Alright Boyz, 'ere we go... WAAAAAAGGGGHHH!!! (The Blood Bowl Impressions Thread)

[SirFozzie]

Wow, nice announcement from Focus today.

The emails offering pre-downloads were supposed to get out yesterday, but they were delayed (the game was supposed to be allowed to play starting Thursday evening).. so they gave us this instead:

Blood Bowl • View topic - About pre-downlaod! (http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forumBB/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1612)

Hello everyone,

After reporting all your demands concerning the pre-download of Blood Bowl, here’s what your favorite Goblinette brought you back from the locker room! It was tough to find these information… I had to pay some bugmans for my team-mates, bribe the referee and even hire one or two wizards… but in the end, I got these precious answers!

You have a been a lot of fans to pre-order the game, that is why in order to skip endless queues , we decided to start sending important e-mails on the 24th of June midnight (Paris time).
In these e-mails, you will find a link to download the game and an activation key. If you were among the first ones to pre-order the game, you will be among the first ones to receive it! Waves of 500 e-mails will be sent every hour, so you will be able to download, install and play Blood Bowl as soon as your e-mail arrives.

Have a nice evening and thank you everyone for being that patient.

So, starting in about.. five-six hours, the download AND activation keys will be sent out. I can't wait.. so I decided to create this thread :)

[Honolulu_Blue]

I can't wait to read the reviews and reactions. I will probably pick this up next week. Between work obligations and other things, I really wont have any time to play until then.

This will be my reward for all that hard work.

[Shepp]

I'm also really hoping that this game turns out good. I really loved the first Blood Bowl PC game. If that version had league play and a career mode I would probably still be playing it.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm looking forward to some impressions. If they are good, I'll be picking it up soon to play you all.

[SirFozzie]

I can say this from the Beta, without breaking NDA. The game was pretty much flawless.. and the number 1 problem, rage quitters, can probably be solved by playing in private leagues.

I'll be just as interested to see how the single player version plays, since I've already played the MP in the beta..

[Atocep]

I didn't get around to preordering until yesterday. So I'll have to wait impatiently throughout the day to see when I get my email.

[SirFozzie]

it's five hundred per hour (and it may start 24 hours from now, there's confusion on what midnight the 24th means).. so if there's 10,000 preorders, that's 20 hours.

[Atocep]

it's five hundred per hour (and it may start 24 hours from now, there's confusion on what midnight the 24th means).. so if there's 10,000 preorders, that's 20 hours.


Great, now I get to wait even more impatiently.

[k0ruptr]

holy shit, this game looks fantastic. whats sys requirements for this bad boy?

[SirFozzie]

Here's the Mininum

OS: WINDOWS XP SP2 / VISTA SP1
PROCESSOR: PENTIUM4 2.4GHZ / ATHLONXP 2400+
RAM MEMORY: 1 GB (XP) / 2 GB (VISTA)
3D GRAPHICS CARD: 128 MB 100% DIRECTX 9 AND SHADERS 2.0 COMPATIBLE (NVIDIA GEFORCE 6600 / ATI RADEON X700 OR HIGHER)*
DVD-ROM: 2X DRIVE
HARD DISK SPACE: 3 GB
SOUND CARD: DIRECTX 9 COMPATIBLE
INTERNET CONNECTION REQUIRED FOR ONLINE GAME
* INTEL, SIS AND VIA/S3G GRAPHICS CONTROLLERS NON-SUPPORTED

Recommended

WINDOWS XP SP2/VISTA
CORE2DUO/ATHLON64 X2 PROCESSOR
2 GB OF RAM MEMORY
256 MB 100% DIRECTX 9 AND SHADERS 2.0 SUPPORT COMPATIBLE GRAPHICS CARD
(NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800/ATI RADEON HD 3850)
2X DVDROM DRIVE
3 GB HARD DISK SPACE
DIRECTX 9 COMPATIBLE SOUND CARD
INTERNET CONNECTION REQUIRED FOR ONLINE GAME

[k0ruptr]

thanks foz, I couldn't find it. Thats not nearly as bad as I thought it was gonna be, sweet!

Here's the Mininum

OS: WINDOWS XP SP2 / VISTA SP1
PROCESSOR: PENTIUM4 2.4GHZ / ATHLONXP 2400+
RAM MEMORY: 1 GB (XP) / 2 GB (VISTA)
3D GRAPHICS CARD: 128 MB 100% DIRECTX 9 AND SHADERS 2.0 COMPATIBLE (NVIDIA GEFORCE 6600 / ATI RADEON X700 OR HIGHER)*
DVD-ROM: 2X DRIVE
HARD DISK SPACE: 3 GB
SOUND CARD: DIRECTX 9 COMPATIBLE
INTERNET CONNECTION REQUIRED FOR ONLINE GAME
* INTEL, SIS AND VIA/S3G GRAPHICS CONTROLLERS NON-SUPPORTED

Recommended

WINDOWS XP SP2/VISTA
CORE2DUO/ATHLON64 X2 PROCESSOR
2 GB OF RAM MEMORY
256 MB 100% DIRECTX 9 AND SHADERS 2.0 SUPPORT COMPATIBLE GRAPHICS CARD
(NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800/ATI RADEON HD 3850)
2X DVDROM DRIVE
3 GB HARD DISK SPACE
DIRECTX 9 COMPATIBLE SOUND CARD
INTERNET CONNECTION REQUIRED FOR ONLINE GAME

[Passacaglia]

Since I rarely have time to play a full game against a real person online, I'm going to wait and see how the ai look.

[SirFozzie]

Update from Jessica:

In order to sum up: the emails will send today Thursday the 25th at midnight.
More than 500emails/hours will be send at midnight.
All people who have ordered will have the email Thursday don't worry!
All people will be able to play at the release date!

P.S: sorry for my bad english ;)

So Tonight (6:00 or 7:00 PM Eastern is midnight Paris time) through tommorrow is the day.

[Icy]

I'll wait for solo career impressions, but this seems a secure purchase unless it's messed up.

[SirFozzie]

Good news: I got my download link!!! YAY

Bad News: I'm stuck here for four more hours; GDMFAHSOB!!!!!! (it's an acronym. you fill it out)

[Atocep]

Got my link. Downloading now.

[Calis]

Oh man I purposely made my self stop following threads on this game when it was announced because I didn't want to get hyped and wait endlessly and now it's completely snuck up on me. I thought it was coming late this year.

It looks fantastic but I'm still a little leery of Cyanide. I liked Chaos League that they did, but the AI was absolutely atrocious and it didn't have any longevity. Now apparently that's gone with the career mode but I'll wait and see on the AI.

Expect some reviews from the board here soon! This gets a real full release on Friday right? It's just a day or two early for the pre-order crowd?

[SirFozzie]

If you order it now, you get it now.

[SirFozzie]

Download is complete.

I'm going in. If I don't come back in 48 hours.. don't come looking for me. Send a team of halfling chefs in to keep me fed.

[SirFozzie]

And three hours (and four games later) I am utterly hooked on this game. It is so much fun. The game is appropriately smashy.. the rats were down to 3 players on the pitch at the end of the game (had one at the end of one drive).

I faced off against a Dwarf team in the first round of the playoffs in the first tournament, and they brought out a secret weapon, with the inducement money they had..

Wait.. did I say a SECRET weapon?

How about a not-so-secret weapon...

This thing..

http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1252173_99110999107_BBDeathRollerMain_445x319.jpg

The good thing, is it's only on for one drive.

The bad news was, since it was two dwarf teams, who um.. aren't too fast.. and we were evenly matched.. it was on the field for the whole first half.

Ow.

We did end up winning though :)

[k0ruptr]

I'm buying a new computer in a couple weeks, and this looks like my first game purchase for it.

[Atocep]

SirFozzie, do you suggest Real Time or Turn based play?

[SirFozzie]

Turnbased, but that's because I'm a Blood Bowl board game player.

I'd say once you get up to speed, Real Time could be used

[Icy]

How deep is the career/franchise mode?

[Calis]

Went ahead and bought this. I haven't even downloaded it yet but will do so tonight. I hear their servers are pretty fast so hopefully it won't take long.

Never played Blood Bowl but always wanted to. I assume the turn based mode is truly that in this game? I ask because Chaos League was basically real time with autopause. Is this an IGOUGO system or more like a Combat Mission style simulteanous plotting of turns and then running them?

I'd definitely be up for trying a multiplayer game this weekend but I can't promise to be at all competitvem :) I will need to read up to even decide on a team to be.

[Icy]

Went ahead and bought this. I haven't even downloaded it yet but will do so tonight. I hear their servers are pretty fast so hopefully it won't take long.

Never played Blood Bowl but always wanted to. I assume the turn based mode is truly that in this game? I ask because Chaos League was basically real time with autopause. Is this an IGOUGO system or more like a Combat Mission style simulteanous plotting of turns and then running them?

I'd definitely be up for trying a multiplayer game this weekend but I can't promise to be at all competitvem :) I will need to read up to even decide on a team to be.

It has both modes, a real turn based one exactly like the tabletop game and a real time one. For what i'm reading at different forums, the turn based one is pleasing the tabletop fans, that is a very good sign. The real time mode is reported to be messy, but i guess most of us prefer the turn based one.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I noticed there's a PSP and DS version of this game? Are those released as well? I'm thinking PSP is a better option for me because I'm not sure my laptop has the specs to run the PC version.

[Sgran]

2 gigs of memory? man, I'm behind the times.

[SirFozzie]

I noticed there's a PSP and DS version of this game? Are those released as well? I'm thinking PSP is a better option for me because I'm not sure my laptop has the specs to run the PC version.

Not till September, as is the 360 version and the boxed/Steam PC version.

[gstelmack]

How is the electronic delivery service? It was not a name I recognized when I went to check out their site.

[SirFozzie]

It's a good service, from what I could tell, the download file is in three bits (plus a 1MB executable).

[Calis]

I believe the download service is the same I used for Armed Assault 2 a week or so ago and it seemed solid. Its more restrictive than something like Steam or Impulse of course but it is legit.

As for multiplayer I think I read there is replays is this true? One thing I learned to love was replays of games and even more the shoutcasts people would do of the games. This would be perfect for that and I'd love it to see some strategies used.

Be a blast if you could spectate live also. That could lead to some annoyances but would obviously be lockable. Itd be fun to watch some games unfold live.

Going to download the rulebook they posted tonight and try to go through it some. Nice they made that available.

Disappointed that I read it looks like the time clock is forced on even in SP? Seems an odd choice and a turn off for new peope. I'd like to really sit back and think for a while. Having not even played the game yet I can't complain though as it might be more than enough time.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Disappointed that I read it looks like the time clock is forced on even in SP? Seems an odd choice and a turn off for new peope. I'd like to really sit back and think for a while. Having not even played the game yet I can't complain though as it might be more than enough time.

I have seen that complaint elsewhere. I do think it's really odd and completely unnecessary for a single player game. I have to imagine that it's something they'd fix in a first patch. Given that the Beta was only multiplayer (correct?) I can sort of see how it slipped through.

[Passacaglia]

That's a weird "feature" -- is there a way to pause the game at least, so you can leave the computer and come back to it later?

[Calis]

Ok, I've put a minor amount of time in now. I started off doing the tutorials which are borderline useless. They give you the extreme basics of the game, nothing beyond that.

I fired up a game picking a 1000 point Human team and facing a 1000 point Goblin team. Not really sure why I picked either, but I assumed Humans were a middle of the road, do everything ok but nothing spectacular type race like they are in most games so would therefore let me try out everything. I picked Goblins for the opponent because hey, Goblins usually suck.

The first few turns were a mess. I had absolutely no idea what was happening. There was a lot of camera spinning and movement, and two giant Trolls massacring my guys. Instantly regretted my purchase.

It all turned around when I saw the option to turn off the automatic camera. Now it wasn't jarring and I could zoom out a bit and take a good look at things. A couple turns later I had a semblance of an idea what was happening and a turn or so after that I was having a blast. I'm really boggled by the strategic options available. I can't wait to delve into differing formations and setting up the equivalent of plays.

I had a really good game(albeit extremely ugly). We went back and forth for most of the first half, I was injuring a lot of their guys but the ball was stuck at midfield when eventually they caught me off guard by having one of the trolls pick up a Goblin and launch him past my last defender, and all the sudden I was down 1-0. It stayed that way through the half and most of the 2nd half before I was able to get some good blocks on the right flank and ended up with a great pass and lots of open field to tie the game up. Ended up a draw, which I was more than happy with.

Was extremely fun and I was using extremely rudimentary tactics, and a lot of stalling actions. Think for my first campaign I'd like a smashmouth defensive style team. Dwarves best option for this? I initially thought I'd like to play the Elves and a real wide open game but now I think I'd get massacred. Tough guys seem like a good learner.

[Atocep]

Ok, I've put a minor amount of time in now. I started off doing the tutorials which are borderline useless. They give you the extreme basics of the game, nothing beyond that.

I fired up a game picking a 1000 point Human team and facing a 1000 point Goblin team. Not really sure why I picked either, but I assumed Humans were a middle of the road, do everything ok but nothing spectacular type race like they are in most games so would therefore let me try out everything. I picked Goblins for the opponent because hey, Goblins usually suck.

The first few turns were a mess. I had absolutely no idea what was happening. There was a lot of camera spinning and movement, and two giant Trolls massacring my guys. Instantly regretted my purchase.

It all turned around when I saw the option to turn off the automatic camera. Now it wasn't jarring and I could zoom out a bit and take a good look at things. A couple turns later I had a semblance of an idea what was happening and a turn or so after that I was having a blast. I'm really boggled by the strategic options available. I can't wait to delve into differing formations and setting up the equivalent of plays.

I had a really good game(albeit extremely ugly). We went back and forth for most of the first half, I was injuring a lot of their guys but the ball was stuck at midfield when eventually they caught me off guard by having one of the trolls pick up a Goblin and launch him past my last defender, and all the sudden I was down 1-0. It stayed that way through the half and most of the 2nd half before I was able to get some good blocks on the right flank and ended up with a great pass and lots of open field to tie the game up. Ended up a draw, which I was more than happy with.

Was extremely fun and I was using extremely rudimentary tactics, and a lot of stalling actions. Think for my first campaign I'd like a smashmouth defensive style team. Dwarves best option for this? I initially thought I'd like to play the Elves and a real wide open game but now I think I'd get massacred. Tough guys seem like a good learner.

You pretty much described my initial experience perfectly. Its really hard to describe to someone that hasn't played yet the endless amounts of strategy that's here. And, yes, my first tip to anyone playing the game is immediately turn off the auto-camera.

FWIW, the strategy threads I've read on the blood bowl forums say that Wood Elves are a popular pick for beginners in multiplayer because they're really hard to defend against unless you have a good grasp of what's going on.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Atopec/Calis, could you turn off the timer or is there at least an option to make your turns last longer? (What's the limit? 2 minutes?)

[Atocep]

Atopec/Calis, could you turn off the timer or is there at least an option to make your turns last longer? (What's the limit? 2 minutes?)

You can increase the time limit up to 8 minutes.

[Calis]

Atopec/Calis, could you turn off the timer or is there at least an option to make your turns last longer? (What's the limit? 2 minutes?)

I was concerned about this, but it's not a huge deal I'm finding out. It defaults to 4 minutes and that's more than enough time for even someone like me who is a bit lost and messing around. I still want it gone because I do find myself especially in turn-based games moving around the house to do things between turns, and if you're not paying attention you'll be out a turn. Hopefully it's fixed soon.

Just finished up a 2nd game this time as Dwarves versus the same Goblin team. Definitely went better overall. I ended up winning 2-0 and really dominated more than the score shows. They never really were threatening and I spent a lot of time just beating the crap out of them. I ended up with a lot of guys in the penalty box, but that didn't seem to matter much. They still couldn't stop my Dwarven Flying Wedge.

I tried a few turns of a Wood Elf vs. Human match before and was lost again. Humans got the ball first and I was completely baffled as to how to stop them. They seemed to have the upper hand with strength and I was actually impressed with the AI's setup. They formed a great protective barrier and moved forward in a good fashion. The Goblins seem a bit more helter skelter, and I get the feeling that they're probably the worst race. They have some really neat special deals like when the guy got launched half the field and when one of the chainsawed one of my Dwarves somehow, but I'm not sure what their playstyle is yet.

Thinking I might end up trying every race once in a one off match before moving on to a campaign.

[Fidatelo]

I think someone else asked, but can you pause? I don't care if it stops me from being able to look at units or really plan, but it would be nice if I could do that so I could go to the washroom or answer a phone call.

[Atocep]

I think someone else asked, but can you pause? I don't care if it stops me from being able to look at units or really plan, but it would be nice if I could do that so I could go to the washroom or answer a phone call.

In single player you can. I haven't played a multiplayer game yet.

[Fidatelo]

Awesome, don't care about MP, gonna buy now :)

[Atocep]

Couple things to add; the tutorial isn't all that deep, but its broken up into 6 parts, doesn't take too long to get through, and is informative. The manual is also top-notch - its worth a quick read.

[Atocep]

Got the chance to play quite a bit this evening including a couple LAN games against a friend and this game is amazing. Everything I had hoped it would be.

[knolysis]

You guys suck at impressions. :p I guess you either work for a living or can't tear yourself away from the game.

I have never played Blood Bowl but the game has always intrigued me. This particular game especially interests me but the $50 price tag keeps me from pulling the trigger until I see some more about the game. So, any more thoughts/impressions?

[Fidatelo]

I've never played BB either, although I have played 40k. I've now played 1.5 matches of BB, and I think I really like it! I really, really suck though. I'm playing on easy with straight 1000 point matches using pre-configured teams, and so far I have yet to score a touchdown. In fact, I haven't even sniffed one. Hopefully I can figure out how the heck to move the ball successfully, but aside from that, the game is a blast!

Oh, and I'm strictly playing the Classic mode, I have no interest in the Blitz stuff.

[Atocep]

You guys suck at impressions. :p I guess you either work for a living or can't tear yourself away from the game.

I have never played Blood Bowl but the game has always intrigued me. This particular game especially interests me but the $50 price tag keeps me from pulling the trigger until I see some more about the game. So, any more thoughts/impressions?

Its really hard to describe it, honestly. I'll do my best and if there's any specific questions I can try to answer.

It 100% nails the board game in a way I didn't think was possible. So much so that the actual blood bowl rulebook works as a better manual than the manual that came with the game.

Its very overwhelming at first. I had only played blood bowl a couple times many years ago so I wasn't very familiar with the rules and my frustrations mostly came from not understanding why certain things were happening. Once I found a link to the official blood bowl rulebook and read through it the game simply became a blast to play.

I play Turn-based blitz mode, fwiw.

This game shines in multiplayer. Even if you're not a big multiplayer fan I'd suggest trying it out. SirFozzie can correct me if I'm wrong here, but I believe leagues allow you to play multiple seasons with players that will retire, there's contracts (although the contract portion of the game isn't deep at all), there are stats, and an assortment of other things.

I just started playing through the single player campaign. Thus far its fun and challenging. Your players gain experience and levels along with the team increasing fan support just as they do in multiplayer except there doesn't seem to be contracts or retirement from what I see (could be wrong). You can also export your team from the campaign into multiplayer.

Each race plays very different from one another and the AI makes good use of the races abilities. It never feels like you're just playing a standard AI team. Play against dwarves and they're never going to throw the ball but instead will run the ball down your throat. Wood Elves on the other hand are going to avoid fights and try and throw the ball all over the field. Goblins are just entirely different from anything else and something you have to see to understand. Chaos will try to injure all your players. And so on and so on.

My tips are: Play through the tutorials, then glance through the manual (its not many pages, but very informative), and then reference the core rulebook for even better understanding.

http://www.bloodbowlonline.com/LivingRulebook5.pdf

Also, if you're struggling with tactics the official forms has a strategies forum that has a thread for each race plus a ton of other info.

[thesloppy]

I'm having a blast with the campaign in blitz mode. This game fulfills many of my old-school gaming needs:


turn-based, grid-based 'combat'
ability to name characters after my friends (or not-so-friends)
players gain experience, injuries and skills...and die, across the campaign
sports management fun$50 is a lot of cash, and it definitely still feels like an indy game in some aesthetic respects (sounds, slim commentary, long load times), but most importantly it obviously does everything it is meant to do perfectly.

Very minor complaint: the logic for picking the team's MVP at the end of the game is way broken...seemingly the least valuable player wins every time, and I sure would like those SPPs to go to my good players that are actually working. Also, minor spoil/cheat/bug: It seems like the beginning coin flip is always tails, yes?

[Atocep]

Very minor complaint: the logic for picking the team's MVP at the end of the game is way broken...seemingly the least valuable player wins every time


That's as intended and follows the traditional rules. The MVP is entirely random and more of a joke and a way of handing out some free xp to a player than anything else.

In the board game at the end of a match you simply roll the dice to assign the MVP.

[thesloppy]

That's as intended and follows the traditional rules. The MVP is entirely random and more of a joke and a way of handing out some free xp to a player than anything else.

In the board game at the end of a match you simply roll the dice to assign the MVP.

Ahhh..I guess that makes 'sense', or something close to it. At least I can stop worry about it. I'm going back in for more now! I thought I'd picked everything up realatively well after half-a-dozen games or so, but I guess I'd just gotten adept at kicking slow dwarven ass, and the gotdamn rats are skatting and be-bopping all over me.

[Icy]

How long does it take to play a multiplayer game?

[thesloppy]

damn rats just scored on me in one turn and like three total moves. Unlickily, I kicked off out of bounds, giving it to their thrower at midfield. They had one runner with a boosted movement of 11 (ouch), so after a single block from a linemen at the line of scrimmage, the thrower ran up and handed off to the pumped-up runner, who dodged one guy and took it right in from the line of scrimmage, for an easy score in like 20 seconds.

[Fidatelo]

I'm confused... people are mentioning 'turn-based Blitz mode'. I thought Blitz was real time? If it's turn-based, what's the difference between it and Classic?

[Atocep]

I'm confused... people are mentioning 'turn-based Blitz mode'. I thought Blitz was real time? If it's turn-based, what's the difference between it and Classic?

From the manual:

- The "Classic" mode is the direct
adaptation of the board game.

- The "Blitz" mode enables you to
discover Blood Bowl through a series
of new options which somewhat differ
from the core rules of the board game
Blood Bowl. Most notable among these
new options is the Real Time mode,
which enables you to play against an
opponent by playing ‘live’ at the same
time. The pre-match sequences
feature new opportunities in the Blitz
mode, with expanded inducements
and training sessions to further help
your team before a match even
begins. The Blitz mode will also
give you access to other options:
you may be able to modify the
duration of a turn or a half, to
play new competitions, to gain access
to different levels of equipment for your
players, etc.

When you select blitz mode you can choose real time or turn based.

[chinaski]

So very tempted to plunk down the cash for this.

[Fidatelo]

From the manual:



When you select blitz mode you can choose real time or turn based.

Jeez, I just assumed that meant it was all real time. So basically Blitz just gives you a bunch of options, rather than being forced to play with the basic rules? That's cool.

Oh, and I just got my first victory! I took an Orc team and ravaged some poor Lizardmen 2-0. I think it might be time for me to look into starting a campaign (or whatever, I still don't fully understand the different 'franchise modes', for lack of a better term).

[Calis]

I think Blitz mode adds a little more to the campaign also. I think it adds actual player contracts and the equivalent of aging.

I started my first campaign last night and picked Orcs. I think this was a pretty solid choice for a beginner. They seem to be incredibly tough, but they still have some mobility and I even a bit of a passing game.

First game was against a human team and I really controlled the field. The Black Orcs I think it is with 4 strength were really pushing their lineman around. I got greedy when I had a clear touchdown towards the end of the first half and kept my guy right outside the endzone while I battered the human team. I misjudged though and one of the humans got up and tackled him, and I watched the half end with the ball sitting in the endzone. Lesson learned there.

2nd game was against Dwarves. Talk about a grind. This was a brutal and ugly game. No one ever made it off midfield for the entire first half and most of the 2nd. Eventually late in the 2nd half I was able to overload the right side of the field and managed a risky long pass that was caught and got the win. Did I mention how I love Orc Blitzers?

Loving this game. I leveled up my first two guys also. I'm still not sure what are the best skill paths to go with and how to manage that. Think I went with Block on my Black Orc because that seems like a great one for anyone, especially your trench guys. My Blitzer I went with Sure Hands, thinking he'll be the center of my offense for a while and I did have some troubles in the first two games with not picking up the ball.

Fantastic game.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I am buying this game July 1.

[Axxon]

I just wanted to give a shout out to Sir Fozzie for this thread. This game had flown under my radar and I'm supremely enjoying it. Thanks man.

[Glengoyne]

I am buying this game July 1.

I can't wait that long.

Downloading.

[Glengoyne]

Oh the only downside I see now, is that there aren't any Chaos Dwarves. I love my Centaurs.

[KWhit]

Downloaded. 2-0 so far in campaign mode. This is fun stuff.

[Galaril]

I was looking forward to gettiong this and playing it single player but $50 for basically a indy game and a download only with limited DRM? No fucking way! I will wait three months until a ptch or two comes out and the price has dropped to $30.

[Pumpy Tudors]

YEAH YOU SHOW EM

[Galaril]

YEAH YOU SHOW EM

Whatever asshat

[Warhammer]

FWIW, the strategy threads I've read on the blood bowl forums say that Wood Elves are a popular pick for beginners in multiplayer because they're really hard to defend against unless you have a good grasp of what's going on.

Please tell me this isn't true. A good WE team is a tough team to face, but you have to develop the team correctly or you will have major problems down the road.

I would say Orcs or Humans are good starting races.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Whatever asshat
I was talking to KWhit. :(

[Warhammer]

That's as intended and follows the traditional rules. The MVP is entirely random and more of a joke and a way of handing out some free xp to a player than anything else.

In the board game at the end of a match you simply roll the dice to assign the MVP.

Yeah, having played Skaven, sometimes your MVP is the rat on the sideline that is busy fathering more rats for the next game.

[Galaril]

I was talking to KWhit. :(

Oh shit sorry boss:(:devil:

[Calis]

Well to be fair this doesn't feel like an Indy game to me. It feels just as polished if not moreso than most major releases I play on the PC. I'm definitely going to get my $50 worth out of it for sure.

I can see being in doubt about the download. I'd have preferred the Steam version but not enough to warrant waiting until September. I feel pretty safe having it downloaded and burnt to DVD. I definitely don't see a price drop in a couple months, because I can't imagine they'd do that before the Steam release. There could be one for the holidays though.

I've put 6 games into an Orc campaign and I'm absolutely loving it. Is starting to shine even more now that a few of my guys are levelling up and I'm able to begin specializing a bit and see some players stand out.

I've had great success as far as my record. I'm 5-1 so far, but of those 5 wins 3 have been won on the last turn or in extra time so I'm by no means steamrolling people. The one loss was me being a little silly and trying for some fancy passing against a Human team and paying the price.

I wonder as I plot out my team more, are the big guys considered a must? Think for the Orcs it's a troll. I haven't bought one yet and I'm not in a big hurry to. The way my team stands now I think the downside to the Troll outweighs the benefits to me. Maybe I'm underestimating them, but I'm liking my setup as is now. I'm using 4 Black Orcs, 4 Blitzers, 2 Linemen, and a Thrower. I'll replace the thrower with a lineman on occasion depending on the situation. Seems to give me decent mobility and good power.

I feel like my guys aren't levelling up as quick as the computer teams though and I'm wondering if I'm falling behind. I've only had maybe 4 or 5 guys hit level 2, and I'm seeing a lot of the computer teams now that seem to have almost the entire team with 3+ skills.

Would love to try a multiplayer match against an FOFC'er. I'm still incredibly noobish so not sure I'd be a good match, but I'd love to learn a little more from the more experienced players and I'm sure I am picking up bad habits playing the CPU.

[Eaglesfan27]

I bought this last night and am having a blast with it. It's been a good week for game releases. I'll second Calis in that I think this game is more polished than many other major studio releases.

I'm also questioning the Wood Elves as a good beginner race. I'm a noob (played years ago, but don't remember jack) and I've tried a few One off games with the WE's. I love their agility and dodging but they are really very fragile. I'm thinking about starting a campaign with either humans or orcs which seem a bit more balanced to me.

[thesloppy]

I feel like my guys aren't levelling up as quick as the computer teams though and I'm wondering if I'm falling behind. I've only had maybe 4 or 5 guys hit level 2, and I'm seeing a lot of the computer teams now that seem to have almost the entire team with 3+ skills.

Are you in blitz mode, and if so have you been taking advantage of the 'offseason' (the time BEFORE you play the first game in a tournament), when you can attempt to purchase experienced players? If you save up all your cash from one tournament, and don't blow it on incentives and the like, you can pick up a couple more experienced players before your next tournament.

Also, I don't know if it's just me being stupid, but I did not realize that the 're-rolls' and 'apothecary re-rolls' you buy before match set-up are persistent through your career and NOT one-use...IOW if you have 2 re-rolls that means you can use 2 re-rolls every half of every every game. For the longest time I was being super stingy with those things, assuming that once I used them I would have to buy them again (and they ain't cheap), but now that I realize they're persistent, it's obviously changed my strategy a ton and made things a little easier.

[Calis]

I bought this last night and am having a blast with it. It's been a good week for game releases. I'll second Calis in that I think this game is more polished than many other major studio releases.

I'm also questioning the Wood Elves as a good beginner race. I'm a noob (played years ago, but don't remember jack) and I've tried a few One off games with the WE's. I love their agility and dodging but they are really very fragile. I'm thinking about starting a campaign with either humans or orcs which seem a bit more balanced to me.

Yeah I tried the Elves and I think it was a tough go for a noobie. It's a lot easier to grasp bashing the hell out of people rather than keeping distance and making sure you're not mauled. I'm finding the Orcs to be the perfect balance for me, but I think I will try Humans next campaign to have a little more open of an offense. I'm liking passing, and while the Orcs have some good throwers they don't have anyone who can catch it. Maybe investing in Goblins would help with that, not sure.

The Orcs, Dwarves, and Humans in that order seem like the easiest races to start with to me so far.

The Wood Elves seemed tough, and Chaos seemed extremely tough to me the gameI played with them. I read that Chaos really shines after they level up so maybe that's it, but they were a real challenge with a 1000 point team.

I just ran into that Dwarven Steamroller in my last game. Man that's nasty.

[Calis]

Are you in blitz mode, and if so have you been taking advantage of the 'offseason' (the time BEFORE you play the first game in a tournament), when you can attempt to purchase experienced players? If you save up all your cash from one tournament, and don't blow it on incentives and the like, you can pick up a couple more experienced players before your next tournament.


I'm actually in classic mode right now. I thought I'd start out with the most basic and move up from there. Not sure there's an equivalent there, at least I haven't seen it yet.

Not a big concern. I seem to be competitive still total value-wise and am not having trouble yet, but I hope I don't run into that further down the road. I think I'm keeping up now by having more rerolls and the apothecary that a lot of teams lack.

[Atocep]

Chaos are very hard to play to start out with. You need to invest in quite a few rerolls or they just frustrating.

Wood Elves are popular against noobs in multiplayer because they're really hard to defend against, but the AI is smart enough to defend them well so its hard to play them in the campaign as your first race.

[Icy]

You guys finally convinced me to buy it but... just checked and wow, 50€ that is like $71 so i think i'll pass by now.

[Nugget699]

Does anyone have any basic tactics on how to play this game? I've played a few games now and lost at least 3-0 in every one. I just can't seem to hold the ball long enough to actually get anything going on Offense. I actually achieved the impossible in my last game by actually managing to get the ball out of my own half!

When I do lose the ball the other team, on easy, seemingly throw the ball and rush around no problems and run to the end zone. If I try a simple pass however, even with my thrower, I just fumble it all over the place. This game is infuriatingly difficult, and with the tutorial being about as helpful as a map without names I'm at a loss as to basic tactics to keep possession and score a TD.

I've instantly regretted the purchase already.

[Atocep]

Here's the strengths and weaknesses for each race:

Blood Bowl • View topic - Races Described - Team Picking Guide For New Players (http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forumBB/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=273)


Here's the strategy threads for each of the races.

Dwarves:
Blood Bowl • View topic - Dwarves Tactics, Strategies and Builds (http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forumBB/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=340)

Lizardmen:
Blood Bowl • View topic - Lizardman Tactics, Strategy and Builds (http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forumBB/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=344)

Skaven:
Blood Bowl • View topic - Skaven Tactics, Strategy and Builds (http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forumBB/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=260)

Wood Elf:
Blood Bowl • View topic - Wood Elf Tactic Strategy and Build (http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forumBB/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=382)

Orc:
Blood Bowl • View topic - Orc Tactics, Strategy, and Builds (http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forumBB/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=360)

Chaos:
Blood Bowl • View topic - Chaos Tactics, Strategies and Builds (http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forumBB/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=232)

Goblins:
Blood Bowl • View topic - Goblin Tactics, Strategies and Builds (http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forumBB/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=358)

Human:
Blood Bowl • View topic - Human Tactic, Strategy and Build (http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forumBB/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=388)



Here's the official rulebook pdf. It actually makes a better manual than the one that comes with the game:

http://www.bloodbowlonline.com/LivingRulebook5.pdf

[Pumpy Tudors]

I just bought this game, even though I've never played Blood Bowl in any form before. Oh, boy.

[Icy]

Uhh so the download version is 50€ ($70) but the DVD version that will be available in Europe on July 2nd will cost 37€ ($50)

WTF? a downloadable version way more expensive than the physical one?

I'll wait the extra week for the DVD version then.

[Atocep]

Its really hard to give just basic strategy tips because the races play so differently. If you're building a team and playing against AI I'd avoid Wood Elves to start. I'd suggest Orcs (fairly well balanced) or Dwarves (just don't throw the ball...ever...).

When buying your players, just get 11. Spend the rest of your money getting 2-3 rerolls and some fan factor. They're more valuable than an extra lineman.

Reading over the basic rules for when players can help with blocks (along with the rules on other players helping with blocks), how what you need to roll is calculated, and other basics was a HUGE help for me. Almost all of my frustrations disappeared once I understood why things were happening and how I could push the random factors in my favor.

[Calis]

Biggest basic tip that helped me out is really paying attention to the order you do things. Make sure to do the free non-roll stuff before going to the "gimme" rolls and do the dicey stuff at the end.

Too many times I did something stupid first and wasted my entire turn.

Key to ball control definitely depends on race but with the Orcs or a tough team it is definitely patience. There are no downs so the only rush are the ends of halves. Don't leave your carrier exposed. Always have guys proetcting him and all lanes to him covered. Move slowly and wait for a hole.

Its overwhelming at first but if you read a little and understand the mechanics it will click. Let me reiterate shutting off the auto camera. That caused me the most problems.

[Pumpy Tudors]

My first game went well. As one of the higher-value orc teams, I managed a 1-1 draw with a lower dwarf team on easy level. At least it allowed me to figure out the interface a little bit. The game seems to run a little sluggishly on my machine, even though I've turned the graphics options down a bit, but I still like the game. I'm looking forward to starting a campaign.

[Nugget699]

I have swapped to real time now and am fairing much better. Thrashed the 1000 point Humans 3-0 with the 1000 point Orcs. I don't think I'm patient enough for the Turn-based game.

[thesloppy]

my basic tips, after much losing and learning would be:

In general, blocking (and almost everything else) will be tougher for every enemy adjacent to you, or easier for every friend adjacent to you (in blocking this is reflected by the number of dice involved in a block, team up on enemies to get more dice, try to avoid any 'red' rolls). So, figure out what you're critical moves are going to be first (usually attacking ball carriers, picking up the ball), and then setup your own players to assist, and block enemies out of that area before attempting those critical moves, which should therefore usually be saved towards the end of the turn. Trying to pick up the ball immediately, and failing, will end your turn with your other 10 players unmoved and likely out of position.

When making those critical moves, use the player with appropriate skills/attributes. High agility to pick up the ball, catch, and dodge out of tackle zones. High strength to block. High movement for ball carriers. Throwers have a skill to pick-up the ball better, catchers get a bonus for catching, blitzers can block better, etc. You can easily identify who can do what by highlighting a player and checking the indicator in the lower right, and both players' skills are shown during a block. Additionally, whenever you throw or pick up the ball, it will show you the roll required, so don't just glaze over that.

Do everything that WON'T require a roll of the dice (AKA unimpeded movement, that shows up as a completely green path) BEFORE you attempt ANY roll of the dice, as even the most lopsided roll can result in a turnover and the end of your turn leaving you out of position.

Pick your blitz well. You only get one 'blitz', (AKA a block from a player who has moved) per turn, so make sure to pick it well, and set it up properly. Whenever possible block with an adjacent, unmoved player, and save your blitz for the critical move of the turn. If you have a player adjacent to an enemy, have another player move next to the enemy and then attack with the unmoved player, rather than blitzing with moving player.

With or without the ball, it's always best to put bodies adjacent to all of your opponents players, so that they will have to dodge at least once if they want to move, and if they don't move you'll be in position to block them the next round without blitzing, and you'll also be in position to interfere with passes. Never leave any opposing player uncovered on your side of the field, knock 'em down or put a body (or two) next to them. NEVER end the turn with your ball carrier adjacent to an enemy player.

With the ball, IMO passing should be more of a last resort for the beginner, as it involves too many rolls compared to simply running the ball with a fast player. To maintain possession, surround the ball carrier with best blocking characters, so that your opposition has to block or dodge multiple times before they can even reach the ball carrier...rather than moving your ball carrier his max distance and leaving him alone in the field, move your players as a block, keeping them surrounding your ball carrier, which might cut your movement in half, but you'll be MUCH more likely to keep hold of the ball. Think of a set-up like this:

--X--
X---X
--B--
X---X
--X--

or

--X--
-XBX-
--X--

|-X
|B-
|-X

Where X = friend, B = ball carrier, - = empty space, and | = sideline.

In all of the above examples, anyone trying to get to the ball carrier is going to have to pass through several threatened spaces in order to even try and block the ball carrier, and no matter what they will have to blitz to do so, so they'll only get one shot at best. Obviously you need more friends for better protection, but even a couple helpers can block effectively, and even one guy is leagues better than nothing. Although the middle option might look more sturdy and protective, consider that an enemy who successfully blocks one of the surrounding players will then move adjacent to the ball carrier, whereas keeping things more spread out actually requires more dodges and blocks.

Take the TD immediately if you can get it. IOW if you have a player in range to score a TD, don't dilly and make a couple blocks first, hoping to add insult to injury or whatever, any roll can fail, resulting in a turnover and turning a certain score into disappointment, so take the points.

Maybe some help?

[RendeR]

I'm downloading now. Not sure what I want to start out with but I liike to be different....How are the Lizardmen?

[Calis]

I'm downloading now. Not sure what I want to start out with but I liike to be different....How are the Lizardmen?

I'm sure someone with more knowledge will have a lot more to say to me, but from what little I've seen they're an interesting team. One of the more advanced ones to play. The Skints I think it is you start with are incredibly weak, but it sounds like the benefit is you're really wide open in how you level them up, whereas a lot of the other races obviously have more defined roles for certain positions.

Pretty quick team overall but a little on the weak side.

Can't help with much else as I haven't tried them yet or even played against them. It might not be the best team to start out with, but they all seem pretty balanced so go for it!

[KWhit]

I was talking to KWhit. :(

Whatever asshat

[Galaril]

Whatever asshat

:) yup I am the asshat on that one.

[RendeR]

Hrm, Lizzies are definitely not an easy team to learn on. I started a championship and bought a team consisting of:

1 krox (big guy)
6 Saurus (blocking blitzing types)
4 Skinks (worthless sacks of goo)

I've lost to Humans (4-0), Dwarves (2-0), and ORcs (1-0 on the last fucking play)

I tied another lizard team 1-1

leveled up the Krox already, I use him as a battering ram. The skinks I keep to the sides/rear/ deep downfield to randomly be available to support the saurus or snag a loose ball.

Don;t try to pass with lizards.


JUST DON"T DAMNIT.


but it is kinda fun, though my machine is definitely slow running the game =(.

[BYU 14]

but it is kinda fun, though my machine is definitely slow running the game =(.

I am thinking about picking this up, but am worried about the same thing. How much RAM are you running (I have 2 GB) and what type of video card?

[chinaski]

I am thinking about picking this up, but am worried about the same thing. How much RAM are you running (I have 2 GB) and what type of video card?

It whats holding me back too. I was in the beta and it was just on the verge of unplayable for me. If anything, id be playing turn based only, real time was out of the question. My PC is really old, 1gig of ram, p4 2.6 and a NVIDIA 6800 xt (agp). sigh.

If it was just slightly passable for me, sounds like you should be ok, BYU. Unless your vid card has no shader support.

[Axxon]

I'm sure someone with more knowledge will have a lot more to say to me, but from what little I've seen they're an interesting team. One of the more advanced ones to play. The Skints I think it is you start with are incredibly weak, but it sounds like the benefit is you're really wide open in how you level them up, whereas a lot of the other races obviously have more defined roles for certain positions.

Pretty quick team overall but a little on the weak side.

Can't help with much else as I haven't tried them yet or even played against them. It might not be the best team to start out with, but they all seem pretty balanced so go for it!

While I was playing around I played a half as lizardmen. My memory of that game is that the other team scored quickly ( my inexperience ) then my skint failing the ball pickup roll 4 times. He was alone in my half and still couldn't get the thing.

I decided to play a team with a sure handed player. I've enjoyed the game lots better since. :)

[BYU 14]

It whats holding me back too. I was in the beta and it was just on the verge of unplayable for me. If anything, id be playing turn based only, real time was out of the question. My PC is really old, 1gig of ram, p4 2.6 and a NVIDIA 6800 xt (agp). sigh.

If it was just slightly passable for me, sounds like you should be ok, BYU. Unless your vid card has no shader support.

I have a Radeon 9800 that meets minimum specs, so I will probably have to tone down graphics a bit, oh well, in turn based it should be ok.

[Calis]

While I was playing around I played a half as lizardmen. My memory of that game is that the other team scored quickly ( my inexperience ) then my skint failing the ball pickup roll 4 times. He was alone in my half and still couldn't get the thing.

I decided to play a team with a sure handed player. I've enjoyed the game lots better since. :)

That's the same issue I ran into when I tried Chaos. I spent over half the game trying to pick up the ball it seemed like.

I did start another campaign as Wood Elves and now that I have a better grasp of the game it's going a lot differently. Really enjoying it. Almost polar opposite from my Orc team, but man it was fun in my first game at the end of the half seeing one of my Catchers dodge 2 tackles, pick up a loose ball, dodge another tackle and make it to the endzone to score. Good times.

Defense is tough though. I'm still not entirely sure what's the best method to take with them. Right now I'm just trying to build a wall around them almost and make them come to me. I try to keep everyone more than a square away when possible so I only have one guy getting hammered a turn, but that doesn't always work out for me. They end up keeping the ball for most of the half. I guess that's the balance though, because it only takes about 2 turns for the Elves to go the length of the field when they have the ball.

Seem to be leveling up a bit better as well since I can get some more points from passes.

[Axxon]

Oh, and I haven't seen it mentioned and I just discovered it but their is a strategy guide pdf in the manual folder. I've just glanced at it but it has information on how to use the players of the various races and a strategy section for match play.

[edit] I think it was a good read. It cleared up some stuff for me and the part where it describes how to set up situations and access the risk was very helpful. I know why a lot of my block situations were failing.

[RendeR]

I have a T7200 @ 2.o mghz machine with a Radeon 1300 video card. Probably well below the standards for this game. It plays slow but it plays so I'm ok with it.

[Calis]

Just had a Woof Elf vs. Skaven match in my campaign and that's something else all together. It was like a whole different game. I now have officially learned to hate Gutter Runners. Sure you can knock the crap out of them, but man do they move! I got burnt several times by them. I was only able to eke out a draw, and we had a pretty epic last couple turns with us each lobbing up hail maries basically, and if either one could have caught it that was game. Instead we both ended up throwing interceptions, so hey...there's 2 easy skill points.

Wardancer has definitely moved up to my favorite unit in the game so far. They are just all around guys. Anyone know what the majority of people specialize them in? I checked in the Woof Elf thread linked earlier and couldn't find much. I'm right now looking at them as almost throwers, giving both of them Sure Hands to start with. I really don't know where to go with them from there though.

So many options.

[Warhammer]

Just had a Woof Elf vs. Skaven match in my campaign and that's something else all together. It was like a whole different game. I now have officially learned to hate Gutter Runners. Sure you can knock the crap out of them, but man do they move! I got burnt several times by them. I was only able to eke out a draw, and we had a pretty epic last couple turns with us each lobbing up hail maries basically, and if either one could have caught it that was game. Instead we both ended up throwing interceptions, so hey...there's 2 easy skill points.

Wardancer has definitely moved up to my favorite unit in the game so far. They are just all around guys. Anyone know what the majority of people specialize them in? I checked in the Woof Elf thread linked earlier and couldn't find much. I'm right now looking at them as almost throwers, giving both of them Sure Hands to start with. I really don't know where to go with them from there though.

So many options.

Do not give them sure hands. WDs are not throwers. Also, to make sure you develop the team properly, do not rely on them early. WDs can take strip ball as a skill, which makes them turnover machines. You can also give them tackle to get those guys that have dodge, side step works well, and pray for box cars. A +1 ST WD is a gift from Nuffle. A +1 AG WD isn't far behind.

[SirFozzie]

A +ST or AG WD is an abomination and must be fouled to death. Repeatedly.

[Calis]

Oops. Thanks for the info. Too late to save my WD's from getting Sure Hands, but I'll definitely go the route you mentioned next time. I think I might actually reroll this team because I'd like to try a little different approach. I went a more specialist approach with this one, going with....

2 Wardancers
2 Throwers
2 Catchers
1 Tree
4 Linemen

That took all my cash and so I was left without a reroll for quite a while, especially when you figure in the cost of replacements. I think I might retry with a more heavily linemen oriented team. Linemen seems to be really flexible and still have good stats, so I might drop the tree, and possibly both throwers to replace with linemen to save some cash. I thought about Linemen instead of Catchers as well, because they'd give you a little extra strength and are still very mobile.

I'd of course still add some of these positions later, but right now I'm noticing money is extremely tight for Elves and I'm hating the lack of rerolls. An Apothecary sure seems like it'd be nice also because of how pricey and fragile these guys are.

I'm going to have reroll syndrome with this game I can tell.

[PadresFan104]

Here's the official rulebook pdf. It actually makes a better manual than the one that comes with the game:

http://www.bloodbowlonline.com/LivingRulebook5.pdf

Thanks for that, it helped quite a bit for this BB Novice. My only wish is that this game played more like a board game in the Classic mode. I'd like to see the die rolls, etc so I could follow what was going on a bit better.

[Calis]

There's a little button in the bottom left like chat window that you can click on and that will show the die rolls with bonuses and what they were for.

It's not what you're looking for exactly I think, but it's something. I've been checking it out a little bit my last few matches to get a better idea of the bonuses/penalties.

[Eaglesfan27]

Really basic question: Is there somewhere special to go to level up characters or only a certain time you can do so? I have a few characters who I know have gotten a fair number of skill points but are still level 1.

[SirFozzie]

Here's the chart:

If you have players who need skill rolls it will say "Some of your players have level up pending"

0-5 SPP No Skills
6-15 1 Skills
16-30 2 Skills
31-50 3 Skills
51-75 4 Skills
76-175 5 Skills
176+ 6 Skills

[CleBrownsfan]

Are there any gameplay video of the game. I've never played this series before and would love to see what it is all about b4 I throw down $50...

[Eaglesfan27]

I absolutely hate the Skaven. Every time I face them, they manage to get a lucky bounce and just completely outrun my orcs.

[SirFozzie]

would anyone be interested in a Six to Eight team FOFC league?

[Axxon]

would anyone be interested in a Six to Eight team FOFC league?

HOw would it work?

[Calis]

I'd definitely be interested. I still only have a rough idea what's going, but I think several of us are in the same boat.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm a newbie, but I'd be interested if games were primarily on the weekend.

[SirFozzie]

HOw would it work?

I'd set up the league, you'd create MP teams, leave the public league, and apply to the league. I'm thinking about making it a 1 game-1 week thing.

If we have 8 teams, I'd probably set it up as follows

7 game "Season" (play each other once)
Top 4 make single-elimination finals.
100K bonus to the season Champion
50K Bonus to the season Runner up

[Warhammer]

Oops. Thanks for the info. Too late to save my WD's from getting Sure Hands, but I'll definitely go the route you mentioned next time. I think I might actually reroll this team because I'd like to try a little different approach. I went a more specialist approach with this one, going with....

2 Wardancers
2 Throwers
2 Catchers
1 Tree
4 Linemen

That took all my cash and so I was left without a reroll for quite a while, especially when you figure in the cost of replacements. I think I might retry with a more heavily linemen oriented team. Linemen seems to be really flexible and still have good stats, so I might drop the tree, and possibly both throwers to replace with linemen to save some cash. I thought about Linemen instead of Catchers as well, because they'd give you a little extra strength and are still very mobile.

I'd of course still add some of these positions later, but right now I'm noticing money is extremely tight for Elves and I'm hating the lack of rerolls. An Apothecary sure seems like it'd be nice also because of how pricey and fragile these guys are.

I'm going to have reroll syndrome with this game I can tell.

Best build for a rookie WE team, 10 Lineelves 1 WD. The strength of the team later is ensuring that the lineelves have good skills. You save a ton more money in the long run focusing on levelling them up and adding specialists later. Otherwise your specialists wind up sucking all the SPPs.

[Axxon]

I'm a newbie, but I'd be interested if games were primarily on the weekend.

Me too. Saturday night or sunday for the run.

[SirFozzie]

We'd use all the blitz rules EXCEPT real time.

[Eaglesfan27]

I absolutely hate the Skaven. Every time I face them, they manage to get a lucky bounce and just completely outrun my orcs.

Revenge is sweet. Just met them in the playoffs as they finished 1st and I finished 2nd during the tourney, this time they didn't dodge as well and we killed 4 of their players by the end of the match and knocked out 4 more. Needless to say, 11 on 3 made it easier to score ;)

Oh yeah, the game has some fun achievements.

[SirFozzie]

FOFC Blood Bowl League Created - Front Office Football Central (http://operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?p=2060739#post2060739)

League Created. 7 spots open :)

[Fidatelo]

I'd love to join the league but I'd rarely be able to meet up to play. I'll just have to watch and live vicariously through you guys.

As for the game, it just keeps getting better for me the more I play. I've created an Orc campaign and I managed to win the Clear Cup or whatever it was called. Now I'm a couple matches into a new cup and doing pretty well (a win and a draw). The only thing that drives me crazy is that I almost always get screwed on the cash award at the end of the game, regardless of whether I win or lose.

[Marc Vaughan]

I got the game last night - had a quick play on my laptop and got the settings to a level where it wasn't like sludge ..

Then tonight my eldest son and I started masterminding our campaign* - we're playing as humans (against my suggestion of being Orcs) and managed to throw away a victory tonight against a dwarvish team on the final turn ... grrr.

(the really really sad thing is I've played Blood Bowl a LOT as a kid and he'd never played before - BUT it was him who got us our touchdown and me who gave away the equaliser ;) )

*When he was younger I'd read to him, now he's 9 and an avid reader in his own time we play computer games together for 30 mins before bed, normally something strategic - Battle for Wesnoth being the mainstay.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I couldn't hold off until July 1. After working for 16 hours straight, on a Sunday, I decided to reward myself and bought the game and downloaded it last night before going to bed.

I can't wait to fire it up.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can join the league as my schedule as all over the map.

[RendeR]

I'd be up for joiniong the league, but I worry that my computer being a tad slow to run teh game will cause problems for my opponents when we play?

[BYU 14]

*When he was younger I'd read to him, now he's 9 and an avid reader in his own time we play computer games together for 30 mins before bed, normally something strategic - Battle for Wesnoth being the mainstay.

You are one cool Dad my friend, all I ever got was the three Bears. :D

[SirFozzie]

I'd be up for joiniong the league, but I worry that my computer being a tad slow to run teh game will cause problems for my opponents when we play?

If you can get the turn in in four minutes, I wouldn't see any problems

[Icy]

How long does usually take to play a game?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Has anyone been experiencing a lot of bugs/crashes with this game? A friend of a friend keeps reporting back that the game is nearly unplayable or that they shipped an "unfinished" product.

Is it really that rough?

[Atocep]

Zero crashes. Zero problems for me or any of the friends I play with.

[thesloppy]

Has anyone been experiencing a lot of bugs/crashes with this game? A friend of a friend keeps reporting back that the game is nearly unplayable or that they shipped an "unfinished" product.

Is it really that rough?

I haven't experienced a single crash, and i've probably put in nearly 20 hours into the game already. I HAVE had very occasional problems where I seem to lose the ability to give commands to my players...but that always has turned out to be because I've hit enter and unknowingly entered the chat dialog, or hit ctrl and been unknowingly in rotate-the-camera mode, or something similar.

[Eaglesfan27]

Has anyone been experiencing a lot of bugs/crashes with this game? A friend of a friend keeps reporting back that the game is nearly unplayable or that they shipped an "unfinished" product.

Is it really that rough?

Zero bugs and crashes. My only issue is the loading time is on the long side. Once the match starts it is very smooth.

[Calis]

No crashes here and I played the game WAY too much this weekend. I can't really even think of a bug I ran into.

The loading is a bit long, but not often so can't complain. Sounds like maybe a hardware issue or conflict on his part.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Thanks for the responses, fellas. That was my impression from reading this thread as well.

[Calis]

Looks like there is a patch out. It just made me download it. Not seeing any release notes or anything, but there was something about it speeding up for certain resolutions or something. This might be good news for the people who had troubles running the game speed-wise.

Just tried out Skaven for the first time as I thought I might give them a shot in the FOFC league since we didn't seem to have one yet. I don't think my skill level is there yet for taking these guys. I made a 4 Gutter Runner team and while it sure is fun having those offensive options it's tough going. A lot of casualties, tough time defending, and maybe I was just unlucky but I had a tough time picking up the ball or completing even short passes.

I can see the damage a Runner to Runner hand-off could do though. That'd be nasty.

Fun team though, I'd like to learn them better.

[Axxon]

Looks like there is a patch out. It just made me download it. Not seeing any release notes or anything, but there was something about it speeding up for certain resolutions or something. This might be good news for the people who had troubles running the game speed-wise.

Just tried out Skaven for the first time as I thought I might give them a shot in the FOFC league since we didn't seem to have one yet. I don't think my skill level is there yet for taking these guys. I made a 4 Gutter Runner team and while it sure is fun having those offensive options it's tough going. A lot of casualties, tough time defending, and maybe I was just unlucky but I had a tough time picking up the ball or completing even short passes.

I can see the damage a Runner to Runner hand-off could do though. That'd be nasty.

Fun team though, I'd like to learn them better. I think Chinaski is Skaven.

[chinaski]

I think Chinaski is Skaven.

Yup yup. Really liking Skaven so far, pretty tough learning curve for a newbie Blood Bowl player, but fun none the less. High risk, high reward is what im gathering.

[Atocep]

Just finished a game against someone using Wood Elves and all I can say is Wardancers can pull off the most ridiculous shit you'll ever see.

From now on I'm killing every damn one I see.

[thesloppy]

I've been playing a human campaign for maybe near a couple dozen games so far, and have been doing relatively well, but even after all those games I still hadn't faced a skink team, and upon meeting one in a playoff, they really threw me for a loop and put a kink into the strategy I had been developing the dwarves, orcs and rats. I haven't even sniffed a wood-elf team, and the scattered comments about them being speedy and advanced, are beginning to scare me.

[SirFozzie]

Just finished a game against someone using Wood Elves and all I can say is Wardancers can pull off the most ridiculous shit you'll ever see.

From now on I'm killing every damn one I see.

Welcome to the Wardancer hate club.

Why? I've run into the following Wardancer.

+AG/Strip Ball

Would you like to try to deal with a Wardancer that can leap on a roll of 2+, and who if he gets a pushback against your ball carrier, will make him drop the ball? (Unless he has sure hands).

Hate HATE HATE them.

That's why I took em, to try to get past my hate.

[SirFozzie]

I've been playing a human campaign for maybe near a couple dozen games so far, and have been doing relatively well, but even after all those games I still hadn't faced a skink team, and upon meeting one in a playoff, they really threw me for a loop and put a kink into the strategy I had been developing the dwarves, orcs and rats. I haven't even sniffed a wood-elf team, and the scattered comments about them being speedy and advanced, are beginning to scare me.

Every single player has 4 AG, so they can dodge out of there on a 2+ (if no extra TZ). If the dice are halfway decent you'll be chasing them all over the field all game

[Glengoyne]

I just got to the finals of a tournament with my humans. I had a two - one lead and the ball. Then I got sloppy. I lost four players in one turn to "bad injuries". I tried to consolidate, and then pick up the ball just to make it hard for them to score. I picked it up, and then thought..hey if I just dodge to that square I'll have a supporting blockers. Flat on the face...and into the infirmary, bad back. They took out two more players on the last turn...then picked up the ball and scored. They kicked off to me, and I only had four players left.

This game has overtime...I guess it is the finals ...so OK. I went for it. Got almost to the goal line with a couple of blitzes and a fancy block or two. I failed my first go-for-it...I needed two. Oh and my tripped catcher was KOd. By the time they scored, I was down to two players. Luckilly one came too, and gave me a line of one blitzer and two catchers. The game ended with my two catchers KOd, and my blitzer with his back to the sideline facing an Ogre. I rolled two dice "you pick", and stunned the Ogre.

All in all I had one killed, five significant injuries(including a gouged eye and a back problem). All because I decided I could get a little bashy against another human team. Lesson learned.

[thesloppy]

I just finished an 8 team single elimination tourney that laid a real whooping on me. The first game was a war against an orc team that was constantly putting me on my back and ended regulation at 0-0 forcing an overtime that I squeaked out of 1-0. Next up a dwarf team that I'd faced before plenty of times and underestimated, figuring I'd put the stamp on 'em again, but that one ended regulation at 1-1, and ended up going into double overtime, which I had to play the entirety of fielding 6 vs 11. Not surprisingly I ended up losing. I also sustained eight casualties and a death in that game alone. Not a fun tournament.

[BYU 14]

Downloaded last night and I can't wait to get going with all these glowing reports. I hated the first incarnation of this on a computer, but it sounds like they got it right this time. Hopefully I will have some time tonight to play.

[Fidatelo]

Won my second tournament last night in my Orc campaign (classic mode). My favorite moment was playing against some Skaven fools and knocking 9 of them off the pitch in one march down the field (not just down, right off, either dead or KO'd). On the final kick-off of the game they had only 4 guys to send out on the field, it was awesome.

I'm starting to wonder if I want to re-roll though. I didn't realise initially that I could rename the players as they are purchased, and now I wish I could have given them more memorable names. I also think that Orcs might be a bit too good in this game, and since I'm on easy the combination might be a little less challenging than I want going forward, now that I've mostly figured out how to play. I'm also wondering what I might be missing out from the Blitz side of things... DAMN THIS GAME IS AWESOME!

[Calis]

Pretty sure you can rename the players anytime. If you go into your roster and double click or whatever it is to get the individual details screen you can click on the name and change it to whatever you want.

I do tend to agree about Orcs at least vs. the AI. I never had much of a problem using them and usually steamrolled whereas with other teams I've had some real tough games, but that might be because I play a riskier game with other teams.

I'm quickly finding out with Chaos that even picking up the ball is a risky play. I'm not entirely sure what their strength is yet but I've only played two games with them. Horns is a nice skill(+1 to Str when Blitzing) and I'm assuming there are some real nice mutation skills available. Its nice being able to get in close with all 11 guys and have a pretty decent chance of out muscling the other team but the lack of a ballhandler is rough.

Heh I actually enjoy ever race I've played so far which is surprising to me. I want to do campaigns with all them. I still haven't tried or even played against Lizards yet.

Out of curiousity I know that Dark Elves and Undead are two races being worked on. What are these two like? I'm assuming the DE are pretty similiar to WE so what's the difference? Are undead a slow bashy type?

Hope we see a consistent adding of new races through expansions or whatever.

[Marc Vaughan]

Zero crashes. Zero problems for me or any of the friends I play with.

No crashes but I need to drop EVERYTHING down to minimum to play without it being very unresponsive and I hate the loading time for the match (not particularly excited by 3d me - would be more than happy with a 2d view ;) ) ...

Very pleased by the game overall - nice job :D

[Marc Vaughan]

Out of curiousity I know that Dark Elves and Undead are two races being worked on. What are these two like? I'm assuming the DE are pretty similiar to WE so what's the difference? Are undead a slow bashy type?

I WANT Dark Elves - thats who I used to play as when I was a kid (and incidentally when you play me online be gentle - I'm relearning things and its a harsh lesson ;) ) .... they're fantastic :D

If I remember right undead reanimate (so they can't be killed) and possibly also take the dead from the opposition to join their team? ... plus they had mummies or something silly who were their 'Ogre' equivalent .... can't remember exactly but they were definitely an 'acquired taste'.

[Fidatelo]

No crashes but I need to drop EVERYTHING down to minimum to play without it being very unresponsive and I hate the loading time for the match (not particularly excited by 3d me - would be more than happy with a 2d view ;) ) ...

Very pleased by the game overall - nice job :D

I agree, 3d seems pretty meaningless in this type of game. I've also found that the game seems to run slower as I play more and more matches in a row without shutting it off. For example the first couple matches will run fine, but by the third things get a little less responsive. I don't think it's a memory issue, though, since I have 4GB and at most the game seems to use up around 1GB. It just seems like the CPU starts to spike up after a couple games (and it's only using one of my cores, so one will be running at like 45%+ and the other sitting idle... kind of annoying).

[Pumpy Tudors]

No crashes but I need to drop EVERYTHING down to minimum to play without it being very unresponsive and I hate the loading time for the match (not particularly excited by 3d me - would be more than happy with a 2d view ;) ) ...

Very pleased by the game overall - nice job :D
I agree with this completely. The game is a lot of fun, but damn, they didn't need to make it so resource-intensive. :(

[SirFozzie]

Dark Elves are slightly slower then Wood Elves, but tougher.

Undead are a slow team, individually their players are fragile, but they will regenerate 50% of their injuries, so they're a long run team.

Here's their stat blocks (the # are Move/Strength/Agility/Armor)

Dark Elves

Linemen (0-16) 6 3 4 8 (70K)
Runners (0-2) 7 3 4 7 Dump-Off Pass (80K)
Assassins (0-2) 6 3 4 7 Shadowing, Stab (90K)
Blitzers (0-4) 7 3 4 8 Block (100K)
Witch Elves (0-2) 7 3 4 7 Frenzy, Dodge, Jump Up (110K)

Here's the Undead stat block

Skeletons (0-16) 5 3 2 7 Regeneration, Thick Skull (40K)
Zombies (0-16) 4 3 2 8 Regeneration (40K)
Ghouls (0-4) 7 3 3 7 Dodge (70K) <-- the only Undead player that doesn't regen
Wights (0-2) 6 3 3 8 Block, Regeneration (90K)
Mummies (0-2) 3 5 1 9 Mighty Blow, Regeneration (120K)

[Calis]

Thanks for posting that Foz! I do like the look of those DE stats. That's a team I think I'd enjoy.

Another question, is there weather? Seems like a given, did it just not make the cut into the game? Thinking a nice mud bowl would be nice for slowing those pesky elves down.

[SirFozzie]

The weather table I think has generally been neutered in the new edition.

[Fidatelo]

I just created a competition in Blitz mode... this looks way better! Multiple seasons, moving up and down in divisions, player aging, equipment... this is going to be awesome!

Time to learn how to play with my Wood Elves...

[Warhammer]

Welcome to the Wardancer hate club.

Why? I've run into the following Wardancer.

+AG/Strip Ball

Would you like to try to deal with a Wardancer that can leap on a roll of 2+, and who if he gets a pushback against your ball carrier, will make him drop the ball? (Unless he has sure hands).

Hate HATE HATE them.

That's why I took em, to try to get past my hate.

As a WE player, the best WD variant is the +1 ST. A blodger that for most unassisted players is a 2 die block my choice? Sign me up!

The WD with +1 AG is nice as well. That said, if you focus too much on fouling the WDs you will get your butt beat by a decent WE player.

That is actually one reason why a Treeman should be a relatively early buy for a WE team. The Tree demands so much attention that it allows your other guys to survive.

[Warhammer]

Thanks for posting that Foz! I do like the look of those DE stats. That's a team I think I'd enjoy.

Another question, is there weather? Seems like a given, did it just not make the cut into the game? Thinking a nice mud bowl would be nice for slowing those pesky elves down.

Dark Elves play much differently from Wood Elves. They are bashier than the other elves, but not quite as durable as High Elves. Personally, I do not like them. If you are playing a good opponent, they can bait you into some bad decisions.

[BYU 14]

Crap, it doesn't look like my Radeon 9800 can handle this. It meets the specs but I keep freezing after a few minutes, even with all the graphics settings in the game turned down.

Well I needed a new card anyway I guess and FWIW I liked what I was able to see of the game :)

[Fidatelo]

I have a question: when I was creating my wood elves team earlier I noticed that when I tried to choose different body styles, nothing visually changed. Is this something that's broken with the game, or do I need to have specific graphic settings at a specific level to see the various body styles?

I was able to see different skins, for what its worth.

[BYU 14]

Crap, it doesn't look like my Radeon 9800 can handle this. It meets the specs but I keep freezing after a few minutes, even with all the graphics settings in the game turned down.

Well I needed a new card anyway I guess and FWIW I liked what I was able to see of the game :)

Dola on this, I have noticed on the BB forums that some people are still having an issue with video cards overheating, anyone here had that issue?

[Calis]

My new low point last night. In my Chaos campaign it was the end of the game and I was going for it to get to the endzone and tie it up. I was using my best Beastman and was out of rerolls.

Failed the go for it. Not only failed the go for it but HE DIED. There was no one within half a field of him. I can only assume he tripped and impaled himself on the ball.

Talk about a double whammy.

I can also say I'm pretty concerned about the FOFC league seeing as how my Chaos team is 1-2 against easy AI. Having a tough time figuring them out.

[Warhammer]

Best Blood Bowl story ever (at least for me):

We're playing in college, my Woodies against a High Elf team. The game is tied, late in the game, and the other guys are looking to score. His Lion Warrior is off on his own, 7 steps from my Wardancer. He GFIs twice. Fails the roll, re-rolls it. Fails again. Falls down, and dies. The ball scatters out of bounds, gets thrown back in to my star thrower, Jim Plunkwood. He picks it up, throws the Hail Mary pass to my catcher with diving catch who dives into the end zone for the score on the last turn of the game. For the record, it was Jerry Mice who caught the pass.

[KWhit]

My new low point last night. In my Chaos campaign it was the end of the game and I was going for it to get to the endzone and tie it up. I was using my best Beastman and was out of rerolls.

Failed the go for it. Not only failed the go for it but HE DIED. There was no one within half a field of him. I can only assume he tripped and impaled himself on the ball.

Talk about a double whammy.

That is hysterical.

But, uh.. Sorry for your loss.

;)

[RendeR]

OK its official, this game has become an addiction in less than 48 hours of use....


I was up ALL night playing a human campaign. 2 full seasons. Went 3-0 then lost in the qualifyer to a piss poor skaven team. Second season I went 2-1 and won the cup!

Team is 8-2 overall and my catcher named "TJ Houshmanzadeh" is level 4, gained an agility so he's 4 AG base has both catching skills and has scored 14 TD's. I bought all the level 3 armor for him too to try and keep him alive =)

I'm having a blast with this game. Orcs are a royal bitch to beat, but I think I've got a handle on them now. Still haven't actually faced woodies. Chaos trounced me when I played them with Lizards, gonna have to see how the humans handle them.

[tyketime]

I'm at work on lunch break, but only have access to internet via my Treo. What are the download restrictions? Can I download to both a PC & my laptop (provided I only play one machine at a time)?

[BYU 14]

I'm at work on lunch break, but only have access to internet via my Treo. What are the download restrictions? Can I download to both a PC & my laptop (provided I only play one machine at a time)?

You get three different activations, so yes.

[BYU 14]

I didn't realize I had an AGP video card, luckily Dell has 1 solid option in the Radeon X1550, but now I have to wait another 3 days :mad:

Needed the new Vid card anyway, so this just rushed the process.

[aran]

Oh man is this game fun!

I bought this game last night. While it was downloading, I read through the LRB. It really helped me to understand the game and I didn't need to go through the tutorial.

Today I putzed around in exhibition games with orcs to get a feel for how the game works. Played my first game to a 0-0 draw against a lizardman team. At the end of the first half, one of their players was in the clear with only 4 squares to go. Saved by the bell! Then, at the end of the second half, fortunes shifted: I used my troll to throw a ball-carrying goblin within TWO SQUARES of the opponent's endzone right when regulation expired. SO CLOSE.

I had a lot of fun in that game.

Then I started a campaign as orcs. I may have made a mistake by picking up a troll initially--the "really stupid" trait makes him not particularly useful early in the game. Especially since I've not used his throw ability at all because I've been keeping my thrower on the field instead of the goblin for ball-carrying duties.

First game I played in teh campaign was a against a skaven team. Their speed caught me off-guard on turn 5 and they broke through for a score. They paid the price, though. I was injuring their players left and right. Starting the second half, they had 7 players left to field. By the end of the game, they had four left. I managed to grab the ball with my thrower at one point, dump it off to my blitzer who broke into the open for a score only a few turns into the second half. The rest of the game was them playing keep away as I injured more players. I could not chase them down in time to pull away with the win. I had a blitzer two squares from the endzone with the ball when the final whistle sounded. Intense.

[Tasan]

I actually won a game in my campaign. Went 1-2-1 in the first league as humans. Hopefully things start going better, I'm getting a decent feel for the game now, I think. The hardest thing has been trying to remember not to do something hard towards the first of my turn and failing. Then pounding my fist when a 2 dice roll goes badly on the first play. Those drive me nuts.

[aran]

I've been playing on medium. It has been fun and challengiing. Three games into my campaign my record is 1W 2D 0L. Two 1-1 games and a 2-1 game. All three games were nail-biters.

I thought the last game was going to be higher scoring--both teams scored a TD in the first half. My thrower threw a pick-six and that was to be their only TD. In the second half I played more aggressively, crashing through the human's thrower pocket, doing some vicious flanking maneuvers. I left a couple of guys open on the back side figuring there's no way they could throw an accurate pass that far. They ended up throwing a pass that missed its target (around the area where I had their downfield players covered) and I managed to get the ball to my thrower and open a lane down the field to the goalline. A very fun drive.

I'm starting to use my thrower as a running back principally. I use the blitzers to cover his flanks and pick off enemies to open up holes. The big guys tend to just beat the crap out of the opponent throughout the game, causing a couple injuries and preventing the center from being controlled. I find that the blitzers and thrower are barely fast enough to play defense if I'm not being very attentive to where they are.

I've noticed that the game plays so much differently against different opponents.

Orcs vs. Humans is a more wide open game with mobile humans running all over the field. It's tough to bottle them up; you've gotta knock them down a lot to prevent them from running all over you.

Orcs vs. Dwarves is a very slow moving game. The dwarves are tough to put on the ground and win more blocks than any other side because they all seem to have the "block" ability. They form pockets for their runners and try to push slowly down the field. I found the best way to score against them was to throw lateral passes and fly up the flanks with blitzers. if you allow the dwarven players to shift to the side the ball's on when they have it, you can mount rapid counterattacks this way.

This is one of the best games I've purchased in a while.

[Fidatelo]

As much as I love this game, I have one beef: the AI needs to get a patch that teaches it how to tell time. They never play with urgency on the last turn or two of a half or game, and it costs them.

Worst example: my Wood Elves are playing some Dwarfs, I'm up 1-0 late in the second half. The Dwarfs are just beating me to a pulp all over the field, and manage to get their cage past all of my defenders. On the last turn, their ball carrier runs his distance to about 5 squares from the endzone, and has a teammate wide open that is only 2 squares from the endzone (although the throw would be a few squares laterally, so it's about a 4-5 square throw).

Now, Dwarfs suck at throwing/catching, I get that. But it's the last turn and they are down by 1. The only play should be to attempt the pass. Instead, he switches control to his other players and effectively ends the game. On any other turn, that move makes sense. I could not have caught him on my turn, so he was home free. But on the last turn of the game, down 1 (or tied), they need to program in logic that the CPU goes for it regardless of any other circumstances.

[thesloppy]

Once again, I thought I was getting the feel for this game, but things have ramped up on me in the midgame of my human campaign. My opposition's quality of player has picked up, and as such I'm taking more tackles, and the humans' less-than-special armor rating has made my current tactics very costly in the casualty/death department. I've also got a lot of quality players that have been effectively crippled by critical stat losses (6th level blitzers with strengths of 2 are not very effective).

[Tasan]

GAH....had a great game going as Humans, we were up against Orcs. I went up 1-0 with 4 moves left. The kick goes a little short, then the graphics go wonky on me and I can't read any dice rolls or menus, and the players look funny. Up to this point, I'd had no issues with the game, it even runs real smooth on my machine. Anyway, I have to be real careful now with die rolls. With the short kick, the Orcs pick up the ball real fast and start moving. The unknown die rolls bite me in the butt with 2 turns to go, as it lets a hole form on the sideline, where the Orcs run it in to score with 1 turn left. We end up tied 1-1. Thankfully I can save the game and get out before it all blows up. Hopefully I don't have this issue again.

[Tasan]

Oh what rule settings are the FOFC online league folks using? The Blitz rules on the left where you can set whatever you want, or the stand version 5.0 rules?

[RendeR]

The league is using blitz rules with everything I think. Turn based.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I finally fired it up last night.

I had no issues with bugs or crashes. *knocks on wood*

The game is pretty much exactly what I hoped it would be: it's the boardgame computerized.

I started out with a quick one-off game to test things out. To get a feel for it. Then I fired up my campaign. I took a human team. The Detroit Argonaughts.

Our first game was against another human team. We were up 1-0 and then fell behind 2-1. My team was getting pounded. I also forgot that, unless you're injured or KO'd, you can stand up. I didn't figure that out until game 2.

We were down 2-1 with only 3 turns left and desperation led to greatness. In Blood Bowl, I love the high-risk, high-reward offense. I love the passing game. Clog up the middle a bit and use your speed to get to the outside. So, my thrower picked up the ball. my blitzers blasted the right side of the field clean. The thrower passed it to the catcher, just like they drew it up in the locker room, and the catcher was off to the races. He sprinted down the sidelines, no one could catch him, and we scored. It ended in a tie.

Game 2 was against the dwarves. We ended up winning 2-0. We suffered some injuries. One of my blitzers has -1 AV and a lineman is now injury prone. I think one of the dwarves died trying to "go for it" (run an extra spaces). He must have had a heart attack or something.

The game is a blast.

I agree with The Winnipeg Bomber, the one thing I'd like to see worked on is the end game AI. Over all the AI is quite solid, but there is no sense of urgency at the end of a game if they are down a score.

I remember reading about customization of characters. Other than choosing a symbol and a base color, I didn't see any other options. Am I missing something? There was a button under the character models for different "skins" (1-3), but they all look identical.

[Calis]

I think apart from urgency for the AI they really need to work on the order that they do things. I seem them going for very risky moves sometime first off and losing a turn. They seem to make almost random choices for skilling up also. Overall though I'm still screwing up worse than them so I can't complain much about the AI.

There are a few interface issues I have, and hopefully get ironed out. I do wish things would be a little more apparent especially for those of us unfamiliar with the boardgame. There's a lot of rolls that might not be immediately noticeable. I'd like an easier way to see exactly what you need for a dodge roll or more importantly to me it seems like it shows the number needed on a pass but doesn't show what's needed to catch. Not a huge deal, but would be nice to have a little more info. I guess I just need to study the rulebook a little more.

I also don't think I like the Blitz stuff, and kinda wish the FOFC league wasn't using it. Short league though so not a big deal, but after messing with it a bit I've gone back to classic. The equipment and stuff just seems a little too powergamey. Fun to mess with, but there to make some really uber characters. The aging and stuff might be fun though.

In my classic campaign with Chaos though it's really a blast. I was having a great time before, but once you get enough games under your belt to really start specializing guys then it becomes fun. I've got a few level 3 guys now, and my Godsend has been my Extra Arm/Sure Hand Beastman which has finally given me someone I KNOW will actually pick up the ball when I tell him to. Chaos Warriors after a couple levels and having Block/Guard are pretty nasty guys also. I haven't got lucky with any +str or +agi rolls yet though. I'd really love an agility one to create another ballhandler with, and maybe even make him a passer.

Really loving the game.

Finishing up my 2nd season as

[thesloppy]

I haven't got lucky with any +str or +agi rolls yet though. I'd really love an agility one to create another ballhandler with, and maybe even make him a passer.


I have a human blitzer in my campaign who got lucky with TWO +agi rolls, giving him a 5 agility, he's a bad mamajama.

[Icy]

Just bought the DVD version that is available in Spain from today. Installing it now at 1am... and got a weeding tomorrow... i hope i won't get too addicted, i need to sleep today.

[BYU 14]

got a weeding tomorrow... i hope i won't get too addicted, i need to sleep today.

To the game or Weeding it up?

[thesloppy]

You should be fine, this game goes great with weeding. The sleeping, not so much.

[Icy]

To the game or Weeding it up?

ROFL, of course i meant wedding.

[Marc Vaughan]

never play someone who brings their own dice ;)

(seriously though I got the floor wiped with me)

[Tasan]

That's a weird "feature" -- is there a way to pause the game at least, so you can leave the computer and come back to it later?

I think I successfully paused in single player by hitting the menu button. It blackens the screen some, but I'm pretty sure the timer stopped. I was able to grab a drink and snack and get back and set up my turn at least.

[thesloppy]

I think I successfully paused in single player by hitting the menu button. It blackens the screen some, but I'm pretty sure the timer stopped. I was able to grab a drink and snack and get back and set up my turn at least.

Yeah, hitting the menu button will pause the game as long as you like, but you can't see the board/give any orders.

[BYU 14]

Started a Dwarf campaign on medium yesterday and sp far I am 4-0-2, with both draws coming against Skaven teams. They make the dwarves look stupid at times with their big agility advantage and ability yo strike fast. In the first game they completed a long pass on the last turn of the game, their Gutter runnner stepped through two defenders and hit both GFI rolls for a 1-1 tie.

In the 2nd game, it was 0-0 on the last turn before half and I tried to pickup a loose ball deep in their territory. I muffed it, they picked it up, dodged out of my tackle zone, dodged another tackle running to near midfield, when hit a Gutter runner over the top of a defender, who easily dodged another of my players and scampered in for a 1-0 lead. I played keep away the second half and ground out a long drive to salvage another 1-1 tie.

You definitely have to be patient with Dwarves, but it is a thing of beauty to overload a side and watch that wedge just plow through a defense.

Had a nice last drive win of my own, tied 0-0 with a Human team, they picked up a loose ball that had bounced off 5 players. I then knocked it loose on my final turn, it bounced into the waiting arms of one of my Blitzers and after 3 knockdowns to clear a path he went house, hitting a GFI at the goaline for the 1-0 win.

This game is a blast!

[Icy]

LOOOOVE this game, it's a dream come true.

There are tons of strategical options both managing your team and playing the games, and turn based it perfect for me.

I was going to bring my Ps3 for the holidays with me, but this game in my notebook should be enough. I'm probably going to pick it up for PSP too.

Btw, i have a couple of doubts. In campaign mode, i purchased 15 players, but only 11 play at same time, where/when can you decide your starters? missed that option somewhere. Also, can you do subs once into a match?

[Warhammer]

LOOOOVE this game, it's a dream come true.

There are tons of strategical options both managing your team and playing the games, and turn based it perfect for me.

I was going to bring my Ps3 for the holidays with me, but this game in my notebook should be enough. I'm probably going to pick it up for PSP too.

Btw, i have a couple of doubts. In campaign mode, i purchased 15 players, but only 11 play at same time, where/when can you decide your starters? missed that option somewhere. Also, can you do subs once into a match?

In the board game you could sub at every kick off.

[Warhammer]

Dwarves are the anti-Skaven and anti-Elf team. Skaven tend to do better against Dwarves than Elves because they are slightly bashier than Elves with their Stormvermin and Rat-Ogres. Dwarves start pretty fast, but other teams catch up with them over the long haul.

The reason is that most Dwarves start out with some skills, but can only gain additional skills from MVPs or casualties. Even see a Longbeard complete a pass? Case in point. But, if you make some decisions to build up some of your Longbeards and Troll Slayers (runners and blitzers tend to get all the SPPs for TDs and catches) you can build a devastating team.

[Eaglesfan27]

LOOOOVE this game, it's a dream come true.

There are tons of strategical options both managing your team and playing the games, and turn based it perfect for me.

I was going to bring my Ps3 for the holidays with me, but this game in my notebook should be enough. I'm probably going to pick it up for PSP too.

Btw, i have a couple of doubts. In campaign mode, i purchased 15 players, but only 11 play at same time, where/when can you decide your starters? missed that option somewhere. Also, can you do subs once into a match?

In the board game you could sub at every kick off.

You cab sub at each kickoff in this game as well. Your subs are in the endzone when it tells you to set up your team for the kickoff. You can right click on them and a player you want them to replace.

[MacroGuru]

Just bought, downloaded and installed the game....getting ready to boot it up...if you don't hear from me, I have locked myself in the room, playing this game and forgot to eat and have passed out.

[Sporkimata]

Have to agree with everyone I am having a blast with this game. My question though is how do you edit names of players? I have not been able to figure this out yet...

[aran]

Is there a way to turn off instant replays? It's such a stupid thing to see your one move get played out again--the one move that got a player in the endzone. Same with casualties. The animations are fine for watching once, but when the game zooms in and replays, it's just a waste of time.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Have to agree with everyone I am having a blast with this game. My question though is how do you edit names of players? I have not been able to figure this out yet...

You have to edit the name before you purchase them.

Go to the buy player screen. BEFORE you buy click on "player details". Then when you're in the player details screen, click on the guy's name and you'll be able to edit it. Edit the name and then click on "buy player" and you're set.

[thesloppy]

You have to edit the name before you purchase them.

Go to the buy player screen. BEFORE you buy click on "player details". Then when you're in the player details screen, click on the guy's name and you'll be able to edit it. Edit the name and then click on "buy player" and you're set.

You can edit the name after you purchase them too (from the player detail screen), you just have to do it before you start a game.

[SirFozzie]

Is there a way to turn off instant replays? It's such a stupid thing to see your one move get played out again--the one move that got a player in the endzone. Same with casualties. The animations are fine for watching once, but when the game zooms in and replays, it's just a waste of time.

You can hit esc after a second to stop them. I don't think there's a way to turn them off.

[Calis]

Looks to be another patch out today. I kept getting an error when I tried to download/install it so I skipped it. Not sure what it addressed.

I definitely underestimated how awesome the 'Kick' skill is. I passed it up for a long time because it's obviously only used on average maybe 3 times a game. Makes a huge difference though, and having some actual control over your kick is great. I've developed a utility Beastman on my team who has Kick and some dirty skills so he's my designated fouler. Really enjoying Chaos still overall. It's tough starting with them, but once you start adding some Block/Guard/Mighty Blow they get to be devastating. Piling on is a great skill as well for bashers, and has helped my causing injury output skyrocket.

I started a Lizardman campaign last night as well to check them out. They were an almost unstoppable force. Really great team. I had my biggest blowout yet my 2nd game with them against a Dwarf team that ended 5-0. 6 Sauruses and their big guy just give you an absolute killer group of bashers and the Skinks are fast little guys that can really make you pay. I imagine that race gets tougher because it'd be hard to level up the Sauruses with their whopping 1 agility. You have to really work and get some luck to score with them, so you have to pray for casualties.

I still can't do worth a crap with Wood Elf or Skaven and that was the style I originally thought I'd like the most. I just haven't figured out how to defend with the Elves.

[aran]

Started a human team. I figured I'd run a relatively open offense relying on catchers and my thrower moving the ball to the flanks and busting through holes created by blitzers and linemen. Well, it didn't turn out so well. Against my first opponent, another human team, my catchers both got injured in the first half of the first game. That game ended in a 1-1 draw. I turtled the end of it because I ended up only able to field 9 players. I was down 5 players by the end and my opponent didn't suffer a single injury.

Second game was against dwarves. What a terrible game that ended up being. Dwarves start with the ball and basically just drive directly down the field. As orcs, I could beat on them as much as they beat on me and stalemate them, but with humans I could not keep enough defenders standing to stop them. I couldn't get to their ball carrier. At the end of the first half I break through with a pass to my catcher. Two tiles from the endzone the half ends.

Second half starts nicely. I stack up one side to draw them all over. I guess I should've kept blitzers back to clear the other side, because I just barely couldn't flank them on that side. My players were so busy trying to stay standing on my strong side that I could get anyone over to help out my catcher. I get close to the endzone with my two catchers, only to be foiled on a missed dodge that would've let me tie the game up. While all this is happening, the dwarves have stunned 6 of my players and knocked out 1 and injured 1, so they easily took the ball down the field to score and end the game 2-0. Disgusting.

Perhaps I just had terrible luck tonight. The game against dwarves was very frustrating. I could not withstand their blocks at all. Players were getting knocked prone constantly. It's hard to sustain an attack or a defense when you can only keep half of your team standing at a given time. I'll have to figure out better anti-dwarf tactics.

[BYU 14]

I am loving Dwarves as they are especially tough early on. Played my first Orc team earlier today though and got a taste of my own medicine, as well as my first loss 1-0. I didn't even enter their territory with the ball until the second to last turn of the game, they were just abusing me.

Their score came when they drew me too far to one side, then their Ball carrier changed direction and popped out the back side, suddenly I could see they had been baiting me as they quickly set a wall and took it down the sideline. The only guy on my team with a chance was one of my runners and he got knocked off the pitch, where the crowd proceeded to beat his ass knocking him out, as the Orcs skipped into the endzone.

[thesloppy]

I play human exclusively so far, and have for a good 20-30 games. I play a slightly different style, with decent results, but I certainly wouldn't say I'm breezing through things either, I think the humans are slightly tough to play because they don't have any real strengths, so you can't overwhelm someone with speed or strength. Likewise I don't think the humans are quite fast or agile enough to run open (or I'm too afraid to), so I move in a loose pack. I still rarely throw a pass, even with a bunch of leveled up dudes, unless it's desperation on the last turn (although it sure is fun, when you do it well). I do hand off a lot though (you still get to use your catch bonus on handoffs), which only requires the catch roll, and still allows you to move relatively quickly with some planning. I also tend to find the dwarves the least frustrating because they're so slow and can't dodge for snot..but if they get a lead on you you're in trouble, because they're tougher than the humans for sure (who isn't? grumble grumble).

[Honolulu_Blue]

I play the humans as well. I've played 6 or 7 games so far. I tend to run the offense aran described, relying on my blitzers to be very agressive in opening up holes and relying on my throwers and catchers for the offense. So far, it's worked extremely well. I'm 4-1-1, with my only loss coming against a skaven team that totally caught me unprepared. I was able to make adjustments in the second game against them and made sure I didn't lose track of their gutter runners.

My offense is pretty much entirely funneled through my catcher (he has a +1 movement and has scored more than half of my touchdowns). The rest of the offense goes through the blitzers, since they tend to be around the ball a lot and act as a combination of linebackers and running backs.

I purchased an Ogre, simply 'cause I like the big fellas. He gained a level after his first game and got a +1 strength. I am really enjoying that.

[MacroGuru]

Hooked is all I can say.

I am running a campaign with a Human team, I won the first cup I played without a loss, and I have yet to lose...however I have a draw with my first game.

I am an open offense, not afraid to pass and I try to strike quick. I have noticed the computer also goes into a stall tactic offense when they are up by 1, which makes it even harder to get the ball back.

[Icy]

After a couple of exhibition games to figure out the interface, I have started a campaign in medium difficulty/blitz mode with the Orcs. Won my first game vs humans and one of my blitzers was a machine, scoring both rushing TD's. It gave him a lvl up.

I'm really really impressed with all the strategic decisions about your team, skills, level up, stuff to purchase etc. Its way deeper than most of traditional sport games available.

even when i have zero performance issues at max detail, count me on those who would love this game with a 2D top view like wargames or chess, i see no need at all for the 3D as the animations get old after the first game. What i do is to zoom out and put the game from a far top view perspective, so it looks almost 2D.

Oh, and I haven't seen it mentioned and I just discovered it but their is a strategy guide pdf in the manual folder. I've just glanced at it but it has information on how to use the players of the various races and a strategy section for match play.

[edit] I think it was a good read. It cleared up some stuff for me and the part where it describes how to set up situations and access the risk was very helpful. I know why a lot of my block situations were failing.

Umm that guide is not in the DVD version, or at least i can't find it. I only have a Manual folder with the pdf manual in different languages inside. That manual is an exactly scan of the printed manual that comes with the DVD version.

Can you please email it to me to icarri at gmail dot com?

[Axxon]

I am loving Dwarves as they are especially tough early on. Played my first Orc team earlier today though and got a taste of my own medicine, as well as my first loss 1-0. I didn't even enter their territory with the ball until the second to last turn of the game, they were just abusing me.

Their score came when they drew me too far to one side, then their Ball carrier changed direction and popped out the back side, suddenly I could see they had been baiting me as they quickly set a wall and took it down the sideline. The only guy on my team with a chance was one of my runners and he got knocked off the pitch, where the crowd proceeded to beat his ass knocking him out, as the Orcs skipped into the endzone.

Yeah, Orcs hurt dwarves. Found out the hard way in the FOFC league and I have two more orc teams to go. Yikes.

[Axxon]

After a couple of exhibition games to figure out the interface, I have started a campaign in medium difficulty/blitz mode with the Orcs. Won my first game vs humans and one of my blitzers was a machine, scoring both rushing TD's. It gave him a lvl up.

I'm really really impressed with all the strategic decisions about your team, skills, level up, stuff to purchase etc. Its way deeper than most of traditional sport games available.

even when i have zero performance issues at max detail, count me on those who would love this game with a 2D top view like wargames or chess, i see no need at all for the 3D as the animations get old after the first game. What i do is to zoom out and put the game from a far top view perspective, so it looks almost 2D.



Umm that guide is not in the DVD version, or at least i can't find it. I only have a Manual folder with the pdf manual in different languages inside. That manual is an exactly scan of the printed manual that comes with the DVD version.

Can you please email it to me to icarri at gmail dot com?

Actually couldn't send. It's 43 megs. Do you have some space I can upload it to instead?

[Axxon]

I just found a flaw in the campaign and I have a question about same campaign.

If you don't choose any players at the start you can choose "Improve team value to 0 and you'll get 32000 for the goal. You only get 35000 for improving fan factor to 10 and only 43000 for First in table. I'd think this is a pretty big issue.

My question is about Rankings. You get more money for finishing 14th 22,000 than 1st 1000 leading me to believe they rank from 14 ( top ) to 1 ( worst ) but in game rankings seem to go the other way. What's up with that?

[chinaski]

I just found a flaw in the campaign and I have a question about same campaign.

If you don't choose any players at the start you can choose "Improve team value to 0 and you'll get 32000 for the goal. You only get 35000 for improving fan factor to 10 and only 43000 for First in table. I'd think this is a pretty big issue.

My question is about Rankings. You get more money for finishing 14th 22,000 than 1st 1000 leading me to believe they rank from 14 ( top ) to 1 ( worst ) but in game rankings seem to go the other way. What's up with that?

The ranking payout is actually not your teams win rank, but how many times your players and team appears on the seasons stat ranking in the #1 position. Aka, player with most interceptions, team with highest attendance etc. 14 would be total domination of the season basically.

[aran]

I play the humans as well. I've played 6 or 7 games so far. I tend to run the offense aran described, relying on my blitzers to be very agressive in opening up holes and relying on my throwers and catchers for the offense. So far, it's worked extremely well. I'm 4-1-1, with my only loss coming against a skaven team that totally caught me unprepared. I was able to make adjustments in the second game against them and made sure I didn't lose track of their gutter runners.

My offense is pretty much entirely funneled through my catcher (he has a +1 movement and has scored more than half of my touchdowns). The rest of the offense goes through the blitzers, since they tend to be around the ball a lot and act as a combination of linebackers and running backs.

I purchased an Ogre, simply 'cause I like the big fellas. He gained a level after his first game and got a +1 strength. I am really enjoying that.

I didn't start with an ogre. Maybe that was a problem. I was aiming for flexibility, so I went with 4 blitzers, 2 catchers, 1 thrower, 4 linemen.

The linemen have to double team opponents in order to get reasonable dice, which wastes a lot of manpower. I guess that's why you pick up the ogre. You need someone to absorb a beating in the middle and keep their stronger players occupied.

I wasn't forming good walls as humans. I'd concentrate too many of my linemen in one place trying to stack the odds in my favor.

Maybe I should go back to orcs.

[Axxon]

The ranking payout is actually not your teams win rank, but how many times your players and team appears on the seasons stat ranking in the #1 position. Aka, player with most interceptions, team with highest attendance etc. 14 would be total domination of the season basically.

Thanks!!!

[Honolulu_Blue]

I didn't start with an ogre. Maybe that was a problem. I was aiming for flexibility, so I went with 4 blitzers, 2 catchers, 1 thrower, 4 linemen.

The linemen have to double team opponents in order to get reasonable dice, which wastes a lot of manpower. I guess that's why you pick up the ogre. You need someone to absorb a beating in the middle and keep their stronger players occupied.

I wasn't forming good walls as humans. I'd concentrate too many of my linemen in one place trying to stack the odds in my favor.

Maybe I should go back to orcs.

I didn't start with an ogre either. I didn't pick him up until the second tournament. The ogres are a bit of a risk. The bone head flaw makes them suspect and they also lack the "block" skill. That said, I enjoy having one on the team and it has helped me anchor the middle of the field more often than not.

[aran]

I find that the BB tabletop mechanics are solid and enjoyable and that almost all the annoyances I've had have been Cyanide having poor English localization, a weak interface, unnecessarily detailed graphics, and a hyperactive camera. I wish they would've spent more time making the game more of a pleasure to play--I think that the part of the game that Cyanide worked on is not worth $50, though the BB tabletop rules implemented with reasonable AI is worth most of the money.

[Eaglesfan27]

Turning off the hyperactive camera (by hitting escape at the beginning of each game) is a necessity to my enjoyment of the game.

[thesloppy]

Yeah, I too turn off the auto camera immediately, turned off the commentary after two games, don't like the slow-mo replays, and detest the long loading times that are probably a result of all the other attempts at eye candy.

[MacroGuru]

Hooked is all I can say.

I am running a campaign with a Human team, I won the first cup I played without a loss, and I have yet to lose...however I have a draw with my first game.

I am an open offense, not afraid to pass and I try to strike quick. I have noticed the computer also goes into a stall tactic offense when they are up by 1, which makes it even harder to get the ball back.

Well, I will be playing my 2nd cup championship game tonight and I think I will end up losing this one. The playoff game I played against the Skaven decimated my team.

I lost my lvl 4 catcher who leads the league with 10 TD's and I have 3 players that will miss this next game and I do not have enough cash to buy the mercs to give me an extra player or two for the game, so I will be entering the game against the orcs with just the 11 players needed to play.

I wanted to throw my laptop when the catcher was killed.

[chinaski]

arg, just played a random game on line with my 1000 skaven vs 1000 orc team....I got totally decimated.... by the 12th turn i had no players left.. NONE! lol :) I now hate skaven, im done with them for good. He killed 2 players, knocked out 6 for my next game and took stats away from 3. yowsa.

[BYU 14]

I have avoided deaths so far, pretty much because Dwarves are so rugged I suppose and my Apothocary has saved 2 deaths, including my best runner Walik Swiftfoot.

Still having problems with Orcs and have lost 2 of 3 to them in competition. The one game I did win I lead 2-0 at the half after getting two turnovers deep in their side. Thought I had it made, but it ended 2-1 and they had the ball at the end and just ran out of time.

Also pulled off a rarity for a Dwarf team, a comeback from a 2-0 down by hitting a hail mary on the last play of the game that required a team reroll and a reroll from the thrower using his pro skill to win 3-2.

This game is already in my top 3 ever for fun factor.

[Eaglesfan27]

I just finished a championship game in the 2nd tourney with my orcs against some dwarves. I was worried because they hired a star player for the game, and I was even more worried when he took down my bashing troll on the 1st turn with a serious injury. However, I got 3 orcs around him and then my strongest black rock orc hit him and caused a serious injury to knock him out. Made me laugh to know they probably wasted a few hundred grand on him. We took control after that and won the match 2-0.

[Calis]

I've deifinitely noticed in my Chaos campaign that I'm blowing past the CPU teams in terms of total team value. It seems like I'm giving up 400+k a game to them, so it's always a star player and an extra reroll or two. Sure makes things interesting.

It sure seems like the AI doesn't utilize the star players very well though. They treat them basically as a line of scrimmage lineman which they're usually pretty good at it, but seems like a bit of a waste. I've yet to really worry about one.

[thesloppy]

I've deifinitely noticed in my Chaos campaign that I'm blowing past the CPU teams in terms of total team value. It seems like I'm giving up 400+k a game to them, so it's always a star player and an extra reroll or two. Sure makes things interesting.


Chaos teams seem to have the cash....in my human campaign I'm always hurting for money, to the point where I've started fielding a 9 man team, using 2 freebie linemen and pocketing the savings. I've got an upcoming game against a chaos team, and clicked on their team to take a peek....they had over a MILLION dollars in cash, and a 15 person team. Youch.

Conversely, I'm playing like my 40th game last night, and somehow play my first ever game against a goblin team. Haven't been avoiding them (like the wood elves) just somehow never played against them......oooooh, those little fellas went down like 11 folding chairs, that was fun!

[Calis]

Chaos teams seem to have the cash....in my human campaign I'm always hurting for money, to the point where I've started fielding a 9 man team, using 2 freebie linemen and pocketing the savings. I've got an upcoming game against a chaos team, and clicked on their team to take a peek....they had over a MILLION dollars in cash, and a 15 person team. Youch.

Conversely, I'm playing like my 40th game last night, and somehow play my first ever game against a goblin team. Haven't been avoiding them (like the wood elves) just somehow never played against them......oooooh, those little fellas went down like 11 folding chairs, that was fun!

Yeah I think maybe it's a benefit to having a pretty resilient team. I don't think I've had anyone die yet in the first three tournaments, and not even anyone injured beyond one game, so apart from buying 2 backups just in case I've spent everything on rerolls, so I'm up to 6 now.

I did just start my first tournament with Lizards and Elves involved. Get a nice little jump in difficulty after playing the same three guys over and over the first few tourneys. Lizards were the first team that really outbashed me. With 6 4 strength Sauruses, a 5(?) strength big guy, and another 5(?) strength star player they really had their way with me the first half. I was eventually able to pound their skinks enough though that they had no one to reliably move the ball and I eked out an ugly and painful draw.

[thesloppy]

I just found a flaw in the campaign and I have a question about same campaign.

If you don't choose any players at the start you can choose "Improve team value to 0 and you'll get 32000 for the goal. You only get 35000 for improving fan factor to 10 and only 43000 for First in table. I'd think this is a pretty big issue.

My question is about Rankings. You get more money for finishing 14th 22,000 than 1st 1000 leading me to believe they rank from 14 ( top ) to 1 ( worst ) but in game rankings seem to go the other way. What's up with that?

I have to admit, I don't understand one lick of what the fuck is going on in the 'sponsor' screen. % of my winning this season? The rankings thing is totally and completely confusing, and the extra bits about 'improving team value or fan factor' never even seem to apply (my fan factor's a 5, I'm guessing it's not getting to 10 in 3 games). Then, to top it off, it seems like the more I win, the less happy my sponsor is. Go figure.

[Axxon]

I have to admit, I don't understand one lick of what the fuck is going on in the 'sponsor' screen. % of my winning this season? The rankings thing is totally and completely confusing, and the extra bits about 'improving team value or fan factor' never even seem to apply (my fan factor's a 5, I'm guessing it's not getting to 10 in 3 games). Then, to top it off, it seems like the more I win, the less happy my sponsor is. Go figure.

You can pay money though to raise fan factor. I'd imagine if you win a bit and blow your cash on that maybe you'd be able to do it.

[thesloppy]

You can pay money though to raise fan factor. I'd imagine if you win a bit and blow your cash on that maybe you'd be able to do it.

That's the second part of the problem: the cash offered sucks too (for humans at least). Like, I'd probably get an extra $6000 from my sponsor for raising my fan factor, but it would cost me 5 times that. Is there another benefit from fan factor that would make it worth the cost (other than the occasional kick off event)?

[SirFozzie]

It was kinda cool, I had to deal with family here, so I spent the time re-reading the Blood Bowl graphic novel and the fiction omnibus.. it's light reading but fun stuff :)

[Honolulu_Blue]

I have to admit, I don't understand one lick of what the fuck is going on in the 'sponsor' screen. % of my winning this season? The rankings thing is totally and completely confusing, and the extra bits about 'improving team value or fan factor' never even seem to apply (my fan factor's a 5, I'm guessing it's not getting to 10 in 3 games). Then, to top it off, it seems like the more I win, the less happy my sponsor is. Go figure.

I am glad to hear that I'm not the only one.

[Eaglesfan27]

I am glad to hear that I'm not the only one.

You two aren't alone. I understand the basic win% and stuff, but the extra goals menu on the far right is very confusing.

[Calis]

It was kinda cool, I had to deal with family here, so I spent the time re-reading the Blood Bowl graphic novel and the fiction omnibus.. it's light reading but fun stuff :)

You know sadly I've been loving this game enough that I actually thought about ordering some of those novels. I just assumed they had to be beyond terrible, even for game-based novels. Are they worth taking a look at? Looks like the first few are out of print also.

I had no idea there was a graphic novel also. I might have to look for that.

Add me to the list who didn't understand the sponsor program and after fiddling with it a bit just went back to classic mode.

[thesloppy]

You know, I'm going to step it up here, blow past all of you guys and finally admit to you and myself that I don't understand how ANY of the money shit works in this game. Some guys' contracts seem to get renewed automatically, then some guys'll just disappear in the middle of a season, only to show up on the free agent list next season, then I swear I've had dead dudes pop up on the free agent list. At the end of the game, it'll show your earnings, I don't know what that's based on, and then there's also some number that's subtracted from those earnings, I don't know what that's based on either, but it's probably related to the two numbers in parentheses next to it (I don't know what those are, by the way). Then there's your inducement money. I don't know where the hell that comes from. I mean, I know that I can contribute money towards it, but sometimes there's money in there already, and sometimes there isn't, and sometimes they show you that there's money in there but then it disappears. Then after every game you get back to the team page, and you've got some money, that may or may not be related to the money you got for winning the last game, and or your roster. And you've got the end-of-season stat page that shows your earnings for the season, and first off those team stats are all wrong, and show career stats, and then the earning stats will say you've earned $20000000000000, and your average attendance is 75000 fans, but you've still only got $4000 on hand, and only 20,000 fans were at your last match. And you're thinking well surely this must all be related to my roster so I just have to go look at the total salary of my team.....oh no, that would be too easy, Sherlock. And what the hell is a players 'value' and how come it doesn't match up with his salary?

So yeah, anybody know what's up with that?

I was amusing myself realizing how much slack I had given this game, thinking "it's nearly perfect!", and then after reading aran's post saying the Cyanide part of the game sucks, realizing how right he was. The 'board game' part IS nearly perfect.

The confusing sponsors page
Horrible financial interface
One-run-and-done commentary
Unnecessary animation replays
'Classic-style' slow load-times
Sparse animations, body types and sound effects
Horrendous auto-camera
Static AI

But other than that, it's perfect!!! Hehe. That said, most importantly, it is tons of fun....and it does look pretty good.

[aran]

The interface is pretty awful. It doesn't explain to you what the hell it's trying to let you do.

So I had one marathon of a game to win the Clean Cup over a Skaven team. I was playing orcs. The game went on for 28 (yes, that's right 28) rounds!

I was quite shocked when one of my blitzers was KILLED outright in the first half before I had even knocked out a single Skaven. Last time I played this team, I beat the crap out of them, leaving them with only four or so players on the pitch at the end of the game. This time was a bit different. I tried to take advantage of a "get the ref!" event but I only ended up knocking out Skaven. One of my players got red carded during the second half because I didn't know that kickoff event only lasted for one half, so we were 10 v 10. G

Going into the overtime (apparently you just play on from the end of the second half) I had a one-man advantage (8 v 7 at that point) but I couldn't move the ball from out of my zone. I had my thrower standing there with the ball, surrounded by some of my players on my side of the LOS. The Skaven kept piling players on my cage which was stationary as I fended them off. I didn't want to risk putting my thrower in space to try to score, because they had a couple of linemen and their thrower in the middle of their half of the field tied up with my best blitzer and a black orc. They rolled some lucky blocks with their linemen stacked up on top of a couple of my isolated players, which stopped me from overwhelming them where I was holding the ball.

While I've got my cage intact, they get lucky on a blitz and doge through the cage to get at my thrower. They KO him, sending the ball into the arms of one of my lineman who is staring down two opposing linemen at the edge of the cage. I scramble my blitzers and do some serious blocking to rescue the lineman from ratrape. A hand-off to my blitzer and a failed last minute tackle attempt later, my blitzer is in the endzone for a score!

I thought it was sudden death and the game was over, but that wasn't the case. I was at round 25/28. I had to last roughly two rounds on defense. I tried to beat their linemen up while keeping a good prevent defense in place and largely succeeded. I was concerned when I couldn't knock down their gutter runner, but they couldn't get him the ball and reverse field in time to come up with a score.

Very exciting game!

[thesloppy]

Those Skaven are tricky, if the dodge dice are rolling their way, they can be a real headache. They're putting it on me, as we speak.

[aran]

Well, Cyanide's idea of overtime is not rules-as-written. At all. And it barely makes sense.

Here's how I think it works (NOTE: I wasn't really paying attention to the turn numbers as I played because I thought it was just "play until someone scores, then stop", but once I started noticing the numbers change i tried to figure out what was going on).

At the end of regulation, the game continues (which is against RAW which says flip a coin for a kick-off). The turn on which the game ends increases somewhere between one and three turns. Turns continue to count to the counter at the top of the screen as usual. If a team scores, the teams play until the ending round number on the counter is reached. This means that the other team has an opportunity to come back and tie the game! The Skaven in my game had two full rounds (if not three? I don't remember) with the ball after I had scored.

I don't know what happens if the Skaven tie the game before the round limit is up. Will the game continue playing as it had before while we were tied? Will the game bug out and randomly assign a winner? The behavior of overtime doesn't seem entirely logical.

I would hate if there was a kick-off going into overtime, because with certain teams it would be "win the coin toss and win the game". I prefer playing on from the end of the second half and playing sudden death.

[SirFozzie]

Basically, what happens is they tack four turns on (so there will be 20 turns if the game goes into OT, goes to 24 if no score, etcetera).. if at the end of one of these mini-halves, someone is ahead, the game is over.

[aran]

Who made up that rule? I was playing classic mode. Shouldn't that be LRB5 RAW?

[MacroGuru]

Just went and peaked at the data folder for the game...most of the settings are stored in XML, meaning we should be able to customize the game and the settings including AI....I wonder if anyone has done anything with it yet.

[BYU 14]

I am sure there are some modders in the community that are working on something. I am starting to get a bit perplexed about money too. I have not had to replace a single player, but I never have more than 150,000 for inducements (usually much less) and the teams I am playing now have over 500,000 much of the time, so on top of their skill now being better, they have tons of money.

I like that the game gets tougher, but money should be earned on equal footing IMO.

Anyone else have issues with the training? I would think the idea is to stop the bar as close to the end as possible, but it seems when I press the button to stop late, it just keeps going to the end and my player is out. Hitting it early just gives a ridiculously low chance to improve. This is one area I wish Cyanide would have handled with dice. Train a player on low level and less chance to roll an improvement, but also less chance to miss a game. Then increase the odds of both as your training intensity goes up.

[RendeR]

See I've just ignored the training screen altogether and I almost always get a random player with a stat increase anyway. not sure whats up with that.


The things I'd like to be able to change, but can't:

unnecessary animations of the players on the pitch. Why the frack does every single player have to to back flips or pick their noses every 10 seconds? talk about RAM sucking uselessness....

Slow mo' replays

bench reviews(glancing at the benches) between every score (yes I know you can hit ESC and they jump by faster, but still. I paid 50 bucks for this game it should be far more technically sound =)

Improve the AI (HOWEVER I am seeing a marked increase in AI play as I move through a campaign. the teams are playing smarter as I keep climbing the standings and moving along. I think I'm on my 6th location now and its getting damned hard to win games.

[BYU 14]

I agree on the difficulty RendeR, it seems like teams have "scouted" me as I move up. The one part that still lacks in terms of AI to me is the end of half/end of game logic. The opposition should try a desperation hail mary when losing or use all their GFI's to get to my ball carrier and they don't.

When the CPU has a lead I think it does a decent job, trying to stall and hurting my players as much as possible.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I am really enjoying this game and have played about 12 games over the last 3 days.

That said, I agree with the consensus that the greatness of this game is largely due to the work Games Workshop and others did with the actual Blood Bowl game. The AI is fine (not great), but the Cyanide-only implementations are clunky and opaque.


There is also a surprising lack of customization. You can pick a generic logo (one of 20 or so) and a base color and that's it. In EA sports games you can customize nearly everything for your team in terms of color and feel and when you get down to individual players in borders on the ridiculous (i.e., customizing tattoos, scars, brands of equipment, type of beard, type of socks, etc.). While I don't think you need all of those options, I think the ability to have some options for customization of each player would have been a very nice and easy thing to implement. All it would take is say, a dozen different types of faces for each race, a dozen different helmets and shoulder pad options, and then a dozen or so different types of leg armor. That'd be more then enough and, again, would seem pretty easy. It would help give each guy a little more personal flavor and would actually help in the actual game play since it would be easier to tell your guys apart.

Still, I will definitely keep playing it. I have no clue how contracts will work, so I am saving my money. That said, I don't seem to be making a lot. I have won 10 out of my 12 games and only have around $140,000. I have spent a bit on new players and re-rolls, but I haven't made a purchase in a while.

My catcher is awesome. 20 TDs in 12 games. He has a +1 MA, Sprint, Sure Feet, Dodge and block. I just keep him a square or two out of the fray and a the moment my blitzers open a gap and the ball is free, he zips in there and is off to the races.

[Eaglesfan27]

I think I figured out inducements, at least how much your opponent gets. They always seem to have 10* the difference in value between the 2 teams. I guess this is to keep things interesting between 2 uneven teams. I just suffered my 1st loss in 10 teams as I faced a Dwarf team with over 500k in inducements which bought them a star player (which I didn't knock out this time), a few good mercenaries, and a few key bribes.

[BYU 14]

I think I figured out inducements, at least how much your opponent gets. They always seem to have 10* the difference in value between the 2 teams. I guess this is to keep things interesting between 2 uneven teams. I just suffered my 1st loss in 10 teams as I faced a Dwarf team with over 500k in inducements which bought them a star player (which I didn't knock out this time), a few good mercenaries, and a few key bribes.

That makes sense as my team is fairly high in value, due to players leveling, so there is usually a difference.

I had one game where I had one Blitzer out injured and I gave my other blitzer and a runner potions and both got nailed on the PED test, so I played a game against an Orc team with 1 runner and they had a star player and 3 enhanced players due to $540,000 in inducements....Of course I lost 2-0.

[Fidatelo]

I've been playing this a bunch, and while I agree with some of the complaints re: Cynaide (and that most of the goodness is provided by the BB rules themselves), I will give Cyanide a bunch of credit for putting out a game that stays true to most of those rules that make BB great.

Let me put it this way: playing this game makes me want to buy the BB table top game to play against friends. But then I look at the rules and all the scatter templates and tackle zones and stuff and realise that the computer game is encapsulating all of those things that make you have to skim through the rules for 5 minutes or mis-calculate how many block dice you should get and whatnot. You get to focus 100% on the strategy of the game itself, without having to worry about the 'annoying details'. To me, that is a huge win!

Also consider this: for years I've thought it would be cool if someone made a computer version of Warhammer 40k. But whenever 40k properties get announced, they are never true to the table top game. Dawn of War and its sequel are supposedly great games, but they are RTS games. I don't want an RTS game. I don't want an MMO like Warhammer Online. I want something exactly like what Cyanide has done with BB.

So in summary, is the video game perfect? No. But it's the closest thing by a mile to allowing me to play a warhammer-esque game on my computer, and that is a dream come true for me! I think with a couple patches to the AI to make it understand time a little better, or maybe some tweaks to those XML files, and this game will give me everything I want, even if certain elements could be better (can't they always?).

As it is, even if nothing changes at all I think I'm extremely happy with this game. So kudos to Cyanide!

[Honolulu_Blue]

I've been playing this a bunch, and while I agree with some of the complaints re: Cynaide (and that most of the goodness is provided by the BB rules themselves), I will give Cyanide a bunch of credit for putting out a game that stays true to most of those rules that make BB great.

Let me put it this way: playing this game makes me want to buy the BB table top game to play against friends. But then I look at the rules and all the scatter templates and tackle zones and stuff and realise that the computer game is encapsulating all of those things that make you have to skim through the rules for 5 minutes or mis-calculate how many block dice you should get and whatnot. You get to focus 100% on the strategy of the game itself, without having to worry about the 'annoying details'. To me, that is a huge win!

Also consider this: for years I've thought it would be cool if someone made a computer version of Warhammer 40k. But whenever 40k properties get announced, they are never true to the table top game. Dawn of War and its sequel are supposedly great games, but they are RTS games. I don't want an RTS game. I don't want an MMO like Warhammer Online. I want something exactly like what Cyanide has done with BB.

So in summary, is the video game perfect? No. But it's the closest thing by a mile to allowing me to play a warhammer-esque game on my computer, and that is a dream come true for me! I think with a couple patches to the AI to make it understand time a little better, or maybe some tweaks to those XML files, and this game will give me everything I want, even if certain elements could be better (can't they always?).

As it is, even if nothing changes at all I think I'm extremely happy with this game. So kudos to Cyanide!

+1!

I agree about the Warhammer 40K game. I'd love to have something like that. I always thought the game would work exceptionally well with something like a large planetary map in which each side held certain territories, have a troop movement turn where sides decide to fortify or advance and then have the actual battles executed in a turn-based Warhammer 40K type battle.

[aran]

I did a little reading on the Cyanide boards. Seems like the aim isn't always to put team value as high as possible, but instead to be as efficient with it as possible. Be careful with your players so they level up and take less valuable but perhaps equally useful skills. Sell off high level players if they're disproportionate to the rest of your team. This keeps opponents inducements down, but still gives you a customized team build to play the game you want to play.

Cyanide also messed up the implementation of inducements. Teams short on players are supposed to be filled with journeyman linemen, then have the inducements calculated on their TV with the linemen. This would significantly reduce inducements and let the player have higher TV teams without opponents getting absurd inducement money.

[Eaglesfan27]

Is there a way to extend players contracts before they expire? Does it prompt me to extend them when they expire?

edit: Nevermind, just read in the manual that it will offer me a chance to extend it when the season is over.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm impressed with how differently the AI plays against different styles of teams. When I played the Skaven with my Orcs, they avoided contact as much as possible and tried to use their superior speed/agility to avoid me and complete long passes. Now, against my Wood Elves, they bashed me to death and mostly relied on a ball control offense for a 2-2 tie. I'm having a tough time defending with the Wood Elves, but they are a blast to run an offense with. I've scored some very fast TD's and I have a catcher with plus 1 agility is who is absolutely lethal so far.

[RendeR]

The AI definitely gets better as you go up through the campaigns. I'm on the 6th event, 8 teams (one of each) and I have had to really work my ass off not to lose these games. the Dwarves went down fairly easily but they beat the living shit out of me. The Woodies tripped me 2 yards from a winning TD to get a tie and I almost dropped a game to Goblins but got saved on a last ditch blitz by my only conscious player that forced a fumble which he then recovered and ran in for a score.


Loving this game but I REALLLLLLLY need to go to bed.

[Eaglesfan27]

This was awesome. I just had a "blitz" event happen where all of my guys got a free turn as we kicked off. My catcher ran the length of the pitch and caught the ball deep in their zone. 2 linemen dodged their way through to be near him and since they only had 2 guys deep, we weathered their turn and scored on our 1st official turn of the game. :)

[aran]

That's a pretty awesome "drive", Eaglesfan.

One time, I knocked down the opponent's ball-carrier along the sideline a few squares from my endzone. The ball scatters out of bounds. Two throw-ins see the ball go scattering out of bounds again. In the end, the ball was at midfield and chaos ensued as the mad scramble was on to get possession. EVERYONE on the field was out of position. My troll (I was palying orc) was all the way down the field defending, my black orcs were scattered around beating up opposing players... It was brutal. I wasn't lucky, though, and they opponent ended up repossessing the ball and scoring before the end of the half. :(

[BYU 14]

That is a cool drive EF, something that would never happen with my Dwarves.

I lost a game on throw ins, I was tied with an Orc team and failed my GFI and fumbled in the end zone. They couldn't get to the ball, so I had a chance to pick it up for the win next turn and my runner (with sure hands) fumbled it out of bounds. Two throw-ins later the ball ends up on my side of the pitch and nobody around it but four of their players, who gladly pick it up and take it in.

Also played a Goblin team for the first time tonight, was disappointed to only win 1-0, but I beat the hell out of them, 6 injuries and 5 KO's! Though their big uns injured three of mine as well. I might try Goblins as a challenge, seems like they have a bunch of fun secret weapons. Tonight they broke out the Ball and Chain and then a Pogo Stick on me, funny stuff.

[Tasan]

I just almost had a horrible, horrible thing happen. I was playing in the Championship game in the last 4 team tourny before moving to the 8 team ones, and I'm humans going against a dwarf team we just mopped the floor with 2-0. I get a quick 1-0 lead after they turn the ball over real early after the opening kickoff. I hold them off the rest of the half, then receive the kickoff to start the second half.

Things are going awesome as I get a rock thrown, taking out 1 of the two guys defending the side I had stacked to. My return man can't quite get to the ball, but my thrower grabs it and tosses it to a catcher, who runs to mid field. I stack my +1 movement catcher next to him and next turn we take off down the sideline with a convoy of blitzers, and no dwarf within 4 spaces even after their turn. So, since this catcher had scored in the opening half, 3 squares away from the endzone and certain victory, I decide to hand off to a blitzer so he can get some points. Well, I fail the first roll then the reroll and fumble the ball away. I have 4 guys around it and there's only 1 dwarf close, so I'm ok, right? Wrong. His lone troll killer gets there and knocks one of my guys down and is in everyone else's tackle zone. My catcher (with dodge) sucessfully gets away but fails the pickup roll. By this time his runner is there and he snags it and takes off down the open side. EVERYONE is out of position, and in the mean time I've lost 2 guys to knockouts. I keep losing rolls to get my guys in pursuit. I finally get a catcher with an angle and my Ogre giving chase. My thrower gets in clean but is so weak he has a 2 dice their pick shot. He's Pro though, and my last hope, since they are about 5 squares away. I get his pro-reroll and a double knockdown, kicking the ball loose. He has two guys right there though. The first one grabs the ball and takes off, but he's got a Go For It to score and fails! The ball carroms RIGHT NEXT TO HIS OTHER GUY. My catcher is still seeing stars and the Ogre can't catch up yet. They've knocked out 3 more of my guys, so I really don't want to see overtime, but I fully expect it now. However, instead of using his one guy standing (who granted doesn't have sure hands), he stands his sure handed runner up to get the ball, which he does. However, this is the last turn, and time expires with them not even trying the pass to win. I was happy to win my first trophy, but I would have liked to see them at least attempt the pass.

[thesloppy]

This was awesome. I just had a "blitz" event happen where all of my guys got a free turn as we kicked off. My catcher ran the length of the pitch and caught the ball deep in their zone. 2 linemen dodged their way through to be near him and since they only had 2 guys deep, we weathered their turn and scored on our 1st official turn of the game. :)

The 'blitz' kick-off event is a good time, I've also recovered my own kickoff once, I guess that would be the BB equivalent of an onside kick.

Also fun: Watching one of your guys 'shadow' an opposing player all over the board, until finally tripping him up.

[Icy]

Good guide on setting up tactics:

TACTICS: Basic Tactics Introduction (http://www.blood-bowl.net/Tactics/playbook.html)

and lots of different guides:

http://www.blood-bowl.net/Tactics/BBTactics.html

[RendeR]

Am I alone in always choosing to kick off in the first half? I love getting the ball first in the second so i always choose to kick first.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Thanks for the guides, Icy. Some good stuff.

My general tactic on offense is to completely over load one side of the ball. I like to throw almost everyone I can over there, leaving one blitzer on the other side just in case. I tend to be able to overwhelm my opponent and the moment a gap appears, my zippy little catcher breaks through. His combo of +1 MA, Sure Feet and Sprint means he can usually score in 2 turns.

Defensively, I like to be balanced. I use a high pressure defense. I have gotten caught with my pants down a few times against the skaven, but usually I get decent front line pressure and have at least one blitzer circling around the backside to cause havok. Again, I keep my catcher in the back to assist with blocks and as soon as we get the ball he makes a break for it.

He now has 23 TDs in 13 games and more than twice the rest of my team combined.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Am I alone in always choosing to kick off in the first half? I love getting the ball first in the second so i always choose to kick first.

I tend to ask for the ball first.