Monday 1 September 2014

Bloodweiser Blood Bowl 6 Nations


The date for the Bloodweiser 6 Nations is set. On September 20th, six teams will meet on the Blood Bowl field to see who has what it takes to lift the (very small) trophy. Will the Orcs, Dark Elves, Humans, Norse, Dwarfs, or High Elves take the title? Only time will tell...

The three-game 'tournament' (a term I use very loosely) will be played using the current LRB6 rules, with a randomly matched first game and Swiss-style for games two and three. In line with the wishes of the sponsors, who demand nothing but all-out carnage, each game will be slightly different. All of these variants reprise the variants from the Blood Bowl Companion, with very minor tweaks to the rules to bring them to the modern-day BB field.

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Game One: Pit Traps

Each coach places six pit trap counters (3 nothing, 2 pit traps, 1 spiked pit) face down in their half of the pitch. Players should not look to see which counter is which!

When a player moves onto a square containing a counter turn it over. Nothing: Discard 'nothing' counters. Pit: Fall in, make Armour roll to avoid injury. Spiked pit: roll D6. On a 1-2 roll another D6 (1-4 = SI, 5-6 = Dead). On a 3-6 = make armour roll to avoid injury.

Players in pits lose their tackle zones and can't move, block or tackle. They can't be blocked/tackled.

Climbing out. Make an agility roll with +1 for every friendly player adjacent to the pit and -1 for every opposing player adjacent to the pit. If a player fails they remain in the pit. If they were attempting to climb out of a spiked pit roll a D6, on a 1 or a 2 they are seriously injured. Falling back into a pit does not cause a turnover. At the end of a drive all players climb out of pits ready for set up.

Players with the leap skill can attempt to leap over pits (whether they are revealed or not). If the leap roll is failed they fall over in the square they were leaping to. If the leap roll is a natural roll of a 1 they fall into the square they were leaping over (unless it is occupied). If the square contains a pit trap they fall in.

Players can be pushed into pits. Casualties caused in this way do count towards SPPs. Pit traps count as empty squares for pushbacks so can always be selected as the target squares for pushes. Only roll once for armour when players fall into a pit (i.e. they don't roll for the initial block and then the fall).

If a ball lands in a square containing an uncovered pit marker it does not result in the counter being turned over. If the ball lands in a square containing a revealed pit (including a pit with a player in it) scatter the ball - fortune (or magic) prevent it from falling in.


*****


Game Two: Spiky Death Ball

Throwing ranges increased by one category. No Longbombs.

Catching spiky balls is dangerous. If a player fails a catch or pick up roll they must make an armour roll with a +1 modifier.

The ball can be thrown to empty square but this will cause a turnover as per the normal rules.

The ball can be thrown at opposing players (quick/short pass only). If the pass is accurate the player must make an armour roll with a +1 modifier. If the armour roll is passed the player may roll to catch the ball (with no modifiers for accuracy). If the armour roll is failed roll on the injury table: if this results in the player leaving the pitch place the ball in the square they occupied. If the player remains on the pitch scatter the ball from their square as if they had failed a catch roll.

*****

Game Three: Multiball... 


Simple - there are two balls in play. Either can be used to score, once a touchdown has been scored set up the teams for the next drive (i.e. don't play on with the remaining ball). Players cannot carry two balls (including mutants with three arms)!
  1. Both teams, beginning with the kicking team, place a ball in the opposing team's half.
  2. Scatter both balls. There is no touchback in Multiball... so place carefully! It entirely possible for one team to have both balls!
  3. Roll on kick off table.
  4. Resolve result (if High Kick is rolled apply the result to both teams).
  5. Bounce/catch/touchback both balls.
*****

I throw these rules out for comments. Is there anything in this translation from second ed to LRB6 that looks like a problem? Any better suggestions? Bring them on!



5 comments:

  1. looks good. As I understand things the 2nd edition add ons should translate fine to 3rd edition. No doubt it will make the games a bit more random but that is part of the fun

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  2. This looks great...wish I could play. :(

    :)

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  3. Cheers guys. I'm hoping it'll be fun, random yes but also good gaming I think. Regardless of my sloppy rules (soon to be updated here) I'm sure we'll have a good day. Time permitting it'll be Talisman after tea...

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  4. Sounds like a TON of fun!
    Keep us posted on how it worked.

    Oh, and just as suggestion for added mayhem how about combining all the rules in the same game: Pit Traps and Spiky Death Multiballs?!?
    :D
    Definitely gotta have a go at that myself...

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  5. The rules above have been modified following a quick playtest. In the interest of time we went with Axtklinge's excellent suggestion and combined all three rules in one game. And it was indeed a TON of fun! ! The main changes being: no touchback on multiball and no rules to burst the ball on multiball. Spiked balls have become more dangerous and the rules simplified (without this they did little beyond reducing throwing range). The real playtest comes next weekend when we get our games played.

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