As you can tell by most of my recent posts as of late, Blood Bowl fever has got a big grip on me at the moment. I’ve been running my local league, painting a lot more models, reading the NAF and Talk Fantasy Football forums and listening to many episodes of Blood Bowl podcasts. From being involved a bit more with the online community I’ve discovered that Blood Bowl tournaments might not be all that bad.
As I’ve said before I don’t think I’m much of a table-top tournament player, I’d much rather play narrative campaigns. I don’t like what the heightened sense of competition does to some people (to be fair, probably the minority). Call me a care-bear if you wish, I’ve just decided it’s not for me, at the moment at least.
However, what I started discovering from reading/listening into the Blood Bowl tournament scene a bit more, was the sometimes negative vibe I got from tournaments wasn’t really present. People played in the spirit of the game, which itself is written in a comical and light-hearted way. I wonder if this is the aspect of the game makes it a lot harder to take too seriously, although I’m sure there are still people out there that do.
Anyway, Vault Bowl 2012 in Leamington Spa was my destination for the day. Our travelling party consisted of me, Adam (also known as Ginge, who has turned up in previous posts including the match report), Amy and Fran (our long suffering girlfriends and drivers for the weekend). An early start was in order as we had a two hour drive and registration started at 9.15. Despite our Satnav being a useless pile of crap, me and Amy got there in time and met up with Ginge and Fran.
We met the other players who were a very friendly bunch, the girls headed off for a day at Warwick Castle and once registered, I sat down for my first game. I should probably point out that for this tournament I was using an Orc team I had named Pigrah’s Snorthammerz (actually made up by my friend Dan. I asked his permission to use it because it sounds awesome.
Game One: VS Goblins.
Possibly one of the more important aspects of this game was every round of the tournament had a different round effect. This round was called “The refs on strike”. This really didn’t help me versus the Goblins. I hadn’t actually played against a Goblin team before apart from on the PC game, and the sheer amount of secret weapons they were wielding was quite daunting. The fact that the ref was on strike did not help as these weapons were less likely to get spotted and sent off for the rest of the game. By the end of the game I had 5 players in the “dead/seriously injured” box! This was quite a learning experience and a wake-up call. I had made some silly mistakes in the match and going forward I’d really have to focus.
Pigrah’s Snorthammerz result: LOSS.
Game Two: VS Ogres.
Again, this is a team I’ve never played against before. I knew that Ogres are tough guys that aren’t good at ball handling, and Snotlings are squishier than rice pudding on a hot day. What I didn’t realise was just how tough it is to control Snotlings with tackle zones! They are small enough to nip around all over the place! Another lesson learned. First half didn’t go too great. A Snotling fluked catching fumbled ball and just about made it to score a touchdown. I was in trouble. The opponent wasn’t using too many cages so I didn’t get to use my “anti-cage” technique I’ve been working on. It was getting near the end of the game, and my opponent was fending me off well. Right in his last turn, just for fun one of his Ogres threw a Snotling team mate at the endzone to try and score once more. The thrown player was obviously not quite ready for this and stuffed the landing. I had one turn to hoik the ball from end of the pitch to the other. I had a crazy amount of dodge rolls, a pass off and a long pass to complete to get this done. My boys didn’t let me done. The dice were on my side everything succeeded and I scored an equalizer in the last turn! What a play! One troubling thing about this game was I could not break any of the Snotlings armour. All I had to do was roll 6 or more on 2D6 and I couldn’t manage it once!
Pigrah’s Snorthammerz result: DRAW.
Game Three: VS Orcs
Well looky here. Who do I have to play in my final game for the first day? My old adversary, The Evil Ginger One himself. I predicted a hard fought game here as we are pretty much matched equally for skill. I can sum this game up in one word: Massacre. Something had happened to my dice over the course of the day. They had warmed up all day, got in tune with the Blood Bowl vibrations and I was breaking enemy Orc armour left, right and centre. If I hit an Orc, he was staying down. It was a horrible game for Ginge and I have been on the receiving end of such games so I felt his pain. On the plus side, a win for me!
Pigrah’s Snorthammerz result: WIN.
That was the first day over with and I was feeling pretty good. I’d effectively broken even! We retreated to our hotel not too far away in Coventry and after dinner the day took its toll, I was ridiculously tired.
Next day, we were back at the tournament nice and early.
Game Four: VS Dwarfs.
I’d heard that dwarf teams are that popular amongst Blood Bowl players. Well, only if you are playing against them. Although I have played against a dwarf team many times before I didn’t really know what to expect, and didn’t get complacent after the first days games. I knew I had to keep my mind on the game. My first turn couldn’t have gone better. One Troll Slayer down, revived by the apothecary. Then not much longer after that the other Troll Slayer gets crushed, and this time he’s not coming back. My “anti-cage” technique came into play nicely this game, I slowed his movement down to a painful crawl of one or two squares per turn and I bashed away at the beardy buggers. I took the first touchdown, but sadly my opponent equalised right on his last turn.
Pigrah’s Snorthammerz result: DRAW.
Game Five: VS Ogres.
A different Ogre team this time. This was a really hard fought game. Every move felt more crucial than the last. I was in “the zone” and I made every single player count. My opponent was the same and it felt like two veteran chess masters going at it. I don’t remember too many of the details, but I do remember a lot of caging, a lot of canny/daring plays and even a few Bone Head results for the
Ogres, especially when my opponent really didn’t want that to happen. It probably ranks on one of the most nail-biting and entertaining games of Blood Bowl. It was really great playing at this level of competition.
Pigrah’s Snorthammerz result: DRAW.
Game Six: VS Dark Elves.
Coming to this game I knew I had to keep a level head. I know what Dark Elves are capable of. You take your eye off them for one moment and they are going to score. Luckily for me, my opponent had never played against Orcs before (unbelievable!) and was quite daunted by the potential bloodbath that awaited him. Those green lads didn’t let me down. A combination of the Orcs bashing the opponent to bits and the Dark Elves completely failing every agility roll they attempted made for a silly game. We had a good laugh and this game was a nice end to weekend.
Pigrah’s Snorthammerz result: DRAW.
The whole weekend was great fun, everyone I met was really friendly and I will definitely be going to tournaments in the future. It was a great learning experience overall and I got some nice Vaultbowl dice out of it as well.
I don’t currently know where I was on the standings, but I reckon probably around the mid-table mediocrity but I am actually really chuffed with my first tournament performance. I find it pretty funny that the only person I actually beat was my friend that I actually went with.
I think my plan for the next few tournaments is to repaint an Orc team, make them look really flash, whilst collecting a Necromantic team to swap out to when it’s complete.
If you are a Blood Bowl player who has never been to a tournament and you are toying with the idea, I’d definitely recommend it.
PIGRAH’S SNORTHAMMERZ WILL RETURN!
P.S. any of you that are awaiting the Fantasy Football League final results, they will be coming soon!
