Blood Bowl back at Warhammer World

[Olaf the Stout]

We have heard from someone that was able to talk to one of the people from the WW events team.

What he said was two things so far:

1) They knew about the NAF tournament and that was actually the weekend they wanted to have their event so out of respect they moved it from when they would rather have held the event to a later date. (you can argue if you want if it is later enough ... but they did move it in awareness of the NAF event).

2) Now this one is still vague. The events person said he was aware of differences in the rules between LRB 5.0 and CRP. But that was it. So this one is still a question mark that hopefully the NAF can dig into.

To summarize for me for this event based on the above:

1) SPP like stuff during the game being worth more than winning ... I'm fine with that ... I like weird rules for some tournaments can make things interesting.

2) GW only models .... I'm fine with this .... it has always been a rule with GW and I don't have issue. I'm not sure how they will be using the event to get new people to really come to the event if the models are need to be Ebay bought or converted ... but I don't have a problem with them creating this hurdle ... it would be expected to me.

3) So close to the NAF event. I'm sure the higher ups told them to have the event ... so they are having it. Knowing that they moved it back a few weeks out of respect for the NAF event ... I'm okay with when it is being held and think that is was more a sign of respect than disrespect.

4) Using the LRB 5.0 as the base. Nope ... nothing I've heard yet can give me a good reason why this is a good idea. This seems like it was just a poor move for PR. If they had not done this ... then folks like me would be supporting them on forums and FB instead of wondering what the heck is going on and questioning them. Anything you want to do ruleswise for the event can be done to CRP just as easily as LRB 5.0 so this one is just poor.

And then I come to the bottom line ... the event just seems so badly set up. Lack of GW models for sale means a barrier to entry to new players to play. So close to the NAF event means you'll lose some experienced players who cannot spend the money to travel to two event in the same location so close together. And then LRB 5.0 means you are going to get some experienced players who refuse to go because they think you are disrespecting the game. So it seems pre-built to only get 1/2 the players of the NAF event. I will be very curious to hear the attendance numbers of each event.

I agree Tom. The event organiser seems to be doing a good job at setting this event up to fail before it has even started.

1. Rules for determining the tournament winner so very different so as to discourage regular BB players not to attend (e.g. winning your game 4-0 may not score as many points as losing 0-4, but throwing 3 passes and getting 5 players sent off for fouling) – CHECK
2. Held only 2 weeks after the biggest BB tournament in the UK at a very close location – CHECK
3. Non-current rule set used for no apparent reason – CHECK
4. Only allowing minis that are OOP for years and/or require conversion to use – CHECK

I worry that they will have a poor attendance and then point to the event as proof that support for Blood Bowl in the UK isn’t very strong. I think an expectation of half the numbers of the NAFC is optimistic and will probably rely on new players to Blood Bowl attending after finding out about the game via their local GW store.

[Digger Goreman]

sNAFu + Greedy W@nkers = FUBAR

You masochistic lemmings will get what you deserve....

[SunDevil]

Thrilled to see NAF and GW talking. Prez Mike already doing a smash-up job!

But, like Galak, I am shaking my head at this LRB5 nonsense. Just reeks of a rushed event with no knowledge of the current state of BB. Sadly, I have to hope this is just general ignorance on GW's part and not the beginning of a concerted effort to make BB 'theirs' again by demanding everything be done their way simply to do it their way and not because it is in the best interest of the game.

[Olaf the Stout]

Also, how long are the rounds?

Why do they need 10 1/2 hours on the Saturday to play 3 games and 8 1/2 hours to play 2 games on the Sunday?

[axiom]

Folks - check the NAF link sann posted on the previous page. It's been confirmed that CRP will be used, not LRB5.

I can understand people reserving judgment. I can understand folks having frustrations from how things have been handled in the past, but gleefully wanting this to fail seems like a pretty poor attitude to me.

[Darkson]

Folks - check the NAF link sann posted on the previous page. It's been confirmed that CRP will be used, not LRB5.

"Likely", not "confirmed" according to the link.

[axiom]

@Darkson - thanks for the clarification.

[harvestmouse]

2 points regarding the most recent comments:

1. Who are the target punters? Of course it's as many and diverse a group of gamers as possible. However 'generally' is this aimed at the BB community or the GW community? There's a pretty big difference nowadays.

2. As for figures, that's really not going to be a problem. They're not wanting coaches to go out and source OOP citadels. They'll want you to buy plastic boxsets and convert the figures. It's not hard, the last Orc box I bought for this was dead easy. In fact some of the shoulder pad options were awesome. Ok, most of us aren't going to come up with Spubbba results, but it's not hard to do something half decent.

However there's the fundamental difference between lets say NAF players and GW players. The tourney scene is more about competitive mechanical players. GW is more about the fantasy and the modelling.

What's more interesting is what they intend to do about boards and dice. They can't expect players to source second hand stuff. They certainly don't want players going out and sourcing 3rd party stuff. So either they'll be supplying them or it's back to the sticky back plastic and PVA glue corner at school.

[Anacron]

Seems GW:WW have now been deleting critical comments (and blocking the commenters) from their Facebook page.

[harvestmouse]

"The rules are being specifically produced as a handbook for this event and will be available for free on the Warhammer World website once they are done, so no worries about finding the correct edition smile emoticon As for dice, templates, boards, etc, we have plans for providing these at the event- watch this space for more details. For teams, yes, we understand nothing is available right now, so we will be showing off a host of ways to convert teams from current models in the upcoming weeks, done by some very talented people around GW head office."

I dunno, for me this is all very logical and I don't see any problems with this plan. If BB is a game worth investing for them, I think this is a good move.

[frogboy]

"The rules are being specifically produced as a handbook for this event and will be available for free on the Warhammer World website once they are done, so no worries about finding the correct edition smile emoticon As for dice, templates, boards, etc, we have plans for providing these at the event- watch this space for more details. For teams, yes, we understand nothing is available right now, so we will be showing off a host of ways to convert teams from current models in the upcoming weeks, done by some very talented people around GW head office."

I dunno, for me this is all very logical and I don't see any problems with this plan. If BB is a game worth investing for them, I think this is a good move.

Did you send them an email too HM? Sounds amazing. Should be good fun an i'm looking forward to see what they will do with these other wacky bonus point ideas

[harvestmouse]

That's from their Facebook page in response to a tourney player's questions.

[Ithilkir]

Being honest it really doesn't matter what version is being used, with a new edition in 2017 it's very likely to be a new rule set anyway and this is a way for the new guy to see what sort of rules are and aren't working. I doubt it'll be as big a change that we had from 2nd - 3rd but lets not get hung up on what rules they're using. Lets simply be thankful that the game is coming back into the limelight and there's some fantastic looking models (that Orc thrower looks amazing) coming out for it

[dode74]

this is a way for the new guy to see what sort of rules are and aren't working

Looking at thousands of games of data would be a better way.

[Waldorf28]

2 points regarding the most recent comments:
What's more interesting is what they intend to do about boards and dice. They can't expect players to source second hand stuff. They certainly don't want players going out and sourcing 3rd party stuff. So either they'll be supplying them or it's back to the sticky back plastic and PVA glue corner at school.

They're going to struggle to supply them. The UKBBL (online Cyanide league) used to run two tabletop events a year at WHW from 2011 to about 2013 until they got sniffy about having Blood Bowl in the main hall at all. On that last occasion they gifted us all their boards and 300 white block dice. Which we now use at our own events at far more hospitable venues.