Blood Bowl

[Rutskarn]

There is going to be an official Blood Bowl videogame (http://www.bloodbowl-game.com/videos/index.php?video=4) coming up.

I've never played so much as one single sports videogame in my life (barring 10-Yard Figh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10-Yard_Fight)t, and not even much of that), but I'm actually kind of excited about this one.

Obviously, it's based off the classic Games Workshop miniatures game (http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=cat200198&aId=2600005), where fantasy races form teams in a game similar to American Football, if the only rule in football was 1.) No Weapons (spikes excluded).

If it wasn't for the fact that it'd be impossible to find any other players in my area, I'd almost want to start my own team.

Anyway, this game might prove a viable substitute.

(This game better have an undead team (http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=cat200198&aId=2600005)...)

Anyone else looking forward to it? Or have an Blood Bowl experience under their belts?

[TamerBill]

There's a thriving online Blood Bowl playing community at fumbbl.com (http://fumbbl.com), as a matter of fact, who play over a Java-based client. I haven't played there much myself, but it could be a viable alternative for people who can't find enough opponents to play in person.

[grinner666]

Obviously, it's based off the classic Games Workshop miniatures game (http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=cat200198&aId=2600005), where fantasy races form teams in a game similar to American Football, if the only rule in football was 1.) No Weapons (spikes excluded).

(1) You forgot Chainsaw Lunatics.

(2) Since I can't find another Blood Bowl player down here to save my soul, of COURSE I'm looking forward to it.

Oh, for the chance to hit the astroconcrete again ...

:smallbiggrin:

[psycojester]

I've never actually played the tabletop bloodbowl, but i really enjoyed Chaos League. Basically its what the people who are making Bloodbowl made when they couldn't get the license.

Its a lot of fun and the real time with pause method is the best way to play (i hope they keep it in Bloodbowl). Basically 20 seconds or so the game pauses for several seconds and you get to give commands to your players who'll follow them out when the game unpauses. Its a really good way to preserve the turn-based aspect of the game without losing the real-time sportsy feel of it.

[banjo1985]

I'm an occasional tabletop Bloodbowl player, it's immensely enjoyable I must admit. I hadn't heard about the videogame, but it looks good. I just hope it comes out on the 360. :smallbiggrin:

[Altima]

According to the rumor mill, there's only going to be eight races on release.

Humans, Orcs, Lizardmen, Skaven, Dwarves, Chaos (beastmen and human, it looks like), Wood Elves, and Goblins.

So no undead.

The game looks great, though, and I really like the customization of the teams. I can't wait to make a purdy looking squad!

[Gwain]

I Used to play at Fumbbl, must say that i hope that the new bloodbowl keeps the turn mechanism, I feel purist in these days

[Attilargh]

They've promised the game can be played either as a real-time strategy game or with the turn-based tabletop rulesr. The video Rutskarn linked to seems to agree, and even teases us with hotseat multiplayer mode.

If they come through with all that, I'm going to blitz my way into the nearest game store the day before it releases.

I'll miss my Elves, though.

[onasuma]

Obviously, it's based off the classic Games Workshop miniatures game (http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=cat200198&aId=2600005), where fantasy races form teams in a game similar to American Football, if the only rule in football was 1.) No Weapons (spikes excluded).

Death rollers arent weapons now?

http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1252173_99110999107_BBDeathRollerMain_445x319.jpg

[king.com]

OMG, yes, thank you game lords! I cannot wait for this, never been excited for a sports game until now.

[Colmarr]

Did I ever play blood bowl?

Depends. Does having a team rating higher than the Reikland Reavers count?

IMO, Bloodbowl is without a doubt the best game Games Workshop has ever made, and I can't wait to get the computer version.

[Athaniar]

I'm no generally too much into Warhammer, and American Football is totally alien to me, but this game has lizardmen, so it has my attention.

[Wraith]

Well... they say it's based on American Football. What they mean is, two teams of players stand of a big rectangle of grass and try to get a weird shaped ball from one end to the other.

That's more or less where the similarities end, as normal American Football doesn't allow Steampunk Chainsaws, ACME-style hand grenades, players mounted on pogo-sticks (and other players!), spikey one-man Steamrollers, and Wizards standing on the touchline throwing fireballs at your opponent. :smallbiggrin:

I am a long-time Blood Bowl fan, and it is by far one of the greatest losses to the gaming community that Games Workshop has formally discontinued producing new models and supplements for the tabletop game. I am, however, very glad to see that the spirit of Nuffle is alive and well across the world in spite of all that :smallsmile:

I don't suppose anyone would like to try a FUMBBL-in-the-Playground mini-league and see if we can show the newbies the majesty of seeing your team's Minotaur Blitzer stomping their catchers into the dirt...?:smallwink:

[Zorg]

Other teams (High Elf, Undead) have been said to be planned as downloadable content later.

And Onasuma - it is, you just have to bribe the ref to ignore it (or run him over first :smallbiggrin: ).

[Rogue 7]

:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:

I haven't played Blood Bowl in years. I can't wait, though if it's PC-only, I'll be a sad panda.

[Johnny Blade]

Now, that's one of not too many upcoming games (I can think of two others right now) that I intend to buy as soon as they're out, especially because I've been thinking about getting into the miniatures game for a while now, but a lack of other players makes it pretty unattractive, and also rather hard to play some games to see if I actually like the game. I guess this game could solve both problems at once.


Oh, it also looks pretty cool. :smallbiggrin:

[Rutskarn]

So...am I going to make a Skaven or an Orc team first?

Decision, decisions.

I hope you get to make a team logo/name and such as well.

[warty goblin]

This has gotten my interest, even though I have little attraction to Warhammer fantasy, and so much apathy for football I didn't realize the Super Bowl was this last weekend. On the other hand the idea of any game where one can score points by having a ten foot tall orc throw a goblin a good 20 yards is pretty awesome. Also, sports where killing/maiming the other team is half the point always strike me as a good thing.

[grinner666]

Also, sports where killing/maiming he other team is half the point always strike me as a good thing.

Half the point? Jeez, I used to be considered kind of a Blood Bowl wimp in the group I played with 'cause I played an Elf team that worked on ... y'know ... winning the game as opposed to murdering the entire opposing team ...

But I did have a pair of Chainsaw Lunatics in my starting lineup ...

:smallbiggrin:

[Rutskarn]

I dunno. As far as the actual video game goes, I think I can see either strategy or slaughter being fun.

From a game design perspective (as far as computer games go), it'd be more convenient for the designer to have it be a player uses evasion and strategy, computer uses bloodshed situation. It'd force the player to be more cerebral, and it'd make for a simpler AI (not that I'm saying massacring the opposing team can't be just as challenging as beating them squarely, but it's harder to program that kind of situation). I'm pleased that we have the choice.

[Malek]

Just yearday I played my first 2 games with a friend using FUMBBL, and I must say we had a blast :smallbiggrin: Right now our teams are in [A]cademy (as we both are new to this), but considering that we'll probably have to move eventually, and that I'm most likely to play against him often/repeatedly (If only because it's easier for me to organize games against him than anyone else), I have a question to more experienced FUMBBL'ers: From what I understood from reading division descriptions, even though [U]nranked is looser on terms of whom I will fight, I still would not be allowed to play one guy repeadatly (which, like I mentioned, is likely to happen), and if I want to do so we should make [L]eague teams and create a personal mini-group for that use - am I correct?

As for the upcoming game - looks awesome, if I manage to upgrade my hardware before it comes out I'm definetly getting that :]

[Uzirael]

i remember the blood bowl series from a series of books rather, i want to say it was Matt Forbeck as the author but i can't remember.

[Wraith]

Nope, you're dead right Uzirael. "Blood Bowl", "Death Match", "Dead Ball" and "Rumble In The Jungle" were all written by Matt Forbeck, and I thought they were pretty good

I haven't yet gotten around to his Graphic novel "Blood Bowl: Killer Contract", but it sounds like a bit of good, clean fun :smallsmile:

[Colmarr]

good, clean fun

Words that should never be uttered in the same sentence as the words "Blood Bowl".

Which reminds me, I never did get the chance to make a team like the Bright Crusaders who refused to use dirty tricks cards...

[MiniMan]

There is an online group (http://z9.invisionfree.com/Mayhem_Gaming/index.php?showforum=223) of blood bowlers starting a new season if anyone is interested. I tried playing last season but could not get the client to work on my machine, but I'm running a game server and I think that was my specific problem.

[Evil DM Mark3]

I can't wait for that glorious sound of lawn roller on skull...

[Teron]

That goblins/dwarves video completely sold me when I saw it a few days ago. God help me, I'm looking forward to a football game.

[Johnny Blade]

So, please allow me to use this thread for selfish reasons.
If, for some reason, you find my private life not all that interesting, feel free to skip the following paragraph. :smallwink:

Yesterday, me and a few other people discussed what video games we played recently, and basically agreed that there wasn't all that much still interesting us. (There also was much nostalgia, mainly involving the Baldur's Gate and to a lesser extent Jagged Alliance series, and the realization of the sad truth that university students have trouble affording new graphics cards.) However, one of the games that four of us look forward to is, oddly enough, Blood Bowl, and not only that, it also turned out that besides me, two other of those present had actually thought about getting into the miniatures game but were turned away by a lack of players. We've known each other for over a year, by the way.
So, looks like we're going to give it a try, although none of us will buy any miniatures before some testing is done. (The first matches will be played using self-made paper figures. :smallbiggrin:)


Now, the question is what team to play, and while one of us is dead set on the Dwarves and one will at least test the Dark Elves first, I'm torn between the Orcs (mainly for flavor reasons) and a team that is focusing more on playing the ball, as opposed to the enemy.
Of course, that decision will depend mostly on what playing style I prefer, so no one can help me here, I guess.

However, I'd be very much interested in hearing everything about the more agile and elegant teams that you people around here who have played them - or played against them a lot - deem important, since I fear that I'll only have time to test one of them in the foreseeable future.
When I looked through the (5th edition) rules, Skaven and Wood Elves managed to catch my fancy, but since I have the experience of exactly 0 hard-fought Blood Bowl matches, I thought it would be best to ask what you think is the most fun team that matches the aforementioned criteria.

Thanks in advance. :smallsmile:

[Brother Oni]

They're onto 5th edition? :smalleek:

I've only played First and Second edition, so if you've ever wondered about the rules for Judges (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_(2000_AD)) and Fatties in Blood Bowl, then I'd be the person to see. Other than that, I'm not much help to you, sorry.

[Copacetic]

The REAL question is what to make first: A Minoutaur or Lizardmen team? :smallbiggrin:

[JellyPooga]

stuff

If you're looking to play agility team, play Skaven. Wood Elves (besides being really cheaty with everyone having AG 4) are technically faster and thus a better agility team BUT they are also very expensive where Skaven are cheap as chips. Both teams die approximately as often as each other, but the difference is that where a Skaven player can simply replace dead or injured players, a Wood Elf might no be able to afford it. One thing hurts more than anything else in BB and that's not being able to field a full compliment of 11 players (just for comparison, a Wood Elf team will struggle to fill 12 spaces on their roster with your starting gold but a Skaven team can happily have 13 players and have gold to spare).

If you want some specific tactics and advice on how to play Skaven, PM me ('cos this thread's about the computer game) or do a search for my posts in threads about blood bowl...I'm pretty sure I gave someone Skaven advice before.

[Blayze]

Going off what little I know of Blood Bowl and Skaven in general, I assume the best way to play Skaven is to gang up on and slaughter each opposing player one after the other, since you can replace your losses a hell of a lot easier.

Also, BLITZ!

[Penguinizer]

I've been thinking of getting into Blood Bowl, any tips for what race and such to play as?

[JellyPooga]

Going off what little I know of Blood Bowl and Skaven in general, I assume the best way to play Skaven is to gang up on and slaughter each opposing player one after the other, since you can replace your losses a hell of a lot easier.

Also, BLITZ!

See here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55275&highlight=blood+bowl)for my tips on playing Skaven.

[Wraith]

I've been thinking of getting into Blood Bowl, any tips for what race and such to play as?

Do you have about a week to spare, while I type up an expansive answer to that question? :smalltongue:

Seriously though, Blood Bowl allows you to play over around 2-dozen different races, some of which are fairly similar except for minor details and others which are something else entirely. The best thing to do would be to take a look at the rule books (http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?community=&catId=cat1290025&categoryId=1100014&aId=4800003) and decide what type of team you want to play - fast and agile like the three types of Elves, slow and strong like Chaos and Undead, all-rounders like Humans, or something a bit wackier like Halflings and Goblins.

I would suggest that, at least to begin with, you start with either Humans or Orcs - the former are an 'average' Team that lets you try everything while you learn the game,while Orcs are slightly more aggressive, but are tough enough to allow you to make a few mistakes. :smallsmile:

That's not a cast-iron rule or anything, but it certainly would be easier on us to help you if we knew what kind of thing you would enjoy playing - Blood Bowl generally is NOT a game where you can take any Team and turn them towards any old play-style. No matter how much you want it, that Mummy just ain't ever gonna catch a ball if you throw it to him.... :smallbiggrin:

[JellyPooga]

Blood Bowl generally is NOT a game where you can take any Team and turn them towards any old play-style. No matter how much you want it, that Mummy just ain't ever gonna catch a ball if you throw it to him.... :smallbiggrin:

True dat!

I'll second the advice of starting with Orcs or Humies at first. Humans present the base-line for teams...they're tough enough to make a go of bashing up the opposition but they also have a pretty good running/throwing play. Orcs are the average tough-guy team. They'll give you a good enough idea on what it's like to be a bruiser, but with just enough finesse to actually do some scoring (unlike, for instance, Dwarfs or Undead who pretty much score a maximum of once in any given match because most rest of the time they're putting the beat-down on the other team).

Once you've put in a few games with both of those teams, you should have an idea of whether you want to play a Bruiser Team (bash in their heads and take the ball from their cold dead fingers) or a Cruiser Team (fast 'n' flashy score before they blink). Once you've made that decision you can go into details...

[Johnny Blade]

So, many thanks to JellyPooga. Looks like I'll give the Skaven a go then. I was leaning towards them anyway, because, well, Elves are nice and all, but they're just Elves. Who wants them when you can have mutated rats?

However, I'll probably try out the Orcs first. (I already see it coming; I'll make two teams in the end.) And I might just revive the old Blood Bowl thread after we've played some games, although I personally don't think it would be too much of a derailment to talk about Blood Bowl the tabletop game here.

Also, the Blood Bowl Living Rulebook page (http://www.bloodbowlonline.com/Rules.shtml).

[Attilargh]

the three types of Elves
The four types of Elves. High, Wood, Dark and Just Elves. :smallwink:

Also, elves don't die nearly as often as they're made out to. Sure, you're probably always playing as the underdog because half of your team's knocked out or something, but at least everyone on the field will be totally awesome, thanks to all the cool skills and AG4. (Hel-lo Wardancer!)