NABBO Tea Cup 2014 - The Report!

As previously announced on the blog, this past Sunday NABBO Tea Cup tournament has managed to get most of it's league crew together, for yet another super day, with abusive loads of BB chitchat, miniature showcase and dice rolling cursing.
As usual, a great fun time, and a wonderful opportunity to mingle with NABBO League old timers, that real life tends to keep away from each other.

This forth edition of the tournament had yet another amazing milestone to point out, our BB league 15th anniversary! (You know our motto: "Failing Go-For-It's since 1999", well, just do the math...)

For that very special reason, the tournament organization decided that this year's custom dice had to be somehow special, so what better way to represent that than make them "golden"?
Kudos to Chessex for them, as they are plain lovely, and the engraving is fantastic - as usual.


The only downside this year, was that we had a couple of friends that had previous commitments, therefore couldn't attend to the tournament, and since we're such a small league, any missing coach is heavily noticed. Apart from that, it was a bright and sunny Sunday and a great gaming environment, and that's what matter the most.


The games
This year, most "fineness" races forgot - or cowered - to show up. Since we had a tournament thematic house rule that would make two big stones move, randomly, in the pitch during the match, that would auto-blitz anyone in their path, that may have scared the pointy ears away.
(You can spot those "drifting stones" in the pics below: they're big, sand-yellow, and moved everywhere on the pitch. Beware!)

Being quite busy with the initial logistics of the tournament, I completely forgot to have pics taken from the first round of the tournament, so, the following images are from the the second and third rounds respectively...

Ulric Uber Alles (a Human team with Norse ancestry) vs Mandelbrot Marauders (Chaos Pact)
A close game that ended with a 2-1 TD win for the MM (1-1 Cas). Coming from a tie, but benefiting from not-so-good game results of his direct contenders, this win gave the MM's just enough points to have a shot at the title in it's last game.

Playing in a Swiss system tournament (winners facing each other) the tough Ostrok Iceclaws (Norse) faced another first round winners, the Kraka Drak Dozers (Dwarf). An rampaging start from the OI, granted them the opening TD around turn 4, after an amazing pass (the norse thrower marked by two dwarfs), to a catch skilled runner (also marked by two opponents), that managed to dodge out and score in the same play. Unfortunately for the norse, the 4 final turns of the drive saw the dwarves KOd and Injure a handful of the Iceclaws, and equalising before the end of the half.
With three players missing in the pitch, and an Icetroll that refused to cooperate every other turn, the OI where unable to hold the Dozers for their 2nd half advance, and ended up loosing the game by 2-1 TD (Cas 3-0).

Black Ferns (Amazon) game vs. The Troopers (Human)
After a 1-1 draw in their first game, the zons entered the pitch with the right attitude, managing to score first, and then, even after the Troopers tied the game, the BF did score again.
But as the turns went by, so did some of the Black Ferns (to the Injured box), and being really outnumbered in the final turns had costed them another tie (2-2) Cas (0-2).

In the last round of the day, and playing for the Wooden Spoon (or away from it), the Ulric Uber Alles (Human), faced another human team, The Troopers. Plenty of loose balls, and back&forward playsended up with a win for the UUA by 3-1TD (0-2 Cas).

Rumours say that Nuffle kept a very watchful eye on The Troopers team during the whole event, making sure the Wooden Spoon wouldn't go anywhere else: bad dice rolls were a constant since round one (with the team finishing the game with only one player on the pitch), right until the last round (when every single dodge or pass attempt would result in a complete fail).

The tournament was won by the Kraka Drak Dozers (Dwarf), which in their last match faced the Mandelbrot Marauders (Chaos Pact), both aiming to win the Most Casualties trophy right from the start. 

Despite the astonishing feat of achieving 12 Cas during the three tournament games (an absolute record for all NTC tournaments), the KDD dwarfs where denied their trophy because in the complex process of maiming their opponents, they ended up winning all their games thus winning the tournament! 

Faithful to the "Spread the Wealth" tournament rule, the organization allotted the Most Casualties trophy to the second best at mangling opponents: the Mandelbrot Marauders!

A shout out to Fred from the Ligue des Quatre Nation (SBG in the TFF forum), for sponsoring a "Second Best of the NTC " prize (tournament 2nd highest place), with one of the lovely coins they've custom made for their 2014 tournament. The well deserving winners were the Black Ferns (Amazons). 

Just to finish up, here's a pic of the tournament SWAG (thematic dugout and custom dice).

We may still have a couple dugouts, and a few more dice to part with, so if you're interested, please drop me a PM on TFF forum.

Have fun!
Axtklinge

This post was double posted in NABBO League blog.

NABBO Tea Cup 2014 is at bay...

The countdown clock is already ticking for this year's NABBO Tea Cup, the fourth edition of the tourney...

Scheduled for next Sunday, the NABBO League crew tournament still is a good few hours away, and already both teams and coaches are psyching themselves for the most enjoyable (yet very disputed) competition of the season.

This years tournament is taking place in the scorching hot lands of the glorious city-state of Kheente-Khefartha (a fictional Khemri city name with a Portuguese pun to mean something like "as hot as is gets"). Despite all the apparent nonsense of having a sports competition in such an "unfriendly" environment, an well orchestrated press conference gracefully informed all journalists and sports fans that this was a small sacrifice to a greater good: to encourage and develop the beautiful game of Bloodbowl, in the rich, endlessly rich lands of Kheente-Khefartha.
(Any similarities with this fictional theme, and real life sports, is a pure coincidence... perhaps.)




And while you wait for the report of the event, how about to have a peek of the previous editions of the NTC?
You can check them right here, just click on the link: NTC '11, NTC '12, and NTC '13.

Have fun!
A.




Edit: This report was double posted on the NABBO League blog.

Eurobowl - A Viennese Vendetta for the Valkyries of the Valleys

Eurobowl 2014 is this weekend, along with the largest Euro Open ever held it promises to be awesome. Last year I was selected to represent Wales and this year I will be doing so again. Unfortunately real life has severely curtailed my blood bowl related activities so, for example, I never finished my article on Vienna. Still I thought as a taster of what is to come I could share what I did draft, and here it is in all its ahem glory......

The Valkyries of the Valleys

Hi all, the ninth Eurobowl recently took place in Vienna and, thanks to my Grandad, I was lucky enough to be invited to join the Welsh team and take part in the tournament.  Here are a few random thoughts on the weekend along with a few pictures.

The Austrians were super friendly even to the point that the guard on the Airport to City train (CAT) held the train for me whilst I fannied around with the ticket machine.  Vienna is a lovely city and the millenium Tower wherein the tournament took place had some very spectacular views.  I do have a couple of whinges ahem 'suggested improvements' but more of that later! Note they can not of been that important as I can not remember them anymore!

The Welsh team went there with the aim of finishing highest of those teams who had never hosted before which would give them the right to host Eurobowl X.  We knew beforehand that this almost certainly meant one thing, finish in front of Belgium...Note my opening para probably removes any suspense!

By the time I arrived on Friday night my teammates had already started lubricating their vocal chords in preparation for a trip to the karaoke bar.  I couldn't find them at first so the team shepherd Da Piranha helpfully came and found me and escorted me to meet them.  He said 'We're in Shangri-Las upstairs it's a Hooker bar' to which I replied with something along the lines of 'Oh I'm not sure my wife will be too happy with that'.  He looked a little puzzled and then said 'Oh not Hooker bar, Hookah bar!'.  Still not really my scene but a lot better!

Smoke in the water....

In Eurobowl you have eight players on each team with up to three players not from your country to help make up the numbers and we had Rockstar a Danish guy on our side.  He is, to put it mildly, a bit of a character.  He is also the lead singer in a band, hence his NAF nick, and the only person I have ever seen get a standing ovation in a Karaoke bar.  Anyway I was feeling a bit rough, a crappy cough that got worse over the weekend and is still hanging around, so I arranged to meet the team the following morning before the tournament and left them to it.

The next morning I arrived at the appointed time and my team turned up a few minutes later looking decidedly the worse for wear.  We had been given four ten euro vouchers that could be used anywhere in the millenium tower to buy food or drink.  These were supposed to be for the lunch and evening meals on both days of the tournament but unfortunately someone on the team had discovered that the bars also accepted them in payment for beer!  I was given my team shirts, along with half of the other nations we had gone for Red as a first day top and then black for the second day which was vaguely amusing.  Also a small welsh flag, a Team Wales dice mat and enough Team Wales dice for me to play with and to give a set to my opponents after each game.  We struggled upstairs (using the odd lift system) to floor 19 in time to find out we were playing the Freebooters a team of Italians claiming to be from the Isle of Tortuga (not strictly speaking in Europe last time I looked!) all dressed as pirates.  My opponent was using Chaos and we had a good game that went back and forth and finished 1-1 I had a chance to win 2-1 but it was a long shot and I needed my ball carrier to survive a rerollable two dice blitz.  No tension whatsoever as his first roll was double splat...  Still a good competitive but friendly game, bloodbowl at it's best.  Overall we had edged a Team win and were very happy.

Pirates Arrrrrrr!

Next up were Denmark, one of the strongest teams in the tournament and my opponent was using Vampires, these suckers failed two blood lust rolls all game both of which were successfully rerolled!  This sort of quality rolling makes Vampires very formidable opponents and he was an excellent player.  It wasn't the best tempered of games though and thanks to my runner failing to pick up the ball three turns in a row at the start of the first half, surehands my backside, I needed a second GFI in Turn 16 to grab a second 1-1.  The first GFI was made comfortably but the second for over the line was in time honoured tradition a one but I still had a reroll and Nuffle smiled benevolently and granted me a six, I do love seeing those dragons! at this point I stopped writing! I did have a great time although the results were not as good as I could have hoped still they seldom are. I have come back for more though after all :D) 

Here are some pictures I took of my remaining opponents although I did not take one of the last one. I have a hazy recollection it was Belgium in a last round virtual play off for the honour of hosting but a drunken incident involving a smashed mouth and blood all over the carpet left me with more to think about!

Miss Sweden (Don't know so don't ask!)

Team Serbia really fun game, some amazing Dark Elf dice rolling almost snatched her a draw

Team Portugal, some of the worst figures I have ever played against grrrr

Yup, they did it!

Houston we have a winner!

Road to NAFC 2015

The latest NAF newsletter (09/10/14), announced that the Road to NAFC Championship 2015, will be hosted by FUMBBL. For those that missed it, last year's Road to NAFC was hosted by Cyanide and the prize was a ticket to the NAFC, in Nottingham - UK, worth 55£.

This will be the first time that NAF will sanction an on-line tabletop resurrection style tournament, and, once again the prize will be the ticket to the NAFC!

Quoting Phil / Purplegoo:

"The Road to the NAFC will be contested over 6 rounds of Swiss competition and will use the same rules as the NAFC. 
The Road to the NAFC is set to be the first of ongoing online NAF sanctioned resurrection style events; hopefully allowing members to track their progress via a new ‘online variant’ ranking system. For FUMBBL coaches old and new, this functionality will also be extended to user organised events similar those already running in the [L]eague division there.
For anyone that doesn’t know, the NAF Championship is the biggest tabletop Blood Bowl individual tournament of the year and one of the five yearly NAF Majors. Held at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham, UK, the 2014 running of the tournament attracted over 170 coaches, and 2015 could be even bigger.
Full details of the Road to the NAFC will be announced later in the year. In the mean time, please discuss and ask any questions you might have in the TFF or NAF forum threads. I’m really looking forward to this form of the game going digital and the collaboration between FUMBBL and the NAF!"

Sounds like very cool news to me!
Have fun.
A.

Chaos Cup 2014

As a reminder to everyone out there, Chaos Cup 2014 is this weekend, so if you haven't already, hurry up and go to the official web page - here - to find out all the details, and register. 

Meanwhile, dont forget to stop at the Zlurpee Foruns, meet the all the crew, and find out what they're planning for the evening before the event.

As always, their merchandise is fantastic, just check out the thematic Tzeentch pitch (above) they have ordered for this year Chaos Cup...

Bilbali Cup X - Report

Prelude...

While still a bit sorrowful for once again having missed the opportunity to attend to one of my "one day I will" list of favourite big tournaments out there (the NAF Champs), the chance to attend to one of the coolest tournaments in neighbourly Spain presented it self (triggered by Connexion, travel companion for the event and fellow Bilbao landscape strider), and two successful "Go-For-It's" dice rolls after, the decision was made: Bilbao was a GO!

The 'menu' included a two day tournament in Bilbao (a city I've been meaning to visit for a long time, home to quite a few interesting museums and architectural sites such as Guggenheim or the Fine Arts Museum), filled with many, many hours of Blood Bowl, miniatures and dice rolls.

Da Killa Kans

To attend to the tournament I needed a team, and while I do have a some of them ready to go, this was the perfect motivation to get my hands on the job and paint another one. I decided to pick and Orc team I had waiting for ink for more than 10y (GW 3rd Ed. with a few extra positionals either from 2nd Ed. or converted from WFB), and while at it converted a small "Killa Kan" - the turn counter - that may eventually be of some usage as a secret weapon in the future (if the goblin inside it decides to cooperate, that is)...

A little woodwork after, Da Killa Kans had an transport tray (quite useful for tournament environments, I may add), which was reversible during the games to allow painless and noiseless dice throwing (foamy sheet)...

Bilbao and the Casco Viejo (old town)

Arriving at Bilbao the afternoon before the day of the tournament allowed us have a glimpse of the city, going for a walk along the Bilbao Nervión river -visiting Guggenheim museum while at it-, and have a few glasses of cidra while visiting the lovely the Casco Viejo (Note: Despite all other reasons, if you enjoy good food, this really is a good place to visit).

The tournament venue

With only a couple of hours of sleep (against all predictions it was really hot in Bilbao, which coupled with high levels of humidity made it near impossible to do anything else other then drink cider...), we presented ourselves in the gaming hall. 

The venue was located in an unused canteen, with plenty of light and space both inside and outside (games could be also be held outside if players wanted and weather allowed), and since it was in a residential area slightly outside the city, it was was very calm and silent.

(Pics of the outside space of the venue (left), and the inside (right), of the Bilbali Cup X venue)

Despite the general thrill of the tournament the environment was really friendly, and in a few minutes it was time to start putting names into faces that we only knew from the forums (both TFF and BB Foro, it's Spanish counterpart). 

Since we both had at least basic knowledge of Catalan we went for the "In Rome be Roman" approach, and despite the obvious and constant "kicks in the grammar", mingling was pretty easy (good will on both parts goes a long way), and so after meeting the organizing crew and a putting some faces into names, we where finally set for the games marathon that was to follow.

Day one games

My first four games of the tournament were true a roller coaster: 

a loss by 1-2 against Barry woodies, a win by 2-0 against Kirino (that would later on would win the trophy for most Long Pass/Long Bomb passes of the game with his orcs), a loss 0-2 against Tactel Necros, and finally a win by 1-0 against Nota and his undeads.

With a 2-0-2 record in the end of the first day, I decided to avenge myself on the dinner&cider put together by the organization:         "(...) morcilla, chorizo a la sidra, tortilla de bacalao, txuleton, confit de pato, bacalao con pimientos. De postre: queso con membrillo y nueces (...)".                                                          Keeping up with all those delicacies the (all you can drink) cidra, made a perfect ending for a tiring hot day, (actually, afterwards we did go again to the Casco Viejo to check if there where other brands of cidra, and to taste how good they were...).

Day two games

Once again with only a couple of hours of sleep, we presented ourselves in the venue, for the two last rounds of the fantastic Bilbali Cup X.                                                                                                                          This time I would be facing a more constant outcome of results: a loss by 2-0 against Gilles Cacciari with his lizardmen, and last but not least another loss by 2-0 against Lordillo with an human team, resulting in a final result of 2-0-4.                                                                                     

  Not a good result at all, but considering how Nuffle kept jinxing my dice throws, I really felt there wasn't much more I could have done. (To illustrate what I mean, in the end of a game, one of my opponents pointed out to me that I only managed to roll 3 Pow's during the entire game. Which, while playing Orcs it's not a good thing at all).                                                                                                                  Other then that, and coming from a league where we use the "4 min. per turn rule", it sometimes felt a bit awkward having some opponents constantly taking more than double to finish their plays, but since I was in such a good mood I wasn't going to make a fuzz about it, so it's all good.

 Tournament round up

 A very well run event with a great organization behind it, constantly making sure that everything runned as smoothly as it could. Thumbs up for all of them!

 Congratulations to Pakulkan (with Dark Elves) for taking the trophy home, winning every single game during the two days.

 As far as Blood Bowl is concerned, for me it turned out to be a great trip to meet other Blood Bowl fanatics, see a lot of lovely converted and painted teams, and while at it make a handful of new gaming friends!

A final word of praise for the Bilbali Cup crew (Thibault, Kafre, Aitor, and all others that I may be missing), for such a great event, and for taking their time to guide everyone on the Casco Viejo pub tour during our stay at Bilbao!

A.

PS: You can see a few more pics of Da Killer Kans team on the NABBO league blog: here.

Edit: This report was double posted on the NABBO League blog.

Splatterday Wight Fever

It's the FIRST EVER...

SPLATTERDAY  WIGHT  FEVER

Splatterday Wight Fever is a TR 105/Swiss/Ressurrection 3 games tournament, where the every team must have a Wight on it's roster (stats and cost as per the Undead roster. Undead and Necromantic teams do not get an extra wight but must also have at least one).

Two normal skills to be given before each game, no player may have more than one extra skill, and the Wight may be one of the players given a skill.
All 24 teams allowed, all inducements allowed.

Cost 5euros - price includes two tournament d6 and lunch of Bratwurst and Potato Salad.

3 games starting at 1000hrs
Tennis Club Telekom Post SV
Schillerstr. 53
33609 Bielefeld
Germany
 
Last but not least, the tournament is co-organized by our mate Neilpferd, so no doubt it's gonna be a ton of fun!


For more info or questions here's the appropriate TFF thread link for the SPLATTERDAY WIGHT FEVER

Ready for more NAF Champs goodness? Here's ceetee report!

Sooo... Are you ready for more NAF Champs goodness?


As a Blood bowl fanatic, tournament SWAG connoisseur, and a very competent Blood Bowl coach, ceetee is a known old friend of the MMN blog, and it's not the first time he is featured in the blog pages, sharing with us his NAFC experience with written reports and photos (NAFC '13, NAFC '12)!

For NAF Champs '14 he took along his Dark Elf team - Corvus Crows -, to achieve the great feat of climbing up there and rightfully conquer his place amongst the very best of this years tournament!

Without further delays, here's ceetee report:


NAF Champs 2014
Recently, I went to the NAF Champs and was fortunate enough to finish second. This is the story of the games that weekend…
With the new rules, TV110, I decided to take Dark Elves with as much Blodge and Wrodge as possible.

Game 1 vs Chaos
Luck will always have a role to play in a game that uses dice, but in a tournament as large as the NAF Championship, all sorts of other imponderables come into play. My opponent for the first round didn’t arrive. How would my tournament have gone if he did?

Game 1 vs Necromantic
Fortunately, the coach sitting next to me was due to play Geggster, one of the tournament organising team, who graciously stepped aside and allowed us to play. Maverick drove downfield in the first half and was making ground, until a 4+ dodge into the cage by one of my Witches popped the ball loose and we rushed in for an early score. In the second half, we received the kick and quickly rushed upfield. A few dodge away and some stalling later, we went in for the 2-0 win.

Game 2 vs Necromantic
The one match up I didn’t want. Over 160 coaches were there, and I ended up playing my brother, Deetee! My first match was ideal preparation, as both coaches had the same roster and the same skills, so I certainly had a chance. I received first in this game and managed to dodge and move upfield for an 8-turner. In the second half, Deetee sent his cage downfield with the intention of doing the same. I started marking his players up to string him out and possibly open some routes to the ball. Eventually one of my Blitzers managed to hit the ball carrier, but Deetee picked it up and forced the thing in for a score. 2 turns left – could we get the winner? I got the ball downfield in turn 7 but was hit, so needed some luck to pickup – pass – hand off into the endzone. 2-1 it was and massive apologies to Deetee for the jamminess!

Game 3 vs Undead
At last, some variety! And this one against the Sizzler, who as we know went on to win. This game was massively influenced by 2 dice sequences. Receiving first, the undead got perfect defence and set about putting pressure on the DE's, who couldn’t pick the ball up. He had a lot of players downfield and looked set to turn me over. On turn 3, I finally got my act together, picked up and passed to a lineman at the line of scrimmage and set about dodging away from the pursuing undead. I rolled something like 6,6,5,4,6,4,5 on the dodges – quite a sequence, although only one of the dodges required a 4+. Still, the momentum changed and Sizzler, now badly out of position went 1-0 down at the half. Kicking in Turn 9, my positioning was out as the undead poured downfield and set up camp near my goal line. I saw a chance to hit the ball carrier, though, but then the second remarkable sequence raised its head – my witches rolled 6 1s in a row over 3 turns. 1-1 it was and a very fair result against a good coach.

Game 4 vs Dark Elves
A mirror match against Myrmedon, another coach I had never faced previously. His roster was slightly different in approach, relying on no Witches, but more rerolls, an apothecary and an assassin. Kicking in the first half, my DEs positioned well, leading to the opposition’s runner trying a remarkable dodge and failing. Picking up the ball, I felt confident I could drive back upfield – however, both Witched wrestled their opponents to the ground and I was suddenly running out of tackle zones. A sideline cage seemed safe enough, but a 4+ lino 1d Pow popped the ball from my blodging Blitzer and the ball was picked up for a score – 0-1! Turn 5, we received and force our way into their half and got the equaliser at half time. The second half started well, removing 2 players on turn 1 and a third in turn 3. This advantage in numbers changed the game, and a score in turn 8 secured the win.

Game 5 vs Lizardmen
SFisher 91 and I have been to a few tournies together but have never played. His Lizzies looked a formidable opponent, but his dice were appalling. Pinning the Saurii was the key and we got a 1-0 advantage at the half. A lot of pushes were rolled. In the second half, I kicked and benefited from pouring rain. He had to use a reroll early on in the 1st turn of the second half, which meant when his skink failed to pick up, it bounced away… We picked it up and went off to score a second. As the man said, his team never had possession of the ball all game. To be fair, he took the dreadful dice as well as anyone might.

Game 6 vs Undead
Winkle Picka. We had met only once before, at the Blood bowl and with the same teams. I managed to put pressure on his cage at the line of scrimmage and bang the ball loose to score – 1-0 at the half. In the second, we received and scored in 5. It may have been possible to stall some more, but I was more confident about defending a 2-0 lead than 1-0. “-1 it ended and I was chuffed to bits that I had remained unbeaten all weekend.
A great tournament with some awesome games. But, how would it have gone for the Dark Elves if we’d faced Chaos in round one?

ceetee



Congrats to ceetee for such a fantastic result, and thank you for sharing once again this awesome experience!
A.

Halfling Challenge Update

Well it's a couple of weeks since the NAFC, the dust has settled and a hundred furry feet are now resting (quite a few are resting in peace!) as the Halfling Challenge has come and gone. Wow what a success too, I couldn't be happier with the outcome. I wanted to get 10% of the field there as halflings and with 15 coaches answering the call from 158 players it was close enough!

Straight away there was a sign that the NAF knew resistance to Halfling domination would be futile, here named first on table one at the NAFC, therefore undisputed leader before a pass was dropped or a goblin sent off, was Halfling coach Anna Delafield! If some sort of freak pie based accident had stopped the tournament then and there we would of had a good claim to having the first Halfling winners of the tournament. Unfortunately basing the plan on pies when halflings were involved was a mistake as it turns out and no pies made it to the hall, so it was back to playing Bloodbowl then.

For me first up was Necromantic Undead coached by Australopithecus, a fun and entertaining game full of halflings taunting Werewolves about claws being useless whilst Morg looked threatening and the entire Necromantic team avoided catching his eye. I so nearly held him out for 8 turns in the first half but with a little luck, and who doesn't need that in Bloodbowl, he scraped over the line for a 1-0 lead. One turn thrown Halfling for an equaliser then....splat, failed to land and dead. Second half saw the two central themes of my weekend emerge, one plan to give Morg the ball and two, watch him fail to pick it up and fail the loner attempt at a reroll. However at the third turn of asking he finally grasped the concept and battered his way down the pitch 'protected' by a Halfling umbrella to equalise in turn 16.

A roster to conjure with...

A quick survey of Halfling coaches found some triumphs and a few tales of total anhilation but lots of smiles.

Some Halfling Coaches

So Game two and Lunchmoney's Pro Elves. Remember the themes? Well sure enough Morg made heavy weather of gaining posession but eventually got it in hand and started to drive up the field. Lunchmoney couldn't see any other way but to force a half die block and hope. He rolled skull and push but then remembered he had a Leader reroll, the bane of Master Chefs, and rolled Splat and Dodge Splat.....Morg was down and the Elves snapped in took the ball away and scored, it's just what elves do. Up against it now I had to take more risks. These worked out in the traditional manner with Halflings landing on their faces and breaking their necks, Morg failing to pick up the ball and elves scoring. Final score 4-0 but Lunchmoney was a splendid opponent and Halflings always have this sort of result in them.

More Halfling Coaches

With my packed lunch demolished and fully focused on game three I used the new feature of the NAFC to find out who was next to attempt to Super Size Me via my smartphone and the free wifi, an excellent innovation. The lucky winner was - JohnnyD and more elves this time of the High variety.  Again I got to receive first and Morg burnt rerolls without using them (he only needs a three for Nuffle's sake!) before eventually gaining possession by which time though the Halfling umbrella was looking a little thin and like Lunchmoney before him Johnny decided to half die block him. Unlike Lunchmoney he didn't even have the courtesy to use a reroll and rolled double splat straight off the bat. I chose the splat on the left (in case anyone is interested!) and guess what....... elves in steal ball and score shocker. More Halflings failing to land and killing themselves duly followed although I did manage to knock his ball carrier over with a thrown Halfling at the start of the second half. Morg continued to be sporadically involved in messing up my plans and the game finished 2-0 to the Elves, ah well.

Yet more Halfling Coaches

Day two, a new dawn and new hope. Certain that today would lead to final Halfling victory and Morg earning his exorbitant fee I strode in to the hall full of, misplaced, confidence. My next opponent was Arioso, a very friendly German gentlemen who I've shared a Bloodbowl hall with on several occasions but never previously played. He had an Underworld team and right from the off he had horrendous luck and watched his team disappear in to the KO and injured boxes. It started with Fezglitch spinning in to a Halfling and pushing him back then back in to the space he had just vacated followed by the space the Halfling had vacated and then back to his start position again. A quick turnover followed with some dice disaster or other and in my turn one Morg blitzed Fezglitch and took him off the pitch, apparently the fourth game in a row where Fezglitch had survived only one turn. However, despite Arioso having the worst of the dice and total Halfling domination being threatened Morg and his now infamous inability to pick up the ball meant I was reliant on him making a single dodge roll with possible reroll to take the lead in turn 8. Yep, two for the dodge followed by another two for the loner so nil-nil at half time. The second half started in much the same vein as the first with Dribblesnot fumbling a bomb and removing himself and a skaven from the pitch. Finally Morg got the plan and we scored to take the lead in turn 16 having totally dominated. We set up to defend against the one turner and tried to fight off the sense of impending disaster that had just arrived. Arioso had certainly had the rough end of Nuffle's sense of humour up to this point but now he couldn't stop rolling sixes, scattered 3 times in the right direction and didn't even have to dodge to equalise. This draw felt worse than the two defeats, still the irony of losing out to a thrown team mate was not lost on me.

Lunchtime day two I attempted the impossible and tried to get all 15 Halfling coaches together for a photo. Trying to get Bloodbowlers to do something is like herding particularly badly behaved cats so I was well chuffed to get 14 of them clutching their lunches in a Halfling stylee. Here is the evidence that it can be done:

I have seen the future and it tastes good!

Game 5 and my phone told me Vampires coached by PeteW. What a nice bloke and what a great game which weaved back and forth and finally saw a successful thrown Halfling one turn touchdown to equalise in turn 8. Mark this day in red please. With the momentum continuing to switch I was a little unfortunate to come out the wrong side of a 2-1 scoreline but a thoroughly enjoyable game nonetheless.

W. Chaney lurks in the background as the treeman once again decides to stand still

So one final hope for a victory remained and it was to be not only Halfling on Halfling action but also Scotling civil war. Ruthy had gone the triple tree route so it promised to be interesting.

Scotlings wherever you look, if a treeman isn't stood in front of you of course!

 First up was the Master Chef nuclear exchange which was new to me but entertaining then followed a half where I was able to disrupt Ruthy's drive steal the ball and take the lead. Receiving the ball deep at the start of the second half things were looking good. A Halfling picked up the ball in a change of tactics but then remembered who needed it and gave it to Morg who promptly dropped it! Two turns wasted trying to regain it once again meant the game had become messy. I kept trying to move the trees around hoping for a take root but it didn't come all half although mine almost immediately took root, went down in round 2 and pretty much stayed there until it was too late to do anything. The key point game when Morg blitzed with three dice but couldn't do more than push back a Halfling. Not willing to risk a GFI based on his performance to date I elected to risk being blocked by halflings......I had though forgotten that Ruthy had one with dauntless who duly rolled a 5 and knocked down Morg!

Halfling power!

This was not in the script! However every time one of us looked like getting control of the ball the halflings behaved like, well, halflings and refused to do simple things like dodge in to a free square and so on. So with a sigh of relief, on my side of the table at least, the game finished 1-0 and I had a victory to go with the two draws.

The NAFC was superbly organised as ever, ran smoothly with a couple of nice additions like the free Lycos figure and the aforementioned access to the draw which also allowed blood bowl fans across the globe to follow it in almost real time. The only grumbling I heard was over the food but hey I found the packed lunches to be ok if not great, and never ate the evening meals so I had a great time and just like last year found the venue to be excellent. I loved the Halfling Challenge it added a little extra involvement and enjoyment across an already great weekend. I owe thanks to all the coaches who took up the challenge, to Cymbeline Games for helping me make Halfling block dice a reality, to Pug for his artwork, Marian for donating a team, Beastmaster games for the Halfling chef and to the lady with the red hair (sorry I can't remember your name) who provided the NAFling badges. So all that remains is to show you the final standings of all those brave Halfling coaches, congratulations Nazgob you are King of the Flings!

Liebster Award!

It's the Liebster award!

 

Past 20th of May, our friend Paul of The Man Cave has nominated The Merry Mayhem News for the Liebster Award! Weeeeeee!

On behalf of all of us who manage to contribute to the blog with stories, reports, images, contests or  whatever we can thing of that might be of interest of the Blood Bowl community (and other communities also hobby related), thank you!

According to Paul's post (here) there's a couple of "Award rules", and those go like this:

- Copy and paste the award on your blog linking the blogger who has given it to you.

- Pass the award to up to 11 blogs by listing them on your own blog.

- Answer the Questions.

- Sit back and bask in the warm fuzzy feeling that you have made someone's day.

- There is no obligation to pass the award on to someone else but it is nice if you take the time to do so.

So, keeping with the spirit of the Award, I'd like to humbly nominate:

Anatoli's Game Room: Analotli's blog is full of all sorts of board and table top game reviews, and many other great hobby projects.

 

Sons of Twilight: Eriochrome's blog always has plenty of interesting reads and hobby news, while keeping an attentive eye on GW's latest developments.

 

Ballgowns and Battleskirts: Fern Kali's young but very promising blog, already with a hand full of Blood Bowl dedicated articles totally worth checking (thanks to Neil for pointing it out to me).

Nazgob's blog: Nazgob's blog has tons of great looking and hugely inspiring Blood Bowl goodies, with plenty of juicy stories and fluff for each of them, just like we love!

(Keeping in mind that there's a few of us who write for the blog, I'd like to keep these nominations "open", for the other contributors to chip in with their own nominations, and answers for the questions below if they will!)

1. Why did you start blogging? 

A bit of a coincidence I suppose. Abraxis challenged me to give him a hand at the blog with a couple of articles once in a while, and since I love BB for quite some time (and happen to comish a league for a few years now), I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a go. 

2. If you could change one thing about the wargaming hobby, what would it be?

Not really on the hobby per se, but I sure would like to be able to freeze time when hobby related activities are in progression...

3. What is best in life?

Family and friends. To have a game with, to share your latest conversion or paint scheme, or everything else for that matter. It's all about quality time, and that is so much easier to achieve when you're surrounded with good old (and new) family and friends!

4. Do you want to live forever? 

 LOL I guess I'd rather be able to make sure I'd make the most out of what I've got, instead of just going on endlessly... however I'm open to be convinced otherwise! LOL

5. Fame or fortune?

Somewhere in the middle would suit me.

6. What miniature are you most proud of having painted?

The answer always is somewhere in the last hand full of minis I've painted more recently. Mainly because I usually try to improve something or try out some new technique, and even when the final result is not exactly what I wanted, I really enjoy have experimented.

7. How do you deal with burn out? 

Just store the game for a couple of months or so. Then some gaming mate shows up with a new mini/team/idea and we're back in business.

8. Why is a raven like a writing desk? 

Squirrel?

9. Star Wars or Star Trek?  

As long as it has "star" I'm in.

10. If you could only buy from one miniature company from now on, which one would it be? 

Can't do. There are so many great (and small - LOL) companies out there that I doubt I'd ever reach a conclusion on the subject. Maybe 20 years ago I had a ready answer for that, but not today, no.

11. What is your favorite take out? 

Depends a lot on the mood and all, but for now it could be dumplings! Nham!

And it's done.
So now, if you blog is in the list above to receive a Liebster, please take a few minutes to please answer these same questions (or others you might want to answer) in a post of your own blog!

As always, have fun!
A.

New NAF gift presented in the NAF Championship!

 Here´s a pic of the new NAF subscription gift, as presented in the NAF Championship taking place this weekend.
 The other side says "FAME +1".

   (Picture as shown in NAF official twitter account, @OfficialNAF)

The Halfling Challenge - Super Size Me

So Mr Thorg do come in, have a seat, er great, hope it tasted nice, would you like another? What get on with it? Sure, right, yes great, well I have a fantastic offer to make to you and it's going to make you look even mightier than usual! There is a tournament starting soon in Albion and MootDonalds want you to be the face of the tournament! No, no of course not halflings, I remember one got stuck in your teeth last time, you'll do it?  Great! Well goodbye then.

Hi is that the manager of Super Size Me? Right, the good news is Morg will play for you the bad news is you're gonna need the fake beards......

And here they are, ready to take on the Halfling Challenge, laddies and sassenachs sponsored by MootDonalds it's Super Size Me featuring MORG 'N' THORG!

I love these little fellas so full of character (not to mention Little Macs!) and actually a joy to paint especially if you hate painting eyes!