Blood Bowl Inducement Review

Blood Bowl Inducement Review

As most of the inducement options from Death Zone are allowed in LBBL games I thought it was worthwhile providing a summary of what is available.  I have also added a quick colour code to say if I think the options are Good, Bad or Situationally useful. 

Remember as per the League handbook you must bring along an official copy of the relevant rulebook for any Inducement you are using.  This guide is intended to be used to help you decided if you want to buy a copy of Death Zone not as a replacement for it.  Remember folks we get an extra 5% off at Geek Retreat on League night!

Death Zone offers (In)Famous Coaching Staff, new Wizards, Named Referees and a small number of other cheap options for using up petty cash.

 0-2 (In)famous Coaching Staff

Galandril Silverwater	40,000 gp	Elven Kingdoms
Extra Cheerleaders and a minimal chance of extra Team Re-rolls if that kick off event happens.  I will pass thank you.
Kari Coldsteel	50,000 gp	Elven Kingdoms; Lustrian Superleageue; Old World Classic; Worlds Edge Superleague
Extra Cheerleaders (who needs them) and she can play one drive as a player if you ever have less than 11.  She is a cheap way to get a Str 2 Block player on your team but not amazing.  If you cannot afford Bugmen, and only have eleven players she is a cheap option to just get an extra body on the field.
Krot Shockwhisker	70,000 gp	Underworld Challenge
Once per game you have a 50% chance to get someone out of the Casualty box for one drive.  While it can be used after an Apothocary finding the extra cash for a Wandering Apothocary will be better most of the time.
Papa Skullbones	80,000 gp	Favoured of…; Underworld Challenge
Roll a D8 to get blessing of the chaos gods (Mutations on a random player).  This could be very good but also very inconsistent and not something to rely on.  If you like even more randomness in your games give it a try.
Mungo Spinecracker	80,000 gp	Badlands Brawl, Old World Classic, Underworld Challenge
Orc physiotherapy is brutal but has a chance of giving your players thick skull keeping them on the pitch rather than being knocked out.  He might also injuare them making it another risk/reward inducement.
Fink Da Fixer	90,000 gp	Badland Brawl; Underworld Challenge
Fink got really bad this edition.  Do not take him unless you already have a Biased Ref.  He can re-roll a single bribe (no longer all of them) and gives a bonus on Argue the Call.
Schielund Scharlitan	90,000 gp	Any Team
Another option for adding skills to your players; this time it is Pro.  At the end of the game there is a chance they keep the skill or gain Loner and thus need to be fired.  Useful at the start of a league when you do not have many skilled players but high risk for a more experienced team.
Josef Bugman	100,000 gp	Any Team
A bonus to players recovering from knock out and he can play one drive as a player if you ever have less than 11.  He is very reasonably prized for what you get.  He also stacks with kegs of beer.  Despite being a Dwarf it is in fact the lower armour teams, such as Elves, that will get the best use out of him.
Ayleen Andar	100,000 gp	Any Team
She can train your Journeymen to not have Loner or possibly have extra skills.  Some teams find themselves constantly running with 3 or more Journeymen at which point this becomes a cost effective option.  The other benefit is if you hire them after the game they keep these new skills.
Professor Fronkelheim	130,000 gp	Sylvanian Spotlight
The Mad Doctor gets to give mutations to Unliving teams!  This is expensive and unreliable but if you are trying to build a team for stardom in a later season it may be worth gambling on the 1/6 change of getting a permanent mutation.  Just hope you get a Big Hand Ghoul and not a Monstrous Mouth Mummy.

0-1 Wizard.

In LRB/CRP Rules Wizards were a 2+ to ruin someone's day.  They have been toned down so most spells are now 3+ instead.  The Basic Sports Wizard is still one of the best choices.  You have Fireball to open up a tight cage and Zap! to deal with a single player.  Frogification is wonderful especially if you get to injure the player as they are then out of commission for the rest of the game.

Deathzone contains eleven new Wizards.  I am not going to go into detail on all of them as they mostly seem worse than the default Sports Wizard in the main rule book.  Price varies but they are all 150,000 gp except the Slann Mage Priest and Horatio X. The Slann offers one of three mediocre spells (do not bother) for a higher price and Horiato is half the cost for half a wizard.  If his inaccurate Fireball does anything think of it as a bonus.  Most of the others offer a Thunderbolt, or some variation upon it, that needs a 3+ to knock a single player down. New Wizards of note are -

• Warlock Engineer (Underworld Challenge) & Ogre Firebelly (Badlands Brawl).  Both of these offer a spell that goes from one sideline to the other.  Useful for opening up scoring options; especially for Throw Team Mate.
• Horticulturalist of Nurgle (Favoured of Nurgle; Underworld Challenge). Strange Flora is a much better Thunderbolt as it can hit D3 players! That means even if you fail to get the quarterback you might open up a path for blitzing them.
• Night Goblin Shaman (Badlands Brawl; Underworld Challenge).  You get the option of a 2+ to make one opponent Really Stupid and Loner.  If an opponents team only has one or two key players it could be worth nobbling one of them with this spell.

0-1 Biased Referee

The main rule book biased ref not only means your opponent is more likely to be sent off (1/3 non-doubles are spotted) but gives you a bonus to Argue The Call meaning your fouls become safer.  This means most of the time he is going to be the best choice.

Death Zone introcued four Named Biased referees.  Three of them make your opponents fouling worse with a 50% chance of some consequences on a none-doubles foul

• Ranulf: For an extra 10,000 gp no team can use Argue the Call.  When spotted the player can choice to get hit by Ranulf's axe rather than being sent off.  If an injury is caused they are not sent off.
• Korensson: Get the Ref kick off event is cancelled.  Players spotted cannot be saved by a bribe and if the head coach is sent off on a failed argue so is another player!  This is a boost for Dwarf teams.
• Jorm: If the Ogre spots a player they get punched rather than being sent off.  This could be useful against a lower AV team.  His second ability replaced Get The Ref with him attacking the crowd reducing Fan Factor (and thus your winnings) for the rest of the game.
• Trundlefoot Triplets: A comedy optoin of incompetent halflings who might send the foulee rather than the fouler off the pitch!   If you roll Get The Ref they are replaced with a normal referee.  I would not expect anyone but Halfings, who get them for 40,000 gp, to take the triplets.

Other Inducements

There are a few other options in Death Zone available for most teams.  These give a few options other than temporary cheerleaders when you get only a small amount of petter cash.  The options are -

• Waaagh! Drummer (50,000 gp Badlands Brawl). Each drive you can push back 0-3 players.  Great for reducing hits on the line of scrimmage and disrupting OTT set ups.
• Cavorting Nurglings (30,000 gp each Favoured of Nurgle). These count as extra Fan Factor and Cheerleaders.
• Dwarfen Runesmith (50,000 gp Old World Classic; Worlds Edge Superleague).  Once per game you get extra skills on a player for one drive.  The problem is it might not kick in on the drive you want.
• Halfling Hot Pot (80,0000 gp Old World Classic; 60,000 Halfling Thimble Cup).   Once per game you get an effect very similar to a Fireball but it may scatter off target.  It is a better pick than Horatio X.
• Master of Ballistcs (40,000 gp Old World Classic; 30,000 Halfling Thimble Cup).  A small chance at the start of every drive of having better control over where the kicked ball lands.  Not bad for the price and combines with the Kick skill if you have it.
• Bottle of Heady Brew (40,000 gp Tier 3 Teams). Feed your players hooch and get them Dauntless, Frenzy and Stupid!  It is a boost for a Tier 3 team.
• Team Mascot (30,000 gp Any Team) 2/3 chance of an extra Team re-roll each half.  The fact that if the Mascot fails you can still use a normal Team re-roll makes this worth considering if you have a little cash left over at the end.
• Medical Ungent (60,000 gp Any Team). Another option that is not quite a Wondering Apothecary.  This only works to heal a Serious Injury (3/16 of the casualty rolls).  Some games it will do nothing.  It is a little too random for my tastes.

Image Credits: Art from blouson on Deviant Art