Blood Bowl (4th Edition)

Blood Bowl (4th Edition) Designer(s) Jervis Johnson Publisher(s) Games Workshop Released 2000 Scale 28mm Players 2 Preceded by Blood Bowl (3rd Edition) Followed by Blood Bowl (2016 Edition)

The fourth edition of Blood Bowl was designed by Jervis Johnson and published in the Blood Bowl Magazine in 2000.^[1][2] Facing community backlash, it underwent a revision process trough annual updates^[3] before being retired completely in favor of a revised 3rd Edition ruleset.^[14a]

The 1998' version of third Edition box set was re-released in 2001^[4] and served as the entryway into the game. The 2002 Handbook was subsequently packaged within the box.^[6]

Living Rulebook

In 2001 head fanatic' Jervis Johnson acknowledged mistakes in their work on the 4th Edition Blood Bowl rules, as the drastic changes did not please the Blood Bowl gaming community. To address this, they decided to flag the 4th Edition rules for Blood Bowl as “experimental” instead of official, seeking community feedback before making them permanent.^[3]

A select group of proeminent Blood Bowl coaches were gathered as a Commission to help decide on future rule changes through annual discussions. They planned to announce official changes only once a year in October, after extensive testing. The Commission's work would ensure careful consideration of rule modifications, allowing for a more stable approach to the game. This commission was called the Blood Bowl Rules Commitee (or "BBRC") and the document was called the Blood Bowl Living Rulebook (or "LRB").^[3]

The LRB was available for free as a PDF file on the Specialist Games website. from 2001 (version 1.0)^[9] to 2006 (version 5.0)^{[10][11][12][14a]}

LRB 5.0

The LRB 5.0 shifted the ruleset back toward the 3rd edition's, incorporating lessons learned during the previous years. It was redesigned to allow league teams to function in a Perpetual Blood Bowl League (PBBL) format^[13], which meant leagues no longer needed to reset for new members.^[14a] Singled out in the credits by Jervis Johnson, was Tom Anders - known online by the nickname GalakStarscraper - who was paramount into polishing the rules and the Living Rulebook.^[14b]

Competition Rules Pack

The last published document for this version of the game was the Competition Rules Pack (aka "CRP"), which was made available online in 2010 as a downloadable PDF file. There was no more mention of the rules commitee or any other involved personnel, and the document was devoid of lore and focused solely on rules.^[15]

Blood Bowl Sevens

Blood Bowl Sevens was a simplified, faster version of Blood Bowl, designed to be played within an hour, making it perfect for lunch breaks.^[16]

It was created by staff at Games Workshop head office who struggled to fit in full-length Blood Bowl games due to time constraints. To address this, the creators reduced the number of players and the size of the pitch, taking inspiration from the "Hong Kong Sevens" rugby tournament.^[16]

The rules were considered experimental and released as a PDF file in 2005.^[16]

Publications

• 

  Blood Bowl Magazine Issue 1

• 

  Blood Bowl Magazine Issue 2

• 

  Blood Bowl Handbook (2002)

• 

  Blood Bowl Annual 2002

• 

  Blood Bowl Annual 2003

Sources

• 1: Blood Bowl Magazine Issue 1, pg. 6
• 2: Blood Bowl Magazine Issue 2, pg. 2
• 3: The Citadel Journal 45, pg. 42
• 4: Games Workshop - Blood Bowl News (Dated June 09 2001) (saved archive, page, dated 09 June 2001, last accessed 22 February 2025) Original link: http://www.games-workshop.com/Warhammerworld/bloodbowl/el_bloodbowl.htm

• 5: White Dwarf 265 (UK), pg. 2 (January 2002)
• 6: White Dwarf 273 (UK), pg. 115 (September 2002)

• 8: Specialist-Games.com : 2002 Blood Bowl Rules Review By the BBRC (saved archive page, dated 22 august 2003, last accessed 22 February 2025) Original link: http://www.specialist-games.com/bloodbowl/Rules_rev.htm

• 9: Specialist-Games.com : The Living Rulebook (saved archive page, dated 11 June 2003, last accessed 22 February 2025) Original link: http://www.specialist-games.com/bloodbowl/l_rule_bbok_a.htm

• 10: Specialist-Games.com : Living Rulebook 2.0 (saved archive page, dated 05 May 2003, last accessed 23 February 2025) Original link: http://www.specialist-games.com:80/bloodbowl/assets/LivungRulebook2.pdf

• 11: Specialist-Games.com : Living Rulebook 3.0 (saved archive page, dated 04 April 2005, last accessed 23 February 2025) Original link: http://www.specialist-games.com:80/bloodbowl/assets/pdf/tlr/LivingRulebook30.pdf

• 12: Specialist-Games.com : Living Rulebook 4.0 (saved archive page, dated 24 November 2005, last accessed 23 February 2025) Original link: http://www.specialist-games.com:80/bloodbowl/assets/lrb/LivingRulebook4.pdf

• 13: Specialist-Games.com : Perpetual Blood Bowl League 1.1 (saved archive page, dated 25 November 2005, last accessed 23 February 2025) Original link: http://www.specialist-games.com:80/assets/PBBL_110.pdf

• 14: Specialist-Games.com : Living Rulebook 5.0 (saved archive page, dated 02 december 2006, last accessed 22 February 2025) Original link: http://www.specialist-games.com:80/assets/LivingRulebook5.pdf
  • 14a: pg. 1
  • 14b: pg. 61

• 15: Games Workshop.com : Competitive Rules Pack PDF (saved archive page, dated 22 November 2010, last accessed 22 February 2025) Original link: http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m780049a_Blood_Bowl_Competition_Rules.pdf

• 16: Specialist-Games.com : Blood Bowl 7's (saved archive page, dated 25 November 2005, last accessed 23 February 2025) Original link: http://www.specialist-games.com:80/bloodbowl/assets/BB7.pdf