Of the more than 20 races in the Blood Bowl board game, Cyanide Studio only included 8 in the initial PC release, and there were some grievous oversights. Where are the Dark Elves? That's a question that will be answered next month, as the pointy-eared bastards arrive as part of a free update to the game. Not only will the team, which combines the trademark elven agility with sheer brutality, be available as a free download, some stores will be getting a special Blood Bowl Dark Elves Edition that comes with their evil packed right in. From the official description:

"Dark Elves combine Elven agility with a cruel brutality. They are perfectly at ease playing the ball or crushing skulls with their callous fists. Furthermore, their Witch Elves excel in that field, as long as they don't get caught up in the euphoria of battle! Dark Elves are masters of deception and can also call upon deadly Assassins to instill fear (and the cold blade of a dagger!) in their adversaries' heart."

I don't know how the game survived without the Dark Elves in the first place. Not sure how the other teams will survive once they're included.

Visit the official Blood Bowl website for more pics and info on the Dark Elf team.

After a bit of legal wrangling over Cyanide's last fantasy football release, Chaos League, the developer and Games Workshop settled their differences, and Blood Bowl here is the result of their newfound friendship. The game features eight teams of fantasy football players - humans, orcs, dwarves, lizardmen, skaven, goblins, chaos, and wood elves - each bringing their own particular style and special moves to the field, either in real-time mode or the turn-based strategy mode, the latter of which emulates actual board game play.

They're now accepting pre-orders for the game in advance to its June 26th release, so if you are so inclined, head over to the official website for more info.

Of course when I say fantasy football, I am talking real fantasy football based in the Warhammer universe, with dwarves, orcs, lizardmen, and elves all fighting for control of the football battlefield. The official website for the game has just launched, filed with information on the playable races, videos, and screenshots like the one above, showing off the amazing amount of detail going into the game's arenas.

With the launch of the website comes the launch of multiplayer beta sign-ups. The beta is kicking off soon, giving players a chance to take control of human and orc teams, giving the code a good thrashing before it's finalized. Simply follow the link below and successfully navigate the shiny new web page to sign up.

Blood Bowl [Official Website]

Rounding out a week filled with Blood Bowl team teases, Cyanide finally releases the full trailer for their video game adaptation of the classic Games Workshop fantasy football strategy board game Blood Bowl, and it looks simply glorious. Being able to customize your team and then play through an entire season either in the traditional turn-based strategy mode or in real time really elevates Blood Bowl from niche board game to something everyone can play.

I'd say I have incredibly high hopes for this game, but I don't want to jinx it, so I'll just toss out a "meh" to confuse the fates a little bit.

Rats and lizards, living together, playing football. The giant, tough-as-nails Lizardmen might have the strength advantage, but no one can out-manuever the wily Skaven. Each new trailer makes me a little more excited about this adaptation of the Games Workshop board game classic for the Nintendo DS, PSP, and Xbox 360, but then I realize that the actual game will look nothing like these rendered cinematics and go back to my seat in the bleachers to wait patiently.

Blood Bowl is the second adaptation of the classic Games Workshop fantasy football board game, pitting the creatures of myth and legend against each other on the gridiron battlefield. Today's clip shows the forces of Chaos taking on humanity, and despite my own particular species, I'm not all that sure who I am rooting for. All I know is that when you combine football with magic and explosives, everybody wins.

When I say fantasy football, I don't mean drafting real players to your dream team with the guys at the office. I mean dwarves versus goblins in a bloody fight to the finish. As you can see, the goblins are the kind of team that cares only about winning, no matter how many lives it takes to get the touchdown. My kind of team.

Blood Bowl is coming next quarter for the Nintendo DS, PSP, Xbox Live Arcade, and PC.

The novel will be penned by Chris Wraight, whom I've never heard of but has to be better than Empire in Chaos writer Anthony Reynolds, who gifted readers of the last book with four of the most unlikeable characters I have ever encountered. Look for attempt number 2 in store come Spring 2009.

EA AND Black Library PUBLISHING ANNOUNCE DARK STORM GATHERING, AN ORIGINAL NOVEL BASED ON HIT MMORPG Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

Second Novel in Series Offers a Gripping Account of Four Heroes Embroiled in the Realm vs. Realm Conflict of WAR

FAIRFAX, Virginia – November 20, 2008 – Mythic Entertainment, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) studio, and The Black Library, a division of Games Workshop, today announced DARK STORM GATHERING, an original novel based on the critically acclaimed MMORPG, Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™ (WAR). The second in a series of novels based on the hit massively multiplayer online role-playing game, DARK STORM GATHERING will be available in all major bookstores and on the Black Library website in Spring 2009.

DARK STORM GATHERING, by noted Black Library author Chris Wraight, provides a colorful and gripping account of the Realm vs. Realm™ battles that rage throughout WAR. In the novel, human and Elf adventurers are forced to form an uneasy alliance with the armies of the Empire to repel the forces of Chaos. Across the lands, the grim march of Tchar’zanek, dread Champion of the fell powers of Chaos, is underway. Throughout the Empire of Man, the toll from plague and mutation continues to grow, and hope begins to fade. Only the intervention of the High Elves offers respite, but they are beset by foes of their own, the murderous Dark Elves. When the prospect of treachery behind Imperial lines looms, four heroes based on careers in the game – Archmage, White Lion, Witch Hunter and Knight of the Blazing Sun – must work together to uncover the corruption before all is lost.

“The first novel based on our game, EMPIRE IN CHAOS, was a tremendous success, and we’re thrilled about next year’s release of DARK STORM GATHERING,” said Mark Jacobs, VP and General Manager of Mythic Entertainment. “Black Library has a track record of producing compelling creative works based on the Warhammer world, and they really made the Age of Reckoning shine with the first WAR novel. We can’t wait for players to read what Chris Wraight has in store for them in the second installment in the series.”

“Warhammer is one of the richest fantasy universes ever envisaged, and the Age of Reckoning is like a dream come true for a writer,” said Chris Wraight, the author of DARK STORM GATHERING. “There are so many iconic characters and locales to draw upon, and the team at Mythic has really captured the spirit of Warhammer so well. Writing this novel has been a joy, and I hope the final product is as immersive and engaging for readers as WAR is for gamers.”

Based on the popular tabletop war game from Games Workshop, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning features revolutionary Realm vs. Realm™ conflict that will provide an engaging battleground for years to come. Available now for PC, WAR is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB.

For further information about the novel, DARK STORM GATHERING, visit www.blacklibrary.com.

Let me say that this game will be an RPG. That needs to be said, because when someone thinks of a Warhammer 40,000 MMO there is definitely some question as to the style of play: will it be an FPS, an RTS, or some other genre altogether? Relic has the RTS angle covered with the awesome Dawn of War series - we are making an RPG.

Got it? It's an RPG. Though, thankfully, not a terribly traditional one, as its combat sounds more Brothers In Arms than World of Warcraft, with the use of ranged weapons meaning you'll have to pay attention to things like cover, suppression fire, etc. Also touched on were the game's races ("...all of the races important to Warhammer 40,000 lore (not to mention the fans) will be represented"), it's setting within 40K's massive storyline and also NPCs and possible vehicle use.

Warhammer 40,000 Online [PC Gamer]

We still havn't had any contact with Games Workshop. We called them but they told us that someone would get back as soon as they could. Perhaps the fact that they do not chase us around 24 hours a day is a good sign? We'll soon find out. once more thank you for all conerns and support. Time will tell if it is worth something.

Website is closed [Teardown - Thanks Mark]

Many dawns were witnessed by my bloodshot eyes after a night of playing Cyanide's Mutant League Football for the Genesis with my best friend. I didn't know it at the time, but it was a game almost entirely ripped-off from the Games Workshop property Blood Bowl. Over the past few years, I've often wondered why Cyanide never deigned to release a sequel to Mutant League Football. I suppose the definition of intellectual theft can only be legalistically stretched so thin.

But good news for Cyanide and good news for me. They are now working on an official game based on Blood Bowl:

This all goes to show what a girl I really am: it takes toxic waste mutants in jetpacks ripping one another's heads off to get me interested in America's favorite sport. Florian Eckhardt

Cyanide Now Plays In Blood Bowl