Blood Bowl Team Manager

We didn't have anything definite arranged at the club this week, so I took along Blood Bowl Team Manager for a trial run.  This is one of Fantasy Flight's Games Workshop licensed games, based on the classic fantasy American football tabletop game.

Each player takes control of one of six teams for the course of a season, draws players, drafts star players, recruits coaching and backroom staff and participates in each game week.  It's quite an odd affair, especially considering the original game; players don't complete individual matches.  Instead, each turn consists of the players drawing a highlights reel - a row of cards with different combinations of rewards - representing something like a a sports summary television show like Match of the Day or NFL Gameday.  Individual player cards are placed next to a highlight in an effort to collect the reward on that card.

Essentially, you're getting a snapshot of what happened over a course of series of games, not winning and losing specific matches.  The aim of the game is also a little left of centre; instead of accruing the most points or "winning" most game weeks, the aim is to accumulate the most fans.  Not a problem in the game (in fact, the fan mechanic is handled very well,) but these two factors make Blood Bowl Team Manager a little counter-intuitive.

Still, once you've got your head around the unorthodox set up and premise, quite an entertaining little game unfolds. BBTM plays pretty quickly and, as every player regularly acquires new cards to use, there is very little down time in the game.  There are a nice mix of mechanics in the game; most cards have optional abilities to use, tackling uses dice, cheating needs a risk/reward decision, star players are (unsurprisingly) powerful.  Even the scoring system gives you some interesting choices to make; do you take the fans to get an early lead, or do you forgo fans to try and recruit better players or coaching staff.

Six teams are available to choose from in the base game, all from the Warhamer world; humans, dwarves, wood elves, orcs, skaven and chaos.  FFG have done a great job in differentiating between the different teams, the Skaven for instance, sneaky and underhand, make heavy use the cheating mechanic, the Orcs favour bludgeoning their opponents while the humans, who can do a bit of everything, are simultaneously great at nothing!

FFG say this game is for 2-4 players, but we realised very quickly that the two player experience is very disappointing.  Simply put, there's only one real tactic for both players in a two player game and once one player gets ahead, it's nigh on impossible for the other player to catch up.  However, I've no doubt that in a three or four player game, neither of these issues would be a problem.

Overall, Blood Bowl Team Manager is a decent enough game, one I really want to like, but would need to play a larger game to make sure.  The game itself is full of Blood Bowl humour and flavour; two commentators appear and have witty banter printed on many of the cards and the artwork overall is excellent.

I picked up the base game and the expansion well below the RRP.  I can't say I would pay full price for them, but if you get a cheap enough copy and enjoy multi-player board or card games, Blood Bowl Team Manager is a pretty good deal.

Carronade Loot

Earlier this month I had a wee drive down to Falkirk to the Carronade show.  The biggest wargame show I can easily get to, it was an excellent day out on a rather rainy Saturday.  Lots of great demo and display games available on the day. I really liked the look of the Dead Man's Hand game the Angus club (I think) were running and the tron/lightcycle game was very entertaining (apart from the kiddie in tears playing the game.)  

The hypercritical part of me thinks however that there were no really outlandish games on show, they were all very traditional.  Still, nothing wrong with that.  There is something wrong, imo, with an (unnamed) club running a participation game (yup, it was listed as participation) where everyone playing is a club member, sitting huddled together round a table, ignoring anyone who came near them.

There's also something wrong with a games company (i.e. not a trader) basically showing no interest in someone who, clearly, wanted to be persuaded into buying something.  Seriously, "tell me about the two Rus faction boxes" is about as obvious a buying signal as I could have given.  No interest from the guy running the stall (I take it everyone knows what company I'm talking about now?)

Both these happened in my first pass round the four halls and put me a little off the place for a while.  Not sure if it was a direct result of those experiences, but I really didn't feel like taking many photos or getting involved many games. Still, met plenty of people I know (even a couple I only know online) and generally had a good time.

Enough of me moaning, lets get to what we're all wanting to see: my LOOT!!!!

Dreadball

Yup, I knew there would be at least one impulse buy.  After a random message from a friend a few weeks ago, I was keeping an eye out for a copy at a decent price, which duly presented itself at one of the trader stalls.  The board itself is a bit meh (I really wish I'd gone for the kickstarter with the premium board,) but everything else in the box is very impressive.  The figures themselves are excellent, dynamic poses and great sculpting quality with little flash.  The rulebook is outstanding, a great mix of rules, fluff and atmosphere, images and designer notes.  The rules themselves read well, but I need to get a game in before I can really comment.  Good stuff.  I'm trying to hold off buying any extra teams before we've had at least one game, but it's really tempting (esp the new "bug" team.)

In Her Majesty's Name

I didn't realise that these rules had actually been released, so a welcome surprise.  Had a quick read through of the core rules on the drive home, and generally impressed.  There are a few fellows at the club interested in playing IHMN, so I'll certainly pick something up for them.  I've been looking for an excuse to get a couple Teutonic Knights from Spartan Games, thank you!

Netrunner

Due to the crippling supply issues affecting Android: Netrunner in the UK, I wasn't expecting to find any product at Carronade.  This was the only pack on offer from any trader, but it was the only one I was missing.  Nice.  Still, these card packs are as addictive as crack.

Warhammer Fantasy 3rd Ed

A present from my mate Adam (who is clearly after some fantasy gaming,) this is a real blast from the past!  I haven't read this in at least fifteen years, but it does give me something to aim for with those Mantic Undead I have lying around!

50% sale at Warhammer Historical??? Wtf?

Arrived in the inbox this afternoon:

"Warhammer Historical Sale


There is massive 50% off all Warhammer Historical books for a limited time only so there has never been a better time to try that new system or grab that supplement book. To see these great deals head over to our online store."

Two things.


Firstly, great news for picking up a bargain on a range that is typically high on price (and quality to be fair to them.)


Secondly, it;s a bit of a kick in the teeth for those who bought Kampfgruppe Normandy (£48) or Waterloo (£36) less than six months ago.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but possibly the most expensive (rule)book GW have released ever half price within six months?


Makes you wonder what exactly they're planning for Warhammer Historical, as I can't remember a sale from GW in the last dozen years.


Still, I'll pick up the updated version of Trafalgar and a print copy of Warmaster Ancients and be happy with that.

Catching up on the news. . . Warmachine

With the decorating nearing completion, breathing room in the house is still at a minimum. At least I've been able to actually get back on the computer and catch up with what's been happening in the gaming world.


The biggest announcement I've seen in a while is Privateer press seeing fit to release a starter set for Warmachine.  This "Two-player Battle Box" has a lot in common with the starter sets of another certain miniatures company in that a) it includes a mini-rulebook, b) it has pretty much everything needed to start playing, and c) it looks an absolute fracking bargain!


What really surprises me about the set is the apparent RRP in pounds sterling.  It's $100 and normally that equates to a £79.99 in the UK (Ref: the large Fantasy Flight box games,) with the usual 10% online discount taking it to £71.99.  


Maelstrom are the only company I can see accepting pre-orders for the set, but their RRP is £69.99!  With the 10% off discount, they're charging £62.95 - with free postage!!!  Whatever way you look at it, that is a bargain.


Besides the rulebooks, you're getting basically two faction battle boxes (Menoth getting a different 'jack though) with an additional unit each - plastic Man'o'War and Cinerators (Khador players will be happier here!)  I think the Protectorate of Menoth force is 21 points while Khador comes in at 20 points. Throw in another unit or a couple solos and you have a standard 25 point army.


I am slightly surprised that both forces have medium based, multi wound units.  Providing one force with a small based unit and a solo choice would have put every unit type (baring cavalry) in the starter box.  Also, I noticed the product description doesn't make it clear if there are templates in the box, or just a ruler - two jacks and both casters use AOEs and the Repenter uses the spray template.  Still if that's the worst thing about the box set, PP are onto a winner here surely.


It's good to see that two large companies are able to learn from (White Dwarf finally including rules/profile previews like No Quarter) and improving upon each other (Island of Blood; great box set, absolutely useless as a starter set.)

Speaking of GW, rumours of the 40K 6th edition box set have started to surface - two boxes, each with one complete army Dark Angels or Chaos,) terrain and rulebook.  This sounds plausible, and is an obvious step for GW to counter the amount of components that appear on eBay following each release.


I'll be interested to see how the Warmachine box sells and if it affects the overall number of players.  Both Island of Blood and Assault on Black Reach sold by the bucket load, but GW still has a falling player base.  


Regardless, this is definitely a day one purchase for me!