For The Love Of Blood Bowl

I have a strained and complex relationship with Games Workshop which has been going of for four decades now. Some of it is the old grognard thing, part of it is the great betrayal, some of its the money but most of it, well practically all of it, is they don't make games I want to play. I do like their paint and its easy to get hold of but they keep changing their range, which is a pain.

Over the years the one thing I have stuck with it Blood Bowl and some of the above issues apply. I don't have a copy of the first edition because it was cardboard standees but with one exception I think I have the later ones. I mean the broke my heart when the change the size of the minis, but the new ones, well they are very nice. The star player price gouging contines. I see a few star players going for as much as two  boxes of teams and you really do need two boxes of teams.

When the first season arrived I got two sets of it as it turned out it was the cheapest way to get the extra positionals I needed to fill out the team. It takes a third box to get as many linemen as you could possibly want but who needs that many linemen? Then up to a point I was buying two boxes of each team. I now have a lot of unpainted teams. 

One of my goals for the the Year was to paint a Blood Bowl team but secretly I am hoping I find the energy to do two. That said, I am on the up at the moment, but I will no doubt crash soon. The miniatures make a nice painting challenge. They are expensive enough that I will put some effort into the paint job. Probably not what I am capable of, but pretty close. I have to fill in the gaps between seeing my daughter. 

There is the whole subgame of team selection. What have you got? What is the best value for money? Whats going to score and what isn't going to die. If you have the extra cash are you going to take an inducement or a star player?

Then there is the game itself. Whilst the rules are simple enough the real complexity of the game is in the teams. Most teams have a strength and a weakness, whilst some may have neither or all weaknesses (I am looking at the Halflings as possible the weakest team , but I do love Hobbits, although the snotlings are pretty kack despite the ogres). This means that each team favours a particular play style, running, passing, bashing and grinding all play their part and there is always the opportunity for a breakaway play. Most teams have some form of counter to their opponents plays.

Of all of the GW games I think it is the most loved and not just by me. Even it its years in the wilderness there was a thriving global community of players. It balances better than any of the new games where some forces that are great in the main game, are never going to win.

I used to be part of the MAWS wargames club and this is where I first started playing with my lovingly hand-crafted, appalling looking undead team in the early nineties. It gave me a love of the game and an urge to have all the teams. Speaking of which I should probably get back to the paint table.