Is Bloodbowl easy to pick up and learn?

[Khamul]

Title. I've been looking at Blood Bowl on and off for years, but with Blood Bowl 3 coming out I was thinking about picking it up. Is the game decent with rules that can be picked up in a decent amount of time?

[Stygger]

I would say that BB is easy to learn and hard to master, for me that is one of the reasons it’s so fun. Different teams really play in different ways and for me a big part of the game is to build the team in a certain direction between games.

The Turnover rule is the core of BB and makes the focus about risk vs reward when you play your turns. Understanding those risks and being able to capitalize on the rewards is what makes you a good coach. So if we played with even teams it would be unlikely that you as a new player would beat a ”BB veteran” like me in your first matches before you got a grasp of the above.

[Hendricus]

No, you need some time to master it. For some that road has some bumpy miles. It's worth it tough.

[Hairy Coo]

Do you want to git gud or just roll some dice and have fun? You could do both, but one would require some time to master.

[VoodooMike]

Originally posted by VxKhamulxV:

Title. I've been looking at Blood Bowl on and off for years, but with Blood Bowl 3 coming out I was thinking about picking it up. Is the game decent with rules that can be picked up in a decent amount of time?

When people ask if a game is "easy to pick up" they usually mean "will the rules and play be intuitive enough that I can be passable from the get go"... and in that respect the answer is a resounding NO.

Blood Bowl is NOT intuitive. When you look at the game as an observer or as a new player you will not grasp the basic strategy of play... almost at all... and that is the source of a whole lot of anguish and anger over the past decade. Once you understand that the game is about risk management and mitigation, not about whatever sort of strategy people imagine it is at first, then you'll suddenly be much, much better at the game.

Once you get past that first hurdle you'll be fine, but its a big hurdle and its an obstacle that new players don't even realize exist... and are often quite resistant to being told it does because they're sure they're smart, or good at strategy games or whatever.

[Execute]

I have been playing blood bowl since the first adaptation and have probably played around 300 matches online and played about 10 times on the board game. That being said being self taught and reading all of the rule books/directions I would still be considered a novice. Even more so with the new rules which I have only read the instructions but have yet to play.

All of that being said, it seems that the developers put a lot of time into the one player story mode. That mode will teach you basics step by step. If you are willing to play that mode and really soak in the steps one by one as they are taught you will be able to learn the basics of the game. You can not expect to just start playing on easy and scoring touch downs like in Madden. This is not a video game, it is a simulation of a board game with a 100 + page instruction booklet.

I highly recommend playing this if it has sparked your interest. I love this game and i have gotten a lot of my friends into it and we have a league. But you defiantly have to be prepared to put the time in to learn and understand it.

I remember the first time i played it in 2009 I told my brother cancel your order this game is garbage. Once i really sat with it and took the time to learn it , it has become my all time favorite game.

[peremptor]

Originally posted by Hendricus:

No, you need some time to master it. For some that road has some bumpy miles. It's worth it tough.

Exactly. Doesn't mean you can't have fun while learning you can also try to murder the star player on the other team and not even play for actually winning and that can be fun as well.

It's blood bowl baby!

[Skearn]

Originally posted by VoodooMike:

Originally posted by VxKhamulxV:

Title. I've been looking at Blood Bowl on and off for years, but with Blood Bowl 3 coming out I was thinking about picking it up. Is the game decent with rules that can be picked up in a decent amount of time?

When people ask if a game is "easy to pick up" they usually mean "will the rules and play be intuitive enough that I can be passable from the get go"... and in that respect the answer is a resounding NO.

Blood Bowl is NOT intuitive. When you look at the game as an observer or as a new player you will not grasp the basic strategy of play... almost at all... and that is the source of a whole lot of anguish and anger over the past decade. Once you understand that the game is about risk management and mitigation, not about whatever sort of strategy people imagine it is at first, then you'll suddenly be much, much better at the game.

Once you get past that first hurdle you'll be fine, but its a big hurdle and its an obstacle that new players don't even realize exist... and are often quite resistant to being told it does because they're sure they're smart, or good at strategy games or whatever.

im a fresh player myself and after watching about 10 matches from cknoor and another coach, i observed what you said about risk management and got an idea about what you meant with mitigation (skills like blocki presumed) but i know im very green.

do you (or any1 else for that matter) have some tips or wisdom to impart on a freshly-made coach?

[Lfod]

Originally posted by Skearn:

Originally posted by VoodooMike:

When people ask if a game is "easy to pick up" they usually mean "will the rules and play be intuitive enough that I can be passable from the get go"... and in that respect the answer is a resounding NO.

Blood Bowl is NOT intuitive. When you look at the game as an observer or as a new player you will not grasp the basic strategy of play... almost at all... and that is the source of a whole lot of anguish and anger over the past decade. Once you understand that the game is about risk management and mitigation, not about whatever sort of strategy people imagine it is at first, then you'll suddenly be much, much better at the game.

Once you get past that first hurdle you'll be fine, but its a big hurdle and its an obstacle that new players don't even realize exist... and are often quite resistant to being told it does because they're sure they're smart, or good at strategy games or whatever.

im a fresh player myself and after watching about 10 matches from cknoor and another coach, i observed what you said about risk management and got an idea about what you meant with mitigation (skills like blocki presumed) but i know im very green.

do you (or any1 else for that matter) have some tips or wisdom to impart on a freshly-made coach?

Hey I've never played BB at all myself. I'm prepared to take a lot of L's though. Have to respect the experience other players have over me but hope they don't get to comfortable beating me.

[Splinter]

Here is some advice. Don't blame the dice. Every new player (including myself) blame the dice for loses. I even thought at one point that my opponents hacked the game to give them self better dice. Watch a lot youtube games. If you play the AI just play it to learn the basics. BB2 AI was horrible and very easy to beat and you think you were good until you played real people. Stick with the game too. You will lose A LOT early on. That's okay. Watch what your opponents do and learn from them. Another great advice is do all your non-dice rolls first(there is always an exception to the rule). Then do your easy rolls next, saving the risking ones for last or avoid doing risky rolls. Last advice is laugh when you have a bad turn or roll. It happens to everyone.

[peremptor]

Originally posted by Splinter:

Here is some advice. Don't blame the dice. Every new player (including myself) blame the dice for loses. I even thought at one point that my opponents hacked the game to give them self better dice. Watch a lot youtube games. If you play the AI just play it to learn the basics. BB2 AI was horrible and very easy to beat and you think you were good until you played real people. Stick with the game too. You will lose A LOT early on. That's okay. Watch what your opponents do and learn from them. Another great advice is do all your non-dice rolls first(there is always an exception to the rule). Then do your easy rolls next, saving the risking ones for last or avoid doing risky rolls. Last advice is laugh when you have a bad turn or roll. It happens to everyone.

Don't get too attached to your players either. They are all one bad roll of the dice away from departing the pitch permanently.

[Skearn]

Originally posted by Lfod:

Originally posted by Skearn:

im a fresh player myself and after watching about 10 matches from cknoor and another coach, i observed what you said about risk management and got an idea about what you meant with mitigation (skills like blocki presumed) but i know im very green.

do you (or any1 else for that matter) have some tips or wisdom to impart on a freshly-made coach?

Hey I've never played BB at all myself. I'm prepared to take a lot of L's though. Have to respect the experience other players have over me but hope they don't get to comfortable beating me.

same^^

Originally posted by Splinter:

Here is some advice. Don't blame the dice. Every new player (including myself) blame the dice for loses. I even thought at one point that my opponents hacked the game to give them self better dice. Watch a lot youtube games. If you play the AI just play it to learn the basics. BB2 AI was horrible and very easy to beat and you think you were good until you played real people. Stick with the game too. You will lose A LOT early on. That's okay. Watch what your opponents do and learn from them. Another great advice is do all your non-dice rolls first(there is always an exception to the rule). Then do your easy rolls next, saving the risking ones for last or avoid doing risky rolls. Last advice is laugh when you have a bad turn or roll. It happens to everyone.

Originally posted by peremptor:

Don't get too attached to your players either. They are all one bad roll of the dice away from departing the pitch permanently.

reminds me a lot of tabletop mordheim and xcom kinda too, thank you both for the input ;D

[Stygger]

Originally posted by Skearn:

do you (or any1 else for that matter) have some tips or wisdom to impart on a freshly-made coach?

The goal is to win the current match, and to win the current season. The goal is not to "build the perfect team". This is not World of Warcraft where you only get better and the real game starts at max level. A lot of new players are overly attached to playing durable/bashy teams because they haven't understood that losing players is part of the game.

That being said you can ofc set out any goals you want for a team, I've managed to get in-league teams to above 3000k TV even if it would have been smarter to fire players!

[Skearn]

Originally posted by Stygger:

Originally posted by Skearn:

do you (or any1 else for that matter) have some tips or wisdom to impart on a freshly-made coach?

The goal is to win the current match, and to win the current season. The goal is not to "build the perfect team". This is not World of Warcraft where you only get better and the real game starts at max level. A lot of new players are overly attached to playing durable/bashy teams because they haven't understood that losing players is part of the game.

That being said you can ofc set out any goals you want for a team, I've managed to get in-league teams to above 3000k TV even if it would have been smarter to fire players!

i will deff keep that in mind, thank you for this<3

[Garven]

I would advise playing a more basic team like Humans for getting used to the core mechanics. Though debatable, Human are quite middle of the road as far as STRength or AGility go.

[Skearn]

Originally posted by Garven:

I would advise playing a more basic team like Humans for getting used to the core mechanics. Though debatable, Human are quite middle of the road as far as STRength or AGility go.

yea ive been hearing human is essentially the baseline standard, its a good suggestion thanks:D