Blood Bowl, CSNES Cup

Blood Bowl.

It's what you get if you mix American Football with Tactical Wargaming. Just like in football, the name of the game is getting the ball past the other team and into their side's endzone. Just like in wargames, sending the other team's mans to the hospital or morgue is a perfectly valid way to expedite your goals. That said, you still have to make the points. If the entire enemy team lies dead and you didn't spend any time scoring by the end of the match, you don't win. Then again, they certainly don't, either!

Here come the rules, so if you'd prefer to follow along befuddled at the details, feel free to skip!

You can have 16 players in a team and 11 on the field at any time. Players for each race come in classes which have their own skills and attributes. Attributes are Strength, how well you punch (or "Block"); Agility, how well you dodge, pass, grab the ball, and stuff like that; Armour Value, how well you resist stunning, injury, or death; and Movement Allowance, how many squares you can move in one turn. Skills can range from Block, which makes you harder to be knocked down in a fight, to Hail Mary Pass, which allows you throw anywhere on the field, to mutations like Extra Arm, which grants a bonus to any grabbing.

Action in the game includes the basic movement or initiation of Blocks against adjacent foes. They also can include, once per turn, a pass, a hand-off, a Foul (kicking a player when they're down), and a Blitz, which is a Block after a charge. Blocks allow you to push back or knock down opponents, or maybe get yourself knocked down if you're unlucky. Similar to Blocks in a way are Tackles, which are automatically activated if a player leave's a square adjacent to an opponent. While Blocks are dodged by Strength, Tackles are dodged by Agility. And the last sort of ability is Go For It. Any player can move up to two extra spaces, but must pass an Agility test not to trip in the process.

The key mechanic in the game is Turnover. Upon any failed dice roll (botched pickup, being tripped, being knocked down on your own attack), your turn ends immediately. The effect this has on risk taking plays a role in every turn's actions.

Well, I guess that's probably it for the basics. If I miss anything, someone should be along to fix that soon!

---

And now, let me introduce one of our featured teams this season, the up and coming rookie crew with a fresh coach out to prove it all, the idiosyncratically-named...


Skitter Skitter TOUCHDOWN lines up for the camera. Gutter Runners are in the back in cloaks, the Thrower has the cybernetic arm, the Stormvermin are the ones who remembered to wear pads, and the Rat Ogre is the charming chap to the left.

This team is made of those lovable disease-ridden mutant rats, the Skaven. Skaven strategy relies on their speed and agility and winning before their entire team is in the casualty list, in order of how likely such skills are to be used.



As the only surviving volunteer for the position of captain, #01 Galvanik leads from the rear and hopefully can get the ball from the ground to somewhere in the team's hands.

#02 through #05 are the core of this team, Spriteless, J D, Drekal, and Notty. Gutter Runners can dodge through any line and even from some Blocks and can cross half the field in a single turn. They also can lose in a fistfight with a halfling. And since anything like armour or even a helmet would weigh them down too much, they can also be expected to die from a halfling's slap.

#06 and #07, M F D and Reggie, are the only members of the team who can probably counted on in a fight. Wearing armour heavy enough to grant them average survivability by any other race's standards and with skills in Blocking, they will be needed to anchor any defense the team tries to put up or in pulling off a needed knockdown.

Filling the ranks are #09 through #11, Cran, Oni Aeon, and Kiwi, the linerats. Unskilled in any particular area, they are at least better in a fight than a small child and faster than almost any other race. They are also, best of all, entirely expendable, costing a starting salary of only 50k gold each!

And last but not least is #08, the biggest player on most fields and this team's prime investment, Invinible! If he can manage to remember that he's playing football at any one moment, he can actually put someone down fairly regularly, and with his prehensile tail he is fantastic at preventing opponents from running past.

The last asset for the team is two dice rerolls per half. While such a fragile team might benefit from spending some of that gold on a medic, rerolls cost double after the start of a season and the team's coach is out to prove something, not coddle rats whose life expectancy is in minutes!

---

And with that, I leave the floor open for the other featured team in this, the CSNES Cup!

... this could be interesting.

Second team lining is the down home classics, Team Buncha Crunch!



Featured Team 2 is an Orc team. Orcs have an advantage in the Blood Bowl, based on their size and strength. Orc teams are extremely durable with high armor stats, have a balanced set allowing for passing and running games, and as would be expected, also have a number of heavy hitters to make sure the other team doesn't get back up anytime soon. Our Team Roster:



Player #1 is Just Jon. Taking on the roll of The Thrower for the team, his job is going to be to grab the ball after a kick and get it to where it needs to go. Orc throwers, as might be expected, are a bit hardier then their counterparts in other teams, so he's also quite capable of getting in the middle of it if needed. Thanks to his Sure Hands skill, he'll want to hang around whoever has the ball (Our team or theirs) and make sure that if it leaves their grip, he's there to grab it.

Player #2 is Alan Bates. The Troll is the biggest, baddest player on the field, and he's going to hold the center of the field against enemy heavies. His high strength allows him to push around other players, his Mighty Blow ability increases his chance to cause injuries, and his Regeneration power means that even if injured, he'll usually make it back on the field by the next play.

Player #3 is Zap Rowsdower. As The Goblin, he will be the premier runner for team Buncha Crunch, with his Dodge and Stunty abilities combining to make him almost impossible to stop when he wants to run somewhere. Stunty comes with a downside however as it makes him more prone to being injured, and along with his already small frame he won't be a fighter by any means. He can also team up with the Troll, who can toss the little guy anywhere on the field if needed whether it's towards the endzone or into another player for the ultimate double team tackle.

Players #4 and #5 are Mordain and Nefidean. As The Black Orcs, they are going to be the biggest regular players on the field. With their Strength 4 they can outmatch most players in a one on one fight, and even a one on two fight, and are also going to be central to holding down the main line. While they don't start with any special abilities, they get access to Strength abilities as they level, making them better at shutting down and injuring enemy players.

Players #6 and #7 are Knight and LuppyLuptonium. As The Blitzers, they will pretty much pick up the slack anywhere needed. While their stats are all pretty standard for orcs, they move faster then any other player on the field (Except the goblin), and have the Block ability, meaning that they are less likely to get knocked down in a fight. Their fast speed will let them chase down enemy runners, quickly move to help close gaps, or allow them to try and run the ball in for a touchdown.

Last but certainly not least, players #8 through #11 are Arc, Algasir, Carmichael Micaalus, and MikePB (In proud orcish tradition, some of our players weren't even sure they were supposed to be here!). As The Lineman, they will be our standard line of defense. All linemen start off pretty typical, but while all the other players are likely going to pick up very specific traits as they go, there's a little more flex room for a lineman to specialize in something. The most basic unit, but just as important for victory.

Our team has 4 rerolls, meaning that for for half the game we'll get a second shot if we botch something important. We also have two cheerleaders, which gives us a boost to Fan Factor. Any random events have a slightly better chance of going our way.

Somehow, I rather feel this is going to end kind of messily.

I'm a Troll!

It had better.

And you can throw around Zap!

Man, life imitating art or what?

I'm the smallest, weakest, and, according to the stats, least valuable player on the team. My life rests in the ability of Alan Bates to be sufficiently gentle.

I'm not even going to survive the first update.

Trolls also have a stat called "Always Hungry".

When they pick up a goblin to throw, if they roll 1 on a D6, they try to eat them instead.

However, take heart in the fact that in general my goblins do okay! If they get picked on they can eat dirt hard, but they're REALLY good at getting out of a bad situation.

RAAAAAAAAAAAR!

....how's that? Do I sound in-character?

Can I be one of your cheerleaders?

Can you sound more black orc? You're kinda going albino orc there.

You're an orc. It's not pronounced Raaaaar! It's pronounced

WAAAGH!

Oh, oh, let me try!

"Grawhr?"

How was that?

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!

Aww man! I thought the pickings in the gutter were good, but can you imagine the amount of meat I'll find lying on the ground here after a game? I will be able to feed every... wait I thought this was a job after the game not during. 0_0

I call dibs on first death

So, should i count myself lucky of not being in this game? Seeing as i would likely die very fast and stuff... Ah, screw it, i want in! *kills someone and steals their place in the team*

No worries Neo, from what I hear people getting killed is pretty common (Especially among GJ's rat people) so they should be looking for new recruits real quick.

Oh yeah. Being pitted against orcs? Those linerat slots on the roster are gonna be opening up faaast.