Blood Bowl Strategy Guide and Tutorial

Some of the terminology in Blood Bowl threw me for a bit of the loop. I kept seeing the banner of "Turnover" displayed, so I looked doggedly to see where I had picked up the ball.

That didn't happen!

A turnover is not really a turnover.

A turnover, in Blood Bowl parlance, means "end of turn."

Another way to phrase "turnover" is, "You fell down!"

Yep. That's one of the main reasons that a turn ends. One of your players got knocked down. AND IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THE BALL CARRIER!!"

If ANY player on your team is knocked down, it's a turnover. That's why it is important to do "safe moves" first, such as moving your characters that won't involve confrontation.

How do you avoid getting knocked down?

Well, one way is understanding the way battles are decided. The next section on Block Dice will give the basic concepts.

Getting the PC version of this game is a bit different than getting the box set. You wanna roll right into battle and try to figure out what is going on. I got a bit discouraged starting out -- why were all of my players getting knocked around and getting their tails kicked? No fun!

The basis of winning at Blood Bowl is confrontation. In its simplest form, you want to knock down the opposing players that stand between you and the ball carrier.

For some reason, Blood Bowl uses the word "block" as a euphemism for knocking down an opposing player. Thus, the aptly named "block dice."

What are block dice? Block dice are six-sided dice without numbers. Instead, they have the following symbols:



Rolling these dice is the main basis of battle between players and understanding these dice will help you understand what is going on in the field.

But there are only five symbols. What is on the sixth side of the dice?

Brilliant question, Watson! The Pushed symbol takes up two sides of the dice -- one of the more "neutral" actions that can be taken in a confrontation.

By viewing the dice, it becomes evident that attacking a player comes with a great risk -- with the possibility of rolling either Attacker Down or Both Down. With either of these rolls, the attacking player will be knocked down and, accordingly, their turn will come to an end.

I rolled Both Down and the other player didn't fall down. What's the scoop?

If the defender has the block skill, they will not be knocked down. The same applies to yourself. If you have the block skill, it's great to roll Both Down!!

Is there any way to decrease the risk of being knocked down and ending your turn? (a/k/a turnover!)

Yes. When the strength of both players is equal, one die is rolled.

View your character's strength and the strength of the opponent. If your strength is greater than theirs, you can ROLL TWO DICE and choose which die you wish to play! (Two dice are also illustrated when you initially click on the potential opponent you plan to attack!)

Ahhhhhh....now we are beginning to see strategic possibilities!

And...drum roll...if your strength is more than twice that of the player you are attacking, you get to roll three dice and choose which die to play! Booya!

Uh...and what are D6 dice?

Since there are different type of dice in this game, a regular ol' pair of dice labeled 1-6 are called "D6 dice." Go figure!

Because I started playing as Dwarves, I actually didn't encounter this situation very often and somehow missed this bit of information for an embarassing amount of time.

Occasionally, I would roll two dice, and I would get knocked down without choosing from the two dice. What the heck is going on? Do they have some type of special skill I am not aware of?

No! Unfortunately, if the other player has MORE strength than you do (with all modifiers applied) the opposing player will get to choose which of the dice to choose from.

To alert you to this fact, the face of the dice will be RED when the opposing player gets to choose between the dice.

That explains why I was being asked for a reroll when "one" of the die was Defender Down!

Another "strange" concept is the fact that there will be "confrontation" even if you are moving away from it.

The following illustrates the "Tackle Zone."


E=MCsquared and the successful Dodge Roll formula is Agility + D6 Roll + 1 must equal 7 or above. On all Dodge Rolls, you get the +1 modifier. In other words, this is a fancy way of saying your agility + dice roll must equal 6 to successfully dodge!

If you want to move away from the Tackle Zone, it's not a gimme. You have to make a "Dodge Roll" for the opportunity! A failed roll will result in a knockdown and the end of your turn! Turnover!! No good!

Talking to another Blood Bowl player, I asked him: In a real world setting, how does it make sense that you engage in a battle if you are moving away from it?

He immediately stepped next to me -- within the "Tackle Zone" -- and grabbed me. "If you are trying to get away, I am going to do anything I can to stop you!"

Made sense to me!

Thus comes the Dodge Roll. I want to keep it simple, and I hope I can do that.

If I simply said your agility plus D6 roll must equal 7, that is not totally correct. Because on every Dodge Roll (unless you are moving into another tackle zone) you get a +1 modifier. Every single time.

So we can make it simple or more simple:

Agility + D6 roll + 1 modifier must equal 7 or above.

But since every single dodge roll you get the plus 1 modifier you can simply think:

Agility + D6 roll must equal 6 or above.

If you roll a 1, you automatically do not dodge -- no matter what modifiers are involved. If you roll a 6, you automatically dodge -- no matter what modifiers are involved.

If you are dodging into another tackle zone, there is a -1 modifier, so, in essence, agility + D6 roll must equal 7.

The computer handles the calculations for you, but knowing how dodge works will let you make better strategic decisions.

This is "one" reason to pay attention to agility ratings of your players! It's not all about strength! Some races, like Elves, have a naturally high agility rating. Other races, like Dwarves and Orcs, have horrible agility and should avoid dodging if at all possible.

Doing the simple math, a Dwarf with 2 agility has a 50-percent chance of failing the Dodge roll and ending one's turn. That is, a roll of 4, 5 or 6 added to 2 plus 1 modifier for Dodge will succeed. A major strategy is placing (a/k/a marking) opposing players so they must take a Dodge roll to try to move anywhere else on the board -- or to block one's progress to a certain part of the board.

When your player has the ball and is headed for the end zone (or anywhere else for that matter) you want to scan the board and try to make sure all opposing players in the area are MARKED -- that is, standing next to one of your players -- or must go through some dodge zone to get to the ball carrier! Very important strategy!

For some races, like Dwarves, it is usually safer initiating a battle than stepping away from one!

Is it possible you will have to dodge multiple times on a single move?

Yes! Every time you move to a square that is ALSO next to an opposing player, the Dodge Roll starts again. The odds are extremely high your movement will end in a turnover if you move along a line of opposing players!

At least now you will have a concept of why certain players may be getting knocked down!

I kept hearing the Block skill is good, but I didn't quite understand why. First off, how do you know which players have Block?



When buying players, select a player -- in this case the Troll Slayer -- and in the bottom left it will give you a list of skills. You will see that the Troll Slayer, among others, has the Block skill. So do the Blockers and the Blitzers. Dwarves are a great team to get started with because of this.

Now, let's go forward to a match. You attack with two Block Dice -- one being Push and one being Both Down. You don't want to fall down, so you might choose Push, right?

Well, maybe not. You first need to check/remind yourself if that player has the Block skill. So what's the Block skill again?

I know it's a bunch of new concepts, so let's look at the exact definition of Both Down again and see if we can get a clue:


With Block, you won't fall down with the Both Down roll! Your Dwarf, in this case, will remain standing! Check out below:


Hover your mouse over the dice to give a written description of the "Both Down" dice. Look above your player to remind you of what skills this Dwarf has. Since the Dwarf has block, he will not fall down and the "Both Down" choice will knock down the defender -- versus just a "push" with the other dice.

I played a few days before discovering this first nuance of skills that can change your strategy.

Now that you are aware of how these skills can drastically alter your strategy, take the time to read -- at your leisure, mind you -- the various skills to see how it can add to your strategic depth!

Dodge is not just something you have to do when moving away from another player's tackle zone. It is also the name of a skill set that certain races possess, for example, Halflings.

Level 1 Dwarves do not have the Dodge skill, so you won't be able to use it right away -- but you will definitely need to know how to fight against it. It's a VERY POWERFUL SKILL!

There are two parts to the Dodge skill. First, they get two rolls to try to leave a Tackle Zone without being knocked down. So players with Dodge can weave through enemy lines with greater ease. That being said, each player can only use their Dodge skill (that is, reroll for a successful Dodge) ONCE per turn. If they try to leave a secondary tackle zone on the same move, they are much more likely to fail!

The second part of Dodge affects your choice when you roll the Block Dice. If one of your dice results is Defender Stumbles (the one with the exclamation mark) choosing this die will not knock down a player with the Dodge skill, but only push them back.

Most Dwarves have the Block ability. If you roll Both Down, you will not be knocked down but the other player will fall. Because of this, you would choose BOTH DOWN over DEFENDER STUMBLES when attacking a defender with the Dodge skill.

This is an example of how skills affect your choices during dice rolls. I hope that wasn't too confusing.

An important concept noted above is that when your strength is higher than the defender's strength, you get to roll two dice. Twice the chance to do damage to the opponent!

Another way to get the chance to throw two "blocking dice" is to raise your strength level with an assist.

For every additional team member standing next to the defender, you get one additional point of strength. You will be able to tell if you have accomplished this by selecting your player and then left clicking once on the opponent. If two dice appear, you have succeeded. If only one die appears, your total strength is not greater than the opponent's.

But there is a catch. If your assisting player is standing in another defender's tackle zone, he is not able to assist -- no added strength is added!



Notice the graphic of the plus 1 above your assisting player and the green "explosive" figure below him. If this player was in an opposing player's tackle zone, you would not see this graphic.
Does the defender get an additional point of strength for every fellow defender he is standing next to?

Yes! Unless that assisting defender is in one of your player's tackle zones!

An easy campaign is a good way to start learning.


Your choice! I chose the Classic mode this time. I have been playing Blitz mode more recently recently. Blitz mode has more, errrr, stuff!


Dwarves are a good, basic, sturdy race to learn how to play Blood Bowl. Caution: Not all races are created equal. Some races are actually more difficult to win with and are played as a deeper challenge to the experienced player.

Warning: Dwarves are low-scoring teams, so don't be discouraged if you are not throwing quick touchdowns with this team. (In fact, you shouldn't throw the ball at all as Dwarves!) BUT they are great at defense and bashing!


Double-click on the arena that is highlighted AND has an arrow pointing to it -- or simply click on "Take Part in Competition" with that arena highlighted.

This screen also tells you that you have zero prestige up at the top -- and you are ranked 141 out of 141 teams. Go to the right under Prestige Ranking and you can scroll to the bottom to see where your team ranks. Well, you have to start somewhere!

The 15 arenas indicate you will have 15 tournaments to compete in to win this campaign.

Look to the upper right to see that you will win 30,000 credits for winning the upcoming tournament and gain 10 in Prestige. It's a start!

It also indicates you will unlock something. Not sure what that is.

So if you lose this tourney, do you really have negative 5 Prestige? Or should you just start over?

And if you lose, you still get 15,000 credits?


You can actually purchase other items before you purchase players. You can purchase players now or after you buy some other "stuff."


This is exciting. This is where you start buying your players. You don't have to spend 160,000 on a Death Roller. The Death Roller is only allowed to play ONE DRIVE! (Until the next kickoff!) Buy three rerolls instead! And you only need "one" Runner while getting started. 1,000,000 credits to spend! Woohoo!


Different teams will have different numbers of each position you can purchase. Here, eleven players have been selected. 150,000 credits is still left in the treasury.


Don't freak out! There's more stuff to choose from before you begin the match. You can on this screen purchase Fun Factor, Assistant Coaches, Cheerleaders, Re-rolls and Apothecaries. With the 160,000 credits I would suggest three Re-rolls. They go for 50K each if you buy them before the match to 100K each after you start your first tourney -- for the rest of eternity!! HONEST! I am not making this up!! An Apothecary can wait just a bit! There ought to be some petty cash laying around here somewhere. Hmmmm.


Hit the "Display Team" button in the middle of the screen to check out your team. As your team ranks up, their images will reflect their new skills.


Click on "Team Roster" to see the individual stats of your players.


Again, don't freak out! There's more stuff you can buy! This is USE IT OR LOSE IT INDUCEMENTS! You are receiving these Inducements because your team value is worth less than the competition's! Don't transfer funds here from your Treasury. You will need that to build up your team later! Select a few Inducements. THEN we can start playing!


You now have 310,000 in petty cash! That's because your team is worth 310 points less than the opposition. Click on the subcategories to see the different Inducments that are available. We won't go through them all now, because we want to get started.

Oh. I almost forgot. Team Training is FREE! (In Blitz Mode.) But if you fail the training, you will not be able to play that character that match!


Just for the heck of it, let's buy a single bribe. You can hit "change" before you start the tourney and get your credits back if you change your mind!

The right side of the screen will show the Inducement(s) bought.

I may be mistaken, but from this screen, I don't see a way to get back to buy further Re-rolls, et cetera.


Game on! If you win the coin toss, you will get to decide whether to kick or receive.

There is a bit more to the kickoff than you might think.

First, there is something called the "Kickoff Event." This doesn't mean there was just a kickoff. In the boardgame, simulated in the PC version, two dice are rolled, giving a number of 2-12. So there are eleven unique "Kickoff Events." Cool, huh?


This is one of eleven "Kickoff Events." This just happens to be number 8. You are given limited time to read this (notice the timer to the right) so you may want to digest these events by checking out the Kickoff Event section to read at your leisure!

Another distinct concept is that the kicker can kick the ball to ANY SQUARE desired on the receiving team's side -- including the end zone!!


Just RIGHT click on the square where you want to release the ball! Note the golden light above the kicker's head indicates where the ball is currently located!

So why wouldn't you kick it in the end zone every time? Because from where the ball lands, there is then a dice roll where the ball will then "scatter" from 1 to 6 squares. In addition, there is a "scatter template" with eight directions. This will determine which direction the ball goes in. This means the ball can go out of bounds!! If it does, there is a penalty against the kicking team.

What is the penalty?

The "penalty" is that the receiving team will be able to choose which player to give the ball to. This is a BIG DEAL -- because the player does not have to go through the "pick up" process. The pick up process involves an "agility roll" -- that will most likely be lost if you don't have a player with the Sure Hands skill. More on that in the next section!

So what is a good strategy for the kickoff?

Not much you can do with the randomness involved until you level up to skills that allow you to kick more accurately. Just don't kick it too near to out of bounds.

The manual mentions a "scatter template." What is that? An eight-sided die? Did I spell "die" right?

No. It's not the actual eight-sided die. It is a chart that tells you what direction to go once you roll the eight-sided die. This is done automatically by the computer, so you really don't need to worry about this!

Is there a Kickoff Event on each kickoff?

Yes!

Can you kick it directly to a player? Would that be foolish to do?

Yes, you can kick it directly to an opposing player. They will then "attempt" to catch the ball. I wouldn't do this. Make them go chase the ball!

Can you actually see the dice roll for these events or does it all happen behind the scenes?

It's all behind the scenes.

What are the eleven Kickoff Events?

I will list those in a separate section to keep this Getting Started section a bit shorter!

Just when you think you are ready to get rolling, you receive the kickoff and you can't even pick up the ball! What the heck?!

Picking up the ball, whether on a kickoff or any time there is a loose ball on the field, is a skill in itself. The higher the player's agility, the more likely they are to be able to successfully pick up the ball.

Dwarves start out with an agility of 3, so they are rather challenged in this regard. They must roll a three or above to pass this Agility roll. Usually, the agility and dice roll must equal seven, but there is a modifier of +1 for pick up, so the tally must be their agility rating plus the dice roll result plus "pick up modifier" (+1) equaling 7 or above. Is that right, Boris? Yes? Good! So you have a 50-50 chance of "fumbling" the ball, losing your turn, and feeling quite despondent -- without even putting much effort into it!

A failed pick up results in a turnover (that is, end of turn) or a "football" type turnover. It's a horrible waste of time and energy. In fact, if you try to pick up the ball first and fail, NONE of your other team members will get a chance to move. The other team will have a chance to bash you before you bash them -- and things can just start going downhill in a hurry. Worst-case scenario, the other team will come along and pick up the ball before you do!

What's a good way to improve your odds of successfully picking up the ball? For the Dwarves, you MUST buy a Runner. Why?



On the Purchase Player screen, highlight the Runner and you will see his skills down below, including the Sure Hands skill. That's kind of small, so let me reprint that.



Because the Runner has the Sure Hands skill he gets TWO CHANCES of rolling a successful pick up die! And, logically enough, the same is true for any other player with the Sure Hands skill! It's a MUST HAVE!!

So failing to pick up the ball is an automatic "turnover"? (i.e., end of turn)

Yes!

Does a player with Sure Hands always pick up the ball -- 100 percent of the time?

No! Two unsuccessful dice rolls will result in a fumble and end of turn.

I hope to cover a lot in this topic, and I think it will be much more helpful than reading the manual. For the longest time, I was mystified, starting on page 1 of the manual, hearing about armor rolls and injury rolls. What the heck are they?

Before getting into detail, let me quickly mention the different degrees of hurt.

1. Knocked down only. You will see four stars circling above their head. You can stand them up next turn.
2. Stunned. A larger "crown of stars" appears above their head. You must wait an extra turn before standing them up.
3. Knocked Out. You will see a yellow bell and they will disappear from the field. "May" return later in the game.
4. Casualty. A red cross will appear and they are out for the match. Possible permanent injuries.
5. Skull and crossbones. Death!

Falling Down

Let's start with the first stage of hurt - being knocked down, falling prone, however you want to phrase it. Falling down. Mind you, this is not being "knocked out"! That's completely different!

It may be stretching it to even say this is a "stage of hurt." You just fell down. No damage done! So far!

The most common reason for a turnover is from "falling down." It could also be a failed pass, a failed catch, a failed pickup, a failed handoff, etc., but falling down takes first place.

You can fall down by failing a "go for it" roll, for leaving a tackle zone unsuccesfully, or -- most commonly -- being on the bad end of a roll of the block dice by an opposing player.

This isn't quite as bad as it seems. Your player simply falls down. If you are on offense, this is a turnover. No good! BUT on the beginning of your next turn, you can select the player and stand him right back up! Unless you have a special skill, your player can't do anything else that turn, but that's just life in the fast lane! After that, he/she/it is ready to go!

Important: Although the computer handles many functions for you in this game, you must manually stand up your player yourself. If not, your player will lay there indefinitely!!

The Armor Roll

Two more things have to happen for injury to occur if you are knocked down by an opposing player. One is: You must lose the armor roll. If you lose the armor roll, then an injury roll takes place.

What is the armor roll? Two dice are rolled automatically by the computer. If the roll is GREATER THAN that player's armor value, then the injury roll will take place. If the injury roll fails, that is great news and, again, your player can just hop up at the beginning of your next turn!

(You can turn on the written scroll of the dice roll descriptions on the bottom left to follow what is happening in this regard.)

That is one reason it is good to start out with Dwarves. They have high armor and you won't have to worry with as many injuries. Many teams with high agility (good passing and catching) have low armor value and it is easier to bash and injure these players, taking them out of the game. A great strategy for dwarves!

The Injury Roll

We have now gotten to the stage where the armor roll has failed. The very best scenario now is for your player to be only stunned.

Your player is stunned with an injury roll of 2 through 7. When this happens, you will see a halo of stars above your player's head. This means you will miss the next turn of play entirely. You will not even be able to stand up! The next turn after this, though, the halo of stars will disappear and you must manually stand your player back up.

An injury roll of 8 or 9 results in a KO - Knocked Out. You will see a bell appear and the player slowly disappear into the pitch. The player is completely removed from the field. The player has a 50-50 chance of returning to the game at the next kickoff. (That is, a roll of 4-6 at the kickoff will return them to the reserves box and make them accessible for play.)

An injury roll of 10 through 12 results in a casualty (injury) and they are out the rest of the match. Casualty doesn't necessarily mean death. Originally, I thought a roll of 12 meant death, but this is not the case.

Any roll of 10 through 12 causes another roll by the computer which is matched up with an injury table on page 25 of the user's manual. It can range anywhere from no lasting injury, to missing the next match, to permanent injury (in terms of the loss of some stat on your player) to death.

Again, an injury roll as low as 10 can possibly lead to death!! All rolls from 10 through 12 are treated the same!

Read more in the next section about how the "casualty roll" works.

If you have an apothecary on hand, you will be given the choice to heal this player. Be careful, though, because the apothecary can only be used once per match! And you are only allowed one apothecary!!

An apothecary will be successful in healing/bringing back from the dead your player unless they roll a 1. If this happens with one of your favorite players, you just had a very bad day! Ugh!

Can you be injured from leaving a tackle zone unsuccessfully?

I think so. Let me double-check one more time. I think you can even die from leaving a tackle zone.

So if you see a red cross on a player, that means the player is injured?

Well, yes. More specifically, this means they suffered a casualty from a 10-12 injury roll. If you see a red cross and then a skull and cross bones, your player has died. In any case, once you see the red cross, they will be taken off the field and you will be able to see them on the sideline.

How can you tell how severe the injury is?

Read the log on the bottom left of the screen to get the details. If you have an Apothecary, you will be told what the injury is, whether it is permanent, will miss the next match, etc., and whether you want to heal that player. Your choice, if it is simply a knockout, you may save it for an even rainier day!

Will you be given the option to heal the player with your apothecary if the injury has no lasting effect and has only knocked him out for that one match?

Yes!

What happens when a player is pushed off the field? I know the fans will pummel the player, but will there be both an armor roll and injury roll, just like an onfield injury?

There is no armor roll. It goes straight to an injury roll. Being pushed out of bounds is serious business!

When will a player who is pushed off the field be returned to the game?

It depends if they are stunned, knocked out or a casualty! Look at the log on the bottom left to get details! Also, look at the boxes off the field to get a visual representation of the state of your player. If they are just hanging out with no icons, they were just stunned, a yellow bell means they have a 50-50 chance of returning after being knocked out, and a red cross means they are out for the match. Do I need to tell you what the cross bones mean again??

So if a player is injured and out for the game, can they be replaced by another player at the next kickoff?

Yes. If the team has twelve or more players, injured players can be replaced by these reserves. Very discouraging if you spent a lot of time and energy bashing the opposing team!

With an injury roll of 10 through 12, a casualty roll must be taken. For this, the computer rolls both a six-sided die and an eight-sided die. The six-sided die creates the first number and the eight-sided die gives the second number.

For example, if the D6 is 3 and the D8 is 8, then the casualty roll is 38.

Looking at the casualty table on page 25 of the manual, all rolls beginning with 3 have no long-term effect.

A casualty roll from 41 to 48 results on missing the next game.

A casualty roll of 51 and 52 is a "niggling injury." Whatever that means.

A casualty roll of 53 or 54 results in permanent -1 of Movement Allowance.
A casualty roll of 55 or 56 results in permanent -1 of Armor Value.
A casuaty roll of 57 results in permanent -1 of Agility.
A casualty roll of 58 results in permanent -1 of Strength.

Any casualty roll begining with 6 - 61 through 68 - results in death. Ugh!

It took me two weeks to figure out Agility. And it's not totally my fault.

I would read online at web sites that to successfully dodge out of a tackle zone you needed a total of six or above outcome when adding together the player's agility and the dice roll.

The manual on the issue of dodging states the following:



This paragraph, taken by itself, is misleading, if not outright wrong. It is not necessary to roll a 4 with a 3 agility. It is necessary to roll only a 3 because a modifier is involved! Let me go ahead and show the Agility Table next.



The Agility Table is exactly the same for each skill: Dodges, Handoffs, Passes, Catches, Picking Up The Ball. The only differences between the Agility Tables for each skill are the modifiers!

In other words, the agility roll plus the player's agility plus the modifier must equal 7 on every skill roll! Period!

Since the Dodge Modifier is +1, the D6 roll and agility of the player only needs to be 6! Honest!

I know this is overly redundant, but let me state the following:

If on a skill roll there is no modifier the dice roll and player's agility must equal seven.

If on a skill roll there is a -1 modifier, the dice roll and player's agility must equal eight.

What makes this even more confusing is that when you fail a dodge roll during the game, the message will be given, for example: 'You got 4 and require 5. Do you want to reroll?"


I got this message with my Troll Slayer - Agility 2. I thought I only needed a 4!

Then I go check the player's agility -- in this case, a Troll Slayer -- and it is 2. What the heck? Am I going insane? I could have sworn I only needed to roll a 4! 4 plus 2 agility plus 1 modifier equals 7!

Well, I finally figured it out -- again! The message, "You got a 4" really means you rolled a 3 with a +1 modifier. So the dice roll was actually a 3 when it announces you "got" a 4! Is that confusing or what!!??

Realizing you only need a total of six for dodge (between dice roll and agility) rather than seven can totally change your strategy. I was even more phobic than necessary about dodging with my Dwarves. Basically I "never" dodged unless it was needed at the end of a half to score a touchdown!

Since this is a timed game, it feels a bit distracting checking out the information scrolling in the left-hand corner of the screen, but there is a lot of info that can be learned there.

If you don't see this information scrolling, click on the button (to the right) in the lower-left corner and it will turn on. Hover the mouse over this button if you have trouble reading the lettering over different backgrounds and it will change to a darker background to make the reading easier.


In this situation, I have just pushed a player out of bounds and I was curious to see how the crowd violence affected the opposing player. I hit Print Screen and then pasted into the Paint program. From there, I noticed there is no "armor roll" when someone is pushed out of bounds, but went straight to the injury roll.

Using this process makes it a lot less hectic trying to figure out what is going on and why.

If you have trouble finding your Paint program, go to Search and type in Paint. For some reason, this program is hidden on my Vista system.

Please follow this link to the fouling article:

BLOOD BOWL FOULING STRATEGY

Team rerolls, individual rerolls. What's all this about?

It's not that complicated.

Team Rerolls

First, yes, it really is important to buy about three rerolls before playing your first match. They really are less expensive then and you really do need them!

Quickly, let me tell you a few reasons why you really must buy three or so rerolls.

1. These team rerolls reset for each half. In other words, you are actually purchasing six rerolls when you purchase three!
2. These rerolls are good for every single match you ever play -- for all eternity! So for a few gold pieces you are actually receiving a gazillion rerolls! (As opposed to inducements, which are only good for a single match!)

One thing that took me a few days to figure out is that the number of rerolls you have are displayed below your team icon in the upper left part of the screen.

If you start the match with three rerolls, it may display 3/3 or even 4/3 or 2/3 - depending on what happened with kickoff events and inducements obtained before the game. As you utilize your rerolls, this counter will reflect this, until you are down to 0/3, 0/4, etc.

What are team rerolls for?

Rerolls are your insurance policy, your lifeline when the dice do not go your way.

Just about for any interaction involving dice roll - blocks, leaving tackle zones, passing, catching, going for it, etc. - you will be given a chance to reroll if you don't like the results. BUT only one reroll can be taken per action. This applies to any player you have - thus, it's called a team reroll.

For example, if you block an opposing player and roll snake eyes - which means both dice indicating your attacker is knocked down - and select a reroll and get snake eyes a second time, you cannot roll a third time. Your player is going down!

Individual Rerolls

There is no "counter" that shows individual rerolls. Individual rerolls refer to a specific skill that a player has that allow a "reroll" for a specific skill -- once per turn. Most individual rerolls will be applied automatically when a negative result is obtained.

For example, with the Pass skill, you have two rolls to throw a successful pass.

With the Catch skill, you have two chances to make a successful Catch roll.

With the Sure Hands skill, you have two chances to pick up the ball without fumbling.

Pro is an interesting skill that allows a reroll, but it does not happen automatically. If your player has Pro and you don't like your block results, manually choose the "reroll" button and it will ask you if you want to use Pro. You will then have a 50-50 chance to reroll. If you are not able to reroll, you can still choose from the original result(s).

Is Dodge a reroll skill?

Errr, yes!

If I roll 1 on the first roll for Sure Hands, for example, do I still get a reroll, even though 1 is an automatic failure?

Yes! Rolling a 1 on any of the agility skills is an automatic failure for the first roll, but you are still allowed a reroll if you have a skill that allows it.

The Cage is where a strength team surrounds the ball carrier and slowly muscles the ball forward. Here is a basic diagram of a cage:

X-X
-O-
X-X

Where, of course, O is the ball carrier. This is a basic concept that will force both agility and strength teams to cross at least one tackle zone to reach the ball carrier.

Of course, this is not foolproof. Cages get broken every day of the week. And that's just in my household! A cage of five Dwarves with eight Orcs knocking on your door is not going to hold up very well!

You need to give your cage all the help you can to make it succeed. Here are a few pointers that I slowly picked up.

1. First, be patient before forming the cage. I found it handy to keep the ball carrier deep in my own territory behind the defensive line. Check out the Movement Allowance of opposing players to make sure they can't "mark" your ball carrier on their initial move through your defensive lines. The AI is not stupid. This is the FIRST thing they will do! Nothing more disturbing than to have a pack of Skaven rats surrounding your ball carrier deep in your own territory! Alternatively, keep your ball carrier behind and close to a number of your players to bash any rats/Elves that get through your front lines.

2. Although this may be considered "pre-cage" tactics, I will go ahead and put this here. DO NOT give any defensive players a clean shot past your line if you can help it. Make them go through at least ONE tackle zone as they race to "mark" the ball carrier deep in your end zone. Even high-agility teams will have a one-in-six chance of a turnover every time they LEAVE a tackle zone. Every time an opposing player prances scott-free past a hole in your line, make a note how to avoid this next time. Sometimes it's just a matter of paying attention!

3. Be patient and start bashing high-agility teams to see where a combination of tactics and luck will weaken up a portion of their defense. Keep your ball carrier casually behind your offensive line and bash on isolated players that come through. THEN move your ball carrier in the direction of greatest weakness to start forming a cage. Heaven forbid, we are not looking for a fair fight! We want the bashing advantage heavily in our favor!

Further note: Some strategies call for a heavier line of offense to one side of the map than the other and start heading toward this direction. I have developed a playing style that calls for an evenly distributed offensive line for the ball carrier and just seeing what develops by happenstance. If you pull all of your assets to one side, the other side will follow and there is just more bashing to be done.

4. A cage doesn't have to be in a "perfect" X formation. View the positioning of opposing players to see what needs to be done first and where priorities lie.

5. Part of doing "what needs to be done" is marking opposing players that are in closest proximity to your cage so that they must leave a tackle zone before even approaching the ball carrier. This will increase the odds of an early turnover.

6. Do more than just mark the opposing players. Don't stop there! Create the largest buffer of tackle zones between the ball carrier and opposing players in the direction mostly likely to be a path of attack. You are not shooting for a pretty geometric formation. You are placing your players in relation to "battlefield" conditions.

Wood Elves come standard with an agility of 4. This means they must roll a 1 to be knocked down on a Dodge roll. Otherwise, on 2-5, they prance right through your tackle zones. Make them play "Russian roulette" with dodging as often as possible!

7. If you are playing a strength team (like Dwarves) against another strength team (like Orcs) you want to avoid their strength players as much as possible. Not sure if this tactic belongs in this section, but it will help your cage. Try to mark their strongest players with JUST a single player of your own. Yes, that one player may get pushed around a bit, BUT you are occupying that hard hitter! Try not to have two or more players within a power player's tackle zone. It really messes up your ability to be flexible without the risks inherent in leaving TZs. You can take preemptive steps to spread your team members apart and keep them this way. Every time a single heavy hitter is tying up more than ONE of your players, make note of how to avoid this in the future. Also, you can attempt to free one player from the tackle zone LATE during your turn - after safer and more important moves are made -- when you can afford to have a turnover. If you are successful, the next turn your man will be free to move around - or at least he will be free of this tackle zone a move or two later!

8. Try not to bunch up your players "too much" so that a single opposing player can neutralize "assists" by standing next to multiple players. The checkerboard approach is a good place to start from as a general concept!

As a further note on this concept, be aware that the skill Guard allows your player to assist in blocks (adding 1 to your team's strength) even if they are in an opposing player's tackle zone. So if you have Guard, you can more safely bunch up your players. Without Guard, you may have zero assists to protect in blocking actions and may need to be in more of the "checkerboard" pattern.

9. Don't be impatient. Don't let your ball carrier run out in front of your defenses and make him an open target. Trust me, the opposing players will absolutely pounce and surround the ball carrier. No good! Just keep track of how many turns you have left so you don't run out of time!

10. When you do get a good opening for your ball carrier - RUN FORREST RUN!!

Since you are hopefully starting your cage from a position of strength, leverage your advantages accordingly and learn from your mistakes!

Good luck!

Pushing out of bounds is a much more effective strategy than simply blocking an opponent and knocking him down on the field.

There are two main reasons for this:

1. They are definitely out of the match until the next kickoff.
2. There is no armor roll. The crowd's punishment of the player pushed off the field is a direct injury roll. That means there is a higher chance of the player being knocked out or a casualty and not returning to the match at all!

There is one downside to pushing off the field versus blocking. A casualty will not result in any star player points!

Let's review a few statistics to see how much more powerful pushing out of bounds can be.

For an Ogre with Armor Value of 9, a ten or higher must be rolled to break their armor. The odds of this happening is 16.67 percent. 83 percent of the time, they will simply hop up the next turn and continue to pound and bash the hell out of your players.

If you are another strength team, for example, Dwarves, dealing with these Ogres is incredibly frustrating. Your bashing ability is only 16.67-percent effective! Only 8.33-percent effective if the armor is buffed up to 10!

This is supposed to be your strength - but you can bash all day long for naught. They keep coming back and knocking you down with greater effectiveness.

Again, to restate a few statistics, an Ogre will only be knocked down or stunned 93.05 percent of the time on a successful block. 93.05 percent of the time, they will again be causing you grief and irritation in a turn or two.

A successful block results in a knockout only 4.17 percent of the time and results in a casualty 2.78 percent of the time.

If you push this Ogre out of bounds, there is a 100-percent chance the Ogre will not hop back up the next play! (Unless a touchdown is scored on the same turn!) He has been pushed out of bounds and is on the sideline. This is a good thing!

Avoiding the armor roll, the odds are now 58.33% the Ogre will be stunned (and will be available at the end of the drive), 25% that there will be a knockout (50% chance he will be able to return) and 16.67% that there will be a casualty!

But the AI playing against you is not stupid. It will not be "that easy" to knock players out of bounds. Some players that are knocked down next to the sidelines will not hop back up because of the ease you would have of knocking them out of bounds.

If they are able, they will jump and move away from the sideline on the same turn.

With a bit of creativity, you can knock a few more players out of bounds. Pay special attention to your players that have the Frenzy skill - giving you two hits in a row. Combine this with another player, if necessary, near the sidelines to give that final push out of bounds.

Your players with the Frenzy skill, pay attention to where you place them at kickoff. I like to put them at the edges of the scrimmage area, about five squares from the sidelines. This places them in a good position for future hits to players near the sidelines.

If a player is two hits from being knocked out of bounds, consider choosing the Push option versus Defender Stumbles or Both Down on the first roll, so you have an opportunity to knock them out of bounds on the next turn. With two-dice rolls, this seems to be very effective.

Remember that if the opposing player has both Block and Dodge as skills, the Defender Stumbles choice will still push them backwards and out of bounds!

Try to maneuver your players with Frenzy to a position that they are always pushing an opposing player nearer to the edge of the field, even if they have to take a few more steps!

Also realize, the final push out of bounds cannot be made from a diagonal square. It must be a straight-on push!

Comparing this to fouling - there is no comparison! There is no one-in-six chance your player will be ejected for the entire match! And with fouls, even though there is an increased chance to break the opponent's armor, with knocking out of bounds, there is a 100-percent chance the armor will be broken!

The only time I can think of where I would prefer not to push out of bounds is when you are totally dominating a Halfling team, and you want to keep them inbounds so you can keep knocking them down for a chance of a casualty and star player points.

Here are a few stats to help you see the odds of breaking armor.

Percent of time you will break armor with AV of:

6 - 58.33
7 - 41.67
8 - 27.78
9 - 16.67
10 - 8.33
11 - 2.78

To just state it in the reverse, this is the percent of time you will not break armor with AV of:

6 - 41.67
7 - 58.33
8 - 72.22
9 - 83.33
10 - 91.67
11 - 97.22

This is the percent of time a player will only be knocked down or stunned with an AV of:

6 - 75.69
7 - 82.64
8 - 88.42
9 - 93.05
10 - 96.52
11 - 98.84

To state it again in reverse, this is the percent of time you will successfully knock out or cause a casualty with AV of:

6 - 24.31
7 - 17.36
8 - 11.58
9 - 6.95
10 - 3.48
11 - 1.16

Hope this helps! Good luck!

A great deal of information can be obtained by viewing the sidelines and beyond.

For one, you can see how many cheerleaders the opposing team has - for what that's worth!

What's more important is keeping track of the teams' casualties, knockouts and replacement players available.

You don't need to wait for the graphic display after touchdowns and at half time to view the sidelines. You can swing the camera over and view them at any time.

The Casualty Box

The first box will contain all players that have casualties and/or deaths. The casualties will have a red cross displayed above the bodies. They are not coming back into this match!

The deaths will have the skull and cross bones floating above them. They are not coming back - ever!

A third group of players is shown in this box. These are players that have been ejected for the entire match. A yellow exclamation icon will be shown above them.

The Knockout Box

The players with the yellow bell icons floating above them are players that have been knocked out. They may or may not come back into the match. At the end of every drive (that is, after a touchdown or after half-time) they have a 50-50 chance of returning to the field after a simulated dice roll. A successful roll will be reflected by watching the player jump up from the ground as the camera scrolls past them.

How soon can you see players on the sideline after a knockout or casualty?

Immediately. For a knocked-out player, as soon as he disappears from the field, he appears in the knocked-out box.

How do the sidelines represent players that have been pushed out of bounds? What if they are pushed out of bounds and only stunned?

It depends what injury is sustained. Players pushed out of bounds go straight to the injury roll. If they are only stunned, they will be standing around with any other additional players along the sideline. If they are knocked out, they will have the usual "yellow bell" icon above them. A casualty will be reflected like any other casualty, with a red cross!

Can you read the stats of opposing players that are on the sidelines? At any time?

Yes. You can visually see and read the stats of opposing players at any time!

How about your own players?

Before kickoffs, you cannot visually see your players, but their stats are given in the upper right. You can then select one of these players and place them on the field. You can only do that, though, by placing the cursor on another player already on the field and then right click to exchange them!

During the match, you can then visually see your players and view their stats.

Things I Wish I Knew When First Playing Blood Bowl

This will probably be a bit redundant of other areas, but I think this can be a helpful category when first learning Blood Bowl.

This list has an emphasis on learning with Dwarves, but hopefully it will help you no matter which race you choose.

In hindsight, it may be much easier learning to play Blood Bowl with a high-agility team, like Skavens and Wood Elves. But I am very happy with the way my Dwarves are coming along!

* Rerolls are half price when bought before your first match. This is the number of rerolls for each half of a match (six rerolls per game if you buy three rerolls) and resets again at the beginning of each match! Buy them, buy them, buy them!

* You don't necessarily need the heavy-hitting creatures for your first match. Rerolls are MORE IMPORTANT!!

* The amount of rerolls is reflected under your team icon in the upper left.

* Hit the escape key to lock the camera in a forward-looking view to observe the opposing player's strategy more succinctly.

* Understand how the Block skill and Dodge skill affect your choices from the blocking dice.

* Understanding that Tackle for your Dwarves totally neutralizes the Wood Elves' Dodge. Booya!

* Always start your defense against high-agility teams with two rows of players that fill the entire width of the board with tackle zones. This can be accomplished by placing your players two spaces apart!!! Don't place all of your players one space apart! This makes for a smaller overall tackle zone on the board - as your tackle zones will be overlapping -- and the agility teams will eat your lunch! Force the agility players to constantly reroll to attempt to leave your tackle zones! Please check out the defensive position section of this website to check out a very simple, straight-forward defense that will help out tremendously!

* Although veteran players talk about the "stupid AI" in Blood Bowl LE, it's not that dumb! The AI will pounce on any hole in your defense and exploit it fully!

* To defend against more powerful, bashing teams, even if you too are a bashing team, just parking a few players in front of their ball carrier and his escorts can slow down their progress tremendously. Have one space between your front players and their players to force them to blitz to whack your players that turn. A double-row defense in front of their ball carrier will come in very handy when they do successfully whack a few players on your front line of defense.

* Don't get too discouraged when Wood Elves throw unending touchdowns. It's pretty irritating. Realize that with just their initial 4 agility, most of their dodging, passing and catching can be accomplished by simply not rolling a 1! Read up on modifiers and anti-passing strategies to help lower their odds a bit. Again, setting up a solid double row of tackle zones will cause them to "eventually" roll a 1 and cause a turnover. It's soooo sweet!!

* When playing another strength team with your strength team, do everything you can to avoid the stronger players' tackle zones. If one of their stronger players have two of your players tied up in their tackle zone, try to remedy the situation by moving one player away from the tackle zone. Do this on the last move for your turn, as there is a good chance you will fail the dodge roll and cause a turnover. Even if this happens, that player will soon be able to move freely again. (Leaving just one of your players next to a stronger player is not a bad policy, as this will tie up this low-agility basher from moving around and causing further damage.)

* Even for bashing teams, consider having a few players with the Sure Hands skill besides your runners. Low-agility Dwarves will fumble endlessly if you don't have a player in the area with this skill.

* Even on a bashing team, try to have at least one player with high agility - the Runner being the best candidate for Dwarves. Keeping this high-agility player in possible passing zones on defense will help you accomplish a few interceptions.

* When it looks likely that a high-agility team is going for a pass the next turn, attempt to put a player or two between them and your end zone. (You only need one player with a "reasonable" agility level between the catcher and passer.) Although they may "dodge" successfully right through them while running for the end zone, occasionally you will get lucky and cause a turnover on an unsuccessful dodge.

* Consider Pro as an early choice when leveling up your players. Realize you must manually choose it to get a possible reroll using this skill.

The Dwarven Deathroller is one player that has the "Special Weapons" skill. This skill is actually a negative and not a positive.

Although the skill description reads in a very legalistic, precise manner, I did not initially understand it until after quite a bit of conversation with a fellow Blood Bowl player.

The short interpretation of the Special Weapons skill is: This player can only play one "drive" per match. In other words, on the next kickoff, the Deathroller (or any other player with special weapons) is removed from the field and a big, yellow exclamation mark is placed above him. (A kickoff signals the end of a "drive.") There is nothing you can do to get him back during this game.

Basically, players with special weapons are considered extremely powerful and you must make the most use of them during a single drive.

These players can be replaced, though, with another player. That is, if you have a twelfth player!!

Okay. Well, it's not exactly a secret weapon. It's just that I didn't pay attention and utilize this skill for the first week of play. Even though I understood the basic gameplay dynamics, I was making no forward progress. I was getting a "bit" discouraged. Grrrrrrrr!

What am I referring to? The humble Tackle skill. The Tackle skill totally negates the Dodge skill of opposing players!!!

Tired of High Elves and other throwing teams zipping past your line with Dodge and catching for a quick toughdown? End that bull**** right now! Please pardon my Dwarvish!!

Your humble Dwarven Blockers have the Tackle skill! I took these cheap players for granted and didn't realize how powerful they were! They're awesome!

Take them away from the center line of scrimmage! The Tackle skill is NOT going to have much of an effect on the center line -- where many heavy hitters are located. Most heavy hitters don't have Dodge. This is terrible positioning for the majority of your Blockers!

Scatter up to six Blockers from left to right along the line of scrimmage (not necessarily the center) so that opposing players absolutely CANNOT utilize their Dodge skill running through your line. Make it impossible for them to even get downfield! If possible, make them attempt multiple Dodges!

(Quick note: In many guides Blockers are called Longbeards. Go figure!!)

If any "one" player makes it downfield, take every means available to pummel them to nonexistence! Take a chance at fouling them, if necessary!

Although fouling is a separate category, realize that these isolated players can be surrounded by your own -- increasing their chance of injury on a foul -- while they have no supporting players in the area to negate this effect!

Throwing teams will get frustrated trying to get downfield and you may have many quick turnovers as a result! Booya!

Below is a list of the eleven Kickoff Events.

2. Get the Ref: The fans exact gruesome revenge on the referee for some of the dubious decisions he has made, either during this match or in the past. His replacement is so intimidated that for the rest of the half he will not send players from either team off for making a foul nor ban players using secret weapons.

3. Riot: The trash talk between two opposing players explodes and rapidly degenerates, involving the rest of the players. Roll a D6. On a 1-3, the referee lets the clock run on during the fight; both teams' turn markers are moved forward along the turn track a number of spaces equal to the D6 roll. If this takes the number of turns to 8 or more for both teams, then the half ends. On a roll of 4-6 the referee resets the clock back to before the fight started, so both teams turn markers are moved one space back along the track. The turn marker may not be moved back before turn 1; if this would happen do not move the Turn marker in either direction.

4. Perfect Defence: The kicking team's coach may reorganize his players - in other words he can set them up again into another legal defence. The receiving team must remain in the set-up chosen by their coach.

5. High Kick: The ball is kicked very high, allowing a player on the receiving team time to move into the perfect position to catch it. Any one player on the receiving team who is not in an opposing player's tackle zone may be moved into the square where the ball will land no matter what their MA may be, as long as the square is unoccupied.

6. Cheering Fans: Each coach rolls a D3 and adds their team's FAME and the number of cheerleaders on their team to the score. The team with the highest score is inspired by their fans' cheering and gets an extra re-roll this half. If both teams have the same score, then both teams get a reroll.

7. Changing Weather: Make a new roll on the Weather table. Apply the new Weather roll. If the new Weather roll was a 'Nice' result, then a gentle gust of wind makes the ball scatter one extra square in a random direction before landing.

8. Brilliant Coaching: Each coach rolls a D3 and adds their FAME and the number of assistant coaches on their team to the score. The team with the highest total gets an extra team re-roll this half thanks to the brilliant instruction provided by the coaching staff. In case of a tie both teams get an extra team re-roll.

9. Quick Snap! The offence start their drive a fraction before the defence is ready, catching the kicking team flat-footed. All of the players on the receiving team are allowed to move one square. This is a free move and may be made into any adjacent empty square, ignoring tackle zones. It may be used to enter the opposing half of the pitch.

10. Blitz! The defence start their drive a fraction before the offence is ready, catching the receiving team flat-footed. The kicking team receives a free 'bonus' turn: however, players that are in an enemy tackle zone at the beginning of this free turn may not perform an Action. The kicking team may use team re-rolls during a Blitz. If any player suffers a turnover then the bonus turn ends immediately.

11. Throw a Rock: An enraged fan hurls a large rock at one of the players on the opposing team. Each coach rolls a D6 and adds their FAME to the roll. The fans of the team that rolls higher are the ones that threw the rock. In the case of a tie a rock is thrown at each team! Decide randomly which player in the other team was hit (only players on the pitch are eligible) and roll for the effects of the injury straight away. No Armour roll is required.

12. Pitch Invasion: Both coaches roll a D6 for each opposing player on the pitch and add their FAME to the roll. If a roll is 6 or more after modification then the player is Stunned (players with the Ball & Chain skill are KO'd). A roll of 1 before adding FAME will always have no effect.

Until you get the feeling of "why" you are doing certain things, looking at a chart of different formations is not going to do you much good.



Here is one formation given at the start of the Blood Bowl manual. It is called the 5-4-2 Deep Defence formation. So I guess that means five near the front center, four on the sides and two deep.

When I first saw this chart, it meant nothing to me and I forgot all about it. As I have continued to play, though, I started seeing the reasoning and beauty of this particular positoning to defend against agile throwing/running teams. Let me go over a few of these.

For one thing, this formation portends a patient defense. You have no plans to rush the ball and get yourself off kilter.

On the line of scrimmage, the three defenders are separated by an open space. This creates a larger tackle zone and will help prevent a single opposing player from tying up too many of your players. For example, if all three players were right next to each other, a single linesman with good strength could tie up the movement of all three linesmen!

The two backups behind the line of scrimmage are two squares back versus one. Because of this, if your player on the line of scrimmage is pushed back, you will NOT have two players, again, tied up with a single tackle zone! You will maintain your maneuverability!

Again, the wide zone players are not symmetrically placed to create a slightly larger tackle zone.

The two deep players will hit as hard as possible any opposing players that get through. And, unfortunately, with Wood Elves, some will get through. Their high agility just absolutely sucks! Playing against them on defense, that is!

Althought this might be slightly off topic, one winning strategy against super agile/fast-moving teams is to "accept" the fact they might score quickly and then use this to your advantage to try to score in the same half. If you can slowly score when you receive the kickoff, victory is yours!

After plenty of surfing and surfing through generic help, this single page got me to rocking and rolling in the win column. It gives precise layouts for defensive and offensive positions playing both for and against agile and strong teams.

It's grrrrrrrrrreat!!

Here we go!

http://www.bbpb.de/blood-bowl-playbook

The Campaign page illustrates 15 arenas to choose from. Arenas are locked and unlocked by two factors: Prestige and Periods.

An arena that is unlocked in Period 1 is locked again in Period 2!

There is a total of five periods -- then you start over at Period 1!!

The arenas will have arrows pointing to them if it is the appropriate period to play in that arena. For example, the Blood Bowl arena has an arrow pointing to it in Period 5. BUT unless you have 320 Prestige points, it will not be lit up/highlighted and it will not be unlocked.

There will always be one arena that can be unlocked with zero prestige in each period. Hopefully, we can eventually do better than that!


This is the initial Campaign Page at the start of Period 1. There are five possible arenas to play in in Period 1. BUT since you start with zero prestige points, only one arena is also highlighted and available for play.


This is the information panel for the only arena available to you when you begin the campaign mode. It informs you that there will be a total of four teams playing in this arena for this period. It also tells you the amount of prestige necessary to play in this arena and which period this arena is available in.

It informs you of two things you will be playing for - gold and prestige. Realize this is NOT the gold and prestige you will receive for a single match but for the ENTIRE PERIOD. You could lose the first match and still possibly win first place gold and prestige for the period.


This is the info given when choosing the actual Blood Bowl arena. Notice the info in red indicates this arena is not yet available. As you progress to more prestigious competitions, more gold and prestige are awarded. Also, more teams are involved and more matches will have to be played in the more prestigious contests.


Once you choose the arena, you will be taken to this screen. From here you cannot access the "Arenas" page again until the end/beginning of the next period!!

From here you will choose your team players, rerolls, etc. But what I want to illustrate quickly is access to the matches selection at the top right of the page.

Besides Prestige points for coming in first place, each individual match will also give a certain amount of prestige.

The "Last -5 Prestige, does that mean I will lose 5 Prestige in the competition if I come in last place? Can I go below zero Prestige?

Yes, you will lose 5 prestige if you come in last place in this tournament. The good news is you cannot go below zero prestige and you will still be able to advance to Period 2. BUT if you were playing in Period 1 the second time around and came in last place, then, yes, you would subtract 5 Prestige Points from your current total.

What happens at the end of five periods?

And five periods is considered a season?

So you get so much prestige per game (match) then whatever amount of Prestige that is announced before the period? (That is, for example, either plus 20 or minus 5 for first and last place, respectively.)

Will I ever have a choice of two arenas to choose from?

Do different arenas on the competition screen utilize the same playing fields, graphics-wise?

So sometimes there are more teams competing in the arena, so you may face a wider variety of races?

For each separate arena, are there specific races that play each time? Or does it vary?

Is it possible to get to the Blood Bowl in one season -- that is, five periods?


My first Trophy and first-place finish! Yea!

I didn't read about this until two weeks after I started playing. Thought it would give me a headache with too much info. Naah...it's very straight forward.

At the beginning of each game two dice are rolled. As you can see below, 4-10, no results occur.



It's that simple! Now you understand weather!


At the end of the drive, this Thrall rolled a 1 - failing the "Sweltering Heat" roll. This shows him stunned on the sidelines. He was replaced on the pitch, though, by another player at that kickoff. The player may come back on the field on the next (second) kickoff!

I remember seeing the graphical representation of rain. Are there other graphics related to the other entries?

On Sweltering Heat, the screen initially gets extra brights and blurry -- as if you were viewing the screen through a shimmering heat wave.

If you roll a 12 for a blizzard, lovely thick snow flakes will fall thoughout the match.


Dwarves are happy to play in the snow against these Elves. Only quick or short passes are allowed!

When are you told about these results? Right at the beginning?

The commentators will make an oral statement about the weather at the beginning of the game -- or they may not! For Sweltering Heat one game, this was announced. In another game, it wasn't! But either way, there is a log notation made that you can view.


Log notation concerning the weather: "1+3=4. Nice."

If you forget, is there any way to remind oneself what the weather conditions are?

After the log scrolls up, you can't check that. Otherwise, you will need to rely on the graphics.

So I take it the sweltering heat's effect on players is at the end of the first drive? (As a reminder, a drive ends at half-time or when a touchdown is scored, I believe.

Although some of these questions are answered in various sections, I have tried to keep my "list of questions" somewhat intact, since this shows the order upon which I wandered onto these following areas of inquiry. I also include moments of "realization," a/k/a "a-ha moments."

The tutorial is freezing up after telling me to move the cursor up, down, left and right. What's the scoop?

You need to use the arrows on the keyboard to scroll the screen (not the mouse) to activate the red arrow to go to the next screen!

I went through the tutorial and now I need to place my players. How do I do it?

Errr, you are jumping the gun! Just start a campaign or other single player option and the prompt screen will take you to buy players.

Lots of single player options. Can you tell me more about this?

It's going to to take a while to figure this out, as the only way to see what is going to happen is to play it! I have a whole section on the Campaign mode now and haven't yet played the others. I will say quickly you don't need to win all of the matches to go to the next arena. It simply tells you where you placed in the rankings, plus or minus any prestige points, and you keep on playing -- with the prestige points opening up other arenas, all the way up to the Blood Bowl at 320 prestige points!

Okay. I will start practicing on the Campaign mode. How many games do I need to win to complete this?

lol. It's not the number of games, but the number of prestige points you accumulate! Again, see my Campaign section for more scoop!

How do you get more cash?

At the end of each match (individual game) there is a dice roll. You can receive anywhere from 30,000 to 80,000, depending on how high you roll between 1 and 6. You are given an option for a reroll, but you must accept the second results if you choose this option.

In some circumstances (perhaps it's for higher-prestige-point arenas) this can range from 40,000 to 90,000.

Also, once your team has a certain value, so much gold (GP) is subtracted after each match. The higher the value of your team, the more gold that is subtracted! Grrrrr!

You also win a bit more from coming in first or second place in a period in campaign mode. A period is five or so matches, give or take.

So you start a match with cash. Any reason not to spend it all?

Between the initial buying of re-rolls and filling out your roster, you won't have much cash left for a number of matches. Once you get rolling, though, save up a bit of gold for the opportunity to buy additional gear in Blitz mode and/or "experienced players." These are different than "star players."

When will you have the opportunity to buy "experienced players"?

At the beginning of a period, excluding the initial Period 1.

So can you eventually max out the stats of a player?

Well, so far, after playing a few weeks, I cannot get above Level 6 for my players, although my Runner has massive Star Player Points.

Can you always see the stats and skills of an opposing player? Any hidden abilities?

Yes. You can always see the stats and skills of opposing players - even those on the sidelines not playing yet. No hidden abilities!

What are the squares with the green dice once you select a player?

These are the go-for-it squares. You can move to these squares, but if you roll a 1 while moving to this square, you will be knocked down and a turnover will occur.

Tell me more about rerolls.

I have a whole section on this now!

On campaign mode, there are 5 arrows and three arenas lit up. Where do I start?

You must start on the single arena that has both the arrow pointing to it and is lit up. Much more on how this works in the Campaign section!

Oh. I have to buy players. Should I spend all of my money?

Yes! You need it to get started. Be sure to buy at least three rerolls. You can wait until later to buy the high-priced heavy hitters.

Oh. I have more gold in petty cash? I am not as poor as I thought!?

Errrr, yes and no. Petty cash can only be used for that one match!! Use it or lose it! You can utilize this petty cash for inducements that aid your team for that one match. Check out the inducement page before the match. All kinds of options!

Petty cash for that match is determined precisely on how much more or less your team is worth than the other team. If your team is worth 300 points less than the opposition, you will receive 300,000 in petty cash.

What is a D6?

That's a regular die numbered 1 through 6 - as opposed to a blocking die - that has different symbols on the six sides representing different attacking actions.

My team value is 980 versus the other team value of 1300. What does it mean?

The value of a team is figured by the computer, totalling up the value of your players with their various upgrades, together with your number of rerolls, etc. I don't know the nuances of how this is figured out - yet. As mentioned above, the difference in team values will determine the amount of inducements you can purchase before a match.

Can you go back to the previous screens once you get to the inducements screen?

No!

I have no idea where to move my Dwarves and why. Any suggestions?

Hmmm. Broad question. I have a number of sections regarding this. I hope they are of assistance! Quickly, you want to position your players to perform as many two-die blocks as possible; you want to force other players to go through as many tackle zones as possible. That's a start!

Can you figure out the number of Apothecaries, Cheerleaders, etc. that you have by looking at the field?

Errr, first, you can only have one Apothecary! That can be figured out by floating your mouse over the appropriate icon on the right side of the screen.

The number of coaches you have is on the list of data presented on the right side of the screen, but no graphic depiction of them is given.

The cheerleaders are quite evident on the side of the field. Dwarven cheerleaders are not much to look at!!

So the golden light shining toward the sky is where the ball is located?

Brilliant deduction, dear Watson! Exactly! Also, if the graphics are not clear to you, when you click on the player holding the ball, a football icon will appear in the middle lower part of the screen.

Are Orcs a good race for a rookie player?

Mmmmm, not sure! I started with Dwarves.

What are the safest actions?

lol. Good question! For high-agility teams, just about anything is easy. Plus certain players will have specific skills, like Catch, Pass, Dodge, which will make that particular skill even "safer."

For bashing teams with high strength, blocking could be considered a "safe" action, since the odds will be in their favor during blocking rolls - having two or three dice to choose from, versus one for a weaker player.

What's all this talk about just picking up the ball?

Pick-up - or "picking up the ball" -- is a skill set all unto itself. A low-agility player will most likely fumble the pick-up and cause a turnover. Use a player with the Sure Hands skill to increase the odds of a successful pick-up. I have a whole section devoted to this!

To successfully pick up a ball, you should add the player's agility, the dice roll (D6), add 1 (the pick-up modifier) and this must total 7 or above.

If your player has an agility of 2, they must roll a 4, 5 or 6 (2+4+1=7) to successfully pick up the ball.

With an agility of 3, you must roll 3 through 6.

With an agility of 4, you will be successful as long as you don't roll a 1.

With an agility of 5, you still will be unsuccessful if you roll a 1. If you roll a 1 with any agility skill, it is an automatic failure.

And then, again, with Sure Hands, you have two chances to make a successful roll!

Those are the questions I had on Day 1. Ready for Day 2?

Note: Some players feel it's not that important to buy Fun Factor at the beginning of the match. This will come by itself with time!

Note: You can wait a few matches to buy an Apothecary. Even if you lose a player ASAP, they will not be leveled up and it won't be that big of a loss.

Note: When starting out with Dwarves, you may want to start with just one Runner. You can get an extra Lineman and be sure to have enough funds for rerolls.

Grabbing ball on the ground is what skill?

These skills are scattered all over the manual. The offical name is "Pick-up," along with the "Pick-up" modifiers. Again, agility + D6 roll + 1 must equal 7 or above. (The 1 is the pick-up modifier that applies to every pick-up attempt. You must roll one number higher for every opposing player adjacent to the ball!

How do I replace injuries?

I have a whole section on injuries. Short answer: At the next kickoff, if you have additional players to place on the field, this will occur then.

Rerolls after what event make them go up in price?

After you begin your first match, rerolls will permanently be double price! These prices vary a bit between races. Interesting note: The value of your team will increase the same whether you buy these rerolls at full or half price!

Note: As you level up your players, their appearance change. I actually haven't noticed that through Level 6!

How do you see schedule of match play in campaign mode?

Click on the "Matches" tab in the upper right before you go to the Inducement screen. You can't go back from there!

Three matches are shown. Is that it?

Well, there may be more than three initial matches, depending on which arena you are in. Then there will probably be playoffs. It seems the number of playoff matches to end this "period" can vary.

How can you check the roster of the opposing team?

After selecting the "Matches" tab before the game begins, choose whichever match you are interested in - either your own or two different teams displayed. Go toward the bottom of the screen and click on the team's name to see a complete roster. If there is no roster shown, that means it is this team's first match!

How are Wandering Apothecaries different than regular Apothecaries?

Wandering Apothecaries are hired for a single match on the Inducements page. You can have both a regular and Wandering Apothecary in the same match! You can only use one, though, for a single player!

Which items that you buy are permanent? How many are for one-time use?

Anything bought on the pre-match page are permanent: Coaches, Cheerleaders, Re-rolls, an Apothecary, Fun Factor, etc.

Again, anything bought on the Inducement page is temporary -- one match only!