How to teach Blood Bowl to new players

[Stig]

I’m sure we’ve all had a go at teaching others how to play, and I’d love to hear what others think. Having set up clubs in two schools and having spent most lunchbreaks over the last 10 years or so helping beginners get started, set out below are what I reckon is the best way to teach others to play blood bowl:

Have everything you need ready to go

If you know you’re going to be teaching someone how to play, ensure you have all the dice, teams, counters, scatter templates etc to hand, easily accessible. Even better, use a pitch with the range grid and kick off tables printed directly onto them. That way, everything you need during the match is there and the setting up is slick. For people that don’t “find” Blood Bowl for themselves, there is usually some trepidation, and this is often the perceived complexity of the game. By being organised and being able to produce all the necessary kit immediately, those fears are allayed. On the flip side, if you spend 5 minutes searching for a scatter template and have to interrupt the game every so often to go on a long hunt for a D8, then the enthusiasm soon wears off and the impression is created of the game being too complicated with too many components. The best dice are clear block dice, such as the Meiko Dice, or even better, NAF dice. Novelty dice can come later.

Quickly dish out two teams

Have two teams, probably Humans and Orcs, ready to go. They don’t need to be balanced or equal - don’t faff about with counting GPs or writing rosters; just having two teams, a reserve or two, and 2/3 rerolls per side is enough. Just say something like

“who wants to be Humans, who wants to be Orcs? Humans are faster and weaker; Orcs are slower and stronger”.

They won’t know the teams aren’t perfectly balanced. Nor does it matter. If you demonstrate this game is about accountancy, you’ll lose them. Optimisation can be exciting once they know the rules. But they don’t, so dish out some teams without adding up their values. Absolutely any race will do, even Ogres and Vamps!

Go straight in

No preamble, no explanation. Just go straight in. Any game that requires a boring lecture preceding it just isn’t worth playing. Best way to learn is as you go along.
Once you have dished out the teams, start the pre-match sequence
“Roll 1D6 each for the weather” – then get someone to read aloud the result on the weather table
“Roll 2D6 to see how many thousand fans you have in attendance”. Say one player rolls a 5, whilst the other player rolls a 9, you can point out that the player who has nine thousand fans has an advantage that will become apparent later.
You’re playing, it’s exciting. They were probably expecting a long lecture, but just being in-game, even rolling dice and reading off tables, is great.

Rules, not tactics

Let them play and make lots of mistakes. Never correct them. Let them set up their wardancer on the LOS in defence. Let them place their black orcs at the back to receive the ball. Let them do an uphill block as the first move of the turn. Let them reroll a pow. Whatever, that’s fine, don’t say anything. Remember THEY are playing the game, you’re there to help them do what they want to do. Once they learn the rules, they will start “seeing the tactics”. Tactics mean nothing without the framework of the rules, and therefore must be learnt afterwards. Only after they do something unwise on the pitch AND know the rules, feel free to ask “was that the right option” or “was there a better option”, anything to encourage them to tell you the right answer, and not the other way round. People hate being told what to do. It’s a judgement call when to bring tactics in.

Let them set up

After they roll for kickoff, present the option to the winner of “Do you want to kick the ball, and let your opponent have the first turn, or do you want your opponent to kick the ball to you, so you get the first turn? Just tell them the restrictions – minimum 3 players on the LOS, maximum 2 players in each wide zone, and 11 players on the pitch. Let them make mistakes and do some crazy setup. Remember: rules not tactics
At this point, when the teams are set up, you should make a couple of points:
• This is like chess, your turn, the other player’s turn, then your turn again
• However what’s more exciting is that instead of moving just one piece, you can move your entire team
• In chess pieces can only do a “move action”. In Blood Bowl, there is a menu of six actions to choose from
• When it’s your turn, point to a player, and tell us what action they’re going to do
• NB – don’t mention turnovers yet!

Use your best painted figures

Remember the feeling of looking through the glass at your local gaming shop? Makes such a difference

Full rules straight away

Teach the rules as they come up in game. If the first action is to pick up the ball, introduce the agility table. If the first action is to block, teach the block action. If the first action is to dodge out of a tackle zone and move, then do that. Just ensure the first block uses 1 block dice, and after that you can show them assists etc. Make the new players read the kick off and weather tables, and tell you what they need to roll. After they’re rolled on any tables, ensure that they read the result off and tell YOU what the result is – it gives the new players a lot more independence instead of just being talked at.
When they’re trying to dodge into one tackle zone, walk this through with them how to work it out, asking first: “what’s your agility? What do you need? How many tackle zones are you dodging into” So what do you need to see on the dice to be successful?” This is the thinking they will eventually have to do for themselves.

Use the casualty D68 table

Even though it’s not relevant unless it’s a league, it’s so much more fun to inform your opponent they have a “smashed knee”, or even better, are “dead”. When you mention it’s relevant when you play in a league, and they’ll often enquire “a league, what’s that?”

Use the 3rd ed accessories

If you can get your hands on them, the 3rd edition box is so much better for newbies:
• Positions are much easier to tell apart
• The stats are all on ONE card for the team as opposed to being split over multiple cards
• The range ruler and scatter templates are much clearer

If you have the BB2016 human team, what actually looks good is using 2nd edition plastic humans as linemen, then using random spiky/angry humans as the blitzers. The 2nd edition human linemen are the right scale and look fairly plain next to the BB2016 figures, who all look like blitzers.

When it’s time to teach tactics, present options and ask questions

Again, never tell them what to do. After they’re comfortable with the basic rules, they’ll start seeing the tactics, and often come up with the right ideas themselves. When it’s time to help, never tell them what to do, rather offer options such as “you can move here and do this which requires rolling X, or move there which requires rolling Y” Keep that to a minimum though. You will see some horrendous blood bowl but after a few games, it’s amazing how they pick it up.

Use the custom beginner’s reference chart

I’ve written a quick-reference chart for absolute beginners. It’s got the list of actions at the top, which is absolutely crucial. It's designed to be used whilst teaching someone to play, so it's not as good if beginners are trying to play on their own.

Play fast

Beginners will want to play slow, but it’s so boring. Keep the game at a good pace – remember to think of the opponent as well. It’s not about winning, just learning the rules. Slow play is boring.

Emphasise learning, not winning

Sometimes beginners will get overly competitive. Remember the exercise is just learning the rules, so it doesn’t matter who wins. You can inform them they can get any revenge when they join the league.

Have the CRP printed off ready to give to them

If they enjoy it, then they need some way to get started. Much better to leave them with something in their hands. If you regularly teach people, why not print off a stack of CRP rulebooks so they can get started? It’s a brilliant and clear book that’s almost identical to the current ruleset; any differences are incredibly minor. Strike whilst the iron is hot, they'll dive into the CRP with their initial enthusiasm.

Enjoy it!

‘Nuff said.

[Wobert]

Agree with all of the above.

I would though consider teaching new players BB7s first and then full BB after. The mechanics are 99% the same but its a much quicker game which means you could play it in a lunch break at school.

[Sandwich]

Those all look like good ideas for teaching new players.

I started my eldest out when he was 5, using the 3rd edition plastics. We started off with 6-a-side, just using linemen, and played a game or two with just the basic rules, then brought in more players one at a time, with extra rules each time - e.g. blitzers brought in skills and different movement, throwers brought in reroll skills, catchers/blockers added in different number of block dice. After 5 or 6 games, without really realising it, he was playing more-or-less full rules

[Stig]

Great point about BB7s, I know of one school that introduces the game that way. They have a beginners 7s league; and a veterans after theyve played for a year. Must be such a pleasure to play with your boys Sandwich!

[faust_33]

Nice job!

I think knowing your audience is going to help you a lot too. Experience war-gamers or boardgames are going to be easier to teach, than people not having exposure to such. I was a big time roleplayer when I was introduced, so all the stats quickly made sense. But I also had my own preconceived notions of how the game should work. Emphasizing that this isn't a game of American Football, probably helps.

In our boardgame group, one of the most experienced teacher teaches usually teaches us new games. He does a great job of giving us a brief rundown of the rules, before we dive in. Not everything we need to know, but enough that we can get through a turn and work on strategies on our own. Again, that's going to depend highly on the capabilities of the people you are introducing it too. With younger, less experienced players, it makes much more sense to get them in the game as quick as possible.

I recently taught Necromunda to two others, and I really wish I had broke things down into simpler parts and 'graduated up' over time. We all still had fun, but it might have been better. Much like the BB7's suggestion above. Also with BB7's, you're leaving out the Big Guy, and I've heard that is smart for teaching purposes, as they have their own set of rules and ways of doing things.

[Stig]

Thanks! I agree knowing your audience is key, my experience is mainly high school age. Great to hear your necromunda worked, and sounds like you've got a great group.

Ive found even starting with big guys is ok; learning the game is basically picking up new mechanics and I dont think it matters whether it's bonehead or sure hands, a mechanic is a mechanic. I've had students start with Vampire and Ogres as their first team and they've enjoyed it. They tend to LOVE the bonehead rule!