Future of Blood Bowl

[Mori-mori]

Seems like a good time to raise the subject, with recent restart of the franchise and everything.

How do you feel about BB's future? Will it live another 20 years? Is there stable influx of new/young blood into community? Do youngsters these days show enough interest to such kind of game at all, or gravitate to something more real-time and flashy, yet hardcore, like DoTa and similar competitive complex games? Are those fine gentlemen from former BBRC who've been keeping the whole thing afloat still around and care enough to guide us? Are there a new generation of devoted and knowledgeable coaches who'll be able to take their places if they'll decide to retire? Does BB community (both TT and digital) grow, or shrink? Do we have data that can show us the tendencies in cold numbers? Or may be it's about time for BB itself to retire, as a new, more advanced fantasy football system rises to the Olympus?

Any thoughts or/and intel are appreciated

[stashman]

I've read and seen players go from tabletop to PC/PS4 consolegaming.

"When they dont have time" for irl games.

[Baxx]

I'm not seeing much recruitment of younger players. Instead, I see interest from the existing player base from other games (GW or others).

Game is quite strong now with recent re-release, new products still coming out and very affordable introduction sets. With digital versions also still relevant, it should be stronger than ever.

[faust_33]

Yea, I get the feeling it is stronger than ever. Otherwise GW wouldn't still be cranking out minis and other independent sites would fold. I think you would have to look at tournament attendees and online community to get the best sense of whether there is a lot of new blood coming in.

It's definitely a niche game that isn't as forgiving as other boardgames. I'm still pretty surprised (though happy) that it didn't get a total revamp in 2016 with more modern boardgame mechanics and less calculations. Sitting through an opponent's 3-4 minute turn, is something that modern boardgames developers totally avoid.

I've also recently begun playing games on Fumbbl, as in-person games are not as easy to get going these days. Though I am also working on painting some of the new minis, so I can get some tabletop going at some point. Tabletop is still my preference, but it's hard to get people together and even harder to find people who share my love of the game. I've been pretty curious what fuels GW's production of minis. Are there really that many tabletop games going on or are people simply hoarding plastic?

[Jip]

I'm not seeing much recruitment of younger players. Instead, I see interest from the existing player base from other games (GW or others).

Game is quite strong now with recent re-release, new products still coming out and very affordable introduction sets. With digital versions also still relevant, it should be stronger than ever.

GW binning its (BB2016) presence in-stores after the initial release is probably what limits new and younger players' chances of picking it up. Not having it advertised in-store and, interpreting other conversation on here about it, not being able to play it in-store means younger (potential) coaches might not ever know Blood Bowl exists. In my local GW (Swindon, England), I can buy Blood Bowl products on their online kiosk, pay for them at the desk, have them delivered to the store, but then get told I'm not allowed to play the game in that very same store!

I know others have said their local GW stores still let them play games occasionally, but that seems to be as long as 'those upstairs' don't find out, and is certainly in the minority.

That leaves it to FLGSs and gaming clubs to promote the game, neither of which has a massive youth market. I'm lucky that I have a really strong tabletop league, locally (SAWBBL) and a great gaming club (SWAT) to play fixtures at, but I'm sure others have brought the new stuff and shelved it because they just can't get a reliable source of opponents to play.

I was always a tabletop player of GWs games, but have turned to FUMBBL and (potentially, if I can pick up a new laptop) the Cyanide version of the game, now.

[Mori-mori]

Yea, I get the feeling it is stronger than ever. Otherwise GW wouldn't still be cranking out minis and other independent sites would fold. I think you would have to look at tournament attendees and online community to get the best sense of whether there is a lot of new blood coming in.

Hope you are not mistaken Seeing how slow is this forum, for example (which, if I'm not mistaken, sort of the most notorious and ancient of BB communities), with "Most users ever online was 81 on Tue Dec 09, 2008 7:54 am" at the bottom, pushes me on the pessimistic side of worldview, a bit. Also it may be just my impression, but it seems to me average online at fumbbl dropped 25-50% as well, comparing to what it was a couple years ago. At least it hasn't grew notably, that's for sure. Their forums do seem very slow, too.

[frogboy]

Yea, I get the feeling it is stronger than ever. Otherwise GW wouldn't still be cranking out minis and other independent sites would fold. I think you would have to look at tournament attendees and online community to get the best sense of whether there is a lot of new blood coming in.

Hope you are not mistaken Seeing how slow is this forum, for example (which, if I'm not mistaken, sort of the most notorious and ancient of BB communities), with "Most users ever online was 81 on Tue Dec 09, 2008 7:54 am" at the bottom, pushes me on the pessimistic side of worldview, a bit. Also it may be just my impression, but it seems to me average online at fumbbl dropped 25-50% as well, comparing to what it was a couple years ago. At least it hasn't grew notably, that's for sure. Their forums do seem very slow, too.

Forum usage isn't the best way to assess amount of new players or size of community. There are generally more people playing FUMBBL than in the forum (they also have the live chat). My guess is that most "young blood" use facebook these days. That and the fact that Blood Bowl is not broken and all the rules work meaning less need for discussion. Alot of people only come on here to check tournement dates.

This might be the "most notorious and ancient" BB community's but its not the only one, there are many more and not just English speaking ones.

The future of Blood Bowl is Bright, its blood red

[faust_33]

I agree with frogboy, except on the Facebook point. Ask any youngster and they will pretty much tell you "Facebook is for old people!". There are other social media outlets that are much more popular nowadays. I would imagine Fumbbl's live chat is more lively too.

Forum wise, things are pretty slow here. It seems to me that a lot of Blood Bowl people are interested in tournaments, and that's where people frequently post here. League players probably have their own forums setup, so they can keep track of their teams without a bunch of outside chatter.

Again as frogboy mentioned, there are other forums. I know of one that gets a lot more posts than this one. However, you're also missing out on the wisdom of some amazing coaches and people who know the stories behind it all. For me, that is one of the true gems of this forum. Plus it's the first Blood Bowl forum I found, and I've just stuck around ever since.