So, you probably know I’ve been focusing heavily on Lord of the Rings. Focus is a wonderful thing. It gets figures painted and games played.

However, recently I got a copy of the Blood Bowl video game. It’s one of those strange games that will hardly appeal to the masses. Its real time mode of play is really awful, and probably just an excuse to make it into digital. The truth is that it’s a digital version of the boardgame, with a little bit of extras and no record-keeping.

I always loved BB figures. You can see 2 painted teams in this site, and I might have 3 or 4 more laying around unpainted. I believe BB is as different as you can get, compared to LotR or any wargame, and still keep it in “the neighborhood.” So I started playing this video game, using the Classic mode to play it just like the boardgame (except with a lot less teams)

I always had a rough time getting the hang of it. The rules are nice, but the basic strategy becomes obvious only once you start playing. That’s something I never got to do. This was really an amazing chance, not to mention the rarity of having one of GW’s games faithfully translated into digital, and with a decent AI (that’s an incredible extra). It truly is BB solitaire.

So I started playing some one-off games. I got frustrated the first few times, but after a while I got the hang of it. Played with humans, then orcs. I like the punch they bring, but I certainly don’t have the patience for their slow advance. So one time, almost by chance, I played with a chaos team. I loved it.

Now I started a season. You start in 4th division, play against five other teams, and move up if you end up first team in the season. My team, the Vegetarians (“Change is inevitable”), had a minotaur, three chaos warriors and the rest beastmen. I love those guys. They run around like hell, can take a slight beating, and can blitz like noone.

I lost my first game against humans. It’s ok though, I’m a complete newbie, let’s just try and get some skills for the men. Then I played dwarfs, and somehow I managed a tie. It was amazing. They kicked my ass, but I showed them šŸ™‚ Third game was against skaven. They can surely run, but a few surgical hits here and there, and I got my first win. I could see myself getting better and better moving the ball, protecting the carrier (but always ready for a crazy run or even a pass!) and specially blocking. I love to block, and with no rerolls the first few games, I had to learn that well.

Fourth game was against orcs. Since I’ve been playing with them a bit, I had a clear idea of staying off their zones, forcing the blitz, and moving around them. Won my second game against the greenskins. Last game was fun. It was against a lizardmen team, and I was in total panic. I saw the skinks could outrun me, and the saurus could take quite a beating. They would run and run around me, but once I got some blocks in, even if they didn’t go down, I could get my guys to take the ball. Protecting it was not so hard, for the little lizards couldn’t really block or blitz. Moving it required a little bit more brainwork, but as always it is good training. I beat them too, and I think I caused like 5 casualties.

So, 1 lost, 1 draw, and 3 victories. Not enough though, for the humans that beat me were good the whole season, and left me in the 2nd place. Season is over, I have lots of experience (as a player) and quite a few useful skills on my guys. I’m ready for another season in the 4th division.

Now, am I going to move this into the games table? I don’t know. Probably. I’m quite excited about the gaming club-store I found lately, and if I’m lucky I’ll find another BB enthusiast. Of course I would have to get me a chaos BB team, which sounds like a fun (and not too demanding) distraction from Middle-earth. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have the oMAD.