This weekend I played my first game of Blood Bowl Second Season, and in so doing introduced my girlfriend to the real beautiful game!
Initially we had planned it to be an introductory game that lasted just a few turns, to learn the rules before we started playing properly. In the end we played 6 turns before calling it for the evening, and the next day we returned to the game and played through the remainder. Sadly, there are no photos of the game, although most of the teams are as-yet unpainted, as we chose to start playing before painting our teams.
I brought a Lizardman team; I’ve been wanting to play them since the days of Cyanide’s first Blood Bowl videogame, when a friend would field them against my Dwarves. The lineup was 4 Skink Runners, 2 Chameleon Skinks, 4 Saurus and a Kroxigor, with 2 team re-rolls available. The Mesozoic Marauders roared defiance from their dug-out!
They were up against a Shambling Undead team consisting of 3 Skeleton Linemen, 2 Zombie Linemen, 2 Mummies, 2 Ghoul Runners, and 2 Wight Blitzers. Also boasting a juicy 3 re-rolls, the Frytown Gooligans huddled, mumbled, drooled and snarled gutturally as they strategized pre-game!
Things began about as normally as possible under the auspices of Nuffle, with two thousand fairweather fans turning out to watch some amateur Blood Bowl. The weather was at first perfect for a match, although during the first half kickoff heavy cloud cover rolled in! This had no material effect on the game, although it left the cold-blooded lizardmen, far from their home in tropical Lustria, a little unhappy.
The first six turns were characterised by a largely unbroken line of scrimmage for both teams, with the various heavy-hitters pushing back and forth without significant gains. Each Mummy was the match of the Kroxigor, which was further hindered by its Bone Head special rule, though the Lizards were bolstered by the Strength 4 Armour 10+ Saurus holding the line alongside it.
A surprising amount of passing played out behind and across the line, with possession shifting back and forth as a variety of passes or catches were failed. The undead successfully completed several passes, although in the end it was a Chameleon Skink that managed to dodge through enemy tackle zones, secure the ball, and run it up to the endzone to score the game’s first touchdown.
In the final turns of the first half, one of the Wight Blitzers catastrophically misjudged a block, ending up a casualty at the hands of the Saurus they were engaging. No long term injury was sustained, but it left the undead a player down ahead of the second half!
As the final turns of the first half played out, the other Wight managed to pulverise a Skink Runner, which somehow managed to get away with just a KO. As the second half began, the Skink Runner recovered and returned to the field, leaving the undead with 10 players to the lizard’s 11.
The undead experimented with different deployments, but the choice to leave the centre uncontested allowed the lizards to force a breach in the line, and the fast-moving skinks poured through. They secured the ball and achieved a second touchdown within two turns. A sharp education in the importance of a stiff defence!
Following the game’s fourth kick-off, the lizards were again able to create and exploit gaps in the enemy’s defences, quickly scoring for a third time. Several more Saurus also managed to pulverise their opponents, either in mishandled enemy blocks, or in their own efforts when forcing the openings. A Skeleton was knocked out (don’t ask me how that works) and a Zombie was damaged so badly it was left with a niggling injury – which must be bad to annoy a zombie – and forced to miss the next game.
However, it did not all go the lizards’ way. Overconfidence led to a Saurus leaving its position, opening a gap on the lizard flank, before mishandling the ball on attempting to pick it up. Possession was hard for either team to lock down over subsequent turns; the lizards came close to scoring once more, but the Skink running with the ball stumbled when attempting to Rush one last tile and faceplanted into the enemy endzone, stunning itself. The undead rallied to decisively prevent any further lizard attempts to secure possession, and in the final moments of the game a Skeleton knocked out another Skink, their sluggish undead brains cottoning on to just how small, fragile, and probably delicious the diminutive lizards were.
Hands/claws were shaken and, in the zombies’ cases, reattached after the final whistle blew. The Frytown Gooligans’ MVP was one of the Wight Runners, and for the Mesozoic Marauders it was the one Saurus that hadn’t injured any opponents (an odd choice, to be sure). Two Skink Runners spent their touchdown SPP on acquiring some random skills, with Safe Pair of Hands and Defensive the results. Oh well, that’s randomness for you. The undead chose to hold on to their SPP in the hopes of later purchasing specific skills.
A great first game, and we hope the first of what will become a legendary Blood Bowl league!
