Blood Bowl 2 Legendary Edition to add solo career mode, Goblins, Tame Bears and more

Blood Bowl 2 [official site] - the sequel to the initial digital foray for the American football/Warhammer mashup - is bringing new races, a new stadium and new game modes with the release of its Legendary Edition later in 2017. For me as a non-Warhammerer this involves the press release invocation of terms like "the Kislev Circus and their ferocious Tame Bears" and I sit there scratching my head and trying to work out whether the Hebrew calendar has a bear festival.

My partner plays Blood Bowl 2 as part of a league with friends and I occasionally hear shouts of outrage or glee coming from the other room as some pitch invasion takes place or whatnot. I could have tried to follow his match reports more closely in anticipation of writing news stories about the game, but do you have any idea how much I already accidentally know about other strands of Warhammer at this point? DO YOU? I PAINTED A BRANCHWYCH, FOR GOODNESS SAKE!

Anyway, according to the announcement:

"The Blood Bowl 2 community will be pleased to learn that Focus and Cyanide will release Blood Bowl 2: Legendary Edition later this year. This is the version highly anticipated by the fans, offering ALL the official races from the Blood Bowl board game, including the sly Goblins, as well as a brand new race, the Kislev Circus and their ferocious Tame Bears! These races are coming along with their Star Players and a new Khemri stadium, located at the feet of their imposing pyramids.

"Blood Bowl 2: Legendary Edition also contains loads of new content: new races, new game modes as well as many new tools and options enriching an already deep multiplayer experience. Blood Bowl 2 Legendary Edition will be available as a stand-alone game for newcomers, and as an affordable expansion for all Blood Bowl 2 players."

I feel like they could have phrased that differently as to me "This is the version highly anticipated by the fans" feels like, well what was the other version for? Like, why wasn't the good, exciting, highly-anticipated version the actual game rather than a paid expansion or new souped-up version? I mean, maybe this stuff was only possible with a longer development period and this way the game is earning money to sustain that, which is fine, but the phrasing seems weirdly unpalatable. Maybe that's just me, though, as I've run it past other people and they thought the exact opposite!

"Experience new game modes such as a brand new Solo Career mode, or the new Challenge mode, which will put your wits and skills to the test through crazy and challenging game situations. And for the first time in the history of Blood Bowl, spice-up your matches with teams made up from a combination of players from different races, or go wild and lead a team of All-Star Players! Last but not least, Cyanide is developing new features and options for multiplayer - these new options and tools, long-requested by a passionate community, will greatly expand the possibilities offered to players to communicate together, create, set up and customize their online leagues and competitions."

So aside from the phrase I got hung up on, it sounds like Cyanide are still working on bits and bobs for the game and responding to community feedback and providing bears.

I've also pointed this info at Adam who does play and he has the following response:

"I'm keen to see how well the solo league mode works out. I like all my sports management games to come with massive career modes that I can play into my twilight years. My current team are Skaven, and I'm awful with them, so I'm hoping the goblins will suit my love of erratic fragility. Erratic Fragility is, of course, the name of my team."

No info on the pricing or the exact release date. Only that the content will be offered as a purchasable version of the game as well as an expansion if you already have the base game.