Vera was back in town this week and suggested we play games! I feel like we haven't played games in MONTHS. She suggested trying out the new version of Blood Bowl (Third Season Edition - 2025). I played a LOT of Blood Bowl (Second Edition) back in the late 80s. Like a LOT!!! It's probably one of my most played games ever! I have not played it in the last 35 years, however!
My team - the Gnarly Green Guys!
#1 Hotlicks Wobblespot (Goblin Lineman)
#3 Dirk Blood (Goblin Lineman)
Also #3 (apparently!?) Norg (Troll) - I mean who's going to argue with a troll if it shows up and is wearing the same number as one of your other players...?
#4 Leon Cankersore (Goblin Lineman)
#7 Bill S. Pestmain (Goblin Lineman)
#10 Ted "Wildboar" Grogan (Goblin Lineman)
#15 Fungusface (Goblin Looney - with Chainsaw)
#16 S. Maulfart (Goblin Lineman)
#28 Dagadyr (Troll)
#48 Bop (Goblin Pogoer)
#67 Chaz Goldensnott (Goblin Hooligan)
#69 Jean Klean (Goblin Fanatic - with Ball and Chain )
Vera's team - the Shitsberg Stealers.
I kicked off in the first half...
Before the ball even landed on the far side of the pitch, Greg the Shitsberg Stealers troll started hammering on #3 Norg the Troll stunning him!
A trio of Black Orcs from the Shitsberg Stealers ganged up on The Gnarly Green Guys other Troll, #28 Dasgdyr!
Dasgdyr sprang back up and with the aid of #69 - the ball and chain fanatic - Jean Klean - took down one of the gargantuan Orcs. Bill S. Pestmaim ran into to foul the downed Orc!
A serious melee ensued mid-field.
#15 Fungusface - the Goblin Looney - was flailing his Chainsaw all over the place, meanwhile a pair of goblins from the Shitberg Stealers, snuck around the side and made a run for the end zone!
#28 Dagadyr cut the little goober off and knocked him into the dirt, the ball scattered into the crowd...
... who threw it out into the middle of the pitch!
#48 Bop - the Goblin Pogoer - went after the ball...
... and ended up injured and recovering in the dugout for his troubles.
#69 Jean Klean - the Goblin Fanatic - drove one of the Shitsberg Stealers Orcs clear off the field with his spinning Ball and Chain !
One of the other goblins from the Shitsberg Stealers snatched up the ball and sprinted for the end zone, scoring the first touchdown of the game!!
Furious and angry, the Gnarly Green Guys just kept beating on the Stealers...
#28 Dagadyr - one of the Gnarly Green Guys trolls kicked one of the Shitsberg Stealers orcs while they were down and was thrown out of the game for fouling!
(Whoopsie! Lesson learned! Don't use the big guys for fouling!!!)
#7 Bill S. Pestmain - Goblin Lineman for the Gnarly Green Guys - grabbed the Stealers kick and quickly passed it to #48 Bop - the Goblin Pogoer!
The Goblin Pogoer bounded up the field with the rest of the team trying to clear the way!
The Goblin Pogoer bounced right over the Stealers goblin lineman!
The ball was passed off the the Gnarly Green Guys captain, #1 Hotlicks Wobblespot, who ran it in the the goal, tying up the game just as the squigpipes sounded to mark the end of the first half of the game!!
The Shitsberg Stealers kicked off to the Gnarly Green Guys to start the second half of the game!
Once again, it was the Gnarly Green Guys' Pogoer, #48 Bop, that took the ball up the field. bouncing past, and OVER, the Shitsberg Stealers defensive line.
and scored the Gnarly Green Guys second goal, putting them in the lead!!
The Gnarly Green Guys, roared with delight... and it was now the Shitsberg Stealers that were roaring with frustration and anguish...
Recieving the next kick-off the Shitsberg Stealers' goblins tore up the field with reckless abandon, and only to be brought down right at the scoring line by the Gnarly Green Guys!
The Gnarly Green Guys recoved the ball and passed it to their pogoer who, once again, bounded up the field like the mad bastard that he is... but did not make it to the Stealers line before the Squigpipes sounded!!
Vera having a good laugh at the absolute madness of it all!
we realized after the game, I probably should not have been using both the Fanatic and the Looney throughout the game - as BOTH had illicit weapons that would have required bribing the refs... they accounted for the majority of the Stealers injuries - which included THREE of the orcs AND their TROLL!!
It was fun to revisit the game after so many decades. Blood Bowl (Second Edition) was probably one of my MOST PLAYED games EVER!! I played SO MUCH of it back in high school. I personally ran two or three leagues, and played in another league or two... plus so many "exhibition matches" between leagues and teaching the game to people at the Wizard's Corner (Saskatoon's first game store - which I'd worked at through high school). I was playing multiple games a few nights a week and more on the weekends... for months...
It's nice to see how it's evolved... but in many ways is still the same. It's nice that I could, in theory, still play with all the teams I had (or... at least... most of them).
(I did do some accounting, though, and realized that picking up a pitch and the rules and a set of the dice and tokens to play with current players... would end up costing exactly the same as buying a starter box... which includes all those things - PLUS TWO TEAMS!? - and a SECOND set of the dice!)
Am I going to buy in and start playing again...? I don't know... I've been wanting to repair and touch-up the old miniatures for ages. There's a part of me that would like to strip and completely repaint and rebase a lot of them... but I also kind of love the old paint jobs and feel a lot of nostalgia for those teams that played so many games back in the day... I'll probably leave them as they are (but maybe clean them up a bit!)