Highland Gaming Club got a good taste of Blood Bowl today! To demo Blood Bowl I follow three rules:
1. The first person to say “yes” gets to pick their team.
2. Only one half is played, and the team that kicks off gets 1/2 of a point, so that they win ties.
3. Both players have me tell them what to do for the first turn, and from then on, have me only make general suggestions.
Let’s take a look at the highlights!
Here, Paul (left, Monitors) contemplates how to set up to receive a kick from Ian (right, Scrappaz). Paul brought a strong first drive, scoring quickly, but Ian pushed hard and got a lucky Throw Team-Mate touchdown, despite three turns of turnovers stopping him. In the end, Ian was victorious.
Justin, playing the Scrappaz here, got a turn 1 touchdown thanks to some good rolls! Sadly, his luck did not hold as Bill, a newcomer to Highland, smashed his early lead and scored two touchdowns to Justin’s one!
It’s interesting to note that both players that lost these demo games are veteran players of the Blood Bowl video game, which (barring a couple botched skills that don’t work right) is the same game!
Time for a slightly off topic rant! The current Blood Bowl video game does not capture the whole feeling of the original. Here’s what you miss out on with the PC version:
1. No face-to-face interaction with an actual human being.
2. Cannot build a team from scratch using 1,000,000 gold pieces.
3. No option for special play cards (even though no one uses them)
4. Cannot customize players to the extent you can with real minis. Want purple skeletons? Too bad!
5. Some skills don’t work right.
6. To really get a handle on the rules, you have to read the pdf anyway, so you might as well read the regular board game rules.
7. Not all Star Players are present.
Blood Bowl II will be coming out soon, so hopefully some of these issues are addressed. However, from the promotional material, it seems that some races are in-game purchases. Want to play Lizardmen? That’ll be an extra fee, get out your credit card.
The point is: the board game is fun and gives you a lot more freedom! Give it a try!
Next: more Gothic? Perhaps Space Marines?