Blood Bowl-a-rama
March 17, 2011
Been getting some gaming done lately, which is always nice. Our Blood Bowl league has started up, after a rather disappointing previous run a year or two back. So far I’ve managed to get two games done, with one devastating defeat against a bunch of bastard Skaven, and a suitably crushing victory over the Old World’s unluckiest Dark Elves (or Elfs, as GW insists on calling them).
I haven’t really liked BB that much, before. I’ve always gotten my ass mercilessly handed to me by more experienced players with more experienced teams, which definitely detracts from the fun quite a bit. Anyway, this time I’ve received a lot of tutoring and have actually grown to enjoy the game. There’s also the slight adjustment of my gaming mentality, as in Blood Bowl (or any other game for that matter) you should always remember that it should be about fun first and winning second. So when those pesky gutter runners are stealing the ball from my clumsy greenskins and scoring goals, it pays not to cry in frustration but to kick and cripple some downed rats instead. Adding to the fun of the league, we’re reporting every match on our own message board, with the winner of each game obliged to do a match write-up, usually in the form of a tv sports commentary. They’re always a pleasure to read and have caused a fair few chuckles.
It’s so easy for me to solely focus on the modelling and painting aspects of the hobby, so it’s always nice to be reminded that the gaming part is often very much fun as well. With people far more busy with work, studies and family life than 10 years back, the opportunity to spend time with friends over a nice bit of gaming is becoming a lot more valuable.
As our league rolls on, I’ll probably keep you up to date on what is happening with the San Franciscorc Naughty Grinders, as they take on their dreaded competition in the form of the Flagellants, the New Marquilles Saints, the Khorne City Chiefs, the Tzeentch Titans and the Naggarond Raiders. Thus far the Saints have scored a sound 4-0 victory over my poor orcs, who took it out on the Raiders with a 2-0 score.
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Here are the first five of my painted Grinders. They’re obviously based on the San Francisco Forty-Niners, one of my favourite teams as a little kid.
The paintjobs are quick and basic, as I simply aim to get a fully painted team on the field as quickly as possible. So nothing fancy, which is a nice change. It also shows that even simple paintjobs work very nicely with a unified colour scheme. At the moment most of us – except for our resident speed-painting loony – are playing with teams not quite finished. As proof I present to you an action shot of the struggle between the half-painted Grinders and Raiders.
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I still have six Grinders to finish, and then I can actually field a complete, fully painted team. Can hardly wait. As they say, the dice tend to favour the painter. That’s actually a load of wishful thinking, but it’s good to tell yourself that.
Dawn of the Lead 
Nice work on the Grinders so far. While it is of course satisfying to work hard at blending miniature works of art, the priority really has to be to get them ready to game with I think (as your semi-painted game-in-progress illustrates).
The Grinders are neat and have a solid look (helped all the more by being directly linked to an actual team). San Franciscorc Naughty Grinders is a great name. That helps the fun too.
I have a love hate relationship with Blood Bowl. Its a harsh mistress and I really think that a single game just takes too long. The long slow spiral downward that can occur after a bad start can leave a bad taste too.
That said I have some of the best gaming fun in my life playing BB. In particular an eighteen month period when we played 7-a-side Dungeonbowl. Good times on the emotional roller coaster.
Incidentally, in my experience newly painted miniatures always die first. Thats in part because my gaming group of passive-aggressive self-haters tend to target their opponents painted guys first if possible. But even still, the dice do *not* favour the painted in my experience. Sorry 😉
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Paul: Thanks for the kind words on the Grinders, they appreciate it. I recognize the whole love/hate thing, as I really didn’t like BB before. The games tend to take long, but then again it’s not as bad as WFB, where a single dice roll on the first turn can mean a depressing four hours or so before you’re finally allowed to put your minis back in their cabinet. You might be right with the whole painted miniatures thing, but I refuse to listen in order to get at least some miniatures painted. Even if you lose your games, you still win on moral grounds, having painted your team.
Juhani: I agree with you on BB being a great GW game. Somehow GW games are best when the scale is kept small: Mordheim, Blood Bowl and Necromunda are great examples. We’re playing with LRB 5th ed.
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In my opinion Blood Bowl is one of the best GW games out there, and definitely a lot of fun. I think I’ve played somewhere in the region of a thousand games of Blood Bowl total, and have five painted teams.
Which LRB rules version are you using, by the way?
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[…] still going strong. Earlier I showed you the pitch, now it’s time to take a peek at the team. As shown before, our Blood Bowl teams have mostly taken their inspiration from existing teams and this time’s […]
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[…] the season. All in all I was more than pleased. My last season of Blood Bowl saw my orc team the Naughty Grinders finish with a 2-2-6 (wins-draws-losses) record from ten games, whereas this season the Drakwald […]
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