Dark Elf Team without Witch Elves?

[narkotic]

As I am a classic BB coach, I never particularly liked the idea of GW make the BB world match the WFB background. That's why I do not take Witch Elves, Troll Slayers and Wardancers for serious player positions (maybe I should when those guys beat the crap out of my linemen ).
Anyway, have any of you thought of having a Dark Elf Team with, for example, catchers instead of Witch Elves? I cannot judge if this would break the game balance or would make Dark Elves any more interesting to play. Opinions? Suggestions?
Please do not tell me bright things like that I shouldn't play with those positions if I do not like them (actually I do not play with them) or that Dark Elves would be just a clone of High Elves (apart from 4 Blitzer positions and a slighty higher price, they would become clones).

thanks

- narkotic

[DoubleSkulls]

Its fine to house rule things you don't like.

The current climate (Vamps/Khemri etc) seems to be heading to making WFB and BB even closer.

[phil]

wait a minute... "team Cockerel"

is that mascot or something? turn marker perhaps?

[narkotic]

Exactly,

and at the after match party it gets barbequed on the "team roaster"

sorry to spoil your (my?) joke, but I have cleared the wrongly spelled heading

[phil]

s'ok, i like the 'roaster' twist...

and far be it for me to criticize anyone's spelling... and i hold a degree in english composition no less!

[wesleytj]

Please do not tell me bright things like that I shouldn't play with those positions if I do not like them (actually I do not play with them) or that Dark Elves would be just a clone of High Elves (apart from 4 Blitzer positions and a slighty higher price, they would become clones).

thanks

- narkotic

Well, I'm not going to say anything you told me not to say, but I will say something somewhat similar.

If you'd rather your Dark Elves had catchers instead of Witch Elves, just use your Dark Elf figs and attitude, and the High Elf team list. I'm sure nobody would really care. That way you're playing dark elves with dark elf catchers, and you KNOW there's no balance issue because you're playing a recoginized, official team list.

To me tho, witch elves are half the fun of the dark elf team to begin with! It's what makes their BB play style match their attitude in some ways: Graceful and athletic, but at the same time mean and psychotic too!

[Trambi]

If you remove witch from dark elf roster, I can see the interrest of playing dark elves instead of high elves !

[D'Arquebus]

I agree with you about not liking the constant update of BB to WHFB. Particularly at the expense of the oldies, re the proposed erasure of undead for vamps, etc. However, I had only just gotten into BB when the 3rd Ed came out, and so had played only a handful of 2nd Ed games. The introduction of the position players you mentioned made these teams play in a different manner to the other teams. Jervis has said that is intention was to create 12 unique teams with an individual style.

Each of the elf teams plays differently, the reason being the witch elves in the dark elves to change them from the high elves. They use a shorter passing game and a speedy running game. I think the role of primary scorer in the dark elves should be the blitzers, the role of sweepers or defense goes to the witch elves.

So on the whole I think the loss of the witch elves would be detrimental to the way the dark elf team plays versus the long bomb style of the high elves.

[narkotic]

I observe, that I am not the only one having identification problems with the WFB positions in BB but as most of you said, its obviously the trade-off for balanced, unique teams that play diferently. Actually, I had just limited myself by not buying those position players or, as wesleytj has pointed out, playing with DE minis on a High Elf ticket.
After all those years with hundreds of tables, extra rules and regualar special actions (2nd ed. running gag = Blood Bowl, the game of fantasy bureaucracy) I'm pretty fond of the slim, simplified and nearly loophole-less LRB. I decided to go 99% by the book without tinkering again for years on every rule.
As I said earlier, I am a more conservative coach after all

[Relborn]

First of all I have to say, that I go with Narkotic with the discomfort of WFB and BB comeing closer together ... Don't understand me wrong, the LRB is far better than the old 2nd edition rules, but personally I prefered the times when all teams were built of the same positions (just for the sprots flair ...).

A Dark Elf team w/o Witch Elves could still have an individual look and still all have the same racial aspects of the actual team. It just depends on how theese Catchers would look like (like some short pass catchers, with more concern on dodge and nerves of steel for example).

And by this I won't think that this team would have to be necessarily an High Elf clone.

But on the other hand I really see the disadvantage of changing all teams - it's just a "why to start and where to stop". Constantly changing the actual team lists won't do the Bloodbowl comunity any good, and can't be the target of the game.

Well if there would be really an completly new edition of Bloodbowl, I would hope that this edition would become more sportslike and less Warhammer Battle ...

[Amon242]

I agree, the WiE are not much a compliment to a DE team. They are usually targets on the pitch, and not much use on offense. I would suggest if you got rid of the witch elves maybe creating a ball carrier type player? The DE can't pass as is, and there is no use making them more of a passing team(imho) by adding a catcher. How about a large monster?

[Tokath]

I am in the progress of creating a DE Blood Bowl Team out of the plastic Dark Elf and Dark Eldar sets. Instead of one of the Witch Elves I have created an elf called RegaToill. His title is simply "Psychopathic Maniac", and I count him as a Witch Elf. Of course, this is a somewhat special way of doing it, but for some reason I wanted a creature totally out of his mind in my team (actually, I wanted a guy throwing himself into a tackle first, and then I found out that using a Dark Eldar Jetbike head would be nice, and I have always thought that those heads suggest psychopathic maniacs behind them, so the new concept was a guy running in a very forwardtilted position and attacking anything in his sight...oh, and the name I got using the Eldar Language Guide (can be found at www.eldaronline.com), and it means "distorted butcher" )