Thursday, August 30, 2012

Chaos Dwarf Blocker - Mutation Magnet Hand

New hand painted with first ink washes. Hand detached from the body. Some Green stuff modification of the hand - bigger the Claw the better. 2mm drill gave the perfect fit for magnets. Old hand and new Dark Eldar claw hand seen next to the base. These strong little magnets came in handy. The smaller ones are only 2mm in diameter. Got these from nice shop with fast delivery Gaussboys. Finally my first Chaos Dwarf Blocker rolled doubles on the advance chart - this meant access to mutation skills. Choose the Claw skill to boost the bashing effect of the team. Wanted the miniature to show his new ability, but with a option to "normalize" it in case of a casualty... But the first thing was to saw the old hand of.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Dungeonbowl First Test

Dungeonbowl? What did you say?

"The key difference between Dungeonbowl and Blood Bowl as is rather obvious from the name, is that Dungeonbowl is played in a dungeon!"

So, giving this concept the first tryout we got some dungeon floor tiles from Fantasy Flight Games Descent and some treasure counters from the same game. Some tape and markers made fast teleport tiles numbered from 1 to 6. Game board after the first turn. Tried to keep the board layout simple and symmetrical. Human team started from red-white endzone on lower left, Dark Elfs opposite from them in Violet-white and Chaos Dwarfs from Blue-white. Six treasure chests were placed in the big central cave. Teleport locations highlighted - those quick-n-dirty tapes don't show too clear in the pictures. All teams grab the closest chest and suffer some turn overs because of the traps. In the picture human team Indian runner is standing over the chest that finally revealed the ball. Human team star player Mighty Zug is first with the ball - and his AG of 2 makes him the first to drop it too. Human screen is fortunately in place - big crowd gathers in the central chamber. Human thrower makes the pass - but lineman have no luck on the catch department. So, Dark Elf blitzer is the next one to try his luck with the pinky disco ball. Elfs throw the ball - but a small miracle happens - and Hobgoblin intercepts in mid flight! Bull centaurs guard the hobbos run. Dark Elf runner teleports in an attempt to prevent the goal, only to get blocked out of the way by Chaos Dwarf Blocker with claw mutation. On turn 8 the lucky greenskin scores a touchdown and thus ends the game.

First impression notes on Dungeonbowl

Game has clearly more randomness than the regular Blood Bowl - movement thru teleports is risky business and the starting location of the ball is rolled with dice. If more random equals more fun for gamers this is not a problem. Ending the game with first touchdown and fewer player figures on the team gives faster playtime, even with three coaches going at it. After the game it was agreed that more alternative routes to the endzones might give good variation to the tactics. We used our regular BB team rosters - not the college of magic lists given in basic Dungeonbowl rules. Inducements were taken with full team value, but only 9 players in game - six starting on endzones, three reserves.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Blood Bowl Match Report: Norse vs. Chaos Dwarfs

Setup for the first Kick-off. The heat is on: making passing game a bit harder. Norse defense starts low - and Chaos Dwarfs in their trademark "The Bloody Wedge" attack formation. Bulls lead the way and others try to keep up. The House rule has been for awhile: free 50k cards drawn at random for both periods. Dwarfs got "Johnny Waterboy" that boost the KO'd return rate to 3+. The new dugout - seen on the right - holds the card nicely too. Both teams are around 1.600.000 in team value, and seen few advances thru the roster. Fans amass behind the Dwarfs: 16k loyal supporters gains the +1 Fame for the Red Anvils. The Wedge cracks under huge Norse opposition: Dwarfs loose the ball for Werewolfs blitz. Silvery beast carries the pink glitter ball for awhile. Bulls, hobgoblins and dwarfs seen on the ground. Soon after this the Norse runner makes the first touchdown. First period ends with Norse lead 1-0. Second period starts with Norse attack: but it is stopped in midfield after some blocks. Hobgoblin is cheering from the dungeons - fouling has its cost. And then the blood letting starts: Minotaur kills the Norse Werewolf with AV boost of 9 -> huge blow to team Norske Pojkar. And adding insult to injury: Dwarfs get illegal substitute of extra hobgoblin (number 11 on the pic) making the head count to 12 players against ten Norse players. Uneven odds start to show and Bullcentaur moves forward with relative ease. Settling for a 1-1 tie: the dwarfs hold the ball next to the Norse endzone for extra turn making the Norse team desperate. After the 15th turn kick-off Yeti revenges the Werewolf by killing newbie hobgoblin on the line of scrimmage. All in all very bloody match: 2 kills and one broken neck of Dwarf blocker - the sum would have been even worse without apothecary actions that saved the life of Norse lineman. After the game touchdown scoring Bullcentaur is awarded the MVP and levels up: new skill being the Grab.