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

Swag or Stuff either way it's gooood!

Some of you may have read here on the blog how I got lucky at Narrenball earlier this year with my Undead team.  Well aside from a massive trophy (which I don't get to keep) and a NAF Trophy (which I do!) I also received an Impact voucher for 70 euros as tournament Champion and another for 20 euros for Most Touchdowns (an astonishingly low winning total of 8 from 4 games!).

Well I thought I'd share just what I bought with it so here goes:

First up dice, as most of you know I'm a total dice addict.  These Impact dice are dual purpose as they can be used as block dice or d6,  A clever idea but somehow I am not convinced.  Still they are a nice addition to my collection.

Then Star Player Cards.  Now I think these came from Australia originally (or should that be aboriginally?) and I picked them because I liked the look of them rather than with any actual usage in mind.  After all, the star players are listed in the rule book right?  However, since I've had them I've found them to be very useful, whether in league play or at tournaments as soon as you are facing one of these titans of the turf get the card out and sit it next to the pitch.  It saves constantly looking up what skills Morg has (what doesn't he have!) or constantly having to ask your opponent 'What Agility is Jordell again?', 'Oh, I thought that was what you said!' or forgetting that extraordinary skill 'She can do what!?!'.

I got four packs of fluorescent skill rings, the 'hard' variety.  I've got a few sets of the rubber rings, which I generally prefer, but I thought these might be useful too particularly when used in conjunction with the rubber ones.  I have a lot of converted miniatures and although I am a big fan of this part of the hobby I prefer not to leave myself open to the accusation of gaining an unfair advantage 'The one with the ball isn't a thrower then, it's a blitzer?' that sort of thing. So I thought by using the rubber rings to denote positionals in heavily converted teams with the see through harder rings to show different skills this might alleviate the problem.  It doesn't quite work as I intended because the rubber ring is very difficult to see underneath the fluorescent one and the hard rings are such a tight fit they don't really sit on top of the rubber ones too well.  Still variety is the spice of life, as they say.

 But what about figures I hear you say, well since Impact have just launched their range of certain teams recast in resin for $35 (excellent value) it was too good an opportunity to miss and I ordered a Scotling team.  They are very characterful especially the caber tossing 'Treemen'.  Someday I'll find the time to sit down and paint them up......someday!

I have a lot of balls (snigger) already, one for each team plus some, but I thought I'd add these to the collection as they could save time during the game.  You know the drill constantly trying to squeeze the ball back on to the modelled and flocked base only to have the next dice cup delivery dislodge it again. These should help alleviate the issue as they can be applied in many ways apparently.  I say apparently because I have yet to paint them up and without painting them there is no way they are coming on to my pitch(es)!

So I've talked already about converted miniatures, and (just) about balls so I added a few packs of conversion arms and hands as these are often the bits you need to make your conversions look more 'bloodbowly' and less 'weapon snippy'.  I also couldn't resist a football (soccer ball if you must!).  These are bought more with vague long term intentions than any immediate plans but I'm sure will come in useful eventually.

And that as they say is that, I think a pretty impressive haul for 90 euros (including the postage!) and a selection that addresses many of the facets of the game.  When you think about it I'm a very lucky man, 4 good games of Blood Bowl with like minded friends, a shiny new NAF Trophy to use as 'Intimidatory Reroll Counter' and all this stuff to boot!

NAFC Pics

Hi, like CeeTee I made the pilgrimmage to the NAFC and although the actual Blood Bowl from a results and dice rolling perspective was a bit of a disaster the weekend itself was still a great experience and I had a fun time.

My friend Thorsten made the trip for the first time and we flew over together from Duesseldorf to Birmingham where we were met my friend Peter who had driven over to England (via a Blood Bowl tournament in France) as part of his two week holiday. We then drove up to Sheffield where we were being hosted by my friends Pete and Anna.  Both Pete and Anna played in the NAFC last year but Anna finds 6 games in two days to be too much, so this year she stayed at home and watched the cricket instead.

Anyhow as you'll know the venue was changed for this years tournament, one of the main benefits for those who don't have, handily placed friends, was the co-located hotel offering good rates.  Here it is from the car park:

The conference centre itself is just out of shot on the righthandside of this picture.  Inside was very nice, with a bar and adjoining lounge areas, plenty of toilet facilities and a gaming hall that looked like this:

Here is a second chance to play spot the (non) geek:

Each day we were provided with a packed lunch, which was fine, nothing outstanding but providing enough fuel for the following games,  What was nice though was being able to go outside sit on the grass and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine between games.  I know, I said sunshine and I'm talking about England but it's true I tell you!!!

There was also a hot meal on the Saturday night included in the price of the ticket but Thorsten wanted to see Warhammer World, which is less than a 15 minute drive away, and all four of us wanted to see the Champions League Final that evening so I can't comment on how good, bad or indifferent this meal was as none of us even saw it.

From the games point of view I took my Undead and first up faced off against .... Undead.  This was the only game of the weekend where the dice wanted to play ball for me and even this started with my Mummy rolling Block and Skull first block having to reroll it and getting double skulls.  Second turn Ghoul failed to pick up the ball and burnt a reroll whilst failing but my armour rolls made up for it and I won the war of attrition 1-0.

The second game I played a very nice American gentlemen by the name of Aron (Aaron?) who had come all the way from Nebraska to play six games of Blood Bowl.  He played very well and most of the key rolls went his way so I lost to his Dwarves in a typical 1-0 grind.

Third game of the day oh look Undead vs Undead again!

Two nicely painted Egyptian themed teams facing off on a nice pitch. Unfortunately my dice descended from bad to worse and I lost the game by the odd touchdown again.

Here's another shot of the boys in action:

The following day I played Amazons and if anything the dice had taken a turn for the worse with the added bonus that he was failing nothing.  However I dominated the game and would of won but for a double skull final blitz free when literally any other result would of brought me victory. 

Lizardmen were next with the strangest set up I've encountered for this team.  Six Saurus plus Silibili and he'd given them Guard as a skill in each round so I was facing off against seven ST4 players with six Guard but only one with Block and the team had no rerolls at all.  However he appeared to of sold his soul to Nuffle for most of the game.  I scored in turn 8 and he had a go at the one turn touchdown.  Even though I'd set up to defend against this possibility he managed to make about 20 dice rolls with nothing going wrong and it was 1-1 at half time. 
More crazy dice rolls prevented me from scoring a winner and left him needing to pick up the ball with a Skink, Hand off to a Saurus and complete two GFIs for what would of been an outrageous win,  Fortunately for me he did the traditional thing and fell over the line. 

That left Wood Elves played by a nice Geordie lady for game 6. 
It was one of those games where the ball just refused to be picked up by the Undead and the Wood Elves kept nipping in and running off with the damn thing!  Although I was finally getting some decent armour/injury rolls and slowly taking Wood Elves out of the game I was 3-0 down before it could make a difference.  I managed to come back to 3-2 as by that time there were only two WE on the pitch, and they were lying down pretending to be dead, but ran out of time and that was that.

We had a bit of a nightmare trip back with the Channel Tunnel claiming not to sell tickets at the gate anymore and some dramas with the ferry, BUT all in all it was definitely worth it and the new venue has to rate as a success.

In between BB comeptitions? Easy, have a race!

Between (our) major competitions, NABBO league crew usually gets a couple of weeks off BB to have a go at different or new games. 

This was one of those “off” weeks, and since the majority of the guys had a Deathroller parked in their shelves (either had or were very into building one), we decided to have a Deathroller Race 2000 using the rules from our mate Nick.

The set up was really fast: after some dice rolling to determine the positions in the starting line, we were ready to go, and so the race began.

As tough as Deathrollers are, we hadn’t even reached the first curve (or should I say corner?), and we already had one smoking wreaked machine after a very hard block, pushing it against the wall.

From that moment on, everybody felt they could actually win the race without completing the two laps (perhaps not even one…), which resulted some ‘destruction derby’ alike moments, but to our surprise only one more of the DR’s failed to resist to the race punishment.

As the race finished quite fast (with two complete laps), we had another one...

This time, from the initial mess of six DR’s trying to fit at the same time in the four available lanes of the racing drive way, and all the crashing and chain pushing involved, one managed to leave the smoke and confusion unscarred, and took that advantage to gain a considerable distance to the second place.

From that moment on, we almost had two different races: the leading DR managing his distance (amazingly keeping both rerolls the entire first lap, and adding a third one when it crossed the line in the end of the first lap), and all the other DR’s struggling to keep the second place, only to be rammed by the nearest DR.

We had one final moment of tension, when the leading DR was about to give one advance lap to the last racer. In a impressive show of control of his DR, the soon to be ‘wooden spoon’ of the race, turned his DR around, “passed by” the leader (driving in the wrong way), turned his DR once again and rammed full charge into the leaders back (to have the advantage of +1 ST, and the consequent double dice block in his favour).

It was a bold move, especially considering the need of 3 Go-For-Its to achieve it (2+,3+ and 4+ rolls, known in the game as ‘Open the Full Throttle’), and it obviously was cheered by everyone else in the game.

The result was not exactly what the crowd expected, and the two results of ‘Push Back’, even helped the race leader, pulling him one square nearer to the finish line, and allowing him to win in his next turn.

Two very entertaining races, of a game with quite fast rules to learn and teach, that no doubt will be  played more times. 
Kudos to the Nick for sharing those!

Wooden Spooooooooon...

...or How "last" doesn't necessarily means "least"!


Today when I checked my mailbox, I had this package with a very cool and funny surprise inside: a Wooden Spoon!

 It stated "9th Place Winner!" and it had the Deathroller Race 2000 logo on it, both of which engraved by fire! (Is there any better way to show that something really means business, other then using fire to mark it down? Wow!)
Along with the spoon it came a little paper note, a couple of customized DRR game tokens (Yep, you read it right - customized - just check the deathroller that shows up behind the letters of the counters!), a super cool "Wreck marker" (incredibly useful for using in the Deathroller races), and a Scatter Box (What? You don't know what a Scatter Box is? Well it looks like a box, where you can place dice, tokens, etc, but it has a scatter template on the top, so as long as you have a d8 with you, you'll always know where the darn ball will bounce to! Alternatively, if you have trouble deciding where you want to go when you're outside, just roll a d8. Kinda like a compass but better as it's not subject to magnetic influence!). :)

Here it is the photo of the official "9th Placed Winner" in the Deathroller Race 2000 competition!

If somehow you have been following either the MMN blog, or in particular the posts related to the Deathroller 2000 race competition, by now you already know this has the "N" mark all over, and had to come from the "DRR Brain" and contest sponsor, Mr. Neil!

I confess I had quite a few good laughs with this package, first just by looking at the spoon (according to Neil's note "(...) there were no losers in a fantastic competition so you are officially the '9th Placed Winner'.(...)", and later while checking the tokens (as I didn't noticed immediately that they were "customized").

Thank you very much Neil, for taking the time to put all these precious gems together, and shipping them our way!
Both me and Mr. Zvarr were delighted to be awarded this prize, and truly appreciated the tokens, marker and box. They will no doubt be useful in our next DRR race!

(...)

You know how, when injustice strikes out there in the cold ruthless racing world, and 9th placed contestants are not automatically acclaimed as "9th Placed Winners" too?
Well, somewhere there's a masked crusader, always ready to make justice prevail, that as soon as wrongs have been made rights, simply disappears, never waiting for praises, just leaving behind the mark of justice, his mark, a capital "N"...

... that, and perhaps a couple of Deathroller Race tokens too!
:D

And the voting for the best DeathRoller starts...

now...

For the next 7 days you will be able to vote on your favorite Deathroller so,dont be shy about it...

Tell your friends and family...the prize is awesome  ;)

Ill be posting a compilation of the Deathrollers so its easier for you to check them,and then,you can use the "thingie" on the left to vote...pretty simple  :)

So,here we go:

 Deathroller #1

 Deathroller #2

 Deathroller #3

 Deathroller #4

 Deathroller #5

 Deathroller #6

 Deathroller #7

 Deathroller #8

 Deathroller #9

See you in 7 days...lol

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!

Show me your dice!

Over the course of years, every die hard fan of table top games ends up gathering and collecting more dice (amongst other memorabilia) than he'll ever get to use.
That's probably a FACT I suppose.

Like our beloved miniatures, and after a certain number of them (...) we start having a urgent need for some sort of storage, not only to have them protected form dust, or our pets ( dog, cat, you name it...), but because (most of the times) they do look nice, and deserve to be looked at, instead of just being hidden in any closet or box!

By now, probably all of you already are familiar with our mate Neil (Pugwash Pirates, Black Pig, Strum Champion, ...), and the endless source of goodies he doesn't tire to share with us, right?
Now it seems that one of these days, similar thoughts took him to comment with his wife how he was looking for a display box for his Blood Bowl dice collection... and not long after (as in "that same evening") his wife presented him one that she made herself!!

How about that?!?

Kudos to your wife for a great job Neil!
Oh, and you can even spot the NABBO dice in there, just look closely!

Thanks mate!

Bandits receive Royal visit!

I really had to show off this really funny find from Neil...

What? Don't have a clue about who the Bandits are?
That's easy, check them over here : TCBB

NABBO TC dugout meets NAFC 2012

After being spotted in the Challenge of Q'uermitt 2012, this time the NABBO Tea Cup memorabilia  - both dugout and dice - have been seen, this time in the NAF Championship 2012!
Check out those yellow circles in the image...

Apparently, out of 182 coaches playing in the tournament, the first one that sits to play with our friend Neil was using a NABBO TC dugout and taking the NABBO dice along with it!
Note that Neil is himself a (hopefully proud) owner of a complete set of NABBO TC collectibles.


How about that for a coincidence?
:)

Update (29 May):
 
As promised, after checking our sources, using Neil's tip, and consulting a powerful oracle in distant Albion lands, we decided to use our most advanced device of warp transmission and send a pm to ceetee! He promptly answer and kindly sent us this pic taken in the NAFC with him holding... you know what!

Kudos to Neil and ceetee for immortalizing the moment!

Sturm Der Hiebe 2012

­

Today we have great news from our friend Neil!

Past weekend he went to Gütersloh to have a go at the Sturm der Hiebe 2012, and while at it he decided to share a report with us!

Here's how he meticulously decided what team to take, and is insight on the games during the whole thing, sprinkled with is usual humour notes.

Well played Nick, congratulations!

Hey I’ve just won my second NAF accredited Tourney ‘Sturm Der Hiebe’ and that makes me officially a happy bunny!   

Twenty eight coaches took part playing 6 games each, spread over two days with a modified Swiss scoring system. The rules for the tournament can be found here but essentially it was TR110 resurrection.  I spent a long time trying to decide what to take, it’s not an easy choice when you have as many teams as I have and it’s not helped either when you’re as indecisive as me (I think I used to be indecisive but now I’m not so sure!).  Then the deadline day for submitting the rosters arrived and I was too busy to work anything out so I took my Pro Elves as I already had a TR110 roster that fit the bill.

Who are these Elves you ask?  They are the Beastwick Wytches, a highly specialised offshoot of the Kult of Khaine formed when some acolytes got bored waiting for their torture lesson to start and began throwing the still beating heart of their previous victim around.  Post match parties are legendary, mostly because no one who has ever been to one has survived to tell the tale! 

Game One

First up were the Chaos Dwarves of Smashing Pumpkins, normally I’d of said ‘Rats there goes all my dodge skill rolls!’ (or words to that effect) but if you look at my roster you will note I only have one player with the dodge skill so all those tackle skills are largely wasted. I won the Fame roll, the weather was perfect and I chose to receive.  Two turns later I’d done the Elf thing and scored, so it was back to the start position and prepare to spoil the Chaos Dwarf Grind plan. 

 I was able to first stall his cage then disrupt it but couldn’t wrest the ball clear so I had to be satisfied with 1-0 at half time, I was particularly happy to KO a Bull Centaur and even happier when it refused to come out for the second half. 

 The second half couldn’t of gone better if I’d scripted it and I was able to run home three further touchdowns without reply; with the first Bull Centaur only returning to the fray once the first had been injured. Game one finished and I was top of the pile and playing on Pitch 1 next.

Game Two

The second game was against more Pumpkins, I had the stray thought that with my Wytches and all these Pumpkins maybe it was already Halloween but apparently not!   

These were the Sleepy Hollow Pumpkins a Necromantic Team who had defeated a Halfling Team 3-1 in the previous round.  Once again I won the Fame roll (this time with Fame +2), the weather was again perfect and I chose to receive and duly scored in the obligatory 2 turns.  In a familiar turn of events I stalled his cage, disrupted it, couldn’t wrest the ball clear and went to half time 1-0.   

Kick Off brought me a Pitch Invasion and with Fame +2 there were a lot of stunned undead all of a sudden.  Unfortunately for me neither of the Ghouls was stunned and they were able to secure the ball and take it out of reach whilst the rest of the team recovered.  Still (I thought!) I’m in a good position here and then the Wight with Piling On and Mighty Blow really went to work.  By the end of the game he’d injured 4 players and KO’d another 3, 6 of which by using Piling On!   

Eventually I ran out of players and couldn’t hold him out any longer so the game finished tied at 1-1 and I dropped to place 5 in the rankings.

Game Three

Next up were the Underworld team of Mutagen X coached by Robert who’d come all the way from Belgium to play in the tournament.  He had the dangerous combination of Claws and Mighty Blow on not one, not two but three players so I feared for my team; on the other hand he had a lot of Strength 2 Goblins so maybe I’d be able to dish it out as well as taking it. 

I managed to gain Fame +2 again but the weather had turned for the worst and it was now pouring with rain.  The game flowed this way and that and even featured a dastardly one turn thrown team mate touchdown.  Another Pitch Invasion helped me to an unassailable 4-1 lead though before a late multi dice risky play, without the cushion of a reroll, gave the Underworld a deserved consolation and the final scoreline of 4-2 was enough to see me return to the top of the table. 

 As a footnote his Warpstone Troll, just like the Minotaur in game one, didn’t fail a single Really Stupid (Wild Animal for the Mino) roll, although neither really caused any damage.  That was the end of a very satisfying first day with the third game being the most fun but all of them interesting.

Day Two

Game Four

 Day 2 and I was facing off against another Underworld team the Seckenheim Suicidal Sewer Things coached by Planlos who is a very accomplished player (he finished ranked highest individual at the NAF World Cup two years ago!!!!) but he’s also an all round nice guy.  He had Skitter Stab-Stab on his team and a whole horde of 2 headed Gobbos. 

 This was a tense tactical battle which I was edging having scored just before half time to lead 2-1 despite the Sweltering Heat giving the numerically superior Underworld an advantage and all those pesky dodging goblins who didn’t roll a double one in the entire game despite making 60 or 70 dodges!  

It could and probably should have been better but my Leap equipped Catcher landed on her head and knocked herself out rather than blocking the Star Rat in it’s living cage. He had one turn left before half time though and so having been on the receiving end of a one turner in the last game I set up cautiously.  The ball scattered right out on to the touchline with a lone gobbo standing next to it, kick off result Blitz!.  

Because I’d set up to protect against a thrown team mate only my fastest players could get to it though. I blitzed the goblin (with my newly returned to the fray leap ‘expert’) but could only push him aside before sending my sure feet catcher to catch the falling ball which she duly did, leaving her a little exposed but hopefully preserving my lead. What followed was a game defining turn however, as with the help of a couple of assists the Goblin who’d been left standing blocked and then injured my Leaper and a Skaven Blitzer dodged out and made 2 GFIs before slamming my Sure Feet lady holding the ball in to the crowd.  The spectators duly kicked her head in and injured her too! In the second half I slowly ran out of players and was unable to prevent an equaliser with 2 turns to go. 

The loss of the two catchers meant the Underworld were easily able to stomp the lone scoring possibility I was able to send forward and the game finished with an honourable draw.  Fortunately the players below us also drew and I was still in the lead!

Game Five

Yuck what is that stench? 

It’s the Nurgle team Hof Der Pestilenz not exactly opponents of choice for Elves especially those like mine that like to pass and hand off, all that Disturbing Presence is, well, disturbing!   

The Game started in perfect weather, I had Fame +1 and he chose to receive.  I did what had been working well for me up until now by first stopping and then disrupting his cage, my sidestepping blitzer's (especially the blodger) proved really useful for this throughout the tournament and I was able to apply enough pressure to wrench the ball loose then score and go in to half time leading one nil and due to receive the ball next.  

Nuffle doesn’t really like such easy victories though, so with my usual 2 turn touchdown beckoning, off I went.  First blitzing the intermediate ball carrier free - Block and Skull, whoops reroll and a pushback that’s enough thanks.  Pass a 1, pass skill reroll fine - catch a 2 needing a three because of the Disturbing Presence, catch skill reroll fine - just the hand off  to a NoS catcher and a dodge out to an empty square 2 yes! But wait a minute what is that stinky Chaos Warrior doing there! I need a three, Catch reroll... 1 aargh! All was not yet lost however as the ball landed kindly and he quickly turned over leaving me just needing to Dodge out and pick up the ball a 1, reroll another 1 and now I was in trouble!  He was able to grind down the pitch and equalize but with 2 turns still to go an accurate long pass to my Blodgy Blitzer held in two tackle zones and with 1 disturbing presence close by……a five, she’s only gone and caught it!  Two dodges later and it was a glorious elf style last turn winner.

Game Six

I was still ranked first going in to the last game but it was really close and, I think with the right results there were at least 5 potential tournament winners.  Because I had already played Planlos I faced up against Chassalla Monsters another Necromantic team who were currently third.  For the first time I didn’t win the Fame roll (it was a draw) however the weather was perfect and my opponent won the toss and chose to receive.  However, by turn four my Elves were on fire and they were already 2-0 up and had knocked out one of his werewolves and (re)killed a Zombie. 

With the kick off to come in the second half it was looking comfortable. Strangely Nuffle decided he was happy with this state of affairs and with four turns to go in the game the Elves lead 4-0 and had (re)killed another Zombie. At this point my opponent started to roll hot with his armour and injury rolls and managed to injure four of my players (but not kill any - so no little zombie elves!) and knock out 4 more before grabbing a consolation touchdown for a final score of 4-1.

As Planlos matched my result on the pitch next to me that meant I had won the tournament on Touchdown difference and had also won the Most Touchdowns prize.   

This tournament had some very nice prizes, including two fully painted teams, but I chose the Impact Orc Rock Band as my prize for winning the tournament and a lovely tournament pitch made by FF Fields for the most touchdowns, added to this all participants got some special tournament dice. 

The Wytches now have a new home stadium and I can use the NAF Trophies as Turn Marker and Reroll counters for them. What a great weekend, 6 interesting games of Blood bowl and stuff to take home too!

 You can find more info, results and a lot more pics in here: Sturm Der Hiebe.