A game that puts the fantasy into fantasy football. I really love Blood Bowl and have done for years. I had the old 3rd Edition box set when I was a kid and used to play with my brother a lot. Over the years I lost my old set probably somewhere between moving houses. Later I started playing the PC game online and even running leagues and cups with my friends. I really wanted to get a tabletop Blood Bowl pitch and team but they were either quite expensive or hard to find something I liked so I never did. When Games Workshop re-released a new edition I should have been the target market but I still haven't brought a copy yet.
When I started getting interested in playing Blood Bowl again the biggest issue was the lack of support from GW. There was a Living Rulebook available online with all the rules needed to play but they did not sell anything needed to play the game like board, rulers, dice or models. There were plenty of other companies selling models for fantasy football games that would work with Blood Bowl but often I found they were either expensive to get a full team and ship to the UK or not great looking. This also made it harder to find people to play against, a lot of my friends were unlikely to buy models themselves if they were expensive so I don't know how much play I would have got out of it.
When I heard that a new edition was in the works I was excited, it was due just before Christmas so I was sure I wouldn't be able to afford to straight away but I was planning on getting it as soon as possible. But it is now 4 months later and I still haven't picked it up and every time I think about doing it I decide to wait a little longer.
The main reason I haven't pick it up is the release schedule for the game. The game is being released in waves, which I am fine with and I get from a business point of view. The issue is for me that the waves are very slow coming out and there wasn't a big initial release which has meant that even now, this long into the new edition, there are only 4 teams available and only one is complete at the moment. Humans and Orcs were in the boxed set and Skaven were realised shortly after. Last month Dwarfs were realised and this month is the separate human team box. That is only 4 teams available 4 months into the second edition and of those teams only Humans have models available for every player option. The Human Ogre was realised this month but the Troll and Goblins still aren't available for Orcs, the Rat Ogre isn't available for Skaven and the Deathroller isn't available for the Dwarf team. That seems very low to me for this long into the edition.
If it was me planing it I would have started slightly differently. I would have still had Humans and Orcs in the box as they are but would have released the big guys for them at the same time (still a separate purchase, I'm fine with that). I would also have realised the Human and Orc team boxes in the first month instead of a few months later (taking up a release month that could be used for new teams) so that in the first month we had two complete teams. In the next month I would release 2 teams with their big guys and so on each month. This would mean that by now we would have 8 full teams instead of 1 full team and 3 almost complete teams. I would even say it would be OK to slow down at that point and just do a team a month once wave two starts. I think it would be better to get a few team options for people to play out early so people have choices when they get into the game.
The other reason I haven't pick up the new edition is the teams that have been released. This isn't GW's fault, they don't know which of the teams I like playing and wanted to get. The teams I enjoyed playing most over the years and wanted to pick up are Goblins, Amazons, Elves (Pro or High) and Chaos Dwarf teams. I know that as part of wave one Elves are planned and so I might wait until they are released before I pick up the game and get an Elf team at the same time or pick up the game when we have a release date for one of the teams I want so I can play a few games before they are released and pick them up as soon as possible. Like I said this isn't really a problem with GW, it is just my personal taste of teams. I have heard that they plan on releasing every tieam that had rules or official miniatures, I just hope the game sells well enough that it continues to get support. I have heard that the new edition is selling better than GW expected it to so it is looking good.
I will pick up the new game and I really hope that friends of mine pick up a team as well. I would love to run a few leagues or cups with my friends. It is such a great game and well worth trying for anyone even if they are not normally into miniatures games. Once a few more teams have been released I think it will really take off, I'm sure more people are like me and waiting for the teams they like to be released before they pick up the game. If I hear rumours that the game is going to lose support from GW I would pick it up so I at least have the pitch and dice to play on and can get miniatures from other companies if I need to.
I am glad GW are showing support for their old specialist games line again and maybe we will see new editions of Necromanda, Battle Fleet Gothic or Mordheim soon as well.
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