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Yossarian22
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2009
- Messages
- 1,799
Impressions are as follows.
Blood Bowl is actually a 100% faithful adaptation of the Games Workshop miniature/strategy game of the same name. (Games Workshop, you know, those people Blizzard have been ripping off the past 15 years)
There is a tutorial but it really doesn't do the game justice, in my opinion. Initially it might seem like the game has a steep learning curve, but actually, if you look online at the manual for the board game and read a few pages, things become clear pretty quickly.
Things that are different then normal football/your typical Madden:
In classic mode (I haven't played Blitz yet) there are 16 turns of play between you and the opponent. The 8th play is half-time. Your turn ends when:
The major difference between Blood Bowl and real football is that Blood Bowl does not know of downs. The ball drops and it is a scramble to get it. There are no downs, there are no turnovers. The only turnover is if you get that ball via interception, tackle, or pick it up. It's a bloody brawl pushing back and forth.
I just started my first team tonight (playing exhibition matches with the pre-made teams is useless as a learning tool to actually grasp the game and have fun with it) and I found myself quite pleasantly surprised. I figured I'd start out with a human team (there are a plethora of races which have advantages and disadvantages and certainly some races tend to lean towards a different strategy or style of play) and boy, the game is challenging. Your team levels up as they gain experience when they do certain things (touch down, completing a pass, KOing or outright killing another player to name a few) and there is always the risk of injury or death for your players (I think death can be disabled, though). Some injuries take your player out for a game or two, some add a permanent negative skill (-1 to agility or -1 on next injury roll is what my "Quarterback" received once from taking a nasty hit
)
Each race has several archetypes of players, so in that sense it is watered down. For instance, a human team can recruit a catcher, thrower, linebacker, blitzer, and an ogre. Now obviously you can tailor the linebackers to be good interception guys or make a blitzer a strong safety. When a player levels up the game rolls dice and depending on what is rolled you can pick a skill from what branch of skills you want or if you roll in a particular fashion you will have the option of getting a stat boost.
Depends on the roll.
With my modest team I played one tournament and I got creamed. I was 1-4 and I didn't make it to the final of that particular tournament, needless to say. In the beginning it seems kind of hard, depending on what race team you have. A few deaths, but nobody important. I'm still building my team up and learning the game, so...
Another aspect of the game is there are bonuses/indulgences. You can hire cheerleaders, assistant coaches, buy re-rolls (can be very important sometimes), recruit one-time players for a match, apothecaries to heal your guys wounds when they get critically wounded (instead of dying sometimes changes it to a minor injury/knocked out for the present game and next... etc)
Overall, I like the game. If you're at home with games that use dice you can probably play the tutorial and read the manual a little bit and pick it right up. I like it a lot because it's different and it seems like they did a painstaking job making sure it matches with the board game, which I've never had the pleasure to play.
Take some time out and give it a shot. Going to have to let my "quarterback" go because he has an injury and I think I gave him the wrong skill. No biggie.
Blood Bowl is actually a 100% faithful adaptation of the Games Workshop miniature/strategy game of the same name. (Games Workshop, you know, those people Blizzard have been ripping off the past 15 years)
There is a tutorial but it really doesn't do the game justice, in my opinion. Initially it might seem like the game has a steep learning curve, but actually, if you look online at the manual for the board game and read a few pages, things become clear pretty quickly.
Things that are different then normal football/your typical Madden:
In classic mode (I haven't played Blitz yet) there are 16 turns of play between you and the opponent. The 8th play is half-time. Your turn ends when:
- One of your players gets knocked down on your turn
- You make an incomplete pass
- You fumble when making an attempt to pick up the ball
- You get caught doing a penalty
- The timer (about 3.5 minutes) for you to take your turn runs out
- Some other special circumstances involving special abilities and races
The major difference between Blood Bowl and real football is that Blood Bowl does not know of downs. The ball drops and it is a scramble to get it. There are no downs, there are no turnovers. The only turnover is if you get that ball via interception, tackle, or pick it up. It's a bloody brawl pushing back and forth.
I just started my first team tonight (playing exhibition matches with the pre-made teams is useless as a learning tool to actually grasp the game and have fun with it) and I found myself quite pleasantly surprised. I figured I'd start out with a human team (there are a plethora of races which have advantages and disadvantages and certainly some races tend to lean towards a different strategy or style of play) and boy, the game is challenging. Your team levels up as they gain experience when they do certain things (touch down, completing a pass, KOing or outright killing another player to name a few) and there is always the risk of injury or death for your players (I think death can be disabled, though). Some injuries take your player out for a game or two, some add a permanent negative skill (-1 to agility or -1 on next injury roll is what my "Quarterback" received once from taking a nasty hit
)Each race has several archetypes of players, so in that sense it is watered down. For instance, a human team can recruit a catcher, thrower, linebacker, blitzer, and an ogre. Now obviously you can tailor the linebackers to be good interception guys or make a blitzer a strong safety. When a player levels up the game rolls dice and depending on what is rolled you can pick a skill from what branch of skills you want or if you roll in a particular fashion you will have the option of getting a stat boost.
Depends on the roll.
With my modest team I played one tournament and I got creamed. I was 1-4 and I didn't make it to the final of that particular tournament, needless to say. In the beginning it seems kind of hard, depending on what race team you have. A few deaths, but nobody important. I'm still building my team up and learning the game, so...
Another aspect of the game is there are bonuses/indulgences. You can hire cheerleaders, assistant coaches, buy re-rolls (can be very important sometimes), recruit one-time players for a match, apothecaries to heal your guys wounds when they get critically wounded (instead of dying sometimes changes it to a minor injury/knocked out for the present game and next... etc)
Overall, I like the game. If you're at home with games that use dice you can probably play the tutorial and read the manual a little bit and pick it right up. I like it a lot because it's different and it seems like they did a painstaking job making sure it matches with the board game, which I've never had the pleasure to play.
Take some time out and give it a shot. Going to have to let my "quarterback" go because he has an injury and I think I gave him the wrong skill. No biggie.