Hey all!
Well, around the holidays I was at Barnes and Noble and wandered into the games section, only to find my latest game... Blitz Bowl! It is a simplified version of Blood Bowl, created in partnership with Barnes and Noble, meant to introduce casuals to the GW series of games. But I'll be honest, it is a crap ton of fun and really much more suited to playing with my son!
So I decided to buy up a bunch of teams... and one thing led to another... and now I've got 17 teams painted up, and we are playing 16 team tournaments (the previous winner gets to sit out the tourney and enjoy the good life!) and loving it!
But the thing is... it is a project. And I don't tackle a project without some ideas for how to elevate it, and some ideas how to create something.
And I knew, RIGHT from the start, that I wanted to do a custom pitch for Blitz Bowl.
Now, I had seen some that people had already done, and it didn't seem too complicated... I wasn't going to reinvent the wheel. I had seen some that people had done that I liked, so I figured I'd sort of replicate that. I knew I wanted the trap doors to be able to be switched around so the board could be reconfigured, and that I wanted to make some statues and the like to create obstacles. And I knew I wanted to use cork for the floors... in fact, that is how I based my figures from the very start, so they would match! Once I had that set... I figured I might as well get to it!
So here is the pitch! The shot at the top of this post is of the board set up with the two trapdoor/four obstacle setup... then the photo just above this one is of the two obstacle/center trapdoor layout.
Now, obviously I needed benches for both sides... they are not attached, so they can be moved around.
Here is bench number one, occupied at the moment by the Imperial Nobility team. I added a clipboard and ball to the bench for detail.
And here is bench #2, also with a backup ball, and a medical kit.
Here are some action shots! In this one, the expansion Dark Elves drive the ball right into the Dwarf end zone.
Here the Halflings (winners of Blitz Bowl III!) go up against one of the expansion teams, the Black Orcs.
The Wardancer goes right at the Orc thrower. In this shot you get a better look at the 3x2 obstacles, which I am not SOLD on yet... I may do something different?
The expansion Ogres take the fight to the Lizardmen, who definitely won't back down!
Now obviously you need a score tracker, and I wasn't totally sure how I wanted to do that at first. But then I realized that I could probably get plates made at the local trophy shop, and those worked out adequately well.
Here you can see the bare pitch, with the five floor tiles that are removable taken out.
Here they are, replaced in the two trapdoor mode. I can also do the single trapdoor mode.
So overall I'm super happy with how it turned out. My son and I are playing Blitz Bowl V, and are currently playing the Sweet Sixteen... here is to a lot of excitement, and blood!:)
