Foul Play!

After playing a little BB Team Manager card game earlier this week with Comrade James, we were excited to see that a new expanion has been announced by FFG!  The following is from their website here

You know, Bob, with the addition of the Putrid Players’ Guild, I think this season is going to be very interesting!

I think you’re right, Jim. We’re definitely going to see a lot of new tactics on the pitch.

If by tactics you mean absolutely filthy, illegal and sometimes disgusting moves, I couldn’t agree more!
Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce Foul Play, an upcoming expansion for Blood Bowl: Team Manager – The Card Game!
Prepare for a dramatic increase in cheating, fouling, and lowdown maneuvers with the newest Blood Bowl: Team Manager expansion. In this expansion, the Putrid Players’ Guild joins the Blood Bowl tournament season as a new subdivision of the Team Managers’ Union. With three new teams and no inhibitions about how they win, the PPG is certain to make quite a splash.

But that’s not the only change you’ll find in the newest season of Blood Bowl. For the first time ever, you’ll be able to roll the week’s highlights with the stadiums where they belong! Stadiums grant extra rewards to managers that win there, but some stadiums have rather peculiar rules as well. Another first in the Foul Play expansion is a referee, who moves freely from matchup to matchup. But never fear, team managers, this ref is comfortably corrupt, and he’s more than willing to help you cheat your way to victory. Even a corrupt ref won’t keep you safe from everything, though. New penalty cards bring stiff reprimands for cheating players, but in the chaos of the tournament season, who doesn’t cheat?
New Teams in the Running
The introduction of the Putrid Players’ Guild introduces three new teams into the competition for the coveted title of Blood Bowl champions, and you’ll need to get to know them, since you’ll certainly be seeing a lot of them!

Nurgle’s Rotters: The Nurgle players are a vile bunch, constantly spreading disease and oozing their way to victory. They can even turn opponents into more Nurgle players! With disease tokens that lower other players’ Star Power, the team can only be compared to an unstoppable plague.

The Zharr-Naggrund Ziggurats: The Chaos Dwarfs are masters of destruction and revenge. Not even being downed can stop these players from fouling their opponents. With thick skulls and packs of intimidating centaurs, this team is all about victory, even in the face of death. They always fight to the last breath, and sometimes even beyond.

The Lowdown Rats: Blood Bowl is known for its fair share of sleazy players, but these goblins take the cake, bringing chainsaws, bombs, and pogo sticks to any given game. The Lowdown Rats never even consider fighting fair. They play to win by any means, but failing that, total mayhem will suffice.
Penalty on the Play
In an effort to provide some sterner punishment for cheating players in the Blood Bowl, penalties are being introduced for the first time in the Foul Play expansion. These penalties can be received in several ways, such as by drawing one of the new cheating tokens with the penalty icon, or by losing the new Goblin Tribal Leeg tournament. Whenever you receive a penalty, you must draw a Penalty card and resolve the effects, which are nearly always unfortunate. Whether you lose fans or have a player ejected from the season due to a Penalty card, you’ll need to find some way to deal with penalties.

You may find a corrupt ref can help you dodge penalties in this expansion. The corrupt ref moves back and forth between matchups, helping players cheat and punishing managers who refuse to work with him by handing out penalties. When you commit a player to a matchup with the corrupt ref, that player immediately receives a face-up cheating token, allowing you to know exactly what the consequences of your cheating may be. After your player has been committed, the corrupt ref moves a number of spaces equal to the Star Power of your committed player, taking his double-dealing ways to other matchups.

Another update to the Blood Bowl tournament season is the introduction of stadiums. While it may seem shocking that Blood Bowl games are played in anything as structured as a stadium, managers won’t be surprised to see the range of treacherous environments used as stadiums. Your team might clash with others in the punishing Nehekara Death Dome, the Ogham Stonefield, or within the walls of Castle Waldenhof. Stadiums remains constant throughout the season, and they offer additional payouts for teams. Be warned, however, that some stadiums enforce truly strange rules. Certain skills may be banned in a given stadium, or there may be a limit on the number of players a manager may commit to a matchup there. There might even be minimum or maximum Star Power requirements! You can always break the rules, but each offense will result in taking a penalty, and you’ll need to weigh your options carefully.
Foul! Foul!
The Blood Bowl competitive season will take on a whole new shape with the release of the upcoming Foul Playexpansion. Pick your players, head to the pitch, and get ready for a rousing game of Blood Bowl: Team Manager! Look for the Foul Play expansion at your local retailer in the third quarter of 2014.