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New coaches Quick Start guide

Sorry, use of this guide is being phased out.

This quick start guide is in the process of being phased out. The "Getting Started" menu on the left hand side of the main Help page now includes all the same content that is available here. This Quick Start guide will no longer be maintained. Scroll down for the guide.

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Greetings, and welcome to FUMBBL.

FUMBBL is a site dedicated to playing and discussing Games Workshop's board game, Blood Bowl (BB). Whether you're a veteran or a total newcomer; FUMBBL caters for coaches of all experience levels; the site is free, all you need is Java installed on your PC, and you are also required to own the board game to play on FUMBBL.

The current ruleset used by FUMBBL is BB2020 (but BB2016 games are still played too). The latest rules can be purchased from the Games Workshop website

The following five quick points are designed to get you playing the latest version of BB in no time, but once you're successfully playing, we strongly recommend that you take the time to read the remainder of the User Guide and join the FUMBBL Discord server and check out the forums.

If you prefer watching to reading, check out the intro video (please note this is several years out of date, but much of it is still relevant).

1. Getting an account

Click here to get an account creation form. When complete, a password will be sent to your e-mail account to complete your activation. Upon returning, log-in on the front page with your Username and Password. You will be asked to read and agree to accept the rules of the site. It is important you only ever create one FUMBBL account; if you already have an old FUMBBL account and have forgotten your Password or have any other issues please contact a member of staff.

2. Team Creation

Click HOME from the menu at the top of the front page, this takes you to your homepage. Click 'Create a new team'.

At this point you will be asked to select a division for your team to play in. As a new coach the best places to find games is currently the Competitive division. This division allows you to either choose your own opponent, or use the Blackbox scheduler which will assign you a match every 15 minutes. If you're new to Blood Bowl or want a less intense start, make a team in the League division and use the 145 club league, make sure you join their dedicated Discord server. The 145 club is a league designed primarily for coaches who are new to Blood Bowl and/or FUMBBL.

You will be prompted to select one of the races in the game...

A brief team summary will be shown with a 'Create team' button.

... and enter a team name.

3. Getting ready for a game

From your overview, click on your team name in order to access the team screen.

Click on Buy New Player to launch a window with a list of the players available to purchase. FUMBBL help pages include sections with recommended builds for every race.

As you build a team your players will get randomly generated names, if you decide to write your own names be sure that they have individual names, 'Amazon 1' etc. won't cut it! Please follow the Naming Policy.

When you have a minimum of 11 players, close the Buy New Player window and refresh the team page. You should see the team you've just built. Add Assistant Coaches, Dedicated fans, Re Rolls or Cheerleaders as desired. Click Submit for approval to complete the process.

4. Getting a game

Before arranging a game, it's a good idea to Spectate a game so that you can check Java is working. If you are able to spectate, you are able to play. To spectate, in the main navigation menu click on GAME and then click on Spectators under one of the games being played. In most cases there will be a couple of technical steps needed to get the game to launch please follow these Java setup instructions to get things working, if you're struggling, you can ask on Discord or via the forums for help.

4.a) Using the Blackbox Scheduler

Any Competitive division team can join the Blackbox scheduler to get a game against any other team that has joined the same draw. Draws take place every 15 minutes, but you can only join the draw in the 5 minutes before the draw takes place. To get started you need to go to the Gamefinder page (under GAME in the main navigation). Blackbox is in the top left corner of Gamefinder. First you have to choose which teams you'll enter, do this via "Choose Teams" in the top right of Gamefinder. Tick each team you want to enter and click the 'Activate teams' button. Now, when the draw is within 5 minutes of happening, you'll get a 'Join the draw' button inside the Blackbox section. Once you've joined, your teams will get a golden highlight border and a message will show how many teams are entered. When the draw takes place you'll be notified which matches have been drawn, if yours is one of them a download will start, open this download to start the game. The download works the same way as the game you spectated earlier, this is why its always best to try and spectate a game before you start, as this checks that all the technical pieces are in place. Any game that you arrange will have a Resume link next to the team on your coach home page team list, so you can always join the game through that link too.

4.b) Using Gamefinder to choose your opponent

The Gamefinder page (under GAME in the main navigation) allows you to activate any number of your teams and send/receive offers to play matches against other coaches on Gamefinder. Click "Choose teams" in the top right to decide which teams to play with, tick the boxes next to the teams you want and click "Activate teams". Once they're activated you'll see a range of opponents, you can click on opponent's teams and send offers to them. If you receive an offer from an opponent it will appear in the Offers box on the left hand side and you can accept / decline. Once a game has been accepted by both coaches a download will begin, open the download to start the game. The download works the same way as the game you spectated earlier, this is why its always best to try and spectate a game before you start, as this checks that all the technical pieces are in place. Any game that you arrange will have a Resume link next to the team on your coach home page team list, so you can always join the game through that link too. Gamefinder can be used by teams from any Division and League/Group, however it is primarily used by teams from the Competitive division.

4.c) League games

Creating a game:

Step 1: Decide a Game Name (anything you like e.g. rookie) and tell it to your opponent via PM or chat.
Step 2: Go on your home page and find the team that you are looking for and press "Play" (or "Resume") which is on the right in red writing.
Step 3: A pop-up will come up in top right corner (if using safari) open it up and java will load.
Step 4: Once game is loaded there be a pop-up which is about fantasy football, click it to proceed then another box will come up.
Step 5: There should be 3 lines, top is team name, your name and empty box for game name. Click in the empty box.
Step 6: Type in the Game Name. Be careful it is case sensitive.
Step 7: Click "Start new game".
Step 8: Done. you have successfully created the game now all you have to do is wait for your opponent to arrive.

Joining a game.

Step 1: Receive a Game Name from your opponent.
Steps 2 - 7: As above
Step 8: Now you are ready to play.

5. Playing a game, and the post-game sequence

The client is pretty intuitive but its best to treat your first few games as practice games to learn the client as you will make some mistakes, as long as you are aware of the rules of the game you should get along fine. Below is a screen shot of the client in game. Click here to see full instructions and help guide for the FFB client.

When you have crushed your opponent (or been crushed!), return to the team screen.

The icon will be a yellow 'P' for post game sequence. You can now choose any skills (if you earned enough SPP on any players), you can buy new things, hire Journeymen and make your team ready for their next encounter. When you are ready, click the Ready to play button, and you're ready to go again!

Now you've played game one, you'll realize how much fun online BB can be. We recommend that you digest other areas of this User Guide and engage yourself in our community. As mentioned earlier, joining the FUMBBL Discord server is one of the best ways to get help and learn more. FUMBBL is what you make it - the more you immerse yourself, the better your experience will be! See you on the pitch!