A rr,vkoo~ PRODUCT DATA

GAME DESIGN: Jervis Johnson

Chewton Street, Hill Top, NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2
Eastwood, Nottingham AGE: 12 to Adult
NG16 3HY PLAYING TIME: Two to Three hours
COVER ART: Brett Ewins © 1986
MADE IN ENGLAND COUNTER ART: Aly Morrison © 1986 5
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IlOO'TI'ill@IIDWJ©'TI'll@OO * -Large 6-piece mapboard, assembled
like a jigsaw
" Good evening, sports fans, and welcome to the * -119 card playing pieces
Blood Bowl for tonight's contest. You join a capacity * -30 plastic bases to hold the players
crowd, packed with members of every race from
across the New World, all howling like banshees in
* -Pad of Team Rosters for recording
team details
anticipation of tonight's game. Oh, and yes, there are
some banshees... Well, kick-off is in about twenty
* •2 six-sided dice
*•Rulebook
minutes' time, so we've just got time to recap on the
rules of the game before battle starts. Your match
* - Game box
commentator for tonight is Jim Johnson. Evening,
Jim!" Mapboard: This represents the playing pitch on which
a game of Blood Bow/takes place. It's currently big
"Thank you, Bob! Well, good evening, andboy, are and green but don't worry about that - it'll soon be
you folks in for a great night of top-class sporting flowing red! It is divided into squares to regulate
entertainment/ First of all, though, for those of you movement, combat & throwing; each square can hold
at home who are unfamiliar with the rules, here's how one t eam member at any one time. At each end of the
the game is played. field is the End Zone, which is where everyone is trying
to head. If.a team gets the ball into their opponent's
''As you know, Blood Bowl is an epic conflict End Zone they score a Touchdown. If they score three
between two sides of fifteen heavily-armedand quite they' re the winners, and can then dance around a lot!
insane warriors each, and their coaches. Players pass,
throw or run with the ball, attempting to get it to the The first row of squares either side of the End Zone
other end of the field, the End Zone. Of course, the line at either end is the Starting Zone, where players
other team must try and stop them, and recover the start the game atthe beginning of the match and after
ball for their side. Ifa teamgets a ball over the line into every Touchdown. The centre spot is called the
their opponent's End Zone it's called a Touchdown; Football Start Spot, and yes, it's where the football
if they score three Touchdowns they' ve won the is placed when the game starts. Just off the playing
game, and are declaredBlood Bowl Champions! How area are score tracks, where you can keep track of the
do they do it? It's like this. .. " score using the little counters included with the game.

Counters: The counters provided with Blood Bowl

represent the teams, the referee, and the football.
There are also two markers for recording the score on
the tracks at either end of the board. The football has
two sides to it-one with the ball sat on grass, the other
with the ball in the air. When the ball is lying free use
the grass side; when a player is carrying it use the
other. Each player has a number to allow you to
identify him on the Team Roster; you'll also find that
each team is colour-coded.
This is what should have been in the box with t hese
rules, and what you are going to use to p lay this
thrilling game. If any components are missing or You won't find counters for Elves, Hobgoblins or
damaged, please write to: Games Workshop, Half-Ores even though they are covered in the Team
Chewton Street, Hill Top, Eastwood, Notts, NG16 section of the rules (sorry- we just couldn't fit them
3HY, U.K. on the Counter Sheet!!). Use the Ore counters to

SUBSTITUTE ENTRY
ZONE FOR TEAM A
(Red Areal
I I
SUBSTITUTE ENTRY
ZONE FOR TEAM B
(Red Areal

t..,J Ip..!
·l ~f 1'1> 1:)
START ZONE
FOR TEAM A
- START ZONE
FOR TEAM B
(Yellow Areal (Yellow Areal
[ '
--T~ FOOTBALL
~ START
SPOT
END ZONE - - - .. END ZONE
,,.
l ....'O
"
SUBSTITUTE ENTRY
'\::
..... r~

__j
.
I SUBSTITUTE ENTRY
~;,-

ZONE FOR TEAM A ZONE FOR TEAM B

(Red Areal (Red Areal

-----~
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"-
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 present Half-Ore or Hobgoblin teams, and the Dark * CHOOSE FIRST PLAYER - The coaches f lip the
Elf counters to represent an Elf team. If you want to referee to decide who will be the first team, and who
play teams of the same race against each other will be the second.
(Human vs Human for example) you ' ll have to use the
counters for one of the other races to represent one
of the teams.
* FIRST TEAM TURN · The first team becomes the
'phasing team', and carry out their moves for the turn.
The thirty players involved in a game should be
stood upright in the plastic bases provided. Whenever * SECOND TEAM TURN - The second team
becomes the phasing team, and does the same.
we refer to a 'prone' player, we are talking about a
player who has been knocked to the ground. To
represent this, place the playing piece on it s side and * Repeat 3 & 4 until one side has scored 3
re -attach it to its base. Touchdowns. The first team to score 3 Touchdowns
are the winners, and their coach has our permission
to prance about a lot making gestures and remarks
Did you know... FRONT BACK PRONE of a scornful nature to the opposing coach.
That the tall est
player ever to stride Each Team Turn is divided into 5 Phases:
onto a Blood Bowl
fi eld
legendary
was the
Gurk
* MOVEMENT • The phasing team's coach may
Cloud-Scraper,
move any or all of the upright players he has on the
storm giant half-back mapboard. Any substitutions t ake place now.
for the Asgard
Ravens? Standing as
tall as nine men, Gurk
* THROWING & KICKING - If a member of the
phasing team has the ball he may hand-off to another
played i n only one player. The player with the ball may attempt to throw
match before being or kick the footbal l to another player. Only one pass
barred for life for Team Roster: The pad of Team Rosters is used to
or kick may be made per turn.
excessive violence. record the playing characteristics of the team, as well
The shortest
player ever was the
as the score, details of the game and notes. Once
you've played a few games of Blood Bowl you may
* TACKLING • Either team may attempt to attack or
equally legendary tackle with any players that are eligible to do so.
want to start your own league; you can then keep
Big Jobo Hairyfeet,
track of players' Experience Points and the like on the
opposing captain of
the halfling Green- Team Roster too. Owners of Blood Bowl are given * RESERVES • The phasing team may move any of
permission to photocopy Team Roster sheets for their its players, providing they are upright and not adjacent
fiel d Grasshuggers
personal use only. You' ll probably need pencils and to opposing players. After all reserve moves have been
team in the same
game, whose sud- an eraser to help write down the scores during the completed, any prone playing pieces from the phasing
den and quite drastic game. team are turned upright again.
reducti on i n height
was the main reason Note: At the end of any of these phases, if the ball is
for Gurk's bani
Dice: Two six-sided dice are included with the game.
lying free in a player's square he may pick it up.
They are used for generating players and determining
the outcome of tackles, attacks and other random
events.
Rules:That'swhat you're reading now! As you read
this rulebook you will find out everything you need to
First of all, both coaches should choose their team
know about how to play the exciting and deadly game
type (human, dwarf, ore, or whatever) using the
of Blood Bowl! Before you do anything spectacular section on Blood Bowl Teams later. It is strongly
we suggest you read through all of the rules so you'll
suggested that for the first few games coaches stick
know what we' re talking about; if you don't read the
to simple teams while they get used to the rules. Once
ru les you may find you have problems playing the they've played a few games they can move up to the
game.
Chaos All-Stars or the Champions of Death • maybe
even create their own team!

Each standard Blood Bowl team is comprised of 15

players, from which a coach chooses 11 to be on the
field at any one time, swapping them for substitutes
as the game progresses. Every player is represented
by a number of Player Characteristics, which cover
Whenever a game of Blood Bowl i s played, the how strong, fit, fast, and calm the player is:
fo l lowing is the sequence to follow. After t his
summary the main body of the rules will go through Player C haracteristics
each section in order, detailing everything that can Movement Allowance (MA ): This shows the
or must be done in that turn. maximum number of squares the player can move in
a Movement or Reserves Phase.
* CREATE TEAMS • Each player (or coach, as we
shall call them to avoid confusion with the team' s Combat Skill(CS): Combat Skill represents the ability
players) creates his or her Blood Bowl team and of the player at attacking or dodging opposing players
records the information on a Team Rost er sheet. (or the lack of it!).
Throwing Skill ( TS): This dictates the player' s ability Score Ability
to throw the football across the field, and his chance 2 Roll twice (ignoring rolls of 2) or
of reaching the arms of the person waiting to catch it. choose any ability except Magic.
3 Very skilf ul in battle, + 2 to Combat
Strength (ST): A player's Strength represents how Skill.
physically powerful he is, and is used to tackle or 4 Very cool, + 2 to Cool.
wound opponents who have been hit by attacks. 5 Skilful, + 1 to Combat Skill.
6 Strong, + 1 to Strength.
Toughness (TH): Players with high Toughness are 7 Fast, + 1 to Movement.
more resistant to damage and more likly to return to 8 Cool, + 1 to Cool.
play after being knocked out (KO'd ). 9 Accurate, + 1 to Throwing Skill.
10 Very strong, + 2 to Strength.
Wounds ( WD): Most players only have a rating of 1 11 Very accurate, + 2 to Throwing Skill.
for wounds; however, some really hard players will 12 Magic - roll one die on the Magic Table
have higher scores due to incredible stamina or instead.
resistance to pain (or such sheer stupidity that they
don't know they've been hurt!). Magic Table:

Attacks (AT): Some Blood Bowl players are able to Score Magic Item
attack more than once in the Tackle Phase. However, 1 Boots of Speed, double a player's
no player may block or tackle more than once per Movement Allowance.
Tackle Phase. no matter how many attacks they may 2 Boots of leaping • - see note below.
make. 3 Gauntlets of Holding, player never
misses a tackle.
Cool (CL): Cool reflects a player's ability to remain 4 Gauntlets of Catching, player never
calm and concentrate under pressure, and is used misses a Catch.
when players attempt to catch thrown or dropped 5 Helmet of Accuracy, player never
footballs. misses a Throw.
6 Magic Armour, player has a Saving
All characteristics are rated as a number from 1 to 10, Throw of 2-6 .
the higher the score the better. Usually all the players
in a team will be of the same race, but there are • In the M ovement or Reserve Movement Phase a
exceptions (such as the Chaos Allstars and the player with Boots of leaping may be placed in any
Champions of Law teams). However, these square up to 5 squares away from his starting location
characteristic scores will be modified for Star Players. as long as he does not start or finish in an opponent's
Death Zone (DZs are explained in the Movement rules
Star Players later). The player's leap is the only form of movement
Each team may have one or more Star Players - players he may make; he maynotmake a normal move as well.
with exceptional abilities. These are c hosen by
spending Star Player Points (SPPs ) in the Team
Creation Phase.

All teams have at least 4 SPPs, and some exceptional

teams may have more (again, see the Teams section
at the end for more details). We recommend that
coaches stick with 4 SPP teams for their first few
games, and then try the more exceptional teams later
on. SPPs provide an easy way for coaches to balance
games between experienced and inexperienced
players (for example, an experienced coach should
take a team with only 2 SPPs, while his opponent can
have the usual 4 SPPs).

Each SPP allows a coach one roll on the Star Player

Chart. He can roll for each point before he assigns any
of them, and it's up to him how he allocates the points
to his team. They can all be allocated to one player or
divided up between them in any way he wishes.

Slow motion replay: Coach Karrag of the Dwarf

Giants has 4 SPPs. He could therefore allocate a/14
to one player, or 2 SPPs to one player and 1 each to
a further two players, or 1 each to four players.

Star Player Chart: Roll 2 dice and look up the result.

If the same is rolled twice for the same player, the
second roll should be retaken. Players cannot receive
a bonus t o the same characteristic more than once.

. . . ,,
I 1 • I ( < • • I_ ( • I ,/ • -. ' '- • ' • •' ' • • • '-

• ~ . . .. ,. ' . --,,.
 Slow motion replay: Coach Karrag has a 4 SPPteam, After a coach has decided which of his players will be
the DwarfGiants. He allocates 1 SPP to his first player, Defensive players he may not change his mind during
Short Sterling, and rolls a 6 on the dice. This means play and turn a Defensive player back into a normal
that Sterling is Strong 1 is added to his basic Strength. player.
The second SPP is allocated to another player, Rich
R De/lard, and a total of 5 rolled on the dice, making
Kicking Players
him Skilful and adding 1 to its Combat Skill. The third
After the coach has spent all his SPPs and decided on
SPP is allocated to Balin 'The Thermos Flask'
Defensive players, he may also nominate Kicking
Vaingrimm and a total of 3 rolled on the dice. This is
Players. A player must have a Strength of 3 or more
a good throw, and adds 2 to Vaingrimm's Combat
and a Cool of 7 or more to be able to kick the footba ll.
Skill. Finally the player spends anotherSPP on player
Any player with these scores may be chosen as a
Vaingrimm androlls a totalof 4 on the two dice adding
Kicking player, for which privilege they must reduce
2 to Vaingrimm's Cool.
their Toughness by 1 point.

Each coach selects 11 players and places them in the

Starting Zone or behind the Touchdown line at their
end of the field, in any manner he wishes as long as
there is no more than 1 player per square. The four
players not placed on the field become the coach' s
reserves, and may be used to substitute for players
that leave the field or are injured.

Note: There may never be more than 11 players from

Defensive Players one team on the f ield at the same time.
After the coach has spent all his SPPs he may choose
any number of his team to be ' Defensive' players.
Defensive players wear extra padding and armour,
r-1J.¢ 1 1~
END ZONE

'
~

slowing them down but making them more effective

at tackling. A Defensive player has ,1 subtracted from
its Movement Allowance, but receives a + 1 bonus on
:>a l-l
,
l
~

_,.
its Saving Throw when attacked and a + 1 bonus on START ZONE
,,1
any tackle die rol ls.
IT'·
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11'4 - FIELD OF PLAY

..=. \I ~-I
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I

The football counter is placed on the Football Start

Spot in the centre of the pitch, grass-side up. After
the football has been picked up by a player it will
always remain within a square; however, for the start
of the game only it is placed on the junction of 4
;:;quares and may be picked up from any of these 4
adjoining squares.

One of the coaches should now toss the referee (as

w if tossing a coin) to decide who starts as First Player.
0 The other coach should call 'Live' or ' Dead'. If he calls
.,~ correctly he may choose to start as First Player or
<:>
2 Second Player. Once the game starts, t h is
:i:
arrangement remains the same for every Turn, until
...~ a Touchdown is scored. When this happens the coach
...~ who was First Player becomes Second Player, and
vice versa.
_;
0
0
><
<t
:;; And now the game may st art, with the First Player
ii: making a mad rush for the centre spot to attempt to
..,
w
gain possession of the ball...
 In the Throwing & Kicking Phase, two things can
Death Zones
potentially happen. Firstly, any prone or standing
All upright players exert a Death Zone (or DZ) over the
player with the ball may, if they wish, hand-offthe ball
8 squares adjacent to their location on the mapboard.
to another player, providing they are in the very next
square. This doesn't require a die roll to succeed. This
second player now has the ball.

Whether a hand-off t ook place or not, the ball may

now be thrown or kicked. The player can throw or kick
the football to another player in his own team (or to
any player on the opposing team if he really wants to),
or simply to an empty square, though obviously the
first of these options will be most useful - and may Did you know...
keep him from being attacked by his own team That the longest
members! Of course, only a Kicking player may kick game ever played
the football. The ball may be passed or kicked only was finally aban-
A DZ aff ects Movement, Throwing, Combat and once per turn (this does not include a hand-off). doned after 19 days
Catching. Whenever these rules refer to a Death Zone when the remaining
or a DZ we are talking about these eight squares. Throwing the Football member of each
team killed the other
Whenever a player ent ers the DZ of an opponent he The player can throw the ball a maximum number of
in a mad scramble for
must stop, but he may move on again next turn. squares equal to his Strength + 10. the ball? The game -
the human Kishargo
Movement Phase To find out ifthe throw is accurate first count the range Werebears versus
In the M ovement Phase the phasing coach may (but in squares, including the target square but not the the Darkside Cow-
square occupied by the ball thrower. Use the shortest boys dark elf team .
does not have to) move each of his players a number
The final score - 2-2,
of squares up to t heir Movement value. Unused possible route, but don't miss out any squares.
match abandoned
Movement points cannot be saved and used later. A owing to death of
player may move in any direction o r combination of The basic chance the thrower has of hitting the target teams.
directions (including diagonally) as long as he does square is found by comparing the player's Throwing
not: Skill (TS) to the range on the chart below.
Throwing Chart
* Enter a square containing another player from
either his own or the opposing team.
* Travel through an opponent's Death Zone. Throwina Skill
* M ove directly from one square of a DZ to any other Range 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
square of a DZ, whether it's the DZ of the same 1-4 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4
opponent or another.
* Enter more squares than his Movement value 5-8 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3
allows. 9+ 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2

A player may move off the field as long as they are in

a square adjacent to the sidelines or the End Zones,
and if they could still move one more square in the
Movement Phase. If they move into the opposing
side's End Zone and are carrying the football they
score a Touchdown, which is what this game is all
about I If a player leaves the side of the field they are
assumed to be m aking way for a substitute.

Substitution
If a player leaves the side of the field he can be
substituted for by another player on the same Team
who is not already in play.

The substitute player can be placed in any square in

the Substit ute Entry Zone, as long as it is not occupied
by another player and it is as close as possible to the
square occupied by the player who left the field to
allow the subst itution. A substitute player may not
move in the Movement Phase he appears on the field
- he has to wait for next turn. Subs cannot come on
until the player they are replacing has left the fie ld.

A player who leaves the field through a substitution

may not re-enter play until the team's nextPlayer Turn.

--- ----- , , - -- -- -- , _,. .,, • J ., _,.,., ...,. , f ,,., •

,,. r r / '/ ,:. .,,: / • )-. _,,.' .).. ,:. -';- ',,' -'/ 1/ / ,' .,' -{ ~ ,,,-' / / .:;" /, , r ,-f -',C ' •,.- 1/ /_,,' '' //,
 The basic chance is modified by + 1 for every the plastic base alongside the player's card). If the
opponent who exerts a DZ onto the square occupied football is not caught, or the square is unoccupied it
by the player who is throwing the ball. will-b5-2 bounce. This is a technical term for the thing
jumping about all over the place while the players
To find out if the thrower hits the target roll one die. stumble about trying to grab it! To find out where the
If the die roll is greater than or equal to the modified ball bounces to, use the Scatter Table again. A football
basic chance. the thrower has hit the square. If the that bounces may not be caught.
thrower rolls lower than the modified basic chance
he has missed and must roll on the Scatter Table It is possible to throw or kick the ball into either End
below. Zone. If the ball is caught by a playerfromthe phasing
team' s side a Touchdown is scored! If the ball is not
Note: A die ro ll of 1 will always miss, unless the caught, or if it goes off the side of the pitch, play
thrower has the magic item Helmet of Accuracy, in restarts w ith the ball on the first square of the pitch
which case they always hit the target square and do nearest to where it went out of play.
not need to roll at all.
Did you know ... Slow motion replay: So there's Urgash Axe-Biter,
That there was
Slow motion replay: And there's Grishnak Goblin- arms outstretched, watching the ball from Goblin-
once a tea m of Throttler, star maimer for the ore's Severed Heads Throttler come sailing towards him out of the sky.
gnomes, the Short- team, who has a Throwing Skillof 4, andis attempting Urgash's Cool is 7, but there's Grimwold Grimbreath
stutt Scurriers, who to throw the ba/16 squares. The basic chance to hit and Grum Durrandang of the Dwarf Giants next to
first started playing in the target is 3. Two opposing players have DZ's on him, so his chance of catching goes down to 5 or less.
the Blood Bowl in Grishnak's square, so the basic chance is modified by
24 79? The unfor-
The crowd goes quiet as the dice are rolled. A 9 - i t 's
+ 2 to 5. Green-skinned Grishnak must roll 5 or higher incomplete, and the ball bounces away. (And if I can
tunate team lost 34 on one die to hit his target. His arm goes back, andhe
games in a row-their just butt in here, Jim, that's his forty-seventh
throws. Look at that ball go! He did it, he did it! And incomplete pass of the season so far for the unlucky
first ever 34 games,
in fact - and promptly
now all Axe-Biter has to do is catch the football... Severed Heads team... )
disbanded and went
home agai n, taking Kic king The Football
their ball with them. Scatter Table Kicking works in exactly the same way as throwing,
1,2 3,4 5,6 but the distances and chances of hitting the target
1,2 are different.
3,4 e The player can kick the ball a maximum number of
5,6 I I I squares equal to his Strength + 15. To find out if the
kick is accurate first count the range in squares,
To use the Scatter Table, roll one die twice and cross including the target square but not the square
reference the scores. The e· is the target occupied by the ball kicker. Use the shortest possible
square - note that it is quite possible for the football route, but don' t miss out any squares.
to scatter into the target square.
The basic chance the kicker has of hitting the target
square is found by comparing his Strength (ST) to the
range on the chart below.

Catching The Football

If a thrown or kicked football hits a target square, or
scatters to a square occupied by another player, they
may attempt to catch the footba ll. Either team's
players may attempt to catch a football (if a player
from the other team manages to catch the football he
can yell 'Interception!!' and jump around a lot!).

To catch a football the player must roll his modified

Cool score or under on two dice. The player's Cool is
modified by -1 per opposing player that exerts a DZ
onto the square, and by -1 if he is attempting to catch
a football that scattered (even if it scattered into the
original target square).

Note: If the player has Gauntlets of Catching he does

not need to roll -he automatically catches any football
that hits his square.

If the football is caught it is placed underneath the

counter that caught it, grass side down to show that
it is being carried (alternatively, you may slot it into

------------ ----
Kicking Chart

Stren9th All attacks are completed before any tackles are

resolved. Attacks are assumed to take place
Range 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 simultaneously with each ot her. Resolve all the
1-10 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 phasing players' attacks first, but do not remove any
11-20 non-phasing charact ers that are KO'd until they have
5 4 3 2 1 0 -1
completed any attacks they have declared.
21+ 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Most players will have one attack. If they have more
The basic chance is modified by + 1 for every than one, the extra attacks may be divided amongst
opposing player that exerts a DZ onto the Square any eligible opposing players in any order the coach
occupied by the player who is kicking the ball. wishes. This includes battering the same opponent
more than once.
To find out if the kicker hits the target roll one die. If
the die roll is equal to or greater than the modified The Attack Procedure
basic chance the kicker has hit the square. Check for 1. Throw to hit. The coach whose player who is
catching using the above rules. If the kicker rolls lower attacking rolls one die to see if their blow hits.
than the modified basic chance he has missed and 2. Throw to wound. For any hits scored, the attacker
must roll on the Scatter Table as before. rolls one die to see if the hit w ounds the target.
3. Saving throws. Any player who is wounded may
NotB: A die roll of 1 will always miss, unless the kicker roll to see if the wound is stopped by the armour they
has the magic item Helmetof Accuracy, in which case are wearing.
they always hit the target square and do not need to
roll at all. Throw To Hit
The basic score needed to hit will depend on the
Out Of Bounds Combat Skill of the attacker compared to the Combat
If the ball is thrown or kicked ott the side of the field, Skill of the defender. Prone players have their Combat
or into the End Zone without being caught by anyone, Skill reduced by -1. Cross reference the respective
play is restarted with the ball on the field in the square Combat Skills on the chart below, taking into account
nearest to where it originally left t he field. Once the any Star Player attributes and the like:
ball has been replaced the turn continues as intended.

Defender's Combat Skill

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
:i 1 5 5 6 6 X X X X X X
...
th 2 4
4
5 5 6 6 X X X X X
i 3 4 5 5 6 6 X X X X
E4 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 X X X
0
<.>5 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 X X
In the Tackle Phase players may attempt to attack or
tackle opposing players. A player may either attack
or tackle in this phase, but not both. Attacks are
..
_,,, 6
j7
2
2
3
2
3 4
3 3
4
4
5
4
5
5
6
5
6
6
X
6
attempts to injure the opposing player, while tackles :;: 8 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6
attempt to knock the opponent over and are much
less likly to hurt them.
: 9
10
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
3
2
3
3
4
3
4
4
5
4
5
5

The phasing team's coach must announce all his The number shown is the score that the attacker must
attacks or tackles first. Any upright player may attack
roll equal to or over on one die to score a hit on his
or tackle any opposing player - provided they are in opponent. ' X' equals an automatic miss.
its DZ.

After the phasing team's coach has completed

allocating all attacks or tackles, the non-phasing
team's coach may allocate any attacks or tackles. Any
upright player may attack or tackle any opposing
player in its DZ. However if the player has a choice of
targets it must choose an opponent who is
attempting to attack or tackle them over one who is
not.

* In addition, any prone non-phasing players that

have been attacked may attack or tackle the players
that attacked t hem.
* Finally, any of the phasing t eam's players that are
prone may attack or tackle any opposing player that
attacked them.

' -.. '' - '-

-
- -
-
'- '-
-
' ' ' '-'
•
' ''-
•
- '- ' '- . '-
"
. . '- ' '-
• ~ i
. '
, • •
 Throw To Wound It a wounded player has more than 1 Wound, the total
To find out if the hit wounds the target cross ref erence is reduced by 1 on the Team Roster, and the player is
f
the Strength of the attacker with the Toughness of otherwise unnaffected.
,.. I r·
the def ender on the chart below:
[
If the player has only 1 wound remaining (or, as is
£ l'J I A<}. usually the case, only started w ith 1 wound ) roll two
C' E dice on the chart below to find the effect of the
C Target's Toughness
wound. In addition, the player will automatically drop
E
s ..
J.
',q .s::. 1
1
4
2
5
3 4
6 6
5
6
6
6
7
6
8
6
9
6
10
6
the football which will bounce (as in Throwing,
above).
o, 2 3 4 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
V ~
i 32 3 4 5 6 6 6 6 6 6
:: 4 2 2 3 4 5 6 6 6 6 6
1'1 en
I II) 52 2 2 3 4 5 6 6 6 6
~6 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 6 6
Did you know .. . ~ 7 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 6
That, according
~8 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6
to the ru l es of the
original versionofthe
ct 9 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 5
game, a match 10 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4
started w i th both
Note: A player' s Wound value can never be reduced
teams lined up facing
The number shown is the score the attacker must below 1.
each other ac ross
the centre line, and equal or beat on one die to wound and hurtthe target .
the ball being tossed Roll two dice on t he Wound Table:
up between them by Armour Saving Throws Roll Result
a hapless referee ? All Blood Bowl players wear armour which may 2 Berserk
The upshot of th i s deflect or absorb a wounding blow. To find out if the 3 Arm Broken
was usually a de·ad player makes it Saving Throw roll one die. If you roll
referee, of course, so 4 Leg Broken
a 5 or 6 the player' sArmour has stopped the blow and 5 KO'd and Leg Hurt
the p ractice was
stopped. Now, at the wound has no effect. Remember that Defensive 6 KO'd
least, the referee has players receive a + 1 die roll modifier tor their heavier 7 Stunned
a few moments to try armour. 8 KO'd
and get off the field 9 KO'd and Concussed
before he's flattened! Note: Players with Magic Armour have a Saving 10 Arm and Leg Broken
Throw against injury of 2 to 6, only fa iling on a 1. 11 Skull Fractured
12 Dead
Effects of Wounds
Any player that has an arm or leg broken, a skull
After all attacks have been resolved the effects of
fracture, or is killed is out of the game and may be
injuries must be determined.
substituted by another player in the team' s next
Movement Phase (but not the Reserve Phase). If
players are playing a campaign game with a league,
broken arms, legs or heads will have long term effects.
See the Blood Bowl Campaigns section later for
details.

Any stunned or KO'dplayer is immediately removed

from the board and may be substituted by another
player in the team's next Movement Phase (but not
the Reserve Movement Phase).

Stunned players may return to play after either team

has scored a Touchdown.

KO'dplayersmay be able to return to play after eit her

team scores a Touchdown. Roll one die for each KO' d
player after a Touchdown has been scored, and add
the player's original wound total to the die roll. If the
score is 5 or more the player may re-enter play.

Players with a leg hurt have their Movement Value

reduced by 2 (but never to less than 1).

Players who are concussed may re-enter play but w ill

be very confused. At the start of the team's turn he
must roll one die. On a 5 or 6 the opposing coach is
allowed to make the move, throws, attacks & tackles
tor the concussed player.
Players that go berserk have been so enraged by the The number on t he table is the score the attacker must
attack upon them that they can think of only one thing roll equal to or over -on one die - to tackle the defender.
- REVENGE/The berserk player must drop the football ' X ' equals automatic failure.
if they are carrying it. In any Movement Phase the
player must move to end up as close t o the nearest If a player is successfully tackled, their piece is turned
opposing player as possible. In the Tackle Phase the sideways into the prone position, and they must roll
berserk player must attack any opposing player next equal to or under their Cool not to drop the football.
to him. The berserk player get s double his normal Prone players lose their DZ and may not move. They
number of attacks and adds 1 to both the To Hit and may only attack opponents that declare attacks upon
To Wound die rolls. However the To Hit die roll of any them first. In addit ion, prone characters may not
attacks upon him are also modifed by + 1. A berserk throw or kick the football, and have their Weapon Skill
player may never leave the field or pick up the football. reduced by -1. However, in the Throw and Kick Phase
a prone player can hand-off the ball to a player on an
After either team has scored a Touchdown the berserk adjacent square. An already-prone player may
player returns to normal. obviously not be tackled.

Slow motion n,play: There goes Grum Durrandang for Roll one die for each succesfully tackled player. On
the DwarfGiants, racing up the field towards the End a score of 6 the player receives 1 wound as if attacked.
Zone, the pig's bladder clutched tightly under his arm. The player is allowed a Saving Throw for armour
Looks to me like he's going all the way, Bob/ But wait! protection as usual, and all t he normal rules for
There's SkurfLimb-Render - surely he can't attack him Did you know...
w ounds apply (see under Attacks).
That the longest
now/ Skurf has a Combat Skill of 5, against Grum's
scoring attempt ever
CS 4, and the ore is going for an attack, so i t's a 4 or Slow motion replay: Looks to me like Grimwold made was 41
more on one die to hit the dwarf. A 6 - pow! There's Grimbreath doesn't much care for what Skurf Limb- leagues, in a game
a crunch ofarmour and bone as the two players meet Render hasjust done to his buddy! Goodjob the ore between the Dwarf
head on. But has Skurf hurt him? The ore's Strength is in his DZ too - though i t 's not too fortunate for the Warhammerers and
is 3, but with the dwarf's Toughness of 4 he needs a ore/ The dwarf's Strength is 5, compared to the ore's the orcish Gouged
5 or 6 to hurt him. It's another 6 - this ore just doesn't 3, so he has a roll of 2 or more to bring him down. A Eyes team. by one
know when to stop/ The dwarfis armoured, ofcourse, Stunted Grom Red -
4 send Limb-Render face down in the mud, and
but his roll of 2 doesn't help. Grum Durrandang goes Axe7 Loaded into a
Grimbreath moves for the kill. It's a 61 The ore tries distinctly illegal
flying from the collision, and a roll of8 on the Wound for a save but rolls a 3 - no chancel A final roll of 11 cannon in the dwarf
Table sees the unfortunate dwarf collapse to the and crunch - the ore is out of business for the rest of End Zone, Grom was
ground in a heap. And yes, Bob, I think he's been the match. No wonder they call this dwarf the fi red towards the
knocked out there! Well, this is one heck of a game Helmsmasher, Bob/ Now where did that football go? other end of the
- they're gonna need a broom to get him off the field/ pitch, w it h every
Hoo-wee/ intention of scoring a
Dodging
Touchdown. How -
Players that have not declared an attack or tackle may
ever. there was far
attempt to dodge any tackles upon them by declaring too much gunpow-
so before thetackle roll is made. The tackle is resolved der in the muzzle and
normally except that the Combat Skill of their attacker the hapless dwarf
is compared to the Combat Skill of the defender on was blown half-
the Tackle Table, instead of using Strength. If t he way across the
tackle is successful carry on as above. kingdom. Luckily
Red-Axe managed to
cross the Touch -
Tackles are much easier to resolve than attacks, but
down line - albei t
they do far less damage to an opponent. Simply cross seventy yards above
reference the Strength of the attacker to the Strength the ground • so the
of the defender on the table below. However, a player scoring attempt
being tackled who has not attacked or tackled this counted! Unluckily,
turn may attempt to dodge it, using the rules which the teams had to wait
follow. A dodge must be declared before the tackle four days for the
die roll is made on this table: return of their only
ball before the game
could restart!

Defender's Strength
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 4 5 6 6 X X X X X X
~
c,2 3 4 5 6 6 X X X X X
~ 3 2 3 4 5 6 6 X X X X
:::4
C/l
2 2 3 4 5 6 6 X X X
(I) 5 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 6 X X
-Q) 6 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 6 X
t 7 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 6
...
:! 8 2
<t 9 2
2 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6
2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 5
10 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4
 If the tackle is unsuccessful the defending player may
be moved on 1 square by his coach, as long as he does
not move to a square in a new opponent's DZ. If the
In the Reserve Movement Phase any of the phasing
defending player is moved out of the DZ of a player team's players not in an opponent's DZ may move,
that has declared a tackle upon him, the dodge is
regardless of whether they have moved before. The
successful and the tackle attempt is lost. This is the onlychangetothe normal movement rules is that no
Did you know.. . only case when attacks or tackles are not assumed
That in the year player may enter an opponent's DZ at any time during
to happen simultaneously. An eligible player may
2461 a playerforthe the Reserve Movement Phase. Once all movement
attempt to dodge any number of tackles. has been carried out, prone players from the phasing
halfling team, the
Bluebay Crammers, team may recover, and their pieces should be stood
scored a Touch - upright again.
down without his
feet ever leaving his
own Starting Zone?
Lefty (later known as
Stumpy) Boggitt was
hit by an ogre from A team scores a Touchdown at the moment one of
the opposing Chaos their players moves off the board into the opposing
All-Stars team, and
End Zone while holding the football. As soon as the
flew all the way to the
other end of the field Dropping The Football Touchdown is scored play stops, the crowd cheer and
• leaving a pair of Any player who is successfully tackled while carrying the cheerleaders dance about waving porn-porns.
small, hairy feet the football must roll equal to or under their Cool -on
behind him! two dice - to hold onto the football. If they fail to do If one team has scored three Touchdowns they are
so the ba ll is dropped and will bounce (as in the declared the winners and the crowd may even invade
Throwing Phase). Any player who is attacked and the pitch if they so desire. If the game is not yet over,
wounded will automatically drop the football, which play is restarted and the match continues. Both
will bounce. coaches may check to see if any KO'd players can re-
enter play, and then place up to 11 players in their
respective Start Zones again, just as they did at the
start of the game. The team against whom the
Picking Up The Football Touchdown was scored become the first team and are
At the end of any phase, a player who is in the same given possession of the football. They start the turn
square as the football may pick it up. Flip the foot ball with one of their players holding the football - ie, the
so the 'carried' side is upwards, or slip it into the front ball starts in their possession rather than on the
of the player's base. Football Start Spot.

,- - - ,-.-.- -
- ..
-
' .. - .. -,-.- .. - - \ ..
---
....
 and feature star kicker, thumper, biter and headbasher
Grimwold Gri mbreath. Their rivals, the Dwarf
Warhammerers, are coached by ' Insane' Thorsson
A Blood Bow/team is usually made up players from
Axeheim, and feature a trio of brothers, the M jolnirs,
one race, although there are exceptions to this rule. whose 'flying axehead' tactics have broken (and
The race the team belongs to establishes the basic killed) many a defensive line in their t ime.
statistics used in the Team Creation Phase. In
addition, most races have certain advantages and
disadvantages that affect the way they play. Full
Dwarfs
details of some of the races that participate in Blood IIDw>&mrr
Bowl are listed below. Once you've played a few
games you should even be able to add your own
MA cs TS ST
favourite creatures and teams to the game with little
difficulty. 3 4 3 3
Human
Human teams use all the normal Blood Bowl rules as TH WO AT CL
they stand above. and get 4 SPPs. One typical human
team is the Creeveland Crescents, Blood Bowl 4 1 1 9
champions in three of the last five competitions. Their
star player, Harry (The Hammer) Kehry, is renowned
for the intricate war-dances he does whenever he
scores - usually on the recumbent bodies of his Elves
No elf worth his salt is going to be weighed down by
opponents!
extra armour and be forced to lurk about and attempt
to knock opposing players over. For elves the long
Humans
!II~ pass is everything, and all their effort goes into being
an expert at throwing or receiving (or being a
MA cs TS ST 'quarterback', as they inexplicably call such players
- possibly due to their tradition of giving some of their
4 3 3 3 match fee back to their coach).

Elves are not allowed to designate players as

TH WO AT CL Defensive players. On the Star Player chart any
additions to Toughness or Strength must be applied
3 1 1 7 to Throwing Skill or Cool instead (the coach can
choose which). They receive 4 SPPs.

Dwarf
Dwarfs are excellent armourers. Their high quality Championship quality elven teams are few and far
armour means that Defensive players do not have the between, for the elves generally have better things
-1 MA penalty. In effect this allows the player to to do. However, the Galadrieth Gladiators have
designate the whole team as Defensive players. recently skipped up the league tables thanks to the
However dwarfs are not noted for their accuracy or extraordinary play of Lucien Switt, nicknamed The
speed, so any Throwing Skill or Movement Allowance Silver Bullet by his team-mates, and The Moving
bonus on the star player chart must be allocated to Target by his opponents.
Strength or Toughness instead (the coach can choose
which). Teams get 4 SPPs for player creation.

Dwarfs hate members of all the goblinoid races

Elvss IMAI cs1TS /ST ITHIWDIAT ICL I
Basic statistics 4 4 4 3 3 1 1 9
(including goblins, ores, hobgoblins & ogres). In the
Tackle Phase any dwarf player adjacent to a goblinoid
must roll equal to o r under their Cool on two dice; if
they fail they must attack (rather than tackle).

Dwarfs aren' t overly fond of elves either (they're

a miserable lot!). If dwarfs & elves are on the same
team any dwarf wishing to throw the ball to an elf
must roll equal to or under its cool. If 1t fails the dwarf
must throw the football to another dwarf instead, or
not throw the football at all.

Dwarfs seem to be ideal Blood Bowl players, being

short , tough, well -armoured, and having this
stubborn knack of refusing to die! At present there
are two dwarf teams vying for the championship. The
Dwarf Giants team are led by coach Gudrun Wolfric
------------------·
 Halflings Half-Ores
Halflings don't make the best Blood Bowl players. Half-ores have the same stats as humans, but are
Their small size and short legs make them rather weak much, much uglier I Half-ore teams are a mundane lot,
& slow. However, halflingshave learnt to compensate preferring to grub about in the mud rather than throw
for this by refining their natural fast reflexes - it may the ball about. The only half-ore team of any note are
be easy to catch up with a halfling, but it's very the Halfbreed Hellraisers, who make a habit of eating
difficult to hit one! a referee when they feel he's given a bad decision
against them.
Halflings may double their Combat Skill when
dodging, and when defending against attacks.
Because they are so small and weak, halflings must
double the range when throwing the football (ie, 3 Hobgoblins
squares count as 6). Halflings must apply all Strength Hobgobl ins suffer animosity towards other
or Toughness bonuses from the Star Player chart to goblinoids. If they want to throw the football to other
Combat Skill or Cool instead. A halfling team gets 4 goblinoids, they must roll equal to or under their Cool
SPPs. on two dice. If they fail they must throw the football
to another hobgoblin or not at all. Hobgoblins are also
subject to ' frenzy'. In the Comt,at Phase a hobgoblin
Halfling teams have rarely been very successful may only tackle if it rolls equal to or under his Cool;
at Blood Bowl, and have never won a championship. if it fai ls it must attack instead. They get 4 SPPs. There
Nevertheless, the BluebayCrammers have produced are no hobgoblin teams of any note at all!
several good players, none more so than Shorty
Stubbfoot, who has perfected a body swerve so
effective he hasn't been tackled in a game for three Hobgoblins MA CS TS ST TH WD AT CL
seasons. His team mates call him The Artful Dodger; Basic statistics 4 3 2 3 4 6
others just call him a coward!

Halflings
Ores
!Bltt!l.!r!l.llOO@ MA cs TS ST Ores suffer animosity towards other goblinoids in the
same way that hobgoblins do. Otherwise no special
3 2 4 2 rules apply. They receive 4 SPPs for team creation.
The decision as to who is the greatest ore team at
present is a toss of the referee between the Gouged
Eye, led by captain Varag Ghoul-Chewer, and the
TH WD AT CL Severed Heads, who feature legends like Urgash Axe-
Biter and Grishnak Goblin-Throttler. Serious Blood
2 1 1 6 Bowl fans have long been waiting for the day when
these two teams meet each other in the final!

Dark Elves @m© Ores

All the rules that apply to elves also apply to dark
elves. In addition, though, dark elves hate other elves.
When they are adjacent to an elf in the Combat Phase MA cs TS ST
they must roll equal to or under their Cool on two dice.
If they fail they must attack the elf if possible (not 4 3 3 3
tackle it). They get 4 SPPs.

Unlike their wimpy good-aligned cousins, dark

TH WD AT CL
elves are generally quite superb Blood Bowl players.
The very best team, the recently revived Darkside 4 1 1 7
Cowboys, features the dashing Jerimia Kool, the
Flashing Blade, who holds the record for the longest
total passing distance, and the largest number of
dwarf players killed in a league game (15!).

Dark Elves
The Chaos All-Stars
MA cs TS ST The Chaos All -Stars are a special team made up of 4
ogres and 12 lesser goblins (Note: That's why there
are 16 places on the Team Roster!). Only 2 ogres are
4 4 4 3 allowed on the f ield at the same time. The team
recei ves 4 SPPs. Their star player is Morg ' th
N' Hthrog, more commonly referred to as The Ballista
TH WD AT CL by tongue -tied commentators, whose lumbering,
tank -like body seems t o have been designed
3 1 1 9 specifically for flattening opponents into the turf!
- -- - - -- - - --- -- -- -- - - - - - - -- -
- - r r -- r r r - - -~ - r- -r - - - ./" r - ,,- - .,- r ~ - r r ,- - , r r , - r
Ogres cause tear in opposing players, who must roll a maximum of only 1 SPP point may ever be spent on
their Cool or under on t wo dice to moveintoan ogre's the Troglodyte faction of a team, regardless of how
DZ. Ogres are only allowed to have one SPP each many there are. Troglodytes never wear armour, and
spent on them. Any Movement Allowance bonus may not be designated as Defensive players, but their
from SPPs must be taken as a Strength bonus instead. scaly hides are so thick they are allowed the normal
Armour saving throw anyway.

Ogres may throw a lesser goblin instead of the

football. The goblin must be in an adjacent square to Troglodytes
the ogre to be thrown, and both players must be
upright. Count each square as two squares when
working out the range. When the goblin lands roll one
die, adding + 1 if the throw scattered. On a 5 or 6 the
MA cs TS ST
goblin suffers 1 wound and must roll on the Wound
Table. 4 3 3 4
Did you know...
However, any goblin who is thrown may drop the TH WO AT CL That no halfling
team has ever won a
ball. Roll one die. On a 6they drop the ball where they
land, on a 5 they drop the ball half-way to the square 4 2 2 10 championship in the
entire history of the
where they land. Any dropped ball must check for game? So why do
bouncing twice. they do it, you ask?
In addition, troglodytes are subject to stupidity. For the post-match
At the start of his turn the team's coach must roll one feast, of course !
Ogres die for each troglodyte on the field. On a 5 or 6, the
troglodyte becomes confused and the opposing
coach may decide what he will do in the Movement,
MA cs TS ST Throw, Tackle & Reserve Phases. If a troglodyte is
concussed it becomes confused on a roll of 4 , 5 or 6.
6 3 2 4 Troglodytes cause fear to creatures under 10 feet tall
in t he same way ogres do, and also emit a strange &
TH WO AT CL unpleasant odour which causes a -1 modifier to the
attack or tackle die rolls of any non-lizard races.
5 3 2 5

Lasser Goblins hate dwarfs, and must roll their Cool

or under on two dice to tackle them; if they fail they
must attack instead. They fear elves and must roll
their Cool or under on two dice to move into an elf' s
DZ. Lesser goblins must take all bonuses on the Star
Player chart as Movement Allowance or Cool bonuses Trolls are subject to stupidity in the same way as
(the player may choose which). troglodytes, and cause fear in creatures under 10 feet
tall as do ogres. Trolls may never receive any Star
Player Points.
Lesser Goblins
l!..@®!IDl1Jl~ Trolls have the ability to regenerate damage. A troll
that has a broken arm, leg or head, or is dead, rolls one
MA cs TS ST die aher either team has scored a Touchdown. On a
1 or 2 they have failed to regenerate and are removed
4 2 3 2 from play. On a 5 or 6 they have regenerated, all
damage is healed and the troll may re -enter play as
if nothing had happened. On a roll of 3 or 4 the troll
TH WO AT CL is still trying to regenerate, and may roll again after the
next Touchdown is scored.
2 1 1 5

D®l!.l!. Trolls
The Chaos All-Stars Second Team
Instead of using ogres, the coach may use troglodytes
or trolls. A troll or troglodyte can replace an ogre on MA cs TS ST
a one-for-one basis. For example, a Chaos All-Stars
Team could consis t of 2 ogres, 1 trol l, and 1 6 3 1 5
troglodyte.
TH WO AT CL
Troglodytes are members of the lizard race, which
makes one player very much like another. As a result, 4 3 3 6
lJJl1BfJB
ffJEJfJ!l8 - - - - - - - - --

The Champions of Death in this case. The greatest mummy player is Ram tut the
The Champions of Death are a special team of Third, recently excavated from a three thousand year
skeletons & zombies, whose manager is a very old tomb, who was actually a star player of the original
powerful necromancer known as Tomolandry the version of the game. Of course, he doesn't feel that
Undying. The Champions never run out of players - the game is as good as it was, but since there's
Tomolandry simply creates more players as and when nothing he likes more than a good dose of death he's
he needs them. When filling out the Team Roster a perfactly happy to play!
coach creates skeleton Star Players as normal (the
team gets 4 SPPs). and then records the basic
statistics for other zombies or skeletons once each. lM.IWW!M.IW Mummies
The coach has an unlimited reserve of zombies or
skeletons to replace injured players and use as
substitutes. MA cs TS ST
3 3 1 4
Skeletons are immune to fear, and do not need to roll
Did you k now ...
against their Cool to move adjacent to fearsome
That the limit of
15 per squad was creatures. Skeletons take all Movement Allowance TH WD AT CL
only introduced i n bonuses as cool bonuses instead. Any skeleton who
the year 2482? suffers a wound is simply removed from play • do not 5 4 2 8
Previously, a team roll on the Injury Table. Skeletons tend to break when
could swap players tackled; when rolling for injury from tackles skeletons
as often as it wished. suffer 1 wound on a 4, 5, or 6.
The ru le was finally Ghouls can be very dangerous opponents. Hits from
introduced after the ghouls are venomous to non-undead creatures (ie, not
deaths of 743 skeletons, zombies, mummies or other ghouls). Any
halfli ngs from the Skeletons living player who is hit by a ghoul rolls on the Injury
n o w - d i sband e d Chart as usual, and then rolls another die. On a 5 or
Greenf i e l d 6 the player has been poisoned and is removed from
Grasshuggers. at the
hands of the Asgard
MA cs TS ST play. In campaign games poisoned players will be
completely recovered by the next match.
Ravens giant team.
4 2 2 3
Ghouls
TH WO AT CL

3 1 1 5 MA cs TS ST
4 2 1 3
Zombies may not receive Star Player Points. All the
rules that apply to skeletons apply to zombies as well, TH WD AT CL
except that they roll normally for injuries from tackles.
4 1 2 8
~®!M.l!IDll~ Zombies
The Heroes of Law
The Heroes are a special team made up of humans,
MA cs TS ST elves, dwarfs & halflings, who are only wheeled out
when really important matters of honour have to be
4 2 1 3 settled for the side of good. There are 15 players in
the team as usual, but the coach can choose players
from a mixture of any of these four races. The team
TH WO AT CL receives 4 SPPs. Their big rivals are, of course, the Evil
Gits, who they loathe with a repugnance not normally
3 1 1 4 found among such lawful creatures.

The Champions of Death Second Team The Evil Gita

Instead of having Star Player Points, The Champions The Evil Gits are an evil team made up of evil
may include 1 mummy or 4 ghouls in their team. hobgoblins, evil ores, evil half ores and evil dark elves,
Mummies and ghouls may not be replaced. and boy are they EVILI There are the usual 15 evil
players in the evil team, but the evil coach can choose
Mummies cause fear in all living creatures, who must evil players from an evil mixture of these four evil
roll their Cool or less to move into it's DZ. Mummies races. The evil team receives 4 SPPs. The Evil Gits are
are not very good at catching footballs, and must followed everywhere by their evil unofficial
halve their Cool when attempting to doso. Mummies supporters club, the Evil Gits Unofficial Supporters
who are reduced to one wound, and then wounded Club, who if anything are even more evil than the evil
again, are removed from play; ignore the Injury Chart team they evilly support!
 Replacement Players
Dead players may be replaced between games. The
In campaign games, coaches keep track of how well coach should roll up a new player as per usual, but not
their team is doing, and can watch players improve give them the benefit of any SPPs. If they survive long
as they learn by experience They can eveo set up their enough they will be able to become experienced
own league and knock-out competitions, playing for players, but until then they must take their chances!
the Blood Bowl Trophy and the Chaos Challenge Cup,
if they so wish.

Experience Points
Blood Bowl has changed lot from my original
Players receive experience points for good play from
prototype of the game. The reasons for this are many
the following chart. A player can trade in 10
and varied, so to give you an idea of why Blood Bowl
experience points for one roll on the Star Player Chart.
is the way it is I'll go through a short history of the
If they are intending on running the same team over
game.
a series of games, coaches should keep track of a
player's experience points on the Team Roster as the
The first version ofthe game (Blood Bowl 1) was much
game progresses.
closer to American Football than the game you now
hold in your hands. The rules were not based on the
Points Reason Warhammer Fantasy Battle rules system, and were
1 For playing in a game. very complicated and detailed. In this first version all
1 For successfully passing or kicking the the standard rules of American Football applied: you
football over 8 squares. had four downs, could only throw one forward pass
For succesfully catching the football to an eligible receiver per play, and so on. The result
(thrower's points). was a realistic simulation of American Football- apart
3 For scoring a Touchdown. from the fact that your players were ores or goblins
of course • but it did have one or two rather serious
problems. The most drastic of these was that the
Experience Exceptions
game took ages to play - it could easily take 20 or 30
The Champions of Death never receive experience
points. Instead the necromancer receives one roll on minutes to play one series of downs, which simply
wasn't right. After playing for four hours without
the Star Player chart, which he may apply to one
getting through the first quarter we realised that
skeleton of his choice before the next game.
something was wrong ...

Creatures who cannot receive Star Player points may

So I had to completly scrap the first version of the
never receive experience points.
game and start afresh. However, my experience with
Blood Bowl 1 had taught me some valuable lessons.
Long-term Injuries
I now knew that I had to keep the game fairly simple
KO 'd, Lsg Hurt, Concussed: Any player receiving any
and that I should forget about making an accurate
of these injuries will be completely recovered by the
simulation of American Football. After all, I thought
next game.
to myself, Blood Bowl is a fantasy game. Above all I
wanted to make sure that the different races in the
Arm Broken: The player must miss the next two
game would have abilities and characteristics that set
games. His Combat Skill and Throwing Skill are
them apart from each other, to really enhance the
permanently reduced by -1 each.
fantasy element of the game. At the time I had just
taken part in my very first Warhammer battle and so
Leg Broken: The player must miss the next two
had recently reread the rules. As an experiment I tried
games. Their Movement Allowance is permanently
out a simple game of Blood Bowl using the
reduced by -1.
Warhammer rules, with only some very minor
adjustments to cover throwing the football. Much to
Skull Fractured: The player must miss the next 3
my suprise it worked incredibly well and I was away!
games. When they do play, they count as always
being concussed.
It was an easy task to convert the Warhammer rules
for a board game, especially as Blood Bowl is more like
Dead: He' s dead, Jim!
a skirmish wargame than a sport, and very soon I was
the proud owner of the first prototype of the game
that you now hold. I had dropped the use of Downs
in play and added the '3 touchdowns to win' rule.
Injury Exceptions Instead of stopping the game every couple of minutes
Trolls who didn' t regenerate by the end of the game and setting up the players in new positions, as had
must roll one die. On a roll of 1-3 they fail to regenerate happened in the original game, you now played
and the above rules apply. On a 4-6 they do regenerate continuosly until a touchdown was scored. The first
and may play in the next game as if nothing had player to get three touchdowns won the game,
happened. negating at a stroke the need for complicated and
easily-forgotten rules about keeping track of how
Mummies who are injured will be repaired in time for much ' real' time had passed in the game. The
the next game and can ignore all the above rules. combination of these two rules led to a game that was
Players suffering from ghoul poisoning will recover far more free-flowing than my original game, and also
in time for the next game too. much faster. Most importantly Blood Bowl now ' felt '
 ' OK, OK. HAVE A 'l'V E · PEEP! - SWALLOWED
'PUT ME DOWN, FREE TOUCHDOWN! ' MY · PEEP! · WHISTLE'
'YOU' RE STANDING YOU BIG .. .'
ON MY FEET!'

'A LRIGHT IT ' YOU ' RE STANDING ' BARI COLD OUT HERE! '
'PLEASE TAKE YOUR
WASN ' T A FOUL! ' FINGER OUT MY EYE!' ON MY HEAD!'

' /, ,
1/ #, ~/, ¼
~ 1/,
'ARE YOU 7
QUESTIONING ' I DIDN' T SEE THAT!'
MY DECISION?'
'HOW MUCH
SAYS THAT

u
WASN'T A FOUL?'

tJ

' ILLEGAL HOLDING! ' ' MMMFLGHHMNGHH! ' ' FOUL! '
 tM),·
--------------------~ ~ My Designer's Notes would not be complete if I didn't
like a fantasy game: play was violent, fast and varied
- or, to use Design Studio jargon, it had acquired give a big thank you to two very important people on
Games Workshop' s legendary 'Chaos death spiky the Blood Bowl project - Aly Morrison and Marc
bits'! Gascoigne. Aly is a highly talented figure designer and
artist, and has provided all the illustrations in the rules
The first play-tests were a lot of fun and very bloody, and on the counters, as well as the mapboard. Aly's
most games being lost by the first team to be wiped illustrations set the style of the game better than any
out! The Wound Table was added, which made it rules could, and it has been a very exciting experience
much more difficult to wipe out a team, and the for me to see concepts I had been working on brought
Dodging rules were put in to reduce the effectivness to life in this way (I also can't wait to see the Blood
oftackling (which proved to be too easy once players Bowl miniatures he will be sculpting for Citadel). Marc
had given up trying to slaughter the other team!). is one of the best editors in the business, and had the Did you know...
Bryan Ansell suggested adding the Star Player Table, overwhelming task of turning my misspelt, badly- That according
and Stewart Parkinson (who actually plays American written manuscript into an understandable piece of to their unholy
work. Not only has he done this, but he has also made religion the Chaos
Football for real, the crazy fool!) suggested increasing
it fun to read by adding lots of great ideas like the All-Stars must cook
the size of the board, originally only 12 squares by 24,
Famous Facts, the Referee Signals and, above all, Jim and eat their coach if
and came up with numerous other ideas, including they lose a game? If
the history of the game. My thanks to both of them. & Bob, our two erstwhile Blood Bowl commentators. they win, of course,
Examples of Play will never be the same again! they ' re allowed to
A few things had to be dropped from the game before eat him raw...
it was published as, unfortunately, there just wasn't I'm very pleased with the way Blood Bowl has worked
room to fit everything into the rulebook. Perhaps the out. In a lot of ways the tactics of American Football
most notable of these were the magic rules. Until can be used in the game, although there are
quite late in development you could include amagic- differences - for a start, real American Footballers
user in your team who could cast spells to increase don't try to beat each other to death as a standard
the characteristics of players or give them special tactic (well, not always). You should feel free to
abilities for a limited amount of time, as well as experiment with making up your own special teams
zapping opposing players with various spells of a for races not covered in the Blood Bowl rules, but try
somewhat more deadly nature. Also gone are variant not to get carried away (no balrog teams please!) and
rules for playing a game closer to 'real' American only use your own teams if your opponent agrees.
Football, and quite a few of the special teams Please write in if you come up with any good ideas,
(particularly the poor departed Lizard-men). However, or simply if you want to comment on the game - I can't
the good news is that we have all of these rules on file guarantee that I will be able to reply to all letters I
and if demand is high enough we should be able to recieve but I would like to know what you think of the
persuade Games Workshop to bring out a game. The address for all comments or questions
supplement. about Blood Bowl is Jervis Johnson, Games
Workshop Design Studio, Enfield Chambers, 14-16
Low Pavement, Nottingham, NG1 7DL. If it's a
question about the rules, please try and make it
answerable by a Yes or No, and enclose an SAE. And
that's it... now get out on the field and fight!!

©ffil]:@ll11'®
Designer - Jervis Johnson
Cover Artist - Brett Ewins © 1986
Pieces, Board & Interior Illustrator - Aly Morrison
Editor & Project Co-ordinator - Marc Gascoigne
Graphic Designer - Charles Elliott

This has been a Games W orkshop Design St udio

Presentation in association with Bloodweiser!
Bryan Ansell, Managing Director; Richard Ellard,
Production Manager; Alan Merrett, Publications
Manager; Jervis Johnson, Development Manager;
►
a: John Blanche, Studio Manager; Charles Elliott,
:,::
w Graphic Designer; Paul Cockburn, Commissioning
"" Editor; Marc Gascoigne, Editor; Jim Bambra,
i
:E
<(
Graeme Davis, Phil Gallagher, Rick Priestley,
Authors; Tony Ackland, Dave Superstar Andrews,
:,::
Colin Dixon, Artists; Julie Weaving, Gail Morgan,
~ Typesetters; Mark Craven, Visualiser; Oliver
~ Campbell, Ruth Jeffery, Susan Mcloughlin, David
llC
<( Oliver, Joanne Podoski, Ian Varley, Finished Art
...
X

-- ----~~---- - -- - - ~.,. _ _, - ~------ _ , ._ _ _ _ - , __ ~_.,..,_ _.,. _ _ _ _.,,. _ _----II!.

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 -- - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -

Throwinii Skill
Whenever a game of BloodBow/is played, the following is t he Range 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
sequence t o follow. '/ 7r this summary t he main body of t he
1-4 5 4 3 2 1 0 .1 -2 -3 -4
rules w ill go through each section in order, detailing everything
that can or must be done in that turn. 5-8 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 ·1 -2 -3
* CREA TE TEAMS • Each player (or coach, as we shall call 9+ 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 ·1 -2
them to avoid confusion with t he team ' s players) creates his
or her Blood Bowl team and records the information on a Team Strength
Roster sheet .
Range 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
* CHOOSE FIRST PLAYER · The coaches flip the referee to 1-10 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2
decide who will be the first team, and who will be t he second.
11 -20 5 4 3 2 1 0 ·1
* FIRST TEAM TURN · The first team becomes the 'phasing
21 + 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
team', and carry out their moves for the turn.
* SECOND TEAM TURN · The second team becomes the
Defender's Combat Skill
phasing team, and does the same.
* Repeat 3 & 4 until one side has scored 3 Touchdowns. The ..,. 1
1
5
2
5
3 4
6 6
5
X
6
X
7
X
8
X
9
X
10
X
f irst team to score 3 Touchdowns are t he winners, and their VJ
coach has our perm ission to prance about a lot making gestures ...
co
2
3
4
4
5
4
5 6
5 5
6
6
X
6
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
and remarks of a scornful nature to the opposing coach. ..c
E 4 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 X X X
0
Each Team Turn is divided into 5 Phases : 5 3 3
(.) 4 4 5 5 6 6 X X
* MOVEMENT· The phasing t eam's coach may move any or
all of t he upright p layers he has on the mapboard . Any
..
ti)

a,
.>I.
6
7
2
2
3
2
3
3
4
3
4
4
5
4
5
5
6
5
6
6
X
6
(,)
substitutions take place now. 8 2 2 2 5 5 6
...~ 3 3 4 4
* THROWING & KICKING - If a member of the phasing team
<( 9
10
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
3
2
3
3
4
3
4
4
5
4 5
5
has the ball he may hand-off to another p layer. The player wit h
the ball may attempt to throw or kick the football to another
player. Only one pass or kick may be made per turn. Target's Toughness

* TACKLING · Either team may attempt to attack or tackle

1
1
4
2
5
3 4
6 6
5
6
6
6
7
6
8
6
9
6
10
6
with any players that are eligible to do so.
..,C,
.i=
2 3 4 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
* RESERVES - The phasing team may move any of its players, C
3 2 3 4 5 6 6 6 6 6 6
providing they are upright and not adjacent to opposing ~
players. After all reserve moves have been completed, any en 4 2 2 3 4 5 6 6 6 6 6
prone playing pieces from the phasing team are turned upright
Cl) 5 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 6 6 6
again. ..,.Q)
(,)
6 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 6 6
7 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 6
~
No te: Atthe end of any of these phases, if the ball is lying free 8 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6
in a player's square he may pick it up.
:i
9 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 5
10 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4
Star Plaver Table
Score Abilitv Defender's Strength
2 Roll twice {ignoring rolls of 2) or choose any
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
ability except Magic.
3 Verv skilful in battle + 2 to Combat Skill. 1 4 5 6 6 X X X X X X
.i=
4 Verv cool + 2 t o Cool. S 2 3 4 5 6 6 X X X X X
C
5 Skil ful + 1 to Combat Skill. ~ 3 2 3 4 5 6 6 X X X X
6 Strong, + 1 to Strength. en 4 2 2 3 4 5 6 6 X X X
7 Fast, + 1 to M ovement. Cl)
5 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 6 X X
.Q)
8 Cool, + 1 to Cool. ..,. 6 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 6 X
9 Accu rate, + 1 to Throwinq Skill. (,)
7 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 6
10 Verv strona, + 2 to St renath. ~
:i 8 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6
11 Verv accurate, + 2 to Throwinq Skill .
12 Magic • roll one die on the Magic Table instead. 9 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 5
10 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4

Magic Table Wound Table

Score Maaic ltem Roll Result
1 Boots of Speed, double a player's Movement 2 Berserk
Allowance. 3 Arm Broken
2 Boots of Leaping • - see rules. 4 Leg Broken
3 Gauntlets of Holding , player never misses a 5 KO ' d and Leg Hurt
tackle. 6 KO ' d
4 Gauntlets of Catching , player never m isses a 7 Stunned
Catch. 8 KO ' d
5 Helmet of Accuracy, player never misses a 9 KO ' d and Concussed
T hrow . 10 Arm and Leg Broken
6 Magic A rmour, p layer has a Saving Throw of 11 Skull Fractured
2 -6. 12 Dead
Blood Bowl and all Jiktu'1~$$1!~ herem are copyrtght t.fJ 1986 Games Workshop ltd,
 ~ C> 1988 GAMES WORKSHOP l:rO

TEAM: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ COACH: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ FINAL SCORE: HOME _ _ / _ _ AWAY

NO. DEF KICK MA cs TS ST TH WD AT CL EXP INJUflES NOTES

1
2
3
4
5
8
7

8
9

10
11
12
13
14

15
18

DEF-Defensive Player; KICK-Kicking Player; MA-Movement Allowance; CS-Combat Skill; TS.:rhrowing Skill; ST-Strength; TH.:roughness; WD-Wounds;
AT-Attacks;
__ ____ CL-Cool;
_ _ _EXP-Experience
______ Points
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.....,.,,..,,.,..............~ - y , - ,
I~ ' • ._"1, - - ~

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