I went and got the two for one deal at Toys r' Us the other day because I wanted to get HeroScape, but didn't want to shell out $40 for it. So instead I got a $60 value (supposedly) for $40. I was looking for Acquire or some other Avalon Hill game to get, but they didn't have any (dang). Was it worth the buy one get one free?
The answer to that is, yes, to some extent. Battleball is a very light dicefest game (some refer to it as Blood Bowl without any of the good parts) for two players. To play you basically get a team of 11 players, each with their own "die" which determines their stats. The higher the die, the faster the character is, the more able the player is to recieve, and the higher risk of being injured in a tackle. You set the football on the 50 yard line, and a roll of the d20 determines who goes first.
On your turn you pick one character, roll their die, and move them. If you move onto a space with the football, you pick it up. You cannot pass through any player or carange token (explained later). If at any time during your move your character is adjacent to another opposing player, you must stop moving for the turn and perform a tackle. To do this, each player rolls the corresponding die for their character, the LOWEST number wins. The player who rolls the higher number must remove their player from the field for the remainder of the half. If there is a tie, both are injured. If you roll a 1, the other player is seriously injured and removed from the game.
Thus, the faster characters are the worst at tackling, and the best tacklers are the slowest.
When your character has ended his movement phase you can opt to pass or hand-off the ball if it is in your posession. To hand off the two characters must be adjacent. You roll their dice and if they are NOT the same, the hand-off is good. If not, it is fumbled. To pass you roll a football shaped die plus the die of the intended reciever, and if the total is higher than the amount of spaces between the reciever and passer, the pass is good. (Other rules apply, but you get the picture)
Finally, each team also has special abilities that they can use to "break the rules", but I won't describe them here since you probably aren't interested anyway.
About the game:
Components: The miniatures in this game are very nicely done, but I wish I could say that about the rest of the game. The board is a "puzzle" that is so huge we can't fit it entirely on our table. The other components include locker room boards, carnage tokens (Cardboard), and the many 6, 8, 10, 12, and 20 sided dice.
Gameplay: This does get very old, very fast. If you are into easy rules, you will learn this game very quickly. If you are into a more complex and strategy-driven game, this may not be what you're looking for.
Rules: The rules are a major issue with this game, they repeat things over, and over, and over. The rules are a major issue with this game, they repeat things over, and over, and over. The rules are a major issue with this game, they repeat things over, and over, and over.
No seriously, it will talk about fumbling in 5 different spots. It isn't just that either.
Overall: This is a light game which can be enjoyed if not played frequently, which means it isn't a great game, but it isn't terrible either.
Battleball gets a 2 out of 5.
I don't think 2 out of 5 is harsh, after all it is really a dicefest. Plus, I've never had a crowd watch any board game we've ever played, I have trouble getting a second person to play let alone a crowd watch the game.