LONGBOMB - THE BLOOD BOWL NEWSLETTER by Andy Hall
Issue 1
A couple of months ago we asked gamers who visited the Fanatic website which
of the game systems we cover needed a newsletter. Blood Bowl won and so here
it is!
The advantage of an electronic newsletter over the printed medium is its
instantaneous nature. Writing news for Blood Bowl magazine means, on
average, a six to twelve week delay until it's in the hands of the readers.
With the newsletter I can constantly tweak and add right up until the moment
it's sent, so you are getting the most up-to-date Blood Bowl news. The first
couple of issues of Longbomb will probably follow Jervis' "rambling" nature
but we'll keep tweaking until a format is developed. So what's going on in
the world of Blood Bowl?
NEWS
As you will all know Blood Bowl LXII has now been and gone. It was a great
success with the winning team of the Blood Bowl being the Flatlined
Annihilators coached by Marcos 'Tarra' Tarrasso, one of the large contingent
of Spanish coaches that came over especially for the tournament. The Spanish
guys have thrown down the gauntlet and decreed that it will be an
all-Spanish final next year - you have been warned! There will be a full
report of the tournament in Blood Bowl magazine 8 also look out for the new
Blood Bowl 'Hall of Fame' section coming to BloodBowl.com very soon.
The Blood Bowl 2003 Annual has just been released and should be in your
local GW store now (if you live in the UK). Coaches outside will have to
wait a few more weeks. You can also buy it from the UK online store if you
haven't got a Games Workshop near you (
www.games-workshop.co.uk/storefront).
Due to his phenomenal popularity Lord Borak features heavily in this years
Annual, along with updated experimental rules for five teams, the complete
All at Sea series of articles and the all-important appendix at the back of
the book. The Appendix ensures that all you need is the most recent Annual
and the Handbook to have the most up-to-date version of Blood Bowl.
Revealed at the Blood Bowl LXII to those at the NAF seminar was our
long-term plan to develop and produce a travel Blood Bowl game. This is
still very much in early development so don't expect to see anything for a
few years. However, Jervis did go and visit our plastic manufacturing site
the other day and it was discussed by the experts there and deemed possible
to make... I'll keep you updated of how this project is progressing in
future issues.
After a few happy years the 'Powers That Be' have evicted us from the
Fanatic Bunker! Not to worry as we're not going homeless yet. The Studio
have graciously found us some space, we've already put up some walls to
create a new Fanatic Bunker although it is still up for debate whether this
to keep the Fanatic Crew in or the Studio out!
For those of you who still don't know (where have you been?) the NAF - the
Blood Bowl players society have opened their website
www.thenaf.net.
Becoming a member of NAF gives you numerous benefits including, Black
Blocking Dice, full access to the website, NAF Tourneys and an entry on the
World Player Rankings, which is fully recognised by Fanatic and Games
Workshop.
Blood Bowl Magazine 7 is currently at the printers so expect it on the
shelves in two-to three weeks time. This issue covers the new Trophy packs,
experimental rules for Racial Wizards and an excellent playbook article on
the Chaos Dwarfs by Stephen Babbage - member of the BBRC.
With the first Major: the Blood Bowl LXII now over for this year the next
one on the horizon is the Chaos Cup to be held at Games Day Chicago, here's
Tim Huckelbery with more information:
Games Day Chicago will see the 1st Annual Blood Bowl Chaos Cup Championship!
Officially sanctioned by Fanatic, this will be the premier Blood Bowl event
in America. Jervis himself will be on hand to preside over the games (we
tried for Lord Borak, but he was busy with his column), and the winners will
be immortalised into the huge new Chaos Cup Trophy itself. They will also be
written into Blood Bowl history too as the winners of the 2503 Chaos Cup in
Spike! Magazine.
This will be August 1 & 2 at Games Day Chicago (the Friday before Games Day
will be at the Chicago Battle Bunker and then at Games Day itself on
Saturday). The rules will be very closely modelled after the UK Blood Bowl
Tournament rules?
The entry fee will be $40 (in addition to the Games Day ticket option of
your choice).
You will get: Entry into the Chaos Cup Tournament, Special Blood Bowl -
Chaos Cup Commemorative Coin, Dinner on Friday Night and two full days of
Blood Bowl fun!
Space will be limited! Be sure to check the US website for news on Games Day
Chicago tickets going on sale. Any questions, please email Tim Huckelbery
(USA Blood Bowl Brand Manager) at
hivemind@games-workshop.com
Next year expect to see the two remaining Majors enter the ever-growing BB
Tourney circuit they are the Spike! Open in Canada and the Dungeonbowl bound
for Germany.
WHAT'S ON MY DESK?
This section is called 'What's on my desk' because I simply talk about the
models that currently grace it.
Griff Oberwald & Varag Ghoul-Chewer: First seen by those lucky few who
attended the NAF seminar at the Blood Bowl. The new Griff and Varag figures
look great. They've been sculpted by veteran Blood Bowl sculptor Aly
Morrison. The characters themselves have aged and so Griff has now developed
a small paunch and Varag has all manner of scaring from decades of playing
Blood Bowl. Each figure is multi-part so they can be placed in a much more
dynamic pose than the usual stock positioning they also come with an
alternative head so you can play them as 'grizzled veterans' rather than
Griff or Varag. Aly has also done a dioramic base so you place the two
models in a dramatic scene. This is how I'm going to display mine!
We were so impressed with Aly's work we've asked him to do a whole series
which Jervis has termed the 'dogfight doubles' (something to do with his old
childhood modelling days). The next pair on the list are Jordell Freshbreeze
and his nemesis Hubris Rakarth, expect to see old and new Star players get
the 'dogfight double' treatment in the future.
Ramtut III: Phil Bowen, sculptor of the Khemri team has done a great job on
bringing Ramtut the third into the Blood Bowl world. There is a definite
'Star Gate' feel about the model, which will make it look very
intermediating for opponents whilst on the field. The stats can be found in
the Blood Bowl 2003 Annual.
Elves: I start work on Blood Bowl magazine 8 next week which will feature
the new Elf team. The new models hark back to the 'cyber-fantasy' of second
edition. They are sculpted by the talented hands of Dave Thomas. The
'cyber-fantasy' look is what we want all future Blood Bowl release to have
as we move away from the Warhammer Army feel of recent years. Even as I type
this Jervis and the BBRC are putting the finishing touches to the team list
that will be published in BBmag 8.
EVENTS & TOURNEYS
Sydcon 2003, 18th-21st of April 2003, Australia,
www.sydcon.net (then click
on board games).
Rendez-vouz Blood Bowl, 10th- 11th of May 2003, France,
www.rendezvousbloodbowl.free.fr
WPS Blood Bowl GT 2003, 7th May 2003, UK,
www.players-society.com
GenCon Bowl, 25th-26th of July 2003, USA,
www.midgardbb.com
Well that's it for this issue, I can be contacted through our websites at
www.specalist-games.com or
www.BloodBowl.com. You can also email me at
Fanatic@gamesworkshop.co.uk see you in a few months.
'Anything but a one'
Andy.
But, any way, some tournement i will try to come to.
Did someone hear us complain about something (the crapy coin!!! 
) 
