Blood Bowl, guys.

EddieDean

Blood Bowl is goddamn awesome.

So, what is Blood Bowl?
It's one of those Games Workshop spinoff games that sold well for a couple of years but isn't sold in
shops any more (though you can still buy the stuff online). It's a board game played with miniatures
(the same races as warhammer fantasy), which is basically violent rugby/american football. The rules
are simple, but very colourful, and it's immense fun to play.



You've probably got a mate who's got this stashed in his attic somewhere. Go get him to grab it,
then buy whatever pieces you're missing, and get a goddamn league going.

Time for a story.
So, a while back, a buddy was all "Guys we should all play Blood Bowl like" (He's from Liverpool, he
says 'Like' a lot. Why wouldn't I omit that unneccessary info from my OP? Because fuck you.) There
were seven of us and we'd never played it before, and had never had any interest in Warhammer
fantasy, but we figured we'd give it a shot. And oh boy, is it fun. "I've got like enough for eight armies
like, so we can all make a team and have a league like"



Individual games are great fun - you beat up the other guys, you plow through them, you use dirty
tricks to mess them up, or you just use viable tactics and have guys just run up the other end with
the ball. Either way, it's awesome. But the best bit is when you have a league, especially of a good
size like mine. You build a team, you set up matches, and whether or not you win your team gets
better. There's a good balancing system so weaker players level up a little quicker and get more useful
cards to play during matches, so a match is never hopeless. Unless all but three of your guys get killed
in the first turn, which happened to one of the guys in my group.

You get used to your playstyle and that of opponents, and your team members level up (through
playing well), and can learn new skills, which might let them throw further or kill better or jump over
other players or throw your own players. It's fun to watch them grow, though of course, you take
injuries (and indeed inflict them). I've got a guy on my side with a broken spine... he doesn't run so
good any more.


So, reminisce about fun Bowls past, or get your own stuff back out and get a league going.

EddieDean

Oh, and on another note, there's a free online Java client for online matches. If there's sufficient interest,
I'd be well up for getting a league going on here.

Raakam

I think we have a Blood Bowl thread once every few months. It was an awesome game, but none of my friends are interested. A league is definitely the way to go. I had an undead team with 2 pro mummies that had movement of 5 and agil of 3. We never won games, but we always, always killed over half the opposing team.

Good times.

Ozmodai

I've been doing the Blood Bowl thing for at least a year now and still enjoying it. League play is the way to roll too as the team management becomes something of a game in itself after a few games.

Right now my friends and I are playing in our own little league and my Amazons are doing fairly well with a record of 2-1-2, with both losses to a goblin team. Here I was thinking those goblins were a joke team!

My one issue with Blood Bowl is that it can take a large amount of time to play, especially if one or both of the players are not too solid with rules knowledge. I consider a good game to be one that from set up to the final turn takes under two hours.

It's a nice little game, especially for introducing new people to the Games Workshop rules and miniatures.

EddieDean

Yeah, it is. Until very recently my Skaven were taking a pounding. They're fast, but shit at giving and taking hits, and they just got pounded. My record was something like 1-1-7, though they were still getting better. Then a veteran player mate pointed out that I was playing the blocking game, and not focusing on my strengths at all. As soon as I started dodging, and not following up blocks, and avoiding tackles, my game got a load better.