Death Zone season 3, what might be

[Mori-mori]

Hey, everybody.

So, as not that well adjusted fellow member of the society as I am, I have this kind of neurotic urge each time I've got some obsessive idea about, say, game mechanics, which won't let me sleep unless I release it upon somebody. So I had another stupid BB idea recently, and I'd been seeing those 2 guys - Andy Hoare and James Hewitt - mentioned anywhere as Those Ones Behind BB2016/Death Zone. May be I was stoned or something, or may be lack of sleep kicked in, but I thought sending them my thoughts directly is a good idea.

When I was out there, searching for emails, I saw them presenting themselve in different places over internet as writters, mostly, not game designers. Not so much BB2016 related news from them got in my way, either.

So I found James's email somewhere, sent him a mail, and got a response that he is not working for GW anymore. Andy Hoare was even harder to get in contact with, his Facebook's page which was mentioned in some BB-related news before was no longer there, and the another one I found which supposedly is his, also didn't have much signs he is still involved with GW. Couldn't find his contacts, in the end.

So that was it? GW just created a fuss about re-launching BB, did some minor rule chancges to heat up the community, and used it to advertise their new model packs, and now it's all over and will be forgotten? Or were those guys just sort of "freelancers" used for writting mostly, and for PR at the same time, and the main work on the rules was done, and is being done, behind the scene by other GW employees?

[Mori-mori]

Assassins on Dark Elves are pretty pointless, they should be 10k cheaper if anyone is meant to use them ever.

Yeah I used to think that, and then I played Simon_ACP, who is one of the best players in the world, at Dungeonbowl (which he won), and his DE team had an assassin and he used it very effectively. Maybe it's not for everyone, but he is able to make it work.

Very nice pitches by the way.

Not sure it's a very good proof of their worth.. Best Player In The World can make Gobbys or Halflings work, too. And best players still may play with inefficient rosters, or with weaker teams, just for fun and/or challenge. But that doesn't make Gobbys/Halfies/Assassins good, valid players, for everybody. I generally agree with the opinion they don't worth it. They mostly good only to mark agile, non-bashy, and not too fast players. Very narrow application, and very costy, and too few of them (2 max) to make real difference even in terms of marking.

I would give one of them a Claw, with some downside (Secret Weapon? -AV? Higher cost? Some new Extraordinary skill giving his Claw mechanics similar to Chainsaw, so he could hurt yourself each time he uses it? Make it only usable when fouling (so you still must to bring somebody down + additional risks), so he couldn't become a new bane for those weak teams relying only on Big Guys, like Halflings, Ogres, Gobbys?).

So the idea is to make him a real-deal assassin, capable of removing just anything, but still not that good as CLPOMB-ers of bashy teams, with huge downsides ensuring he won't be able to stay on the pitch for too long. Sort of precise tactical tool to use just at the right moment to remove some very specific threat.

[Darkson]

James has indeed left GW (recently) to set up his own game company.
Andy still works for GW, but has two pages on FB - a personal one and a gaming one, as he doesn't want his personal wall spammed with gaming stuff, and visa versa.

James' former position was recently advertised, so no, they're not dropping BB, though as more of the former Specialist Games are re-released I wouldn't be surprised to see the BB output slow down (my opinion, not news).

I don't know all the ins and outs, but I know Andy and James worked on the new rulebook (rules) - whether they had additional helped within GW (not counting the later playtest group) I've no idea.

[Milo]

So I found James's email somewhere, sent him a mail, and got a response that he is not working for GW anymore. Andy Hoare was even harder to get in contact with, his Facebook's page which was mentioned in some BB-related news before was no longer there, and the another one I found which supposedly is his, also didn't have much signs he is still involved with GW. Couldn't find his contacts, in the end.

So that was it? GW just created a fuss about re-launching BB, did some minor rule chancges to heat up the community, and used it to advertise their new model packs, and now it's all over and will be forgotten? Or were those guys just sort of "freelancers" used for writting mostly, and for PR at the same time, and the main work on the rules was done, and is being done, behind the scene by other GW employees?

Ooh, more GW conspiracies at work!

No, honestly, this news has been discussed elsewhere, you just must have missed it. James has left GW to start his own company. He may occasionally do some freelance work with GW but is not officially representing them anymore. Andy and James are listed as "writers" because they are responsible for both rules AND background.

There isn't a lot of BB2016 news at the moment for two reasons:

1) GW just relaunched one of their flagship games, Warhammer 40k, and so for the time being, it will get most of the available WD space.
2) As I've posted elsewhere, the original plans were to have resin teams coming out for the rest of 2017, but those plans changed based on the success of the original launch. Several teams planned for resin were changed to plastic teams, but plastic teams take longer to sculpt and mold than resin teams, which resulted in the production schedules of those teams being pushed out. Unfortunately, now there's a bit of a lull, but the end result is more plastic teams, which I think everyone would agree is an improvement.

GW has a LONG term plan for Blood Bowl. The short hiatus we're in right now shouldn't be taken as the end of Blood Bowl.

[mikeyc222]

While I love seeing a steady flow of releases for BB, my credit card balance is VERY thankful for the lull.

[garion]

While I love seeing a steady flow of releases for BB, my credit card balance is VERY thankful for the lull.

+1

my poor bank account.

[faust_33]

Here, here.

I'm trying to figure out what the next wave will hit us with. I got caught off guard by the dice sets, and spent more than I had planned. Would like to plan for what I get next.

My guess would be the Goblin pitch. Since we got the Goblin dice set, that would go nicely. I don't need another pitch, but I'm definitely buying that one, because it looks cool.

Probably along those lines, would be the last of the Goblin Special Weapons in resin. Which I would probably pick up as well.

The Team Card packs should be easy enough to get out there, and I imagine could land anytime.

Human Team booster - if it's going to be in resin, I imagine we would see it sooner, but I'm hoping for plastic. Same with the Underworld Denizens and Chaos Renegades tokens.

I would guess the new Minotaur would come out last, probably before/after the announcement of a Chaos Chosen team.

[garion]

Elfs and mino is next I think. They showed off one elf model at the event in Nottingham.

[mikeyc222]

i do hope that we get completely different elf teams, and not just the same poses with different bits to change them into the elf team of our choice. not that i have any reason to think the latter will be the case... just voicing my hopes.

[Darkson]

Have we seen that minotaur before - I quite like it, but it looks familiar?

[JT-Y]

Mino is brand new. Elves will all be different though you'll have to wait, the Union are still in the early stages of plastic production and it isn't a quick process.

[Steam Ball]

Have we seen that minotaur before - I quite like it, but it looks familiar?

Maybe Heresy Minotaur is what you had in mind?

[Darkson]

Might be it.

[garion]

Is there any chance of a 2nd Troll coming out at some point. I quite like the 1st (though i seem to be in the minority here), but having 2 on the pitch in a throwing pose looks really bad. I think if we could get a 2nd version i think it would sell really well.

If the people in this new playtest group can please communicate that there is demand for a 2nd version of the troll that would be good.

[Milo]

Is there any chance of a 2nd Troll coming out at some point. I quite like the 1st (though i seem to be in the minority here), but having 2 on the pitch in a throwing pose looks really bad. I think if we could get a 2nd version i think it would sell really well.

If the people in this new playtest group can please communicate that there is demand for a 2nd version of the troll that would be good.

I'd be happy to pass that feedback along.... however, I think a 2nd Troll is unlikely to happen until after a bunch of other figures are sculpted. Just to manage expectations. I suppose it's possible that there may be a Ripper figure sculpted (since he is in DZ2), and that could fit as a second Troll until GW gets around to another rookie Troll. Just to be clear, though, I have no inside knowledge that this is in the works -- but I would expect we'd see figures for the stars sculpted before we see more rookie versions of big guys.