Wanted to chime in here;
We'll be using the competition rules available from the GW site:
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m780049a_Blood_Bowl_Competition_Rules.pdfAside from those teams, you may also use the Chaos Pact, Slann Teams, and Underworld Teams as they are official NAF sanctioned teams. You can get them here
http://www.thenaf.net/files/NewTeams_LRB6.pdfIt balances out some teams that we felt were a bit burly (like dwarves) or a bit too weak (like goblins). So instead of LRB5 we thought using LRB6 would allow people a broader selection of races that could at least hang in there. Although goblins will probably not be a top team but at least have a chance of sticking it through.
According to the NAF it is still
Blood Bowl 4th Edition LRB5 Competition Rules (so version 4.55?). That means that if you order the Box, it contains the 4th Edition rulebook.
I highly recommend that if you decided to get back into it, either:
-join the NAF (about $15.00), or
-buy a box with a friend (about $81.00), or
-buy a set of alternate block dice from Ebay (about $9.99 for all three).
The issue right now is Dice. They have become very rare and for some reason due to the surge in new and returning BB players (due to the video game) Block dice prices have skyrocketed. Some going for as high as $60 for three of them. I paid about 17.00gbp for mine which after conversion and S&H came out to about $28.00. It’s been a month and I still haven't received them :(
If you join the NAF, they will send you a set of dice in the current year's colors (I believe they are red this year). Unfortunately whether you receive them or not is up in the air. I’ve read on the NAF site that some folks have waited over 4 months and still haven't gotten theirs.
Printing out the rules is the best way to go. The competition rules are sans fluff, but not like its good fluff anyways. It cost us about $4 or $5.00 bucks at Kinkoes to get them spiral bound with a plastic cover and leather back.
I'll post my team when it gets closer to being completed.
Putting together a team is really cheap on the wallet. Especially cheap if you already have a vast collection of Citadel or other equally sized 28mm figures. Even Reaper minis work. You only need 11 models. We recommend at least 2 additional models built as Linemen (or equivalent). Odds are that in a game you'll lose one player due to KOs or Injury. Having that extra player to keep you at 11 could prevent you from severely handicapping yourself.
Keep in mind that you'll probably be stuck at 11 players for at least two games before you have enough "game money" to afford the 12th member of the team that is... unless one of your other players gets killed. So if you just want to paint up 11 models, you'll be fine for a while. Some teams are so expensive (Chaos, Dark Elves) that you'll probably be stuck at 11 for quite a while anyhow. I think it took me 3 games before I even thought about purchasing another beastmen and about 1 tourney and 2 games before my Dark Elves got a Runner.
So far of the three teams I've played with, I've never had more than 12 members. It sort of works out like Mordenheim where the more people you have the higher points value the team is and the more you're wasting. You'll also get penalized for spiraling expenses. It’s best to keep a trim highly efficient team. Of course that might be different if you go with a team like Goblins or Lizardmen that have rather weak runners and passers and tend to die pretty frequently.
Like CyphurKK said, most of the citadel line works awesome. We've had some trouble though coming up with stuff that works. I've always wanted a Dark Elf team for the table top but looks like it might be a while before I can get one. The Dark Elf BB team doesn't look too cool and uses old models. But teams like Humans, Ogres, Lizardmen, Orcs, Goblins, can easily be converted out of the Citadel range. We found that WH40K OrK Boyz work awesome as a foundation for an Orc team. Fantasy Goblin Regiment is perfect for a goblin team. Usually just a box of 20 of either is enough since it'll come with enough bits for all 16 members of the team plus extra for conversions.
You'll have to get 1" WH40K round bases (the standard ones you get with space marines) for your regular team members and the 1.5" "Terminator" round bases for your big guys (like Kroxigors, Trolls, Ogres, etc).
Here are the teams we're modeling so far:
Fanbus: Humans (Sigmar Saints)
CyphurKK: Dwarves (4'T Miners)
OldHat: Orcs (Deathskull Crushers?)
Toaster36: Khemri (no name yet)
Other folks:
Lizardmen (no name yet)
Skaven (no name yet)
I don't know everyone’s' cvgamers sig but I'll update it once we have everything confirmed.
For the league we have some minor requirements so far, will make things official once we all get together and decide:
-Our first league will be free. Perhaps on our second league we'll all chip in to order the official trophy if everyone’s cool with that. It'd probably be like $2.00 per person since those trophies are cheap.
-Your team must be on 1" round bases or 1.5" round bases for the big guys. GW style bases or equivalent (Gale force 9) are highly recommended. Display Bases (Privateer Press, DarkAge, etc) are not recommended because the lip overhangs a bit too much. Also, although the pitches we're building have 1 1/4" squares, official BB paper pitches are 1 1/8" squares give or take 1/8. That means that Display Bases will overhang a lot more :( The small Display Base (like the ones used for Warcasters and small jacks in WarMachine) are just snug to 1 1/4" but would overhang on the official 1 1/8" pitches. I put this here for a friend of mine that will be playing Skaven and he was wondering if he could use Display Bases. Just wanted to express the issues with them for anyone else interested in Display Basing their team. Display Bases from Privateer Press and Round Bases from GW cost the same (I believe both are $5.99 a pack), so you may as well go with the correct ones
-Team members must have a number, either on the model or on the base. A major part of the game is the random team member mechanics as well as the MVP part. They don't have to be the same number as their roster position though. The numbers also help your opponent know which model is which.
-Team must have a name! hehehe it’s all about team pride.
-We were thinking that Cheerleaders, Apothecaries/Igor, and Wizards were to be modeled, but that's up in the air. The value of those models to the game is pretty important (things like Apothecaries and Wizards can technically change the outcome of a game big time). Again I welcome discussion about that.
Anyhow, feel free to post any questions and such. I myself just got into Blood Bowl after playing the new video game extensively. The game uses the LRB5 rules very closely (particularly in Classic Mode).
