved in a supposedly friendly match against the Grim Axebreaker Dwarf team. During the match he ate all nine Referees on duty. He then ate the Referees Inspectorate, everyone in the Hospitality Marquee and then the official statistician. That ended his official run at 45, but he is known to have caught at least another four dozen from the Annual Referees Outing as they attempted to escape from the stadium disguised as priestess. Pigczit’s record of 89 Officials Consumed in One Game is unlikely ever to be beaten.