Blood Bowl

What is Blood Bowl

Blood Bowl is Games Workshop’s game of fantasy football. It’s set in a version of the Warhammer Old World where the races gave up on war and took up a sport that looks a lot like American football, only with more stabbing. You’re the coach. Your team is Humans, Orcs, Elves, Dwarfs, Undead, or one of a long list of others, and you’re trying to get the ball into the other end zone.

It first came out in 1986, designed by Jervis Johnson. It’s been through a lot of versions since: a plastic-teams edition in 1988, the 1994 edition that brought in turnovers, years as a “living rulebook” run by a rules committee, a big relaunch in 2016, and the Second Season Edition in 2020.

The part that keeps people coming back is the league. Players earn Star Player Points and pick up skills from game to game, and they also get hurt, sometimes permanently. A team becomes a story.

The current edition: Third Season Edition (2025)

Games Workshop revealed the Third Season Edition on 1 September 2025. Pre-orders opened on 1 November, and it came out that November. It refines the Second Season rules rather than tearing them up. Sprues & Brews put it this way: “If you already know how to play Blood Bowl then you will still know how to play it here.”

The boxed set has:

two new teams: the Brionne Barons (Bretonnians, brand new to the tabletop) and the Nehekhara Nightmares (Tomb Kings)
a 200-page rulebook
a double-sided cardboard pitch and dugouts
37 game tokens for tracking injuries and status
templates, dice, cheat sheets, and transfer sheets for both teams

It’s also the first box ever without Orcs in it.

If you already have a team, the rulebook is sold on its own. It has League and Matched Play rules, rosters for every current team, sixteen Star Players, and inducements.

What changed:

Secure the Ball. A new action that lets a player pick up the ball on a 2+ no matter their Agility, as long as nobody’s close enough to stop them. Big Guys can’t use it.
Simpler passing. Wildly Inaccurate passes and deflections are gone. A pass is Accurate, Inaccurate, or a Fumble.
Tokens. Prone, Stunned, and Distracted are marked with tokens around the base instead of by laying your painted models down.
Rosters match the boxes. Positional limits now match what’s in each team kit, so you don’t need to buy two boxes for one team.
New skills. Punt, Taunt, and Bullseye, plus a new Devious category with skills like Dirty Player and Shadowing.
A better Kick-off Table. No more Officious Refs.

Games Workshop posted an FAQ, errata, and an updated tier list on 20 May 2026.

Sevens and what’s next

Blood Bowl Sevens is the quick version: seven players a side on a smaller pitch, six turns per half, and teams drafted with 600,000 gold. The rules are in Spike! Journal Issue 22, and there’s a smaller pitch for it. Games Workshop pitched it as “ideal for lunchtime leagues.”

The Big Summer Preview (26 June 2026) also brought Morg ‘n’ Thorg in plastic for the first time, plus a Minotaur and a Rat Ogre. At the Big Autumn Preview (18 September 2026), Games Workshop showed a Night Goblins team: six Night Goblin Linemen plus two each of Cave Squigs, Squig Wranglers, Squig Hoppers, and Squig Herders. The rules are coming in Spike! Journal Issue 23. As of this writing there’s no price or release date.

How it plays

Eleven a side. A team roster runs from eleven to sixteen players, and eleven can be on the pitch at once.
A gridded pitch. The pitch is 26 × 15 squares, with a one-square end zone at each end. One player per square.
Two halves of eight turns each. Most touchdowns at the end of the second half wins.
Turnovers. If one of your players fails an action, like dropping the ball or getting knocked over, your whole turn ends right there. This is the rule the game is famous for. You do the safe things first and the risky things last.
Blocking. Hitting someone uses special block dice. The stronger player rolls more of them and picks the result, and teammates standing nearby can help.
Injuries stick. A knocked-down player rolls against armour, then injury. They might be stunned, knocked out, or carried off as a casualty, and in a league that can follow them into the next game.

How to start

Get the Third Season Edition box. It has two teams, the full rulebook, a pitch, and everything else you need. RRP is £88.
Already have a team? Just get Blood Bowl: The Official Rulebook – Third Season Edition. It has rosters for every current team.
Grab the free downloads. The Warhammer Community Blood Bowl downloads page has the FAQ, errata, and tier list.
Short on time? Sevens games are faster and need fewer models.
Find a league. The league is where the game’s whole progression system lives. Ask at your local store, or look up the NAF, the international association of Blood Bowl players.