Ice Bowl!

[Sherlock]

ICE BOWL

by Sam Walker


INTRODUCTION

No one is exactly sure when Blood Bowl was first brought to the icy steppes of Kislev but everyone knows it was the now-infamous Rakash the Despoiler1 who introduced the Kislevites to the sport. His tour of the country with the Darkland Dodgers2 (and their regular opponents, an unnamed Hobgoblin team) did a lot to promote the sport. 3 Of course, the combination of bone-crushing violence and heavy drinking appealed greatly to the Kislevites, who soon took the game to heart. Over the next couple of years, Blood Bowl teams began springing up all over Kislev and within the space of a decade Kislevite teams were on a par with some of the best in the Old World.

Many winters have passed since the days of Rakash, but Blood Bowl is just as popular in the north as it ever was. Kislevite teams travel the Old World over (and some even venture to the New World to face Lustrian teams) and have a good reputation amongst Blood Bowl fans for both scoring touchdowns and creating casualties (even if a lot of those casualties are amongst the fans themselves).

The most popular Blood Bowl tournament is the Ice Bowl, not only because it offers the usual sensible mix of high-alcohol content beverages and high-violence content games, but also because it is an annual holiday across the whole of Kislev. It is the chance to stand around freezing your horns off, drinking far too much, while watching grown men (or Orcs… or Elves… or whatever…) beating the crap out of each other. Why wouldn’t any Kislevite love that?

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1. There is a lot of confusion about Rakash’s self-assumed title. Although most people hold true to the belief that it is ‘the Despoiler’, some historians maintain that he was called Rakash the Deed Spoiler, due to the ’Sunny Shores of Estalia’ timeshare scam he ran in his declining years. Others suggest that his name was initially translated incorrectly and the exact translation from the Dark Elf script reads ‘Rakash the Desoiler’, an unfortunate name given him because of his first ever job working in a Naggaroth launderette cleaning Witch Elves’ underwear. Of course, there are the more radical historians out there, all of whom have put forward other possible variations, including: Rakash the Bee Boiler, Rakash the Recoiling, and Rakash the Piano Hinge Oiler.

2. According to Kislevite legend, the Darkland Dodgers were an incredibly talented Dark Elf team. Most historians now agree that this is true, except for the incredibly talented bit. Rakash claimed that the Dodgers had been Blood Bowl champions twice and won nearly every competition they entered. The truth, revealed by dusty records from the even more dusty Empire archives, is that the Dodgers had only ever won one trophy, the Holy Heavy Hog cup (not a tournament that is particularly prestigious), and they only did that during a players’ strike that meant most other teams could only field one or two players at best. The records also show that the Dodgers lost over 95% of their games before the Kislev tour.
The reasoning behind this myth is unclear but perhaps Rakash was hyping his team greatly so as to draw more crowds (and thus make more money). Of course, we should not forget that the myth of the Darkland Dodges invincibility was beneficial to Kislevites too, seeing as how the first time they played a Kislevite team, the Dark Elves lost.

3. Some historians do point out that a Goblin team, Uggo’s Unlucky Underdogs, did actually venture into Kislev before the arrival of Rakash, hoping that the Kislevites, being unfamiliar with the sport, would prove easier opponents to face than the experienced Empire teams that they had faced in recent seasons. Unfortunately for Uggo and his team, the Kislevites believed the players to be the scouting party for an invading Goblin army (albeit a stupid one—as one Kislevite General famously said: “Who comes to battle with no weapons and carrying a pig’s bladder?”) and so killed them all.


THE HISTORY OF THE ICE BOWL

The Ice Bowl was first held in 2486. It was the inspired creation of Olaf Olafson,4 the thirteenth Mayor of Allsinki, a small fishing town on the western Kislev coast. Knowing that the townsfolk were clamouring for a Blood Bowl team of their own (or to put in another way: were beating the crap out of each other and Olaf would prefer it if they did some work instead, and just watched some professionals beat the crap out of each other), and knowing that it was an election year, Olaf decided to create one. Of course, it wasn’t that easy. Not many of the townsfolk had any talent for playing the game, as is evidenced by the fact that the three-day trials lasted a whole week (the extra four days were needed so that the townsfolk had time to extend the graveyard).

Never easily deterred, Olaf changed his plans and decided instead to attract an established Blood Bowl team to the town. This didn’t turn out so well either. Now, as far as Godforsaken rat-infested lice-ridden frozen hellholes in the middle of nowhere go, Allsinki is quite a nice place. But Blood Bowl players and coaches are a fickle breed and, much to Olaf’s chagrin, he had no takers.

After some thought, a little smoked herring and a large amount of ale, Olaf hit upon the answer. Obviously, to the mind of the average Blood Bowl player, Allsinki lacked something. 5 So, at great personal risk (and at great expense to the average Allsinki taxpayer) Olaf would go on a fact-finding tour of the Old World. He would travel far and wide and study the various big cities and towns, trying to learn what they had that Allsinki lacked.

A little over a year later, in the early winter of 2485, the exhausted (but tanned) Olaf returned to Allsinki. He had great news: he knew what Allsinki lacked. They needed, he claimed, to build a stadium. Up until now, the nearest Allsinki had to a Blood Bowl pitch was Old Jurgensen’s pig field. A stadium, so Olaf claimed, would be a big attraction to any prospective Blood Bowl teams.

And so the people of Allsinki built their first stadium. After everyone who had been injured in the collapse had recovered fully, they built their second one. Thanks to the prompt actions of the Allsinki Volunteer Fire Brigade, at least half the town was spared from the fire that sprang up barely a week later. Unfortunately, the stadium was in the burnt half.

At this point, some muttering could be heard in the taverns about bad luck, Olaf’s questionable parentage, the strange disappearance of Olaf’s wife (he claimed she was at her mother’s), and Olaf’s never-before-known eighteen-year-old Estalian niece who was staying with him for the summer. However, Kislevites are a tenacious people, and they kept on trying.

Fortunately for the townsfolk, inspiration struck again and Olaf came before the council with another brilliant idea. 6 This time, instead of building the stadium from timbers (timbers, he added, that we needed for repairing the Allsinki fishing fleet) they would carve it from ice. They would sail out to one of the ice floes that littered the Sea of Claws and carve the pitch, the dugouts, and the seating out of the ice.

After all, an ice floe cannot collapse (at least, not on anyone) and cannot catch fire (at least, not without considerable effort being exerted by a very determined arsonist). Olaf’s idea was roundly applauded and the very next day the entire townspeople sailed out and began work on the largest ice floe. Within a week, the chilly stadium was complete, and Olaf began his promotion scheme, sending heralds all over Kislev with the news.

To the astonishment of the many more cynical members of Allsinki society, this bizarre idea worked. The town was soon flooded with Blood Bowl teams (most of whom came from Kislev, but some did come from further afield); so many, in fact, that Olaf had to hastily organize a tournament.

Everyone was happy: Olaf had his dreams realized (by his niece, if not by the stadium), the merchants in the towns were doing a roaring trade (as were the innkeepers and the prostitutes), and everyone else had not just one Blood Bowl game to watch but a whole tournament.

Of course, come summer, the ice floe melted. But before the visiting teams left Allsinki, Olaf issued a decree that this tournament, now commonly known as the Ice Bowl, would occur every year.

And so it has.

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4. Olaf was renowned for his intelligence, so much so that his name gave rise to a saying that is still used in Kislev. To use your Olaf is to apply your mind to something.

5. Some members of the town’s council suggested extending the red lamp district, which might have done the trick, but Olaf was campaigning on a ‘clean up Allsinki’ ticket and so he ruled against it.

6. Legend has it that the idea actually came from Che Kyamarakas, Olaf’s Estalian niece, although it is unlikely. She might have been quite a beauty but reportedly she had less brains than the average Orc Blood Bowl player.

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* * * Did you know?

The early years of the Ice Bowl were not without their fair share of disasters. 2496 saw a big upset in the final, when a lucky Goblin team beat the renowned Orc team, Nuglash’s Nutters. The Nutters were still hungover from their drinking bout the night before and so instead of rowing out to the ice floe stadium, they swam. Within a few minutes of the kick-off, all eleven Orcs on the pitch were frozen solid.

And only last year, Albion scientists studying icebergs dug out an entire Elf team, the Lorien Rangers, including cheerleaders and coaching staff, which had somehow been frozen within the ice since 2491. That Elf team made a full recovery and returned to playing the game, although they soon moved to Lustria as many of the players claimed they would never be warm again.

However, none can compare to the mass drowning of 2499, which saw the end of the famous Kislev team the Praag Ravagers. After several poor years, the Ravagers had finally found their way back to form, thanks mostly to their hire of the nineteen-year-old superstar blitzer from the south of Tilea, Marco Fakaos, in 2498. Fakaos was infamous for being a primadonna and when he learnt that the Ravagers were going to take part in the Ice Bowl he was furious, appalled at the idea that he would have to play in the freezing cold. Unbeknownst to the tournament officials Fakaos bribed a local wizard to cast a spell creating a magic ball of flame that gave off heat, so that he could keep himself warm in the dugout during halftime. Unfortunately, Fakaos forgot the magic phrase that would turn the fireball off, and so while he and the rest of the Ravagers were out on the pitch winning the final, the fireball melted first the dugout and then the rest of the pitch.

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WHAT IS ICE BOWL?

Simply put, Ice Bowl is a regular game of Blood Bowl played on a gigantic ice floe in the middle of the sea. The townsfolk of Allsinki carve the pitch, along with markings for the Line-of-Scrimmage and the Endzones, out of a particularly smooth and flat part of the floe in the early winter. Once this is done the more skilled carvers (these are the guys who cave swan ice sculptures for weddings) go to work around the pitch, carving the dugouts and the three-tier seating.

Soon after the ice floe stadium is complete, the teams begin to arrive in Allsinki. Registration normally lasts two weeks, but it is not unknown for this to be extended if few teams arrive or if the town’s council expects a lot of latecomers. After the tournament draw has taken place, and each team knows their opponents for the first round, the games begin. The teams are rowed out to the ice floe (the fans are expected to find their own way there and so it is no surprise that the fishermen of Allsinki make a healthy profit during this time by working as ferrymen) and the match (or carnage) commences.

The Ice Bowl is a random elimination tournament. Each coach writes his team’s name down on a scrap of parchment7 and these scraps are thrown into an upturned horned helmet. The scraps are then drawn out in pairs and the two teams drawn in a pair have to play each other. The winners go through to the next round, while the losers go home. 8 Once every match has been played the winners place their parchment scraps back into the helmet and the process happens again. 9 This continues until there are only two teams left, and these teams then play each other in the tournament final.


The Ice Bowl
The Ice Bowl trophy used to be just that: a bowl carved from a block of solid ice. This was never very popular amongst non-Kislevite winners, however, and so in 2501 (ostensibly to celebrate the tournament’s fifteenth anniversary), the current trophy was introduced. The Ice Bowl is a solid silver bowl, decorated with ornate carvings that depict scenes from the first ever tournament final.

The winner of the Ice Bowl wins the trophy and a cash bonus of 250,000 gp. The fame from winning the Ice Bowl also means the winning team gets a permanent +1 bonus to its Fan Factor. The runner-up gets a consolation award of 100,000 gp.

In addition, all the players of both teams involved in the final get a single bonus Star Player Point, regardless of whether they took part in the match or not.


The Silver Icicle
The Silver Icicle is a silver-plated iron spike10 that is awarded to the team in the Ice Bowl tournament that causes the most casualties. The casualties (any players that are killed, seriously injured or badly hurt) can be caused in any way, as long as they are caused by one (or more) of your own players. For example, casualties caused by fouling or secret weapons would count. For another example, if a Troll ate one of your own players, that would count as a casualty. However, a casualty caused by pushing an opponent into the crowd would not count, as it is the crowd who actually cause the casualty.

The winners of the Silver Icicle gain a permanent +1 bonus to their Fan Factor and the sponsorship of the Allsinki’s Assassins, Cutthroats and Allied Workers’ Guild. This sponsorship grants the team a bonus of 10,000 gp at the end of each game they play, provided they cause at least three casualties. The sponsorship will last either until another team wins the Silver Icicle or if the sponsored team fails to cause any casualties in a match.

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7. Goblin coaches usually just mark an ‘X’. Orc coaches sometimes do too but they tend to be a little cleverer and so end up bullying someone else into writing their team’s name down on the parchment.

8. Or, more often than not, stay and take out their frustration on the unfortunate Allsinki townspeople.

9. In 2497, the Underworld Creepers were eliminated from the competition despite winning their first round game. The head coach was so stupid that he put another team’s scrap of parchment in the helmet instead of his own.

10. The Silver Icicle, as its name suggests, used to be made of pure silver. However, the current trophy holders, Khorne’s Khosen, won the Icicle in 2502 and so far have refused to return it (even though they did not cause the most casualties in 2503). The iron icicle is (hopefully) a temporary replacement.

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SPECIAL RULES

As you can imagine, playing any kind of sport on an ice floe in the middle of the sea presents a unique (and comical) set of problems. When the sport concerned is Blood Bowl, things get ten times worse.

There are seven special rules that are applied to any Ice Bowl game and make it very different to a regular game of Blood Bowl. These are: Baby, It’s Cold Outside; Ice, Ice, Baby; Buckle Up and Enjoy the Slide; Lost at Sea; It’s Snow Joke; A Hefty Kick in the Snowballs; and Tipping the Helmet.

All of these rules are of course optional and, provided both coaches agree, may be excluded. If you’re running a tournament based on the Ice Bowl, however, it’s best for everyone involved to agree on what rules will or will not be used before the competition commences.

All of these special rules are detailed below.


Baby, It’s Cold Outside
One of the biggest drawbacks in playing in the Ice Bowl is the extremely cold temperature. Kislev is a cold country at the best of times but in coastal towns like Allsinki the chill northern wind will freeze the flesh right off your bones… assuming, that is, that you have flesh to begin with.11 Blood Bowl players are a tough lot, of course, but even they begin to feel the numbing effects of the cold weather after playing on ice for some time.

To represent this, at the end of the first half of each game played in the Ice Bowl, each Coach must roll a D6 for each of his players that are on the pitch. If you roll a 1 for any player, he is suffering greatly from being exposed to the cold for a prolonged period of time. The player(s) refuses to return to the pitch for the second-half Kick-Off and stays in the dugout until he gets warm again (which is not easy, considering the dugouts are made out of ice too). Treat any players thus affected as being KO’d. (The Thick Skull trait does come into play here: it is assumed that players with the Trait are generally hardier than others and can therefore shrug off the cold more easily.)

Those players huddled in the warmth of the dugouts (for whatever reason) at the end of the half are obviously not affected.

Note that you don’t have to roll at the end of the second half because it is assumed that any players suffering from the cold will recover before their next game.

Hailing, as they do, from the sweltering hot jungles of Lustria, Lizardmen and Amazon teams are more inclined to suffer from the effects of the cold. Because of this, coaches of these teams must also roll for each player at the start of any match in addition to rolling at half time.

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11. You might be asking yourself why would Skeletons be bothered by a chilly wind? After all, they’re necromantic constructs, not real living people, right? Well, that is true but many an Undead coach has turned up for the Ice Bowl, confident that his skeletal team will win simply because the cold won’t get to his players, only to find out the hard way that this is not true. The icy wind on the coast of the Sea of Claws is so intensely cold that the bones of Skeletons soon become extremely brittle.

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Ice, Ice, Baby
The first thing most novice Ice Bowl players quickly learn is that ice is slippery.12 Very slippery. 13 To represent this, any time a player ‘Goes For It’ they will trip and fall on a result of 1 or 2, instead of the normal 1. (Sometimes the weather will make matters worse; see the Weather Table below.)

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12. You’d think people would know that already but remember that Blood Bowl players are not the brightest bulbs in the socket. Lets face it; you have to be pretty dumb even to think about wanting to play Blood Bowl. And most players eventually end up punch-drunk, having taken one too many sharp blows to the head. It’s not surprising that most Blood Bowl players have a problem distinguishing between ice and grass. Don’t laugh, it’s not funny. Please make a contribution to the Retired Blood Bowl Players’ Home. If you don’t, Varag Ghoul-Chewer will find you. He’s not getting any younger, you know.

13. The tournament officials once tried spreading large quantities of salt on the pitch. After several players drowned due to falling through melting holes, it was unanimously decided that this would not be repeated.

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Buckle Up and Enjoy the Slide
While most Blood Bowl players bemoan the possibility of playing on ice, some have learned to use the slippery surface to their advantage. These players (mostly Elves, catchers and other lightly-armoured players) often run as fast as they can and then throw themselves flat on the floor and use their momentum to slide along the ice. The advantages and disadvantages of this move are clear: on the one hand, you move further than you normally would; on the other, you’re left prone and open to attack.

Any coach can declare one of his players is going to slide (but he must declare this after he has declared that player’s action for the turn and before he begins to move the player). To slide, a player must move at least 5 squares in a straight line (either along a row, a column, or a diagonal on the Blood Bowl pitch). These 5 squares of straight movement must be the last part of any movement the players makes. For example, a Skaven Gutter Runner has a MA of 9. He can move 4 squares in any pattern he likes, then run 5 squares in a straight line and slide. He could not move 2 squares, run the 5 squares in a straight line, move a further 2 squares in a different direction, and then slide. Likewise, he could not run 5 squares in a straight line, slide, then use 3 points of his MA to stand up and his last point of MA to move one more square. Once a player slides it is considered the end of his action.

At the end of the player’s run (including any Go For It squares), he will slide a further distance depending on how many squares he ran: if he ran 5 squares before sliding, he slides a further 2; if he ran 6 or 7 squares, he slides a further 3; if he ran 8 or 9 squares, he slides a further 4; and if he ran 10 or more squares he slides a further 5. Note that these additional squares of movement are compulsory; you cannot choose to slide less. Therefore, if a player slides off the pitch (even if they score a Touchdown) they will be beaten up by the crowd as usual.

You cannot slide through other players. If a player (either on your team or the opposing team) blocks the path of the slide, then the sliding player is placed prone in the square immediately before the blocking player. You can slide through Tackle Zones but still have to dodge. However, you gain a +1 bonus to your dice rolls to dodge because the player is so low on the ground.

Sliding players are placed prone (they are technically face-down but should be placed face-up because they are not Stunned, merely prone) in the square where they come to rest. However, sliding players can hold on to the ball (this is a major change to the normal rules concerning prone players and only applies to sliding players) although they need to make an AG roll to do so, with a –1 penalty for each Tackle Zone they find themselves in. If they fail, the ball scatters as usual.

Prone players holding the ball cannot throw or hand-off the ball before they stand-up (at the expense of 3 points of MA, unless you have the Jump Up skill). If a sliding player carrying the ball ends up in the opposing team’s Endzone then it is considered a Touchdown, even though the player is prone.

All other normal rules apply to a prone player holding the ball (so for example, an opposing player can try to use his Strip Ball skill on the prone player).

Any number of players can slide during a single turn. Although a sliding player ends his action prone, this is not considered a Turnover (unless any other normal rule applies, such as the player being successfully tackled or the player scoring a Touchdown, for example).

Lost at Sea
After fifteen years of the Ice Bowl, the ice-carvers of Allsinki have learnt that three tiers of stadium seating is the optimum number. More than that and the seating is more likely to collapse (due to the increased body heat and weight of having a lot more fans in the stadium), any less and the gate is likely to be too small to pay the more famous teams that take part in the tournament.

This being the case, it is remarkably easy for the ball to sometimes sail over the heads of the fans and plunge into the sea. This results in the game being delayed for some time while the officials either find another ball or some insane but eager fan dives into the freezing water to retrieve the old one.

If the ball is ever thrown (intentionally or not) off the pitch at any range other than Quick Pass then there is a chance that it will end up in the sea. If this happens, the active Coach should roll a D6. On a 4–6, the crowd catches the ball and a throw-in occurs, just like normal.

However, on a 1–3 the ball ends up in the water. In addition, the game is delayed and both coaches should move their turn markers on by a number of squares equal to the number rolled on the dice. If this takes the number of turns to 8 or more for both teams, then the half (or game) ends. For example, if you roll a 2 then the game is delayed for two turns. Once the delay is over, the ball is thrown-in as normal.

Likewise, you should apply this rule if the ball is ever kicked (at the Kick-Off or if you are using the optional kicking rules) out of bounds. However, the touchback rule for Kick-Offs still applies once the delay is over.

If the ball ever scatters out of bounds or a player holding the ball is pushed out of bounds (or, indeed, if the ball is thrown off the pitch at Quick Pass range) then this rule does not apply (it is assumed that the fans get the ball and return it) and a throw-in occurs as normal.

It’s Snow Joke
A kind and generous visitor to Kislev would describe the climate as bracing. Everyone else would say it’s cold enough to freeze the wotsits off a Black Orc. On the coastline of the Sea of Claws, however, the weather is even worse, with the strong sea winds often lowering the outside temperature even further.

Because of this, coaches playing games as part of the Ice Bowl tournament should use the following Weather Table instead of the one featured in the Living Rulebook (page 20).

—WEATHER TABLE—

2D6 Result
2–3 Snowing: A light snowstorm has hit the town of Allsinki and the surrounding area, and within minutes the surface of the ice floe is covered with snow. This has made the ground much more slippery and so coaches now have to roll a D6 for every square any player moves. On the roll of a 1 the player falls over (just as if he had tripped and fallen while Going For It). Players trying to Go For It will now fall on the roll of a 1. However, the snow cushions players who fall to the ground and so all coaches must subtract –1 from any Armour rolls they make. The snow will be cleared off the pitch by tournament officials at any break, so roll again on this table at the start of the next drive.

4–5 Fog: A thick sea mist has rolled in and settled over the ice floe. Players can hardly see two feet in front of them. Attempts at passing can only be made because the receiving player shouts as loud as he can! Therefore there is a penalty to all passing attempts that worsens with each increase in the range. Quick Passes are made with a –1 modifier; Short Passes are made with a –2 modifier; Long Passes are made with a –3 modifier; and Long Bombs (and Hail Mary Passes) are made with a –4 modifier; Hail Mary Passes are made with a –5 modifier. Catching the ball is just as difficult, because the receivers have no idea where the ball is coming from! All attempts to catch the ball are made with a –2 modifier. Note that this has no effect on handing-off the ball.

In addition, the thick fog means that less scrupulous coaches can try to sneak extra players onto the pitch. Each coach must set up 11 players (or as many as he can up to 11) at the start of each drive. However, each turn (beginning with Turn 2) a coach may nominate one player from his Reserves (not an KO’d, Badly Hurt, Seriously Injured, or Dead player) to try to sneak onto the pitch. Having nominated the player, the coach should roll a D6. On a roll of 2–5 the player sneaks on to the pitch without penalty and can be placed in any square along the sidelines in that team’s half of the board. On a 1, however, the Ref spots the player and sends him off. That player cannot try to sneak on again for the rest of the game.

Finally, the fog means that the Referee cannot see too far and thus will not see any fouls committed by either side.

6–8 Fine: Perfect Blood Bowl weather.

9–10 Sunny: The harsh sunlight is very bright and glaringly reflects off the vast expanse of white all around. All attempts to pass the ball and/or to catch it suffer from a –1 modifier.

11–12 Sleet: A sudden icy downpour hits the ice floe. This makes the ball slippery and difficult to hold and therefore all players suffer a –2 penalty to picking up the ball, handing it off, and catching it. The sleet also makes it impossible to see very far and so Long Bombs and Hail Mary Passes cannot be attempted. In addition, the freezing cold rain soaks the players to the skin and makes them feel even colder. If at any time during the remainder of the game the Baby, It’s Cold Outside rule is applied, all players will suffer from the cold on the roll of 1–2 rather than the normal 1.

A Hefty Kick in the Snowballs
As you would expect, playing on a large ice floe in the middle of a sea during a heavy snowstorm is not quite the same as playing on Astrogranite in a stadium in Altdorf on a warm summer’s day. When playing an Ice Bowl game, coaches should use the following Kick-Off Table instead of the one that appears in the Living Rulebook (page 19).

KICK-OFF TABLE

3D6 Result
3 Cracking Up!: The strain put on the ice floe by hosting several Ice Bowl games has proved too much and a large crack has begun to appear in the ice. At the beginning of each of their turns, each coach must roll a D6. If either Coach ever rolls a 6 (or higher) then a crack in the ice suddenly appears. This crack is two squares wide and stretches across the length of the pitch at the Line-of-Scrimmage (one square on either side). Place a marker (a strip of paper works best) across the pitch at the LoS. Any player within the crevice must immediately make an AG roll to jump clear. If they succeed they can be placed in any adjacent square (that isn’t also part of the crevice, naturally). If they fail, the fall into the crevice and must make an Armour roll, and an Injury roll if necessary (and therefore they must miss the rest of the drive (even if they get only a Stunned result) at the end of which they will be rescued by the match officials).

Players who wish to leap across the crevice cannot do so without making an AG roll with a –1 modifier (in addition to any other penalties, such as those caused by Tackle Zones) and spending three points of MA. The –1 modifier to the die roll can be ignored if the player has the Leap skill. Naturally, the ball can be thrown across the crevice, as can any player with the Right Stuff trait.

If any player is pushed into the crevice, he is removed from play and must make the Armour roll (and Injury roll if necessary) as stated above. If the ball ever falls in the crevice, then it should be thrown in from the sidelines. The active Coach has the choice of which square to use as the throw-in square, although it must be one of the four squares that touch the sideline and the crevice.

This fissure lasts until the end of the drive, at which point the match officials push the two halves of the ice floe together and hastily re-carve the pitch to make it the proper length. If the drive ends and a fissure has not appeared then it is assumed that the match officials have noticed the impending crack and patched over it.

4 There’s a Hole in My Ice Floe, Dear Olaf: One part of the ice floe has become weakened over time. Each coach should roll a D6 and add the number of Assistant Coaches his team employs. The losing Coach must then randomly select on of his players who is currently on the pitch. The ice beneath his feet gives way and the player falls through to the sea below. He is unharmed (save for being wet and cold) and can be placed in the Reserves box but he must therefore miss the rest of this drive. The strange nature of the ice flow means that the hole seals up very quickly and thus has no further effect on the game.

5 Hot Water Bottles: Sensibly (or perhaps not) one player has chosen to take some extra precautions against the cold by stuffing several hot water bottles up his shirt and down his trousers. Each Coach should roll 2D6 and add their team’s Fan Factor. The winning Coach must then randomly select on of his players who is currently on the pitch. This player gains +1 to his AV (due to the somewhat absorbing nature of the hot water bottles). However, if the player’s AV is ever beaten (for any reason) the bottles have burst and the scalding water thus adds +1 to the subesequent injury roll.

6 Blade of Ice: One player has been smart enough to snap off a particularly strong and sharp icicle from the dugout just before coming onto the field. Each coach should roll a D6 and add the number of Assistant Coaches his team employs. The winning Coach may then nominate one of his players. That player is carrying the icicle and when he throws his first block of this drive he will secretly stab his opponent with the weapon. If you knock the opposing player down, you can add +2 to either the Armour roll or the Injury roll. The icicle will snap after one block, so even if the block is unsuccessful then the icicle is considered used.

7 Cold Cheerleaders: Rather unwisely, one squad of Cheerleaders have decided to appear without any warm clothing. The opposing team’s squad, not to be outdone, has appeared on the sidelines even more scantily dressed. The cheering fans are very impressed by the ladies’ bravery… and not at all delighted in seeing some of the ladies’ body parts become more prominent due to the chilly wind.

Each Coach should roll a D6 and add the number of Cheerleaders their team employs. The winning Coach adds +3 to his team’s Fan Factor. This is not a permanent increase but it will last for the remainder of the match and thus effect any rolls on this table that add a team’s Fan Factor and the Winnings table. Likewise, the losing Coach adds +1 to his team’s Fan Factor for the duration of this match only.

However, any player on the winning Coach’s team who tries to make any single die roll (i.e. a die roll that uses a single D6, so not a block, an Armour roll, or Injury roll), for just a few examples) within either widezone suffers a –1 modifier due to the distracting nature of the cheerleaders. This effect lasts until the end of the drive, at which point the Head Coach slaps some sense back into the players and gets them to focus on the game rather than the cheerleaders’ Chests.

If this result is rolled again during the game, the Fan Factor bonuses stack (for both Coaches), as more and more fans begin to notice the effects of the cold on the poor ladies. The modifiers to sideline dice rolls do not stack, however, and always remain at –1 for each drive. (Note that this Kick-Off result can counteract the Shivering Cheerleaders result and vice versa.)

8 Snowball Fight: A snowball fight has broken out between the two teams’ fans and the players are caught right in the middle of things. Naturally, being Blood Bowl fans, the crowd have started throwing snowballs with stones in them. Both Coaches should roll a D6 for each and every one of their players currently on the pitch. If either Coach rolls a 1 for any player, that player has been hit by a snowball and is knocked down (make Armour and Injury rolls as usual).

9 We’re Getting Steamed!: The ice floe has floated over a hot spring and a geyser of scalding steam has burst through the pitch. Each Coach should roll 2D6 and add his team’s Fan Factor. The winning Coach can nominate any square on the pitch and place a counter there to represent the geyser. He then should roll as if the geyser were a ball and had scattered after a Kick-Off (i.e. D8 for direction and D6 for number of squares). If the geyser scatters off the pitch, roll for a throw-in as if it were a ball. The final square where the counter ends up is where the hot steam of the geyser has broken through the surface of the pitch.

Any player entering the square containing the geyser will be scalded by the hot steam (roll on the injury table, treating all Stunned results as KO’d). If a player is knocked down into the geyser square, then make an Armour roll for him as normal. If he is injured, roll on the Injury table as normal, although you should treat all Stunned results as KO’d due to the effects of the steam. If the Armour roll is unsuccessful and his is not injured, his Coach should still then roll on the Injury table for the effects of the steam.

If the ball is ever thrown through the geyser (i.e. if the range ruler comes into any contact with that square, however small) then the pass is immediately considered inaccurate as the jet of steam knocks the ball of course. If the ball ever scatters into the geyser, then it will immediately scatter again.

10 Sniffles: A bad case of the flu has broken out amongst one team and although the players are strong enough to shrug off its effects, the coaching staff and cheerleaders are not. Both teams should roll a D6 and add both the number of Assistant Coaches and Cheerleaders their team employs. The losing side must then remove a number of non-playing members of his team (i.e. the Head Coach, Assistant Coaches, Cheerleaders and the Apothecary) equal to the D6 roll for this match only. If the losing Coach has no more non-playing members of his team remaining, then this has no effect. Note that if the losing Coach removes his Head Coach, he can no longer ‘argue the call’; likewise if he removes his Apothecary he cannot heal a player during this game (unless he has already done so).

11 Paws for Thought: A Polar Bear has wandered on to the pitch. The receiving team’s coach should take an appropriate figure and place it anywhere on the pitch. The Polar Bear will wander around the pitch seemingly at random and attack the players, whom it sees as a threat. At the beginning of each of their turns, each Coach can move the Polar Bear however they wish. The Polar Bear ignores Tackle Zones (who would want to tackle a Polar Bear?). If the Polar Bear ever ends up in an adjacent square to any player he will throw a block against that player. (If there are several adjacent players, the controlling Coach may choose which player is blocked.) If the Polar Bear ever leaves the pitch then he dives into the sea and does not return. If the Polar Bear is ever knocked down and injured (even Stunned) it is removed from the pitch. If it is knocked down but not injured it may use 3 points of MA to get to its feet in its next turn, just like any other player. The Polar Bear may not ‘Go For It.’ The Polar Bear has the following statistics: MA 5, ST 5, AG 2, AV 9, Mighty Blow, Razor Sharp Claws.

12 Ride the Wave!: The ice floe has suddenly been hit by a wave. Fortunately the carves created high enough ice barriers to stop the seawater swamping the pitch but they could do nothing about the pitch heaving up and down. All players currently on the pitch must successfully pass a standard AG roll or be knocked over.

13 The Icing on the Caked Ball: One of the more careless (or stupid) match officials left his balls out overnight and now they’re covered with frost. Poor chap. To make matters worse, one of his balls has been chosen as the match ball. As the ball is covered with a thin layer of frost and ice, all ball-handling attempts (picking up, catching, or throwing the ball)suffer from an additional –1 modifier until the end of the drive (or until the ball goes out-of-bounds and a replacement is thrown in).

14 Shivering Cheerleaders: If the cold weather is getting to the armour-clad players, just imagine how bad the scantily-clad Cheerleaders are suffering. Both Coaches should roll a D6 and add the number of Cheerleaders their team employs. The losing Coach must subtract –1 from his team’s Fan Factor for the remainder of the game, as the fans react badly to the poor performance of the blue-skinned and shivering Cheerleaders. This is not a permanent decrease but it will last for the remainder of the match and thus effect any rolls on this table that add a team’s Fan Factor and the Winnings table. The losing Coach must also roll a D6 for each of his Cheerleaders. On a 1 that Cheerleader is has come down with hypothermia and for this game only is no longer counted.

If this result is rolled again during the game, the Fan Factor penalty stacks, as more and more fans boo and hurl abuse at the frozen ladies. (Note that this Kick-Off result can counteract the Cold Cheerleaders result and vice versa.)

15 Brrrrr!: Both Coaches should roll a D6 and add the number of Assistant Coaches their team employs. The losing Coach must randomly select one of his players that is currently on the pitch. This player is feeling the cold more than most and is desperate to stay near the sidelines and so be near the warmth of the dugouts. The player must move as quickly as he can (although he does not have to ‘Go For It’ unless his Coach wishes for him to do so) towards the nearest sideline and keep doing so until he reaches a square adjacent to the side of the pitch. Until the end of this drive this player may not leave the row of squares next to this sideline, although he may move along the length of this row. If, for any reason, he is moved away from the sideline, then he must move back into the nearest empty square next to the sideline as soon as possible.

16 Feverish Delirium: One player (randomly selected from those on the receiving team who are on the pitch at the Kick-Off) has come down with a bad case of ‘flu but he insists on playing all the same. That player is treated as if he has the Dauntless, Frenzy and (provided his beginning ST was 3 or higher) Mighty Blow skills for the duration of this drive. However, once the drive is over he will pass out (treat him as if he was KO’d). If he recovers later in the game he will be back to normal.

17 I Triple-Dog Dare You!: Two players (randomly selected from those on the receiving team who are on the pitch at the Kick-Off) have foolishly got into an argument about whether or not your tongue will stick to a metal pole in this freezing weather. Both players (hereafter referred to as Player #1 and Player #2) must be placed in any square next to the sideline (in the receiving team’s half, naturally) and must be adjacent to each other. Player #1 is the darer and so as soon as the drive commences he can be moved (and take any actions) as normal. However, Player #2 is the disbeliever and now has his tongue stuck firmly to a metal pole by the side of the pitch. He cannot move unless the Coach decides he tears himself free, which will result in him being Stunned, or that the coaching staff see his plight and apply warm water to the pole (the Coach can then to roll a D6 at the beginning of each of his turns; if he rolls equal to or lower than the number of Assistant Coaches (including the Head Coach) on his team, then the player is freed with no ill-effects; if he rolls higher the player is still stuck and may not move or take any action this turn (but this does not count as a turnover however). Once

If Player #2 is blocked while stuck to the pole he can defend himself but due to his predicament he cannot use any skills in his defence. If he is knocked down or pushed back then he will automatically Stunned (unless he is injured and an Injury roll is made, in which case the worse result applies; e.g. a KO’d result would overrule the automatic Stunned result).

Once free, the enraged Player #2 must move as close to Player #1 as possible. (Player #2 should be moved before any other player, including Player #1.) If Player #2 is in range he must declare a Blitz action and block Player #1. Once this block has been made, regardless of the outcome, Player #2’s thirst for revenge has been quenched and he can then be moved and take actions as normal.

18 It’s Too Cold Out There, Boss!: The kicking team have lingered a little too long in the warmth of the dugout and have taken to the pitch late. The Coach of the kicking team must remove all of his players from the pitch and then allow the Coach of the receiving team to take his first turn. The Coach of the kicking team may then begin his turn by having his players move onto the pitch from anywhere on the sidelines within his own half.

Tipping the Helmet

One of the many problems with playing Blood Bowl on a gigantic ice floe in the middle of the ocean is that ice floes, by their very nature, are unstable. Early on in the history of the Ice Bowl, the Allsinki town council soon learnt that placing too much weight at one end could cause the ice floe to tip up, with disastrous consequences. To stop this from every happening, the tournament officials set strict guidelines on the number of fans and coaching staff allowed on the ice floe and made certain that the fans were evenly distributed around the edges, so that absolutely nothing would cause the ice floe to tip up. Nothing except twenty-two heavily armored manical Blood Bowl players, that is.

The ice floes used in the Ice Bowl tournament are all finally balanced but if too many players gather near one end zone then the whole pitch is likely to tip up slightly. To represent this, at the beginning of each turn both Coaches should add together all the ST statistics (ST, in this case, is meant to be a rough approximation of a player’s weight) in their respective halves of the pitch.

If the total of either half outweighs the other by more than 5 points, then the ice floe tips down in that half and all the players on the pitch (regardless of whether they are standing or not) slide a few squares in towards that half’s Endzone. If a player is carrying the ball and because of the tipping of the pitch slides into the Endzone, it does count as a Touchdown. Refer to the following table to see how far players slide and any resulting effects.

Difference in Strengths No. squares to slide
5–10 1
11–20 3; AG test to remain standing
25+ 5; AG test to remain standing with a -1 modifier


Naturally, the more the ice floe tips, the more it will tip in future, as more and more players slide to one end of the pitch. And of course, at the start of each drive the pitch is perfectly balanced.

--------------------------------------------

* * * Did you know?

Being used to the sweltering heat of the Lustrian jungle, Amazon and Lizardmen teams tend not to fare well in the Ice Bowl. The only exception is the Femme Fatales, who won the competition in 2501, by not only being good at the game but also by being the only Amazon team in history clever enough to wrap up warm in layers of clothing before playing in the subzero temperatures common during Ice Bowl games.

However, the Femme Fatales have not returned to the competition since their win, simply because they went bankrupt later that same year. For some reason their fans gradually deserted them and with no money coming in from the gate, the head coach had to disband the team. Theories abound as to why this sudden decline in popularity occurred, but some people have suggested that it might be something to do with the fact that the players were now wearing a little more than just a bra and loincloth.

[leblanc13]

For your first post this is a heck of an undertaking.

Your rules look interesting. I think that I may give them a try in some one off games.

[DoubleSkulls]

Any chance they are in a PDF or word document somewhere?

[leblanc13]

Dude! I pasted your text into a word document and it took up 17 pages at a font 10. It took up 10 pages at a font of 8.

This was definitely a lot of work!

WOW!

[Sherlock]

Yeah, it was a lot of work. But it's been around for a while in various forms. It was originally designed for 2e as you can probably tell from the pitch tipping thing. Originally that was a lot easier b/c you added the strengths of players in each third of the polysterene pitch and not the centre section.

Anyway I did want to make this a PDF file. I write this up in a Word format with artwork and logos and page numbers etc etc but I've got the cheaparse freebie version of Word which saves stuff as *.wps files. Of course, Adobe Acrobat won't recognise *.wps files. Damn Microsoft! And then when I saved the Word file as a *.doc I lost all the tables, artwork and text boxes! I'm currently working on putting it into HTML format but I don't really like the result so far.

I sent this in to BB magazine about a year ago BTW in the hops they would publish it.

[Teabag]

I sent this in to BB magazine about a year ago BTW in the hops they would publish it.

No surprise there. This is actually quite good, so it's not surprising that BB mag turns its nose up at it.

Seriously though, there are a few similarities to All at Sea (the sliding/pitch-tipping is similar to the wave effect, for example). But at first reading (quick glance-over really) it looks very good. Take note, editors of BB mag!

[Sticky Wicket]

I’ve read this twice now and I have to say that I’m very impressed. I take it from your comment about sending it to the editors of the Blood Bowl magazine (or Fanatic magazine I guess I should now be calling it) that you’re not a member of the BBRC (or even the BBE – or Blood Bowl Elite)? That’s astonishing to me because this is extremely well written and, if it wasn’t so bizarre, would fit seamlessly into the mainstream Blood Bowl rules. Just my opinion, of course.

Teabag, I don’t see many similarities with All At Sea at all (aside from the forementioned one). To my mind, the reasons why All At Sea was so disappointing were: a) way too complicated rules for a one-off game; and b) a lot of the stuff (like the new tables) was the same old same old junk with no thought nor originality behind it. It doesn’t appear (to me at least) that Ice Bowl has these deficiencies. It seems designed with an elimination tournament in mind, so if the rules are complicated or there are too many of them, at least they are worth taking the time to learn because you’ll be using them in more than one game. Also, the weather and kickoff tables are radically different to anything I’ve seen printed in the Blood Bowl magazine to date. Yes, some of them are a little too much (the Polar Bear springs to mind, can you imagine the havoc he’d wreak on a Skaven/Wood Elf game?) but they are all very unusual and original

However, I will agree with you that this will probably never see print in an issue of Fanatic magazine. Mostly because, just as you said, it’s good. It’s well-written yet brief and to the point at the same time (how often does an article in the magazine just ramble on and on and on?). But also partly because it was not written by one of the BBE, and partly becauseit is extremely original and not the typical recycled crap Games Workshop and/or Fanatic like to fill the pages with.

And if it ever did get printed, some of the humour would have to be toned down. There’s quite a few innuendos, which don’t bother me at all, but Games Workshop and/or Fanatic wouldn’t like.

[Darkson]

Any chance they are in a PDF or word document somewhere?

IIRC there's a tool you can download from the MS office site to allow you to convert a word doc to a PDF, else there's a freeware tool out there somewhere called DADMakePDF. Not sure of the website address, as I got it from a coverdisk.

[Ryan]

me and the Guys at my Gaming Club came up with rules for Ice Bowl last year and we had a Laugh if you want what we came up with i'll PM it to ya

[Breadwinner]

I luv this! I’ve already cut and pasted it into a word file so I can fix it up later. Ive gotta remember to show it to our BB commish this Friday. Im gonna try to persude him to let us run an ice bowl tourney after our regular season ends.

Galak now that youve got some pull inside the BBRC any hope of getting this printed in the BB Mag?

[Sherlock]

me and the Guys at my Gaming Club came up with rules for Ice Bowl last year and we had a Laugh if you want what we came up with i'll PM it to ya

I'm glad someone else has come up with a similar idea; it shows that there's demand out there for it! Like I said, I originally designed this way back when the second edition of Blood Bowl came out.

[Ryan]

Like I said do you want my Ice Bowl rules?

[Circular_Logic]

I can´t help... but seeing, that any rooky woodelf or skaven can score in one turn don´t seem right. As soon as you have MA of 7 or higher, you can run 9 square and slide the other 4. So a game could easily look like:
Human Thrower gets the ball, passes to the catcher, who runs 9 squares and slides the rest. He has to do 4 2+-rolls for this and for one he already has a reroll. So the woody-team recieves and scores again. Not really a good match I guess..

[Ryan]

Well here are there Rules me and my Mates came up with

Hello Fans and Welcome to Kislev’s latest stadium The Kislev Ice Bowl with a capacity of 41,000 it is by far the smaller of Kislevs two stadiums. It’s is also the home to Blood Bowls latest edition to the Game. You’ve seen those wacky wizards with their Dungeon Bowl well now here’s Kislevs answer

****ICE BOWL****

The Rules are just like normal Blood Bowl, you have to get the Ball up the other end of the pitch more times than the other team. The only deference is that this time you have to do it in near Arctic conditions and oh ye the field your playing on is made of Ice.

Special Rules:
Ice Bowl follows the normal rules for LRB with the following exceptions.

Going For It:
You now need a 4+ instead of a 2+ to go for it due to the slippery nature of the Pitch

Dodging:
Is at –1 for all Dodge rolls

Injuries:
All injury rolls are at +1 due to the fact that the Pitch is as hard as Ice.

The Ice:
Ice is a hell of a lot harder than grass any player knocked over (by a block or failed action or in any other way) suffers –1 to their armour value. Also the ball bounces twice instead of once

The Walls:
Instead of the open area that is found around a conventional Blood Bowl pitch we here at the Ice Bowl have chosen to surround the pitch with a wall. Being pushed into this wall can be painful.

The wall means players never leave the pitch (So they can’t be pushed into the crowd) though it is likely that the player will be hurt. To represent this any player pushed into the wall (but not knocked over) will be left standing but will take an Armour roll at +1, if the players armour is beaten the place the player on the floor or in the dugout as appropriate.

If the Player is knocked down then you make the Armour Roll at +2 (+1 for the wall and +1 for the ice), if the armour is beaten then roll injury as normal.

Use the following Weather table to figure out the conditions.

2D6 Weather
2-4 Ice Storm
5-6 Blizzard
7-9 Nice
10-12 Strong Wind

Ice Storm:
It is extremely cold and raining ice! The ice on the field means that any player attempting to Go For It is at a -1 on their die roll, while only Quick Passes may be attempted. Norse players do not suffer the -1 on Go For It attempts.

Nice:
Perfect Blood Bowl Weather!

Blizzard:
It is cold and snowing! The ice on the field means that any player attempting to Go For It is at a -1 on their die roll, while the snow means that only Quick Passes or Short Passes may be attempted. Norse players do not suffer the -1 on Go For It attempts.

Strong Winds:
Roll randomly to determine wind direction. All Kick-Offs and Inaccurate Passes will travel an additional D6 squares in this direction when determining scatter.

New Secret Weapons

Name: Ice Skates:

Cost: 60,000gps

Rules: A player with Ice Skates may ignore the –1 to all Dodging, Goes for it on the normal 2+ and may add +1 to all Injury rolls IF they follow-up

Name: Hockey Stick

Cost: 40,000gps

Rules: A player with a Hockey Stick counts as having the Strong arm Skill but instead of rolling against his agility the player rolls against his strength to see if is successful

We couldn't agree on the Penalty Rolls for the Weapons so any Suggestions would be welcome

[Khaine]

Set this up in the local league forum

http://ebbl.dyndns.org:81/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=15#15

Want to see what kind of response I get to it.