The High Elf Team crashes onto the Gridiron in today’s pre orders alongside Spike 21 and the High Elf pitch and cards! After all the excitement of the new edition of the game we finally have the next team to release, and the High Elves are the contenders this time!

In this full review we’re going to check out Spike 21 to see just what the High Elf Team have to show us, and we’re also building and painting the new team to see what they are like in the flesh!

Massive thanks to Games Workshop for sending us over the new releases to check out on the site. If you would like to support the site then why not order your High Elf Team through our affiliate Element Games and save yourself some money too?

We’ve also filmed a full unboxing and review checking out the kit, the cards and the new pitch which you can see just below or over on YouTube.

So let’s give into Spike 21 and see just what the High Elves have to offer!

High Elf Team Unboxing and Spike 21 Review

Hello sports fans and welcome back to another Spike Journal review! Can you believe we are on issue 21 already? That’s a lot of Blood Bowl teams having their own Journal, and I feel we are pretty much at the point where every single team is now represented! This is exciting as it means that going forward we’re going to see some of the older ones updated to match the quality of the newer kits, or even cooler that we are going to see some brand new invented teams.

But what of this Journal? Well if you’re not picked up a Spike Journal before, these are essentially a 34 page supplement for a Blood Bowl team done in the style of an in-universe fanzine. This articles and interviews about the team combined with some gaming content and tactics guides to using the team on the pitch.

For the High Elf team we get a look at a couple of famous teams of legend along with some background about the various positionals along with a couple of interviews

This is the third Spike Journal now without any Star Players either, which is normally a draw for people picking up these books. I do wonder if they are maybe saving any future Star Players for another book containing all of them – this gives them the chance to do a splash release of a couple of them too. With Necromunda recently getting some plastic characters too, I do wonder if we might perhaps see a wave of plastic kits for Star Players too…

Thankfully there’s a load of gaming content in this Spike Journal though, Including the full rules for the High Elf Team – on that note, this time around the rules are not in the instruction manual – this is a shame as previously all you really needed to play was the team box, now it feels you need Spike or the cards (which are very handy to have in a game)

This is a really unusual team, we have no dedicated catcher, but have 2 different flavours of Blitzer!

First up we have the basic linesmen, and this is probably why we don’t have a catcher, even our basic guys have an agility of 2+. These guys are the cheapest pick we have and boast decent AG and PA along with a respectable AV making them really good for basic linemen. They are low Strength, but we have other tools for cracking open armour…

Speaking of cracking armour, the High Elf Team have a resident can-opener in the White Lion. These are the first of our two Blitzers and have Wrestle and the Claws skill, allowing them to break any armour on an 8+ regardless of the value. You’re still going to want to pick your fights because they also only have Strength 3 however.

The second Blitzer option is the Dragon Prince. These are fast with My Ball and Steady Footing making them great for running up the pitch with the ball, Block also gives you a bit of insurance on another low strength model too. They are not able to pass, but then they just want to grab the ball and leg it to the other end.

The final player for the High Elf Team is the thrower, and he does what it says on the tin. Amazing at passing with a stat of 2+ and boasting Pass and Safe Pass, and Cloud Burster means the other team can’t intercept his throws either. Again, only Strength 3 so very fragile, but at least still has an armour of 9+

Spike 21 has a whole section dedicated to High Elf Team tactics with a decent breakdown into what the various players do, how best to use them and even some starting rosters, development options and set ups for both offense and defense. This is one of the best things about Spike Journals as it really gives you some decent insight into how to use the team and start winning some games with them!

Like with the last couple of Spike Journals we also get a new “Cabalvision Presents” historical game. This has been a decent addition to the series, and these basically take a historical game, give you the teams along with some unique rules and each team try to accomplish a number of different achievements. This is really good fun, and I feel they suit having each player swap teams after a game to see who can complete the most achievements. This time the High Elves are facing off against the Dark Elves while at sea, with some fun stuff such as an octopus ball that has a chance of becoming Ball and Chain! Oh and as we’re having a game on a boat then if anyone is pushed off the pitch they are KO’d as they sink into the depths!

As ever, alongside the High Elf Team we also get a new pitch, and the rules for this and the balls on the sprues are also in the Spike Journal (These are also printed on the box for the pitch and are in the card deck)

We get one side with a gorgeous marble flooring and the other with the freshly mowed verdant grass. The grass side is a little easier on the High Elves exposed knees! It allows you to reroll your Rush moves and you have a -1 to injury rolls. The Marble side however is a low more dangerous! You can rush an extra time per activation, however players are knocked out on a 7-9 due to the hard surface they are playing on!

We also get a couple of new balls – The Dragonling one is fun, it gives the player in possession the Breath Fire trait, which is really cool! On the other hand the Stone Ball gives a player steady footing and makes it easier to pass, but equally makes it harder to catch…

Summary

Spike Journals are always a fun read and the High Elf Team one is no different! I am a little sad that we don’t have a Star Player again, and I’m a little puzzled as to why the rules are no longer printed in the manual, especially as such little space is needed for them – a cynical view would be that they want a reason for people to pick up Spike – but I’ve always argued that there’s enough in these to make them worth picking up even if the rules are free in the instructions. It feels a bit of a shame to “force” someone to pick this up, especially as all other teams have their rules included in the box. It’ll be interesting to see if this trend continues in the next few teams

That said, there is some really fun stuff in here, and if you are looking to play High Elves then it is well worth it for the tactics article and extra rules bits on offer.

The plastic kit is absolutely amazing and it had me craving painting up a classic style High Elf army for the Old World too…

I really enjoyed painting these guys up, and I’m excited to see what is next on the way for Blood Bowl!

The High Elf Team is up for pre order today and is released Saturday 28h March

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

Published by Matt Crowther

View all posts by Matt Crowther