Best and Worst Blood Bowl models ever

[Heff]

and all the 2016+ plasticrap....

This is the first time I've heard anyone complain about the new plastic range.

I wish they were muit part but other than that I love the range.

I hate them. I hate them all. It is purely an aesthetic thing. The look they have gone for is just off for me. The armour is too bulky, the hair is too long and flowy, the spikes are too big and spiky, they are either too static or too active, just bleugh.


I thought I liked the elves, then I saw them. I think I will like the beastmen (Not the warriors, the warriors are an abomination) but fully expect them to be horrible in the flesh.

[Christy42]

Yeah, threads on thin, broken rat tails, balls in tails, and multiple issues with the troll come to the front of my mind....

I quite like the ball in the tail but that is a personal thing. Maybe after I have one break I will change my mind.

Managed to mod one into a gutter runner catching it with his tail.

I did manage to break a stormvermins claw thing but thankfully it now just looks like a shorter version of what it was!

I have heard the dwarves are frustrating as all hell to stick together but they look awesome.

Warriors are the main thing I don't like the look of out of the new range but overall am a big fan.

(Don't like model repeats in a game with so few models a side as well but I can convert stuff).

[Mystic Force]

People say the 3rd ed look like de-weaponised WFB as if its a bad thing......

The advantage was that with a bit of deweaponizing your self (Snip-snip!) and maybe a bit of green stuff for simple shoulder pads you could easily add to your team from their other line. Or a troll armed only with a bone or ogre with a spike, and you had to nothing special and could be fielded in 2 games with no extra work.

For the current generation of models, not a fan of the troll, but like the look of the ogre. Personally I prefer "cleaner" models with less embellishment, as it reduces the painting time. The other point with the new models is they are unipose with only a few different options, but with the inconvenience of assembly. But otherwise I am happy with them. Least favorite "look" of a new team are the dwarves.

I love my 3rd ed HE, partly because those guys have treated me well over the last 20 years, and were the first team I painted fully to what I consider a standard I am happy with, and being a HE collector in WFB at the time the way of painting them transferred over easily.

Shout out goes to the 3rd ed plastic orcs, yes they are monopose and lack variety, but they are easy to see at a glance what is what, something which might be well suited to a "sports" team, maybe not orcs though...... They are easy to paint, and with the large uninterrupted flat surfaces easy to put designs on. Mine got a black uniform with flames painted in red, orange and yellow on the edges, and with that motif Nuffles Angels have graced many BB fields over the years.

The current orc team is taking a lot more of my time to paint due to the added intricacies. However that simple type is not a style of mini that is likely to come back soon.

[faust_33]

I have heard the dwarves are frustrating as all hell to stick together but they look awesome.

I don't think they were too tough for me to put together, but that's probably in contrast to me working on a Necromunda Van Saar team currently (ugh!). I do wish I had sub-assembled the Dwarf lot though, as painting around those beards is a real pain. I have a few that I didn't get fully assembled, and they have been way easier to paint overall.

[Darkson]

Favourite - ARBBL Pumpkinhead and ARBBL Fimir (not biased, honest )

Favourite GW: 2nd ed Skaven Thrower #2 (the one with the raised ball arm)
http://www.blood-bowl-miniatures.de/min ... on-skaven/

Favourite current GW: Skaven

Worst: Pretty much all of 3rd edition - with their pathetic "line dancing" positions (mainly linemen), naff detail and looking like they were all rejects from the WFB range, I really don't miss them, though there were a few I liked (the Norse Blitzers for example)

Worst current: Of the current range I've found the plastics range to be pretty 'meh' overall (bar the skaven as above) but I really, really hate the humans - awful figures all round.

[Deathrain]

I like the look of pretty much all of the new plastic range (only haven't seen the DElves, yet, probably won't because my league already has a DElf team made from Dark Eldar kits). I certainly prefer it over any of the third ed. models and most of the older ones - mostly because of proportions and level of detail, but also because of the ease of conversion. I do have a love/hate relationship with the new troll, though, because while it has an awkward pose and is way too large to be practical, its facial detail is exquisite and a joy to paint. I will definitly use one as a basis for my new Chaos Renegades troll, though I'll have to resculpt the arms to not obscure that lovely face!

I don't have any specific model that is my least favourite, but my absolute favourite one has to be the White Dwarf star player.

[faust_33]

Favourite - ARBBL Pumpkinhead and ARBBL Fimir (not biased, honest )

Oh yea, I love that Fimir too. We had a lot of fun with the Heroquest games, and I really wanted to make a Fimir Blood Bowl team after seeing that mini!

I like most of the new minis, because the proportions match. I look forward to putting When them together and getting them painted, but it is going to take me forever. They will probably have a new Blood Bowl game out by the time I finish enough minis for 4 teams.

It sounds like they are unpopular, but I really like most of the 3e models too. Probably because those are the minis we had when I was learning to play. I liked the Skaven, Undead, Chaos Dwarves, and Orc teams the best. The Dwarves were ok too. The Elves, I really didn't care for. The Chaos Dwarves were the last of my old minis to go. I liked the looks of them, and figured that GW probably won't make any new ones that I would like better. I finally talked myself into picking up the Gaspez-Arts Chorfs team though, and they are pretty amazing.

When I discovered the 2e minis later on, I found most of them to be ugly at first. Actually I've thought most GW minis are ugly, because I originally played D&D with Ral Partha minis. Anyways, I do like the 2e Skaven, they have a lot of character. The Chaos Dwarfs were pretty interesting looking, and probably more 'Chaos Dwarf' looking that the later ones. The Dark Elves, have an interesting design, but most of the models I just don't like. Oh yea, I still have a collection of the Chaos models. I guess they are the only old Blood Bowl minis I still have. I'd love to paint them up as a throwback team someday, but I've got too much on my plate to paint as is.

[nazgob]

There is a lack of imagery in this thread

[Deathrain]

There is a lack of imagery in this thread

You are correct! Here's my favourite mini:

I loved every minute of painting this mini. The pose, the detail, the ridiculous hair, the face...it basicaly painted itself!

[Christy42]

I have heard the dwarves are frustrating as all hell to stick together but they look awesome.

I don't think they were too tough for me to put together, but that's probably in contrast to me working on a Necromunda Van Saar team currently (ugh!). I do wish I had sub-assembled the Dwarf lot though, as painting around those beards is a real pain. I have a few that I didn't get fully assembled, and they have been way easier to paint overall.

Fair enough. A friend of mine mentioned he needed a decent bit of green stuff to get them to fit together but no first hand experience with them. That does not bode well for me as I have a Van Saar Gang on the to build list.

[rolo]

I like the 3rd ed Skaven better than the 2nd ed. *ducks*
Honestly one of my favorite Blood Bowl teams of all time is the old 3rd ed plastic Humans. They're great looking models, simple and easy to paint, and actually look like football players! A subtly important point for me which so many other teams fail at.

Some things which I look for in a team are: Quality, detailed models; Both a coherent team "look" and immediately obvious positions; Models in one piece whenever possible with a minimum of parts to glue together; and last but not least, looking more like athletes than soldiers with their weapons cut off.
It's rare to see any team nail all of those categories. The best examples seem to come from crowdfunding these days, like Iron Golems Dwarves, J-Bone's Frogmen, and Gaspez' Kickass Cossacks and Bull Warriors.

So what turns me off? Mostly poor quality and badly proportioned miniatures, unclear positions, or just not working well for Blood Bowl. Black Scorpion's Orcs are a great example, you can't really tell the positions apart and they're all ugly. (In fairness, that was their first Blood Bowl team and they've improved massively). A lot of old Shadowforge models are just ugly junk. GW's new Skaven are beautiful models but badly suited for Blood Bowl. Lots of 3d printed models have the same problem, easily breaking off at the ankles, arms, or other thin parts which would be thicker on more traditional models. The new GW troll is high quality but just an ugly, impractical model. Shame for the poor Goblins, who GW expects to buy two of them in the same identical, awkward pose.

[mawph]

Having read your post Rolo, to add to the earlier, one of my favourite GW teams is the 5th ed humans. They really hit home as intended for bloodbowl. Also, Black Scorpion halflings are ace. They're currently awaiting some paint on my table.

My favourite of the new range are the dwarves. I did a blitzer for the TFF team last year and it really made me want to get a whole team (plus they have the benefit of being a one box purchase!).

[faust_33]

I have heard the dwarves are frustrating as all hell to stick together but they look awesome.

I don't think they were too tough for me to put together, but that's probably in contrast to me working on a Necromunda Van Saar team currently (ugh!). I do wish I had sub-assembled the Dwarf lot though, as painting around those beards is a real pain. I have a few that I didn't get fully assembled, and they have been way easier to paint overall.

Fair enough. A friend of mine mentioned he needed a decent bit of green stuff to get them to fit together but no first hand experience with them. That does not bode well for me as I have a Van Saar Gang on the to build list.

I don't think green stuff was a necessity for either the BB Dwarves or the Van Saar. Some gap filler in a few parts. I use Vallejo Plastic Putty, but others are partial to Liquid Green Stuff. Conversion wise, you'd probably need a decent amount of green stuff to make the Dwarves work. I reposed one of them, just because I had the spare parts and gives me another more unique lineman. I won't go into too much detail here, but you can read about me working on the BB Dwarves in older posts on my blog. I'll be posting on the blog about the Van Saar as I wrap them up too.

[Digger Goreman]

They're great looking models, simple and easy to paint, and actually look like football players! A subtly important point for me which so many other teams fail at.

Some things which I look for in a team are: Quality, detailed models; Both a coherent team "look" and immediately obvious positions; Models in one piece whenever possible with a minimum of parts to glue together; and last but not least, looking more like athletes than soldiers with their weapons cut off.
It's rare to see any team nail all of those categories. The best examples seem to come from crowdfunding these days, like Iron Golems Dwarves, J-Bone's Frogmen, and Gaspez' Kickass Cossacks and Bull Warriors.

Exactly why I commented like I did in the Show yer teams thread: http://talkfantasyfootball.org/viewtopi ... &start=825
(tried to include the pic but the program says it can't determine the size of its own saved file )

[spubbbba]

To be fair to the 3rd edition range, all GW models were to that standard. They went through a weird period of coming out with really basic sculpts, especially the plastics. 3rd edition had the misfortune of coming out right in the middle of that and many of the players were straight up copies of fantasy models. The 40k rogue trader era plastic marines and orks were also better than the 2nd edition ones. Just like the 2nd ed BB range was largely better than 3rd.

I do think the dwarfs, chaos, metal orcs, undead (except ghouls) are ok though as are some of the stars.

Worst models for me were 4th ed Hubris, Griff and Jordell, all by Morely.

I like the style of the 2nd edition elfs and skaven, though the sculpt quality doesn’t quite hold up. From the new stuff I liked most of the plastics aside from the chaos warriors and there is a tendency for blitzers to not be obvious enough. Forgeworld has been very hit and miss, not a fan of Morg, Hakflem, Grim or the Rat ogre, but I like Zug, Glart, the deathroller, skaven booster and the mino.