1. Orcs - Solid roster containing high strength and armor, with average movement and ball handling, should provide a punch while enabling ball movement. Everyone's first team should be the Orcs and that is one of the reasons they start out as the #1 EBBL recommended team for new coaches.

Every coach should eventually know Orcs inside and out. Even if you don’t plan on playing as them, Orcs are a staple of leagues and tournaments in every corner of the globe. While seeing this much green skin can make many coaches sick, the truth is that the Orcs are an amazing team. Most of their positional players have Armor Value 9, meaning that opposing coaches will have difficulty removing them from the pitch. You combine that with solid Blitzers, four strong Black Orc Blockers, and optional players such as a Strength 5 Troll or dodgy Goblins, the Orcs truly have it all. They are rated by the EBBL as the #1 team for new coaches because of their diversity, strength, and proven ability for new coaches to put up a competitive fight with the classic roster.

To learn move about Orcs:
a. Read the FUMBBL Orc Team Roster, Strategy, and Skill Choice articles
b. Read the Games Workshop Blood Bowl Orc Playbook
c. Read The Art of Waaaagh on Plasmoid’s Playbook Website
d. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - Three Die Block - Orc Team
e. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - Three Die Block - Orc Strategy
f. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - Three Die Block - Orcs v3.0
g. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - Pitch Invasion - Orc League Stategy
h. Check out Impact! Miniatures new $35 GamorreOrks Team and $45 Deluxe GamorreOrks Team (Coming Soon)
i. Check out Black Scorpion new Single-Piece Orcs Team (Coming Soon)
j. Check out Greebo's Orcs in Uniform
k. Check out Gaspez-Arts' Team Orchi and Arro-Gaspez (Nazi) Orc Teams
l. Check out Neomics' Orc Team
m. Check out Shadowforge's Female Orcs Team
n. Check out Willy Miniatures' Orc Star Players and Trolls

2. Undead - One of the best starting rosters in the game by combining low-cost skeleton and zombies, with amazing positional mummies, wights, and ghouls. The team is a perfect blend of strength, speed, toughness, while also having no obvious weakness for other coaches to exploit.

The Undead is also an insanely popular roster for good reasons. Two Mummies give hard-hitting five Strength and Mighty Blow, while two Wights give ball pursuing ability with starting Block skill. The Ghouls are no joke, as they have great movement, average agility, and the dodge skill to make them harder to deal with. All of this is combined with low 40K gold Zombies and Skeletons that a coach can insert where needed as fodder, or use as a cheap fouler to remove stars from the other team. All of this is combined with the Undead’s natural Regeneration Skill that enables all players (except for Ghouls) to have a built in Apothecary. They are rated by the EBBL as #2 for their great versatility and strong positionals, but roster is not as balanced as the Orc team.

To learn more about Undead:
a. Read the FUMBBL Undead Team Roster, Strategy, and Skill Choice articles
b. Read Dead Man Walking on Plasmoid’s Playbook Website
c. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - Three Die Block - Undead 1.0
d. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - Three Die Block - Undead 2.0

3. Humans - The Jack of All Trades, but Master of None. Humans have a diverse roster that can play bashy against speed teams and speedy against bashy teams, but can’t play either as style as well as teams that are built to do it. You can build then in a variety of ways depending on your preferences, and most combinations usually can work quite well.

Humans have a good mix of talent, with four Blitzers that start with Block, skillful Throwers, fast Catches, cheap Linemen, and an Ogre to draw lots of attention. They can play any style, bashy, speedy, run & gun, cage, passing, etc, but do not play as good as those teams that are built for it. For example, Humans can bash against Elves and Skaven, but will likely loose the bashy game against Orcs or Dwarves. Therefore, Humans should play the opposite style against Orcs and Dwarves and try to out speed and position them. However, if Humans tried to out maneuver Elves or Amazon, they would likely not do as well. While they are easy to use, with a balanced slate of starting skills, they are surprisingly challenging to win with. They are rated by the EBBL as #3 for their versatility and ability to play any style, but their lack of power-gaming characteristics makes them not as potent as Orcs or Undead.

To learn more about Humans:
a. Read the FUMBBL Human Team Roster, Strategy, and Skill Choice articles
b. Read the Games Workshop Blood Bowl Human Playbook
c. Read Jack of All Trades on Plasmoid’s Playbook Website
d. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - Three Die Block - Humans 1.0
e. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - Three Die Block - Humans 2.0
f. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - Orca Cola - Humans
g. Check out Impact! Miniatures' $35 Plastic Middle Kingdoms Human Team

4. Dwarves - Perhaps the most hated race in the game, Dwarves are great at their way of playing and only their way of playing. If you love running it up the gut for a "Dwarven Grind" then you will love them. If you prefer to have some variety in your game play, then maybe you should look elsewhere.

All Dwarves start with Armor Value 8 or higher, and also come with Thick Skull that makes it more difficult to knock them out. These traits, combined with every player starting with Block (except for the runners) means that Dwarves are extremely difficult to remove from the field. Though their linemen are expensive (70K), their Block/Tackle skills and strength access to early Guard skill up’s means that this is one of the toughest offensive and defensive lines in the game. The Runners come with sure hands that will enable them to reliably start the running game. The Troll Slayers are monsters, with Block and Frenzy enabling them to hit and hit again. Their Dauntless allows them to smack strong players from the other team with reasonable reliability. Lastly, the Bitzers are perfect for filling in the hitter or linemen role. The EBBL rates Dwarves as #4 for their early skill advantage with high armor, plentiful Block, good ball handling, and ability to shut down Dodge players by using the Tackle skill. With all of these benefits, Dwarves are not rated higher because their low speed and agility makes it too easy for opponents to out position them for a score. In addition, Dwarves pay for their strong bashy game by giving up the versatility that Orcs, Undead, and Humans get from Game 1. Finally, newer coaches may find that playing the “Dwarven Grind” every game is too one-dimensional and boring for long term excitement.

To learn more about Dwarves:
a. Read the FUMBBL Dwarf Team Roster, Strategy, and Skill Choice articles
b. Read Patience on Plasmoid’s Playbook Website
c. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - Three Die Block - Dwarves 1.0
d. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - Three Die Block - Dwarves 2.0
e. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - Three Die Block - Dwarves 3.0
f. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - 3DB - Dwarves w/ Katie Muzik
g. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - Orca Cola - Dwarves in Perpetual Leagues

5. Amazons - They are the most deceptively bashy team in the game. The Amazons are fragile with Armor Value 7, but start with the Dodge skill across all players to enable them to fight toe-to-toe with about any team. The key will be to out position the opponent, while gradually building a roster of Blodging bashy babes.

Amazons have an interesting team. Their four Blitzers are the backbone of the team and start with both Block and Dodge. Once you splash in two Throwers and Catchers for ball handling, and cheap Dodge-skilled line-women, you have a pretty cheap and potent team. The presence of Throwers and Catchers is somewhat deceptive as well, as they are a better running team than a pass-catch team. Their 6-3-3-7 uniform stat line does not give them any high-strength pieces or ability to push a hole through an opponents wall. At low team values, most opponents in a league or tournament will not yet have tools such as Tackle or Wrestle to bring down the Amazons and hurt them. At higher values or more advanced tournament/league builds, coaches will take those skills and start hurting players. The EBBL rates Amazons at #5 for their skillful brutality, but the fragility of their armor and the lack of big-strength pieces hampers them from being more forgiving to newer coaches. They also have inherent vulnerability to the popular Dwarf and Chaos Dwarf rosters due to the dwarven “Tackle” skill nullifying Amazon’s biggest advantage ... Dodge.

To learn more about Amazons:
a. Read the FUMBBL Amazon Team Roster, Strategy, and Skill Choice articles
b. Read Rumble in the Jungle on Plasmoid’s Playbook Website
c. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - Three Die Block - Amazons 1.0
d. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - 3DB - Amazons w/ Matt Vanderby
e. Download and listen to the FREE Podcast - Three Die Block - Amazons 2.0 - League Strategy
f. Download and listen to the FRE Podcast - Three Die Block - Amazons 3.0 Tournament Builds
g. Check out Impact! Miniatures' $35 Plastic Amazon Team