North Division Season Nine Preview
Click on the team image to see the team roster.
Frosthold Falcons
The Frosthold Falcons are part of a tradition stretching all the way back to the very start of the ABBL. Every season has seen at least one Elven team taking part and twice an Elven team has taken the trophy, more than any other race. Both times they were Elves from the Forest of Loren and so the Falcons are here to prove the Elves of Naggaroth are just as capable at winning the League! Coming from the frozen lands in the North of Naggaroth bordering the Realm of Chaos, they were originally members of a garrison intended to protect the Dark Elf realm from marauding warbands. Now that role is pretty much redundant, the garrison members have taken to the gridiron and are aiming to be the 3rd Elven team to bring home the trophy!
However, the Falcons have so far had a slow start to their career. An early pre-season friendly against the Vampires of Bite Club saw them grind out a 1-1 draw and their second game against the on-form Amazons of the Old Forest Ocelots ended in a 3-1 drubbing. Both games saw them suffer 3 casualties for barely any return meaning the Falcons are going to need to work on their violence if they are to make in-roads during the season.
Despite the less than sterling performance in the pre-season friendlies, some players are starting to stand out. Blackthorn, the lone Bitzer on the team is doing as Blitzers do, trying to lead by example and thumping the opposition as much as possible. The stealthy and sly Carolus has shown an aptitude to cause trouble for his markers and the Witch Elf, Asp, is slowly turning in to the ‘go-to’ player for sacks.
Mileham Villans
Season 8 Finalists, the Mileham Villans are back! After 4 seasons, they finally made the League Final last season, only to have the Wood Elves of the Green Glade Packers defeat them 2-1. Unfortunately for the fans (well, we say that, this was obviously much more unfortunate for the players!) the entire team was killed when their team bus inexplicably exploded shortly after the match! There was but one survivor – the Troll, Crackscratcher. In a remarkably fortunate (for him) turn of events, he had missed the bus home due to being fascinated with a lone wart hair! In a flash of inspiration he decided there and then to rebuild the team and coach them himself! Of course, being a Troll, this may not have been the best of ideas but, players flocked from far and wide to re-form the Villans and, somehow, the League’s first Troll Coach took control. Well… He’s got a very good Coaching staff that keep him on track, most important of which is the position of Chief Feeder. Despite being a new position, they’re already on the 5th one as Crackscratcher has mistakenly thought the previous 4 were lunch!
But, back to the pitch. The new Villans have managed to get one pre-season friendly in so far against nearby neighbours, the D’Orcland Raiders, also a newly re-formed team. It was a tight affair but the Villans came out on top in a 1-0 slug-fest although, uncharacteristically for the Villans, they were out-casualtied 3-1. Perhaps the new guys simply haven’t got the violent edge that saw the old Villans challenge for the most Casualties caused in a Season? Time will tell, it’s just one game afterall and they haven’t got going just yet.
Players to watch out for include Grolluck – a Black Orc with more attitude than you can shake a stick covered in doo-dah at that’s making waves on the frontline for his defensive plays. Ballscratcher – A troll that’s been receiving personalised ‘training’ from Crackscratcher himself, most of which involves seeing how many rocks to the head he can take before getting knocked out! Finally, we have Nuggin, a Goblin that knows his place and that is as far away from Ballscratcher as possible! Never mind the questionable hygiene, that guy’s bloody hungry!
Wolfenburg Bulls
The Bulls are now the longest-running continuing franchise in the ABBL having started in Season 4! Season 9 will mark their 6th continuous draft but, with all the new regulations hitting them this time round, the team they’re putting forward for Season 9 is markedly different from anything else they’ve fielded before. Indeed, seeing as they finally achieved their goal of qualifying for the Play-Offs last season, the ‘team that was’ decided to retire en-masse and govern the next generation of Bulls, imparting their hard-earned wisdom to the new recruits in an effort to get them further than they had ever achieved themselves. Although they never stop reminding them that the previous generation had won the Cup so they still had some decent sized boots to fill!
With so much time spent on recruiting (well, when you’re doing it in a pub it takes a little longer than usual, no idea why… hic!), the Bulls had very little time to get any Pre-Season Friendlies played and so we’re going to have to rely on their form on the training grounds to give you an idea of what to expect from the new Bulls. With two Halflings in the squad, you can expect some throwing of team-mates from their resident Ogre and, with the new restrictions in place regarding positional players, they’ve gone for the maximum they can in each category barring their Thrower. Apparently, he rather arrogantly stated no other Thrower was needed and then went on to actually prove his point, the smug git!
Players to take note of include the Team Captain, Dean Winchester, expect to see him take control wherever he can, especially bossing it over his little brother Sam, the other Blitzer – can’t see anything going wrong there… The Ogre, Friar Tuck seems remarkably well-behaved so far which will be a welcome change for the Bulls after their previous Ogre was a little unreliable, to say the least! Finally, there is Sir Chuddley, the Halfling who was originally meant to be a mascot proving to actually be quite effective. And cute. Look at the little tubby chap in his cute little uniform!
Super Vixens
The Vixens are one of two Amazon teams entering Season 9. While the other team are of the more traditional variety, the Vixens pride themselves on breaking away from the norms and giving young Amazons a vision of a future away from stuffy tradition and societal expectation. The Old World (new to them!) has shown them a different way to live with far more freedom and self-expression than they are used to and this shows in more ways than one. For starters, their whole training regime is stylised, flashy and team-oriented where traditional Amazon training relies on solo practice regimes and hunting trips. Their team set up has also eschewed the more traditional Python Warriors and has instead focussed on the harder hitting players, following the pattern more commonly seen in the Old World of a more aggressive playstyle. All in all, these Amazons are looking like they’ll set the League alight – expect many a young woman to see inspiration and want to get involved in the beautiful game after Season 9!
The Vixens haven’t played any pre-season friendlies yet so it’s hard to get an idea of what they’re about and how they’re likely to impact the Division. They’re coming in to a Division with two big name teams and so will have a lot to contend with in their debut but their overall approach should ensure they won’t be over-whelmed by the prospect.
Players to look out for include Hecate, a Piranha Warrior so quick she often seems to be in 3 places at once! Demeter, a Jaguar Warrior with her feet firmly planted in the fertile ground is going to be hard to shift and finally, we have Harmonia, an Eagle Warrior with a positive attitude, holding the team together!
Murderface Orgy Screaming Sirens
The pre-cursor to the Murderface Orgy Screaming Sirens, the Murderface Orgy Screamers were a Conference team that made it to the Cup Final back in Season 7. They registered to have another go in Season 8 but then withdrew before the competition really got underway - Slaanesh had whispered promises of fleshy excess to them and they were honour-bound to answer the call… What returned from the Chaos Wastes was a much-changed team. The Chaos God had wrought changes on their bodies, altered their minds and instilled in them an undeniable urge to scream Slaanesh’s name in adulation. MOSS were born and registered for Season 9.
The other thing that Slaanesh did (that many are still trying to figure out as to why) was to make them all believe they were part of a suburban housing association. Their names reflected ordinary, mundane people going about their life with petty thoughts of social rigidity and extreme views of what was ‘right’ and what was not. In their heads, they are making perfectly valid points, backed up by local laws and being completely reasonable but, when on the Blood Bowl pitch, everyone else see’s the reality – They’re just as much a bunch of bloodthirsty, chaos-worshipping thugs as anyone else! And the fans love it! There’s something darkly pleasing about seeing ‘Sharon’ discussing the height of hedges while ripping apart an opposition player or ‘Mickey’ putting the boot in on a downed player, believing he’s helping to ‘keep the neighbourhood nice’…
Players to watch out for include Greg, an Ogre with a habit of lifting carts parked in the wrong places and putting them where they belong (unfortunately for the Goblin, the aforementioned Mickey is, in Greg’s head, a particularly ramshackle cart and so gets thrown quite a bit!), Suzanne, a good friend of Sharon who, arguably, has even more of an acid tongue than her friend (she has literal acid bile…) and Raymond, a Dark Elf who has a real thing for colour co-ordination…