A future project with James Hewitt & Sophie Williams

[slayerofworldsParticipant 3449xp 2]

Looks like James Hewitt is working on a future project with Blacklist Miniatures.

A “fantasy football” game.

If memory serves, I do believe James at least did alot of work on bloodbowl when it made it comeback several years back?  So dare I say that they are now looking to do better then that game.  Very interesting as Im not a fan of bloodbowl, but am interested in the fantasy football idea.

I think these two worked heavily on Hellboy boardgame, doing a fantastic job.

[somegeezer 18431xp 1]

I believe James also did a chunk of work on Dreadball, which IMO was a brilliant game.

[scribbs 14506xp 1]

Interesting player count at 1-2; since fantasy football games are typically 2 player I wonder if that hints at some interesting rule mechanics that make solo play more viable?

[wurzzelParticipant 2734xp 1]

It will be interesting to follow, despite everything bloodbowl has a hardcore fan base

[blinky465 17027xp 0]

Solo play “Blood Bowl” – I’m in! A game that’s like Blood Bowl but not actually Blood Bowl? Bingo! That sounds just up my street. I keep telling myself that I love Blood Bowl. Yet the last few times I played it (a long, long time ago admittedly) and it was all just a bit “meh” and (dare I say it?) boring.

Solo play fantasy football sounds really interesting….

 

[blinky465 17027xp 0]

https://www.needycatgames.com/blog/2020/10/26/new-game-announcement-myth-amp-goal-coming-soon

Having been a lifelong Blood Bowl player, he cut his teeth as a game developer on DreadBall for Mantic Games, then looked after Blood Bowl while he was working at Games Workshop, and designed Blitz Bowl as Needy Cat’s first freelance venture.

This sounds very promising. Blitz Bowl is a far more enjoyable game to Blood Bowl – even though it does lack some of the personalisation/character-building that you get in a BB campaign. But I’m excited to see what he comes up with.

[scribbs 14506xp 0]

Sounds like they are designing a pretty comprehensive box from the outset with standees rather than figures, which I really like the concept of – have a really good starter box with everything you need, and then pick up new or re-use your existing figures.

[fightcitymayorParticipant 2104xp 0]

I’m all in favor of a solo mode for Blood Bowl/Dreadball, but given how nigh impossible that would be to pull off, I have visions of this being some pseudo-deckbuilding game, like what FFG tried to pull off with Blood Bowl Team Manager.  Although I would love to be wrong and for them to finally bring a solo mode to tabletop fantasy sports.

[phaidknott 7023xp 0]

Well they are going to do minis for the game, and watching the interview they want the game to be “inbetween” Blitzbowl and Bloodbowl in size. It’s going to be a kickstarter project and we’ll have to wait and see exactly what’s coming down the line for the game (the render for the Human player looks like it could do as both fantasy AND sci-fi), and what races they are going to do.

Given I was turned away from Bloodbowl due to all the “limited” releases and FOMO shenanigans, this might be a game I’ll look into for a fantasy sports game (although it’s going to have to be VERY good to pull me away from being a 110% Dreadball fanboi 😀 )

[somegeezer 18431xp 0]

Another dyed in the wool Dreadball fanboi here. I’m hopeful – I though if DB as BB with lessons learned. I hope Sophie and James Bowl is DB with lessons learned. I’m hoping for something fast but with  a controlled release cycle and a focus on balance (not least between skilled teams and bashy teams – Dreadball’s big weakness IMO).

[blinky465 17027xp 0]

I don’t know – one of the joys of Blood Bowl (at least, when I got it, in the late 80s) was the unbalanced teams; it was a bit of silliness. Nobody expected to win by scoring touchdowns playing as dwarves – the joy was in getting the deathroller onto the pitch and maiming your opponents. Trolls would eat the ball. Sometimes their goblin team-mates. Nobody expected to stand a chance playing as halflings – it wasn’t *supposed* to be taken seriously. It was quite a bit of a piss-take (American football was still quite a novelty in the UK, as it had only just started being shown on Channel 4 as a bit of a curiosity).

 

I got really excited by Dreadball when it came out. Then I opened the human team and the orc team and was dismayed at the awful quality of the minis. I’ve since given them away. I never actually played a game. More than anything, I just hope they make the game fun again.

[somegeezer 18431xp 0]

I think we must be about the same vintage. I remember the NFL on channel 4 and the standees of first edition BB.

[phaidknott 7023xp 0]

I always said it’s best to thing of BB as a “fantasy” version of American Football, and Dreadball is actually more like a sci-fi version of Basketball (and plays as fast). So they aren’t really comparable in playstyle and tactics. So this future release might be the first direct competition for BB in AGES (actually other than a boardgame I can’t think of any, as the other big sports game with minis was more like Hockey).

Alas Blinky you missed out on a great game, tho I’d agree those first “restic” teams were awful. The later teams (season 4-6 just before the 2nd edition teams) were a lot better is quality (and were in a different restic mix). The second edition teams weren’t quite as sharp in detail. If only Mantic would re-release/re-master those first 3 seasons teams in say resin, then they would be on a winner (as the first 3 seasons teams were the best to play on the tabletop)

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