Star payers. I love them!

I love star players in the game of blood bowl. My gaming club, "The Thursday Night Heroes", love star players. Yeah, I know the stars are not that hip these days, but I think they add another layer of fluff and fun to our game.

When the 2nd edition hit the game stores, our club started to take the league a lot more seriously. By that, I don't mean ‘win at all costs’, or ‘find the best star on the list and get him’, what I mean is, we started to run our league twice a year and it got to be quite the ‘game about town’. At our peak, we had about 30-35 coaches vying for the "old tin jug". 
We had new faces at the start of every season (we always play set format like the NHL/NFL, none of this ‘lets see who turns up’, nonsense), and it got to the point that we were using the town rec hall because the FLGS or our basements were not big enough, no brag, fact. The GW supply guy at our FLGS said we ran the biggest league on the east coast of the US in the years 1995-98.

These days, we have between 15-22 players each season (now in our 36th). We have a bunch of things most leagues don't; between game stuff, star players, trades etc. We have a file index with about 225 star players. These are from many sources: the 'net, official GW sources, home grown stars etc, you get the idea. They are all pointed as per JJ's formula, and they are bought for a team sorta like 3rd edition, you buy the player and he's yours until:

-he gets killed

-he gets an injury and he’s released

-he's traded

-some between game mayhem gets in the way

Once that star is chosen, as he’s unique, he plays for your team until one of the above...

As our league doesn’t play teams past the current season, the stars are put back in the pool before the next season. It’s been working for very nearly 22 years. I see them as a part of the game. The stars don't over balance the game as they can fall victim just like a common lineman. I have found that most coaches are very vocal about NOT using star players. Broken, is the cool way of describing stars. For the life of me, I just don't see how a Star Player bothers Blood Bowl. I  mean to say, you have x amount of gold to buy y (players, rerolls, apoth, cheerleaders, etc). If I ‘waste’ gold on a star player, yeah, he’s got a bunch of "plusses", but he can't advance and he’s a "spp" sink. He’s also just as fragile as any non star player. I’ve had a star player killed on turn 2 of game 1 in one of our seasons.

Anyway, we like them. Now, if I could just get people to help me get a painted figure for each of our stars. Out of about 225, we have, in our club (which means my massive collection, mostly) about 150 already painted. I try to get a few more done every month.

How about another... Star Player?

And now for something completely new... an Orc Star Player!

Mr. Ugroth Bolgrot with his good friend 'Pain'!
"-Up there, zee? ZMIIILE !!! Some'unz about to be proper chopped in half'z and betta'z not me!"

"


Yesss, you're right, it is a conversion!
Nothing too fancy, just a 3rd Ed. plastic Orc Lineman from the box, with a couple of plasticard and green stuff mods: Iron Jaw - probably something inspired in 40k universe, and the mandatory chainsaw -fondly nicked 'Pain'.

For those still in doubt (or having trouble reading his name on the base), he'll be filling the role of the Orc Star Ugroth Bolgrot, the orc chainsaw wielding lunatic, that will probably do more psychophysical damage to the opponent coach then to the armour of his players!

Since this season I'm having a go with a Chaos Pact team in my league who knows if it will come handy?
Either that or I really wanted to try checkers in orc armour!

:)
Have fun!

Back for more... Star Players!

Fuelled by the "Give him a Goblin" contest (just click on the link if you still don't know what I'm talking about), I've painted a couple more home brewed Blood Bowl Star Players.

First one on display is Lottabottol, a Lizardmen skink star with all the skills you need for ruining your opponent's perfect pass with an interception.
Its made from GW's Skink Lizardmen plastic sprue, with a few extra bits (old skeleton armour) just to make him stand from the 'regular skink.













The second star of the day is Horkon Heartripper, a Dark Elf star player.
It's a mini from GW's Warhammer Dark Elf range (an assassin), and he'll probably just stand in the shelf for now since I'm not playing any DE team right now.















Hope you like them, and please fell free to comment.

Both Down, I hate you

by Nazgob

I really, really do.

You pointed out a huge flaw in my gaming. In my hobby life, I try to put fluff first; mycetic spores, radical Daemonhunters, D&D characters that do more than stab things with sticks. However, my fumbbl activities of late have been woefully inadequate. Where once my teams and players had stories, now thar are simply a means to an end:

Chaos at the World Cup - Wood Elf practive

Waterbowl testers - Any idea why I made these?

Team Choas at the World Cup - I can't spell, but you still get the idea.

And then, Both Down dedicated an entire segment on why (and how) Blood Bowl teams deserve fluff. I felt ashamed. I can power-game as well as anyone else,* but I do like to have a theme going as well. Even worse, I knew what they were talking about. I help to run the Zlurp Nation Blood Bowl league over on fumbbl and a lot of the gingers' comments were ringing home. My very own, brand new league team, the Knife Sharpeners, had a theme so skeletal, it resembled the Death himself. Guilt made me delete them and start anew.

Both Down, how I hate you.

I have spent hours on my team since then. First, I started looking for a logo. Then, I realised I needed a name first and had to spend time with a map of the Warhammer World to find my little green guys' home town. Having settled on the Badlands to the south of the Empire, a quick google search came up with a variety of lovely icons. With a little bit of judicious editing, the Badland Outlaws were born.

Both Down, I still hate you.

Because I wasn't done there. I still hadn't got a back story for the team, so I had to spend another couple of hours writing (and formatting the HTML) for this little doozy:

Famous Orc Team Profile BADLAND OUTLAWS

Team Colours: Black and Orange Team Owner: Rark Snotling-Muncher Head Coach: Nazgob Players: Black Orcs, Orcs and Trolls

2499	Rark Snotling-Muncher becomes the head of his clan, the Gibbering Moon, by virtue of being the biggest, the ugliest and the smelliest Orc around. Not being able to spell did not affect his ability to fulfill his electoral promises.
2499-2501	Rampaging around the Badlands, Rark beats up several other clans, swelling his ranks.
2501	The Border Princes move against the growing Waaagh. Displaying a stubborn tenacity and stupidity that would make him famous, Rark leads his troops on a suicidal charge against the Empire gunline. The Waaagh over and clan destroyed, Rark retreats into the wilderness, disgraced.
2502-2509	Rark disappears from record during this period and the Gibbering Moon ceases to exist. It is surmised that at some point, during the years 2502-2509, Rark met disgraced Orcland Raiders coach Nazgob. The Black Orc later said that "Nazgob sed we wuz gonna die. I fort, I mite as well die rich and fame-uhs."
2510	The Badland Outlaws begin their career in the minor leagues. Beating up Skaven and Goblins came naturally and the Outlaws made the play-offs. However, in a catastrophic accident with a Slaaneshi wizard and a Halfling Master Chef, many of the Orcs' best players were turned into Chaos Spawn.
2511	Looking to rebuild, head coach Nazgob told Rark about a new opportunity; the Zlurp Nation league. With the money, women, drugs and fame on offer, the Outlaws moved north, stopping only in the Halfling Moot for supplies of fresh meat.

So eventually, I finish and I'm actually feeling pretty pleased. Inspired.

Even stranger, I find myself filled with a warm fuzzy glow, a positive sentiment directed towards the source of all this labour. I might even say, "Both Down, I love you!"

Filled with happiness and confidence, I played my first league game today, and the stupid green-skins lost. As disappointed as I was, I am solaced by the fact that the defeat can be woven into a story; it seems that as the owner and biggest Orc on the team, Rark disapproves of weakness and sacks any player without armour 9.

The moral of the story? Add some fluff and game with style.

And now, the Outlaw's theme tune:

I particularly like these lines:

From their holes and caverns creep

Ten million Orc and Goblin feet

With hungry hearts and sharpened knives

They come to take your worthless lives

Should anyone wish to sponsor the Badland Outlaws or any of their players, they simply have to ask.

*I know how to power-game; use Wood Elves. Whether I am as successful as anyone else is another matter entirely.

Star Players... again!

Here we have two more Blood Bowl Star Players I've painted recently to use in the my Blood Bowl league, the NABBO League!

The first one is a conversion for 'Barik Farblast', based on a Dwarf from 'Dungeons & Dragons Chainmail' (a squad named Mordenguard) .
He already had a gun on his hands so it was fairly easy to add a ball and the should plates.
Anyway I'm not a big fan of 'passing game' with Dwarf teams but the fact that he's so cheap (game wise just 60.000gc), means that starting teams can make use of some of his skills, at least for a drive.




The second one is also a simple conversion for the Wilhelm Chaney Star Player, a 8 move and 4 strength werewolf, a handy addition to new Necromantic, Norse and Vampire teams.
It's a West Wind miniature from their Secrets of The Third Reich range.




Feel free to comment.
Cheers!

Star players...

Nothing like a festive weekend with plenty of 'nothing to do' and a few boring shows on TV, to dig out the paint set!
With the painting mode: ON, and lots of lead begging for ink on the shelves, I've decided to have a go with a couple of Blood Bowl 'Star Players' that will sooner or later be useful in our league games.

The first one is an home made version of the "Slibli" (how silly is that name?) a Saurus Lizardmen Star player with Block, Grab, Guard and Stand Firm. A really nice addition to any new Liz team, specially in a perpetual league such as ours.
The body is from an Warhammer saurus (5th edition box), a head from a more recent sprue, all joined together with some green stuff and a couple of other bits .




The second star is this stout little guy I had around since ever, that goes by the name of Puggy Baconbreath. Game wise it's quite a tough guy for is size (Block Dodge, Nerves of Steel,...), but like his halfling counterparts (and despite his look), it has an armour made of paper (AV 6)...




Hope you enjoy them!
A.

The (unusual) zed incident

As some of you might remember, a few months back I've hosted/games mastered a zombie game for a couple of friends from my usual Blood Bowl crew (check July entries of MMN for pics of that game.).

After giving a few final touches to some pieces of terrain for that same game (a couple of warehouses and a gun shop), I decided to take a few pictures of the almost-final result (almost because I often go back to add some extra detail to 'older' stuff)...
And that's when I came across this really unusual happening right down the road, just a few blocks away from my regular blood bowl venue.

NOTE: What you're about to see might very well be one of the very first documented cross-overs between two different table top war games that accidentally happened that week in that same place...

(please click on the image for a bigger size)

As usual, if ever questioned about what is seen in those pics, I'll simply deny everything!