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.