My mounting Blood Bowl "pile of shame"

My dad used to say that the problem with buying books is that you think you are buying the time to read the book as well! Despite knowing this, he still bought books. (Lots and lots of books!)

I am heading down a similar path with Blood Bowl teams. I recently heard of a website called Pile of Shame, which invites people to list their unbuilt kits and unpainted armies with the aim of 'encouraging' people to get on and build and paint stuff. It's sounds like self-inflicted nagging to me. But maybe I need it.

This is my current inventory...

A few years ago, as a reward for handing in my MSc dissertation, I bought the Blood Bowl starter set - this came with two teams and various equipment bits like measuring rulers. The teams were humans and orcs. I've built both teams aand they are partially painted.

I already had a team of skaven players (skaven are giant man-sized rats), which had been a Christmas present from my friend Bryan. I then bought an ogre player. All the skaven and the ogre are built and painted. 

The ogre was an essential addition because the skaven got heavily stomped on by their opponents in the few games I'd played.

Then in the middle of last year I bought the Blood Bowl Second Season set, which came with loads of stuff. There were two teams that were different to the ones in the other starter set, two 'star players', an ogre and a troll, and two referees. All of this is still unbuilt and unpainted. (The guilt starts!)

Through gifts and trips to the hobby shop, I've acquired a team of lizardmen (pictures here), a team of wood elves, a team of "necromantic horrors" like werewolves and ghouls, and a "treeman" player to bolster the ranks of the wood elves. I've built half of the lizardmen and necromantic horror teams. The rest of them are still sitting there pristine, waiting to be snapped off their sprues and stuck together.

Just after Christmas I impulse bought a Dungeon Bowl set. This is an evolution of the standard Blood Bowl game, set in a dungeon, where first your teams have to find the ball hidden in a treasure chest, and then carry it to the other end of the dungeon to score. The back of the box sort of explains it. 

Again, the starter set comes with two teams and various other bits, like the treasure chests, to build and paint. I haven't made any progress with that at all yet, let alone played the game. 

And the pile of shame keeps growing! For my birthday, just gone, I received a kroxigor figure - this is a super-strong reptilian player to add some bulk to the generally lightweight and pacey lizardmen Blood Bowl team. I was super excited when I opened the present, then felt the twinges of "unbuilt guilt" about the other teams I have that I need to get on and sort. 

I do enjoy building the figures, and painting them in various coloured uniforms. I also enjoy playing the game. Those things take time though, whereas purchasing new additions to the pile of shame is much less time-consuming. The trade off between fun and work is much less. 

And Games Workshop, the company that makes Blood Bowl, keeps on releasing new teams. The most recent team is a "Norse" themed team of players that look like Vikings. This team comes with "Beer Boars" that bring the player much needed revitalising refreshment during the game.

 

I really don't need any more Blood Bowl teams. But... beer boars! 

I already know I will be buying this team. I just wish I could buy the time to build and paint it.