The most important rule is a simple one. This is a family friendly tournament. If during the weekend, the organisers find you to be behaving in a manner not considered to be family friendly, you will be given a warning. If you persist in your behaviour, you will be ejected from the tournament and the campsite and no refund will be issued.
Dockbowl is a variant of Blood Bowl, using the rules from Blood Bowl 2020, combined with elements of Dockbowl, Death Bowl and All-at-Sea, along with some other fun stuff. The aim of the game is find the Golden Ball, and get it into your opposing players Docking Area. The first team to get a standing player who is holding the ball into any other Docking Area (not their own) is the winner. The game is not split into two halves, as play is continuous until a team scores, and that team is the winner! However, you will need to move the turn marker after every turn for the “Stranger things have happened at Sea!” rules. Also, weather is not rolled at the start of the game, instead treat it as “Nice”, as Swin-Dawn is traditionally the sunniest place in Albion, it’s always glorious here!
The docking area is where you will set your teams up. Each coach sets up 6 available players of their choice before the game starts. Taking turns (randomise who goes first), each coach selects an empty Docking area onto which they place their players. During the game, you will have the chance to bring more players in the Docks, and during a game of Dock Bowl, a coach may have any number of players in the docks at any one time. In practice, however, a coach may not be able to get all of his players into the docks before the Golden Ball is recovered.
Underneath a team's Docking Area is the team's dressing room. A coach may move players from the reserves box to the Dock Bowl arena. At the start of each of their turns a coach may send one player from the reserves box to the Docking Area. A coach does not have to bring on a player if they don’t want to (though the post-match interviewer may ask some searching questions if they don’t!). Note that you can’t send players from the Dock Bowl arena back to the dugout.
Although Dock Bowl uses many of the standard Blood Bowl rules, there are a couple of amendments unique to playing in an enclosed space underground:
The skill “Leader” will only provide a single reroll (as there are no “halves”)
As there are no restarts to the game, secret weapons are instead ejected on the roll of a dice. If a player with Secret Weapon has performed an action that affects any other opposing player, roll a d6. On the roll of a 1, they are sent off as per normal Blood Bowl rules (Bribes and Argue the Call may be used)
If all other eligible squares are full, players may be pushed back into the sea in the same way as they could be pushed into the crowd in a normal game of Blood Bowl. See Man Overboard! below. A player may not be pushed back into The Wall, but instead counts as Standing Firm
The scatter template is orientated with the 1,2,3 line facing away from the sea
Injured players are placed in the appropriate box in the dugout, as in normal Blood Bowl. However, as Dock Bowl is only played to a single touchdown, in early matches many coaches complained that their best players didn’t get a chance to return to the docks after being injured.
"What is the point", cried the Merchant Coaches, "of paying 200,000 gold pieces for a star player if he’s only out there for a couple of minutes?"
In response to this, the Harbour Masters pooled their resources and came up with a magic item called Ed’e Warring’s Magic Sponge. All Dock Bowl teams are issued with this extraordinary item. At the start of their turn, a coach may opt to use the sponge to treat an injured player instead of using the docking area Teleporter; moving one player from the KO box to the Reserve box. Sadly, the sponge has no effect on players that have been Badly Hurt, Seriously Injured or Killed.
It is inevitable that at some point during the game someone is going to end up taking an early bath. With no bloodthirsty fans nearby to beat out what little life you have left and being guaranteed a soft-ish landing, you would think that a plunge into the briny isn’t so bad. Unfortunately, when you’re exhausted and covered head to toe in as much heavy armour as you can stand up in, the very last place you want to be is in deep water! Fortunately, no coach is about to allow his best asset to pay a long visit to Davy Jones’ dugout, so most ship matches become surrounded by a small flotilla of hired rescue ships, divers and coast guard to ensure their rapid recovery.
Whenever a player is forced off the edge of the pitch apply the following Man Overboard! Rule:
Instead of making a random injury roll, apply the armour value of your drowning player straight to the injury table instead (i.e. a player with AV 7 is Stunned, whereas a player with AV 9 is KO’d). This reflects the added difficulty recovery teams have in rescuing the heavier players. Note that Thick Skull will not help in these instances.
If the ball should ever fall overboard, an official sitting in the crow’s nest is under instructions to immediately throw a replacement down into the general area of play. Not renowned for having heads for heights (apart from those removed from their bodies by a Thrud uppercut) this throw down tends to be just as wild as a fan’s throw-in, so just use the standard throw-in rules as normal, and keep throwing the ball in until it lands on the pitch.
As Dock Bowl is played until one team scores, turns aren’t marked as normal. Each player turn, move the counter along, restarting after 8 back to 1. At the start of each player turn, roll a 1d8. If either number matches the number on the turn counter, roll 2d6 and consult the table below. NOTE, none of the results below will cause a turn over:
2. Thar She Blows! A legendary sea monster is woken from its sleep and rises from the deep to see the commotion. While the crew fight the thing off, the game carries on but it still manages to wrap its tentacles around some of the players on the field, pulling them into the water. All coaches roll 1d6 to see how many tentacles attack their team. Randomize each attack amongst the on-ship players. Each hit moves the chosen player 4 spaces towards the nearest ship edge or as close to if the fourth space is occupied. The same player cannot be dragged more than once and the movement can take a player overboard.
3. Mutiny! The ship’s captain has removed the referee from office, appalled at his complete lack of authority over the players and replaced him with a man made of sterner stuff, i.e. himself. Despite possessing balls a harpoon couldn’t dent, he doesn’t know the first thing about Blood Bowl, meaning that until this table is rolled on again, no players will be sent off for committing a foul. Once this table is rolled on again, normal service resumes as game officials ply him with copious amounts of rum and sit him in his cabin away from all the loud noises and excitement.
4. Mexi Can't Wave: A huge wave hits the boats, rocking the players and sending them overboard! When a wave has hit, you need to determine the direction in which the players are sent staggering. Roll 1d8 and refer to the Scatter Template. All players on the boats, including prone, are instantly moved 2 spaces in the direction shown on your template. If the ball is loose, it also moves. A player or loose ball stops moving instantly if this move would take it into an immovable object (i.e. mast) or another player. Any players that move off the pitch plunge into the sea below, though due to the ship’s railings, a loose ball will stop in the last square and not fall off the ship in this way. If the ball carrier falls off the pitch, a new ball is thrown on deck immediately. Scatter it from the square he was last in before falling off the ship. Once the wave is resolved, complete your turn (what’s left of it…). Roll for the wave every player turn until this table is rolled upon again.
5. Yo-ho-ho and a Bottle of Rum – The captain leads everyone in the singing of an uplifting sea-shanty. Both coaches roll 2d6 and add their team’s FAME and Cheerleaders to the score. The coach with the highest total (re-roll ties) gets a bonus re-roll.
6. Walk the Plank – “Arrgh, you be a traitorous dog and that be no lie!” The ship’s captain has a slight difference of opinion with one of the coaches. All coaches roll 1d6 adding Fame and the number of assistant coaches to the roll. The side that scores the lowest (all coaches if it’s a tie) is forced to walk the plank and may therefore not make use of loses his Head Coach and all assistant Coaches for the rest of this match. If only one player has coaches left, then that coach gets an extra re-roll.
7. Weather – Make a new roll on the weather table and apply the new result until you roll on this table again.
8. Spring Tide – All coaches roll a d6. Highest roll (all in tied) gets to move all of their players 1 square, exactly the same result as Quick Snap explained on the Kick-off table.
9. A Pirate’s Life for Me! – Some of the players find the ship’s crew’s hidden store of rum, and get stuck in in polishing it off at breakneck speed. Each coach randomly selects one of their players on the ship. That player will have Really Stupid and Loner until this table is rolled upon again.
10. Boarding Action – The fans overwhelm the officials with a direct assault on the ship and amidst the chaos and confusion their team sneaks more of its team onto the field. All coaches roll a 1d6 and add their FAME to the score. In order of highest to lowest, each coach may place a player into their Docking Area. A coach may attempt to add further players, but might get caught. For the first additional player, roll a d6. On the roll of a 1 and is sent off and no more players from this team can be added during this event. If a coach passes the first additional player, he can bring on a second, but is caught on a 1 or 2, a third on a 1, 2, or 3, etc.
11. Roc Attack! – A flock of monstrous seabirds searching for a tasty morsel with which to feed its ravenous offspring espies the ships from upon high and descends, giant talons outstretched. The flock attempts to pluck some of the players from the field. All coaches roll a dice for all of their players. On a 1, that player suffers the Wrath of the Roc. Place the player prone, and roll for armour (and injury if you break armour). If you score a double on the Armour roll, do not roll on the Injury table (if you broke armour), as the player is picked up by the rock, but struggles free. Scatter the player d6 squares in direction d8. This may cause a player to go overboard.
12. Davy Jones’ Locker – The Ship has some anti-thievery mechanisms built into the Treasure Chests. All treasure is removed from play and reset, including the ball, and all treasure chests are replaced. This can remove the ball from a player carrying it.
To get from one ship to another, the quickest way is to walk the plank. Several planks per ship are set up at the start of the game, interlocking with each other, but not going from one ship to the other.
To move from one plank to another, roll a d6. On the roll of a 1, your player has slipped and ended up in the sea (see Man Overboard! rules). A roll of 2-5, roll means you can move to the other plank, costing one square of movement. However, a natural roll of a 6 means your player jumped with a bit too much gusto, and “Bounced” off the target plank. Choose another plank that is next to the original target plank. Your player must pass a natural agility roll (No modifiers for anything) to land. Note, another natural roll of a 6 will set the player bouncing again. If a player is bounces to a square already occupied by another player, the player who was originally there is bounced, as per the rules above. Randomly determine where the second player is bounced to (which may, in turn, cause another chain reaction). In the unlikely event that the second player is Bounced back to the Plank where the first player now is, then the first player is bounced off, etc.
Masts, as I’m sure you all know, are solid columns of wood – often reinforced – that basically hold the sails up. Unsurprisingly, mast spaces are impassable i.e. nothing can move into or through masts for any reason. If the ball would scatter to the mast space, it rebounds and stops in its current space instead. In addition, a player may not make a pass attempt to a target that is on the opposite side of the mast – you can’t target that which you cannot see and no one can throw around corners, not even elves. Simply draw a straight line between passer and target. A player is considered behind the mast and out of sight to the thrower if the line passes through any point of the mast space.
Please note that this is not just for pass actions, but applies to all forms of targeting, including bombs.
The Harbour is surrounded by a large, tall, and daunting wall. Players may not move across the wall via any means, and balls may not be thrown across them, including Hail Mary Passes. If a ball is thrown and it will contact a wall, treat it as being thrown back in from the crowd. Bombs will explode harmlessly if they would contact the Wall.
The ‘hold’ is a catch-all term representing the grill-entrance to all the below deck areas of your ship, such as crew quarters, cannon decks, cabins, and of course, the hold! Some dugouts are kept down there too. It is also where the crew that couldn’t afford the fee to watch from the rigging are shoved and though closed off during play, it does nothing to stop them from having a bit of fun of their own.
Whilst the match is underway, the crew from below the deck delight in poking their arms and hands through the grill grabbing at whatever passes by overhead (there’s a whole terminology and scoring system, and more gold passes hands on the outcome of this side-game than does for wagers on the actual match).
Obviously, all these grasping hands make it a bit difficult for the players above deck. Therefore, any player standing in a hold space suffers a -1 modifier on attempts to pick up the ball.
That’s not the worst of it, because at least when you’re standing you can stamp on their fingers. It’s the prone players that suffer as various crewmen, criminals and substitutes from below deck all take opportunity to throttle and punch the poor unfortunate prostate above them.
During your team turn, if your opponent has any players prone on a hold space you may make a foul action against one of those players for free (assists count as normal). This foul still counts as your foul action for the turn, but it is free in the sense that you do not need to use any of your players to do it – the crew below deck are doing it – and the ref can’t punish anyone for it.
Due to limited space on most ships, some crates and debris just have nowhere to be removed to so they stay a part of the pitch. Crates that occupy spaces still allow the space to function as normal. They cause no line of sight or movement issues; the player merely hops up onto the crate and prepares to get pummelled as usual.
Crates do pose an inherent risk though to those unfortunate enough to get smacked down from on high while atop one. If a player is knocked off of a crate due to any action (block, wave, etc.), immediately roll on the injury table, foregoing the armour roll. Crashing down while elevated is a nasty concoction when wearing armour...let alone spiked armour.
If a player started his turn on top of a crate and blocks a player next to the crate (but not on top of it) you may reroll the Armour roll if you fail to break armour, but you are placed prone afterwards. Note, this does not take a team reroll, and does not cause a turn over unless the blocking player was carrying the ball.
The football may be thrown over the crates, but there is a chance it will hit the obstacle; roll a D6 for each such square the red line of the passing template crosses over the crate, starting with the closest to the thrower. On a roll of ‘1’ it hits the obstacle, halting its flight, bouncing once from that square in a random direction, and causing a turnover.
At the start of the game the ball is hidden in a treasure chest upon one of the ships, and the players will obviously have to find it in order to score a touchdown. Unfortunately, the chests that don’t hold the ball are fitted with a spectacular – though not usually lethal – surprises that appear when the chest is opened. Each ship has 8 Chests. Only one of the Chests has the Golden Ball in it. Treasure Chest counters are placed in the docks before the game starts. To place them, take it in turns to pick a chest token, and they can be places as follows:
Per ship: 2 in the Bow, 2 in the Stern, 4 in the midship.
Chests are placed in the furthest corners of the ship, and the 4 corners of the midship. A player may open a chest that is in an adjacent square (a square with a chest is classed as occupied). Opening the chest is a free action, but cannot be combined with any other action. Opening a chest will end that player’s movement. Roll a d8:
On the roll of an 8, you have found the Golden Ball, remove the chest and replace with the ball, allowing the player that discovered it to make an unmodified AG roll to snatch the ball as it magically transforms. If they fail the roll then place the ball in the square previously occupied by the chest but do not make a bounce roll.
On the roll of an odd number, then the chest is trapped it explodes (remove it). All players adjacent to the square the chest was in are automatically knocked over. Make armour rolls as normal for any player knocked over. Note that this will cause a turnover as the player that opened the chest has been knocked down.
On the roll of an even number (but not 8), randomly draw one of the 8 Treasures of the Sea cards or roll a d8 and consult the numbers next to the name below. This player now has the abilities and benefits of the treasure. Treasure may not be swapped around.
If you haven’t found the ball and there are only 3 chests left, you roll a d6. 1-2 is a bomb as per above, 3-4 is a treasure card, and 5-6 is the Golden Ball. If the Ball still isn’t found, then 1-3 is a bomb, and 4-6 is the Golden Ball.
Treasures of the Sea
Below are the rules for the 8 treasures that you may come across. Note, if a player carrying a treasure is KO’d, injured, or goes Overboard, the treasure is returned to the Hold, and may be drawn again. Only one of each item may be in play at any one time.
1: The Luggage: This wasn’t a chest at all! The Luggage (from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld) was sleeping on deck, and you have awoken a very grumpy and unhappy Sapient Pearwood maniac! Place the Luggage miniature where the chest was. Now, and at the start of each player turn, use the Scatter template to randomly move the Luggage 4 times (MA 2 + 2 x GFI), exactly like a Goblin fanatic. If the luggage would go overboard, bounce it as if he has been thrown back in by the crowd. The Luggage has stats of 2738, and the skills Claw(s), Monstrous Mouth, Foul Appearance, Sure Feet, Mighty Blow. If the Luggage is placed prone for any reason, or the Stranger Tide’s table is rolled upon, he falls back asleep. Replace the Luggage with the Chest you removed originally, and replace the Luggage card into the deck.
2: Captain’s Cutlass – The Player has found the Captain’s favoured side arm, and now has the additional skills of Chainsaw & Secret Weapon, and may reroll the Secret Weapon roll or Kick Back roll if failed.
3: Heart of the Ocean – The Player has found some booty! And no, it’s not Kate Winslet…The Player may activate this item once. When a player of your choice falls into the sea, you may have him return to its controlling players Docking Area rather than the usual Man Overboard rules. Once this card has been played, return it to the deck.
4: Jolly Roger – The Player has found the Jolly Roger flag, and is determined to be the most piratey pirate there is. The player gains the skills Dirty Player and Sneaky Git, and receives a free bribe that only this player may use.
5: Concrete Shoes – The Captain has had some recently dealing with the Bog-Norr Mafia, and the Player has found some left over ‘persuasive techniques’. The Player gains the additional skills Block, Stand Firm and Sure feet, but loses 2 points of MA (to a minimum of 1) and may not use the Planks as he is now too heavy. The player also gains 2 points of AV (to a maximum of 10).
6: Hand Cannon: The Player has found the Boson’s renowned pistol. Whilst on a ship, the player gains the additional skills Bombardier, Secret Weapon, Strong Arm, Accurate, Hail Mary Pass. Note, the player cannot use these skills when passing the ball, and cannot reroll a fumble. If the player moves off a ship for any reason, put this card back into the deck.
7: Jim’s Evil Monkey – The Players team who opened this chest gains a free player known as Jim’s Evil Monkey. His stats are 6336, and comes with dodge, extra arms, prehensile tail, sure feet, sure hands. However, he is obsessed with the Golden Ball, and wants it for himself. If the Ball Carrier moves within 6 of Jim’s Evil Monkey, stop moving the player. The Monkey will blitz the ball carrier regardless of whose team the ball carrier is on (this is a free blitz), gaining Mighty Blow, Claw and Horns whilst doing so. He will move to pick up the ball if the Ball is dropped. If he gets the Golden Ball at any point, he disappears with it, reappearing back on one of the ships (roll randomly). He will move 3 squares in a random direction at the start of each player turn like a fanatic, but may not (willingly) move off the ship. If he contacts a player, he will attack them as if they had the ball. If Jim’s Evil Monkey is removed from the Dock’s for any reason, put the Jim’s Evil Monkey card back into the deck.
8: Thrud! The mighty Thrud himself has been watching the game, and decided to take part. Place a Thrud the Barbarian miniature where the treasure chest was located. All players will roll off to see who is control of Thrud, with the player who opened this chest receiving +1. This player will control Thrud until the Stranger Things Happen at Sea table is rolled upon again, or if Thrud fails 2 Really Stupid rolls in a row, upon which, players will roll off again with no modifiers to see who is in control of him. Note, Thrud will not go back into a Chest for ANY reason. If you roll an 8 (or draw Thrud’s card) whilst Thrud is in play, you immediately gain control of him.