Blood Bowl trailer channels Madden + Warcraft

by Kevin Kelly { Jun 25th 2008 at 11:15PM }

Tabletop gamers are no strangers to the game Blood Bowl, which we mentioned back in November. The game has spanned 22 years, multiple editions and several expansion sets. The basic concept is "fantasy" football, literally. As in orcs, trolls, elves and the like playing an organized team sport where they try to tear their opponents' heads off. Check out the newly released, Warcraft-tastic trailer after the break.

While it might not be as fun as having a dining table crammed full of tiny plastic fantasy-based footballers, including cheerleaders, the whole stomping on an elf's back after a spectacular tackle sure looks good. This will give you a chance to work out those frustrations from failed raids and PvP campers, and you can actually tell your friends you're playing football and not hunting for a mystical suit of armor. Maybe this is what Madden has been missing all these years.

You can find out all about the Blood Bowl series at BoardGameGeek, which offers dozens of photos of the plastic models.

Tags: Blood-Bowl, Board-game, Cyanide, Fantasy-Football, Football, Games-Workshop, Warcraft, World-Of-Warcraft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Xoviet chiK @ Jun 25th 2008 11:30PM

Watch, EA will nab the exclusive license for this now... :P

This game looks genuinely cool, will definitely check it out upon release.

Cicadymn @ Jun 25th 2008 11:33PM

Shouldn't it be Madden + Warhammer? I don't really know what warcraft has to do with the Blood-Bowl at all since GW doesn't have anything to do with that series.

PeterBeck @ Jun 25th 2008 11:49PM

More like World of Warhammer. Online. Craft.

But really, what I want is a new Epic 40k videogame, or Battlefleet Gothic, or Necromundia, or Inquisitor, or Gorkamorka, or even Mordheim (Mordheim is more far fetched since WAR is kinda close).

Why did we get Blood Bowl anyway? It's up there with Man O'War as GW's abandoned properties. (I think I've named-dropped nearly every obscure GW game there)

PeterBeck @ Jun 25th 2008 11:52PM

To be fair though, it does look good, should maybe have a Mutant League level of fun play, and it's nice to see the Lizardmen get their own team.

I don't see the Undead or Skaven though... I know there was at least an Undead team in the original table top.

Cicadymn @ Jun 26th 2008 12:19AM

Well I wasn't referring to Warhammer online, but the Warhammer fantasy that Games-workshop owns and bases their characters in this game off of. It doesn't have anything to do with WAR or WoW, which is why I wondered why the title brought up Warcraft.

But I'm not saying that this game doesn't look good. Just a criticism more towards the title of the post rather than anything. I remember Super Mutant Hockey League for some old system (I think football as well), can't remember which right now. But I had so much fun on that game it was amazing how long I could just play and laugh at the violence and traps in the field and such.

I hope blood bowl is a bit like that, Good Times.

PeterBeck @ Jun 26th 2008 12:49AM

Yes, I'm well aware what you were talking about. I was just cracking a joke about how people view Warcraft and Warhammer. (as well referencing Penny Arcade)

Trust me, I'm an old school (ish) 2nd edition player from the 90s. From elementary school to high school I ate and slept nearly everything GW put out (even the Space Hulk PC game).

RobLink (Alex Kidd incarnate) @ Jun 26th 2008 2:53PM

@ PeterBeck.

40k? That would make fantastic MMO game! I'm having Tyranid-laced flashbacks right about now!

klitorisaurus @ Jun 25th 2008 11:33PM

Oooo god I hope someone brings back Mutant League Football!

el serpiente @ Jun 25th 2008 11:59PM

Or Pigskin!

FOXHOUND @ Jun 26th 2008 10:56AM

This is the closest I'll get to MUTANT LEAGUE until otherwise stated... so I guess I'm interested?

skeez @ Jun 25th 2008 11:37PM

I've been waiting for this game for decades. The previous PC incarnation was pitiful. Mutant League Football was a tease. Fumbl did a little justice. But. This looks like the real deal.

THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Kyattsuai @ Jun 25th 2008 11:38PM

To quote what I heard earlier - "instead of the minnesota vikings, we can just have REGULAR VIKINGS"

Hot$auce_Magik @ Jun 26th 2008 8:17AM

HAhahaha

Thats win.

UNC_Samurai @ Jun 25th 2008 11:40PM

Because it's fun to always have at least a 1 in 6 chance of not picking up the football and having such a drop end your turn.

theturtle363 @ Jun 25th 2008 11:40PM

SO AWESOME! I love the table top blood bowl this'll be even better!

zombienutz @ Jun 25th 2008 11:57PM

Looks better then expected. I am looking forward to it.

Kspraydad @ Jun 26th 2008 12:12AM

What a strange mix of consoles...guess its PSP for me.

Nate @ Jun 26th 2008 1:50PM

Ditto. I wish it was coming to the PS3 as well, I have no clue why not, but hey, I'll probably play a lot more on the PSP than I would on the PS3 anyway.

Nakayar @ Jun 26th 2008 12:25AM

WarHAMMER. Not Warcraft. This just goes to show that the populous really will think WAR is ripping off WoW...

PeterBeck @ Jun 26th 2008 12:46AM

Don't worry, those people have a special place in hell. One where little devils prod you with pointy pewter miniatures while chanting "Diablo 3 is never coming out!".

And once every year for all eternity they release a new rulebook for Hell that completely borks all you knew from the previous one, and make you rebuy it and all the supplemental books, only to make them obsolete next year with the next edition. Occationally they release rules for Purgatory and the Armageddon, but then they abandon all support for them after a couple months.

fred @ Jun 26th 2008 1:51AM

OH GOD PETERBACK MAKE IT STOP

Hot$auce_Magik @ Jun 26th 2008 8:21AM

Lets think about that on the posative side. All these people thing that WAR is a new WARcraft game, jump ship to it, love it, find out its its own universe, start playing the table top...etc. it can only really benefit games workshop and maybe to a degree even WAR.

WOW + Similar looking IP + ???? = PROFIT!!!!

Will @ Jun 26th 2008 1:17AM

Holy shit I want to play this.

I've heard of the tabletop game but I never got to try it.

t_m @ Jun 26th 2008 1:21AM

Looks freakin awesome... I loved this game back when i was a kid. I think I'll be playing mostly in the original turn-based mode tho.

Wonder if we can still cheat as much as we did in the board game? I think in one game I managed to sneak on an extra 5 players before the other guy noticed.. heh.

Will @ Jun 26th 2008 1:24AM

Dunno if anyone's interested, but the 1995 Blood Bowl game for MS-DOS is on Home of the Underdogs (link below). Completely different developer and everything but might be worth a look (I'm about to download it myself)

http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=132

Jonah Falcon @ Jun 26th 2008 2:35AM

I own a copy of the game. It was published by MicroSports and developed by SSI.

goof_troop @ Jun 26th 2008 2:28AM

Here's hoping that they don't give the PC, PSP and DS releases second rate treatment...

After having several armies in both Warhammer fantasy and 40k I'm kinda surprised now why I never got into Bloodbowl.. other than the fact that there are almost no players left...

HQ Mattster @ Jun 26th 2008 4:20AM

OMG

I played this game as the tabletop version and it ruled.

This game was so much fun that me and a few mates had a blood bowl league. We would stay up for hours on end playing.

I am so drooling with anticipation for this

Ace @ Jun 26th 2008 6:07AM

Once again I'd like to make the Warcraft vs. Warhammer correction. Blood bowl has nothing to do with Warcraft, Warcraft IS NOT Warhammer.

Blizzards "craft" series was inspired by Warhammer, not vice versa.
It doesn't really matter, Warcraft and Starcraft can completely hold their own and the stories they tell are great. It just slightly irks me when the two are confused by a news outlet.

Archr5 @ Jun 26th 2008 11:11AM

"inspired" just like my 7th grade history papers were "inspired" by Encarta. Copy and Paste is inspiring.

Ace @ Jun 26th 2008 1:07PM

@archr5
Well they're not copied entirely, but alot of the broad strokes clearly are. Zerg are Tyranids, Protoss are eldar, Terrans are the Imperium and so on as well as with the orcs and such.
But countless fantasy games have orcs and elves and whatnot. The devil is in the details and those have not been copied by Blizzard (asexual orcs, fanatically religious and xenophobic humans and so on).

I get your point though, but it's abit harsh.

Speedbag @ Jun 26th 2008 10:03AM

I'm not big into them "football" games but I'll give this one a try for sure. I played the tabletop a few times and always had a blast.

www.allthumbsticks.blogspot.com

Henry @ Jun 26th 2008 10:37AM

Dear Kevin Kelly,

'Blood Bowl' was originally released in 1987, 7 years before Warcraft 1 came out. I can not tell if you are being sarcastic, or thick. Perhaps both.

Unknown @ Jun 26th 2008 1:58PM

Dear Henry,

Did you try reading the post and not just the headline? Give it a whirl.

aristokrat @ Jun 26th 2008 11:21AM

Man I hate GameVideos. Such crappy streaming code. I should start boycotting any company that uses them.

yuppy @ Jun 26th 2008 11:34AM

if you cant kill your opponenets and make them forfeit by hurt enough of their players... then its not going to be fun for everyone

ZeroCorpse @ Jun 26th 2008 12:05PM

Man, I can't wait for this one. My original Blood Bowl set (with the foam pitch, and lots of metal minis, plus add-on books and teams from White Dwarf mag) cost me HUNDREDS of dollars, total. But it was fun, back in the day.

I really, really hope that they allow Chainsaw Loonies and have the proper rules in place for Undead teams. Nothing like a Vampire quarterback passing to a skeleton in the endzone.