So, I’ve played blood bowl on and off for a few years now as Nuffles influence has ebbed and flowed in my life.
The god of violent sports has well and truly returned with Blood Bowl season 2. The acolytes of Nuffle over at the Warhammer community team know how lax I’ve been in my worship of late and sent us the new season 2 boxed game to see if they could tempt us back to the faith.
As with any sport teams struggle to compete often fade away and such is the case with many a team from the storied history of blood bowl.
One such team being my beloved dodging daughters of Lustria. Now, if your team hasn’t made it into the Season 2 rule book worry not, you can download a teams of legend PDF from the Warhammer community site and they can continue to play until your violent little hearts are content.
So, the first thing that you’ll notice like all hobbyists are the models, they are the core of our hobby and Blood Bowl 2020 doesn’t disappoint. Featuring two new teams to do battle on Nuffles altar. Not to worry about their relative inexperience though as both teams have shelled out to bring in some much needed veterans. Griff Oberwald is joining the Bogenhafen Barons, an interesting mix of blue blooded nobles, just how much of that blue blood will be soaked into the pitch by Varag Ghoul-Chewer and Thunder Valley Greenskins remains to be seen.
The origins and history of Nuffles game is gloriously noted within the stunning hardcover rule book included in the Second Season box set. When I tell you that this section of the book is the funniest thing Games Workshop have written in decades believe me! The deeper your knowledge of the old world the funnier you’ll find it, it even becomes “meta” with the hilarious line “Humans proved capable of starting an argument about the intent behind the rules versus the rules as written even when locked alone in an empty room”, this had me absolutely crying with laughter. Lets face it, if you’ve ever rolled dice, you’ve had this argument, heck, I’m willing to bet a seasons winnings you’ve started such an argument.
While the rules of Blood Bowl have changed many times in the old world they have remained mostly unchanged on the tabletop. Revisions have happened now and then, mostly with attempts to streamline the game and make it more accessible to new players. Well, Blood Bowl season two adds a huge change to the game and with it adds a new Stat to players. Players now have a “Pass” stat, where in previous editions passing was incorporated into a players agility. I’m a huge fan of this change (Yes, I have an elf team). Agility as a stat is now more representative of the word itself and differentiates it from passing. For example a Skaven gutter runner shouldn’t be as likely to make an amazing Hail Mary pass as it would be to weave its verminous way past a line of violent dwarves.
The rule book is full colour (that may sound like a given but us long beards remember the black and white drab hidden behind colourful covers), hardback, the paper pages are glossy and thick, the book even has a little ribbon for you to use as a bookmark. It’s of a much higher quality than previous “box edition” rule books and will look at home on your shelf next to say the new 40K book.
You’ll also receive a double sided pitch, with each side representing each of the teams on the box. The usual essentials are of course included such as dice and templates. Of course as new and updated teams are released they will of course be released with their own pitches and dice. If you’re anything like myself and most the players I know you’re a sucker of the team specific stuff. After all, it wouldn’t be fitting for the Nobel elves of Ulthuan to use common dice.
I can’t wait to hit the gridiron and would recommend the second season box set to Blood Bowl veterans and rookies alike. Seriously, you need to see the models in person to really understand how amazing they are.
