Blood Bowl! The Origins And Lore Of Warhammer Fantasy's Most Brutal Ball Game!

A magical game of kicky bally! with casualty figures that once's stretched well into the triple digits and the single most popular sports in warhammer the old world! invented by a literal god, and interpreted by a drunken dwarf with an orc staring over his shoulder..
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[@IsmaelSantos-iy4xi]

My favorite story is that of Horkon Heartripper: A dark elf assassin who has to dispatch the oppossi g team's blitzer before the game. He couldnt do it so he decided to do it during the game itself. He dispatched his target, half his targets team and scored a touchdown. Then he got hired as an actual player.

[@midshipman8654]

modern problems require modern solutions.

[@WombatDave]

The named character law is absolutely a real thing. I recall playing my Necrons against a friend's IG. This was during, I think, 4th or 5th edition. My monolith annihilated a squad of guard on my first turn, and then it was his turn. Enter a heavy weapons team with a lascannon. My friend declares that the team, specifically Jim, will be firing the lascannon on the monolith. Roll to hit, 6. Roll for armor penetration, 6. Roll for effect? Yeah, another 6. And that was how Jim destroyed several hundred points worth of vehicle in a single shot.

[@Hippo_Hegemony]

Jim sounds like a badass

[@blackraven8526]

Jim sounds like he had the Emperor's blessing..... or someone's.

[@WombatDave]

@@blackraven8526 Honestly, I wasn't even mad.

[@Elitex62]

Of course he nailed that shot. His last name was Raynor.

[@mrwri]

People always talked about there being a rule where if Goblin players manage to sneak extra players on to the pitch without anybody noticing then it wasn't against the rules until they noticed. Then I found out this rule is just in itself a rule that Goblin players made up which is just a changed version of the official rule. And that's Bloodbowl in a nutshell.

[@ZeroFormLak]

Now thats KUNNING and BRUTAL

[@Gunsong1]

Blood bowl. The game that makes you fear rolling dice more than a tour of duty on vraks

[@shawnm1902]

Q: Do I have a re-roll? A: No Q: Is it essential? A: No Q: Do I need to do anything else not requiring dice rolls? A: yes Ok, shit can wait till last or I can just end the turn...

[@Gunsong1]

@@shawnm1902 At least it's fun to hurl a halfling into a cluster of angry ogres. Either that or beating the crap out a team of amazons or dark elf women with a Norsca team. Who cares how many points are scored? The important number is the casualty count.

[@Immoralsalvage]

Remember whenever you score a Touchdown in blood bowl you must offer up a sacrament to Nuffle. I choose to do this by Doing the Nuffle Shuffle.

[@shawnm1902]

Pretty sure that's been limited to under a minute these days.

[@Immoralsalvage]

@@shawnm1902I don't recognize the legitimacy of that ruling so a will do the full 5 minute productions with backing band just as Nuffle Intended.

[@AdventfatherGaming]

Don't forget to sing Shipoopi

[@theenderdestruction2362]

I remember a shrine to him on one of the fields, it's supposed to look like him and his "robotic" nature, whatever that means, its still there and I do so love seeing it because it's funny to me

[@billyholland5156]

All hail Nufle, the diety who created the happiest damn timeline in the greater Warhammer multiverse!

[@Warpedlogical]

Im a 40k fan but a blood bowl show would be hilarious. Seeing all these lords and heros as focused football players is funny

[@Punishthefalse]

Karl Franz vs Archaon...on a Blood Bowl pitch. That or Grimgor kicks Archaon in the balls, again, in the middle of the pitch.

[@robrib2682]

I'd love 40k bloodbowl as well, and it'd be the same logic that the mechancus uses for tech as well so it could happen as a way of settling imperial disputes xD

[@saeyabor]

"King Arthur and the Knights of Justice" in reverse lmao

[@Elenrai]

@@Punishthefalse that is my endtimes headcanon, grimgor stomps off as a ref sends him off the field, smacking the ref lightly into orbit

[@l0u13__3]

I’ve always loved the idea of a Blood bowl 40k just because the idea of Robute in a blue polo and khaki trousers shouting down a headset at calgar to hail emperor the ball

[@RinAldrin]

Same, also imagining the Tyranid bio weapons being modified to throw the ball really far.

[@coreyriegle1328]

😂 Throwing hail emperors! 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

[@thatdoppioguy1825]

Are the Ultramarines the fucking Chargers?

[@akuinator6350]

From this we can learn that secret to stopping Chaos and averting the End Times forever was football.

[@chocoman45]

Even they can't resist. The display of physical prowess pleases Khorne. The deep tactical planning and last second saves and plays brings Tzeentch to tears. The passion and pleasure of everyone involved make Slaneesh giddy. The morbid potato couch fanboys and the cycles of play makes Nurgle glee. Nuffle rules over them all.

[@inductivegrunt94]

So here is the Warhammer Fantasy lore video for the month. What a video indeed. Literal Fantasy Football!

[@TauShasla]

*Rugby football is where u play with a ball & feet ;) greetings from not-America

[@gunthergiel7088]

@@TauShasla a man of real culture right there, and hopefully don't use feet as a means of measurement

[@batboy555]

Playing this today. Bloodbowl 3 coming out soon.

[@DocWolph]

@@TauShasla He meant "American Football" or "Gridiron" Rugby is Gridiron without the body armor and the players need to be quite a bit more careful, albeit while being lighter, and less encumbered during play. The difference is not unlike F1 and IndyCar. They look very similar but are played very differently and the differences in the the players and equipment further reflect that.

[@bewawolf19]

@@TauShasla it's called "アメフト" not football you bigot Greetings from not Britain.

[@twilightgryphon]

Imagine the grudges the dwarves have written down from their losses in Blood Bowl. An entirely new volume to be written and library built to house it, no doubt.

[@lordfrostwind3151]

I really want a 40K Blood Bowl. The Eye of Terror League has some pretty fierce rivalries but nobody respects the winners of the Ethereal's Cup no matter how good they are at field goals.

[@shawnm1902]

Sans space marines? Sure. It would be pretty silly to have a team almost exclusively compromised of chaos warrior equivalents, faster chaos warrior equivalents with less armor, and a dreadnought (minotaur equivalent).

[@lordfrostwind3151]

@shawnm1902 I have no idea about Blood Bowl's rules but I'm sure you could role them into an Imperium team and just limit the number of Astartes, or keep a straight Astartes team but limit it to half or less the number of men on the field.

[@MrMortull]

@@lordfrostwind3151 Astartes would be the "Big Guys" of a human/chaos team limited to two, just like Ogres or Trolls in the fantasy version.

[@imerror6224]

Nobody likes the Ethereal Cup because whenever the tau themselves play they all get turned into a fine blue paste by the other team in the first 2 minutes of the game.

[@IsmaelSantos-iy4xi]

I say use full Battle brothers and dreadnaughta but most of the team being Neophytes/Scouts

[@ornu01]

This is what, year seven of the channel? And we finally got a proper video on Blood Bowl.

[@robertnelson9599]

Arch's list of discussion videos are like the Administratum's archives. Extremely detailed and unbearably disorganized.

[@ornu01]

@@robertnelson9599 And a few hundred years behind schedule.

[@AmmoMaximo42]

I have a fond memory while playing BB2. My newly made lizardman team was facing off against a human team. They fumble the kickoff, allowing me to give the ball to whoever I wanted. I chose my Kroxigor, of course. So for the entire first half the human team could do nothing but try to block my big guy's path, which only served to move him closer to the end zone, one lineman at a time. All the while my Saurus kept my skinks protected, knocking out and pushing off any human that dared to get close. In the end we won 2-0. Jurassic Marauders forever!

[@DefaultFlame]

The god Nufle. It seems like a crude pun on the NFL, but it is in fact pretty clever. Many old languages only record consonants in their written form, and experience with the language adds the rest when reading. Reading NFL in, for example, hieroglyphics might yield Nufle. That or language shift over the millenia.

[@updfdrakkell143]

I agree but I'd angle it to more that they dont know about acronyms. But trying to say nfl while drunk would make the dwarf sound it out and he prob fell on the best sounding word.

[@luckyleo25]

Nufle is NFL according to the Wikipedia article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Bowl There are other puns in the article - like these: McDonald's (McMurty's), Budweiser (Bloodweiser), Adidas (Orcidas), and Gatorade (Kroxorade) The game is full of them

[@DefaultFlame]

@@updfdrakkell143 I never accused them of intentional cleverness.

[@DefaultFlame]

@@luckyleo25 I never said GW were intentionally clever.

[@updfdrakkell143]

@@DefaultFlame who GW? they couldnt be clever enough lol. Only fans come up with the good stuff lol

[@The_Keeper]

I have always loved the lore behind The Blood Bowl; Somehow someway, an NFL rulebook/playbook found its way to that universe, and the denizens of that universe decided that it was just fair and brutal/cunning enough (in their somewhat violent interpretation) to be the perfect alternative to all-out wars. Nuffle be praised.

[@BlueSatoshi]

In WFRP, there's mentions of a sport called Middenball. Depending on who you ask, it's said to also be similar to American football.

[@derkrischa3720]

don't you mean american football is the boring version of Blood Ball?

[@imerror6224]

The mental image of a literal mountain of hafling corpses made my day.

[@matthewjecelin8358]

The greatest game GW ever made

[@shawnm1902]

It's endured fewer changes over the decades than any other GW property

[@dominushydra]

As a U.S. Football fan, this is amazing.

[@shawnm1902]

The game plays more like rugby, even though forward passing is a thing. You kinda fake punting at times (pass to no one), since there aren't specific rules for it (even though technically there are at each of the resets following scoring, start, or halftime) since kick is a skill that would make such an effort more accurate than actually throwing the ball and having interesting interactions with diving catch and pass block, but I'm getting side tracked. There's also no field goals, but touch backs are a thing at play start, but other times the crowd just kinda plays with the ball until it ends up back on the field. Then, of course, there's the different balls which can hurt the players, different ground/fields, weather, crowd mood, spells, magic sponges.... The works!

[@batboy555]

You can bribe the ref. The crowd attacks the field.

[@harbl99]

@@batboy555 You can try to smuggle chainsaws and explosives onto the field, and pogo sticks are a permitted option. Truly the greatest sports TTG.

[@batboy555]

@@harbl99 the dwarfs manage to smuggle construction equipment with spikes on it

[@strafe155]

Normies: Which is better, 40k or Fantasy? True fans: Blood Bowl!

[@jameshunter3867]

...Nuffle approves!

[@batboy555]

Goblin refs. End of discussion.

[@barryward2128]

It amazes me how many people refuse to believe in the named character law

[@marley7868]

observing an action changes it's outcome that's a scientific fact anyone who says luck isn't real is a brainlet

[@sadwingsraging3044]

**General Murphy giggles**

[@LunetoHa]

Wait wait.... it has LORE!?!

[@orionparish9858]

And unlike Fantasy, this universe still exists. Probably cause the Chaos Gods are too busy trying to beat each other in Blood Bowl to do anything else :D

[@AmmoMaximo42]

Here's another fun memory! My chaos dwarf team was playing against another human team. My teams' value was far higher, so the other team gets enough inducements (thinks that what they're called) to hire both Griff and Zug. So my teams having a gay old time, until one of my hobgoblins, Rotten Robbie, gets KO'ed. That's when the fun stopped. I swear either a switch must have been turned on in my players heads, or maybe Nuffle wanted vengance for my hobgobbo, because all of a sudden, my team starts knocking out the humans, even managing to injure both the star players! In the end , I think about three humans were left on the pitch, the rest were either KO'ed, injured, or dead. Guess Robbie was everyone's favorite player.

[@jameshunter3867]

...A classic presentation by the renowned scholar Arch--on the tail of his success as guest commentator for the match that saw the Norscan's cheerleaders, the Valhalla Chorus, take the field. Bravo sir!

[@OzymandiasRex]

Chaos Dwarves number one!

[@Khalith]

Makes me think of Pokémon in the sense that it’s a world where literally everyone is obsessed with the same thing. The people not that in to it were probably already burned at the stake for their heresy.

[@inthefade]

My older brother and his friends used to play Dungeon Bowl and make their own maps with moving traps and custom rules. It was hilarious.

[@katathoombz]

[libationes deis algorithmi] [cruores deo cruoris]

[@zj871023]

I mean... I had a skeleton that got up on an agi roll, dodge out, pick up the ball and then pass it to the vampire who then scored :'DDD plus minus a few roll for it's :DD

[@s2korpionic]

Nuffle was generous that day

[@cnlbenmc]

The way Arch described Blood Bowl it seems that this all started because an Abandoned American Football Stadium got Isekaied into the Warhammer Fantasy world. Possibly from that alternate version of the United States that's like Cyberpunk meets Mad Max (its a car combat game) where there is somehow apparently an Imperial Navy Warship of the spacefaring variety buried under the Ground somewhere within the continental US. It had Chaos cults operating on it so warp fuckery could explain it.

[@timmorin6657]

I would have expected that there would be a "blood hockey" or "blood demolition derby" game at this point to be honest.

[@seymourfields3613]

I could see a "Streets of Sim City" remake with 40k flavor doing well, if they make it right.

[@shawnm1902]

Blood bowl on an ice field (yes, it's a thing), is how you'd expect a "hockey" adaptation to go. As for cars? GorkaMorka is a thing

[@thestinkydwarf]

Blood Bowl - the game that teaches you to plan for failure :)

[@shawnm1902]

Expect failure. Revel in the (unlikely) success. Until you start hitting, or rather getting hit by, the teams utilizing C(P)OMB. Sure pile on had been toned back, but when something touches the granite with that, it's better than 50% sending the thing off the field. Game snowballs rapidly after that

[@mikaruyami]

It's always good to sort things out with a "friendly" game of blood bowl

[@goodsnacks6198]

Finally, a big channel doing a video on Blood Bowl. Great work. I hope we get more lore snippets in Blood Bowl 3 and further additions to the tabletop.

[@UGNAvalon]

Oculus Imperia & Bruce Alfabusa collabing on a Blood Bowl video doesn’t count as big channels! :

[@ZeroCGR2]

I did not know BB has such a lore. As a kid I had the tabletop version. Whatever happened to it I dont know. A couple of years ago I found the Blood Bowl 2 game on Steam. This sparked a sort of nostalgia.

[@CosmicFreedoms]

GW had one omnibus wrote about it. One of my favorites in the black library honestly.

[@dracowar6]

BB3 is coming out next month. can't wait to murder stuff while literally ignoring the ball and the score.

[@LOBricksAndSecrets]

"Weirdly oversized shoulderpads" or as most Warcraft / Warhammer Fantasy / WH 40k / Starcraft fans would call them: "Standard Issue Shoulderpads"

[@toxicmail1482]

Blood Bowl is 10 percent Strategy and 90 percent luck. That's why it makes you want to pull your hair out.

[@topkek996]

The Perfect Game

[@shawnm1902]

​@@topkek996not when your AGL 5 elves fail to pick up a ball with sure hands every turn of the game and the opposing chaos team rolls repeating triple skulls....

[@vixthesnarky2885]

Nothing like being a bashing team and having pillow fists that never cause an injury. Other games I get turn one kills or cripple people and they instantly rage quit. I don't blame them sometimes I lose a player turn one and rage quit too haha.

[@vixthesnarky2885]

@@topkek996 facts

[@mikkelnpetersen]

So pretty much the the same as XCOM games and Mordheim (Player: 95% hit chance when point blank, MISS, - AI:

[@Scott_the_Celt]

I don't know the rules of Bloodbowl, and I don't know how you're supposed to lineup your teams; but I would love to have a team full of orks with their spikes and crap and have an Oakland Raiders color scheme. (I refuse to accept their moving to Vegas)

[@shawnm1902]

You can do that, rather easily actually. In fact the Orkland Raiders have canonical lore...

[@Scott_the_Celt]

@@shawnm1902 oh hell yes! They are just the perfect team for it

[@dionjaywoollaston1349]

Anything goes so long as the umpire isn’t looking

[@Scott_the_Celt]

@@dionjaywoollaston1349 if youz iznt cheetin, ya aint krumpin proply!!!!

[@dionjaywoollaston1349]

@@Scott_the_Celt it’s only cheating if you get caught or it’s a rule in the first place

[@franckluciani9284]

absolutly awesome, love it x) an intro to more bloodbowl teams lore series in the future maybe? ^^ I'd love it, as a BB boardgames and bloodbowl2 pc player myself

[@C0ldIron]

I remember the dark times of the 2010s when blood bowl was maintained by the community and the teams were the oldest models still in print. And you had to make your own pitch. Thank Nuffle GW stated supporting it again.

[@evolvedpotatoe866]

I can just imagine Arch doing a Blood Bowl tournament with his friends and him just steam rolling Kibs with his Skaven.

[@luckyleo25]

Arch. I want to see another Skaven Blood Bowl playthrough. I loved the old ones that you used to have

[@dionjaywoollaston1349]

I’ve read the comic based on this, it was violent, sadistic and gory. I loved every second

[@bandaid6550]

I'm just glad I'm not the only who names some of his skitarii, and knows that they perform better when I give them the right amount of praise.

[@Shatterverse]

Wait, did you say... Perfectly Balanced? Damn you Spiffing Brit, you magnificent bastard!

[@GasMaskTrenchCoat]

Please do a video talking about the various teams and famous players.

[@PhilosophicallyAmerican]

I played a Monk Zen archer last night. He fires all arrows out into the void yet repeatedly rolls max damage in melee. It's... statistically unlikely.

[@headp3]

Blood Bowl, Rocken Roll Racing, and Cyberstadium Base Wars. Some of my favorite NES games!

[@justinlast2lastharder749]

The Real Lore of Blood Bowl: One day, The Emperor wanted to play some Blitz 2000 but he forgot his RF Modulator at his Horus's House so couldn't plug in his N64s three prong cable into his old TV. Him and Horus were having a bit of a Tiff so instead he went out and gathered some neighborhood Kids.

[@solaariel2692]

It only just occurred to me that Blood Bowl is basically the Warhammer equivalent to the setting in No Game No Life.

[@midshipman8654]

blood bowl is indeed the most serendipitous and sublime experience that any creature engage in.

[@vixthesnarky2885]

Praise Nuffle. He has treated me well blessed me and taken his tol in blood.

[@smellslikeburny]

oooooo the possibilities of lore now, Thank you, Arch. Are we going to be graced with the history of the Reikland Reavers at some point?

[@robouteguilliman6662]

Right as my store starts a bloodbowl league!!!

[@corygraafstra8173]

I'll always cherish my lizardmen team, those skinks carried me well.

[@trajanfidelis1532]

WOO BLOOD BOWL!!!

[@Nomadic_Gaming]

i cant tell if this is high tier satire and sarcasm or actual lore either way i was highly entertained

[@nathanpatrick2418]

There seems to be a certain amount of FORCE and BITTER LOATHING about those jezails you were talking about

[@igorkir7485]

football and blood? sounds good

[@shawnm1902]

Don't forget the literal fantasy component of this football (plays more like rugby though)

[@suddenlythatenderman5800]

The skaven luck tanget was amazing

[@cannibalpenguin19]

Robot Jox comes to mind now that I've watched this, instead of fighting on the battlefield you settle international resource disputes and dick size arguments in one on one giant Mecha combat.

[@batboy555]

I was playing blood bowl 2 lizardmen today. The announcers Jim and Bob are great.

[@norscout3031]

This is cool, ya know I've been playin warhammer since 5th edition fantasy, and I had no idea Bloodbowl was a different universe . Great video!

[@Solid_Snake427]

Was actually just listening to the Bull Centaur video! Chaos Dwarf superiority!!

[@baal9867]

I loved playing Blood Bowl years ago

[@Navigatortrue]

Can't think 3 horn had a long retirement being surrounded by Dark Elf Cheerleaders

[@phantomjoker5]

woo yeah baby thats what I've been waiting for that's what it's all about woo

[@alexanderhenderson2594]

I have this game, but I never played it because it was for Windows 98 and by the time my parents allowed me on PC thry all had XP

[@eichler721]

Great video and I never played bloodbowl but it always looked interesting

[@enriquehirshfeltikov2395]

Lol this was my intro into Warhammer mythos.

[@dormarch186]

The dice gods are something my friends have acknowledged after managing to inject a cyborg with chaos mutagen and getting the exact number in the d1000 to accidentally make it lose all the cybernetic upgrades due to shapeshifting to look like a daemon

[@ubanaga]

Good stuff arch, always fun to hear about the bit often talked about games

[@mortyjhones4068]

I love blood bowl. it also makes a great setting for strange and silly happenings backdrop or adventure for WHFRP. especially if you get the players get involved in all the sneaky backstabbing that goes on, before and around the match.

[@Isnak]

I love that they preserved all the old school GW silliness and humour in the new editions

[@brianjohnson5272]

My dad and his friend played blood bowl when i was around 8 years old (89') I asked what it was..... AAANNNNDDDD was escorted promptly from the den.

[@robertharrison2023]

They had a cartoon in the late 80 early 90 think it was called mutant bowl

[@BR4IN1N4J4R]

A week after buying myself a Nurgle Team, we get a vid. Awesome

[@Sahnor]

Can't wait for BloodBowl3. i hope they keep their promise of 23.02.23 release

[@rogerbrownreacts8528]

I still have the first Dragon Magazine with blood bowl.

[@captainpuffinpuffinson4769]

I was not expecting this video this week, and I am plesently surprised

[@ddd09ish1]

absolutely amazing timing

[@Flyn88]

This video seems a littler personal and I love it hahaha

[@duckman12569]

"Orks, who's greymatter can be measured in picograms" Yeh well, it's gonna be green init

[@NewGuy2534]

Ah Blood Bowl. Where cheating is not only allowed, it’s actively encouraged.

[@hieug.rection1920]

Luck is very much real. I know because I haven’t got it. Never have. I’d had to learn ways to compensate for it. If a d6 give you a 1 in6 chance of landing the necessary critical hit, it give me a 1 on 12 chance. But if I’m rolling 60+ d6’s, I’m probably going to win. Imperial guard for the win.

[@Xearrik]

Blood Bowl timeline > Sigmar timeline

[@joedigioseffo7203]

This reminds me of mutant. League Football on Sega i played in the 90's

[@nekkog1744]

I love this game and wish sports games were still like this, miss playing these ovwr the top takes on real world sports

[@Qolos]

Now I need to rewatch The Blood of Heroes.

[@vixthesnarky2885]

I miss my doge, side step, sure hands +1 agility +1 strength bull centaur.

[@Crimson-kt7fd]

Let's also not forget that Bloodbowl introduced us to Ork cheerleaders. Female Orks.

[@RavagersPrey]

Nothing like a game of Blood Bowl where a goblin somehow kills your Big guy in the first turn with a light smack on the head.

[@tentinquarentino.3076]

I've read that book so many times! Loved it

[@goingforgold_8536]

Casual reminder that I will make a Bickering Bunch + Arch blood bowl league one day

[@harvestblades]

Looking forward to this as I forgot about Blood Bowl despite it being such a classic. I think the Orks are juiced to the gills & USADA should start testing for doping! I envision Nuffle looking like Vince Lombardi fedora & all.

[@sadwingsraging3044]

**ahem** John Madden Super Bowl winning coach of The Raiders who's only requirement was _Just win baby._ You can admit your defeat now or I can have Kick em in the Head Ted Hendricks explain it to you.😉

[@JokerM77]

Well done Arch, this is one of the funniest videos you have made. Hopefully we get more BB faction videos closer to BB3 release.

[@duskcrane4317]

Oh, thank ye for finally covering this hilarious and punishing game!

[@RedwolfDogrocket]

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" "Harriers for the cup!" ~597th Valhallan Regiment under Caiphas Cain in response to a Khornate berserker