Variety is the spice of Death...
- kirkwoodthomas
- Sep 16
- 3 min read
If you are looking to mix things up a bit with your Blood Bowl, there are a whole load of official (and not so official) variants to add new challenges and carnage to your game. Experienced Variant NAF Tourney TO “games” (23898), the organiser of the upcoming PortyBowl 25, talks us through them…
Most of the variants are quicker to play than regular Blood Bowl, with seven players on the pitch (squads of 11), six turn halves and limits on rerolls, skills and positionals, meaning a game can be played in little over an hour.
Sevens
Current Scottish #1: DazzaMac
Sevens is the closest of the variants to regular Blood Bowl: aside from having its own weather table and kick off table, the one major difference is the lack of a Line of Scrimmage, meaning it arguably favours dash teams over bash.
Still places left at Sunny Dunny (20/09/2025), East Lothian’s Premier Blood Bowl Tournament! https://talkfantasyfootball.org/viewtopic.php?t=48084
Gutter Bowl
Current Scottish #1: None (will be decided at PortyBowl 2025!)
This is a very (very) bloody variant, with NO REF, meaning players can foul at will and secret weapons stay on after a drive on a 4+. There is also a +1 to armour rolls when players hit the cobbled floor, and opportunities to push people into sewers, walls, and spiked barricades, so pitch clearing is almost guaranteed! The game is played on a full size pitch but with several squares taken up by out-of-bounds market stalls or sewer pits. You get a bit more money to spend, and are allowed five positionals rather than the four available in Sevens, so there is more scope for weird and wonderful team creations!
Still one place left at PortyBowl, Edinburgh (18/10/2025). Sign up to become Scotland’s Gutter Bowl champion! https://www.talkfantasyfootball.org/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=47986
Street Bowl
Current Scottish #1: Rambo2369
The spiritual predecessor of Gutter Bowl, Street Bowl has similar rules around smashing people into the cobbles, but is played on a long, thin pitch (only seven squares wide!) and doesn’t have any of the terrain or special ref rules.
Beach Bowl
Current Scottish #1: L0rdGibby
Even Blood Bowl players need a holiday, right? Beach Bowl matches are friendly(ish) games played by Blood Bowl players while they are on their holidays. As a result, there are no casualties (only KOs), the ball doesn’t bounce in the sand and you can buy souvenirs that give you special abilities (e.g. a player wearing a thong gains Disturbing Presence).
Dungeon Bowl 7s
Current Scottish #1 (DB7s): durham_red
This variant is arguably a different game in its own right. Instead of playing on a pitch, the teams play inside a dungeon, opening booby trapped treasure chests to locate the ball, navigating through secret portals and trying to run the ball into their opponent’s end zone. There is no turn limit (first TD wins) and teams are chosen from one of the Colleges of Magic rather than the normal Blood Bowl races. To add to the carnage, every room has its own special rules that affect all players in them (e.g. a dragon statue that comes to life on a 6+ and knocks everyone in the room over immediately). It can also be played 11 a side and multiplayer.
Deathbowl
Current Scottish #1: None
Standard 11 a side Blood Bowl but for 4 players! There are also fan rules for a 3-player version played on hexes rather than squares.
Draft
Current Scottish #1: vonszarza
Standard 11 a side Blood Bowl, but before the tournament, coaches take it in turns to draft one player from all the positionals across Blood Bowl into their team.There is only one of each available, so once the best players are gone, coaches have to scrabble over the dross to fill out theirs team. vonszarza won our tourney with a team made up of a Witch Elf, a Troll Slayer, a Mummy, a Goblin Bomma and many others!
Blitzbowl
Current Scottish #1 : N/A
Not actually a variant, but a completely different game (essentially, Blood Bowl: The Board Game) where you get points for completing different plays (e.g. 5 points for doing a hand off + pass) using reworked positionals and teams from the core game. The block dice are the same, but they mean different things…
Variants are a lot of fun and, because they invite coaches not to take things too seriously, tournaments have a lovely, friendly, but still competitive atmosphere. Check out the rules below and, if you’re interested in playing some games this autumn, sign up to Sunny Dunny or Porty Bowl at the links above!
Editor’s Note: Hopefully next year there may be some NAF Series for variant play in Scotland…
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