11/FEB/13
New Releases: What upcoming games are you looking forward to?
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#1
06-25-2008, 05:13 PM
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Blood Bowl
What is Blood Bowl?
 Blood Bowl is the game of fantasy football. Throughout the Olde Worlde and beyond, teams of fearless warriors - known as Blood Bowl players - face each other on ritualised battlefields known as pitches or even just fields. Their aim is to score as many touchdowns as possible in the time allowed. To score a touchdown a player must move an inflated pig's bladder - also known as a 'ball' - into the opposing team's end zone. Of course, the opposing team is also trying to do the same. The ball can be moved around the field in many ways from being kicked, carried thrown or even held by a thrown player! The opposing team will be trying to gain possession of the ball as well. They can do this by intercepting a ball from a throw, picking up the ball if it has become 'loose' or the far more frequent method of being violent and smacking the ball carrier! Players are prohibited from using weapons during the game. This is because in the original sacred Playbook, the god of Blood Bowl, Nuffle decreed that 'one's own body is the only weapon he needs to play the game'. Over the years this hasn't stopped teams using this admittedly rather loose wording to maximum effect and is the reason why a player's armour is more likely than not covered in sharp protruding spikes with blades and large knuckle-dusters attached to gauntlets. The history of Blood Bowl is littered with the illegal use of weapons and the many devious contraptions bought forward by numerous races - the Dwarfs and Goblins in particular - ranging from monstrous machines such as the Dwarven Death-roller to the no-less-dangerous chainsaw. A Blood Bowl player, to an extent, needs to be a jack-of-all-trades - as equally quick on the offensive as well as being able to defend. This doesn't mean that there aren't any specialists in the sport, far from it, a Blood Bowl player needs to specialise in one of the many positions if he wishes to rise above the humble lineman. Blitzers are usually the stars of the game combining strength and skill with great speed and flexibility. Throwers pass the ball to awaiting players deep in the enemies half of the field - Elves are very adept at this. And, of course, if you are throwing the ball, it would be nice if there was someone at the other end to catch it, this is where the Catcher comes in! If one side is trying to bash its way through the opposing team's lines, you will often see the latter's Blockers come into action to stop them. And finally, the Linemen perform the rank and file duties on the team - this may be less glamorous than that of a Blitzer but in the grand scheme of team plays and tactics it is no less important. Like many team sports, Blood Bowl has its famous and not-so-popular teams. To read some profiles on the more sucessful teams then download this PDF. The Blood Bowl game (that's the game not the actual sport) is played on a grid marked board a lot like a classic board game. As the player of the game (referred to as 'coach' so as not to confuse you with the model players) you choose your team from the team lists provided. To start with, rookie teams are formed using 1,000,000 gold pieces so it will be quite tight, you probably won't be able to buy every positional player for your roster. The game is played out on the game board that represents the field. All your players will have different Movement, Strength, Agility and Armour ratings, the higher the number the better that player is. D6 rolls are used to test to see if your players can do stuff like picking up and passing the ball dodging away from enemy players and such. Different skills and traits can make this easier by awarding re-rolls or increasing the chances on the dice roll. Hitting other players, or the more technical term of 'Blocking', uses special Blocking dice, the higher the player's Strength, the more Blocking dice he gets to roll. The game itself is divided into two halves of eight turns each. The team with the most touchdowns after the second half is the winner. If the scores are tied a final extra time block of a further eight turns is played. As you play games with your team your players will gain experience and better skills, and you will get incomes from the gate as fans flock to support your team. This will allow you to buy more players and replace injured and dead ones. Having some money in the treasury is also useful for hiring that freebooter Star Player in an important game, such as a tournament final. The Blood Bowl range of models is extensive with a whole range of teams to choose from. As well as the team sets you can compliment your collection with star players, secret weapons and even referees and cheerleaders! ***Did you know... A sizable proportion of fans look upon a Blood Bowl match as an opportunity to cause as much mayhem and destruction as possible. Indeed, many fans feel that something should be done about the small minority of peaceful fans that turn up for games just to watch, and spoil the fun for everyone else. ***Did you know... According to their unholy religion, the Chaos All-Stars must cook and eat their coach if they lose a game. If they win, of course, they're allowed to eat him raw. ***Did you know... That bribery is now so prevalent amoungst referees that rules have grown up concerning where, when and how one can accept a bribe. It's got so bad that the referee's guild is considering appointing a second bunch of referees to govern the conduct of the first lot. Blood Bowl is a trademark of Games Workshop Limited. Used without permission. No challenge to their status is intended. I'm just trying to promote awareness of this great game. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Bowl 
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#2
06-25-2008, 05:24 PM
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This may be of interest:
http://www.bloodbowlonline.com/
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#3
06-25-2008, 06:48 PM
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Other Blood Bowl links of note:
Official Site for the Online Version - Coming in late 2008 Midgard Blood Bowl League - Huge repository of BB info FUMBBL - Online Java Version of BB - My guess is GW might have them shut down once the official online game is out, but hopefully they wont... NAF - Offical Sanctioned Tournaments, Coach Resources, etc TBB - Online BB Forum Blood Bowl Old Skool Picture Archive - Artwork Repository from the many versions of BB products released
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#4
06-25-2008, 07:33 PM
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I doubt they'll take the community made programs down, especially since the video game version looks about as close to the tabletop version as DoW was to WH40K. (Awesome, but still 2 totally different things.)
Is the actual minis for the game still in production? Or have those been phased out like the other Warhammer spin-offs like Necromunda?
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#6
07-09-2008, 07:32 PM
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620
The average gamerscore in Halo 3.
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