V o l u me 1 , I s s u e 2 Issue 2

1 st A ug u st 20 1 3

Inside this issue:

League rules revealed

Two weeks to go till the first league games and we have the official announcement of details that will form the special house rules for the M.A.D League. Most bloodbowl leagues develop their own set of house rules when they start up, designed to make league play more straightforward/ equal and to introduce interest beyond the basic gameplay outline provided within the main rules. Commissioner Grodunn has been considering many options for such rules over the past few weeks, and it is understood hes now in a position to reveal the final list. Up until recently, the Commissioner had kept a tight lid on what these rules would be, however at the pre -league training session on the 25th July, we discovered that the rule on illegal procedures is to be dropped. When asked for a quote on the justification for this, the Commissioner replied Its a poxy, girly rule dreamt up by those bloody Amazons to kerp honest players distracted from the serious business of breaking heads. You heard it here first The league budgets are to be set at one million gold pieces for initial player recruitment, to include wages for assistant coaches, cheerleaders and for bribing members of the public to cheer for their team from day one of the league.
Take on tactics 4 Game of the week 3 Player Spotlight 3 Teams so far 2 Editorial 2

If the house rules interest you, turn to page 2, where we have an exclusive lowdown on all the detail, and the choices behind the rules are explained and justified by your very own commissioner Grodunn.
Doc Hackitoff 6

Guest of the Week - Hihim the Quick

Ed: So Hihim, youre one of the Gutter Runners from the Hell Pit Harriers. Hihim: YesthatsrightImtheirstarattractionwhentheyneedatouchdowndespera telytheyjustgivemetheballandirunrunrund odgeroundthestupidstupidslowtrollsand ogresandrunrunintotheendzoneforatouchd own. ManytouchdownsiscorethiswayandthefansalllovemeImtheironl yplayereverwhosenteredthehalloffamewh ilestillactive. Ed: Right, erm, I think we got that, so whats your favourite team to play against? Hihim: Ilikeplayingopgrestheyresobigandslowandstupidthattheydontevensee mecomingwiththeballicandodgeundertheir legsandroundtheirfistsastheytrytohitmea ndwheniplayonthewingsthesnotlingsthey bringalongareevensmallerandwimpiertha nmesoicanbashbashthemintheheadasirun bytotheendzoneforatouchdown. Ed: Ok thanks, anything youd like to say to our readers? Slowly please if you can? Hihim: Id like to say comandwatchmeatthenextHellPitHarriersmatchImgo ingtogettheballandscoremanytouchdown!

Editorial

2.

No coach may have more than one team taking part in the league, unless special dispensation is given by the league commissioner.
Commissioner Grodunn - Really doesnt like Amazons

3.

than 11 players on the pitch at the start of the drive if you wish, but if your opponent notices, the extra player (randomly determined) is sent off for the rest of the match.

coaches, or be specific to a particular performance (for example a bonus reroll due to a record crowd).

Hi there carnage fans, this weeks editorial is longer than usual as I wanted to cover the house rules for the league.

During each match, one team will be designated home and the other away. This should be randomly determined the first time they play. The second time they face each other, the positions will be reversed and so on until the league ends.

The league will climax with 2 knockout 8. If a player is stunned play offs and a final. at the start of your turn, These will take place they un-stun automatically between the top four and therefore if you forget teams, with first place to do so straight away, they in the league playing 4th, may be turned onto their and 2nd playing 3rd. The backs at the end of your winner will be given a turn, even if you suffer a prize, to be provided by turnover. the commissioner.

12.

4.

1.

Each coach must commit to completing all their assigned matches before the end of the season. If for any reason they are unable to do so, arrangements should be made to have another coach step in to fulfil that commitment. This may be an existing coach in the league and is therefore an exception to rule 2.

In order to maintain balance, there may be no more than 2 teams of each race competing in the league without special dispensation from the commissioner. Such dispensation is only likely to be granted to avoid situations such as those in rule 1.

9.

Armour and injury rolls are always made by your opponent, even if you fell over going for it.

Lastly and most importantly, the commissioners word is final. As you can see, these rules really dont hinder the main game mechanic particularly, and that was my main aim, I wanted to bring in interesting fringe benefits and options without trying to re-write the sacred book of Nuffle

10. You may issue, once

per game, a bounty on an opposing player. This must be done at the end of the game during which they played you, and they must have caused a casualty, scored a touchdown or been voted MVP. A bounty may never be less than 30,000gp.

5.

There will be no illegal procedures, its petty and therefore if you want to take issue with your opponent, do it on the pitch.

6. 7.

There is no rule 6 You may set up more

During the season, the from cover to cover. commissioner may issue bonuses at his discretion. These will either benefit all

11.

The Teams so far...

The league seems to be taking shape nicely, and in addition to the teams confirmed last week, weve heard rumours that a ship of players has arrived from Lustria with a team of lizardmen on board, a Necromancer is planning on raising a team, and that there have been movements in the forest suggesting that a group of Wood Elves are in training. Reports have even been received that strange noises have been heard in the sewers of Nuln, perhaps the Skaven are preparing? Finally in something of a publicity coup for the league, the famous Orc team The Ugly Gitz have been persuaded out of retirement, and are currently in intensive training for the opening day.

Treemen - setting them on fire isnt strictly within the rules

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Player spotlight - Amazon Blitzer

Weve got a bit of an Amazon theme running through the newsletter this week (must be the heat affecting the Editors libido) so we decided it was a good time to run the spotlight over their best player - the blitzer. Amazon blitzers are one of only two players that start the game with the ungodly combination of block and dodge - putting these girls down is going to take a lot of effort, particularly for a rookie team. Whats worse is that there will be four of them facing you, and they only cost 90,000 gps! Their main downside is their lack of armour, but since that only matters when theyre knocked over theyre not going to worry about it much. As you can imagine, Amazon teams tend to be built around their blitzers, and they can be developed to 3 skill level in a way that makes them really, really good because they have access to strength skills from the off. First skill on these girls should always be guard, and if theyre sprinkled into the LoS youll really need to gang up on them to avoid two dice against. As youll see in the Tactics article following, Amazons also tend to play the cage/running game and so stand firm is another skill youll see a lot of, preventing you from getting to the ball carrier. As you can imagine therefore, priority number one when facing amazons is to get rid of these girls, youll need players with Tackle, S4 or more, Wrestle or Juggernaut to make a dent though. I really dont envy anyone facing up to an Amazon team early on in a league unless theyre coaching Dwarves or Chaos Dwarves.

Game of the week

We dont have a detailed breakdown for you this week, but we did send out our scouts to watch the teams training games. First up were the Ugly Gitz, getting themselves a run out against a necromantic team. This game was fought out with no holds barred, and though at one stage it looked like the undead were heading in for the score, the Ugly Gitz snatched the ball and charged up the pitch to score an unlikely touchdown. At the other end of the scale, a High Elf team ran out against a group of lizardmen, and despite their thrower needing plenty more practice at picking up the ball, the High Elves eventually ran in three touchdowns, proving how devastatingly quickly they can score. Finally we watched one half of a training game between the Asgards Wrath and a Skaven team, with the Skaven evening things up on the very blast of the half time whistle. Well bring you more

Bloodbowl in the frozen north

training reviews

next week, and more reports on how the new teams are shaping up.

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Coach Hemsvarts Take on Tactics Part 1 - Amazons

Amazons, Ugh. Youd think women in skimpy outfits playing bloodbowl would be a good thing, but sadly it isnt cos they really dont like you touching them. First lets take a look at their roster. Its unique for two reasons. First, every single player has the same statline as every other player, and second every player starts with dodge. So the impact of the first point then is that Amazons are in stat terms, slightly below average. They wont outrun the finesse teams but their low armour means theyre not likely to survive against a bash team either. So where does their advantage lie? The second point, dodge. Every player has it, which means theyre much harder to knock over right from the first game of the league, and once they start getting skills, block and dodge mean getting them on the floor is all but impossible (see? I told you they dont like being touched, hur hur hur). Even worse (for everyone else) their Blitzers already start with both block and dodge, so make great cage corners or ball carriers early in a league. So what does that mean on the pitch? Well, Amazons need to stay mobile, because in a straight up fight theyre likely to be hurt too much, but their average agility means relying on a passing game isnt a brilliant idea, so most often youll find Amazons do two things - first they cage the ball with a view to moving it up the pitch, and second theyll try to get a few players into your half in case the cage doesnt move quickly enough and they need to try a pass. Dont be fooled though, Amazon cages arent like those of the true bashy teams, theyre not looking to grind their way up the pitch (like I said, Amazons dont grind, hur hur) theyre caging to protect the ball carrier, then that cage will dodge away en masse to reform a few squares away. So how would I recommend you beat an Amazon team then? Well assuming youre not Dwarves and you therefore dont have the almost universal Tackle skill, there are a few options you still have. Of course, if youre in a league with an amazon team then its worth remembering that when your players skill up, because tackle makes a big difference against Amazons. Overlap your tackle zones to make it more difficult for them to dodge around - theyre not like Halflings or skinks and the extra tackle zones count. Look for crowd surfs - obviously this is easier if you have frenzy, but because putting them on their arses isnt easy, push em into the crowd instead and let them do the dirty work. As with all crowd surfs though, beware leaving your blitzer in a position for them to return the favour. Wizards. Good use of a wizards fireball can really mess up the Amazon cage, especially with their weak armour. Dont focus too much on the blitzers. Yes, the blitzers are their best players and if you can put them down you should, but particularly early on, the linewomen, catchers and throwers are much easier to hurt. So you should. An Amazon team thats below strength will struggle even if theyve got all four of their blitzers on the pitch. Oh yeah, and dont play nice just cos theyre female - Ill tell you now from personal experience, an Amazon wont think twice about kicking you in the nuts while youre down. So once youve got em on the floor, make sure they stay there and dont be afraid to foul!

Tactics? Nah, I just hit em!

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The first and most important thing to remember when playing Amazons is how to stop them dodging all over the place. The diagram to the left shows the most basic method for setting up on your defensive plays to prevent this, with the blue bars representing areas with multiple tackle zones.. Because the Zons all start with that crucial dodge skill, they should pass 8/9 attempts at dodging into a square with no tackle zones, 3/4 with one tackle zone and only 5/9 when the tackle zones are doubled up. This makes your setup crucial to stopping them infiltrating your half of the pitch, and players with the Tackle, Diving Tackle, Stand Firm and Shadowing skills become precious.

An alternative to the first defensive option, as you can see this second method spreads your players out more, giving you greater tackle zone coverage across the pitch at the expense of those doubled up tackle zones . The advantage however is that it creates a layered defence, and whereas a well placed blitz on the first option breaks them into the backfield, this gives you the potential to reorganise to take on any players that do make it into your half. One of the big difficulties facing Amazons though is that the agility play is not their only option, theyre very well suited to a screened running game too, and can adapt to you as required, so Id prefer this layered option as it gives you more flexibility.

Its somewhat ironic that given the Amazons affinity for the running game, that its actually their biggest weakness defensively too. Sure, you can cage up against them but that dodge skill and four blitzers means theyre actually pretty good at putting tackle zones on your ball carrier. Theyre difficult to get off their feet, so punching a hole through them is also pretty difficult (but if you can manage it, AV7 means its going to stay as a hole!). Your best option therefore is to push them around the pitch, and if you can create that channel for your runner protected by a decent screen, Zons are not going to run around you. Just remember, the best way of playing this leaves your opponent under no illusions as to what youre going to do

So where do you go from that start? Well first things first you want to put a tackle zone on the ball so that if you drop it while trying to pick it up, it makes it a bit harder for your opponent. Then you want to make blocks in the wide zone to push their defenders to the edge of the pitch (if youve got frenzy and can get them into the crowd, even better). You also want to push their defenders on the line of scrimmage towards the centre of the pitch and then flood that pocket with your players. Its slightly different to a proper cage in that you dont want to be tight around the ball carrier, and as those wide zone defenders go down youll end up with a line of players putting tackle zones out to create a ;corridor to the end zone.

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Doc Hackitoffs Tales from the Tables

tons home pitch though, and as e came down from is swallah dive, e noticed dat da end zone was fullah graves, big oles in da grahnd where da skelly players ad been berried until dey woz raised to join da team. Some sneaky git (probably a cheeky gobbo) ad filled dese graves wiv stakes (and not da kind wots nice to eat neiver!). So dahn e comes, cape flappin round im like es some kinda supah-rat and SPLAT! Spear imself on dese stakes. Da scorers counted da touchdown and da commentatuhs even voted him rat oda match. Didnt do im much good tho. Course dere was nuffink I could do for im so I left im dere, but I did feel sorry for da poor sod wot ad to scrape is remains of dose stakes! Till next time, Doc!

Doc Hackitoff - dont mention that hes sticking his tongue out when he concentrates, hes likely to rip yours off!
I rememba a coupla seezons back, dere was dis gutta runna from da Hell Pit Harriers managed to kill imself as e went for a touchdahn. Clear an free e was, non of da skellingtons dey were playing woz gonna catch im, but being a gutta runnah, e was a bit of a fancy boy, a bobby dazzla if you like, and e decided to dive in for da touchdahn like some kinda bird. Maybe a swallah, yeah, just like a swallah. E hadnt remembered dat dey were playing on the skelling-

Da stat Gobbo
With no league games underway yet, we decided to get the stat gobbo to explain to you how teams could advance in experience, purchasing new players and improving their existing squad members. Well, some actions on the bloodbowl pitch are more important than others, so when a players successfully completes those actions, they gain star player points. Once a player gains a certain number of these points, they can gain new skills, or increase their core statistics. These skills make them better players, able to complete actions more easily or to stop others. Also, one player per team gets voted player of the match by the commentators, and that player gets 5 Star Player Points, which is more than all the other types of rewards. Of course, theres nothing to say that the player of the match has to survive it, and sometimes commentators vote for a dead player just because their death was the most interesting bit of the game!

Have your say

So youre still insistent on making comments are you? Very well, if you really must, you can send in your comments via the M.A.D league forum, care of Feydan. Dont expect us to read them though...

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