A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far away, I stumbled on an issue of White Dwarf that had an account of something like American football, with orcs. It was, as you probably know, an account of Blood Bowl.
I loved the concept (I love American football and fantasy) but never saw a game played or even heard of anyone playing it outside of that. Indeed, the only football game I had ever seen or played (and still own) is the one by Tudor with the vibrating playing surface and the figures that went everywhere but where I wanted them to go (which was indeed, much of the fun!).
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| This looks much sleeker than mine. Mine was acquired in the late 1970s, and featured the classic rivalry of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys. Years later I acquired the entire AFC East, including the then Baltimore Colts |
I had yet to grasp the idea of playing non-video games as a solo gamer outside of well, Solitaire.
Flash forward 20 years and I started wargaming. I immersed myself in solo gaming with abandon. I even saw solitaire rules for Blood Bowl although by then, I knew perfectly well how to make an enjoyable solitaire experience with most games.
But, while it sounded fun, it never crossed my mind to actually get the game or figures.
Until recently.
With my son spending hour upon hour immersed in the Warhammer video games and watching endless YouTube videos about the game and the lore of Warhammer fantasy, I found myself drawn back the idea of Blood Bowl- something different from all of my other figure games that could easily justify the change of scale.
As it turns out, there's a smaller version of the game called Blitz Bowl - it uses only six figures per side, has simpler rules, and games can be played to completion in an hour or two.
Simpler? Few figures? Count me in!
So, for a Christmas present to myself, I picked up a copy from Barnes & Noble.
Even better, my son is eager to play AND one of his favorite factions in Warhammer, the Skaven, have a team in the box!
Here's a picture of the contents:
You could, of course, play as is, no paint required.
However, I decided I would go all in and paint mine. Using GW's paints no less. And following their painting tutorials on YouTube, more or less.
The paint order has just been placed and please excuse me while I pick my jaw off of the floor.
I spent more on paint than on the game!
My son also really likes Nurgle, and I stumbled on a discounted box of the Nurgle team (a Blood Bowl box provides enough figures for two teams in Blitz Bowl) which for the price, I could not ignore. The paints for those will wait for my birthday.
There have been recent talks with him about how some of the kids at school play W40K and he seems interested. If he decides he wants to give it a try, resisting the temptation to buy myself some Sisters of Battle is going to be neigh impossible.
What can I say, I have a thing for space nuns.
Dear old Blood Bowl, eh? That brings back memories. It was very popular in this part of the world back in the early '90s - sufficiently that club members got up a league. I bought second hand someone's surplus stock orcs and made a stock orc team of them. Called them the 'Kikkengouj Rovaz'; their home stadium, the Krater. I even wrote up a team song.
ReplyDeleteNo large monsters or anything so interesting. But I did have a fast blitzer - a star player.
Probably the Rovaz' most memorable moment was in play against a Norse team on steroids (it, against the rules, had at least one large monster). Of course, my team was taking an enormous beating. Time running out and 0-2 down, the Rovaz received the ball with just 5 players on the field - including my star blitzer. The rest of the team were in the infirmary or in the morgue.
Received the ball, the Blitzer grabbed it and veered toward the right side of the field heading for the end zone. The other four created a cordon to form a lane down which he ran - I did say he was fast, didn't I? Sure enough, the opposition battered that thin cordon into nothing. Some large monster caught up with Blitzer just short of the line, muffed the takl, and my guy was in.
The game ended there, with a 1-2 loss. But, man, that heroic touchdown at the end was as good as a win for mine!
Unfortunately, at the time I felt that game had been published somewhat underdeveloped. And when a basic orc team I painted up for the club (the Orcshire Rippaz) got stolen, interest gradually petered out. I did have a stock human team (Shining Saracens) for a while. Eventually I sold those teams. Don't know what ever happened to them.
Cheers,
Ion
That is a great story, Ion!
DeleteIt sounds like there was a lot of fun had. Assuming i have half as much of a good time playing it, I have no doubt I'll pick up orc's at some point - they are too iconic not to.
Cheers!
Tudor electric football. I remember it well for my childhood days in the early '70s. My set had Miami v Green Bay. Each player's base was adjustable so that you could run "plays." Great fun. Wish I still had that thing.
ReplyDeleteIf I recall, most of my "plays" ended with someone (or most of the team) spinning in a circle and a lineman running the wrong way. I had a Tudor catalog at one point in the late 70s/early 80s and saw they had "rookie" bases that only went straight. I always wanted to try those.
DeleteChristmas Day 1966 was when we received our Tudor Electric Football Game! It had yellow and white players and it was loud! I loved the kicker and the little felt footballs, wonderful memories! Just like all of the great memories that you are making with your son, they are truly priceless John! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteOh my, I had forgotten how loud it could get. It always seemed quite random - just humming along normally, and then suddenly violently tossing figures about! The kicking action worked well enough, but we always had problems with the throwing action and broke one quarterback's arm completely off in the process. It's an ingenious mechanism but, like firing matchsticks at my toy soldiers, I think I'd prefer to roll a die these days. That said, I too loved the foam footballs! I wonder if I still have any in the box of Tudor football teams in my mom's basement?
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