Bloodbowl is Back!
So the hotly anticipated Bloodbowl is back, and I got myself a copy.
Having had a look through, it seems largely unchanged from the most recent Living Rulebook I read, with one very important change... Illegal Procedure is now an OPTIONAL rule you must both agree to enforce before the game begins. So gone is one of the most hated rules in wargaming. This is a good move.
Beyond that there isn't much to tell... for those that know it, it's much the same as you remember. For those that don't, it's sorta like American Football but with violence. And comedy. And you don't have to paint 99 miniatures or however big an American Football squad is...
About the only bad thing is that I rushed the job of sticking the teams together as I was doing it late at night, and I didn't put together one of my linemen properly... he's stuck with a broken foot now, but as I plan to pick up another team so I can add more blockers and blitzers to my force, I shall have spare Linemen so can easily replace the casualty.
I played my first game on Tuesday, a solid 2-0 win over skaven with several casualties inflicted, although nothing counts yet as I am just demoing the game at the club to drum up interest. To be fair, if my opponent had played skaven to their strengths it may have been different, but let's just say for his playstyle I think he needs to collect Orcs or Dwarves.
Anyway, I am planning to run a Bloodbowl league at my club, and thought I would put my thoughts down here on how to organise it and if anyone who reads this can pick any holes in it before the league kicks off (some time in the new year) then that'll be handy.
First off, I have decided that a condition of entry is that anything on the team roster must be represented by a model. So team members (obviously) but also the manager (you) have to have a model to represent it. It doesn't have to be lifelike, it doesn't have to represent the race you are playing for, it is up to you the manager to make something that you feel represents you. For instance, I shall be dusting off my old coach, who I modelled to look like Alex Ferguson. He's just a human, pointing at his watch while hurling abuse at the referee. If you think he wouldn't be able to manage an Orc team, that an orc team is too fierce, I ask has an orc ever been subject to the hairdryer treatment before?
Anyway, so everyone will need a manager. Similarly, if you add apothecaries, assistant coaches, cheerleaders etc to your roster, I want models for them too. Bloodbowl is a small scale investment, once you've got your team you're done, so I don't think it's too much to ask to throw a few conversions into the mix, we may see some cool ideas.
This rule will not apply to inducements such as wandering apothecaries or other such temporary influences. Only permanent additions to the roster.
Secondly, the team can be one of the currently released teams, or any team from the living rulebook. As teams are updated gradually we will of course switch from one ruleset to the new, but this will take some time. There are some teams I fear will never be transferred over (I'm looking at you overly generic amazons and norse teams, whose IP GW have no claim on) but until the LRB is down to just the last few stragglers who will probably never see the light of day again we shall keep using it.
Third, each team pays a price of entry. One trophy. The new teams have an advantage here, they come with a couple of trophies on the sprue, but I'm sure people can bodge together some little trinket to play for. Each season, we'll draw a trophy out of the bag - and that's what we'll play for. The prize for the trophy will vary depending on which one we are fighting for, with endorsements written to be race specific for whichever team donated the trophy. The winning team will get to KEEP the trophy, permanently.
If a team retires, it will effectively be put in stasis, and can always return. This gives managers a chance to switch to other teams for a season if they wish to. You do not get your trophy back, but you don't have to pay to rejoin. If you bring a new team, that new team will have to pay a trophy. So the league will have as many seasons as there are cumulative entrants, and if we ever run out of trophies and wish to keep going, we'll think of something else! Cross that bridge if we ever reach it...
And that's pretty much it really... all the rest will be following the deathzone rulebook, these are just my little personal additions for flavour. Why fix what aint broken?
Beyond that there isn't much to tell... for those that know it, it's much the same as you remember. For those that don't, it's sorta like American Football but with violence. And comedy. And you don't have to paint 99 miniatures or however big an American Football squad is...
 |
| Seriously, do half these guys even recognise each other on the pitch? |
I played my first game on Tuesday, a solid 2-0 win over skaven with several casualties inflicted, although nothing counts yet as I am just demoing the game at the club to drum up interest. To be fair, if my opponent had played skaven to their strengths it may have been different, but let's just say for his playstyle I think he needs to collect Orcs or Dwarves.
Anyway, I am planning to run a Bloodbowl league at my club, and thought I would put my thoughts down here on how to organise it and if anyone who reads this can pick any holes in it before the league kicks off (some time in the new year) then that'll be handy.
First off, I have decided that a condition of entry is that anything on the team roster must be represented by a model. So team members (obviously) but also the manager (you) have to have a model to represent it. It doesn't have to be lifelike, it doesn't have to represent the race you are playing for, it is up to you the manager to make something that you feel represents you. For instance, I shall be dusting off my old coach, who I modelled to look like Alex Ferguson. He's just a human, pointing at his watch while hurling abuse at the referee. If you think he wouldn't be able to manage an Orc team, that an orc team is too fierce, I ask has an orc ever been subject to the hairdryer treatment before?
 |
| It was pretty much this exact pose if I recall... |
This rule will not apply to inducements such as wandering apothecaries or other such temporary influences. Only permanent additions to the roster.
Secondly, the team can be one of the currently released teams, or any team from the living rulebook. As teams are updated gradually we will of course switch from one ruleset to the new, but this will take some time. There are some teams I fear will never be transferred over (I'm looking at you overly generic amazons and norse teams, whose IP GW have no claim on) but until the LRB is down to just the last few stragglers who will probably never see the light of day again we shall keep using it.
Third, each team pays a price of entry. One trophy. The new teams have an advantage here, they come with a couple of trophies on the sprue, but I'm sure people can bodge together some little trinket to play for. Each season, we'll draw a trophy out of the bag - and that's what we'll play for. The prize for the trophy will vary depending on which one we are fighting for, with endorsements written to be race specific for whichever team donated the trophy. The winning team will get to KEEP the trophy, permanently.
 |
| Classics |
If a team retires, it will effectively be put in stasis, and can always return. This gives managers a chance to switch to other teams for a season if they wish to. You do not get your trophy back, but you don't have to pay to rejoin. If you bring a new team, that new team will have to pay a trophy. So the league will have as many seasons as there are cumulative entrants, and if we ever run out of trophies and wish to keep going, we'll think of something else! Cross that bridge if we ever reach it...
And that's pretty much it really... all the rest will be following the deathzone rulebook, these are just my little personal additions for flavour. Why fix what aint broken?
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