The original version came out last year, complete with 8 teams and a campaign mode where you could play an entire season from start to finish, even the Blood Bowl itself if you're team made it that far. Shortly after, a new edition was released with Dark Elves as an added team. Last week, the Legendary Edition came out and now I think all but one of the official teams is playable. It retains the campaign from last year's version, as well as a new story mode. When playing the original, I opted to let the computer handle all of the rules and dice rolls for me by playing the game in real-time mode. Any true Blood Bowl player will tell you that is sacrilege, as at it's core it's a turn-based board game. For the LE, I've only been playing in turn-based and it makes a world of a difference. So much is hidden to you in real-time, it doesn't even feel like the same game.
I've finished the first two matches in story mode, mainly just to get a feel for the rules. It seems interesting, but I'm already getting the itch to create my own team and jump into a campaign. I'm not sure that would work, as the first two matches are pre-set with specific goals. Luckily I was able to meet those goals, but I still don't understand the game enough to formulate tactics or strategy.
The first match pits Orcs against Dwarves and starts just as half-time is ending. I picked Orcs, and the game started with my team leading 1-0. The dwarves had the ball, so I tried to set up a good defense with every open square covered by a tackle zone. The dwarf team would always cage the ball carrier, then start moving towards the line of scrimmage. They downed both of my black orcs and linemen quick, but luckily they turned the ball over fairly quick. One dwarf player was ejected for kicking a downed Orc, two others were knocked off the pitch and beaten into unconsciousness by the crowd. After that I had the numbers advantage, so it was a matter of dismantling the cage he had around the ball carrier while keeping them away from the end zone.
The second match was as Goblins against Humans, and man did that seem like a lopsided match-up. We started down by 4 I think, but luckily the goal wasn't to score but throw 2 goblins. Not as easy as it may sound, but I did manage to get it done. I had one troll throw a goblin at the human ball carrier, only to miss horribly and smash him into the ground. Needless to say he didn't make it, but my next attempt was more successful. They kept the ball almost the entire game, except after their two touchdowns. We had the ball once, but fumbled it quick and the Humans recovered. The one other possession we had was when they kicked off and one of my goblins managed to get a hold of it. I didn't waste any time, marched him down the field, then grabbed and threw him with troll. I thought maybe I could land him far enough down field to get at least one touchdown, but of course he face-planted too. At least the throw was good, so the goal was complete and I moved on.
The last match had me play the Halflings against the Skaven I think, but the game crashed as it was loading so I'm not sure what the specific goal for that match is yet. I really hope it's not to win. From what I've read, Halflings are only for the more experienced players, and that is definitely not me.
