How To Run A Successful Blood Bowl League

There are few things in life more difficult, frustrating and often fruitless than trying to arrange for a group of gamers to have a series of constructed games and events, and feed important results back to you in a timely manner. The only examples I can think of which would be more difficult, frustrating and fruitless would be using your vote for the good of the country, telling your wife that "we can't have any more pets", and trying to forget the lyrics to Barbie Girl.

Every club and friendship group needs that person though, that woman or man who is prepared to pour the same level of energy into an upcoming league or campaign as an engine boy shovelling coal on the Titanic. Often though, like the Titanic, the best laid plans will be sunk by an unforeseen event, and the most common iceberg for gamers is long term commitment. I don't blame people for this though, as promising a lot of your hours on a single system for a prolonged length of time can be hard, especially if you find yourself not enjoying it or if 'real life' just happens to get in the way.

After the re-launch of Blood Bowl I decided to take the plunge and arrange a league; the M.A.D. Open! We're now at the very end of the season with only three games left to be played (one Semi-Final, Final and 2nd Runner Up games) and the season went unusually well, with all the participating coaches being very receptive to the format which helped things run smoothly. We had sixteen teams split over two divisions, with ten players finishing all of their required games (which is amazing, more on that later) and a total of forty five games being played in total!

Before we get into the meat and gravy of the post, I recommend having a quick surf around the league's website;

M.A.D. Open Blood Bowl League

Here is a list of why I think it went so well, and tips to get your league or campaign up and running!

Escalation Campaign - OB style

For a while now I've wanted to build the player base at our club. You might think that we have loads already (we do have quite a few regular players), but we have a lot of veterans of the game. This can sometimes be very daunting for new players, and could even put them off - especially with the calibre of veteran we have.

Over Christmas and the early part of the year I thought about and decided to apply to become an official Hawk Talon. We at OB have been rather privileged with a tremendous amount of access to Hawk. Living close by, and being regular, high level players of the Dropzone Commander helps too. But the games still needs to grow. Too often do I see on the Facebook community, players selling models because there is no interest in their area. 
What little I can do to grow the community, I will do. 

Establishing A Force: Resistance

It has been a while, but it is finally time to scrape the rust of my lazy fingers and bring all you budding survivalists the next entry in my 'Establishing A Force' series; Let's talk Resistance!

When I mention rust, it wasn't by accident, oh nono, that was a clever segue my friends, as in the Resistance you will be seeing a whole load of rust! It will be coming at you in the form of old dishevelled and re-purposed cars and wagons, fossilised helicopters and positively antique tanks! Let's take a moment to imagine driving a Hannibal into the Antiques Roadshow and crushing Fiona Bruce into human jam; now there's an episode I'd tune in for (this is a terribly English reference, all you foreigners will have to Google it)! They even have a battlegroup name after the effect; Rusted Fist!

Establishing A Force: PHR

So, you've just graduated from Sphere Academy, and you're ready to face the galaxy head on. Your monthly subscription to Bionic Bonanza means you are up to date with all the latest electronic implants, and the 'No Oil, No Spoil' diet has helped you lose that beer gut and slip snugly into your all-purpose PVC jumpsuit. Basically, you're the personification of cyber swag.

So why is it that when you jump in your Zeus and prepare yourself to take command in your first non-simulated battle, your body starts to shake uncontrollably? It turns out that even androids get the jitters! Well never fear young cyborgs, an experience implant is here! Simply plug it in to your neck socket, but be careful not to cross the stream of your quantum spoonificator.

As promised before our festive break, here is the first edition of my new series; Establishing A Force. In this and the following articles, you will find lists to help give a little direction to the spending of your Christmas bonuses, and the reasons and tactics behind the build of the rosters. I'm going to be running through the different factions alphabetically (not alphaspaghetically this time), which starts us with the all-spherical PHR!

The First Turn

The Resistance deploy at full throttle!

Back in my days of playing lesser, commercially designed, and some would say dirtier wargames, I was never really able to get the knack of deployment. It wouldn't matter if I were to deploy first or second, I would always get something wrong and then end up swearing at myself 30 minutes later when that expensive squad of combat specialists ended up being no where near any kind of melee. Frustrating times.

So you can imagine my happiness when I first discovered that Dropzone very rarely uses deployment in a traditional sense (i.e. I line up my toys, and then you yours, and then we dakkadakka), and even in the missions which you have an opportunity to do so you don't have too! Even more likely than this though is that the rules strictly forbid you from doing so (as is part of the course with my Scourge; everything is in a dropship). Now, as much as I don't like to be forbade (... forbidden... forbaden?) this very mechanic highlights part of what is so great about this wargame; the decision when to bring on your battle groups and in which order lies with you, and will change depending on how your opponent deploys and reacts to your activations.

But what does this mean?! It means boys and girls (I see one at the back of the auditorium) that turn 1 is incredibly important, as it is technically a 'rolling' deployment phase, and time and time again I see my adversaries get their priorities wrong. Well never fear, Dan is here to help in three easy steps!

Getting Started: Resistance Training Manual

So ladies and gentlemen, it is time for me to share my experiences in playing the Resistance. Mainly list making and some solid tactics. 

I have played around quite a lot with lists and have taken both allied and feral to the tournament scene. My opinions are coming from a heavily competetive side. Basicly if you want the best chance of winning some games, (I say chance because even I, the master of lucky dice cannot foresee what the dice gods will decide!) then you need to read this.
When I say lucky, I am the person that could probably save 30 2+ Siren dodge saves in one round of CQB, but also be able to roll snake eyes on my Thunderstorm custom shooting on the last turn while he is holding a focal point with 1 dp left........ Yeah yeah, i know your heart bleeds for me, blah blah.

Getting Started: Scourge Unit Overview

It's been a long time coming; an awful long time coming really. Every other army has one of these (although perhaps not up to date, but one exists none the less), but not our Jelly Overlords. I'm shouting about a unit overview for our adorable occupiers!

If you want to read any of our other unit overviews they are here for UCM, PHR, Shaltari and Resistance

So sit back, clear your head and let the fleshy tar seap into your mind holes, you're about to ingest a whole lot of information...

--Note-- This is a huge post, and although could have been split into two was not to keep the resource in one place.

Getting Started: Resistance Unit Overview

I think enough time has passed and enough games have been played so we can take a proper look at Dropzones newest faction - The Resistance. 

In this post, much like we've done with UCM, PHR, Scourge and Shaltari, I will go through each unit and describe some pros and cons in their use. 

The Resistance are quite unique in their design, firstly you can choose to be either Allied or Feral, with each side getting specific command cards to use. Also, the Resistance don't have much in the way of Dropships. This might sound strange in a game called Dropzone Commander. 

How am I supposed to get to the 'Dropzone' without dropships?! Well, if you read on you will find out

Getting Started: Shaltari Deployment Part 2

It's deployment time.

Heeelllooooooooooo! Time for more Shaltari goodness. Prepare to be inundated with information which will you fill your mind chasm's with deploymental goodness! Let's get it on...

Getting Started: Shaltari Deployment Part 1

Good day fellow, er... Droplodites? Dropzonites? Dropzonians? Dropzonians will do for now! It is tactica-o-clock again, and this time I will be looking into the finer points of Shaltari deployment. I have mentioned many a time in the past, just how tricky it can be to get things right when using our spinney friends, so I am here to help as best I can!

In this guide I will bring up a few key points, and discuss the importance of each one. It's time to prepare your note pads kids!

Getting Started: PHR Unit Overview

Well hello everyone Joe here and my first ever blog post.
Before I jump straight to the PHR, here is a little on me. I've been here from the beginning of Dropzone from the very first salute show, where if memory serves me right (scratches head) that the Hawk team had a preview of a good range of stunning models for each faction, mainly the dropships. Team Hawk were at this stage still completing the rules set, which to be honest I didn't think was going to be as good as it turned out to be.
So from then I got a call from my local gaming store saying team Hawk have got Dropzone on the shelf and are running demos all day, get down here ASAP! So loaded on excitement I got a demo game of UCM vs Scourge under my belt, and then left the store with a PHR starter set and a rule book signed "to Joe you big loser" by Hawk David.

For UCM, Scourge, Shaltari and Resistance overviews just click

Getting Started: Expanding From The UCM Starter

Mega Mike back again for part 2 of the UCM tactia.

Mad MS paint skillz!!

Part 1 is here if you want to check it out

So you have bought the UCM starter, it's all glued together and you've played a couple of highly enjoyable games - I bet you have had some really close battles! You want more, but what should you get? 

To start with, I'd suggest expanding to 1000 points (well 999 really). This stays within Skirmish level and is not too expensive (money wise) to jump from starter to 1000 points. The UCM starter set, with missiles on all the condors, comes in at 557 points. Therefore you have 443 - 473 points to play with (missiles can be removed to free up 10, 20 or 30 points if required). 

Getting Started: UCM Unit Overview

can I get a ‘hoo-rah?’

Edited: 6th May 2014 to include Fireblades
Updated 10th July 2015 to include Phoenix, Mortar teams and other errata changes

Good day to you all, today I want to talk about the UCM – the good guys. In this post I will go over the army and the units that comprise it.

I will follow that with how to expand from the starter set, followed by battle group synergy and advanced tactics. 

I started off playing UCM way back in October 2012, just after the game was released and all because of the Archangel models. I loved them – they are so sleek and menacing. I have grown my collection to probably more than 4000pts and I still don’t own any Scimitars (you will see why later) - I do now have a pair!   

Obviously this is will all based on my experiences and opinion, which is neither right or wrong………..but I am right. 

For Scourge, Shaltari, PHR and Resistance overviews, you are in the wrong place!! Just kidding, click on their names!

Getting Started: Shaltari Unit Overview and Tactics

Time for some shenanigans.

Hello my wonderfully coloured spiney friends! In today's tactica I will be reaching out to my squiggly alien brothers and sisters to pass over some of the knowledge and craft I have collected while playing with the confusing, but excellent, Shaltari. I will be going through do's and dont's, a breakdown of most of the units available to us and a few hints and tips for deployment and mission trickery. 
For UCM, PHR, Scourge and Resistance overviews just click 

Getting Started: The Foundations To Awesomeness

We will be forming a slightly different foundation, but just as awesome

So you have picked your race (and if you haven't stop reading and choose now!) and the urge to spend your rainy day money / max out your credit card / invest your life savings in some beautiful tiny resin models is becoming unbearable; but nagging questions beckon in your ear - how do I play this game, and what do I get first? What really works in the game? How do I make friends to play this with?!?