Blood Bowl

Back in the early 90's I bought the 2^nd edition of Blood Bowl the board-game, and although I liked it I never played it much.

But now I've become completely hooked on the computer version, specifically Blood Bowl: Chaos Edition.

Simply explained, Blood Bowl is an alternate version of the WarhammerFantasy world, where the different races play a kind of American Football instead of fighting wars. It's ultra violent, complex and tons of fun.

With 23 playable races in the chaos edition you get so many choices since every team plays differently, and thus demands their own strategies. For example, the orcs are a very bashy team, that is they are more interested in hitting the opponents than making skillful touchdowns, but they are clumsy and slow. In complete opposition are the elven teams that really have to be careful about who they hit and when. The elven strength is their speed and agility which allows them to jump around and make plays other teams can only dream about.

I really like the way you start by choosing your race and then build up your team. You get a set amount of money and you have to have at least eleven players on your team for it to be legal. Since different teams have wildly different costs, this becomes a very strategic decision indeed. Add to this the ability (need) to buy re-rolls, cheerleaders, assistant coaches etc, and the process can become pretty hard. But that's all part of the fun.

Then as you progress in the campaigns and championships you earn money to buy more benefits, new players, or indeed replace players that were injured or even killed.

All in all this is a wonderful, complex and very exciting game. I don't know if I can recommend to it people who regularly play other sport games, but for those who don't (like me) this works wonders.

I rediscovered this game by watching The Game Stations league on Youtube, and if you are at all interested in what you just read, do check it out. It not only serves as a tremendously entertaining demonstration of the game, it also teaches you to play it. To be honest the tutorial is pretty lousy, and this taught me the game so much better.

That reminds me, you don't have to confine yourself to playing against the AI. The game is fully set up to play online, either against friends or strangers. As a bonus, you don't have to get the more expensive Chaos Edition, since at least the Legendary edition is compatible with the Chaos Edition. You simply can't play as the Khorne, Underworld or Chaos Dwarf teams.

So, if this has tickled your fancy, go forth and play Blood Bowl! Personally I know that my teams are going to be progressing slower in the coming days since I'm downloading Grand Theft Auto V as I write this, and I know how immersed I get in those games.

That's it, so until next time, have a great week!