The Season Two expansion for Blood Bowl 3 launched on Thursday, adding the Underworld Denizens team to the digital game of fantasy football. The Denizens recruit their players from the sneakiest Warhammer races, with Goblins, Skaven, and the truly pathetic Snotlings, creating a team that’s numerous but extremely fragile.
Snotlings are one of the sillier parts of the Warhammer Old World, a diminutive offshoot of the Orcs and Goblins who would be a lot healthier if they kept well away from the Blood Bowl 3 gridiron. Cyanide Studios Product Manager Clement Nicolin demonstrated some different ways to use these tiny idiots in a Denizens mirror match against Wargamer.
First and foremost, the Denizens team is extremely fragile. Some of that is the low strength and armor values of its Goblin and Skaven linemen.
Some of that is the team’s very short list of positional players: while the team can recruit the extremely effective Skaven Gutter Runner and Skaven Thrower, and the acceptable Skaven Blitzer, it’s limited to just one of each. Your choice of Big Guy, either a Troll or Rat Ogre, has to play double duty as a de-facto Blitzer.
What the Denizens have going for them is numbers. Snotlings are the weakest, and also cheapest, players in the game. Their Swarming rule allows you to place D3 Snotlings from the dugout onto the pitch after both sides have deployed, taking you up to a potential 14 players, though the number you can add can’t be more than the number of Snotlings already on the field.
Those Snotlings are excellent for gumming up your opponent’s plans. Extra bodies let you set up tackle zones, mark opposing players, or outnumber enemy players before a big block.
You can dedicate a Snotling to nannying your Big Guy without sacrificing a significant activation. They’re also perfect for making fouls – who cares if a Snotling gets sent off?
As the team develops, the Denizens get access to Mutation skills, allowing them to easily create powerful combos not available to the Skaven or Goblins. Nicolin highlights Monstrous Mouth, which grants re-rolls to tests to catch the ball and immunity from the Strip Ball skill, as a slam-dunk choice to stick on your Gutter Runners.
Sadly those mutations will not be represented visually: Nicolin states that only cosmetic items will change how players appear, not skills.
Season Two brings with it “Blood Pass” experience track. Nicolin estimates that it will take you fifty games to clear the whole track, unlocking the Underworld Denizens for your troubles. Purchasing the Season Two Blood Pass unlocks the Denizens immediately, plus additional cosmetic rewards as you progress along the track.
There are a few more features, big and small, arriving with Season Two. Star Player Gobbler Grimlich, an absurdly mutated toad man, is now available to the Underworld Denizens and Chaos All Stars. Spectator mode arrives too, which will play a role in a publicly broadcast season finals.
The Lizardmen Team from the Season One Blood Pass will be available from the in the game store, though not quite yet.
Nicolin gives an update on the league administration tools that private league organisers have been waiting for since Blood Bowl 3 launched – they’re still coming, but they’re not ready yet. He says that a test version of league admin tools were sent out to administrators of some leagues a month ago, and the team is incorporating their feedback into another test build.
Eager for more strategic Warhammer fantasy games? The next big Warhammer fantasy game will be the Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin release. Find out what we think of it so far in our Realms of Ruin preview.