Sep 27, 2015

Underground Cup

My first time organizing a tournament and it was fun, but a very hectic day. Four games, which by itself is stressful, but also organizing and in my case, a sever cold, wasn't easy. It might sound like I'm making excuses for what you're about to read and I guess I am :). Let's see how it went for me, but let's start with the roster.

I went with the same roster as I did for the NAFC, but with some added skills.

I had 4 blitzers, 2 witches, 1 runner, 4 linemen, 2 RR and 2 FF (which I forgot about until the last game).

For skills, I went with wrestle on both witches and leader on the runner for game 1&2.
I then added guard and dodge to two separate blitzers for game 3 and followed that up with dodge on the two remaining blitzers in game 4.

The calm before the storm
Game 1vs Norse

Fame -1
Blizzard

I got the choice of kicking or receiving and chose the later. My idea and hope was to have a game much like my last game at the NAFC. That was not going to happen. The half started with a thrown rock which stunned a lineelf. Not too bad. However, as said lineelf stood up in turn 3 and tried to dodge away, he went straight to the CAS-box.

I was under pressure being down on players and had to score in my turn 4.
Sadly, my KOs didn't come back and I was in trouble.

The half ended 1-1 and I had three elves injured and one KO to his eleven.

Second half started in the same manner as the first one, with a stunned lineelf. 
So I was now down to six players for at least two turns. This wasn't going my way and against a good coach like Ignaz, who won the tournament, there isn't much you can do. Fun fact, we've played each other twice in tournaments and both times he's won and ended up wining the tournament.

Lost the game with 2-1 and I had one stunned elf left on the pitch when Ignaz scored in turn 16.
I couldn't do much with the three elves I had on the pitch in turn 16. Still tried a block for fun. Skull.

1-2 (CAS 0-5)

Game 2 vs Dwarves

Fame -1
Nice weather

I elected to kick starting this game and the result on the kick-off table was a pitch invasion.
It wasn't top bad and one of my blitzers was stunned as well as a troll slayer.

He moved forward, but didn't protect his runner well enough and I could steal the ball ending the first half 1-0 for me. I then received the ball and scored 2-0 hoping that I could steal the ball again. I however overcommitted and he could score in his turn 16. Still okay with the decision to go for 3-0 since I had the win anyway.

2-1 (CAS 0-2)

Game 3 vs Necro

Fame -2
Pouring rain

I started the game kicking and he started his turn with a block or two and then he went for the ball, forgetting about the rain and failing in picking up the ball. I broke through his line and scored 1-0. I somehow managed to do this twice in the first half and was up 2-0 going into the second half. I was however down on players with just six elves on the pitch.

He rolled for the kick-off while saying that it was going to be a bitz, since he needed it and yes, it was a blitz. A couple of turns later and he scored 2-1. 

Setting up again, my plan was to with in my half and burn time and then punt the ball, hoping that he wouldn't be able to reach it before I did or that the clock would run out. Well, that didn't happen. I failed a dodge with the blitzer (with dodge) and spilled the ball in my half (on the punt action). Luckily, he couldnt reach the ball so I tried again the following turn, but the ball was intercepted! He scored the equalizer the turn after.

Setting up again my plan was to go for a two turn elf score and the weather changed, so I was feeling good about my chances. I wasn't to be however and a zombie intercepted the ball and said zombie could then hand the ball off to a werewolf who double GFied his way to victory.

This was a sad defeat, but I'm not sure that I could have done much to prevent it. I had half the players he had on the pitch and got surrounded quite fast. It didn't help that he was getting one player of the pitch each turn (well, it felt like it at least)

2-3 (CAS0-3)

Game 4 vs Chaos Pact

Fame -1
Nice weather

I started the game by kicking to him and it was a touchback. He decided to give the ball to the minotaur which I was happy with. Granted, he'd given the mino block and it has strength 5, so it wasn't going to be easy getting him done, but to move him, my opponent would have to blitz with him. So, I started screening, knowing that he could just punch a hole with his ballcarrier, which is a loner. Having so much blodge made it hard for him to punch through. I got some lucky breaks though, seeing as my opponent rolled a couple of ones for his wild animal rolls. 

I based the mino with blodge blitzers and that meant that he was stuck and he had to blitz the blitzers, but I placed the blitzers in the back, which meant that he was going in the wrong direction. After a turn, I got the mino down on the pitch with a witch elf. A bit lucky though, since it was a -2d, but with wrestle, it wasn't that unlikely that I would get the ball free. A blitzer then scoped the ball up and ran in for the score, 1-0.

I kick again and I put him under pressure. Sadly though, in his turn 8, he manages to dodge through tackle zones, pick the ball up in tackle zones, pass in tackle zones and catch the ball with the goblin for 1-1.
Before the goblin scored (thanks to Cubefarmer for the picture)
As I've got a turn left, I might as well try some blocks, which resulted in two casualties, seeing the goblin and a guard marauder leave the game.

Starting the second half we were even on players. My plan was to score in turn 16, since he didn't have the goblin anymore, he'd have trouble doing a OTTD. However, I failed in stalling due to him dodging through my screen with a marauder and knocking down my blodge blitzer on a single die blitz. The ball landed in the endzone and I had to score. 2-1 with turns to go.

I kicked and rolled a perfect defense stopping him from advancing and after a failed pass, I could scope the ball up and eventually scoring in turn 16, after the ball had changed hands once or twice.

3-1 (CAS 3-3)

I ended with a 2-0-2 record, which I guess is okay, but I wasn't happy with game 3, which I should have won. This also means that my NAF-Ranking is dropping and that's the opposite of what I wanted for this tournament. Now I'm not sure what I should take for my next tournament which is Stockbowl Cup VI.

Should I go for the stunty cup or play dark elves again?
Was the NAFC just lucky on my part or can I play dark elves?
If i go for dark elves, should I then go for a block witch and dodge on my runner?
Or maybe leave the runner without a skill and go for 4 blodgers (3 blitzers and a witch), one guard blitzer and a wrodger witch. Five dodge rerolls, but just two regular rerolls.
(I'd like to try a five lineelf set up, but i won't be able to paint another lineelf before the tournament)

I'll have to sleep on it

Sep 15, 2015

Update on the Underground Cup

I haven't written anything in a while and the reason for that is that I'm working on a couple of projects that will be reviled soonish.

One of the projects is a four game tournament in Berlin. We've called it Underground Cup and starting next year we'll modify the rules to have a underworld/skaven theme in the sewers underneath the streets of Berlin. This year however we've gone with the WC III Rules to attract players going there.

One of my tasks was designing the logo for the tournament and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.
You'll find more information regarding the tournament on our webpage.


I'm also thrilled to announce that we'll have 28 coaches playing in the first ever Underground Cup on the 26th of September. A lot more than we expected to be honest.