“Every kick-off is a unique event. Almost anything can happen and often does!”
-Bloodbowl The Game of Fantasy Football
The crowd is roaring, players are in position and the anticipation of the game to come has built to an incredible amount. The whistle blows, the opposing team grabs the ball, it falls and woosh away the kick. The ball soars into the receivers end and before it lands a KICKOFF EVENT occurs.
If you have no idea what i’m talking about I guess I am getting ahead of myself. The events I just described are how I imagine any game of Bloodbowl begins. Bloodbowl is a miniatures board game created by Games Workshop and first released in 1986. This game is every way you imagine a true game of Fantasy Football is played, sporting races and characteristics of humans, goblins, dwarves, elves, orcs, undead and much much work.
This tabletop game has all the elements of which I love, miniatures, dice, terrain and most important silliness. Ever since I got my first bloodbowl models from the snotling team in early 2021 I have wanted to play, however I had one big problem. No one I knew or anyone in my region played Bloodbowl.
Knowing that I knew I had to embrace a piece of advice I’ve heard often but not always taken to heart. Being an advocate. “Its hard to find people to find other games”. So I as a player needs to inspire and recruit other people to play the game I enjoy.
A recent video of one of my favorite miniature gaming youtube channels, Tabletop Minions, recently refreshed one of their original videos on the subject. It is definitely worth a watch: Get Games Besides Warhammer on the Table
So over the years I have felt tempted to pull a field of dreams… “If you build it they will come.” Perhaps if I build and paint all the things needed to play Bloodbowl ot make it the most engaging thing then people will play with me. In order to play bloodbowl a player needs a few things.
- A Bloodbowl Pitch
- Two Dugouts (team sidelines)
- Two Teams to play with of 11 players minimum
- Team Tokens
- Dice
- Rulers and Templates
- The Rules
All of these things I have acquired but they are missing a WOW factor. Something that will truly bring them in. Paint on the teams and a Pitch that will pull in people from across the room. Currently bloodbowl pitches are sold as printed cardboard. Although I own one it isn’t very fun to use or look at.
A dream has formed and something happened. I found the Kraken 3D Studios “Kraken Fantasy Stadium” digital STL files. This was originally a kickstarter in 2020 that I have been watching and waiting to pull the trigger on for a few years now. However this most recent cyber monday season I decided to jump in and buy the files to 3D print my very own Bloodbowl Pitch.
Fast forward to today, I have now printed a sizable amount of the board and it’s finally time to assemble and paint my dream pitch. However, what fun would it actually be if I didn’t make my bloodbowl pitch project as goofy and silly as the game itself? So in honor of that I have created a KickOff Event table of my own for the sake of hobby creation. In the game of Bloodbowl the kicking team will roll on a table after the ball has been kicked but still in the air. Random events can occur that could dictate the events of the next drive. I have taken the highlights as follows.
Hobby Kick off Event table
| Roll | Result | Roll | Result |
| 2 | Get the Ref: my husband has to pick what is done next on the pitch | 8 | Changing Weather: Weather station painted |
| 3 | Time Out: Sideline turn tracker/ scoreboard completed | 9 | Quick Snap: receiving team model painted |
| 4 | Solid Defense: the kicking team must get a painted model, including nameplate | 10 | Blitz: kicking team model painted |
| 5 | High Kick: player in receiving team must be painted | 11 | Officious Ref: Nameplates and skill templates created |
| 6 | Cheering Fans: a fan on the sidelines must be painted | 12 | Pitch Invasion: Paint and create the pitch |
| 7 | Brilliant Coaching: Dugout painted | Recieving Team: Imperial Nobility Kicking Team: Shambling Undead |
Two 2d6 are rolled whatever the result is what the next post will be for completed projects.
- Receiving team: Imperial Nobility Team
- Kicking Team: Undead
Once a category is completely completed it will be replaced with other components to finish the stadium until it is all completed.
Complete List of components needed to be completed for pitch:
- Scoreboard
- Fans/stands
- Reroll Tracker
- Weather Station
- Field
- Camera crew/Kraken TV
- Stadium Spotlights x4
- Dugouts x2
- Field Goals
- Sidelines/billboards
- Carry case/box for the project
Kickoff Event Results!
It looks like my very first task is to paint up a recieving team, Shambling Undead player!
Stay with me as I begin this journey to learn, explore and create the Bloodbowl Pitch of my dreams along with all the components to become so enticing my family is going to have to play with me!
Printing for the project began around October 2023 in earnest and I am excited to see where this project takes me. Join me and comment down below what you are looking forward to seeing or have suggestions.
-Crazmadsci
