Blood Bowl is filled with a grand history but seems to sadly have been cast aside by Games Workshop; happily Team Manager breathes new life into the universe.
I played Blood Bowl a hell of a lot when I was younger. That huge third edition box, the one with the three-part grey polystyrene pitch and the Orc and Human teams... it was one of the two Games Workshop products I actually owned and loved (the other being the sadly forgotten Dark Future, a game that really deserves a reboot). If you've paid attention to the site over the last couple of years, you may recall that I was terrified of my local GW store when I was younger – the far from welcoming alpha-nerds, my inability to / impatience with stuff, it all came together to make me really dislike the place and, in turn, the company. Blood Bowl though? That was (and still is) brilliant.
Of course, when the word came out that Fantasy Flight (the market leader in over-producing games in style) had got their hands on the license, a little shiver went down my spine. Gamers of a certain age have been clamouring for a remake of Blood Bowl for years and yes, there may be a Living Rulebook that people still play the game with but that game is far from supported by the Games Workshop overlords. But then we saw that FF had control and we all got excited and a bit of wee came out – surely a brand new version of the game wasn't far from hitting the shops?
Well, we're still waiting. There's been no fourth edition, though rumours still surface every once in a while that it's going to happen. What Fantasy Flight have actually given us is something a bit different – sure, it's still set in the same universe, but it's a very different proposition. Put on your oversized headsets and get ready to blame your players for your losses... Blood Bowl Team Manager is here!
As you'd expect, Team Manager is a more cerebral take on the Blood Bowl franchise (in as much as Blood Bowl can be cerebral, of course). Rather than focus on a single match up, you're playing through a shortened representation of a full season as you and your fellow players attempt to win fans for your team, with whoever takes the most fans at the end of the game being the eventual winner. Before the season begins each player is given a team, all of which are taken from the original game (Go Gouged Eye!). Your Fans Counter is set to zero, the various decks are built to represent the season's games and you're good to go.
Each match-up consists of a bunch of highlights, a set of cards that are laid out in a row between the players. Symbols are (generally) separated into three sections at the bottom of the card and players will place cards on either the left or right hand side of each highlight. Once a player has put even a single card on one side, everyone else is prevented from going there meaning that it's easy to get blocked out of plenty of places. What you're actually aiming to do is get as many star points on your side of the highlight – not an easy achievement when many cards can knock down and even injure opposing team members.
Adding one of your players to a highlight means you'll need to do a couple of things – namely activate the icons that are shown on each card from left to right, and also trigger any special ability that the character may have. The different symbols show the skills your team-members have, and things will only fall your way through clever play. A ball symbol could give your team possession, while a skull icon means that your player has cheated and a Cheat Token must be placed face down on the card (more on that in a moment). An arrow allows you to shift one card out of your hand to potentially be replaced with a more skillful player, while an explosion signifies that a tackle has been performed by the just-added player.
This is where the star points become significant. If the attacker is higher than the defender, you get to roll two dice and choose the result you prefer. Equality means rolling only one and having to settle for whatever shows up, while going in underpowered means two dice again, but your opponent makes the call. It's a speedy way to resolve tackling in an already quick playing game.
Once all cards have been played to the table, it's time to resolve each of the highlights. Those Cheat Tokens now get flipped up and can mean anything from getting extra fans and star power to having your player sent off, meaning they'll contribute nothing to that round. Whichever team has the highest star power gets the reward for each highlight, though most cards also have a secondary bonus for all people involved. The rounds continue in this fashion until six have been played and a winner is declared.
It's curious that you don't actually have to win a 'game' in order to win the game, but Blood Bowl TM still manages to work like a charm. Cards are thrown onto tables, tackles fly and players are retired hurt on an alarmingly regular basis – it really does feel like it's part of the Blood Bowl universe, and designer Jay Little should be congratulated on carving out a whole new game that is totally different to the original yet remains familiar and – dare I say it – more fun that the original. Certainly Team Manager comes across as more accessibly and less imposing than its older brother. It's also very well produced, just like you'd expect from the folks at Fantasy Flight and with excellent art, well put together rules and a low-complexity level, I'd recommend at least giving it a shot. However, if you've got the kind of history that I have and remember crudely painting Chaos All-Stars (even if you never played a proper match with them) Blood Bowl Team Manager gets bumped up to near-essential.
Got any memories of the original game you'd like to share? Or experiences of this new addition to the franchise? Tell us here!
I played Blood Bowl a hell of a lot when I was younger. That huge third edition box, the one with the three-part grey polystyrene pitch and the Orc and Human teams... it was one of the two Games Workshop products I actually owned and loved (the other being the sadly forgotten Dark Future, a game that really deserves a reboot). If you've paid attention to the site over the last couple of years, you may recall that I was terrified of my local GW store when I was younger – the far from welcoming alpha-nerds, my inability to / impatience with stuff, it all came together to make me really dislike the place and, in turn, the company. Blood Bowl though? That was (and still is) brilliant.
Of course, when the word came out that Fantasy Flight (the market leader in over-producing games in style) had got their hands on the license, a little shiver went down my spine. Gamers of a certain age have been clamouring for a remake of Blood Bowl for years and yes, there may be a Living Rulebook that people still play the game with but that game is far from supported by the Games Workshop overlords. But then we saw that FF had control and we all got excited and a bit of wee came out – surely a brand new version of the game wasn't far from hitting the shops?
Well, we're still waiting. There's been no fourth edition, though rumours still surface every once in a while that it's going to happen. What Fantasy Flight have actually given us is something a bit different – sure, it's still set in the same universe, but it's a very different proposition. Put on your oversized headsets and get ready to blame your players for your losses... Blood Bowl Team Manager is here!
As you'd expect, Team Manager is a more cerebral take on the Blood Bowl franchise (in as much as Blood Bowl can be cerebral, of course). Rather than focus on a single match up, you're playing through a shortened representation of a full season as you and your fellow players attempt to win fans for your team, with whoever takes the most fans at the end of the game being the eventual winner. Before the season begins each player is given a team, all of which are taken from the original game (Go Gouged Eye!). Your Fans Counter is set to zero, the various decks are built to represent the season's games and you're good to go.
Each match-up consists of a bunch of highlights, a set of cards that are laid out in a row between the players. Symbols are (generally) separated into three sections at the bottom of the card and players will place cards on either the left or right hand side of each highlight. Once a player has put even a single card on one side, everyone else is prevented from going there meaning that it's easy to get blocked out of plenty of places. What you're actually aiming to do is get as many star points on your side of the highlight – not an easy achievement when many cards can knock down and even injure opposing team members.
Adding one of your players to a highlight means you'll need to do a couple of things – namely activate the icons that are shown on each card from left to right, and also trigger any special ability that the character may have. The different symbols show the skills your team-members have, and things will only fall your way through clever play. A ball symbol could give your team possession, while a skull icon means that your player has cheated and a Cheat Token must be placed face down on the card (more on that in a moment). An arrow allows you to shift one card out of your hand to potentially be replaced with a more skillful player, while an explosion signifies that a tackle has been performed by the just-added player.
This is where the star points become significant. If the attacker is higher than the defender, you get to roll two dice and choose the result you prefer. Equality means rolling only one and having to settle for whatever shows up, while going in underpowered means two dice again, but your opponent makes the call. It's a speedy way to resolve tackling in an already quick playing game.
Once all cards have been played to the table, it's time to resolve each of the highlights. Those Cheat Tokens now get flipped up and can mean anything from getting extra fans and star power to having your player sent off, meaning they'll contribute nothing to that round. Whichever team has the highest star power gets the reward for each highlight, though most cards also have a secondary bonus for all people involved. The rounds continue in this fashion until six have been played and a winner is declared.
It's curious that you don't actually have to win a 'game' in order to win the game, but Blood Bowl TM still manages to work like a charm. Cards are thrown onto tables, tackles fly and players are retired hurt on an alarmingly regular basis – it really does feel like it's part of the Blood Bowl universe, and designer Jay Little should be congratulated on carving out a whole new game that is totally different to the original yet remains familiar and – dare I say it – more fun that the original. Certainly Team Manager comes across as more accessibly and less imposing than its older brother. It's also very well produced, just like you'd expect from the folks at Fantasy Flight and with excellent art, well put together rules and a low-complexity level, I'd recommend at least giving it a shot. However, if you've got the kind of history that I have and remember crudely painting Chaos All-Stars (even if you never played a proper match with them) Blood Bowl Team Manager gets bumped up to near-essential.
Got any memories of the original game you'd like to share? Or experiences of this new addition to the franchise? Tell us here!
