We’ve seen plenty of tall Star Players and monstrous Big Guys join the Blood Bowl dugouts lately, so it’s a refreshing change that the newest star is a full head and shoulders shorter. Barik Farblast is a thrower of no small repute, largely owing to… well, you’d best see for yourself.
He’s so skilled at blasting the ball out of his cannon that he can accurately on-point Hail Mary Passes from all the way across the pitch, and he’s accurate enough to be able to reroll the scatter dice once per game. He can play for the Halfling Thimble Cup, the Old World Classic, and the Worlds Edge Superleague, which might finally make that Dwarf throwing game attainable!
Veteran coaches may remember Barik’s first appearance in metal from way back in the murky mists of 1988, but don’t go digging for your old rulebook – his updated rules are included in the pack, alongside a highly detailed new Forge World miniature cast in resin.
Speaking of Star Players, they’re one of the focuses of this month’s Blood Bowl FAQ update. We now throw this article over to Jay Clare, the head of the Referees and Ruleskeepers Guild (RARG), to tell us more.
Jay: It’s that time of year again and, as usual, we’ve been keeping a close eye on how the game is progressing within the wider Blood Bowl community. So here is the next series of updates for Blood Bowl that we believe will ensure the game stays balanced and fun for players across the world.
While Star Players are meant to be the best players out there, they shouldn’t be dominating quite as much as they are right now! The two biggest offenders – Morg ‘n’ Thorg & Hakflem Skuttlespike – have seen an increase in GP cost to remedy this. It will now be more of an investment to get these superstars on the pitch.
With tournaments starting to pick up again, we want coaches to get the best experience, partly through assessing the tiers of each of the teams. Some Tier 2 teams are performing well above what we expected, while some Tier 1 teams are languishing in the doldrums of the lower mid-table.
Starting with this update, we will be reassessing each team every six months to ensure that the tiers are always as up-to-date as possible with the current meta and tournament data. Underworld Denizens have moved to Tier 1, while Humans and Orcs have dropped to Tier 2 this time around.
Swarming is a unique rule that allows extra Snotlings to pour onto the pitch. While extra Snotlings are fine in a Snotling team, this was proving particularly potent for Underworld Denizens. So, we’ve amended Swarming so coaches can only add as many extra Snotlings as there are friendly players on the pitch who already have the Swarming trait.
This forces Underworld Denizens to start with Snotlings on the pitch, and then see if they can get more via Swarming, rather than having them come on from reserve. This should have little to no impact on actual Snotling teams as, well, they’re all Snotlings already!
These are just a few of the clarifications in this update, and we are confident they will make your games of Blood Bowl smoother and even more exciting! If you have any other questions or queries regarding Blood Bowl, send them to bloodbowlfaq@gwplc.com for consideration for our next update. We’ll see you in May!
Thanks, Jay! To access the latest Blood Bowl Designer’s Commentary and Errata, head on over to the FAQs page now to download the free PDFs.
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