What is hobby gaming? Well, it's a bullshit and vague term that I use to refer to tabletop games that concern themselves with fictional fantasy elements instead of abstract representations, i.e. Dungeons & Dragons and Dominion as opposed to Monopoly, Chess, or Parcheesi. It's a terrible term that attempts to draw a line where there really isn't one, but it suits my purposes fine because we're all huge nerds around here.
So, having copped to this and defined that, I find myself as fascinated by hobby games as I am by video games. In fact, some of my favorite video games either borrow from mechanics found in hobby games or are straight translations of some of the more popular titles. As I mentioned the other day, I'm currently playing Blood Bowl, which is a relatively faithful electronic recreation of the hit Warhammer American football game, and boy am I enjoying myself. I'm playing as a Lizardman team, which means I have a strong line and awesome ball running but I can't pass for crap. Thus, my games involve me trying to win the physical showdown until I can get the ball, at which point one of my runners makes like Dante Hall and screams down the field at a breakneck pace. For the record, this is about as much football knowledge as I am able to express. Additionally, this is a game where the fans can kill the ref on the first kickoff, resulting in the replacement ref not calling any penalties for an entire half (when this happened, I injured every member of the opposing Skaven -- Ratmen -- team until they had 4 players left on the field out of 11 starters and 5 relievers). This is not one of those "simulation" football titles.
The realism must be seen to be believed
Honestly, I can't really recommend this game to all turn-based-strategy game enthusiasts. For starters, the premise of Blood Bowl makes this game based on competing in competitions instead of following a story, so the only video gamerswho can truly enjoy the game are those who can see SRPG's as complex forms of chess. From the other end, lovers of grid-based tactical miniatures games may find the AI a little lacking and the tendency of the online community to rage quit when losing players to permanent injury somewhat frustrating. However, the game's graphics are solid and the mechanics match Blood Bowl's living rulebook pretty well. It's a pretty decent introduction to playing Blood Bowl to the uninitiated, and it lets you experiment with teams without fear of losing your important players to silly things like the dice dictating their demise.
If managing a football team staffed with Orcs from Warhammer sounds like your idea of fun, definitely check this game out. This is one of those cases where the developers have created a pretty good product in a niche genre that needs support from all of the gamers who love it, so feel free to subsidize their future efforts, if for nothing else than the fact that they've let you kill goblins with giant lizardmen in eye-popping HD.
:SñrC
All together now/ 1,2,3 (hey, hey)
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