New version rumors?

[MiyamatoMusashi]

Just read on Bell of Lost Souls the new BloodBowl is projected for December this year with a possibility it will be pushed to early 2013

I absolutely guarantee with 100% certainty that GW know what they're releasing in December (whether that does or does not include Blood Bowl, the Hobbit, or whatever else). There's no chance of anything being "pushed" at this late stage. December is GW's (in fact, retail generally) biggest month... they will know exactly what they want to sell, they'll already have to have manufactured it and probably also started shipping, it'll be covered in White Dwarf which will have been already written, again if not already printed (only something like six or seven weeks until December's WD is actually released)... no way will somebody at GW still be sitting there thinking "shall we manufacture, ship and sell Blood Bowl in December or not?" in mid-October.

Unfortunately the "possibility of being pushed" makes the rumour sound like someone covering their behind. "Oh, no Blood Bowl in December? Well, I did warn you it might get pushed!" Although... I say "unfortunately"... people wanted a new Man O'War and we got Dreadfleet. If GW follow that trend, the new Blood Bowl that people are getting excited about will be called Snotlingball, all your players' actions will be chosen by cards because randomness apparently equals fun, and it will be absolutely nothing like the Blood Bowl that existing players know and love.

[the anti santa]

It's been rumoured too often to retain much plausibility; besides, we have Dreadball now...

Reliable people do claim it is coming at some stage, though I am suspicious of Dec this year. Autumn 2013 or a quiet period sounds more likely to me.

Dreadball certainly has potential but I'm waiting to see what the other teams are like and how enjoyable it is for repeat play with development. Also Mantic may support it for less time than GW did Bloodbowl. Many coaches will only have a couple of teams and there are only so many models they can bring out compared to armies. Plus you don't need a lot of models so even at GW prices it's not that expensive to build a full team.

There are plenty of sci-fi models out there so I can see teams being made from those rather than buying Mantic's teams. It's probably a good thing for them they've moved away from the fantasy in space design with some of the other teams.

[cypher33]

GW are being fairly secretive and coy about something they have in store in December, despite it being a very Hobbit centric month. Stick Monkey has also alluded to this relatively secret release scheduled for December in his recent post aswell as other reliable sources projecting a 2012 release. If it was a 40K or Fantasy release I think we would have heard of it by now and I can't imagine that this is related to any of the new Hobbit releases.

It is also the 25th anniversary of Blood Bowl this year and GW are obviously aware of the Dreadball release. This would be an opportune time to release the heavily rumoured new version of Blood Bowl.

[mikehunthurts]

I'm a huge fan of 2nd ed blood bowl, I still have my skaven and swarves with their chainsaw and death roller. I was disappointed when they began to ground it more in the Warhammer fantasy universe and toned down some of the cooler stuff (like doping your opponents water)

[bound for glory]

its december and no blood bowl.

[Hengist]

Did you really think there would be?

[canberraguy]

Did you really think there would be?

Replace think with hope

[decker_cky]

There's still something new being planned for December (likely pre-order after Christmas considering it isn't up yet), so I wouldn't lose all hope.

What I can say is that we will release some amazing products this year. Products that will surprise and delight Hobbyists. We plan to do so
every month, including December 2012 when we will release our new Hobbit range to coincide with the film. And... ahh, but that would
spoil the surprise. You will just have to wait and see. You will not be disappointed.

From this year's annual report:
http://investor.games-workshop.com/w...-June-2012.pdf

[MiyamatoMusashi]

From this year's annual report:
http://investor.games-workshop.com/w...-June-2012.pdf

All that really says is

• Hobbit in December
• Something else

It doesn't even say the "something else" is in December. And given when that statement was released, it might even be referring to the new edition of 40K which hadn't been announced at the time, and wasn't otherwise referenced in the statement, IIRC?

If there were anything else happening in December, it would have happened already. Clutching at straws if you still think there might be, I'm afraid.

[decker_cky]

All that really says is

• Hobbit in December
• Something else

It doesn't even say the "something else" is in December. And given when that statement was released, it might even be referring to the new edition of 40K which hadn't been announced at the time, and wasn't otherwise referenced in the statement, IIRC?

If there were anything else happening in December, it would have happened already. Clutching at straws if you still think there might be, I'm afraid.

New edition of 40k was already up for advance order (or might have been a week or so away) at the point the annual report was released.

It's something, and it's something worth bragging about to investors. Might not be the hobbit, but lying to investors like that is unlikely.

[Toffernz]

I think maybe the reboot of the Space Hulk Computer Game was the 'Something Else'

[Drashe]

Games workshop will never do an armybook or specalist game in dec. Dec is reserved for general hobby releases terain, hobby supplies , figure cases and such they want to sell to as many of thier hobbist as possible so doing say a blood bowl game wouldnt neccicarily apply to a 40k gamers so they release things that will be usefull to most of thier hobbyists. Things that will be used in or used for conversions in the three core games fantasy, 40k , the hobbit. Think about it when has games workshop ever released and army or game box in dec.

[berzerkmonkey]

GW will never release a Blood Bowl update. Why? Well, why would they? The game is solid, the components pretty basic, and the existing box works just fine. Add to that the fact that they couldn't do a "self-contained" version that would satisfy all players - you wanted Elves and Dwarves? Sorry, this set is Humans and Orcs...

That being said, I could see them doing a Dungenbowl-style game with various races involved (i.e. Good vs. Bad) but it would be a standalone game in the vein of Dreadfleet.

[the anti santa]

So it seems that the rumours of a Mystery Box and it being Bloodbowl have popped up already for 2013.

Of course we had the same in 2011 when we got the tepid Dreadfleet and in 2012 where we got zip.

[zoggin-eck]

Why? Well, why would they? The game is solid, the components pretty basic, and the existing box works just fine.

I works fine, but does it actually make them money? That's the only reason to make a new version now. And while it does work, it's still the 3rd edition rules, if I remember? Basically having to download new rules entirely is a bit off-putting for new players.

Add to that the fact that they couldn't do a "self-contained" version that would satisfy all players - you wanted Elves and Dwarves? Sorry, this set is Humans and Orcs...

You could say the same for their main game boxed sets, or most others they've made. So long as rules existed for other teams and old models still online, players would be no worse off than now.

I do agree that a Dungeonbowl set would be ace. Perhaps not, now that there's a video game version coming.

[Shyvax]

Hope to see the blood bowl tournament back. 2010 was the last one. It was a good one, not as good as the one before but really good. So nice see all those guys playing the game for 2 full days of blitz and blocks.

[Oakwolf]

Blood bowl is a great game system, and i think it's recognised as such even by other game designers. The free Competition ruleset is pretty solid, although they could add underworld and khorne daemon teams now that Cyanide did with its computer game. Hell they could even add a Slaanesh and Tzeentch teams.

That said, the miniatures for it are really old, and could certainly use a re-roll from the mother company. One of the reasons GW doesn't make much more money anymore with Blood Bowl is that so many other small companies have targeted the game to sell their miniatures, and there are quite a few who get better quality than the GW ones.

Imagine if GW would release miniatures based on Cyanide's game models. Could definitely help imho. (Apart from pro elves, lol)