Blood Bowl Imperial Nobility Team - First Look and Assembly (Copy)

In my last post, we looked at the Black Orc team for Blood Bowl. In this post, we’ll be taking a closer look at the Imperial Nobility. The regular players for the Imperial Nobility are comprised of more pieces than those of the Black Orc team. In contrast, the Ogre and Griff Oberwald, the Imperial Nobility’s Big Guy and Star Player, are made of fewer pieces than their Orc Counterparts. The main bulk of the team come on two identical sprues, much like the Black Orcs.

Blood Bowl Imperial Nobility team sprue.

Confusingly, the instructions manual shows you can build 3 variations of Imperial Retainer linemen. A little research later, and linesman 2 is meant to be the Noble Blitzer (although this print error may have been fixed since release). A good way to distinguish the different player is by the number of feathers on their helmets; the linemen have 2 feathers, the bodyguards have 3 feathers, and the Blitzer has 4 feathers. The Imperial Throwers don’t wear helmets. Unlike the Orcs, there’s no option for heads, so the players will look identical without a different paintjob or conversions.

 Part of the instructions for the Imperial Nobility team.

The first linesman is comprised of 5 parts, the least amount of components of the Imperial Nobility, and the second – linesman 3 in the instructions – is made of 8. The Noble Blitzer (or linesman 2 if you go by the instructions) is also made of 8 parts. I’d recommend dry fitting all of the players before you glue them together, just to give a better idea of how the legs and arms should attach to torso. As previously mentioned, without converting, you’ll end up with two identical models for each player, so I set about doing a little bit of work to give more variety to the team. For the female linesman, I cut off her braids and stuck one behind her head, before removing the tankard from her belt. For the male linesman, I did a simple head swap with the Imperial Thrower, filing away part of the neck, and used a little greenstuff to make a better fit. The Noble Blitzer was much simpler, I didn’t attach the griffin to the breastplate, as it was detailed enough underneath without the griffin.

The Imperial Thrower is made of 8 parts, and the two Bodyguards are made of 9. For the Imperial Thrower, I used the head from the male linesman, again using a little greenstuff to make the fit better. The two Bodyguards were a simple head swap as well, this time with each other. Again, I’d recommend a little greenstuff to make the fit more seamless, although you can get away without it. For me, in terms of assembly, the Black Orc team is more beginner friendly, even before any conversions.

 Imperial Nobility assembled and ready for painting!

The Big Guy for the Imperial Nobility is an Ogre. It’s comprised of 11 different components, which isn’t many more than the regular teammates, and significantly less than that of the Troll and Varag Ghoul Chewer. Assembly was very straightforward, just put the body together, then attach arms and feet, followed by the head and armour.

The sprues for Griff Oberwald and the Ogre.

The Star Player included for the Imperial Nobility is Griff Oberwald. He can play for any team with the ‘Halfling Thimble Cup’ or ‘Old World Team’ special rules. (If you don’t want to buy the set just for Griff, you can now pick him up separately). Like the Imperial Nobility, he comes in bright red plastic, and is comprised of 13 parts. The main portion of the model is a simple build, but the instructions for assembly the head and helmet have been done in the wrong order. Glue either side of the helmet onto the head, before gluing the head to the model, otherwise it becomes tricky to assemble.

Griff Oberwald and an Ogre ready for painting!

I hope this helps those of you building your Imperial Nobility, or gives you some ideas for how to make the players look different. I’ll be posting further updates once the teams are painted.

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Happy gaming!

Chris