Blood Bowl 3 has reached Season 10, and with a new season comes a new team, a new community event, a new set of Blood Pass rewards, and the usual round of bug fixes and balance tweaks.
This season's new team are the Vampires, definitely one for veteran players. Their most powerful skill is Hypnotic Gaze, which lets them strip opponents of their tackle zones and prevent them using skills like block and dodge. It works on a 2+, rather than 3+ under the old rules in Blood Bowl 2, though it's modified by -1 for each marking player. Hypnotic Gaze is a great way of bypassing blockers and busting cages, but it's balanced by the Bloodlust rule. Every bloodsucker has to pass a test before they act, and if they fail they bite someone else on your team—which is why the handful of useful vampire players have to be bulked out with a mob of thralls who exist just to be snacked on.
Playing as the Vampires can be infuriating, as a few bad Bloodlust rolls will see you injuring your own players faster than your opponent can (there's no armor roll for your thralls when they get bit). And great as Hypnotic Gaze is, the roll will absolutely fail when you need it most. In the hands of an experienced player, Vampires can be amazing, but for anyone else they're a nightmare.
It doesn't help that in this digital incarnation, the UI is a bit of a sticking point. If you fail a Bloodlust check, actions you should still be able to take vanish from the action wheel. And getting Hypnotic Gaze to work requires a precise set of unintuitive steps. My one attempt at playing as the Vampires felt like I was at war with the interface more than my opponent.
Season 10's community event is called Sylvania's Harvest, and lets you choose from one of three undead teams to play against the AI. Even if you don't buy the Vampires, this will give you a chance to try them out. The event's rules mean each half lasts for six turns instead of eight, and you'll be able to blitz and foul twice on each of those turns.
One of the most significant improvements made to Blood Bowl 3 since its launch was the addition of an Eternal League, which continues being supported in the latest patch. More pitches have been added to it, and opponents will now have cosmetics that reflect their level. I've been pretty down on Blood Bowl 3 overall, but adding Eternal League is a big deal and I'm glad it finally happened.
Though I probably won't be buying the Vampires, for the sake of keeping my blood pressure down if nothing else. If the next team added is the Gnomes, then I'll be tempted.
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