How many types of Blood Bowl are there? I've heard terms like 7's, 11's (standard Blood Bowl I'm guessing), Dungeon Bowl.
There's 11s, the main game. 7s the minor leagues. Dungeon Bowl, Wizard college blood bowl in dungeons. Gutter Bowl, Street Blood Bowl Blitz Bowl, which I think is Blood Bowl 6s, smaller faster game.(Only appears to be available in certain countries, the U.S.A and Germany are the only two I know of.) 7s rules will likely come out in the Death Zone Supplement. Dungeon Bowl will likely be re-released some time next year. As for the other two, that is up for debate, but I do think Gutter Bowl will make a comeback.
Wow, that's a lot. I wonder why there are so many variations of the game. How popular are these offshoots compared to the mainline Blood Bowl game?
7s and Dungeon are probably the most popular variants, but Gutter Bowl sold out when it came out, not sure if it's still as popular though.
Are the games pretty similar? How do they differ? Which ones do you like? Are these all official Games Workshop variants or community driven games?
Some are official. Dungeon and Blitz at the very least. Dungeonbowl was basically Bloodbowl: Space Hulk edition. Passageways were essentially no wider than 4 squares, meaning it was very easy for a team with many high-strength players (ogres included) to straight-up wall off the route to the endzone. Blitzball took Bloodbowl and made a street game out of it, the idea being that the game was being played in the middle of the town's market square. Unlike Dungeonbowl, Blitzbowl otherwise played on a standard-sized Bloodbowl pitch with its own quirks, much like the team-specific ones.
All are official. Sevens is from the Death Zone Supplement, and Gutter Bowl had a limited release in 2023 or 2024.
I'm guessing that finesse/agility teams don't fare nearly so well under these conditions. An interesting power shift. Do these variants need new updates under the Third Season rules, or are they ready to go this edition? Which of these games do you guys play? Or do you stick to "standard" Blood Bowl?
They all need updates at this point. Finesse teams actually don't do to bad in dungeon Bowl, you just need to find alternate ways around the big guys, like using he wall to bounce the ball around him. I mostly play blood bowl, but 7s is fun every once in a while. I would like to get a few more games of Dungeon Bowl in though.
I'll probably gloss over a number of inducements as I don't have the book with me while I'm on vacation, but here's what I at least remember. Wandering apothecaries are a definite must-have, hands-down. Even for teams unlikely to get savaged by comparison, being able to re-roll bad results on the lasting injuries table can make all the difference in league play. Additionally, even outside of league play, the ability to send the casualty back into reserves on a re-rolled result of "out cold" cannot be understated. After that, Extra Training. Barring a situation where you already have all the team re-rolls, having a steady stockpile of them can go a long way. Journeymen/Mercenary Players are always useful if you're short on players in your roster that game (be it vacant slots or players missing the game), with the caveat that they can only be linemen and come with the Loner trait. Good scrimmage fodder all the same though, even if you might now be capped at how many you can take. Bludweiser Kegs/Brew Kegs are situational at best. While generally good for teams that you cannot risk missing out on valuable players who were knocked out during the last drive, if you know the game will go poorly for you it's generally best to try to force an automatic concession instead to mitigate the worst of the damage and save face. After all, a knocked out player is one that cannot be turned into a casualty. Likewise, Bribes are situational. For teams frequently using Secret Weapons, special balls, or players equipped for fouling (goblins do all three), they're a bit of a lifeline, but for everyone else they're not particularly useful. Assistant Coaches and Cheerleaders are both cheap, and for good reason: they're dependent on one of two kick-off table results each to be useful - Cheering Fans and Brilliant Coaching. And even then, as a bonus to an opposed roll, they generally don't provide as much of a boost compared to the team's fan factor for that game. There's very few times where a Weather Mage might be useful. You might want one if you're a throwing or agility-based team, but that's banking on weather rolls being anything other than 4-10 on 2d6 - the statistical equivalent of failing a 2+ on 1d6.