A New Blood Bowl For 2013?

Games Workshop New Blood Bowl for 2013

Warseer, Dakkadakka and other places are flush with rumours of a new Blood Bowl game from Games Workshop for 2013. It’s rumours, a given. Worse, it’s rumours I’ve heard before in 2011, when Games Workshop ended up doing DreadFleet.

Still, there’s good reason to believe that these might be on to something. Take a look!

#1 – The Blood Bowl Rumours

Harry from Warseer appears to be a main source for (and collection of) 2013 Blood Bowl rumours.

Rumours of a new edition of Blood Bowl.

I posted this lot in July last year …. seems I got a bit ahead of myself. Over excited. 

As this year is the 25th anniversay of Blood Bowl 2nd edition (The one with the astrogranite pitch) I am confident this is happening this time.I first heard about this in 2007.

At the time I was writing articles for The watchman and this is what I said in a rumours article:

Blood Bowl was first released in 1987 That would make this year its 20th Anniversary (if my dates/maths are correct!) There were a lot of updates to the ‘living rulebook’ (online). I think this activity may have been due to the intended re-release of Blood Bowl this year although I can not say this for certain (but I can’t see Games Workshop waiting 5 years until the 25th anniversary).

This is just a hunch. (For those that don’t know me from Warseer my hunches are wrong most of the time!)

Aly Morrison and Mark Bedford have been working on new teams for some of the races with all individual players like the new Human team. And I think a number of these are completed and ready to go.

So it would seem I was wrong about them waiting another 5 years then.I later found out I was also wrong about the teams being completed.
They were only ‘planned’ at this time.

But it seems like this is happening now:

75hastings69 has posted to say Blood Bowl is coming next year so that will be in 2012 for the 25th anniversary.

He also said this:

Originally Posted by 75hastings69

So four teams of completely individual minis and a spammy new pitch wouldn’t interest you?

As for rules why try and fix what isn’t broken?
For those who don’t know Hastings rumours are 99% fact.

So all we know so far is four nice new plastic teams, a new pitch and not much change to the rules.

Exactly what the four teams are has not been posted.
If the pitch is card, “astrogranite”, plastic or cloth like the new Dread fleet also remains a mystery.

EDIT: Additional clarification/speculation from hastings

“The original rumours I heard on this suggested only two teams of individual models in the box – orcs & humans, it’s only later mutterings I’ve heard that suggest there might be four teams.”

I love Blood Bowl so have only one more thing to say ….

BRING IT ON! 

UPDATE:

I said this in the last thread:

“Space Hulk was in 2009 ….
… Dread Fleet is in 2011 ….
I am not expecting the next NEW, LIMITED big box game until 2013

My understanding is that Blood Bowl is something different”.

Now as it did not come last year …. and IS coming this year … I am now thinking it will be the next LIMITED big Box game.

I have also heard from one source that he heard from someone else that someone they know had seen the CAD for a plastic pitch.
(So a really solid rumour! ) but I am imagining a cross between the astrogranite pitch and the battle board.

Finally I can confirm what hastings told us last year that two of the teams are Orcs and Humans.
But Like hastings I have also heard that there are four teams in the box.

I hear the story is that the four teams are the ones to make it to the play-offs for a specific cup/competition.

UPDATE from Hastings

I love blood bowl too…. especially now my willy miniatures Chaos BB team is on its way!!

Originally I was told….

Cardboard pitch (high production quality style)
Orc Team (all individual sculpts)
Human Team (again all individual sculpts)

Then I was told…..

Also Elf Team (individual sculpts)
Chaos All-Stars team (once more all individual sculpts)
And that the game would play out as a run up to final sort of scenario/mini league with the end game being vs chaos all stars for the cup, and that the game also had rules for just “straight vs play” instead of the campaign.

However…. I was then told….

“It’s not happening” due in the most part to the retail failure of Dreadfleet.

So if this is indeed “back on” I have three words for you…….

BRING. IT. ON


#2 – Is a New Blood Bowl Likely?

As said, there’re plenty of ifs and buts to go with this. There, however, also a few points that would make Blood Bowl a seemingly rational choice on GW’s part. Blood Bowl would be …

  • able to claw back players who deserted for DreadBall or (in the future) Kaos Ball
  • a safe bet after the (relatively) disappointing DreadFleet (as far as GW-retro-games still tend to have a huge fan-base, which new games such as DreadFleet obviously do not)
  • fit the odd-year “mystery-box-schedule” (e.g. 2009 Space Hulk, 2011 DreadFleet)
  • fit the 25 year anniversary of Blood Bowl second edition

#3 – What About The Current Blood Bowl?

The obvious question this raises (if the rumour is correct) is: What about the current Blood Bowl.

The previous Games Workshop “mystery-boxes” in the odd years (alternating with edition-updates for Warhammer and Warhammer 40K in even years) have all been “limited editions”.

But Blood Bowl isn’t. Blood Bowl 3rd Edition might be decades old and might not be given much support by Games Workshop itself. You can still order it from Games Workshop’s online store however. And Blood Bowl is home to one of the most lively shadow/slipstream industries of third-party manufacturers who constantly release new teams, sculpts, pitches and more for Blood Bowl.

Will a new “limited edition” Blood Bowl replace the currently unsupported, but also “unlimited” Blood Bowl?

In the long run, that could possibly harm the thriving Blood Bowl community out there more than it aides them if it

  • makes a basic Blood Bowl game box unavailable to newbies in the long-term (except highly overpriced on eBay… we all know the eBay-folks would pound on a new LE-Blood Bowl with unprecedented furor)
  • suck the community life out of (possibly soon) prospering alternatives such as Kaos Ball or DreadBall

What do you think?

Would you welcome a new Blood Bowl?

What would you hope to see Games Workshop would do with a new edition of this classic game?

I am looking forward to your responses!

Z.


 

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Zweischneid

Zweischneid

I am Zweischneid. Wargame Addict. Hopeless painter and founder of Pins of War. I hope you enjoyed this article. Don't forget to share your favourite miniature pictures and wargaming videos at www.pinsofwar.net.
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  • http://twitter.com/belverker belverker

    I’d buy it (not saying much as I bought Dreadfleet (good game just marketed poorly)), and i’d be on it in an instant if the chaos all stars were in the box…still love the original models.

  • orlando the technicoloured

    I’d say maybe it’s coming, but it it is it will be LE, and see the end of being able to order any other BB stuff.
    So BB fans better be careful what they wish for

    • http://twitter.com/belverker belverker

      I agree with this…better get those last few minis while I still can…