Matched Play
Leagues aren't the only way to play Blood Bowl and some Coaches may not live close enough to a gaming group, or simply not be able to commit to playing through a full league. Many Coaches enjoy attending the likes of tournaments and gaming weekends, or simply enjoy playing pick-up games in their local gaming store. This is called Matched Play, and is the perfect way to play one-off games whilst still allowing Coaches the challenge of building rosters for their favourite teams and deciding what Skills and Inducements best fit their style of play.
In this section we are going to explain how to build a roster for Matched Play. Though some of the aspects of Blood Bowl may seem like they are only designed for League Play, such as gaining Skills and Inducements, that's not the case - they simply work a little differently in Matched Play, which we will explain here.
DRAFTING A MATCHED PLAY TEAM!
For the most part, this is exactly the same as drafting a team for League Play. You will still need to fill out a Team Draft List in the same way as described on page 86 using one of the usual Team Rosters. However, there are some important differences that you need to be aware of when drafting a Matched Play team.
TEAM DRAFT BUDGET
For Matched Play, the Team Draft Budget that Coaches will have to draft their team will be different from the usual 1,000,000 gold pieces that is standard for League Play. Instead, Coaches will usually have a larger amount of cash to spend on their team, allowing them to build their team in a different way to how they would when starting a league.
There is no set amount of gold pieces for Matched Play games, and many tournaments will have different Team Draft Budgets. However, the most common values are 1,100,000, 1,150,000 or 1,200,000 gold pieces. This doesn't mean that you can't go higher (or lower) for your own Matched Play games should you wish.
The other important thing to note in regards to Team Draft Budgets in Matched Play is that all the gold pieces a team has must be spent when drafting your team. Any gold pieces not spent are lost, so it is always worth spending any leftover cash on the likes of Assistant Coaches, Cheerleaders, Dedicated Fans or whatever else you can manage to afford.
A Team Draft List for Matched Play will need to have any Sideline Staff and Inducements purchased on it. This is especially important for tournaments so that all Coaches know exactly what each team has.
Teams drafted for Matched Play start with a Dedicated Fans Characteristic of 0, though they may still purchase additional Dedicated Fans as normal.
INDUCEMENTS IN MATCHED PLAY
As all gold pieces must be spent in Matched Play, Inducements work slightly differently in this format. Instead of players working out the difference in their Current Team Value (CTV) and then awarding Petty Cash as they would do in League Play, in Matched Play Coaches are simply allowed to buy Inducements for their Team Draft List.
Coaches may spend as much or as little on Inducements as they wish, so long as they have a minimum of 11 players (including Star Players) on their Team Draft List.
Some tournaments may decide to omit certain Inducements, or even create their own that are unique to their event, so it is always important to check to see what Inducements are eligible.
TEAM TIERS
In Matched Play, each of the Team Rosters is placed in one of four Tiers based on how good the team performs; Tier 1 contains the best performing teams, whilst Tier 4 contains the more challenging teams. Simply put, the better the Tier a team is in, the better they generally are. However, as a result, and as a way to balance things out between the two teams, the better a team's Tier, the less Skill Points they will receive in order to purchase Skills and Star Players to help them on the pitch. Skill Points are explained on page 112.
The Tiers each team is in is constantly being assessed so that we can ensure the game is as balanced and up to date as possible. You will find the most up-to-date Tier List as part of the Blood Bowl Designers' Commentary on warhammer-community.com.
STAR PLAYER POINTS
As your Team Draft List is already set when playing a Matched Play game and any Skills are already decided, players do not generate Star Player Points during the course of the game. This means that during Matched Play, players cannot gain player advancements of any kind.
CASUALTIES
As Matched Play games are usually played as one-off games or as part of a tournament, Casualties work slightly differently than they do in League Play.
In League Play, your players will suffer injuries, Characteristic reductions and the like, helping to tell the story of the team as they progress through the Season. However, in Matched Play this is not the case, and a team is always considered to start each game with its full complement of healthy players.
What this means is that at the end of each game, a Matched Play team will make a full recovery from its previous game in time for the next one. This ensures that in a tournament or event, if a team gets horribly mangled in their first game, they are not left unable to compete for the rest of the event and it allows Coaches to get some good games in without panicking about having to replace players, or worrying that their favourite player is going to get their head smashed in - beyond the normal boundaries of a Blood Bowl match, of course!
ACQUIRING ADDITIONAL PLAYERS
If a team acquires additional players during the course of a game, such as those earned through the Plague Ridden Trait or the Masters of Undeath special rule, then those additional players will only be available until the end of the game in which they were earned, and will not be added to your Team Draft List at the end of the game.
SKILL POINTS
As mentioned on the previous page, in a Matched Play game, teams are given a number of Skill Points which they can use to spend on additional Skills or Star Players for their team. The amount of Skills Points a team receives will depend on the team's Tier, as listed below.
| TIER OF TEAM | NUMBER OF SKILL POINTS |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | 6 |
| Tier 2 | 8 |
| Tier 3 | 9 |
| Tier 4 | 10 |
PURCHASING SKILLS
Purchasing a Primary Skill for a player will cost 1 Skill Point. There is no limit to the number of Primary Skills a team can purchase, so long as they have Skill Points remaining.
Purchasing a Secondary Skill for a player will cost 2 Skill Points. Teams are limited to the number of Secondary Skills they can purchase depending on their Tier.
- TIER 1 TEAM: Maximum of 1 Secondary Skill
- TIER 2 TEAM: Maximum of 2 Secondary Skills
- TIER 3 TEAM: Maximum of 3 Secondary Skills
- TIER 4 TEAM: Maximum of 4 Secondary Skills
Each player can only be given a single additional Skill, though there is no limit to the number of times a particular Skill can be chosen, with the exception of Elite Skills which can only be taken a maximum of four times in a Matched Play roster. Additionally, Star Players cannot be given additional Skills under any circumstances.
It's important to note that, unlike in League Play, Skills purchased for players in Matched Play do not add to a player's Current Value and as a result, the team's Team Value will not increase.
STAR PLAYERS
Skill Points must also be spent if a team wishes to take a Star Player on their Team Draft List as an Inducement. If a team wishes to take a Star Player, then they must still pay the Star Player's associated cost in gold pieces, and also spend 2 Skill Points to have them on their team. Tier 1 teams may only have 1 Star Player on their team, whilst Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4 teams may have up to 2 Star Players if they wish.
Star Players that must be hired as a pair only count as a single Star Player choice, and therefore only cost 2 Skill Points for the pair, but will still take up two spaces on a team's Team Roster.
Some Star Players have such an impact on the game that they are classed as Mega-stars. Mega-stars cost 4 Skill Points rather than the usual 2 Skill Points.
Mega-stars like to be the star of the show, and don't like to have to share the limelight with anyone else who is considered to be their equal. A team may only ever have a single Mega-star on their Team Draft List.
Which Star Players are considered as Mega-stars is constantly being assessed to provide the most up-to-date and accurate representation of their impact on the game. You can find the most recent list of Mega-stars as part of the most recent Blood Bowl Designers' Commentary on warhammer-community.com.
Below is a table summarising the breakdown of what Skill Points can be spent on, and an example of how you could choose to spend them.
Note that teams may still only have a maximum of two Star Players, including Mega-stars.
| PRIMARY SKILL (1 SKILL POINT) | SECONDARY SKILL (2 SKILL POINTS) | STAR PLAYER (2 SKILL POINTS) | MEGA-STAR (4 SKILL POINTS) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | No Limit | Maximum 1 | Maximum 1 | Maximum 1 |
| Tier 2 | No Limit | Maximum 2 | Maximum 2 | Maximum 1 |
| Tier 3 | No Limit | Maximum 3 | Maximum 2 | Maximum 1 |
| Tier 4 | No Limit | Maximum 4 | Maximum 2 | Maximum 1 |
Skill Points example: Jay is taking a Wood Elf Team to a tournament. As this is a Tier 1 team, Jay has 6 Skill Points to spend. He decides to give one of his Wardancers Strip Ball as a Primary Skill for 1 Skill Point, and another Wardancer Sidestep as a Primary Skill for 1 Skill Point. He then gives his Loren Forest Treeman Grab for 1 Skill Point, and one of his Wood Elf Throwers Leader for 1 Skill Point. Jay then spends his last 2 Skill Points to have Akhorne the Squirrel as a Star Player.