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[Silent_Thunder]

So, I've noticed we have a dozen dead threads about various offshoots of Blood Bowl, and figured it would be best if we just had one singular thread for it, especially as necroing the old threads is an issue. So here we go.

What is Blood Bowl? Blood Bowl is a old Games Workshop game about Fantasy Football, namely fantasy as in Warhammer Fantasy. Orcs, Elves, Dwarfs, horrible mutants, and if you're a sad boring person, humans! All playing against each other for glory, honor, and of course money. Mostly money.

There's currently 3 versions of Blood Bowl out there worth your time. The first is the retail product by Cyanide, Blood Bowl. It's currently on it's 2nd edition, with improved graphics and user interface, and although it doesn't have all the teams yet, it has the biggest player base. The previous edition, Chaos Edition, has dwindled down to nearly nothing now by player migration, and isn't worth your time tbh.

The second edition worth mentioning is FUMBBL. A freeware java based client with a dedicated website, all of the teams, and better private league management tools. However, the playerbase is smaller and as a consequence the skill floor is a lot higher, so new players will see their teeth kicked in repeatedly. In addition, it's 2d nature and java based means not only is it not as graphically good as the commercial product, but the interface in many ways is less good (although it was far superior to BB1's trainwreck UI). And of course requires the java runtimes installed.

Both editions thankfully have a good player base to play against, with the commercial product recently separating it's Matchmaking into a casual and competitive one, the difference being the competitive one runs for 3 months at a time, and 5 concessions = ejection till next season.

Third is the actual tabletop game. Although discontinued by GW when specialist games shut down, the NAF eventually coalesced into existance, and is the defacto governing body of tabletop Blood Bowl. Many third party miniature and board/dice makers have sprung up in recent years to make "fantasy football" sets. However, GW is using Blood Bowl to spearhead it's revival of the Specalist division, and as such a new official box set is due later this year, with the same core rules but new optional rules and the return of special card inducements.

So I've rambled long enough, anyone else still play this?

[MrRoboto75]

I'd play, but that would mean re-buying the (sequel) game, which apparently is like 80 dollars total just to have most of the teams I did before.

[Silent_Thunder]

I'd play, but that would mean re-buying the (sequel) game, which apparently is like 80 dollars total just to have most of the teams I did before.

Yeah missed the boat unfortunately. They were running a thing where as long as you owned the game before the DLC came out, you'd get it free, so I got all 5 (+1 unreleased) DLC races free. Now all you'd get is the Nurgle team free.

There's still the free java one though.

[lordcooper]

I play way too much Blood Bowl.  In an online league for BB2 (PM me if you want in, a new season starts soon-ish), two tabletop leagues and I play a fair bit of Champion Ladder in COL.

I'd play, but that would mean re-buying the (sequel) game, which apparently is like 80 dollars total just to have most of the teams I did before.

Eh, I'd say it's worth it.  It's vastly improved in both graphics, UI, and lack of bugs.  As for DLC, would you even play those teams often?  Most people seem to gravitate towards two or three main teams, and most of the tier one teams are in the base game.

[Codician]

I can't wait until the new Blood Bowl tabletop game is out. The miniatures look amazing.

[lordcooper]

I can't wait until the new Blood Bowl tabletop game is out. The miniatures look amazing.

Unfortunately GW are being, well, GW and not including full sets of minis in the base game.  The orc team comes with only two Black Orcs for example, and those are the cornerstone of their team.

[sambojin]

Used to play a tiny bit on Fumbbl (I'm pretty hopeless) and still occasionally watch a game or two as a sort of screen saver. You learn a lot, and then never quite manage to put it into practice when you play

I probably prefer the minimalist nature of Fumbbl's interface compared to Cyanide's versions. Easier to see what's going on (you can always see the entire field) to plan your plays with, and it has an awesome spectator setup with audible emotes too. It makes for some fun back-seat coaching and tournament watching occasionally, without it becoming spammy or annoying. Having a basic "squares" ruler and easy-to-see movement/throwing ranges is great as well. You can check player/opponent skills/stats at a glance too, as well as full dice outcomes as standard, so you know what happened and why.

It's also got a fair few divisions, including the Stunty Leeg, made up of experimental off-books teams full of little guys, big guys, chainsaws and explosions. So, All Teams without DLC + More Teams + "Better" Interface + FREE(!) = better all-round game in my eyes.

It's got a really nice community too. Sure you'll get foul-stomped or PBOMB'd to death sometimes, but you do learn how to play against that style of play as well, usually from someone that's actually pretty cool. Everyone's really helpful by-and-large, and you'll manage to squeak in a few wins sometimes regardless.

Damn good players on there, that also help scrubs like me learn, makes it worthwhile trying out imo. No cost, so why not? The team/roster creation interface isn't great, but the rest is very well made, if only in 2d. Even just spectating matches is fun

Create an account and watch a few matches to see if it's for you here:
http://fumbbl.com/p/news

[Anvilfolk]

Had a blast when I was playing but unfortunately games took over an hour, with a whole lot of just sitting around. That's too long for me these days Kinda wish there'd be a variant where each turn you could move a single player, and you'd need to move each player once before they all reset and you could move them all again.

[Thexor]

Been playing BB2 off and on, plus watching through the streaming community. Twitch has done wonderful things for the game, I'm not going to lie. It's just hard to find an hour free for a match, especially when half of that's watching your opponent play and cursing his dice.   

Not terribly interested in the tabletop, to be honest. Huge investment for two incomplete teams, plus I don't know anyone else that'd play (and don't really have the time to swing by the local clubs). At least the online versions get me into a match reasonably quickly, and I don't have to pay hundreds of dollars every time I want to try a new team!

[sambojin]

The one thing TT BB has going for it is that there's a maximum cap on "army size". You'll never have any more than 4 BO in an Orc team, 1 troll, or 4 gobbos. Probably less than 4 gobbos actually. With a cardboard cutout special player roster, at least you know GW can only sting you so much for a full team, and a competitive one too. You will only ever need a certain amount of models. Unless they add a "horde" mechanic......

Sounds fun for conversions actually.......

(no, dammit. I promised myself. No more GW stuff ever, unless it's a computer game)

[Wiles]

I should boot up Blood Bowl 2 again, I haven't played since the Norse came out. I really like the game but it can be a bit discouraging playing against seasoned blood bowl veterans as someone who knows next to nothing about proper blood bowl tactics. I feel pretty clueless most of the time I play, my strategy generally involves murdering my way to the other side of the pitch.

I'd love to give table top a try but I live out in the middle of nowhere. Sadly bears don't like boardgames. 

[Robsoie]

For those interested, there's this AIBowl standalone version of FUMBBL (so you can play it offline) with an AI to play solo, the AI is nice enough to actually know the rules and use the usual blood bowl tactics (like the "cage").
working download link there :
https://fumbbl.com/p/blog&c=Grod&id=14742

[MrRoboto75]

I kinda miss Mr Bones' Wild Team (my undead team in one of the B12 leagues)

Shame I missed too many regen rolls, cost me a lot in the later part of the tournament.

[sambojin]

For those interested, there's this AIBowl standalone version of FUMBBL (so you can play it offline) with an AI to play solo, the AI is nice enough to actually know the rules and use the usual blood bowl tactics (like the "cage").
working download link there :
https://fumbbl.com/p/blog&c=Grod&id=14742

Cheers. I'll have a game or two tonight. At least no one will know of my shameful losses.

I wish my phone had proper java. This would be my go-to game in almost all situations.

[lordcooper]

For those looking to up their game a bit, The Art of Blocking and the 1000 Losses Playbook are both very worthwhile reads.