Something just came and hit me out of left field (do you see what I did there?). And that's Mantic Games sending out a teaser for their new game DreadBall.Mantic has already established itself as the Company Not Afraid to Rip-Off Games Workshop (which has a poetic justice to it if you consider how often GW can be accused of intellectual theft). Where GW were afraid to include Squats in their Warhammer: 40,000 universe, Mantic stepped in with their Forge Fathers. Where GW didn't want to release Space Hulk again, Mantic stepped in with Project Pandora: Grim Cargo.
Wait, hang on. GW did re-release Space Hulk, and it was a huge hit for them.
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| The cargo is grim. It's rats. |
And Studio McVey are doing their own take on it with Sedition Wars. Meh, what am I complaining about, I like Space Hulk, and welcome all new takes on it.
Back to Blood Bowl being ripped off.
Mantic aren't the first to this, either. Impact! Miniatures have Elfball, and there's a handful of other companies with other fantasy sports titles to boot.What makes this one different? Well, for starters, it's sci-fi not fantasy, so it's more Speedball than Grave Yardage. From the teaser image, it looks like it'll use Mantic's Marauders from their Warpath game and pit them against the recently released Enforcers, who to my mind look like the lovechild of a Necron and Iron Man.
I can't say I'm 100% sure about all this, but it's quite stimulating news regardless. Given my cash flow issues at the moment, there's no way I can guarantee I'll even seriously consider a purchase. But if someone else offered to host a game with their copy... I have to admit, I'd jump at the chance.
That's a nice looking sculpt. I was late coming to Blood Bowl (I was never exposed to Games Workshop stuff until I moved to a bigger city), but I love it so much now and like 'fantasy sports' games generally a lot. I have a hard time selling people I play with on them, though.
ReplyDeleteY'know, that's a really good point. I hadn't really thought about it, but people really have to be in the fantasy sports mood to want to take part. I guess there's a certain unquantifiable enthusiasm that's essential to the enjoyment of them, not dissimilar to the vibe for real sports.
DeleteI find a bit of good-natured trash talk and a little mindless chanting help. Though I can see how badly that would fall flat on anyone genuinely not interested...
When I get that "can't-be-bothered-to-try-it" feeling, I like to hear "But you only need to paint 16 miniatures max... and there's no scenery, so it can be packed away quicker than Kerplunk"
ReplyDeleteAlso sports-watching themed food... mmmmm, pizza! :D