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.