Introduction
“If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it.”
― Mark Twain
What is Blood Bowl?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPwMntjyciM
In Text Form: Blood Bowl is a Games Workshop game made back in 1995 as a Warhammer parody of American Football. It's gone through several rule changes but the spirit of the game remains the same. You play as a team of Warhammer characters in a turn-based football brawl against an opponent.
After one team kicks the ball off at the start of the match, the receiving team takes control of the board. They can choose to move their players, punch opponents and/or pick up/pass/advance the ball. After their turn, the defense takes control and they can punch, move or attempt to get the ball for themselves. Whoever gets the ball into their end zone gets a point. Whoever has the most points, wins.
This is Democracy Blood Bowl, though. What's going to happen is, as I play matches (against goons/y'all), my players will level up and get to pick skills. I'll post about levelups after matches happen, and you guys will vote on which skills to give my players. Build to win, build to have fun, or build to have both or neither, it's on you.
Can I see the game in motion at least?
Yeah sure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR3RRV6tKrg
The two points of reference for this game are Football/Rugby and Turn Based Tabletop RPG Combat. There's not a ton of crossover between these two crowds, so you may be walking into this with experience in one, the other, or none, but probably not both.
Alright, but what about <certain mechanic or gameplay question>
Leading up to and through the first couple of matches, I am going to do a series of posts (and possibly videos) discussing the mechanics of the game. They're intended mostly for the people who are interested less in looking at giant lizards cave in the skulls of small halflings and more in how the game works in terms of numbers, stats, and dice rolls.
So what are we doing here, now?
Well now that we've chosen a team, Necromantic, I'm gonna start playing and doing commentary on matches with fellow goon and Blood Bowl dude, Seven Deadly Sins. After just about every match, there'll be some voting to do, either to spend some team earnings or to level up a player. So go watch some Blood Bowl and get voting!
What is Blood Bowl?
How to Bloodbowl
What skill should we give Santos Von Hammerstein, the Ghoul? - Block
What name should we give the new Werewolf? - Hungrylike
What do we do with our money? - Second Ghoul
What do we name the new Ghoul - Ra's al
What do we do with the newly niggled Pelvis Costello, Zombie? - Keep Him
What do we do with the newly -AV Flesh Prince, Flesh Golem? - Keep Him
What do we do with our money? - Save for a new Wolf
What skill do we give MacGruff, the +MA Werewolf? - Block
What skill do we give Pelvis Costello, the skill-less, niggled Zombie? - Wrestle
What do we do with our money? - Save it
What do we do with our cash earnings? - Save For Flolem
What do we do with our cash earnings - Bought Flesh Gordon, Flesh Golem
What skill do we give MacGruff (Werewolf, +MA and Block, GA access)? - Dodge
What skill do we give Blitzer (Werewolf, skill-less, GAPS access on doubles)? - Mighty Blow
What skill do we give Dr. Wight (Wight, Mighty Blow, GS access)? - Guard
What do we do with our cash earnings? - Spent on THE HEAD CHEERLEADER, Ghoul
What do we do with our cash earnings? - Bought Two Zombies, Mykill Jackson and Graverobbin Williams
What skill do we give THE HEAD CHEERLEADER? - Wrestle
What do we do with our cash earnings (last open call for team purchases)? - Reroll
What do we do with our cash earnings? - Save
What skill do we give Wight Power (Pass Wight, GAPS Doubles)? - Accurate
What do we name the new Ghoul? - El Hijo
What should we do with Santos Von Hammerstein? - Keep
What skill should we give Graverobbin Williams (Zombie, skillless, normals)? - Kick
What do we do with the fresh kill, Clifford Olsen Twins? - Keep
What do we do with Wolf Blitzer? - Keep
What skill should we give El Hijo (Ghoul, Skill-less, Normals)? - Block
Which two zombies do we jettison to get back to 13 players? - Pelvis Costello and Navy Blue
What do we do with the newly -AG Wight Power? - Replaced by Wight Privilege
Are we going to jettison one of our gimped superstars? - Replaced Blitzer with The Assistant Coach
Blood Bowl 101
Sometimes I make big ol' posts discussing concepts for people who are interested in picking up and playing Blood Bowl. Here they are. They're meant to be supplementary to the videos, so each lesson might make more sense if you follow the videos in order as well. So, if you're stumbling into this thread right now without having watching any of the videos and have no clue what Blood Bowl is, watch the first or second match, first. Or, it might be better to filter my posts and watch the videos and read the posts in the order I posted them chronologically.
- Lesson 1 - What Constitutes A Player? Discussing Player Attributes and Skill Access
- Lesson 2 - Assists, Assist Mechanics, and the Guard Skill
- Lesson 3 - Goblin Secret Weapons
- Lesson 3.5 - Throw Teammate
- Lesson 4 - Strategy 1: Caging
- Lesson 5 - Strategy 2: Screening
The Hall Of Heroes
Hungrylike - Werewolf, Match 3 to Match 5, KIA
Ra's Al - Ghoul, Match 4 to Match 10, Fired
The Flesh Prince - Flesh Golem, Match 1 to Match 7, KIA
Franken Castle - Zombie, Match 1 to Match 12, KIA
Riff Raff - Zombie, Match 1 to Match 12, Fired
THE HEAD CHEERLEADER - Ghoul, Match 11 to Match 14, KIA
Pelvis Costello - Zombie, Match 1 to Match 18, Fired
Navy Blue - Zombie, Match 18 to Match 18, Fired
Dr. Wight - Wight, Match 1 to Match 19, KIA