The GAMA trade show has finally brought us some much anticipated Blood Bowl news, and boy was it a surprise to some! Speculation had run the gambit on the next team to see the light of day and personally I will admit that I was surprised. The crew of WSTZ discusses the design of the new diminutive team and Jeff works his wizardry to translate this team onto the Blitz Bowl circuit!
I haven’t regularly used Star Players in league or tournament play in a very long time. Back in the original 3rd edition rules Star Players where much cheaper than they currently are so it was quite common to see them in play. When I attended the first Blood Bowl Tournament at GW Nottingham it was a staple to see all the big names on just about every team at the tournament. In fact my Chaos Dwarf team rocked Hthark The Unstoppable through it’s first several tournaments. I’m pretty sure every Undead team I played against had Count Luthor and every human team had Griff. They were so cheap it would have been ridiculous not to use them. A few iterations of rules later and taking those guys now is a huge commitment so its rare to see such big names on the field. Some tournaments though have adopted homemade heroes which has given me the opportunity to create some of my own Blood Bowl Stars. Continue reading
Anyone I know fortunate enough to have a go at GW’s Blood Bowl Universe intro game, Blitz Bowl, has had a grand time. Released only in select markets its availability is limited which is a shame as this is a fantastic refinement of the Blood Bowl concepts by designer James Hewitt. This isn’t a review of the game or its mechanics, there are plenty of those to be found online, but how this limited release title enabled this hobbyist to finally be able to build a little Blood Bowl themed terrain.
Better late than never, Games Workshop has finally gotten around to giving us the last of the goblin secret weapons and a troll with two feet on the ground! I take the time to unboxing and assemble these fantastic new models, so follow along below and see how these new models come together.
Believe it or not this project yet lives! Ironic that a project involving the undead refuses to die. Despite the inconvenience of having to put my life on hold for a year, I’m now back home and still trying to get this team finished. It’s been a bit of a rough start as I was more than certainly a bit rusty with the old paint brush. Still, despite a bit of squeaky joints I made some noticeable progress.
If you recall, I mentioned how rough the summer was on my wallet when it came to the amount of new Blood Bowl teams that 3rd-party manufacturers were producing. In total I added another seven teams through Kickstarter last year and the rewards of that folly adventure have begun to trickle in. The first to arrive only slightly behind schedule is a new take on the men with hats, the Grim Butchers from Goblin Guild.
I put the finishing touches on my underworld denizens team this weekend by putting the number transfers on the team. To celebrate I took some new pics, so here’s a massive photo dump (after the break)!
Earlier this year I picked up some hardcover cases with pluck foam from Sam’s Club and did a little review-ish thing. I decided to return the cases to the store, because really they were much too big. I wanted something I could fit inside a backpack along with my rules manuals, dice, etc. Not feel like I was using carry-on luggage every time I went to play some games. In the end I decided to buy the Citadel Skirmish Case, which I’ve liked quite a bit. You can fit a lot of minis in there and it fits in a backpack. However with two Blood Bowl teams (with 4 big guys among them!) and then with my Middle-earth Strategy Battle Games minis, things started to get a bit crowded. I also didn’t feel like hauling around the bulk of my miniatures collection all the time, too many eggs in one basket.
I started researching the Kill Team Case Games Workshop produced when Kill Team was announced. It’s basically the one of the accordion foam trays in the Skirmish Case but in a zippered case. In a Facebook thread about the product, people mentioned they didn’t like how soft the foam exterior was, and one guy mentioned picked up a little case from Harbor Freight for $15. Fast forward a couple months and I’ve picked one up myself.
Another month has come and gone and with it another paint challenge. As a reminder, September’s painting challenge was as follows:
September got its name from being the 7th month of the original Roman calendar. January and February were added later making it 9th.
These are the official miniatures North Star Miniatures sells for Dracula’s America, but they are really licensed from Artizan Miniatures. While the miniatures are pretty simple as far as details go, the sculpts really impressed me and I enjoyed painting them quite a lot.
As an extra two I painted up the two werewolves while I was at it. I can’t count them as my surprise two because they go with the 7 painted.
So what were my surprise inclusions? How about some mutated goblins for my underworld Blood Bowl team. Remember them?
Jeff also finished the challenge. His first completed mini was for a special event in the Age of Sigmar campaign he’s participating in. The event featured a jousting game, so you know he couldn’t resist whipping up something for his Stormcast wannabes Flesh Eater Courts army.
Not satisfied with one big guy, Jeff also painted up a big guy for his ork Blood Bowl team. Again another conversion, this time on the controversial troll from Games Workshop. I think Jeff did a great job modifying the questionable pose of the GW model.
And for his seven, Jeff got back to the grindstone and ground out seven more genestealers for Space Hulk. There are two more lurking in the background (aren’t there always? Those blip counters can be nasty … ) but Jeff had completed those previously.
And what about Jason? Well unfortunately life got the best of Jason and he couldn’t meet the deadline, coughing up the first $5 into the pot for failing to make the deadline.
Next up is October’s theme …
Things That Go Bump in the Night!
Yesterday a ton of news dropped at Warhammer Fest Europe, a bit shocking considering how much news has been dropping lately for a variety of Games Workshop games, but it looks like GW was holding plenty of tasty nuggets in reserve for us. James, Jeff and I give our thoughts on the beans that were spilled on yesterday’s Warhammer Community post.
