Last year, Dungeon Bowl returned with a bang. This classic game involves varied Blood Bowl teams playing on behalf of the eight Colleges of Magic, beating the snot out of each other in dank dungeons for the amusement of the faculty.
It’s now time for the game’s first expansion. Dungeon Bowl: Death Match brings an eternal struggle between primeval forces to these labyrinthine depths. It’s Life vs Death! Ghyran vs Shyish! Green shirts vs purple shirts! Take a look at what you get in this healthy box.
Representing the College of Life are the Emerald Crusaders – a core of six acrobatic Wood Elves, ably assisted by six extremely hungry Halfling allies. It’s nature teaming up with nurture!
On the other side, the College of Death brings a gaggle of 13 horrors, including Ghouls, Skeletons, and Zombies, plus a Wight, a Mummy, a Flesh Golem, and a Wraith – a truly dirty (baker’s) dozen.
We got in touch with Jay Clare, the lead games developer for Blood Bowl, who graciously punted a few words our way to explain what you can expect when you step onto the cold cobbles of the dungeons below Altdorf.
"We wanted to capture the feel of these two colleges, so this expansion contains a number of new rooms and tiles, each themed to one of the two, and each with their own unique rules.”
“From College of Life rooms such as the Fountain of Youth and the Fungus Farm, to those for the College of Death such as the Corpse Chasm and the Werewolf's Lair, Dungeon Bowl: Death Match adds unique twists and turns which let players feel like they are playing games within the halls of their favourite college."
You’re reading that right – these dastardly wizards have only gone and interred a rabid Werewolf in their maddening maze. If you’re unlucky, this lethal lycanthrope will Blitz players who stumble through its lair before skulking back to the dog house. You should know better than to wave a ball in front of a Collegiate canine…
That’s not the only underhanded trick the College of Death has pulled – they’ve stuffed a bunch of undead players under the field. Heavy flagstones usually stop them from getting out, but the Corpse Chasm lets these enthusiastic ghouls give passing players a show of suppurating support.
Fortunately, it’s a well-observed principle of wizardry that blatant cheating balances out when both sides are doing it. The College of Life, for example, has been cultivating a fascinating Fungus Farm of exotic mushrooms. It’s perfectly safe, so long as you don’t mind taking a whiff of toxic and/or hallucinatory spores.*
There are plenty more new rooms for players to stumble upon, such as the Necromancer's Laboratory for players who fancy a random mutation, and the homely Tuck Shops set up to keep the many Halflings that make up the College of Life teams well fed in between lunches.**
Dungeon Bowl: Death Match is available to pre-order this weekend. You’ll need a copy of Dungeon Bowl to play it – and you can take your existing College teams into the fray, if you wish!
* The undead don’t breathe, but no-one likes to find fungi sprouting in sensitive locations.
** Halflings won’t take part in a Dungeon Bowl match unless they’ve got at least five different packed lunches to hand. Adventurer’s supplies!