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Blood Bowl #1-3
The Blood Bowl Omnibus
Welcome to the world of Blood Bowl - American football played fantasy-style, where teams can be human, orcs and ogres, and players are as likely to throw a goblin as a ball! These three stories follow the career of Dunk Hoffnung as he works his way up from unemployed adventurer to star player with the Bad Bay Hackers. Containing "Blood Bowl", "Dead Ball" and "Death Match", this is a great value introduction to the fantasy world of Blood Bowl.
- GenresFantasyMedia Tie In
768 pages, Paperback
First published November 27, 2007
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122 people want to read
About the author
Matt Forbeck
210 books314 followersI'm an award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author and game designer and happily married father of five, including a set of quadruplets. For more on my work, see Forbeck.com.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 28, 2015
I may be looking at this thru rose-colored glasses (I have many fond memories of playing Blood Bowl thru the years, and I'm a big fan of author Matt Forbeck), but I actually quite enjoyed this!
May 14, 2010
Blood Bowl: The Omnibus opens with its hero, Duncan “Dunk” Hoffnung, battling a three-headed dragon, just for altruist's sake. The affluent Hoffnung family name had been besmirched in some manner (which does not become clear during the first novel of the triumvirate published herein), and so Dunk's decision to single-handedly slay this dragon is his attempt to garner favour with the local villagers.
He succeeds. Sort of. And becomes reviled as a result of this “success.” It is made known that it was upon his failure that the villagers had placed their hopes, and that his conquering-of-sorts had caused all manner of unnamed woes to befall the township.
And so, Dunk is pursued by a talent agent to become a player in the most violent game of “Blood Bowl.” It is, in essence, just like American football with fewer (obeyed) rules, and much more bloodletting. In fact, no one should bat an eye to see an entire team decimated during the run of a single Blood Bowl game. Why, now, should Dunk – after having bested a three-headed dragon with nothing more than a sword by his side – decide to partake of this “game?” To restore great honour to his family name, of course!
This line of logic makes no sense to the reader, although author Matt Forbeck goes through great pains to make it seem reasonable. But how could he? It is absolute nonsense, from surface to its very vein. No author could redeem this premise – perhaps least of all, a paperback writer such as Mr. Forbeck.
Matt Forbeck, back in 1989, fell in love with the Warhammer-esque fantasy/role-playing game of “Blood Bowl.” So when an opportunity arose for him to create a fictional mythology surrounding this game, he was happy to do so. Thus far, the story has sprawled into four novels (the first three of which are reprinted in The Omnibus), and threatens to creep into several more.
How does the series read? If one trusts the reviews, it's a madcap mixture of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Monty Python. If one trusts one's own senses, however, it is more likely that the average reader would find such comparisons to do this novel a great disservice. That is to say, next to the genius of Douglas Adams or John Cleese et al., this book appears absolute shit.
Dunk fights a three-headed dragon. He fights, single-handedly, a trio of murderous villains. He goes on to defend an invaded camp all on his own, get dropped from a significant height into an ocean, get thrown off the top of a sports stadium (with multiple injuries which seem, magically, to heal themselves over a conveniently short time span indeed)... and this is all before the first novel is half finished! By all rights, Dunk should be splayed out, dead and rotting someplace.
Though as the hero of a fantasy novel, he is deemed to be indestructible, and so all manner of violence and mayhem are pretty much redundant. He'll be fine! Sure enough, he always seems to be.
Accused of murdering his fellow teammates, Dunk finds himself cast out by his friends and hunted by the authorities. Though in this world, any authority can be bought – for a price – Dunk finds it more vital to protect those who have framed him than to put the blame where it rightfully belongs. And so the reader finds him/herself wrapped up in a bullshit world where The Greater Justice Of The Land falls singularly upon the shoulders of a rich-boy jock named Dunk.
Now there's a lesson for you. Befriend the right guy, and you can literally get away with bloody murder.
The second book in the series opens with a sickeningly similar spoonful of bullshit. It begins during an actual Blood Bowl game, wherein the reader has to wade through a trite parody of modern-day sports commentators as seen through a futuristic/fantasy comedy lens.
Done. To. Death.
But the plot is irrelevant, right? This series cannot be taken seriously, hmm? Okay then – let's take a look at the humour involved herein. The sport is sponsored, en largesse, by an alcoholic beverage called “Bloodweiser.” Get it? Because in the modern-day world, there's a real beer called... Oh yes, and one of the primary Blood Bowl players is a brute named Rhett Cavre (“...he pronounced it 'carve'...”) - which is also “funny” because in the current incarnation of American football, there's this one guy named...
Jesus.
After about three hundred pages of this, the reader pretty much establishes the pattern of faux-satire blistering the story of the indestructible man. There is no place else to go with this sort of thing (as the “love triangle” angle is also touched inappropriately early on in the series) but down. Forbeck tries to outdo himself from chapter t chapter in terms of “action” sequences, and to fill in the time between physical assaults, attacks, and ball games, the reader is stuck with cliche-ridden dialect between Blood Bowl players of varying verbal eloquence, or between multiple amputee Bad Bay Hackers (which is funny because, as any sports fan knows, in real life there's a football team by the name of...) team owner Peg Leg somebody-or-other and his expendable players, or between Dunk and his older, wiser, Blood Bowl playing brother, Dipshit or something... I don't really care anymore.
I tried to enjoy this book. I got through exactly three hundred pages before I realized that it simply was not working for me. But hell, maybe there is a strong audience out there for this sort of thing.
But that thought is even more depressing than that of the grim world of Warhammer.
He succeeds. Sort of. And becomes reviled as a result of this “success.” It is made known that it was upon his failure that the villagers had placed their hopes, and that his conquering-of-sorts had caused all manner of unnamed woes to befall the township.
And so, Dunk is pursued by a talent agent to become a player in the most violent game of “Blood Bowl.” It is, in essence, just like American football with fewer (obeyed) rules, and much more bloodletting. In fact, no one should bat an eye to see an entire team decimated during the run of a single Blood Bowl game. Why, now, should Dunk – after having bested a three-headed dragon with nothing more than a sword by his side – decide to partake of this “game?” To restore great honour to his family name, of course!
This line of logic makes no sense to the reader, although author Matt Forbeck goes through great pains to make it seem reasonable. But how could he? It is absolute nonsense, from surface to its very vein. No author could redeem this premise – perhaps least of all, a paperback writer such as Mr. Forbeck.
Matt Forbeck, back in 1989, fell in love with the Warhammer-esque fantasy/role-playing game of “Blood Bowl.” So when an opportunity arose for him to create a fictional mythology surrounding this game, he was happy to do so. Thus far, the story has sprawled into four novels (the first three of which are reprinted in The Omnibus), and threatens to creep into several more.
How does the series read? If one trusts the reviews, it's a madcap mixture of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Monty Python. If one trusts one's own senses, however, it is more likely that the average reader would find such comparisons to do this novel a great disservice. That is to say, next to the genius of Douglas Adams or John Cleese et al., this book appears absolute shit.
Dunk fights a three-headed dragon. He fights, single-handedly, a trio of murderous villains. He goes on to defend an invaded camp all on his own, get dropped from a significant height into an ocean, get thrown off the top of a sports stadium (with multiple injuries which seem, magically, to heal themselves over a conveniently short time span indeed)... and this is all before the first novel is half finished! By all rights, Dunk should be splayed out, dead and rotting someplace.
Though as the hero of a fantasy novel, he is deemed to be indestructible, and so all manner of violence and mayhem are pretty much redundant. He'll be fine! Sure enough, he always seems to be.
Accused of murdering his fellow teammates, Dunk finds himself cast out by his friends and hunted by the authorities. Though in this world, any authority can be bought – for a price – Dunk finds it more vital to protect those who have framed him than to put the blame where it rightfully belongs. And so the reader finds him/herself wrapped up in a bullshit world where The Greater Justice Of The Land falls singularly upon the shoulders of a rich-boy jock named Dunk.
Now there's a lesson for you. Befriend the right guy, and you can literally get away with bloody murder.
The second book in the series opens with a sickeningly similar spoonful of bullshit. It begins during an actual Blood Bowl game, wherein the reader has to wade through a trite parody of modern-day sports commentators as seen through a futuristic/fantasy comedy lens.
Done. To. Death.
But the plot is irrelevant, right? This series cannot be taken seriously, hmm? Okay then – let's take a look at the humour involved herein. The sport is sponsored, en largesse, by an alcoholic beverage called “Bloodweiser.” Get it? Because in the modern-day world, there's a real beer called... Oh yes, and one of the primary Blood Bowl players is a brute named Rhett Cavre (“...he pronounced it 'carve'...”) - which is also “funny” because in the current incarnation of American football, there's this one guy named...
Jesus.
After about three hundred pages of this, the reader pretty much establishes the pattern of faux-satire blistering the story of the indestructible man. There is no place else to go with this sort of thing (as the “love triangle” angle is also touched inappropriately early on in the series) but down. Forbeck tries to outdo himself from chapter t chapter in terms of “action” sequences, and to fill in the time between physical assaults, attacks, and ball games, the reader is stuck with cliche-ridden dialect between Blood Bowl players of varying verbal eloquence, or between multiple amputee Bad Bay Hackers (which is funny because, as any sports fan knows, in real life there's a football team by the name of...) team owner Peg Leg somebody-or-other and his expendable players, or between Dunk and his older, wiser, Blood Bowl playing brother, Dipshit or something... I don't really care anymore.
I tried to enjoy this book. I got through exactly three hundred pages before I realized that it simply was not working for me. But hell, maybe there is a strong audience out there for this sort of thing.
But that thought is even more depressing than that of the grim world of Warhammer.
October 4, 2013
Blood Bowl Omnibus could have been.. *should* have been fun. Unfortunately we get very little actual Blood Bowl in this book. 90% of the action is simply a poorly written and uninspired fantasy story featuring a bland protagonist (Dunk Hoffnung.. how's that for a name?), with no clear direction. The actual games themselves, which you would think would be the star of the show, are rushed through, glossed over, or simply just mentioned in passing. There's nothing here for fans of good fantasy, and nothing for fans of football either.
My major gripe about this book is that instead of being creative, it uses every bit of its energy being derivative. Almost every team, every minor character, even every single beer the characters drink is a reference or a play on words. "Killer genuine draft" is groan-worthy enough to get a chuckle the first time around, but loses its charm the 50th time you hear it. Late in the book, Dunk encounters a three-headed chaos dog man named "Serby 'Dawgy Dawg Dawg' Triomphe".. three corny dog jokes in one name. At that point I lost what patience I had left. The wordplay is non-stop.. every single page.. and when you take it away, there's nothing left under it.
It had charm in the beginning, and I tried to like it, but Blood Bowl Omnibus is like the guy at the party who keeps telling the same joke over and over and over until somebody laughs.
My major gripe about this book is that instead of being creative, it uses every bit of its energy being derivative. Almost every team, every minor character, even every single beer the characters drink is a reference or a play on words. "Killer genuine draft" is groan-worthy enough to get a chuckle the first time around, but loses its charm the 50th time you hear it. Late in the book, Dunk encounters a three-headed chaos dog man named "Serby 'Dawgy Dawg Dawg' Triomphe".. three corny dog jokes in one name. At that point I lost what patience I had left. The wordplay is non-stop.. every single page.. and when you take it away, there's nothing left under it.
It had charm in the beginning, and I tried to like it, but Blood Bowl Omnibus is like the guy at the party who keeps telling the same joke over and over and over until somebody laughs.
March 10, 2021
This omnibus is ridiculous, daft and damn good fun. This does not take itself seriously in any way and I would recommend it to anyone with a liking for any 2 of comedy, fantasy and football (of the British or American varieties).
The books themselves fluctuate in quality, the final book felt the weakest to me, with the second book very strong indeed.
My only real gripe throughout the first three books is that the author keeps getting the commentator characters names backwards - Jim = Bob = Jim. Sigh...
The books themselves fluctuate in quality, the final book felt the weakest to me, with the second book very strong indeed.
My only real gripe throughout the first three books is that the author keeps getting the commentator characters names backwards - Jim = Bob = Jim. Sigh...
September 28, 2016
From looking on here there are very mixed reviews which I find understandable.
If like me you played Blood Bowl in your youth (very early 1990's for me) I think you will enjoy the book. The game was pretty silly and totally different to the rest of the Games Workshop / Warhammer products at the time and the same goes with this book.
The author you can tell was a big fan of the game and it shows. It's great all the teams and players I remember are in the book - pogo tick of doom anyone?!
This may not suit all tastes but I loved it and is a good read for people who played the game.
If like me you played Blood Bowl in your youth (very early 1990's for me) I think you will enjoy the book. The game was pretty silly and totally different to the rest of the Games Workshop / Warhammer products at the time and the same goes with this book.
The author you can tell was a big fan of the game and it shows. It's great all the teams and players I remember are in the book - pogo tick of doom anyone?!
This may not suit all tastes but I loved it and is a good read for people who played the game.
February 3, 2009
Excellent book. I'll reccommend this to anyone interested in the Warhammer world. The writing style in the book reminded me of Douglas Adams in a lot of ways. I found the book to be humerous, light, and had a good story flow.
People unfamiliar with the game Blood Bowl or at least the Warhammer world would obviously get a lot less out of this book than a fan would.
People unfamiliar with the game Blood Bowl or at least the Warhammer world would obviously get a lot less out of this book than a fan would.
January 9, 2008
Silly as expected, but so far not enough blood bowl... has inspired me to find the newest ruleset and the old dungeon bowl 140 pages into it.
March 7, 2010
It was a genuine Blood Bowl fantasy romp, not enough Blood Bowl for me but definitely enough for me to look it up online again and see whats going on in the world of Blood Bowl.
July 5, 2012
Hilarious, full of pop cult references and allusions to literature.
Very entertaining, even for the non sports or warhammer fan
Very entertaining, even for the non sports or warhammer fan
February 27, 2008
Excellent fantasy sillyness.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews