Blood Bowl

Blood Bowl
Game data
author	Jervis Johnson
publishing company	Games Workshop , u. a.
Publishing year	1986, 1988, 1994, 2016
Art	Fantasy board game
Teammates	2
Duration	90-150 minutes
Age	from 10 years on

Blood Bowl is a tabletop game in which two fantasy teams compete against each other on a fixed game board. It's a mix of American football and the fantasy world known from Warhammer . The name is based on the Super Bowl . The board game is developed by Fanatic and distributed by the parent company Games Workshop . There are also several computer game implementations.

In 1994, MicroLeague released a computer game for the PC under the license of Games Workshop under the same name . In June 2009 a second game with the same name was released, this time produced by Cyanide Studios . The sequel Blood Bowl 2 was released on September 22, 2015 .

Editions

The 1st edition (made in France) appeared in 1986 and already contained many elements of American football. In 1987 the expansion "Death Zone" appeared. The game was not very successful. Jervis Johnson and the guys from Games Workshop took on the game and developed a successful 2nd edition out of it, in which many of their own control mechanisms were used instead of borrowing them from Warhammer. In addition to the basic box published in 1988, there were also the books "Star-Players" (1989), "Dungeonbowl" (1989) and "Companion" (1990), which already contained many league elements. The 3rd edition was published in 1994 and brought many innovations into play, such as: B. the open league system. In 2002 this 3rd edition, together with the additional rules called "Deathzone", was released again in a box.

After that, the “Competition Rules Pack” (CRP for short) formed the official rule base. The Competition Rules Pack marked the end of years of further development of the rules, which were discussed annually in the so-called "Blood Bowl Rules Committee" (BBRC for short) by veterans of the game and published as the "Living Rulebook" (LRB for short). Since there were a total of 5 editions of the Living Rulebook, the following Competition Rules Pack has also become colloquially known as LRB 6.

In 2016 Games Workshop brought out a new edition, which is initially supplemented by the additional volumes Deathzone Season 1 + 2, then by the "Spike! -Magazin" with updated rules for the now 23 official teams. The annual “Blood Bowl Almanacs” summarize the rules published last year, and in 2019 the “Head Coach's Rules and Accessories Pack” was published, which contains game accessories and a revised rule book with all teams. Beginner teams are sold in plastic sprues by Games Workshop, additional players are produced in synthetic resin under the Forge World brand . The 2016 edition differs only slightly from the LRB, the most striking innovation is the enlargement of the playing fields, which is necessary due to the figure base that has grown from 25 mm to 30 mm.

In addition to the official breeds, 3 other breeds have established themselves, the so-called experimental teams. These were found to be good and balanced by the BBRC, but were not incorporated into the official rules by Games Workshop. In the tournament scene, however, it is common to give these teams a pseudo-official status.

Gameplay

Basic idea

At Blood Bowl, two teams, consisting of a maximum of 16 game pieces, face each other on a rectangular game board (15 × 26 fields). A maximum of 11 players per team may be on the field at the same time, the other players are substitutes. The figures are made of unpainted plastic or pewter; when participating in official tournaments, they must be painted by hand before they can be used. The aim of the game is to bring the ball with one of your pieces into the opponent's end zone and thus to achieve more touchdowns than the opponent. The individual players have different attributes such as strength, dexterity or speed, which represent their different skills. These are distributed according to the race of the team (see below) with different focuses.

The game is turn-based, each player has 8 rounds per half, in which he can carry out individual actions with his playing pieces. Success and failure are decided by a dice test, individual team members have attributes or skills that can influence the number of dice used or the result. If an action fails, this leads to a loss of a move , the current round ends prematurely and it is the opponent's turn.

Tactics

The game offers various tactics that can lead to success. Particularly skilled teams usually rely on the passing game to bring the ball through the generic defense to their own catchers, who then score the touchdown. Fast teams, on the other hand, use gaps in the opposing defense to push the ball far into the opposing half. Very strong teams often force their way through and block any player who gets in their way.

The ultimate tactic is usually a mixture of the above, it is largely determined by the attributes and skills of the players.

Team development

An important aspect of the game is team development in the league system. For successful actions, such as a touchdown or seriously injuring an opponent, your own players receive star player points. From a fixed number of points, players can learn additional skills that facilitate individual actions or enable new actions.

In addition, you receive income for games played, from which new players or assistant coaches or cheerleaders can be acquired, who may have a positive influence on the course of the game.

An important aspect is the built-in handicap system, which allows teams of different strengths to compete against each other, in which the weaker team can buy reinforcements.

General

Along with the two main game systems, Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000, Blood Bowl is probably the most popular game from the Games Workshop range. Tournaments are held around the world, sometimes from eight to over a hundred participants. There are now web-based simulators and play-by-mail clients with which you can measure against players from all over the world from your home computer. There is a worldwide ranking of the "coaches" and growing online communities involved in this game. Groups have already formed that have built up a certain role play based on the fictional story. On the one hand there is the “Orthodox Church of Nuffle”, the “Reformed Church of Nuffle”, but also the “Nuffle Blasphemer's Association”, which are engaged in joking arguments.

Teams and races

At the moment there are 23 official different races with racial advantages and disadvantages from which Blood Bowl teams can be recruited. In addition, there are 3 other races that are approved for tournaments by the NAF players' association. The races can be pass-oriented, like the wood elves, or rather favorable for the running game. Some races are strong and slow, like the dwarves, others weak and fast. Still other races have mixtures or special players, as with the goblins, or advantages that are less in the players than more in the environment, as with the halflings. Likewise, some teams are strong in the starting version, but develop less thanks to star player points, others, such as the Chaos race, need some progress in order to develop their potential. Some races are quite disadvantaged in this regard and are intended more for fun gamers with little intention of making a profit; some require an advanced understanding of their properties in order to be able to use them well. Most teams, however, are essentially balanced.

NAF - Nuffle Amorical Football

The NAF is the worldwide association of Blood Bowl players. It was founded in 2003 at the suggestion of Jervis Johnson by representatives of the global community.

The players' association offers its members the opportunity to compete internationally with other players by including game results from sanctioned tournaments in a world ranking list. The biggest tournament is the NAF Championship in Nottingham, which takes place every year. In addition, a world championship is held every four years, at which both the team world champions and individual players are chosen. This World Cup took place in Nottingham for the first time in 2007, followed by Amsterdam in 2011 and Lucca, Italy in 2015. The world's largest tournament was the 2019 World Cup, which was held in Dornbirn , Austria with 1432 participants. In addition, five major tournaments take place worldwide each year, which were previously organized by Games Workshop itself, but have been continued by the gaming community since Games Workshop last withdrew. The German major tournament, the "Dungeonbowl", takes place in Düsseldorf.

FUMBBL - Blood Bowl Online

Fumbbl is a faithful online version implementation of the game. It's not from Games Workshop, but is tolerated by the company. The worldwide fan base holds various tournaments.