A Look at the New Blood Bowl Components

Blood Bowl was the first miniatures game I had ever played, back when I didn't even know what "Games Workshop" was. I've always loved this game, and now that the newest edition of Blood Bowl is out, I didn't hesitate to pick up my copy. Here's a look at some of the components in the box set. I haven't gotten through the rules yet, but it looks like it plays mostly the same with minor variations.

 

The first thing I noticed was that the board is larger than the original set.

 

 

 

While the squares are bigger, the proportions and scale are the same. The passing ruler is the same measurements, scaled up, so you can still play on the old board with the old range ruler.

 

The board is also double-sided, but I have to say, I'm not keen on the Orc side. The pattern and debris is a little too busy, and the square markers get lost. The square markers aren't as prominent on the other side as they were on the old board, but on the Orc side, they're practically invisible at a quick glance.

 

The larger squares give the models a little more breathing room, which is great for my Khemri mummies. I had based them on 40mm bases and they always popped out of the squares (never mind when they're knocked down!), but now their bases fit in the square pretty comfortably.

 

In fact, all of the new models have 32mm bases.

 

The bases all have holes in them and each team comes with a ball that has a peg on the bottom. That's a neat little feature, but it means that you need to swap out the regular ball with a peg ball whenever someone picks it up. Personally I never had a problem just putting the regular ball on the model's base. It should be even easier now that the bases are larger. But whatever, it will look cool in the photographs.

 

The models themselves are just beautiful. I'm really looking forward to painting the Orc team. The engineering on the sculpts is great; I can't find any detail that gets stretched of flattened out around the sides of the parts. Each sprue includes all of the player types, two team-themed balls, a coin, and a marker icon (the big fist). They put two of each sprue in the box, and that gives you two of each model type and multiple linemen. I think some teams can use more than two of the special players like blitzers or throwers, so people will need to track down another sprue or two.

 

 

The box also contains dice, including a 16-sided die. That means we can finally ditch drawing numbered cards out of a cup for randomizing among players. Although... if you have fewer than 16 players you could just remove the excess numbers from the cup. With the D16 you'll have to re-roll if you roll higher than the number of players on your team.

 

The blocking dice are fancier, but I don't think they read as easily as the original dice with the stark black shapes on the white background. The new dice all have a white burst around the icon, which makes them fail the "squint test" in my opinion. I'll probably stick with the original dice.

 

There are two double-sided dugout boards, one for the Orcs and one for the Humans.

 

The coin and fist icon are used for tracking re-rolls, turns, and whatnot. There are new templates for scattering the ball and throwing it in from the sidelines, as well as all the player cards, and special play cards.

 

 

 

All in all, it looks like a great set, and I'm looking forward to playing some games in the local shop league.

'Til next time!