Painting Challenge Submission 15 - Are We Ready For Some Blood Bowl?

It's Blood Bowl time! Here come the Hochland Hammers!

Spring has arrived - on the calendar, if not in the climate - and that means another edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has come to an end. The final couple of weeks of the AHPC tend to be a real mad dash, as Challenge participants cram to finish off projects old and new, and rack up as many points as possible. You can see from the frenetic activity here on the blog (which is awesome - keep it up!) just how much paint the Conscripts tossed at figures through the final phases.

I will catch up myself now, with a series of posts showing my final work for AHPC XII. And to get started, I have this submission, which would push me across the line for my own points target. It felt it fitting to use a Blood Bowl team to push across the proverbial line. So I present the "Hochland Hammers", a team of Imperial Nobility, for GW's Blood Bowl. 

I think these are the bodyguards...I assume meant to protect the thrower, like offensive linemen or something.

So what can I tell you about Blood Bowl? Nothing! I have never played it. I have been aware of it for the entirety of my 30+ years of interest in the hobby and GW, but I have never, ever played it, or given it much more than a glance and a chuckle. 

My thrower...hasn't played a game yet, and he already looks like he wants to re-work his contract...

But, having moved to a new town, I am keen to meet new hobbyists and gamers. And here in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, they play Blood Bowl. There is a league, entering its third season, and all of the players in the league, polite and fun participants in the assorted historical and 30k demo games I have been staging here at the local hobby shop, have been urging me to play Blood Bowl. 

The blitzers. I wonder how they will do against Khorne-worshipping linemen?

I was reluctant, feeling I could not get a team painted in time, as the league starts in March - but since it appears you only need 12 or so players, I thought "why not?". When in Rome, right? I want to meet new players, and get to know the local gaming community a little better. Plus, there are always hilarious Blood Bowl-themed entries in The Painting Challenge. I picked the Imperial Nobility box off of the shelf at the beginning of March, and got cracking with the brushes. I chose the colours of Hochland - the same colours of my very, very old Empire Army from Warhammer Fantasy Battle, that still sits on my shelf today. 

Ah, the colours of Hochland - quick and dirty to paint!

I already can't recall what position these two play, but the fact that they keep tankards with them at all times makes me confident they have "what it takes" to succeed in Blood Bowl.

This team includes a thrower, linemen, bodyguards, and a couple of blitzers - I think? I'm not sure. The box came with two thrower figures, but I only painted the one, thinking that you would not have two throwers on the field on the same time - although I don't know that, as I don't know a thing about Blood Bowl. 

Blood Bowl appears to involve a ball and violence. So this fellow should come in handy.

I've sourced a jaunty hat for this guy, but that is still in the post, so this is how he will likely play his first couple of games.

Multiple members of the local league, upon hearing that I was painting up the Imperial Nobility team, assured me that I would "need" an Ogre. So I ordered one of those too, and got him ready to go.

I also painted up some trinkets/markers that came on the sprues. I am trying to find figures to represent coaches, and an apothecary, but I am assured I "have what I need to play a game" at this point. We'll see!

Are we ready for some Blood Bowl! Hell yeah!

So...I am finally trying Blood Bowl! Travel plans will delay my first game, but I do hope share tales of my trouncing in the local league as it starts to occur! Thanks for reading!