Bloodbowl or Warhammer anybody?

SlowWalkere

I was browsing through the "Games" forum and realized that none of the games mentioned are tabletop/board games. After seeing the Magic the Gathering thread here (which I used to play for a long time, both casually and competitively, but no longer) I wondered what other table top games people played.

I've worked at a gaming store for five years, which has introduced me to many an interesting game. The two most popular among our gaming group at the moment are Bloodbowl and Warhammer (two miniatures games by Games Workshop).

Bloodbowl, for those who don't know, is a turn-based football game using fantasy themed teams (Orcs, Goblins, Humans, Dwarves, etc). We're just finishing up a long season (16 players, 10 games, 3 round playoff). I played an Amazon team and, alas, just lost in the semi-finals. Once this league is wrapped up, we're going to start another smaller, shorter league that uses some experimental Chaos teams (one for each god) that one of the player's developed. It looks to be lots of bashy fun...

Anyhow, anyone else a fan of Bloodbowl or Games Workshop's other games? Or any other tabletop games?

- Walkere

matttai

Played 40K for a while?
I love chaos just for the look. I never really played the game as it didn't interest me much . I was more into it for the the painting and modelling more than anything else Smile

ItsWesley

I used to play Warhammer 40,000 for a while, but then I got bored of it because I didn't have many others to play against.
Don't you think the Warhammer models are expensive though?

SlowWalkere

Oh boy, Warhammer models are mighty expensive. Thankfully, I work at a hobby store, so I get them at a discount. But it's not just Games Workshop. I've looked into some other miniature games (notably Rackham's Confrontation and Privateer Press' Warmachine/Hordes). Some other games can be less expensive up front to play, but you end up playing with 5-10 miniatures... so the actual cost per miniature is roughly the same. You're just sacrificing scale for overall cost. With that said, Rackham and Privateer Press make some gorgeous models and anyone that is more interested in painting than playing should check them out.

Also, the good thing about Bloodbowl is that it is cheap. $60-70 gets you a full team of players (either the official ones, or you could convert some Warhammer plastic pieces). If you know someone who owns the boardgame, or take the time to build a gameboard yourself, you're all set. Games Workshop actually released the manual for free on its website (check under the specialty games section), so you don't actually need to buy the main set (although it comes with a Human and Orc team, which is a plus if you want to play one of them).

I'm not much of a fan of 40k either. I got into Games Workshop playing first Bloodbowl and then Fantasy. I liked Bloodbowl because of the minute tactical details (it plays a lot like chess with some dice rolling; you need to think out each move very carefully). I liked Fantasy because it combined a good level of tactics with regiment-scale strategy. The newest 40k edition, on the other hand, eliminates a lot of that strategy and tactics. One rule in particular annoys me the most - that all models can charge in any direction (360 line of sight), and combats always go in initiative order (so the charger doesn't strike first, like in fantasy). It takes out the whole element of carefully maneuvering to ensure that you get a charge (and possibly a flank/rear charge), leaving instead two armies that march more or less directly at each other, weaving through some cover, and then hacking it out. But I do still like some of the models, and I'll probably finish painting my Space Wolves army.

- Walkere

yukinohime

Actually, I love Confrontation. The minis are gorgeous and, yes, certain minis can get expensive b/c they're lead, but overall the cost is generally the same as most other mini games out there. The setting and history for it are just amazing. The fact that Confrontation is overall like three different games with sub-games on a few of them. There's Confrontation which is the skirmish battles, with Dogs of War being a smaller scale version of Confrontation where you don't play with characters. Ragnarok is the all out war sized battles, which is generally around double to triple the army points of Confrontation. Lastly is Hybrid which turns it into a board game with some very nicely produced tiles and Nemesis is an expansion of Hybrid with more tiles and figures.

I admit my favorite army is the Devourers, the "evil", or what I call misunderstood Wolfen. Very Happy