Hammabowl 2018

This was my first Hammabowl and I had heard just good things about the tournament. I wasn't disappointed. The venue was great and there were just under 60 coaches there!

Waiting for the tournament to start

I was initially planning on taking dwarves, to take my painted deathroller for a spinn, but decided against it for two reasons. One, I didn't really feel like playing dwarves with this rule set and second, I wanted to break the 200 barrier with my wood elves (so close after GTB).

My roster

2 Wardancers (Strip ball, tackle)
1 Thrower (Leader)
2 Catchers
5 Linemen (Block, 2 wrestle)
Treeman
Re-roll
Apothecary
Assistant Coach
Cheerleader

Game 1 vs chaos dwarves

FAME -2
Nice weather

I kicked the ball deep in to my opponents half and braced myself for the LOS hits. Fortunate for me, AV7 seemed more like AV10 (the whole game). My opponent decided to pick the ball up with a bull centaur, which was fine by me. Less ST4 hitting me and more exposed AV7. I don't know why, but my opponent settled for a mega cage, surrounding his ball carrier with seven players.

Kick off!

I managed to funnel the cage towards the sideline and stall it to a halt. I then got shots at the ball carrier after chain pushing some players away. Sadly, the ball bounced back to the dwarves and was caught by a chaos dwarf. This left my opponent with a 4+ hand off, 4+ dodge and 3 GFIs chance off a score. It wasn't to be thought and the half ended 0-0.

The wood elves get the ball in the second half

This meant that I was in no rush to score and could stall the game out, but I was forced to score in turn 13, but I still liked my chances of keeping my opponent out of the endzone.

As it turned out, I wasn't only successful in keeping my opponent from scoring, but I managed to score myself after a 3+ pick up, 2+ hand off and 2 GFIs.

End 2-0 (1-1)

Game 2 vs undead

FAME -1
Nice weather

I kicked the ball and rolled a blitz on the kick off table. Not a bad start as the ball was in reach of my players.

Catching their own kick

My opponent could however recover, but we now were in his half and neither team could get the ball safe. My strip ball wardancer was MNGed in his turn 3, so I decided to use my apothecary. Fortunately for me, I rolled a BH and the wardancer would be back in the next drive. I took the risk since my opponent didn't have sure hands and the strip ball wardancer is such a valuable player.

A fight for the ball

I could recover the ball and score in turn 6.

Elves scoring

I thought that I had weathered the storm when he used a both down on his mummy and my treeman, but I relaxed too soon as the treeman was CASed by the mummy. Such a bold choice by my opponent, going for the both down result.

This ended the half and I was up 1-0, but I had suffered three casualties along the way (one being apo'ed).

This meant that I needed to score quickly in the second half, which I did, in turn 11.

The undead now had almost a half to score an equalizer, but I somehow managed to steal the ball again and the game ended 3-0 in my favor.

End 3-0 (3-5)

Game 3 vs dark elves

FAME -1
Nice weather

I received the ball and set out to slowly making my way up the pitch. I was hoping to inflict some kind of damage in doing so, but it wasn't to be. The half was quite uneventful (except for a KO on my team) and I could score in turn 8 after a 3+ and a 2+ dodge with re-roll.

Set up for the kick off

The second half was quite like the first, a tactical game where nothing happened and my opponent scored in turn 16. This left me with the one turner, but after a perfect defense, that was impossible and the game ended in a draw.

End 1-1 (0-0)

Game 4 vs norse

FAME -1
Nice weather

I kicked and the kick off result was a riot.

Kick off

I tried to funnel the norsemen towards the sideline and I was quite happy that my opponent went for the tree. Especially since the yeti wasted the blitz two turns in a row in doing so. My opponent then decided to put a lot of assists on the tree and in trying to get in down (it was blocking the path back to the middle), but the block dice just came up as pushes.

Stuck between the tree and the sideline

This meant that the norsemen were stuck between the tree and the sideline. Not ideal. Things got worse as they went men down in turn 6 (casualty, apo used). They still managed to score in turn 8 with a bit of luck.

When then set up for the one turner and I failed the second to last GFI. A double one, such a shame.

I was forced to score early (turn 11) and the norsemen had a good chance of winning the game, if they could score.

I played aggressively and rendered the chances of the norse scoring in turn 16 to quite small, but it almost worked. The thrower pick the ball up in a tackle zone and dodged out. Then threw it down the pitch to an ulfwerner, who dropped it. If the ball had been caught, there would have been two more GFIs to go.

Turn 16 for the norse

End 1-1 (0-3)

Game 5 vs norse

FAME -1
Nice weather

I received and managed to score in turn 8. Not much to report here, but my opponent then managed to casualty a lineman (apothecary not used) and KO another one in his turn 8. Not great for the second half as the KO didn't come back.

First half

It was now 9 vs 11, but that changed in turn 10 as a catcher was killed. I responded by KOing a lineman (apothecary used) and killing an ulfwerner.

Norsmen moving up the field

I managed to get his ball carrier down and even pick up the ball with a catcher. I left the catcher in contact as I didn't feel like rolling more dice (without a re-roll). In hindsight, I should have dodged out and punted the ball.

Should have punted

The norsemen responded by getting the ball back and scoring, which left me with some time left to win the game, but it wasn't going to be easy.

Things went from bad to worse when I rolled a one for the pick up and the norse put me under pressure. Things turned in to a scrum, but I managed to pick the ball up and run down the field with a catcher, but I made a huge mistake here. I put the catcher next to the sideline and the plan was to dodge out a lineman as support and for preventing the surf. I should however had remembered the golden rule in blood bowl, always count on things going wrong. The lineman dodge and it was a one, followed by a stunned lineman.

I should have put the catcher away from the sideline and even if it was blitzed down, the lineman could then have picked the ball up (things weren't helped by the fact that people were trying to check our teams out for best painted, as we should put them on a table after the game, but people were done with their games....)

The catcher was then surfed and the ball was thrown directly back, still in my opponents half and I believed that the draw was at least saved, but oh no. In turn 16, my opponent managed a 3+ pick up, 6+ long bomb, 3+ catch and a GFI for the game winning touchdown (without a re-roll).

End 1-2

Game 6 vs wood elves

FAME -1
Nice weather

I received the ball and the kick off result was a blitz.
Fortunately for me, my opponent deemed it too risky to go for.

Set up

The game was uneventful until turn 5, in which I inflicted a casualty on a block lineman (identical rosters) and the apothecary wasn't used.

I then scored in my turn 8, being a man up.

The one turn attempt was then stalled when a pow was re-rolled to get a push, but it was a skull and the blitzing wardancer was KOed (apothecary used).

Me being up in numbers meant that I could screen the other team up and force my opponent to score in turn 12.

I then managed to stall the game out and score the winning touchdown in turn 16.

End 2-1 (3-0)

Conclusion

I ended up in 13th place and was not unhappy, but the loss in game 5 stung. At least I can learn something from it.

I liked the roster and will use it again (probably at the Dungeonbowl next year).
I also managed to break the 200 barrier (by 0,56 points).

Thanks for reading.