Blood Bowl Frustrations……

It’s something that happens to the very best of us. By its design, Blood Bowl is a frustrating game, as are any luck or dice-based games for that matter. Throw in a little competition to the mix and you easily create situations where players can get irritated, annoyed, or even angry about their bad luck. The turnover system, although makes for fast gameplay and encourages good decision making, also leads to many Blood Bowl frustrations, especially when you’ve just expertly planned your turn, only for a 1/32 chance to ruin it!

It would be INCREDIBLY hypocritical of me to say I’m above it all, even when I KNOW that it’s all part of the game and it shouldn’t bother me. The issue is, our brains see patterns even when there aren’t any, and there’s a little thing called Cognitive Bias, where we think we’re on a run of bad luck even if mathematically we’re not. It’s the same when you believe you always hit the red lights on your journey to and from work, the reality is you probably don’t, but you think you do because you only care about when you’re forced to stop.

It’s the same with Blood Bowl, we see the bad rolls so much more than the good ones, often because the bad ones actually have a visual impact. I find that Blood Bowl 2 is far worse in this regard because it’s a video game and you’re actually watching your players fall over, die, or see that big TURNOVER graphic coupled with that god damned horn in the background. The game is telling you failure is bad through visual and audio cues, compared to the Tabletop where not only are you sat opposite an opponent so you’re less likely to get visibly annoyed due to embarrassment/fear of seeming like an arsehole, you’re also forced to imagine what’s going on so there’s nothing screaming at you saying “YOU FAILED” unlike the video game.

So it doesn’t surprise to hear about people getting annoyed or seeing vents about their Blood Bowl frustrations in the Discord channels. In many ways it’s a good thing as to me it shows the coaches are open enough to let it out…. better that than keeping it bottled up right? I very much doubt anyone has been immune to those games where it seems everything is against you… and if you’re able to then, honestly I envy you!

I think it’s also fair to say that we’re all getting annoyed at the GAME, not the PLAYER, and this is a very important distinction. If I moan, groan, shout expletives, I’m not getting frustrated at you, my opponent, it’s wholly the game. I’ve been fortunate enough to play in a league where pretty much everyone has a good level of sportsmanship and gamesmanship, we’ve fostered a great community so far and thankfully, we’ve had no complaints about other players which I’m super proud of! So when your opponent is indeed having one of those games, do bear in mind it’s often just the game itself and not you, and visa-versa of course. I’ve absolutely had games where it feels like I’m getting screwed over, not because of poor decisions or tactics, but because of bad rolls popping up and the worst times. Often I’ll actually be more irritated with myself for bad decisions because I know I can play better!

So what can we do?

I’m not going to say, “Oh it’s just a game get over it…” because that just entirely skips over the fact that we’re human. I’d love to be able to compartmentalize Blood Bowl, I really would but in that moment, particularly in a competitive format when there are effects to your ranking or potential rankings (whether it matters or not!), it’s so easy the Blood Bowl frustrations get to you. It also changes game to game.

For example, in my game against the Kislev, I’d probably argue it was the biggest dicing I’ve ever received. I think it was something like 5 casualties in just a couple of turns, without any tackle/mighty blow, or whatever to help with that, my opponent’s rolls were just great that it completely crippled my team. That one, I actually found the ridiculousness of it amusing and quite enjoyable to witness, it was weird. In comparison, my game against the lizards featured a double skull on the first turn, double ones when trying to base a ball carrier and a few other bits in between…. those actively irritated me and honestly lessened my enjoyment of the game. It’s weird, I suppose it’s entirely dependant on one’s mood on the day, the team you’re against or all manner of things.

So, I guess it’s just about understanding WHY we get annoyed and trying not to allow it to ruin the game for us. It’s hard and there are times where I just really don’t want to play the game after a run of bad games. We play this for our enjoyment after all, so taking a step back and reflecting on whether there’s a flaw in our tactics, a team that counters ours we’ll just better play from our opponent, or was it actually one of those games which just suuuck! I think it’s worth thinking about at the very least.

Sorry, this one was a bit waffly, but I think it’s something worth touching upon. I’m not really sure if I said anything but, we’ll see I suppose!

Also a reminder that our GRUMBBL store is now LIVE!!