Final List Reminder,a New League and an old one
Firstly, if you want to vote for the SABG Top 50 List, get me your votes (or let me know to wait) quickly. Unless I hear otherwise, I'm going to publish that this weekend.
And now that the SABBL is in the playoffs, my mind is turning towards the Blood Bowl
league that Dennis suggested. Blood bowl is a fantasy (elves, dwarfs) football/rugby hybrid game. I'd say that it has a much higher strategy content than managing baseball (even though it's still random as hell). A typical game takes about 3 hours. I'd write a detailed review, but I've already done it! (Go read).Right now there are only a handful of people in the league. I'd like to see a reasonable number, but Blood Bowl has a big advantage over our Strato league. Games aren't scheduled. You can join in the league and play as often as you like. Want to join after a few weeks? No problem. (The league really represents something akin to football of 100 years ago, when managers just scheduled games against willing opponents. Bloodbowl is like college football scheduling, but with a straight face).
As I said, you can download the rulebook for free.
What would be ideal is to find out there are a few more sets floating around. You can scrounge pretty much everything (although having the special dice and the pass ruler is fairly necessary), but I happen to like the aesthetics of the game. [Dennis has made some paper counters, and I suspect others could, or you can buy a team on eBay].
About the only thing that needs to get decided before we start are any variants we're going to play, and traditional scheduling rules, and a count of whose interested. Lets see what the interest is, and then we can decide on any rules. (I'm actually fairly happy with the new Living Rule Book, but there are a few points of interest, in particular if there are going to be playoffs).
Dragon's Lair has another BBowl league, but I think its fairly formal. Still, there may be those with a spare set for sale.
Finally, I'm up for a follow-on Strat-o league, but after a few months break.
Labels: Blood Bowl, Top50
posted by Brian @ 1:31 PM
14 comments
14 Comments:
Chip Aaron is the president of the Lone Star Historical Miniatures chapter in San Antonio, and I believe he is the main organizer of the currently operating Blood Bowl league that plays at DL. He's an excellent wargaming opponent, and I know he'd be happy to be of assistance if needed.
does anybody have any interest in a fantasy/roto basketball league?
re blood bowl
in only if you need another player which doesn't sound like the case
re other sport sim leagues
in whenever any baseball, basketball, football, or hockey sim league gets going
I'm interested. I'll start searching E-Bay for a set.
I'm interested in a Blood Bowl league, but I'm not quite sure how it works. There's no schedule? You just play whoever? You can drop in and out?
While that's great from the stand point of flexible schedule (which I need), but how does the league hold together? How do you keep rankings?
I downloaded the rules, but I didn't see that part explained.
Ted,
Typically how it works is this:
You play when you want. The league sets rules for playoffs or tournaments. (Those would have to be discussed). A typical 'season' may use any of the following:
1) The best percentage teams (meeting minimum # of games) qualify.
2) The teams with the most wins qualify (perhaps minimum percentage?)
3) The highest team ratings qualify (team ratings indicate playing strength, not perfect but reasonably well. The formula is in the book).
4) Players vote, commisioners choice
5) A points system to weight total wins and W/L (For example, +3 for a win, -2 for a loss, +1/0 for OT win/loss).
I believe the last league I played in took the Top 4 teams (out of 18 or so), with best percentage (min 10 games over the season, roughly 3 months). To prevent teams from sitting on records, challenges could be issued (as per rules) but I don't think it ever occurred.
And yes, scheduling is just as flexible. Leagues usually set constraints (mix/max # of games to qualify for playoffs) and perhaps a few guidelines. I believe the rules for my last league were:
1) Try to play roughly 1 game a week.
2) 10 Game minimum for playoffs
3) No playing the same team twice in a row, or more than twice in a season. (The last part would require a large pool of teams).
Dedicated managers could run multiple teams, with the caveat that their teams could never play each other.
One other thing ... if people wanted to borrow some miniatures, I may be able to lend out a team or two.
Do you know if the 2nd edition will work for our purposes, or do we need the 3rd edition of the game? 2nd edition seems to run pretty cheap on E-Bay, but 3rd might cost you $40-50.
I see you can also buy the third edition new for $75 from GW.
2nd edition has a polysteryene board (see this image). It seems to have the right number of squares (perhaps a two-deep endzone), and you might need to use the LRB pass distance chart, instead of the ruler (if it has changed).
Given that you'll basically have to print out the new rulebook anyway, I think it will work fine. If you like the board, it's probably a good choice. (I dislike the polystyrene myself, although it looks nice once it's painted). You'll get the dice, 24 miniatures, and basic equipment. If it's dirt cheap, that's probably a good deal.
From a league standpoint, the only upgrade for 3rd edition is that it has the cardboard board. (I'm assuming for $75, you don't get the deathzone expansion, but that's now completely useless for our purposes).
I'm not 100% on this (I went to BGG to figure out the differences), but it jibes with what I remember...
I might cobble together a team using minis I already have just so a can play a game or two. I have zero interest in a long term commitment, but I do want to field Hthark the Unstoppable.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/16034/item/294558#item294558
I'm interested in a long term committment, I just know I can't keep one. Rather, I can keep one to my family and another to my job, but then I'm maxed out.
Dunno, I'll roll this Blood Bowl thing around in my head for a while.
What I'd really like is to do a 'season' of BattleLore.
There's a module for BloodBowl on Vassal which may be of help to those who cannot always make it to face-to-face gaming sessions.
I'm making the assumption that it will be compatible with the ruleset the league is using.
There's also an automated bloodbowl client (Java BBowl) that handles the slightly older LRB 4.0. I'm not exactly sure how easy it is to use, although I tried it out several years ago.
Check out fumbbl.com.
As for long term commitment, I'm hoping that we can adapt the BBowl rules to any other league we may do (since it really is the most flexible league structure I've found).
This monday I'll bring my set (and some teams). It's the 3.0 Rulebook, but close enough to show you how a one-off game works. And I'll build a few (5.0) teams for demonstration purposes.
I don't have a problem making the $75 investment if there's a reasonable chance this won't just whither and die. I've owned the game at various times and always dumped it due to lack of motivated opponents. Since SABG seems full of sports nuts, I'm again getting optimistic...
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