Cyanide Studio is announcing that it is getting ready to release a free update for its Blood Bowl video game, which will add a whole-new race to the experience, the Dark Elves. The new content will be offered for free to all those who have bought the game and will arrive at some point in November, making for a very good early Christmas gift.

The Dark Elves race combines the agility-based play that is the hallmark of the Elves with the brutality that is the signature of the Chaos-based races. This means that players can pass the ball around while using the new race, but they can also form a tough cage around the ball carrier, in order to rely on stomping the enemy so as to score. The most important units for the new race will be the Witch Elves, which can enter into a frenzy of rage on the pitch, and the Assassins, which instill fear in the other team while also wielding deadly daggers.

The Dark Elves are set to get their own Star Player, a new cheerleader set, unique movement and fighting animations and some new tactical options. They will bring yet another play style to Blood Bowl, which, in the PC version, already offers eight of the races that are represented in the board-game version of it. If the Dark Elves content gets enough attention from players, then Cyanide might be interested in adding other races to the game.

Blood Bowl is a cross between traditional American football and the world of fantasy Warhammer. The various races create teams that battle it out on the pitch, where the capacity for extreme violence is just as important as traditional tactics centered on the ball carrier. Cyanide and publisher Focus Home Entertainment are set to offer a Blood Bowl Dark Elves Edition of the game on store shelves and will make the free content available via download from the official site.