Are You Ready For Some Blood Bowl?

Blood Bowl was the first miniatures game I ever played, before I really even knew what a "miniatures" game was. To me it was just a fun little board game with cool figures. Years later, after being introduced to Warhammer, I got back into Blood Bowl and was able to appreciate the hobby aspects of the game.

In 2004, While working at GW HQ in Glen Burnie, I participated in a staff-run Blood Bowl league. My Khemri team, The Baltizzar Embalmbers was assembled using a mix of skeleton and zombie parts, combined with metal Khemri bits.

My giant Mummies were converted from Tomb Kings Ushabtis topped 40K Ork heads.

The crocodile and falcon heads, removed from the original Ushabti models went into making the Blitzers and Throwers (called "Blitz-Ras" and "Throw-Ras," respectively).

The team has a few Cheerleaders, and other scenic pieces. Even a skeleton referee and Sphinx mascot in the works!

Suffice to say, the entire Khemri team is less than agile, making it difficult to pass or catch the ball and dodge around the opposing players. I would watch as the Skaven and Dark Elf teams scored fantastic one-turn touchdowns and racked up point after point while I took a full 8 turns (half the game!) to slog the ball into the end zone. 

Looking back over my record sheet (I still have it!) I never scored more than 2 points in a single game. That's fine. My Blood Bowl motto has always been "If you can't win, kill." And, after 17 games, the team had racked up close to 40 casualties.

For my buddy's league this weekend, I'm putting together a second team (with only a few participants, we'll likely bring two teams each to vary the field a bit).  

I scavenged my Warhammer Skaven Army to put together a team with a decidedly different (but hopefully still dirty) play style. The Under-Burg Bolts will take to the pitch to win glory and honor for the Under-Empire, and maybe I'll finally get to see what it's like to throw passes and score more than twice a match!

I put the team together in an evening, mostly with parts from my bits box, including a Mordheim Rat Ogre that I never assembled for my Skaven army. The shoulder pads were made using a simple press mold and modeling putty, and I did a little sculpting on the Rat Ogre's shoulder gear:

The Gutter Runners and Throwers are pretty much Skaven Clanrats in light armor with their weapons removed. I like to imaging the Thrower with the knife getting ready to toss an "interception."

The Linemen use the armored Clanrat torso with the broader shoulder pads. To make the Blitzers, I used a pair of Stormvermin standard bearers that I had purchased in 1999 simply to get their banner tops to use in my Undead army. After 14 years I finally found a use for the leftover "core" models. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Never throw anything away!

Now, if it would just stop raining long enough for me to go outside and prime them...

'Til next time! (We'll see just how quickly I can get this team painted and I'll let you know how the league went.)