Blood Bowl

[Admiral-Badruck]

I have 2 boards I am planing on bringing both of them..

[Grim Ironjaw]

At Mondo last night, Badruck and I experimented with a scaled-down BB just for teaching the new-comers.

We folded the board so that the pitch length stays the same, but the width is cut in half. Use 7 players per team (select whichever you think are the most fun). 3-4 players start on the line of scrimmage.

Basically, it makes the game less intimidating and the turns shorter. Because the pitch is narrow, it almost forces teams into a mash-up, requiring the coaches to learn how assists and tackle zones work...and quickly!

I'd recommend this way for anyone teaching the game.

[Primarch]

At Mondo last night, Badruck and I experimented with a scaled-down BB just for teaching the new-comers.

We folded the board so that the pitch length stays the same, but the width is cut in half. Use 7 players per team (select whichever you think are the most fun). 3-4 players start on the line of scrimmage.

Basically, it makes the game less intimidating and the turns shorter. Because the pitch is narrow, it almost forces teams into a mash-up, requiring the coaches to learn how assists and tackle zones work...and quickly!

I'd recommend this way for anyone teaching the game.

What about the more fragile teams who specialize in moving about the field quickly and making long passes such as the Elf teams? When we tried something similar waaaay back with Dungeon Bowl my elf team got smashed to bits as the playing area was smaller giving less room for dodging and manouvering, essentially forcing them to play like the blitz teams (orcs, chaos etc).

[Grim Ironjaw]

At Mondo last night, Badruck and I experimented with a scaled-down BB just for teaching the new-comers.

We folded the board so that the pitch length stays the same, but the width is cut in half. Use 7 players per team (select whichever you think are the most fun). 3-4 players start on the line of scrimmage.

Basically, it makes the game less intimidating and the turns shorter. Because the pitch is narrow, it almost forces teams into a mash-up, requiring the coaches to learn how assists and tackle zones work...and quickly!

I'd recommend this way for anyone teaching the game.

What about the more fragile teams who specialize in moving about the field quickly and making long passes such as the Elf teams? When we tried something similar waaaay back with Dungeon Bowl my elf team got smashed to bits as the playing area was smaller giving less room for dodging and manouvering, essentially forcing them to play like the blitz teams (orcs, chaos etc).

You make an excellent point. But even elf coaches (ESPECIALLY elf coaches?) need to learn about assists and tackle zones, and that's really the point here, not winning, losing, living, or dying. Don't keep track of the score or casualties. Or play two finesse teams.

I used my (finesse) dark elves vs the Underdweller's (bashier) undead on Friday. True, the mummies exerted more influence than usual because of the narrower pitch, but it was still fairly even and we both had our chances to score. More importantly, she got to see how each of her positional players should be used.

11-on-11 BB has so much to process, so many possible actions or ways you could get crunched, that it's overwhelming for a first-time player. New players in that situation often spend 15-20 minutes thinking through a single turn! We're all smart enough to quickly understand assists and tackle zones as concepts, but applying those concepts takes live game practice.

All of this is significantly easier 7-on-7.

[job]

I'm in agreement with both of you. I think that the 7-on-7 is great to train on and learn the ropes, but I think you do lose out in learning about or being able to play the entire field for maneuver.

Anyway, what I want to push is maybe starting to think of what things we want to do for the league next year. I think we could cement a few things. People could agree on a way to record games/scores/MVPs along with a standing system. Also if we do have over 5-6 people or so, why don't we think about reinstating the idea of commissioner?

[me_in_japan]

11-on-11 BB has so much to process, so many possible actions or ways you could get crunched, that it's overwhelming for a first-time player.

sorry dude, gotta disagree with this. BB is dead simple. Maybe for someone who's never played a tabletop wargame before it could be a bit overwhelming, but for anybody whose ever played 40k, fantasy, mordheim, necromunda, warmahordes, or pretty much any other wargame, the BB rules are piss-easy to pick up. I've taught 2 people to play the game in the past month and both had the rules down pat by the end of the first half. Tenorikuma was beating me by the end of the first half.

The rules are simple. Working out the best way to win with a given team takes time and experience, but playing on a half-pitch will make this take longer, not shorter, as anything you learn on a mini-pitch will have to be un-learned on a full size one. And I completely agree with Prim that halfing the pitch size affect teams very differently. The same thing happens when you play on a small 40k table. Mobility is the most important part of either game. If you take it away, the fragile side immediately gets shafted tactically.

[Admiral-Badruck]

7-7 is a very easy way to learn the rules. Hell when I teach it I start with 5 models total.

It is easy but try teaching it to your wife with a full 11 - 11.

Not even going to koment on Da Komish.....

[Spevna]

I reckon MIJ is on the ball ( get it?) with this. I do think the smaller format game can still work though, but not on the half board/7players style.

There was a similar idea on the Specialist Games website a while back. I will try to find it.

[Spevna]

http://www.gamingcorner.nl/rules/boardg ... bowl_7.pdf

This is the one I tried. Was fun when I played it, even made a board too.

[The Underdweller]

Well, I'm no expert on Bloodbowl, but playing on the small board was fun, and having fewer models made things a bit easier.

I agree that the Undead had an advantage over the Dark Elves, but the ball went into the crowd more which made things a bit more randomized.

Playing against the Orks was more balanced and gave me a chance to experience larger pile-ups. I learned not to stand near the edge pretty quick!

The rules do seem easy compared to most wargames. A couple of things that I found strange were:

You only have to dodge when you leave a tackle zone, but your modifiers come from any tackle zones you are entering.

One team member can stop multiple opposing team members from giving assists on a block if they are in his tackle zone-I just assumed it would be one for one.

I can understand that playing on a regular board will have different strategies, but hopefully it won't be too hard to adjust, after only a couple of games. And I can always use it as an excuse