I took part in a Blood Bowl League at a Local Games shop The Missing Geek in Staines. This was the third season for my Human team The Altdorf Palace Eagles. I started playing Blood Bowl for the first time as a board game when Games Workshop rereleased it after a long absence. The game itself had kept a fan base through independent companies making their own teams and a series of PC and console games. The League consisted of 8 teams and I played 7 games before the Playoffs. The game itself is based on American Football/Rugby with two halves each of 8 turns for each team. We used a timer to limit each person’s turn to 5 minutes with time outs if the rules needed to be consulted.
I find it takes about 3 hours to complete a game.
The results of my 7 games were as follows:-
Altdorf Palace Eagles 0 – 1 Blood Bat Bears (Human) Altdorf Palace Eagles 1 -- 1 Deh Gutta Runners (Skaven) Altdorf Palace Eagles 1 – 1 De Gorka Morka Skull Krushers (Orc) Altdorf Palace Eagles 1 – 1 Khazad Boom (Dwarfs) Altdorf Palace Eagles 1 -- 1 Da Smart Nobz (Orcs) Altdorf Palace Eagles 1-- 1 Da Gobstoppaz (Orcs) Altdorf Palace Eagles 1 –- 0 the Brooklyn Babes (Human)
At the end of the series of games I was 4th in the League and through to the play offs. There were a lot of Draws as everyone was experienced but the results do not tell the whole story in a lot of games one side or the other came close to winning but were stopped by a good defence or a bad dice roll. It can be a tense game and it is a great feeling when a series of moves comes together. If you play badly you will lose but any game involving rolling dice means luck does come into it - you can make a good series of moves only to fail because a player falls on their face or fails a passing role or vital block etc. To an extent re rolls help here but if luck is really against you and your opponent is a competent player you will lose. The worst game I had was in a previous season when four of my players died and at the end of the game I had three players left on the pitch as my opponent kept on breaking my players armour and then rolled well on the injury table- one of the players who died fell on his face (Rolled a 1) while going for it (moving an extra space) and then failed the reroll (anything but a 1) broke his armour and died(bad injury roll) and the apothecary came on and failed to save him(another bad injury roll).
Generally speaking over the 7 games I played in Season 3 the luck factor balanced out but you have to be prepared and accept things can go pear shaped- it’s part of the game.
If you have not played Blood Bowl before there are a number of different teams you can choose from and each team has different strengths and weaknesses and you have to adapt your play stile depending on the abilities of your team and the team you are playing against.
Pictures from some of the seven games my team is Human in Blue and Yellow Kit. Note players face towards their opponents half but as you move players you turn them around so they are facing towards their own half in order to remember who has moved.
After the 7 league games my team was in the playoffs against the League leader Craig and his team Khazad Boom (Dwarfs). We played on Craig’s pitch which he had made himself it looked good.
We played our game in the week before Christmas it was an exciting game and ended 1—1. One of my players could have scored a winning goal in my last turn of the game if only he had managed to pick up a loose ball but he failed and I had no rerolls left.
This meant we had to play extra time which we did in another session after Christmas. My opponent had run out of bribes and so could no longer field the Dwarf Death Roller and both teams had no rerolls left. Extra time ends as soon as one team scores. My opponent won the toss and would be the attacking team. My opponent’s team had the ball but I managed to get a player next to the ball carrier but an attempted blitz on the ball carrier failed as the blitzer fell on his face when going for it(moving an extra space to carry out the Blitz). The Dwarf carrying the ball then failed a dodge out move (needing anything but a one due to his player’s skills) and then failed a reroll and fell over dropping the ball which my player picked up and ran across the line scoring the winning goal.
Overall a 2-1 victory for Altdorf Palace Eagles who were though to the final against Charlies Da Gobstppaz (Orcs)
Some pictures of the semi final
In the final I played against Charlie’s Orc Team Da Gobstoppaz – I don’t like playing Orcs as it was an Orc team that reduced my team to 3 players on the pitch in my first season of Blood Bowl.
It was a good game both of us were playing to win the Orcs were in front 2-1 in the second half and with one turn to go I had to pull of a series of moves/actions to tie the game but unfortunately my dice rolling let me down with the first action in the sequence and I had no rerolls left - the Orcs won the game 2-1.
After nine games I came second after losing in the Final it had been a good run. I think Blood Bowl it at its best when you are in a League managing your team ,developing and improving your palyers skills hoping a key player does not get injured or killed .
Some pictures of the final game with the last picture showing the winning Orc goal.
Commentaires