Rick Vinyard
United States Las Cruces New Mexico
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Blood Bowl was nominated for the 20 Most Anticipated Games of 2012 (vote now if you haven't).
At first I wasn't inclined to let it into the voting, but decided to let voters decide how anticipant they were of a reprint.
It didn't get enough nominations to make it into the top 50 for the overall category, but it is in the "Reprint" and "Sports" category.
It's not faring well in the Reprint category, but is getting an overwhelming number of votes in the Sports category.
There's been a fair amount of speculation whether this year's big box item from GW will be a 25th anniversary reprint.
Has anyone heard anything more concrete?
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Carlos Saldanha
Portugal Lisboa
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Well, they fumbled two years in a row, with Space Hulk and
Dreadfleet 
Maybe three is a charm...
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Rob Silmser
United States Valrico Florida
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oDESGOSTO wrote: Well, they fumbled two years in a row, with Space Hulk and  Dreadfleet  Maybe three is a charm... 
I don't know that I would CAll Space Hulk a fumble.
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Roland W. est. 1984
Germany Unterriexingen
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Kid Game. They should reprinted blood bowl instead of SH in the first place. But I own 15 Teams and the third edition so I do not care
:-)
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Andrew Royal
United States Manchester New Hampshire
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I'd rather see Warhammer Quest. You can still buy Blood Bowl from Specialist Games.
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The trouble with Warhammer Quest is that, by GW's current standards, the base game would cost like $300 (assuming comparable # of minis to original game).
Additionally, when I was a "kid" my friends and I PLAYED THE HECK out of Warhammer Quest and some current friends and I dusted it off and played it again. We thought it was a blast, for about a month, then had zero desire to play it again - the game suffers from a critical problem in that parties either get murdered (about 75% probability in their first dungeon) but once they survive the creation phase become unstoppable (once they hit about level 3) to the point of the game not even being interesting anymore. Spells and Items can cut swathes through even the toughest monsters, while the right magic armor and shield can, quite literally, make a character completely invulnerable to physical attacks from almost all monsters of his/her corresponding level. A reprint of Quest would probably sell quite well, but the game is frankly terrible (though it IS a ton of fun for the first few sessions).
Blood Bowl, on the other hand, I also owned as a "kid" and my friends and I dabbled it in once or twice and just didn't like it. But when a local league started up I joined, and WOW, Blood Bowl has far and away become my favorite game - so deep and complex (yet fairly simple rules) and wonderfully entertaining. You have to masterfully manage risk, space, and the clock to win consistently. A Blood Bowl reprint probably wouldn't sell as well as a Quest reprint, but Blood Bowl still has a huge active international community. The Cyanide Computer Game and Team Manager card game have likely increased it's appeal. Either way, it is a vastly superior game to all the other Specialist Games and deserves the big-box reprint most of all.
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Matt Shinners
United States New York New York
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RogueThirteen wrote: The Cyanide Computer Game and Team Manager card game have likely increased it's appeal.
I think the Team Manager game is the best evidence that this is possible. If it sells well (and I believe it has), I think that lends credence to the idea that a BB reprint would be itself successful.
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SJ Benoist
United States Saint Charles Missouri
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I don't think it would be successful at all.
Blood Bowl, unlike Space Hulk or Man 'O War, is readily available now. Those other two were hard to find and would cost you a fortune to buy, whereas any BB reprint would likely be more expensive.
What would serve the game best, IMO, is an "Intro" set using cardboard chits to make it very cheap (by BB standards). But we all know GW would never do something like that.
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SJBenoist wrote: I don't think it would be successful at all.
Blood Bowl, unlike Space Hulk or Man 'O War, is readily available now. Those other two were hard to find and would cost you a fortune to buy, whereas any BB reprint would likely be more expensive.
What would serve the game best, IMO, is an "Intro" set using cardboard chits to make it very cheap (by BB standards). But we all know GW would never do something like that.
I think it could sell well IF it offered some things that don't currently exist:
- New Pitch / Dugout art boards (most players, like me, have tattered boards that are falling apart and could gladly use a replacing. Plus, if players who already own the game get a second board, they can host more simultaneous games during a session).
- New High Quality Teams - this could tempt current players alone. If these teams are also of factions lots of veteran players don't have many copies of (ie Chaos Dwarf vs Necromantic or something), it would be a real buying point. Also, these teams need to have full positionals and should include 13-16 players (for extended league play). Now, if GW included a plastic Slann team and a plastic Chaos Pact team (teams still unavailable), this thing could sell like hotcakes and GW could finally add those rosters to the official ones in the CRP (the teams are currently approved for tournament and league play, but aren't officially featured in the CRP because, even after passing playtesting and getting Jervis' approval, the teams were pulled because GW didn't want teams listed they did not have official models available for).
- FUN BITS! - Plastic sprues for a variety of "extras" like a Referee, Bloodweiser Babes, Apothecaries, Coaches, Halfling Chef, a Wizard, a 3D scoreboard, some "weather" goblins...
- Sturdily bound copy of CRP (Living Rulebook 6)
These are the sorts of things that would lead myself and many other vets who already have copies to run out and pick up another copy.
Just, oh merciful gaming gods, don't let GW "update" the rules...
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sinfreealex wrote: You can still buy Blood Bowl from Specialist Games.
I don't understand why people continue to babble about reprints. The game is IN PRINT and available to buy right now, directly from GW.
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SJ Benoist
United States Saint Charles Missouri
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RogueThirteen wrote:
I think it could sell well IF it offered some things that don't currently exist:
- New Pitch / Dugout art boards (most players, like me, have tattered boards that are falling apart and could gladly use a replacing. Plus, if players who already own the game get a second board, they can host more simultaneous games during a session).
Like these?
Available now, along with many more: http://www.impactminiatures.net/index.php?option=gamemat
RogueThirteen wrote:
- New High Quality Teams - this could tempt current players alone. If these teams are also of factions lots of veteran players don't have many copies of (ie Chaos Dwarf vs Necromantic or something), it would be a real buying point. Also, these teams need to have full positionals and should include 13-16 players (for extended league play). Now, if GW included a plastic Slann team and a plastic Chaos Pact team (teams still unavailable), this thing could sell like hotcakes and GW could finally add those rosters to the official ones in the CRP (the teams are currently approved for tournament and league play, but aren't officially featured in the CRP because, even after passing playtesting and getting Jervis' approval, the teams were pulled because GW didn't want teams listed they did not have official models available for).
You mean like these?
Those and many, many more: http://www.impactminiatures.com/index.php?option=elfballteam...
RogueThirteen wrote: - FUN BITS! - Plastic sprues for a variety of "extras" like a Referee, Bloodweiser Babes, Apothecaries, Coaches, Halfling Chef, a Wizard, a 3D scoreboard, some "weather" goblins...
The refs have existed for awhile, but:
and lots more, including cheerleaders, coaches, food vendors, sports reporters and so on: http://www.impactminiatures.net/index.php?option=home
The problem is all this stuff is already available, and probably as cheap or cheaper than GW would sell it for. Considering they don't think the game is profitable enough now, I can't see them chasing the very minor income those products would produce.
Edit: Also, I try to draw attention to Impact Miniatures as much as possible, as many faithful Blood Bowl players don't know the range of miniatures they offer
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SJBenoist wrote: Edit: Also, I try to draw attention to Impact Miniatures as much as possible, as many faithful Blood Bowl players don't know the range of miniatures they offer 
I'm well aware of the fantastic secondary market that exists around Blood Bowl (the game basically supports two or three smaller miniature companies - not many other games can claim that prestige).
And while I have no intention of detracting profits away from those smaller third-party companies, I do think the game could do with an UPDATE. Maybe people are cringing at REPRINT because that's a term best reserved for currently unavailable games.
The GW Boxed set could benefit from an UPDATE. It's got a rulebook that's about 8 years outdated and the the same pretty 'meh' plastic teams that have been in the box since 3rd Edition (more than 15 years). A lot of players I've met at leagues and tournaments have rag-tag boards that are falling apart. We'll need to buy new boards at some point, and the ideal situation would be a new printing of Blood Bowl (though I realize third party or printable pitches currently exist).
The biggest boost of a new printing, though, would be trying to get the game to appeal to a new customer base. Sure, most of the die-hard fans who already heavily support companies like Impact will buy it, but IDEALLY a new GW release with amazing, up-to-date components will get the game into some interested new hands; this can only benefit the TableTop community.
I suspect people who go and buy stuff from places like Impact are probably already pretty serious fans of the game. It seems less likely to me that people are going to "discover" tabletop Blood Bowl by going out and independently acquiring all the parts needed to play -- it's much more likely that new players first get into the game via a self-contained experience (eg the GW Box). A big, bright, shiny, gorgeous new Box Set could do that, possibly.
And sure, one might argue that no one will buy the new boxed set because "die hard" fans can already have that stuff from Impact (and elsewhere), but come on! We all know die-hard fans are the same people who own FIVE DIFFERENT ORC TEAMS from a variety of companies --> they'll buy anything BB that catches their eye aesthetically! [though, buying all that third part stuff will definitely sum far beyond $100, which is what I would expect a GW New Printing to weigh in at.]
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SJ Benoist
United States Saint Charles Missouri
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But the GW issues are:
1. Blood Bowl didn't make enough money for GW anyway, which is what all the "specialist games" have in common. Given that, a reprint that requires ongoing support doesn't make sense.
2. An update is not going to be cheaper than the product they are selling now. How many players will "buy to try" at 100$ or higher, AND won't try the game at 88$?
I'd say virtually none.
I actually don't think most hardcore fans would buy the update, to be honest. And I don't think it makes sense for GW to offer the things you mention because they are available ... which means anyone who wants them, and knows they exist, has them. How many different Ref's do I need? How many Halfling Chiefs?
If someone has a pitch that is falling apart ... and they know about Impact ... why haven't they replaced it already? Why would they suddenly to choose to replace it, likely at a higher cost, just because GW offered it?
I don't think it makes sense, but we will just have to wait and see what they do.
P.S. Impact links to about a dozen publishers of Blood Bowl material! Makes you wonder how much GW is making on Fantasy & 40K for this to not be worth their attention!
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It certainly would be nice to see a new edition of Blood Bowl (or Warhammer Quest) but that certainly doesn't seem at all likely as a follow up to Space Hulk and Dreadfleet, both of which were totally fire and forget games.
The problem with Warhammer Quest is that it is driven by expansions for Heroes (characters, extra items, new quests) and will never be stand alone in terms of monster figures, unless they cut out levels 2-10 and just put the level 1 game in a box (no roleplaying book), which everyone would be sad about. Also if reprinted people might remember that although it can be a fun game it's also an unbalanced luck fest that makes the D&D adventure games seem super strategic.
Blood Bowl of course needs a whole range of miniatures and support things, so again would be totally inappropriate for a fire and forget $100 game. Unless they put Elves vs. Dwarves: DungeonBowl or something similar in a box, with no rosters for other teams, which again would make people sad since they'd be paying $100 for a cut down ruleset where they could already download the complete version for free, 24 figures that were useless unless you played the 2 races in the box and very little else.
Maybe I suppose they could introduce Blood Bowl as another main line alongside Warhammer and Warhammer 40k but that seems very very unlikely.
In the mean time it's great that everything you need to play is still obtainable and there's a fairly large community still running tournaments and things.
[edit] In summary, if they were to reprint either game, to get it to fit their fire and forget range they would need to severely alter the games (like Man O' War to Dreadfleet), so I wouldn't hold my breath or sell my copy of Blood Bowl or Warhammer Quest just yet.
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Andrew Royal
United States Manchester New Hampshire
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I'd love to see someone do a nice one shot for Lost Patrol. FFG would more than likely be the ones to do it, since Gears of War uses a similar build as you go board layout for the map.
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SJ Benoist
United States Saint Charles Missouri
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It also doesn't bode well that Dreadfleet is apparently not selling that well. You can get for just 70$ right now at Miniature Market (~100 in stock), and Thoughthammer had the same deal not too long ago.
Let's see how the LOTR does
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9 dragons
United States
California
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RogueThirteen wrote: The trouble with Warhammer Quest is that, by GW's current standards, the base game would cost like $300 (assuming comparable # of minis to original game).
Additionally, when I was a "kid" my friends and I PLAYED THE HECK out of Warhammer Quest and some current friends and I dusted it off and played it again. We thought it was a blast, for about a month, then had zero desire to play it again - the game suffers from a critical problem in that parties either get murdered (about 75% probability in their first dungeon) but once they survive the creation phase become unstoppable (once they hit about level 3) to the point of the game not even being interesting anymore. Spells and Items can cut swathes through even the toughest monsters, while the right magic armor and shield can, quite literally, make a character completely invulnerable to physical attacks from almost all monsters of his/her corresponding level. A reprint of Quest would probably sell quite well, but the game is frankly terrible (though it IS a ton of fun for the first few sessions). .
You're missing the most basic WHQ mechanic: customize it for a perfect fit. Those are all simple fixes.
1. Roll on the Monster Tables higher than current level (fixes almost everything)
Alternatives- 1. Limit Armour max for various levels 2. Limit # of Attack Spells per turn
There's also a Treasure Item table that a fan made that is based on Battle-Level. We're using it and it makes a big difference so that no one gets over-powered.
WHQ and Blood Bowl are the best games ever produced by GW IMHO.
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Andrew Wodzianski
United States Washington Dist of Columbia
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I think a full blown-out reprint of Dungeon Bowl would be a swell idea. Two multi-raced teams from the Wizards College, embossed tiles, and thicker chits could scratch an itch for Blood Bowl fans, and serve as an entry point as well.
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