Berlin Open

I was co-organizing the tournament as well as playing in it, which should be fun, but stressful (also the reason for the lack of insight game reports).

We sadly had some drop offs just before the tournament and were a bit disappointed that we just managed to get 20 coaches. The positive side of it though was that there were many new coaches (or at least new to the Berlin scene), which is always nice.

The tournament rules were simple and the same as the rules for NAFC, back in the days.

TV110 and 5+1 Skills.

Roster

I decided to play undead since it had been a while since I played them back in 2014. I don't know why I haven't played them in a while, since I like to play undead. Maybe it's due to the miniatures (my first painted team).

2 Mummies (Block, Guard)

2 Wights (Guard, Tackle)

3 Ghouls (Wrestle, Block)

5 Zombies

1 Skeleton

3 Re-rolls

Assistans Coach

Cheerleader

I like this roster as it sturdy and it enables some fouling. The alternative would be to field all four ghouls, but while making the team faster, it's also more fragile.

Game 1 vs Chaos Dwarves (peterd)

FAME 0
Nice weather

I kicked the ball to start the game and couldn't stop peterd's offense. His claw mighty blow minotaur removed some players, but I had a chance at the ball after a mistake from peterd, but couldn't capitalize on it.

Lining up for the kick off

I then scored late in my drive and peterd had an opportunity to win the game. I could however get his ball carrier on the ground, but the ball bounced around and finally landed on his minotaur! Peterd could still win the game, if his minotaur behaved, dodged and GFIed, which didn't happen, but it was a tense last turn.

Minotaur with the ball!

A fun game against one of the nicest coaches in blood bowl.

End 1-1 (2-3)

Game 2 vs Dark Elves (Danbob)

FAME ?

Nice weather

Dan was a lovely chap, but new to the tournament scene and his inexperience showed. I could score in my turn 8 and then stole the ball in the second half. Dan did have an opportunity after I stole the ball, but failed too many dodges to take advantage of it. If it wasn't for a double 1, the game would have ended 2-0, but a win is a win.

Cage moving up the field

End 1-0 (1-1)

Game 3 vs Dark Elves (BroccooLi)

FAME 0
Blizzard!

I get to receive the ball first (and the weather changes to nice) and move up the field slowly. BroccooLi defends well and I needed a bit of luck to score in turn 8, but I managed. The OTTD was a failure, but it was close.

The undead team moves up the field

BroccoLi then gets the ball in the second half, pushing to score quite early and then lightning strikes and I have three players KOed and one CAS in a single turn. I couldn't stop the dark elves after that, but luckily got me, the KOs came back and we now had an exciting game on our hands.

Look at all those KOed players!

Once the ghoul had the ball in his hands, the undead team went for a power drive to the right, but the dark elves overcommitted and I could run the ball carrier back to the left side and after two GFIs, he was out of reach for but a handful of players. I also screened off the dark elves to force them to dodge, which they did. 1 re-roll 1. It was the worst of times to have a turnover and I just needed to blitz one player away before scoring in turn 16.

End 2-1 (1-2)

Game 4 vs Chaos Dwarves (Claymore)

FAME +2
Swealtering Heat

I kicked the ball and the game started with a get the ref!, which I think was more in my fortune than my opponents.

I MNGed a chaos dwarf early in the half and my opponent used his apo, which resulted in another MNG. My opponent was now one dwarf down and without his apo. That looked bad and I had managed to put him in a bad spot, which wouldn't be easy to get out off. Things didn't get better when I cased three players in one turn!! I then continued to up the pressure and fouled a bull centaur off the pitch. The half ended 1-0 to me.

As I received the ball for the second half, it was 11 undead vs 6 chaos dwarves (well, not dwarves as half the team was now made up off hobgoblins).

I then fouled the second bull in to the casualty box and stalled the game out for a 2-0 win in turn 16.
I could probably have scored earlier and ran up the score, but I felt that a safe 2-0 was better than a potential 2-1 (if the KOs came back and my guys were out due to the heat).

End 2-0 (4-0)

I was very lucky in game 4. Surely, that couldn't continue?

Game 5 vs Dark Elves (Sprinter)

FAME 0
Nice weather

I kick the ball to my opponent and rolled a blitz! and the ball was close to the LOS.
My tackle wight blitzed to open up a path to the ball and managed to cause a serious injury. The apo was used and the result was another serious injury. Great start to the game for me and my luck from game 4 was continuing. I didn't put anyone underneath the ball as I wanted to screen up the area for a safer pick up in turn 1, but the ball bounced on to my tackle wight, who caught the ball.

My opponent then knocked the ball free, but wasn't in a good position, close to my team and I could put pressure on the elves. Sadly, I made an error in my first turn, dodging my block ghoul out off contact after a blitz which ended with a ghoul in the casualty box. I should just have left the ghoul in contact (was next to the guard wight) and could have dodged out the turn after (if needed) to cover the area which I wanted to cover directly. This opened up a path for the elves along the sideline, which they took.

I was now in pursuit and tried to catch up. I had left a safety (my wrestle ghoul) which was blitzed and put in the casualty box. I was now down to one ghoul (currently not on the pitch) and chasing dark elves with my slow players. I did however catch up as Sprinter decided to stall out the half, which turned out to be a disaster. A witch dodged and 1d blitzed a mummy -> Skull!. That ended the half and I had somehow been very lucky.

I received the ball in the second half and it was a relatively deep kick. Sprinter put me under pressure, running his team in to my half. I had to run up with my ghoul, who then made a pass to a wight. Phew, it worked and I could move up the pitch with the wight, using my slower players to delay the dark elves.

The teams only ghoul takes the ball up the field before the dark elves flood the backfield

My numbers prevailed and I could score in turn 16.
The game was closer than game 4, but I had still been lucky.

End 1-0 (6-1)

Game 6 vs Dark Elves (Ignaz)

FAME -1
Nice weather

I kicked the ball deep to the dark elves and stayed put in my half of the pitch, playing a zone defense.
Things looked okay, but I couldn't break any elves. The dark elves were pinched towards the sideline and I had tried to make the score difficult in turn 8, but my opponent made all his roles including a blitz with a witch elf (with the ball) which included a 3+ dodge, 1d block (x2 due to frenzy), 2+ dodge and a GFI, without a re-roll. Not too difficult, but I would have liked to see it fail.

Well, the game wasn't over as there were a half to play still and I suspected that I just needed a draw to win the tournament. Hopefully I'd break some elves and manage an eight turn score.

It was however not to be as the second half started with a perfect defense and the ball ended up next to the sideline. I failed the pick up (with a re-roll) and the ball fortunately stay in bounds, but the dark elves now flooded my backfield and I was very much under pressure. I managed to recover the ball in my next turn and set up a cage deep in my own half. The dark elves continued their attack on the ball and I had to fight to get it safe each turn and I couldn't progress. Matters weren't helped by the fact that I was loosing players and the elves remain on the pitch (my opponent played an 11 man roster without an apo).

It was a matter of time before the elves could get the ball and score in turn 16.

End 0-2 (0-1)

Conclusion

The loss at the end was annoying as I just needed to draw the game to win the tournament, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I did enjoy playing undead and will do so again in the near future. This was my fourth Runner Up and I hope that I can break the spell sometime soon.

The standings after game 6

Thanks for reading.