Another one "in the bag" for...

...our very own Neil !!!

This time his Beastwick Wytches (we already knew them from here) went to The Drakenburg in Düsseldorf for the Neusser Block IV - a one day NAF Open TR110  (Resurrection tournament with a standard Swiss scoring system), with 18 coaches (17 Germans and a token Englishman!) and with a good spread of the Blood Bowl races on display. 

 

Neil holding his trophy in front of The Drakenburg ‘Hall of Heroes’.

They really should get a painting of you in that wall mate!

Here's how Neil reports his climbing steps to the "top of the Neusser Block IV hill":

Game One

I played against Undead first, a very well set up team that went on to win the prize for most casualties, not really surprising going on the way our game went I have to say.  Anyway the weather was fine I had FAME +1 and won the kick off roll choosing to receive.  

Elf thing done and 2 turns later I was leading 1-0 but had 7 turns to keep him out.  

Using the kick skill I was able to place the ball nicely and it scattered perfectly before bouncing next to the touchline. Two Ghouls ran over to protect the ball whilst the rest of the team laid in to the elves they could hit and then the third Ghoul went to pick up the ball  but despite having sure hands he managed to spill it in to the crowd!  

That section must have been holding the elves because they chose to throw it in to my half, splendid!  I was able to make it 2-0 from there before half time and then keep him from scoring but I was starting to lose players rapidly and started the second half with only 7 players on the pitch.  The second half was a really tough rear guard action with him pulling back one touchdown in turn 12 and killing two more elves in the process.  

I was receiving the ball but I had just 5 players and 4 turns to keep hold of the ball.  

To be honest I’m not sure how I managed it (having my blodgers in possession did help) but manage it I did and I had got off to a good start with a 2-1 (0-7) win.

Game Two

Game two and unusually there had only been 1 draw in the nine first round games which meant there were 8 players on three points.  I was drawn against a really nicely painted Chaos team, again the weather was fine I won FAME +1 he won the kick off roll but chose to kick to me.  

Here I continue the cut and paste theme by scoring in two turns and having 7 turns to defend.  This time my kicker messed up slightly by not allowing for the sudden gust of wind (kick off changing weather - still PBW) and the touchback ball being given to the frothing minotaur.  I figured I was never going to get a two dice block on him, especially once he was caged up, so I took the chance of a blitz from a prone elf that the mino hadn’t stunned….. dodge splat and splat – awesome!  

Recovered the ball, ran around the line and out of range of the Chaos team, stalled out until the last turn and again lead 2-0 at half time.  

At some point in the second half my pressure on his ball carrier worked and I had the ball again no chance of stalling but a three nil lead meant the game was safe even though I was again down to seven players.  
By the finish I had conceded a touchdown and with KO’d elves and casualties combining had only 4 players still on the pitch but was very happy with the 3-1 (0-4) scoreline.

 

Game Three

Game three and I was ranked second with three players having won both of their games thus far, I knew that in all likelihood if I won the last game I’d be the champion.  I was playing Sven with his Chaos Dwarves (I played him first at Sturm Der Hiebe) he had also tweaked his team slightly, giving both of his Bull Centaurs Break Tackle, and had just beaten Dark Elves 3-0 to earn his place at the top of the table.  As a recurring theme Perfect Weather, FAME +1, receiving, two turn touchdown and then the battle started.  

I was able to shake the ball loose a couple of times but could never control it however I’d pushed him back and left him with only one chance of scoring before half time and for that he needed to pass to a Bull Centaur with no rerolls left and hope I didn’t knock him down.  To make the pass easier he tried a GFI and in true blood bowl tradition rolled a 1!  This left me with a bit of an opportunity to score again but first I needed to ensure that at the very worst I would be leading 1-0 so I put a couple of tackle zones on the bull centaur before blitzing him to the ground, job done but it had cost me my last reroll.   

I went for the max.  Up jumped my blitzer dodged away from her marker and with a GFI was in the Endzone and the crowd noise increased as they sensed something elfy was about to happen.  My thrower dodged away from his markers ran between two tackle zones and dodged out again, made a successful GFI before picking up the ball and prepared to launch from just inside the half way line, a long bomb then but she is accurate.  The die rattled in the cup a three…no that’s not going to cut the mustard, Pass skill 5 - it’s going to happen I just need to catch it, a 2 and that’ll do nicely.  

At half time then it’s a familiar story on the day leading 2-0 but thanks to a large amount of knock outs I was again outnumbered.  I also knew that the table next to me had the other top teams on it (Dwarves on 6 pts and Wood Elves on 4) and they were tied at 2-2 with the dwarves stalling out for a planned 3-2 win.  The Wytches held the Chaos Dwarves out for 4 turns before superior numbers finally told and then received the ball leading 2-1.  

As the KO’d players were reluctant to come back and 2 of the Wytches were ‘dead uns’ I knew I had two choices; try and score quickly (which might be risky) or see if I could hold him out for four turns.  By now the other game had finished (Sven plays very slowly) and as a bit of a shock I heard that, thanks to some lucky dice rolls coupled with elven magic, the Woodies had managed to wrest the ball off the dwarves and win 3-2!  

I knew they had a better TD difference than me so a win would see me champion whilst a draw would leave me third.  I saw a chance early on but if it went wrong it could cost me dear, I decided to ‘play it like elves’ though and went for it.  A blitz to free up the intermediary receiver a pass to a catcher (using both the pass skill reroll after a one and then the catch skill reroll after another one!) and then crunch time.  

I ran over and handed the ball off to my leaping catcher stood in two tackle zones, off course she has Nerves of Steel so it wasn’t hugely risky but she rolled a four anyway and would of caught it without the skill.  So the moment of truth and the tournament hanging on a successful leap…….. the dice cup came down, the die revealed a 2!  

Well if ever there was a time to use the last team reroll this was it, the die squirted out of the dice cup in my excitement and bounced across the pitch coming to rest on the ………..6 yeah!  

So 3-1 up with my opponent only having 3 turns to play and the tournament was to all intents and purposes mine.  Sven scored once more in his last turn and I had won 3-2 (0-3) and was champion!  
If you’ve been looking at the casualty figures you might of noticed that I didn’t injure anyone in the whole tournament, my Wytches must be going soft…

Finally as the Wytches continue to be successful they have started to attract some sponsors (...)!

Great win mate!

Congrats for another success with the Wytches, and thanks for the cool report!