Want to see what’s changed for your existing teams in the new edition of Blood Bowl? The Official Rules book updates all the current teams and Star Players, and we’re taking care of the rest in this very article! The new edition is a fresh take on a classic, and it was made with a deep respect for the history of the game. Folks who have been playing for decades are going to love what they see, and today we’re taking a look at how it’s breathing life into your favourite teams.
Every Team Examined
The 136-page Blood Bowl: The Official Rules book includes a comprehensive update that brings all the teams and Star Players together from the last edition under the current ruleset.* In some cases, it was as simple as updating their team and player profiles to match the new format, and in other cases they’ve been fully rebalanced and adjusted. Care was taken to make sure they all felt as unique and balanced as possible.
New Team Rules
Each team has their own look, play style, and flavour. There’s a lot of future-proofing in this book, similar in some ways to the keyword system used in other game systems. Now, most teams are assigned overarching Regional and team special rules, which dictate the Inducements they have access to, amongst other things. Teams that come up from the Halfling Thimble Cup will be a bit different than those from the Lustrian Superleague, and their rules will subtly reflect it.
Some teams get a specific set of special rules, such as Favoured of Khorne, or Masters of Undeath – which replaces your coach with a powerful Necromancer.
While team-wide special rules have an immediate impact, they also pave the way for new rules and updates to affect teams in various ways down the line. Future Star Players might now play for any team from the Sylvanian Spotlight instead of individual types of teams, for example, and thus if a new team falls under that category they’d be able to hire that Star Player!
Team Tiers
Each type of team is now placed into one of three tiers, representing abstract qualities like the ease with which a coach can handle them, their baseline athletic ability, or skillfulness.
These tiers have no effect beyond bragging rights – for now… Down the road, who knows how these differences might change the game.
Updated Rosters
Let’s take a look at an existing team’s roster to see what’s new. We’ve already shown you team rosters for Black Orcs and Imperial Nobility teams, so here’s the ever-popular Dwarf team roster.
Some positions cost a little more (Runners and Troll Slayers), while others (Deathrollers!) have dropped. The player characteristics look different, but now that Passing Ability has its own profile, the Troll Slayer is no longer penalised with a poor AG to represent their lack of ball-handling ability. The list of Skills and Traits is basically unchanged, but notice several of the Skills for the Deathroller now have a target number attached to allow greater granularity between different types of players with similar basic skills. The Dwarfs have also been placed into Tier 1, and anyone who’s faced them on the pitch knows they’re top contenders.
Star Players
It’s not just teams, but also Star Players who have gotten a major update. Not only are many of their hiring costs adjusted (lowered in most cases) but they all have a unique special rule to enhance their character and signature style. Take the iconic ogre Morg ‘n’ Thorg, for example.
He’s earned his nickname with his special rule, The Ballista, increasing his chances of completing a game-winning team-mate toss. Also, check out Mighty Blow (+2)!
Oldies but Goodies
When we said this edition respects the history of the game, we meant it. The studio didn’t stop with teams from the previous edition – they’ve given teams long out of production the very same treatment! Still rocking that Chaos Dwarf team? Download the free rules supplement right here and get them back out on the pitch.
Every single team has been given careful consideration, so make sure you pre-order Blood Bowl: the Official Rules or the Blood Bowl: Second Season Edition boxed set (which includes the book) this Saturday to see what’s new for your favourite team. We expect sales to be brisk, so we’re limiting online orders of the starter set to one per order!
* That’s 21 teams and 23 Star Players, including the new ones.