Friday, February 11, 2011

Thirteen Times the Blood...Bowl


Needless to say, just the two hour sample of Blood Bowl we played the other day has really sparked my interest again in one of the best tabletop games around. So I went rummaging through my stuff today and drug out all of the fantasy football figs I could muster and did a legitimate inventory. Some of this stuff dates back to second edition, so there were some changes to be made, and certainly some swaps to go around.

The one thing I need to honest about here is that I simply don't need thirteen teams. But letting go of minis is so hard to do. There are obvious choices for the auction block, like my Orcs, I have three Orc teams. Three, really? I think one will do just fine. There's other choices too, like my Undead, I just never got my head around their style of play and frankly I like being more of a scoring team, not a inure-the-other-guy team. Aggressively speaking I could get rid of about half the teams I own, and maybe even use some of the money I make to pick up a sweet looking third party team and paint them up right.


The Deadrock Goyles here are pretty much a hall of fame team. Not the Orc roster, but these actual models. They were the scourge of a league we played in way back when and seeing them here makes me wince. They are definitely my 'alpha' Orcs, so they'll be sticking around. I may pull figs off the other teams to fill their ranks.


This is a bit of an expanded team of Orcs. It has the basics plus a bunch of extras like a converted Troll big guy and a couple of Goblins. It has a metal Orc here and there to boot in the form of Blitzers and regular Linemen. After I pick out whatever I need for the Goyles, this one will be fodder for sure and on their way out.


This is a stock team, straight from the boxed set. It's a very nicely painted team and although it doesn't have any extras in it, the crisp paintjob makes up for it. This is a case where although I like the team, it's my third Orc team, it's days are numbered.


Here's a great looking Human team, mostly from the boxed set and mostly awesomely painted! In addition to the plastic figs, there's four metal second edition players in there, as well as a metal star player. A large Ogre has defected from the Orc team he used to be a part of to this new Human team. The men on the team however are too afraid to ask him to change his uniform. I'll be hanging on to these guys for sure.


It's almost embarrassing looking at my first Human team. They're pretty much straight from the boxed set as well, with some fun extras too, like two metal star players (one of which will probably get snagged for the other Human team) and a fourth Blitzer figure. As you just saw though, this is one Human team too many, and these chaps are headed out the door. They'll probably be a good bargain for somebody.


They're small, they're fast, and they have armor made from cardboard. Still, you gotta love the Skaven, they have lots of options and variety, and if coached right can be solid. As you can see these guys are a bit of a work in progress as I still have some unpainted mutant figs to do, and I need to rebase the Rat Ogre big guy in the back. I'll be keeping these guys around, and probably add some basic linemen at one point in the future.


The High Elves are another team I want to hang on to. They're more survivable than their Dark and Wood Elf cousins, and are the same speed of the Humans, which I'm used to coaching. If I buckled down, I feel I could coach these guys fairly well.


The Undead here are pretty flexible under the rules we've been looking at (LRB5). I pulled a second edition Werewolf from the Human team (since they can't have him anymore) and put him on the roster. Also on the roster, in addition to the regular team, is a second edition Flesh Golem (looks just like Frankenstein's monster), a Vampire star player, and a converted Ghoul. I like the idea of the Undead, but their days are numbered.


The only thing keeping these Chaos Dwarves from the chopping block is their theme. As you can see the Dwarves (including Centaur big guy) all have converted cowboy hats. In addition to the regular team is the aforementioned big guy, a converted bluderbussier, and a second edition cyborg Orc which I'm only guessing is still legal. I'm still up in the air on this one, I never play them, so someone else might get more out of them.


Here's a good example of a rock solid team that has the basics plus a little extra. Chaos is a great team with plenty of hitting power and good versatility in their line-Beastmen. I've also got a Minotaur big guy in there converted from a Reaper fig. I like these guys, but I can't keep them all just because I like them, they're days are numbered.


If the large (and painted) Chaos team's days are numbered then these guys aren't long for the world in my neck of the woods! There's barely enough here to even take to the field, but add in a big guy and maybe a fourth Chaos Warrior and you should be good to go.


I don't mind my team having an armor value of a lowly seven if they have the speed (Skaven) or the agility (Wood/Dark Elves) to back it up, but what the heck are the Norse packing under those spiked helms? Umm, not enough to keep them sticking around! I did manage to poke around and find another official second edition Werewolf to put in there too.


Not only am I keeping these Dwarves around, they may be the first ones on the painting and refurbishment assembly line. I love Dwarves, so I see no reason why I'd get rid of these, although I need at least four more Linemen to fill out their ranks.

10 comments:

  1. Awesome stuff dude. The gang and I are looking to get into Blood bowl ... it seems you enjoyed it enough to have a whole league :)

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  2. Only 13. Come on, you can do better than that. I think I am up at 30 now each with distinct miniatures (so I am not counting that I have 2 high team boxes or 2 khemri team boxes since those were the best wasy to complete the 16 player rosters).

    Orcs: 2nd Ed Plastic, 2nd Ed Lead, 3rd Plastic, 3rd Ed Metal
    Humans: 2nd Ed Plastic, 3 rd Plastic, 3rd Ed Metal
    Dwarves: 2nd Ed Plastics, 2nd Ed Lead, 3rd Ed Metal
    Chaos Dwarves: Gazpez Arts Metal
    Skaven: 2nd Ed Lead, 3rd Ed Metal
    Pro Elf: 2nd Ed Plastic, 2 nd Lead
    High Elf: 3rd Ed Metal
    Wood Elf: 3rd Ed Metal
    Dark Elf: 2nd Ed Lead, 3rd Ed Metal
    Goblin: 3rd Ed Metal
    Halfling: 3rd Ed Metal
    Undead: 3rd Ed Metal
    Necormancer: Metal
    Khemri: Metal
    Vampire: Metal
    Slann: Rolljordan Metal
    Lizard Man: Plastic Conversion
    Chaos: 3rd Metal
    Nurgle: Metal
    Norse: Metal

    Maybe I have a problem with collecting things. I think my wife would say that I do especially after we went from like 0 modern lego star wars sets to like 9 in 3 months.

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  3. @Joe: I can supply a league's worth I guess! All I can say is do it, it's one of the greatest games out there.

    @Brad: No, no, I want to purge some teams before it becomes a sickness! Since you're the founder of Blood Bowl Team Collecting Anonymous you know what I'm talking about. You know, we could always work out a trade, I'm in need to fill out my Dwarf and High Elf teams...

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  4. Damn your making me want to get mine out but I think I only have about 5 of the teams painted compared to only missing the Norse and Undead (even though I have Necro)

    I need to get a photo of my Human team which was made with the asterix Metal Magic Brittons!

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  5. 13 Teams? You sir, have an addiction!

    I just can't fathom having that many "armies." Yeah, I know that they're more like units than 40k armies, but even when I played Necromunda, I never had more than two forces (I played four total throughout the years, but never kept the models for more than two at a time).

    When are you going to post a shot of the mountain of total models you own? I think that would make a great article.

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  6. @Lord Shaper: Get 'em out! I'd like to see those humans too!

    @WH39K: No, no, I'd consider them full-flesgded armies! ;) Now about Necromunda, *there* is a game! I love Necromunda even more than I do Blood Bowl, well, it's apples and oranges for the most part, I love them both. I don't have any 'mountain o' metal' posts, but I may get cracking on that. I did some game room posts two years ago, just search "game room" and in there is a shot or two of my minis shelf:

    http://miksminis.blogspot.com/2009/04/game-room.html

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  7. I should point out that Dark Elves are largely similar to High Elves, and it's the Wood Elves who are the squishy ones.

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  8. Wow, I feel like a slacker with my one Skaven team. I've thought about getting some more but it's been years since I even played the game.

    Out of curiosity, which living rulebook is most commonly used, 5 or 6?

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  9. The sixth edition of the living rulebook only came out a few months ago, so it may not have achieved full saturation yet. It is officially the current ruleset however.

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  10. @Sin City Snowman: In a lot of ways you're lucky, you can focus on just the one team and get to know their play style in and out.

    @Rage Cage: After much hemming and hawing we're using the competition rules right off of GW's site.

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