Calling out PC players: Blood Bowl League

The end-of-2011 game rush has begun, so we at Arcadian Rhythms thought it would be great to play a game that came out ages ago with other people. Namely you.

AJ has bitten the bullet and bought a copy of Blood Bowl: Legendary Edition, and is now polishing off his mouse & keyboard skills in an attempt to get to grips with the turn-based mechanics on a PC. That’s right, AJ is playing a PC game and he’s trying to bully contributor Guillaume into playing it too.

Another Arcadian Rhythms contributor, Mr Spann, a confirmed lover of Orcs, has also obtained a copy of the game and is figuring out how to play it. Plus aร‚ย couple of others have stepped up to the call including regular poster oddvorbis.

This is not enough. We want to run a tournament and we want at least 8 players to do it.

If you’re interested let us know. What you will need is:

  • ร‚ย A copy of Blood Bowl: Legendary Edition
  • A PC that can run it
  • An Internet connection (or if you are AJ, a bar with an internet connection)
  • Some free time in late November where you can dedicate the necessary 40 minutes to an hour every week to play the game

Optional but by no means essential:

  • An understanding of how Blood Bowl works

For more info on Blood Bowl go here. In particular have a look at the forums that will give you insight into strategies for a team that might tickle your fancy.

If you know someone who would be interested then let them know too!


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51 responses to “Calling out PC players: Blood Bowl League”

  1. @cs87 Avatar

    I'm still not happy that the game won't let me call my team The Utter, Utter Bastards.

  2. ShaunCG Avatar

    I am also now in there like swimwear. I've a copy installed and ready to rumble!

    I am keen to try out one of the new teams, and whilst I've still not decided, I am trying out a Necromantic team. But I may switch to Vampires, or Dark Elves, or even just go back to my beloved Dwarves.

    My flatmate Alex mentioned possibly getting a copy, but this was last night when we were drunk. So we shall see!

    1. badgercommander Avatar
      badgercommander

      So far the Necromantic teams have been the only ones I have struggled against. They are tough enough to go toe-to-toe with my big guys while simultaneously being terrifyingly fast (the werewolves). They were my second choice.

      1. ShaunCG Avatar

        I've not actually finished a LE match yet, but so far I've been trying to use werewolves like blitzers. They can do that, sure, but they are not ultimate heavyweights and I should probably try to use them to fuck shit up in the opponent's defensive line rather than hurling them at the line of scrimmage.

        Coo, listen to me talking like I know anything about Blood Bowl!

        1. @cs87 Avatar

          My current arch enemy are the Skaven, or as I have taken to calling them, "The Rodent Fuckers".

          I've found the best solution is just to beat them down until there's only about six or seven on the field, then playing the numbers.

          Actually, that's my solution at all times.

          1. badgercommander Avatar
            badgercommander

            Good luck using that tactic against my line of scrimmage, the same can be said of Shaun's team who have some solid sluggers.

          2. @cs87 Avatar

            In fairness, I'm currently experimenting with a couple of set-ups; A fighty team and a sneaky team.

            I've also only played around 8 games, so I'm still learning. My scrimmage did struggle somewhat against Chaos and the Undead, although I found (at least against the CPU) it kept the majority of their big boys down long enough for a couple of nice long run/handoff/run/pass/run plays – bad defence, lucky rolls, good tactics or all three I'm not sure, but them greenskins were skipping around Beastmen – before one of my Black Orcs got his neck broken by a Minotaur.

          3. badgercommander Avatar
            badgercommander

            Interesting that you are passing the ball with the Orcs. The team I treasure does not have much of a passing game and never will. I am putting a quick post up on Badgercommander tomorrow so you guys will get an idea of how I play and the like

  3. @cs87 Avatar

    I'd be keen to get a few practice games in with you at some point, Shaun.

    1. ShaunCG Avatar

      Spann – I may be able to squeeze a match in on Thursday night between writing. If not, Sunday should be doable. Do you have Skype/Mumble/some other voicecom thing?

      1. @cs87 Avatar

        I don't have Skype, but I could very easily get it.

        1. ShaunCG Avatar

          Cool, it's not essential but it definitely helps keep things interesting in a match which tends to last 45-60 minutes which you need to pay constant attention to.

          (Also, smack talk.)

          1. @cs87 Avatar

            Yo mamma talks smack.

            (I'll practice, promise)

          2. badgercommander Avatar
            badgercommander

            Hmmm, this is getting more and more complicated.

            Also, we shoudl try and put a mini tournament of abotu 4 players together just to make sure we can muck about with these things and it doesn't crash. I am busy on Saturday but can be available for Sunday. I doubt I will be using Skype though as people already give me weird looks in the bar I go to.

          3. @cs87 Avatar

            Sunday evening is fine for me.

            Now to try to find a way of explaining to my other half that I'm playing imaginary sports on the weekend.

          4. ShaunCG Avatar

            Sunday works for me too.

  4. badgercommander Avatar
    badgercommander

    Would also like to get a couple of games in and see what the online is going to be like on PC. Weekends are better for me naturally.

    I shall message people specifically to see who is interested amongst my friends

    1. ShaunCG Avatar

      Cool, some practice games sound grand to me too.

  5. BeamSplashX Avatar

    Can't join, but imagine me as one of those lovely Ork cheerleaders.

    1. badgercommander Avatar
      badgercommander

      The Dwarf Cheerleaders are the best.

  6. Joshua Lemish Avatar
    Joshua Lemish

    I would not mind some practice games also since the last time I joined a league it got cut short so I need some practice.

    1. badgercommander Avatar
      badgercommander

      Hey Josh! Well I reckon that some weekend practice is in order. When is better for you?

      1. Joshua Lemish Avatar
        Joshua Lemish

        Any times really probably sunday ideally, Got any advice though? Ie what team to pick (ie why are you lizardmen)
        Also what should I do to set up?

        1. badgercommander Avatar
          badgercommander

          I would check out the Blood Bowl Forums linked in the post for advice on team tactics. Also worth checking out the post I put up on Badger commander (see bottom of this thread) as it has a link to the Blood Bowl rule book that gives you advice on how to level your team as well as what each of the abilities do.

          My personal choice has a lot to do with the team's diversity. The Kroxigor is not the strongest 'big man' but he is by far the least crippled. The Sauruses are capable of going toe-to-toe with any of the big hitters while being a great deal faster than you would expect. Once a hole is punched in the defence they can reposition themselves quickly (even though they aren't agile so they can be locked down easily too by putting some men on them). The Skinks are fast and agile and only the Skaven match them for speed. Their main flaw is that the faster teams can't obliterate the Skinks leaving your team with very few ways to score, outside of getting lucky, as a result the Sauruses level up very slowly (which is fine as they are rarely killed) and the Skinks don't last as long on a team. They also don't have a passing game short of getting lucky with your levelling rolls, so if you can shut them down in their own half it will take them a good 2-3 turns to extricate themselves safely (ie: keep the Skink ball carrier safe from attacks).

          I am going to write a lot about my perceived strengths and weaknesses of the different teams on Badgercommander once the games start up. My advice is pick a team you like the look of and then learn to play them by using the forums and rule book to give you a good idea of how to start your build. That said, don't follow it too rigidly as you miss out on half the fun of customising your team.

          1. Michael Halila Avatar

            Hi. I play on XBox as well so I can't join in, but this comment did strike me as a bit odd. Out of all the Blood Bowl teams, the Lizardmen are IMHO the *least* diverse. With the Saurus having AG 1 and the Skinks being stunty, a throwing game is pretty much out of the question; the only way to score is to run the ball with the Skinks. In fact, I'd say they can be one of the most vulnerable teams, in that if you can take out the Skinks, there's no-one left to handle the ball as the Sauruses will struggle to even pick it up. As for the Kroxigor, it's no less "crippled" than, say, an Ogre; Bonehead is Bonehead. Wild Animals will also perform just as well as Boneheads on the line of scrimmage, and that's really where you want them.

            So on the whole, I would have said that if you want diversity, you'd be better off going with almost anything except Lizardmen, who are limited to a single scoring play. Even Chaos will find it easier to put together a throwing game.

          2. badgercommander Avatar
            badgercommander

            Hello Michael, thanks for taking the time to reply even though you won't be able to play (shame, but I reckon you should have words with Simon Walker below as you might be able to set up a game). When I wrote that the team is diverse, I didn't mean they were flexible. The diversity between the Sauruses and the Skinks makes it easy for me to, at a glance, pick the right player for the job without having to check his stats and skills. I agree that Lizardmen almost never have a realistic chance of having a throwing game, BUT I DID IT.

            Sorry for the caps, but when I managed to level a Skink in a way that made it possible I was very happy:
            http://badgercommander.net/getting-the-team-back-

            As for the Kroxigor that high stregth and armour value combined with Prehensile tale mean that he doesn't even have to move to be a nightmare. I give them stand firm, Block and Guard (if I play for that long) and they are brutal. You are right about Wild Animal, looking at the rule book, I guess I just always had bad rolls when I played with anyone else.

          3. Michael Halila Avatar

            OK, I see what you mean. For that kind of diversity, though, I'd go with Orcs, especially with the added bonus of being able to throw your Goblins!

            Your thrower Skink seems pretty impressive! On the XBox, my Chaos team had a fairly good throwing game with a dedicated thrower and several catchers. =D A Kroxigor with the skillset you described is also nice, but I still prefer Minotaurs: they start with Mighty Blow and Frenzy, and on the line of scrimmage they do very nicely, especially against a team with no big guys. I do have to admit, a Lizardman team managing to play a throwing game is an achievement. Looking forward to reading more about them!

          4. badgercommander Avatar
            badgercommander

            Yeah, they were something. Sadly they were my X360 team so will not be represented in the same way on PC. As for Minotaurs vs Kroxigors. Kroxigors also get Mighty Blow, and I find Frenzy actually to be a double edged sword. It can be great for getting an opponent down but it breaks up the line of scrimmage.

            I usually don't want my three guys in the centre to actually move, they are there to hold up everyone else and create a black hole in the middle of the pitch for anyone stupid enough to come into the tackle zone. Frenzy can, unintentionally have your Minotaur at a loose end in a disadvantageous position. My Big guy is there to stand in the middle of the defense and be annoying rather than lead big plays (I wish I could show the stats in a bungie.net style of how much the Kroxigor on my old Lizardman team moved and where as I imagine it would be predominantly in the same 6 squares)

            I tried to the Orcs first as I was going to play Bashy, but they have a lot of guys who only have 3 strength. i say only because a Lizardman team can field up to 6 Sauruses and a Kroxigor providing a 7 man 4 strength and up.

            Weird, I never realised how protective I can get about those cold blooded bastards

  7. Simon_Walker Avatar
    Simon_Walker

    Well, damn. I just got Blood Bowl for Xbox, and am enjoying it way too much. Not quite enough to buy it for PC too, though, no matter how ultimate the edition is, so I'll have to give this tournament a miss.

    1. badgercommander Avatar
      badgercommander

      Unfortunately the Xbox LIVE portion of the game is utterly boned. I have attempted to play against Shaun and another friend of mine and it always ends with the game desynching and becoming unfinishable. Otherwise I would invite you for a match.

      1. Simon_Walker Avatar
        Simon_Walker

        Bummer. I was hoping for some player to player action, as beating the idiot AI sometimes gets a little tedious.

        1. badgercommander Avatar
          badgercommander

          Yeah the side-step ability, one which allows you to choose which square your character jumps into after you have been hit by an opponent, is broken and causes multiplayer desynchign issues.

          You might be alright if none of the players on your teams have this ability. Couch multiplayer works fine, although there is a bit of wrangling you have to do if you want to both use your customised teams

          1. ShaunCG Avatar

            According to the review of the Xbox version I wrote at the beginning of last year, we also ran into a similar problem with Sure Feet… I think the bug(s) may affect many skills which require input from the player whose turn it is not. That seems to be where the game gets confused.

            It is, frankly, really quite shit.

    2. ShaunCG Avatar

      If it's any consolation, this marks the 3rd time I have bought a version of this damn game.

      Fortunately due to sales and discounts I have 'only' paid a total of about £38 for these various versions.

      1. Simon_Walker Avatar
        Simon_Walker

        Should there be a sale and should I suddenly come by some extra money, I'll give it a thought.

  8. @radian_ Avatar

    Haven't played it (except boardgame) but sounds like a good idea.
    Away for 2nd 1/2 of November though :(

    1. badgercommander Avatar
      badgercommander

      If it goes well then we might start up another in January

      1. @radian_ Avatar

        Cool, I'll grab a copy in case.

    2. BeamSplashX Avatar

      You could get everyone to buy the boardgame and do a Skype conference.

      1. badgercommander Avatar
        badgercommander

        My mind is boggling at the thought of how that would play out.

        1. @radian_ Avatar

          There'd certainly be desync issues with my board when you moved pieces on yours!

  9. @cs87 Avatar

    Right, I spent all last night playing Bloodbowl:

    In truth it was going very badly until I kicked the snot out of a team of halflings – I haven't lost a game since.

    1. ShaunCG Avatar

      You atrocious bully. :D

      1. @cs87 Avatar

        Hey, it's not my fault they're so soft and those stupid tree things are so slow.

  10. badgercommander Avatar
    badgercommander

    In preparation for Blood Bowl, I have been getting the team back together:
    http://badgercommander.net/getting-the-team-back-

  11. guillaumeodinduval Avatar

    SHIRTLESS Blood Bowl, GO!

    My choice is made and I don't even have the game yet. Or know how to play my team.

  12. F4T C4T Avatar
    F4T C4T

    Hey guys, would love to join in the Blood Bowl tourney! I heard about this over on the Idle Thumbs forums from AJ so I thought I'd post over here to introduce myself. I haven't played in a while so will probably go with an Orc team (unless there are many, in which case I'll pick something else for variety).

    1. ShaunCG Avatar

      Hey F4T C4T, welcome! AJ mentioned you might be joining us, glad you decided to go for it. As far as I know Spann is the only other person using Orcs, and two lots of greenskins isn't too many in my book.

      I'm increasingly tempted to bring back my old Dwarf team as AJ has with his lizards – even more so now that I know there will be so much green filth on the field. ;)

  13. Joshua Lemish Avatar
    Joshua Lemish

    So Sunday I started playing again and AJ gave me a few practice games. I was rusty and made huge mistakes, karma even caught up with me at one point when AJ skipped his turn by accident and I still could not capitalize :( I injured 2 of his lizardmen, 1 was a skink who hurt his foot making him basically worthless (Sorry) but life or unlife is not so good for my team. One of my prized Golems (Juggernaut) was killed deader then dead. Those cost a ton and all I could do was replace him with a piddly zombie.

    I have since played several more games learning the ropes, I have won a few and have gotten my butt handed to me as well a few times. Last game I played a beastman team that was sending everyone to the injury box, just plain KOing them. I had 4 guys at one point but he scored and I got 2 more guys back.

    A mistake on his part gave me a touchback and I had a ghoul on the sidelines all alone I handed him the ball and RAN. He caught up and stripped me of the ball but had trouble picking it back up. My team tried to catch up but my lesser numbers and my zombies could not overcome his bigger chaos guys. The ghoul won me the game though. At the 15th turn he picked the ball up from in between 3 beastmen and moved towards the endzone.

    On my opponents turn he surrounded my poor ghoul with 4 guys but only manage to push me and I retained the ball.

    On my turn I was able to send a wight in a blitz to knock 1 guy down. With no turns left my ghoul made 2 dodge moves and made it to the endzone tying the game! WOW!

    My werewolf is now lvl 3 and I made a slight error in taking his skills, he has dodge now and strip ball which is ok because he has great speed and if he just pushes you then you lose the ball.

    My team ranking is 1220 including my lvl 2 Golem Colossus who has block (quite good) some zombies have it as well and I have a ghoul with dodge and block.
    I do not know if we are restarting the teams for the league but I should be ready.

    1. ShaunCG Avatar

      Hey Joshua, glad those early games have gotten you into the swing of things.

      You've got to love those moments where a desperate play turns around your game. I had a similar moment against Spann last week, where a Nurgle pestigor managed to pick up the ball and go for it – twice! – into the endzone, drawing the game on the 16th play. Jammy!

      I'm not sure of the exact figure we're going for in terms of max team ranking for the league, but it's likely to be 1,300 or 1,400, or thereabouts. Inducements will make things up for the greener teams, but we don't want to allow very experienced teams as they will have too much of an advantage. Watch this space though, another BB post should go up soon with the current team roster and our plans…

  14. DamanArress Avatar
    DamanArress

    I bought this game about 2 months ago (when steam had the massive deal on it) and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’m a big fan of the Lizardmen, but I’m still trying to prove that Humans can do the do better than most.

    Long story short…can I be in your league/tourney? I like to drink too, if that helps the application process.