Who needs horses when you have your Blood Bowl boots on? Spike! 19 is up for pre order today alongside the brand new edition of Blood Bowl, this time covering one of the latest two teams on the pitch, the Bretonnains! In this full review we’ll check checking out just what is contained within this issue of the Spike! Journal, seeing how the Bretonnians do on the pitch and letting you know if this is worth adding to your collection!

Massive thanks to Games Workshop for sending us over an early review copy to check out on the site. If you would like to support the site then why not pick up your Blood Bowl goodies through our affiliate Element Games and save yourself some money too?

We’ve also filmed a full video review of the new Spike! 19, which you can see just below or over on YouTube!

So without further ado, let’s dive into Spike! 19 and see what’s inside!

Spike! 19 Review

So it’s an exciting weekend for Blood Bowl – not only do we have a brand new edition of the game up for pre order, but we also have two new teams, and both with their own Spike! Journal. First things first, you get all the rules for every team in the core Blood Bowl rulebook – so this book isn’t needed from a rules point of view, but there are some really cool things in here that make it worth picking up and adding to your collection!

Before we get going, what exactly is a Spike! Journal. Blood Bowl is a fun one as it’s a Warhammer take on American Football and sports in general, and the Spike! Journals are a fun take on the kind of fan magazines that you get for sports teams. A lot of the content within is done from the point of view of a fictional magazine with team histories, interviews and analysis as if this was a real sports team. That makes Spike! Journals quite a different feel from supplement books for other games as a lot of the content is just for fun and flavour!

We get some background about the Bretonnian Teams, how they take to the pitch and how the lack of War in the Blood Bowl world caused them to take up the sport. You see, in the Blood Bowl universe, the various races of the Warhammer World decided to settle their differences on the Gridiron rather than on the battlefield – a sports game being far more entertaining (and profitable for the sponsors) than just bashing someone over the head with a sword. And so, in order to maintain the great tradition of noble types showing off to those under them the Bretonnians decided to hit the pitch!

We get a nice history of the Brionne Barrons too – these are the box art team, and just like with a sports magazine we get background, career highlights and even a recreation of the 2404-2405 squad with gold costs so that you can field them on the pitch. What’s really fun about these latest two Spike! Journals is the fact that we also get a historical match (in this case against the Mousillon Gnashers, a Vampire team!). There’s a number of special rules in order to recreate this historic game and even achievements that you are aiming to try and complete during the game. This is a really fun idea and gives you the chance to use two developed teams sitting just under a cost of 2 million gold in order to see if you can tick off any of the achievements listed. You get 3 for each team, and there’s lots of scope here to play then play again with the teams swapped to see who is the best couch!

Like with other Spike! Journals we also get ideas for different schemes and team names, along with fictional interviews and write ups.

There is gaming content in here though, and for players new to the Bretonnians you get a really nice article that goes through the various positionals and how best to use them

First up are the Squires, who are your Linesmen. They are pretty cheap at 50k and are your most fragile players, but they do have the Wrestle skill which can really annoy your opponent by getting rid of any “both down” mitigation they may have!

Knight Catchers are up next, and these guys are expensive but pretty good with decent stats and skills such as Catch as you’d expect, but also Dauntless making them punch above their weight when blocked by someone stronger, and Nerves of Steel helping them pass when blocked.

Knight Throwers are very similar in stats, if a little slower – from a Skills point of view they swap Catch for Pass, but keep Dauntless and Nerves of Steel making them really good!

Finally we get the real stars of the show your Grail Knights. They are your most expensive player, but they are a blitzer with AV 10+ making them tough to crack, Block and Dauntless helping them in combat and Steady Footing which is an amazing skill that basically gives them a 6+ save against getting knocked down or falling over!

You’re not going to be able to start with many reserves in a starting team, so you’ll probably want to invest in an Apothecary to keep your guys kicking until you can afford more players! I really like these as an elite and hardy team and feel they are going to be quite forgiving for new players jumping in with the new edition.

Like with other Spike! Journals we also get quite a few extra rules to add some flavour to your games. Firstly we get a Jolly Jouster Cup with is a new League with a Bretonnian flavoured theme and lots of fun little special rules such as being able to hire a Damsel who can use her magic to push players away from a targeted square. You get new kick off and weather charts with a Bretonnian vibe and even a chart to roll on to see which Dukedom of Bretonnia the game is taking place in, with different special rules for each.

On the sprue you get a couple of alternate balls, and these too get special rules, including the Ornate Ball that has a 1 in 6 chance of making whoever is carrying it Distracted.

Also up for pre order today is a Bretonnian themed pitch, and the rules for this are also included within the Spike! Journal. While not needed to play the Bretonnian team, I love these and in my own leagues we each tend to use the rules for our special pitch when playing home games, something that makes a league feel like your teams are travelling to different locations.

I really enjoy the Spike! Journals and feel they are a great and affordable buy to get yourself fully immersed in the feel of your new Blood Bowl team!

Spike! 19 is up for pre order today and is released Saturday 15th November

Games Workshop provided Sprues and Brews with a free copy for review purposes.

Published by Matt Crowther

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