So today is officially release day for the new Blood Bowl boxed game from Games Workshop, the first in the (hopefully) ongoing re-release of specialist games from the company. Blood Bowl has a special place in my heart as I have been playing it since around 1988.
My first memory of Blood Bowl was having one of my Dad's wargaming mates drop off his stadium and his teams at our house for storage for a while. Ken had 32 fully painted Blood Bowl teams....32!!! Pretty much every team that existed in the fluff at the time, all the Star Players, cheerleaders, you name it, he had it. And we played the shit out of it when Dad wasn't watching.
Blood Bowl has always been, for me, one of the most perfect games GW ever created. There was balance, the rules were fun, there was always the potential for shenanigans and it was a game that always drew a crowd, no matter what was happening. People would actually cheer for things happening in the game! Seriously, what other game has that happen?!
My first official Blood Bowl team was the Chaos All Stars. I got those in 1995 for my birthday and was playing games with them that weekend. Unpainted of course...THE HORROR! I played in a league with some guys from school and my team soon evolved into a killing machine that would wear down the opponents via death and mayhem.....and then score touchdowns. We were playing the 3rd edition of the game by then and were also including the fun extras from the Deathzone expansion.
We always had a barrel of laughs and it is still, to this day, some of the best gaming I have ever done in my life!
I still have the Chaos All Stars....and I'm proud to say that 21 years later....I've actually finished painting them!
So, the new edition is actually going to be in my hands today and I don't think I've looked forward to getting a new game as much as I am with this one. I pre-ordered the game so I could get it on release day and actually put off buying other toys so I'd have the funds to get it.
I'll be doing a video unboxing over on the YouTube channel and I'm gonna try and rope Damo or Dan into playing a starter box game with me.
So why do I love Blood Bowl? For me, it represents some of the most fun gaming I've ever done in my almost 30 years of playing games. Those are memories that stick with you and make you remember why we do this weird little hobby.
And there's something strangely satisfying about smashing a Beastman into an Elf and watching it crumble.....and die!
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