Dungeon Bowl. Death Bowl?

Helian · Post by **Helian** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 12:51 pm

I'm an old BB player. I just recently downloaded the Dungeonbowl Tileset from the BB site and I was really impressed. They looked very nice, professionally done. Not anything like the cheap, generic terrain available from Wizkids. Anyway, I played a game with a friend and came up with a few difficulties. First of all, the game seems to favor the running team. Although you can bounce the ball off walls, you can't throw nearly as far as on the normal BB field. Many of the hallways are only 2 squares wide, making it very hard to move players around and congestion is a major problem. Also, many of the interesting obstacles can be easily jumped over, regardless of the agility value of the player. I like the whole teleporter thing, but randomizing it makes it practically useless. What's the good of going into one if you don't know where you're going to come out. (Unless you're just trying to get away from an opponent.) Now, admitedly I have only played one game of dungeonbowl, so are these concerns real? What have some of you more seasoned dungeonbowl players found in your games?

Also, what is DeathBowl. I've seen it mentioned a few times, but have never seen any rules for it.

Helian

Princelucianus · Post by **Princelucianus** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 1:16 pm

About dungeonbowl:

I've played several matches and can say that the game favours those who find the ball. And it should be. Furthermore, the shape of the dungeon is very important. I've printed those GW tiles twice to make a bigger or smaller dungeon. The amount of passageways is also a major contributer to the outcome. If several exist, then a speedy team has an advantage. if only 2- exist, then a fighting team can easily block the agility team in a particular passageway. The sheer unpredictability of the teleports has a huge influence on the game which can counterbalance even the most brilliant of tactics....

Ergo, keep playing it and find out that possibilities and strategies are numerous and fun. The most fun is that big TR different teams can practically fight on more equal based chances in a dungeon than on the field.

Lucy

Mestari · Post by **Mestari** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 1:56 pm

We are currently playing a DB tournament. I'm in the semifinals at the moment, facing another dwarf team (second time in a row - he was my last opponent in the core tournament which I won).

The DBowl rules that we used (there are slightly modified):
http://www.student.oulu.fi/~lmattila/bb/db_rules.html

We are using the 2nd edition floorplans (with 3rd ed sized squares), as you can see from there. They definitely are better than the ones given in the DB article.

Why? Simply because they're guaranteed to have a balance of tight spots and larger rooms, instead of long corridors and small rooms like in the article. And it still is a dungeon.

The one who finds the ball has a tremendous advantage, but the founder of the ball has also lost in our league. I've found the ball every time, and the 13-dwarf cage advancing down the hallways is practically impossible to stop (well, the khemri did have a good attempt with their mummies).

All in all, I like the rules. Teleports are random and that adds to the fun of it, having them designated to a certain spot wouldn't be even half as fun.

GenoNBBL · Post by **GenoNBBL** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 1:59 pm

For DeathBowl: http://www.fragalot.com/deathbowl.htm

Post by **GalakStarscraper** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 2:08 pm

I have to agree that the old 2nd edition Floor Plans make for a much better game than the one on the BB web site.

Galak

To see the old floor plans ... check out here:
http://blood-bowl.net/Dungeonbowl/DungeonBoard.html

Princelucianus · Post by **Princelucianus** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 2:14 pm

Mestari wrote:
We are using the 2nd edition floorplans (with 3rd ed sized squares), as you can see from there. They definitely are better than the ones given in the DB article.

Why? Simply because they're guaranteed to have a balance of tight spots and larger rooms, instead of long corridors and small rooms like in the article. And it still is a dungeon.

Well, couldn't disagree more here. The corridors and rooms in the article can make play more amusing. The original dungeonbowlplans can effectively only be used in several ways. The article dungeonfloors have more possibilities, and it also remains a dungeon...

In all, it's a question of flavour, I've mixed both of them during several games as well, but just love those passageways and small corridors in the new tiles.....

Lucy

Mestari · Post by **Mestari** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 2:26 pm

My dwarves would love them too, them passageways and stuff. But IMO there needs to be some space to breathe in, even in dungeonbowl.

Admittedly you could make some really interesting floorplans from small pieces, and these would suit well for one-off games etc, but for tournaments the 2nd ed boards are the way to go.

Helian · Post by **Helian** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 2:52 pm

I agree, the older dungeon bowl tiles do look more interesting than the current ones. Is there anywhere that these tiles can be downloaded from? I suppose it wouldn't be that hard to recreate them, but I'm lazy.

Helian

Helian · Post by **Helian** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 3:15 pm

All right. There probably isn't anything out there yet. So, if I wanted to recreate them, what are the dimensions of a 3rd edition square?

Helian

Zombie · Post by **Zombie** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 3:27 pm

Don't you have a 3rd ed board and a plastic ruler?

Post by **voyagers_uk** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 3:56 pm

Post by **GalakStarscraper** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 4:29 pm

Helian wrote:All right. There probably isn't anything out there yet. So, if I wanted to recreate them, what are the dimensions of a 3rd edition square?

Helian

3rd edition boards have basically 1.1 inches squares.

Galak

Helian · Post by **Helian** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 4:33 pm

Well, although I do enjoy the game a lot, I don't carry the board and ruler around with me wherever I go. Maybe I should. I'm at work right now.
Thanks for the info GalakStarscraper.