Actually, the game 'Chaos League' acts as the basis for the new game- apparently GW legal finally realised that it was essentially just blood bowl, got them with a cease-and-desist, and then, having wrestled Digital Jesters to the mat with their mighty legal-jitsu, got into talks with their development team to produce an actual Blood Bowl game

D-notice said:

The company that made that were, IIRC, pulled up on it by GW (Chaos League was essentially Blood Bowl by a different name)... but rather than engage in messy lawsuits, the company responsible are now the ones making an official Blood Bowl computer game... it should be out this year.

Ok, I know this is going to sound crazy but what if the Tau or another inclusive Xenos (obviously one not mentioned yet) put on the leagues. That way human teams would come in via rogue traders or human auxilaries, and other xenos could participate (Tau, Kroot, Vespid, Eldar, Hrud, Ork?) I mean one might argue that the Tau are too light hearted for such a blood sport, but it sounds like a great peace-time Trial by Fire to me.

As long as it's human-on-human, I fail to see why there would be any problems.

Milova said:

I don't see the Tau creating a league, but the Kroot sound pretty fitting.

Hey there, I'm new around here but I had to post after reading this thread. I'm actually sort of in the middle of creating a 40K variant of Blood Bowl and here is what I came up with as a back story for the actual game. I thought it was important to come up with something similar to the discover of the "nuffle" rulebook but to give it a futuristic flair.

All of the current factions receive information about a weapon of extraordinary power on the planet "Nuffle" located in some remote corner of the galaxy. Of course once all of the forces arrive there is a massive war that breaks out (imagine that?!?) that climaxes in the discovery of an archaic webway of questionable origins. Somehow the gate is activated, perhaps by the presence of multiple lifeforms/species in its immediate vicinity. Out of the gate there comes an omnipotent alien force of unimaginable beauty. They are all-powerful, all-knowing celestial beings that are infinitely more powerful than all of the imperial and xenos forces combined. Upon arriving on the planet and witnessing the state of total war, pain, agony and suffering they decide (being a pacifistic xenos) that enough is enough. These beings (which I've named the " Commisshionaars ") decide that the universe is only big enough for one of the warring factions. In order to determine who the ultimate faction is they design a sporting tournament (i.e. Blood Bowl-esque game) that pits each faction against one another in the ultimate showdown to see who is the champion. Because they are all-powerful there is absolutely nothing that the Space Marines, the Eldar, the daemons of Chaos, and even the blood thirsty, waaaaargh driven Orks can do.

That is my backstory in a nutshell. I think it keeps things fun and doesn't get too caught up in the whole "why would space marines not just shoot all the tyranids dead on sight!?!?" discussion. Blood Bowl is meant to be wacky and lighthearted so why not do the same for a 40K version?

For the actual game I've created a 6 on 6 board game that takes some gameplay elements from Blood Bowl but mixes in some new ideas from other sources such as Speed Ball (the old school computer game) and professional sports such as soccer, basketball and even hockey. The rules are still in development but some of the highlights include faction specific stadiums with unique field events such as the Tyranids stadiums oozing slime from the walls and Chaos fields containing unstable warp elements all of which affect the gameplay and thus the strategies involved in each game.