Braunschweig Open

First ever Braunschweig Open and 16 coaches showed up to play five games of blood bowl. A win awarded 2 points and a draw 1 point.

A small, but good tournament and I'll be back next year. 

Following my disappointing result at Preußenbowl, I decided to give dwarves another go. Could I perhaps improve?

Roster

I had 1200 TV to play with (including skills (max 7, no double)) and played the following roster;
2 Runners
2 Blitzers (2xGuard)
Troll Slayer
7 Longbeards (4xGuard, Mighty Blow)
2 Re-rolls
2 Fan Factor (one fan factor free due to roster being sent in on time)

Game 1 vs Nurgle

First game saw me up against a hard as nails nurgle roster and exactly what I didn't want to face. My opponent played a 12 man roster (4 warriors (2xblock, 2xguard), 2 pestigors (2xblock), BoN (guard), 5 rotters (5xblock) and 1 re-roll).
I started with the ball and went for a surf in turn 1, but double both downs sadly stopped the rotter from being surfed. I was hoping for a man advantage early, to really optimizes my guard.

No surf in turn 1

I went all in on going down the side and was hoping to knock enough of his players down to move through, which could have worked as my opponent had given me a chain push, to push a longbeard forward, next to his last line of defense. Sadly, that turn saw me fail three foul appearance rolls and I was stopped in my tracks.

Dwarves going down one side

This left me with one option, a potato play. I managed to dodge both my runners through his defense (one dodge each), but the blitzer, that was suppose to protect them didn't manage to get away from the BoN. The runners were knocked down and the half ended 0-0.

Potato play

We ran out of time and didn't pay the whole half, but I don't think that the result would have been different. My opponent ran down with both his pestigors and I managed to knock one down and base the other one, having two players waiting for their next move and the rest of his team was based.

The game ended 0-0 (2-0)

Game 2 vs Dwarves

Second game and I was up against one of the three dwarf teams at the tournament. My opponent was a new tournament player and his roster saw just eleven players (runner (block), 2 troll slayers, 2 blitzers, 6 longbeards (all with guard)) and no apo. He had four re-rolls, which I think hurt him as he needed the apo and a twelfth player. Being down in numbers is not what you want as dwarves. 

I received the ball in the first half and started knocking down his players and made a push towards one of the sides. He took the bait and went towards that side, leaving me the possibility to cut back and divide his team. I then started surfing his players on the other side, while he headed backwards with the players on the wrong side. As my opponent engaged me on the other side, I switch back to the middle of the field which was now open. I believe that my opponent had seven dwarves left on the field at the end of the half. I had also managed to casualty one of the longbeards.

Kick off!

My opponent was down on players and guard. He moved towards one side and I set up a defense, stopping him and preventing him from doing what I did, cutting back towards the other side. I again surfed his players and after a turn or two, his ball carrier went off the pitch. The ball scattered in to my half and my runner went back to pick it up. I left him a one die blitz (in to a two dice against) with a marked troll slayer, which he took and made. It wasn't too bad though, as I could recover the ball. I had also sent a blitzer up the field in turn 14 (which he ignored) and in turn 16, I made a GFI and a quick pass for my second score.

The game ended 2-0 (1-0)

Game 3 vs Orcs

Orcs, a tough match up for dwarves. They had two guard and two block BOBs. Two of the blitzers had mighty blow and the thrower had leader. I got the ball first and slowly moved up the pitch. Not much to say about the first half. I got bogged down (the blizzard not helping my speed) and lost the ball (and my runner was MNGed) as well as a guard longbeard, which I used my apo on. It was 0-0 at half time.

Start of turn 2 for the dwarves

The second half saw the orcs moving up extremely slowly (although the weather change to nice) and I could set up a solid defense. The turning point was mid half, when my mighty blow longbeard knocked out the troll. This made things easier as he lost a bit of strength advantage. He did however break through with two blitzers in turn 15. After marking the closest one, I decided to put pressure on the cage instead. Marking the thrower and the other cage corners, forcing him to dodge and blitz away my players, which he did. All he had to do was make the pass in turn 16, but fumbled it. Even if his pass had been successful (5+) the receiver would have still needed to catch and GFI for the touchdown.

The game ended 0-0 (0-2)

Game 4 vs Dwarves

I was yet again up against AV9 and the third dwarf team at the tournament. However, I was looking forward to seeing what the deathroller roster (deathroller, 2 runners (leader, block), 2 blitzers (2xguard), troll slayer, 6 longbeards (3xguard, mighty blow), 1 re-roll) could do. It was also played by one of the better dwarf players in Germany, so I was hopefully in for a lesson.

I got the ball first and tried to go up one side which didn't work when a blitz resulted in a skull and both down, bogging me down next to the side line.

Going down one side line

Commiting to one side

 I had some of my players surfed and decided to change my strategy in the middle of the first half. I retreated and wanted to hold the 0-0 at halftime, hoping to be up on players (the deathroller would be sent off and any KO/CAS would help me be up on players). The ball was however blitz and recovered by my opponent. I could blitz his runner with the ball in turn 8 and got the ball on the ground again, covering it with two players. In his turn 8, the ball was then picked up by his runner (after clearing one of my players marking the ball), but the pass was failed, saving the 0-0 at half time.

After my turn 8. The runner with a white band and the blitzer are in scoring range

To make thing worse for my opponent, his KO didn't wake up and the deathroller was indeed sent off, as was his coach, on a 1. This left my 11 dwarves (6 guard) to his 9 (3 guard). The kick was deep and in my turn 9, I KOed another longbeard. Things were grim for my opponent as I overwhelmed him with guard and just waited for the right time to pounce on his runner with the ball. Once I did, he responded by picking the ball up and punting it down deep in my half. Brilliant move and I had to run back with my runner to pick it up. The position meant that I had to make 4 GFIs in order to score. My turn 15 was extreme, seeing me make 8 GFIs and set up a screen around my runner. My opponent couldn't do much to stop me and I scored in turn 16.

The game ended 1-0 (1-0)

Although I won, I was still given a lesson on how to play dwarves. The punt was brilliant and something I'll take with me for future games.

Game 5 vs Lizardmen

Last game of the tournament and I could theoretically win the whole thing, but it was unlikely. It was however not probable, as I was up against lizardmen, one of my least favorite race to play against. They have it all, speed, strength and armour.

My opponent was playing with 12 lizards, all saurus with block and the krox with guard. Like me, there were just two team re-rolls.

My opponent received the ball and forced me to spread out and defending the whole width of the field. I made a mistake on one side. I should have pushed a saurus away instead of going for a second block. The push would have left me with more longbeards to move away, leaving me in a better position.

First kick off

This saw his skinks speeding down one side, out of my reach. I then followed up with a gamble, fouling his krox (playing for the second half), since my players were there. I rolled a double 6 on the armour and then just stunned the krox, which made it a bad trade. It also enabled my opponent to stall longer and he scored in turn 8. In my turn 8, I KOed a saurus, which then got back up for the second half.

I spent the second half slowly moving up the field and I thought I'd manage the draw, but one annoying saurus among my longbeards just wouldn't go down. It finally did, but after eight block dice and I had to keep my position. That in turn enabled my opponent to solidify his defense. It meant that I had to do riskier moves and it just didn't result in the much needed touchdown.

The game ended 0-1 (0-1)

Conclusion

I ended up in fifth place on a 2-2-1 record. More importantly, I just allowed one touchdown and would have won the best defense award, had there been one.

All in all, I was very happy with my second dwarf tournament. They aren't my cup of tee, but I find that playing them evolves my game. Especially the fact that the game is made up of two halves. Playing elves can sometimes be a higher pace game, which makes it feel like you need to win the game in one half. As an example, in game 4, I played the long game, surrender the first half in favor of the second half. I kind of do that with elves too, just trying to keep my opponent from scoring and not going for the ball at all, but I guess I'm saying that you should never panic. There's always second half and changing you strategy in the first half in favor of it shouldn't be overlooked.

Another thing I already knew that I wanted to try was the deathroller. Seeing it being used as I use my tree man with wood elves made me want to try it even more. Here's some wip pictures of my deathroller.

Deathroller wip

The next time I play dwarves at a tournament, I'll probably bring the deathroller along. I don't know when that will be. Perhaps for next years Preußenbowl. Can't get much worse than it did this year, right?

My next tournament will be the German Team Bowl and I'm probably playing wood elves (also considering pro elves) which will be a change of pace. I've missed playing AG4 this year and getting back to more familiar playing styles will be nice.

Thanks for reading.