Games Workshop has been looking to their Barnes & Noble range of releases (sorry the rest of the world) with some new expansions to Blitz Bowl ahead of the Christmas period. Four new teams and a paint set are on the way for this slimmed-down version of their classic Fantasy Football game.

Take On Full Blood Bowl Games @ Store.OnTableTop

These new boxes are tweaked versions of the larger teams that you get for Blood Bowl. You get a handful of miniatures for a game which is played out on a smaller pitch. The game also plays a little quicker meaning that you can get a few more games in with the family or down at your local club.

I think this was a really good move from Games Workshop, delving into more high street stores with a dynamic and interesting looking game which has a recognisable style to it which might drag people in thanks to the football angle.

The game itself features...

• Find everything you need to play Blitz Bowl in one box, with incredible models, a pitch to play on, accessories and more.
• Build a Human team with 3x Linemen plus a Blitzer, Thrower and Catcher.
• Assemble an Orc squad with a Black Orc Blocker, 3x Linemen, a Blitzer and a Thrower.
• Get playing fast with rules that are simple to learn – and rewarding to master.
• Keep track of your games with cards for your team, plus additional drills and plays to try.
• Find all the accessories you need to play in the box.
• Use the double-sided game board and dugouts to try two pitches, each with their own challenges to master.

As well as Chaos and Skaven they've also got this rather awesome looking Undead team here which looks brilliant. I love what they've done with these skeletons which remind me a lot of the way we see them in the Blood Bowl rulebook art.

Finally, for those who prefer to play on the right side of the rules, there is also this band of Halflings which I think many have agreed were some of the best sculpts they've done for the game.

As mentioned above, these are exclusive sets for Barnes & Noble over in the US. Whilst this might seem a bit sad for us here in the UK you could very easily just pick up some of the traditional Blood Bowl teams, strip the Blitz Bowl rules from somewhere online and play it that way.

Blood Bowl and by extension Blitz Bowl has been going down quite well it seems since it came back to the tabletop a few years ago. I have played a few quick games using the new rules and it felt like the classic game with a few tweaks here and there just to make it play a little smoother.

Hopefully, this brings in a few more hobbyists to try out the game and perhaps head on to play the full game further on down the line too.

What do you think?