Anyone who has played the cult Games Workshop tabletop game Blood Bowl will know American football, fantasy creatures and no-holds-barred violence makes an enthralling mix.

Anyone who plays this new adaptation on consoles and PC will also soon know it converts into a video game very nicely, providing a weird but entertaining combination of sport and turn-based strategy set within the Warhammer world.

French developer Cyanide is in the quarterback role directing things again, nearly six years on from its first official version of Blood Bowl and 11 years on from the very unofficial but very similar Chaos League.

Like its two previous works, Blood Bowl 2 is likely to be dismissed for only having niche appeal and seen as something only board game nerds will get.

If it's ignored by the mainstream masses that's their call (of duty), but it'll be a shame because they'll miss out on a very interesting experience that offers more challenge and demands more craft than most other games out there.

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Blood Bowl is that classic board game hybrid of simplicity and complexity, luck and skill.

The simplicity comes from how basic the object of the game is. There are some extra win conditions thrown in during matches in the career/story mode, but generally the route to victory in matches is to get the ball into your opponent's endzone when you're in possession and stop them doing the same back to you. The game is loosely based on NFL but there are no complicated plays or rules to worry about.

After kick-off the receiving team carries out actions for all their 11 players. These might be picking the ball up, running with it, passing or moving players into useful attacking positions.

The other team then gets to carry out their actions, which will either involve trying to get the ball or setting up a solid defensive formation that will be difficult to breach.

Matches are peppered with short bursts of brutality. Attackers trying to clear defenders out of the way or defenders trying to tackle attackers will frequently lead to a bloody and bone-crunching confrontation which will often end with one or other player being smashed to the ground.

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Once each team has carried out all their moves the turn ends. Matches take place across two halves of eight turns each.

The campaign mode starts off as an extended tutorial and then builds into a fun story about restoring the disgraced Reikland Reavers team to its former glory. There are also solo leagues and cups along with a multiplayer mode.

Understanding Blood Bowl is really uncomplicated - score as many touchdowns as possible and it doesn't matter how much violence you use along the way.

The complexity comes from the impressive depth built into such a straightforward format. There are eight races through the various teams, including humans as well as fantasy staples such as orcs, dwarfs and elves. Trolls, ogres and minotaurs are among the players. Each race has numerous strengths and weaknesses, such as being particularly agile or powerful. More layers are added with the different specialist positions within each time, including catchers, throwers and blitzers, with all players having stats across several categories.

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All this adds up to there being a lot of tactical options in Blood Bowl. Like chess, learning what your pieces can do is easy but mastering the game is a much longer process. Also like chess, winning is sometimes down to planning ahead and playing the waiting game for your strategy to pay off.

Luck plays a major part in the game and can cause your plans to go badly off-course even when you’ve fine-tuned your tactics.

Most situations, including passing, dodging, picking up the ball and even running long distances, are resolved through a combination of player stats and dice rolls.

When the numbers are against you, which they can be even when there is a high probability of a move succeeding, there is a good chance of an immediate end to your turn.

Another misfortune that can and will frequently befall you is injuries to your players. When the dice don’t land kindly, a player might be knocked down and miss a turn, forced off the pitch injured or even killed. Some races will use damaging the opposition as their primary tactic and moving the ball second.

Other unexpected events can further tip the balance. For example, when a referee took a particular dislike to my team and starting attacking my players.

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A promising position can quickly turn to chaos thanks to dumb bad luck and all this randomness can be hugely frustrating. In defence, it’s part of the authentic Blood Bowl experience and also adds to the challenge. There is a skill to minimising the risk of something going wrong in the first place and then reacting quickly when circumstances change. Blood Bowl is about analysing a situation, assessing the odds and deciding when to gamble.

Annoyances are somewhat dulled by the game’s warm personality which shines through, mainly thanks to the humorous commentary provided by ogre and vampire duo Bob and Jim.

Something their witty words can’t offset is the tedium of waiting for an AI opponent to take its turn. It can take three or four minutes for the computer to make all its moves and quite often absolutely nothing happens for the first minute or more. There is no way to skip or fast-forward this, meaning boredom can set in at times and matches become overly long. When you play a board or a tabletop game you have to sit and watch your adversary take their turn, so I suppose this too is faithful to the original experience, but it seems unnecessary in a video game.

If you’re prepared to overlook this, Blood Bowl 2 is well worth playing if you’ve got an interest in sports games, strategy or mythological characters knocking seven bells out of each other.

It’s a unique mash-up that offers meaty tactical battles and blood-spattered action wrapped in an excellent presentation – it deserves a punt rather than being kicked into touch.

8 out of 10

Out now for PS4, Xbox One and PC - PS4 version played