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

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.

Dark Elves 2.0

It's been a while since I've written something here, but it has it's reasons. I recently became a father and I've had less time to post.

I just wanted to update you on my current Dark Elves 2.0-project.

I started with the linemen and here's the first one

First lineman

I'm really happy with the 2nd ed style and decided to go for a 2nd ed team in plastic.

Three linemen and a runner (without the helmet)

I need to fill the gaps with greenstuff and sculpt some features on the runner, but I'm happy with them.

I then started to look for a color scheme and tried a Renegades scheme.

But once I tried it, the result wasn't that great. Too much yellow.

Renegaes color scheme

I had a look again and I liked the Darkside Cowboys-color scheme

and this time I made the sensible thing and started with a small piece instead of a complete miniature.

Feeling confident, I started with the actual miniature

First painted lineman

I still need to highlight the black and I'm also going to highlight the blue some more, but I'm happy with the result.

I also put a blitzer together and I'm liking this team. Can't wait to have them done and on the pitch.
My goal is to be able to play with the at EuroBowl 2016 in Sweden.

First blitzer

Update

After it going so well for me at the NAFC I've decided to play some more tournaments with dark elves, but I'm not a 100% happy with the team I've painted. So, I'm going for dark elves 2.0 and this time I'll convert them from the games workshop plastic sets.

Here's the first try with a lineman. He's still missing spikes, repositioning, other arms and green stuff, but I think it will look good once it's done.

First try at a plastic lineman

It will however take a while before they're done and until then I'll just play with the painted team.

Since I need to order some bitz for the dark elf team I painted some dwarves, for fun. They were quite easy to paint so I ended up getting a fourth of the team done.

One fourth of the Tiergarten Titans

NAFC 2015

NAFC for this year is over and what a tournament. As always (well, the times I've been there) the organisation was spot on. I'm already looking forward to next year.

But, I thought I'd do a short write up of what happend this year first.

I played with this roster.


Game 1 vs Lizardmen

FAME +1
Nice weather

My first game was against lizardmen, which is a tough opponent, but I'd rather face them early, when they've just got three skills. The skills were two block on two sauruses and break tackle on the krox.

Early in the second half

I started the game by kicking off to my opponent. He advanced, but I managed to bogg him down and eventually steal the ball. Sadly, I managed to knock my ball carrier down and got the ball to a skink, who handed the ball off to another skink, but the last skink failed his dodge, so the half ended 0-0, which I was still happy with. I now had 8 turns to score and potentially win the game.

In the second half, I was forced to score in my second turn, but I felt that I'd at least have a draw in the bag.

Two turn score in the second half

My opponent made a misstake, maybe because he was a bit stressed, since he needed to score. The misstake was that he didn't cover the ball when he tried to pick it up and that meant that I could get at it. I stole the ball and scored in my turn 16. A fun game and a perfect start to my NAFC 2015.

TD 2-0
CAS 2-1

Game 2 vs Undead

FAME +1
Nice weather

I received the ball and screened my way to a score in turn 8. 

Screening

Sadly I had 3 KOs, but felt confident that I'd get at least two in in my two attempts.

Before kicking of to him in turn 8, I got one player back and none at half time. Together with the casulties he'd inflicted it meant that I was defending with just seven elves. 

Start of the second half

I feared that my opponent woould score quickly and then steal the ball for the win.

In a few turns, I was down to four elves, but still managed to put pressure on the ball.

My opponent didn't go for the win and stalled out for the draw in turn 16. I couldn't do much in the last turn of the game since I just had five players on the field.

TD 1-1
CAS 1-3

Game 3 vs Undead

FAME -1
Nice weather

This game was over quick. I started the game off by rolling a blitz on the kick off table.

That meant that my opponent was now playing defense against a dark elf team in the middle of his half. I managed to stall and score in turn 8.

The second half was uneventfull since he didn't get his KOs back and I could score in turn 16.

TD 2-0
CAS 0-1

Gamle 4 vs Dark Elves

FAME +2
Pouring rain

I kicked to him and he started moving down the pitch, screening his ball carrier. I mad several attempts at getting to the ball, but couldn't knock it free. He scored in his turn 8.

The second half started with a pitch invasion! 2 down for me and 7 for him. 

This was my chance to score quickly and then play for the win, at least, that's what I thought. If my runner had managed to pick the ball up. In his second attempt, he did pick it up, but with a reroll. I had declaired a hand off action with him and here is when I lost the game. I shouldn't have followed through on the hand off, but I wanted to go for the win rather than stall out the draw. The rest of the half saw me trying to pick up the ball, the ball bouncing to one of his linemen, me trying to block his lineman down. I devoted a total of nine block dice to knocking the lineman down, but only managed nine pushes.

The game ended with neither of us scoring, so he won, but it was a very fun game and I'm still okay with my choice of going for the win.

TD 0-1
0-1 CAS

Game 5 vs Dark Elves

The first thing my opponent said to me was "I've had one hour of sleep, since I've been out drinking. Please have patience with me". It was quite clear that I was going to win this one.

FAME +1
Blizzard

He kicks to me and the weather changes to nice, which was good for both of us.
I score in my 8th turn and in his 8th turn a rock was thrown, but it was only a stunned player.
He CAS fouls a lineman and gets sent off

I get my KOs back for the second half so it's 10 vs 10.

Once again a rock is thrown which stunns of of his blitzers. The acctual kick is quite bad and one of his witches catch it, but he starts his turn by running a blitzer forward. He then trips on the GFI and his witch is just standing there with the ball. I surround her and get the ball back for a turn 16 score. Game over.

TD 2-0
CAS 1-0

Game 6 vs Norse

I receive and run to a side and he follows. I then switch sides and back we go. This means he just gets one blitz per turn and with his lower armor, I get some players of the field. In my turn five I break through for a TD in turn six. This leaves him three turns to score, but I thought I could defend from that happening, which I almost do. but rather than markig his ball carrier with a witch I move her away (the blitz was used on one of the receivers in my half), to protect her for the second half. This means, that he's got an easier time scoring.
He scores in his turn 8 with a hand off in a TZ and some dodges.

Start of the second half

In the second half. I stopped his offence and could in turn 16 dodge, pick up the ball, pass it, catch it hand off in a TZ and dodge my way to victory! Propper elf bullshit.

TD 2-1
CAS 3-0

This was the best game of the tournament and maybe even my best blood bowl game ever. A great oponent and a game that could have gone either way.

That meant that I ended the tournament with a 4-1-1 record, landing me the 18th spot out of 150.

I'm very happy with my result and the tournament in general.

Thank you to all my opponents and the organisers!

Roster for NAFC

The NAFC is almost here and I've just sent my roster in for review.

I'll be using the same roster as I did in the RTNAFC and Preußenbowl.

I'm hoping for a result closer to the RTNAFC than Preußenbowl.

I thought about removing a witch elf in favour of a lineman and an apo, but I won't be able to paint another linemen, so that will have to be tried in another tournament.

I've also added some white lines to the display base/carrying tray and I think it looks a bit better.

The lines aren't straight, but I don't imagine the line painting goblins being that neat, so it kind of fits.

Here's a picture of the elves (the ball will be placed in the empty spot)

Reinickendorf Raiders

and one with the halflings

Gesundbrunnen picknick Packers

Quick update

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd just update you guys on what's going on.

I'm currently painting my elves and my initial idea was to paint them all, ie all the players that I'd need for league play. I have however since then changed those plans.

My current plan is to paint enough elves for my dark elf tournament team and I'm currently six elves away from that. My goal is to paint the six remaining elves (4 blitzers and 2 witch elves) before the NAFC and play them there. (If I don't, I'll probably play halflings instead)

Why this change?

Well, I've realised that I like tournaments more than league play and I'd rather paint a couple of tournament teams in order to play different teams, before going back and painting the extra models needed for league play. I'll probably have less time for blood bowl in the future, becoming a father soon, so tournaments might be when I get to play, so why not play different teams?

I also have this crazy idea of maybe someday wining a NAF-trophy and I'd therefore like to paint some of the more competitive teams, like wood elves.

I recently one an eBay action for a Meiko wood elf team and I just need to paint 10 elves for my tournament team (together with one of the trees from my halfling team). So, six dark elves and ten wood elves to go for two of the best tournament teams.

I've also sold some of my teams, because I'll probably never get around to painting them and having that pile of unpainted miniatures wasn't really motivating.

This plan might change, but as of now the plan is to paint the following teams

• Dark elves 
• Wood elves 
• Orcs 
• Dwarves 
• Skaven 
• Pro elves 
• Nurgle 
• Undead (repaint) 

Hopefully, I'll be able to post some pictures of my finished dark elf team soon.

Thanks for reading