GW bringing back Specialist Games?!?

[Stout Youngblood]

JDMOFO: If you would like to play like you used you, you may want to try out some of the variants that have been developed like Street Bowl or Dungeon Bowl. In my league we play these over the summer months and always enjoy them for the chaos that ensues.

[odinsgrandson]

I do hope they bring back dungeon bowl. That'd be awesome.

[quote="Loki"]Hi jdmofo,

the balance to that view is that I actually want to try and play the game where I don't make any 'mistakes'.../quote]


I'm on board with this view of Blood Bowl. I think that games are boring when I don't make any tactical decisions that changed the outcome. That's honestly been one of the reasons my 40k forces haven't been updated to the new editions- I felt that I had pretty much made all of my choices by the time I was finished setting up the minis on the table, and after that we spent quite a bit of time simply finding out whose list was better built.

With Blood Bowl, I often find myself in situations where I have to choose between several options that could all go wrong, and trying to pick the best one. And when something goes wrong, I have a new weird situation that I have to think my way out of.

One thing I very much like about Blood Bowl is the attitude towards game balance. The inclusion of tier 2 and tier 3 teams allows for brilliant coaches to give themselves challenges. And if you play well enough with a tier 2 team, then your opponent will have to figure out how to deal with tactics they're not used to seeing (Vampires, when played well, can be a very hard team to beat).

Honestly, I'd prefer to see the new rules set include Slaan, Underworld and Chaos Pact, and I wouldn't mind seeing Khorne and Brets in there too.


But the main reason that I don't want GW to completely re-write the rules from the ground up is that I think they're not very good at that sort of thing. GW rules sets tend to be solvable, poorly balanced games and overly reliant on players getting their hate on to regulate other players using all of the broken tactics that they wrote into their rules.

On the other hand, both Necromunda and Mordheim could use some pretty sizable changes. I wouldn't mind in the least if Necromunda used the current 40k rules set as the basis of their new edition, or if Mordheim used basic Age of Sigmar rules (so long as they give us point values/balancing mechanics).

[Darkson]

God no, in no way should they use the current big battle rules for Necro or Mordheim.

[Kaiowas]

God no, in no way should they use the current big battle rules for Necro or Mordheim.

im probably just old fashioned but i like the gunplay and combat in necro (at least the official version i played back in 2000 or so). I know that was like 3rd ed 40k or so, right?

[Darkson]

2nd ed, before they started dumbing it down (though admittedly 2nd ed c/c was to unwieldy for a mass combat big battle). Great for a skirmish game, not for games with 40+ models a side.

[Kaiowas]

2nd ed, before they started dumbing it down (though admittedly 2nd ed c/c was to unwieldy for a mass combat big battle). Great for a skirmish game, not for games with 40+ models a side.

then that sounds like why it was brilliant for Necro (never played 40k myself). I'm no expert but I might be tempted to nab a few models, I doubt there's a scene anywhere near where I live to put time in to learning

Give me a Cal Jericho and a Mad Donna to paint and I'll be happy

[Darkson]

Give me a Cal Jericho and a Mad Donna to paint and I'll be happy

Kal Jerico.

Got the original Black Library model somewhere amongst my collection of unpainted and unassembled figures (along with the certificate), though never got around to getting Mad Donna or the Specialist Games version of Kal. Always thought there would be plenty of time...

[Kaiowas]

Give me a Cal Jericho and a Mad Donna to paint and I'll be happy

Kal Jerico.

Got the original Black Library model somewhere amongst my collection of unpainted and unassembled figures (along with the certificate), though never got around to getting Mad Donna or the Specialist Games version of Kal. Always thought there would be plenty of time...

i toyed with the spelling, dammit came down on the wrong side of things!

ANYWAY

from this news there doesnt seem to be any mention of rule re tooling, just giving you the physical pieces (models and cyber future terrain) so maybe we do get a boxed CRP with new pitch and base models with each 6 months theres another team released?

[koadah]

Not been around here for a while...
...just want a cool, fun, bloody, shiny board game for their collection.
Sorry again

Well, all that you wrote about BB becoming less fun is your own fault.
BB is a beer & pretzel game but people, obviously including you and your league friends, do tend to play it very competitive.

Got to agree.

How can you blame the game when YOU are not playing it properly.

[DixonCider]

Not been around here for a while...
...just want a cool, fun, bloody, shiny board game for their collection.
Sorry again

Well, all that you wrote about BB becoming less fun is your own fault.
BB is a beer & pretzel game but people, obviously including you and your league friends, do tend to play it very competitive.

Got to agree.

How can you blame the game when YOU are not playing it properly.

relevant

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/73 ... 752088.jpg

[Regash]

It's not the case that I said he is having fun the wrong way.
I just pointed out why his experience with the game has changed.
And why the game doesn't need changing but his attitude does.

He himself that it was more fun when they were more like noobs...

[spubbbba]

What GW might do with all the games is something similar to Betrayal at Calth.
Where they release a self contained board game with its own rules but lots of cool new plastic models you can use with the existing game.
This would work with BB but I don't know the status of the rule sets of the other games and if they need updated.

[jdmofo]

I've been compared to Sheldon, there is seriously no expletive so insulting

I don't think there's anything wrong with BB or the way anyone plays it. I don't need convincing that maybe I have it wrong and I should adjust my attitude and start playing it again or anything like that.

BB is after all the boardgame I have played WAY more than any other. Like I said, weekly for 3 years. That's not a huge amount compared to some people here but in general you have to really like something to do it that much. I have 40-odd other boardgames that have not seen even a tenth of that amount of play. It was my favourite game for a long time.

I guess I could condense everything I said down to:

"I played it a LOT, eventually got tired of it. A new, different version would likely make me want to play it again."

Like a videogame that you play to death and put aside and then a sequel come out and you're like 'ooooh!'

PS yeah BB Team Manager is s great little card game, but it ain't BB.

[Kaiowas]

PS yeah BB Team Manager is s great little card game, but it ain't BB.

there's always a concern that what we get next "ain't BB" either. There's definitely a crowd that would be ok with small adjustments but changing the entirety/structure of the game for a short term swell in excitement for those who have grown bored (I sympathise with you here of course, not great to have the fun taken out of a game you used to enjoy) of the game in current guise might not be the best approach.

However, in a less harsh fashion I agree with the guys here. BB is a two player game, both players are responsible for creating enjoyment as well as the game giving you a venue to do so. Its not a video game or a movie where most of the responsibility for entertainment lies with the content creator, there's an element we all need to feed in to and need to continue to do so. Playing uber competitively can easily drive people away from feeding in to this shared enjoyment as some concentrate too hard on just winning. No matter what game you pick up, there are going to be power gamers

Clearly GW want three things:
Capitalise on the continued cult status of the current game
Spread it to Video Game players
Bring back old players and initiate new players (probably from other GW games)

two of these groups (probably the overwhelming majority) would generally be opposed to wholesale changes as it messes with what they know and currently enjoy and some of the third category would be generally agnostic to the rules as they've never played them before

[Steam Ball]

Let's hope they learn from:
GW: Space board game...
Fans: Space Hulk!!!
GW: Yep!
Fans: Great!
GW: Sea battles board game next...
Fans: Man'O'War!!! Man'O'War!!! Man'O'War!!!
GW: Dreadfleet.
Fans: Whut? WTF!!!

Clearly GW want three things:
Capitalise on the continued cult status of the current game
Spread it to Video Game players
Bring back old players and initiate new players (probably from other GW games)

And stop other companies that are eating their turf in multiple fronts while they got obsessed with Space Marines. They will have to handle SG a lot better than before (see the interview with old staff that was released days ago). At times it even looks a desperate U-turn.