f13.net

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/dreadball-the-futuristic-sports-game

Mantic's running a KS for a bloodbowl-alike. I like that the ref is an actual mini on the field, and that's it's a futuristic version of the game.

Nuclear launch from Games Workshop HQ detected...

http://quirkworthy.com/2012/08/27/dreadball-and-the-elephant-in-the-room/

Mechanical differences and 'how reality works' aside, on face value of those screen caps I see sci-fi versions of humans, orcs, and skaven.  GW throws copyright fits over almost anything, but there is a priority to their wrath.  Copying the mechanics of something is low-ball stuff, esp. considering that BB is just copying/modifying American football.  And the article you link there does do a good argument conveying that, which I agree to.

Copying the characters and art stuff?  Again, nuclear.  Launch.  Detected.  GW and Blizzard had this fight decades ago, and most recently GW almost went to blows with EA with some of their art designs for the C&C browser game and how it ripped on War40k works.  This is something that article does not mention, which is probably intentional. because he knows he's ripping that shit.

GW do not have the rights to Orcs and Humans... Not sure if they invented Skaven, but certainly they didn't invent rat people. Mantic have been going for a while now, can't see this causing any issues.

Yeah the 'derp derp I swear it isn't a clone' thing falls apart for me because of the race choices. It would be tremendously easy to just not use orcs, for example.

Especially considering the sci-fi setting.

I'm sure you meant dwarves, right?  :grin:

Yeah, setting wise this is obviously Bloodbowl 40K, regardless of if the game mechanics are different.

Not that I'm really against that, considering how god damn stupid Citadel is with overcharging for their stuff and not letting direct translations of their games get made into PC format. 

Seems more like Shadowrun Speedball to me...

Just dropping this in this thread to not shit up the subforum with a post somewhere else :)

I was having a beer with my football buddy this afternoon, my tv is out so we were just jawing a bit and he asked about the blood bowl box on the shelf. I pulled it out and showed him the basics, he thought it was awesome and that we should start playing! Yay!

The Orcs "Orx", Skaven "Veer-myn"  :facepalm: and Dwarves "Forgefathers" (AKA Not-Squats) thing come from Mantic's Sci-Fi game, called "Warpath". But more than that it comes from their orgin as ex-GW employees effectively making cheaper alternate figures for people to use in Warhammer Fantasy Battle (and then 40k with Warpath). The corporation helmets are a bit too obviously Space Marine inspired for my liking, but I guess they know what sells for GW..

If GW had a legel leg to stand on, they'd already have C&D'ed Mantic out of business, along with all those resin places in Poland. Their court case against Chapterhouse (http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/355433.page), a US-based and pretty blatant manufaturer of resin 40k bits isn't going so well, since along with not inventing Orcs, Elves or Powered Armour, it turns out they didn't invent arrows, skulls, chevrons and plenty of other stuff.

Having said all that, it's obviously Blood Bowl Speedball 40k, with some Fantasy and deleted races thrown in. I'm ok with that.

Yep. If I don't care for the rules, I can always just use the teams for blood bowl, too.

My buddy also insists his star player is a blitzer named Walter Payton and he's picked the orcs. I told him I'd paint them up in his choice of colors if he sticks with it. I think he gets the concept, hope he enjoys the process, too. We'll still probably watch football through January but this could be a regular blood bowl game every week during the off-season!

They've limited the amounts of pledges so they can get the game out on time (for xmas), so if you're interested you should probably go have a bid on one.

For reference, the Blood Bowl box comes with 2 teams, 24 minis, for $82.50 (from GW). Jack pledge for DB ($100, 50 minis) is 2 teams 28 minis + 8 players from other teams (promos), a coach and refbot, 11 MVPs and other knickety knacks. Striker level ($150, 82 minis) comes with 4 teams 52 minis, 8 players from other teams (season 2 promo), coach and ref, 15 MVPs, and other knickety knacks. I think that doesn't count the new FF (dwarf) MVP that was just unlocked, and a prone figure.

Season two teams (x4 currently) are BOGO at $25, so $50 for four teams vs BB's $50/team.

And since it's a KS, stuff will be added for another week, enhancing the deal.

Ok, last nag since there seems to be no interest in this from the BB folks. Only 15 slots left for the Striker (optimal) pledge level.