Dungeonbowl 2019

It was time for Germanys largest tournament and I was excited as I wasn't able to make it last year. I didn't consider my team for very long as I wanted to increase my NAF-Ranking with wood elves to maybe secure a spot in Team Sweden 2020 and as it's a major, there's double points to be had (and lost).

Medals on display

Roster

I went for wood elves and almost used the same roster as last time.

I switch a re-roll for an apo and took tackle on a wardancer instead of a guard tree. So my roster looked like this.

Roster

Game 1 vs Nurgle

FAME -2
Nice weather

I kicked and put my opponent under pressure directly after a deep kick and a perfect defense. Sadly, my opponent managed to pow and stunn (KO, but apo) my strip ball wardancer and I couldn't really keep the pressure up.

Stunned strip ball wardancer

The nurgle team moved down the pitch and scored in turn 8. I had two CAS and four KOs at the end of the drive. Three KOs came back and we set up for the one turned. Perfect defense again and my chances of a one turner were very low. Still tried, but the dice didn't play along.

I received the ball for the second half and my opponent failed a GFI on a blitz and left one side open. I moved through and kept stalling until turn 14. I thought I'd give it a go and scoring in three turns isn't that easy for nurgle.

Shallow kick

A good kick (for me) that landed just on the LOS. I managed to leap and blitz with my strip ball dancer, but after some scatters, it landed in the hands of a nurgle warrior. The strip ball dancer was then stunned and I couldn't get the ball from the warrior. The game ended in a draw.

End 1-1 (1--2)

Game 2 vs Dark elves

FAME -1
Nice weather

I was forced to receive the ball and mange to stall until turn 8 and my opponent didn't manage to equalise in turn 8.

Set up for the first kick off

My opponent went backwards with his runner and I went on an all out attack (should have kept more players back). My opponent went forward with his runner and passed and then handed off the ball, to move it deep in to my half. I back paddled and forced him to score.

This left me with six turns to win the game. However, I moved forward too soon and had to leap out with the ball carrier. 2 re-roll 1. The dark elves then picked the ball up and scored. I doubled skulled the first block for the one turner and that was it.

I lost this game when I moved the ball carrier forward too early. I should have kept my cool and just stalled it out and scored late in the half.

End 1-2 (1-1).

Game 3 vs Dark elves

FAME -2
Nice weather

I kicked as I wanted to see where this game was going to go. What kind of pressure would I be under to score early in the second half?

I played quite well in the first half, but even though I got the ball on the ground, it bounced badly for me the first time and the second time it landed next to my treeman, but my opponent managed to pick the ball up anyway and eventually scored in turn 8.

Kick off!

When then set up for a one turn attempt and I was feeling quite good about my chances considering his set up, but a perfect defense was rolled for the kick off event. I figured that my chances were next to none after that, but my opponent made a mistake in his set up and it wasn't over just yet. I actually managed the one turn touchdown, ending the first half on a 1-1 draw.

This meant that I wasn't under any pressure to score early and I tried to stall it out as long as I could. I was forced to score in turn 15 and was quite confident that I would at least manage a draw, especially since my opponent didn't have any re-rolls left. Still, two turns with dark elves is far from impossible.

Fortunate for me, another perfect defense was rolled on the kick off table and I managed to force my opponent to have to roll more dice than he probably would have liked. The kick also landed just behind the LOS. After a failed dodge, he had just one player in scoring range and the ball was on the ground, unguarded. I picked it up and formed a cage around the ball carrier. This meant that I managed to win my first game in the tournament!

End 2-1 (1-1)

Game 4 vs Dwarves

FAME +1
Nice weather

I kicked as I usually like to do, but it's especially good against dwarves since it might be the only time I can set up a full team and if the dwarves can't score it should at least end in a draw.

The kick was deep and I could apply pressure early, dividing the dwarf team in two.

A deep kick and early pressure

The dwarves managed to push through (partly due to a snake eyes on a dodge), but I managed to stop the from reaching the endzone and the half ended in a 0-0 tie.

I received the kick and planned on scoring as late as possible. My opponent left a flank quite open and after two lucky stunns, I went for an early push down one side.

The elves move down one side

My opponent scrambled back to get in front of me and put me under pressure (I had by this point suffered some KOs). In hindsight, the break away was too early and the pressure forced me to score in turn 13.

This left the dwarves four turns to score back, which isn't that unlikely. It was made even more likely when only one of my four KOs came back. A deep kick gave me hope, but a thrown rock made things even harder. One runner picked up the ball in their endzone and handed off to the other runner, which meant that the dwarves were almost at the LOS with three turns remaining. I the suffered two turn overs to snakes and couldn't get in front of the dwarves. They could easily score in turn 16.

End 1-1 (1-2)

Game 5 vs Necromantic

FAME -1
Nice weather

My opponent elected to receive and I was happy with that, as I would have chosen to kick anyway. The game started with a thrown rock (KOed wight) and a deep kick.

I was a bit surprised by some of the choice my opponent made. He blitzed with his mighty blow wolf, which isn't wrong, but it was a one dice and would have been another one dice for the second block. He had to use the re-roll on the first dice, but knocked my wrestle lineman down. The ghoul then failed the pick up to end the turn.

I moved up some players (catcher and the strip ball wardancer)to be able to reach the ball if the pick up failed again or to blitz the ball carrier.

It was yet again a failed pick up and the ball landed in the endzone.
My catcher then GFIed twice to pick up the ball in a tacklezone in turn 2.

The next kick off was a blitz and the ball landed on one of the flesh golems in the wide zone.
I managed to get the ball, but a double skull stopped me from scoring a second touchdown in the first half. I was still happy with being 1-0 up.

I scored a second touchdown in turn 12 and was by this time running out of elves. I had suffered six casualties (apo was used on one) and I could line up five elves and a tree for the next kick off.

Five elves and a tree

It started to rain during the ensuing kick off and the ball landed on the sideline. My opponent had to pick up the ball this time, which he did, but I could put him under pressure with my wardancer and a catcher. This resulted in some dodges and a pass to a werewolf a couple of turns later, but the werewolf failed the last GFI for the equalizer. My opponent was very unlucky in this game and the double skulls in turn 15 and 16 kind of summed up the game.

End 2-0 (2-6)

Game 6 vs Necromantic

FAME 0
Nice weather

I kicked yet again and my opponents turn wasn't too destructive. The ball was picked up and caged.

Kick off!

I later in the half managed to stop the cage. My opponent left a chain push option which enabled me to push my strip ball wardancer in to the cage. A two dice block against later and the ball was on the ground. A catcher picked it up and passed to the other wardancer.

Moving down the field

I ran the ball carrier down one wide zone (in scoring range) and put a catcher in scoring range. I then moved my thrower within distance of the ball, if the wardancer was knocked down. The wardancer was blitzed and as I anticipated it, knocked down.

In my last tuen of the half, I dodged the catcher in scoring range out and blitzed a zombie off the ball. The thrower then ran in, picked up the ball (in one tacklezone) and managed the long bomb (with the pass re-roll) and the elves were up by one at half time.

As two zombies had been sent of during the half (very unlucky and there was nothing but stunns to show for it), I was now outnumbering my opponent in the second half (10 vs 9).

I proceeded to score in turn 10, hoping to score some more touchdowns.

My opponent then answered by scoring a touchdown of his own after dodging through my defense, but I answered with a touchdown of my own. It was now 3-1 and we sent up for (probably) the last drive of the game.

I had an opertunity to score again, but I couldn't and neither could my opponent.

End 3-1 (1-2)

Conclusion

I ended with a 3-2-1 record, which I was quite happy with. I was hoping for four wins, but sometimes it's just not possible. I ended in place 23 out of a 100 coaches.

When contemplating my roster prior to the tournament, I was considering frenzy for the second wardancer (instead of tackle) and I kind of wish I had gone down that route. It depends on what you face and I'm sure that tackle would have been great against some opponents, but I had little use for it (only against the ghouls in game 5 and 6). I think I'll give frenzy a go next time I take the wood elves (which might be a while).

The apo instead of a re-roll is also something I wish I had changed. The apo didn't do much during the tournament and I believe that a re-roll would have been better, but again, it depends on the opponents. Neither option is wrong though.

Thank you for reading.

Berlin Classic 2019

The first tournament of the year, that I was also involved in organizing. One of the things I did was to organize the prizes and paint the NAF-trophy.

The medals

The NAF-trophy

Roster

I decided to play dwarves as they work quite well in this format and they should in theory be a good counter to one of the stronger teams, wood elves. 

2 Runners

2 Blitzers (2xGuard)

1 Troll slayer

7 Longbeaards

3 Re-rolls

Apothecary

Game 1 vs undead

This was a match up that I had practiced a couple of times against this coach prior to the tournament. He was borrowing my undead team, so I was playing against my own miniatures, which is a bit weird in a way.

I kicked to him and managed to stop him all together. As an added bonus, I managed to KO a mummy and a ghoul as well as CASing another ghoul. Things were looking good for the second half.

The dwarves manage to stop the undead team

The second half started with a pitch invasion and my opponent had +1 FAME. As it turned out, seven out of the eleven dwarves were stunned compared to two zombies lying down. The kick was also close to the LOS, which made the situation quite dire.

Pitch invasion!

Lucky for me, the KOed mummy and ghoul stayed out. I managed to pick up the ball with a blitzed, standing next to the other blitzer with guard. I was then directly under pressure from the undead team, but managed to secure the situation and the dwarf machine started to kick in to gear. Some removals later and the dwarves could steam roll their way to a 1-0 win.

Full steam ahead!

End 1-0 (2-0)

Game 2 vs wood elves

We had to chose our skill before we got to see the opponents roster, but we knew which race we were facing. As I was up against wood elves, I opted for mighty blow on a longbeard.

I received to start the game and yet again, it was a pitch invasion. It wasn't as bad as in game 1, but one dwarf went down and one of the LOS wood elf linemen, which was a shame, as it meant that I wouldn't be able to apply my mighty blow blocking it.

Pitch invasion

My mighty blow longbeard blitzed a catcher and KOed it. A good start, but it was about to change as the treeman retaliated in turn 2, CASing a longbeard and the turn after that it KOed a longbeard. Not great as I was now outnumbered by wood elves and couldn't get any off the field. I got stuck and changed tactic to protecting the ball rather than trying to score as I was afraid of a wood elf score in the first half.

Start of the second half

We set up for the second half and I was hoping to either stop the elves or get them to score early, which is what happened. They scored in turn 3, which in theory left me with enough time to score for a draw. It wasn't to be though as I needed a couple of 1d blocks and a dodge with my runner to get forward progress at the end of the half. Sadly, I rolled a scull on one of the blocks and didn't have a re-roll for the dodge. I failed the dodge and the game ended in a wood elf victory.

An exciting game and if you're going to lose, this is the kind of game you'd like to have.
A close hard fought game.

End 0-1 (3-1)

Game 3 vs skaven

I yet again opted for mighty blow on a longbeard as I was up against shaven. There were quite a lot of AV7 teams in the tournament, so I figured that it would be useful even later on.

The shaven got to start with the ball and a longbeard was CASed on the first blitz of the game (by a linerat!). I didn't like the start as the two mighty blow stormvermin were breaking armor left and right. My opponent stayed back with the ball and my plan was to cause as much damage as possible, the number on target being the gutter runners. The plan was working and once the rat ogre was KOed, the flood gates opened. I managed to stun and CAS some gutter runners as well a put the ball under pressure. This resulted in a 0-0 draw at halftime.

Stout dwarf defense

The rat ogre stayed out for the second half and the dwarves could push their strength advantage (due to guard) and rats left the field left and right. There was no gutter runners on the pitch to try for a one turn touchdown in turn 16.

End 1-0 (6-2)

Game 4 vs dark elves

Skill, guard on a longbeard

The elves got the boll for the first half and I tried to put them under pressure, forcing them to dodge or 1d blocks (or worse). My opponent however didn't fail a dodge or block until late in the half. A double one enabled me to get a 1d blitz on the ball. Sadly, my opponent rolled a 6 for the dump off pass and even though the catch was failed, the ball was in such a place that I couldn't cover it. My opponent was then forced to score in turn 7. Not much of a problem as I couldn't score in two turns.

The dark elves could sadly line up with eleven players, but I had managed to cause a casualty and the apothecary was spent, so if I could get a player advantage, I might manage a draw. I might still against a full team, but it would be harder.

I played really bad in the second half as I was very frustrated that I hadn't managed to remove anything and my opponent hadn't really failed more than one or two dodges. This continued on the second half and I decided to try something weird rather than the normal smart cage.

It all fell apart

This resulted in me losing the ball and the elves eventually score their second touchdown.

To be clear, I lost this game by being sloppy with my positioning. I could have managed a draw, but the frustration got to me.

End 0-2 (1-1)

Game 5 vs pro elves

This was the hardest skill choice. Another guard wouldn't have been wrong, but I figured that three guard should be enough as my opponent could have a maximum of two guard, but I didn't think that it would be the case. I considered tackle on the troll slayer, but instead went with block on a runner. This meant that all my players on defense would have block and I would have a fast blitzer to keep up with the catchers.

I started on defense and rolled a blitz. I put my dwarves in such a position that my opponent had 1d blocks (or worse) or tackle on his dodgers. My opponent started by 1d KOing the guard longbeard and another longbeard followed in turn 2. I couldn't dent the AV7 armour and my opponent could stall out the half, scoring in turn 8 after having to do a 2d block without the block skill and he was out of re-rolls, so it could have ended differently.

Dwarf defense

My drive saw the dwarves move up the field and the elves put me under pressure, but I could eventually brake through as my opponent ran out of re-rolls. It wasn't soon enough though, which meant that I couldn't risk going for the win.

End 1-1 (1-0)

Conclusion

I ended the tournament on 2-1-2 and wasn't really happy with my performance, but not too disappointed either. Dwarves aren't really my team and I need to practice more with them, but I will take a brake from them for a while. I'd still like to try out the deathroller sometime, but it won't be this year. I do believe that it's good to step out of ones comfort zone and try something else, to evolve as a coach. My main problem with the dwarves is that I get too connected and I'm more or less just happy with my performance in game 1. I need to build on that.

Next tournament will be the Dungonbowl in Düsseldorf in a month and I will be taking wood elves as I'm trying to push my NAF-ranking. I'm hoping that it will improve my chances of getting a spot in Team Sweden for EuroBowl 2020.

Thank you for reading

Krush Kill N Destroy - 2018

Roster

With the rules for the tournament, the possibilities for a roster was more or less endless. After some deliberation between pro elves and necromantic, I decided to take the werewolves for a spinn. I played them last at the Danish Open 2014, so it was about time.

I played the following roster (with two re-rolls).

Game 1 vs Skaven

FAME 0

Nice weather

I decided to kick as I didn't want him to have an easier one turn attempt in turn 8 (assuming that I'd be able to remove more rats over 16 turns compared to 8) and the plan was to force him to score early for the 2-1 grind.

My opponent quickly went down on flank, going for a pass to and from a gutter runner, but due to a double one on the pass, I had a chance. 

Worth noting here was that I mistakingly thought that my opponents claw blitzed had mighty blow. It didn't and a stunned wight shouldn't have been stunned. Fortunately this was discovered in turn 3 or 4, so quite early. My opponent thought claws worked as they once did, providing a +2.

Back to my chance, the ball was on the ground and I had a wrestle wolf in range. I blitzed the gutter next to the ball and pushed it on to the ball. The ball scattered on to my wolf, who caught the ball. Then it was time for the second frenzy hit and it was a double both down. As I had already used my re-roll on a double skulls, my now ball carrier was placed prone and it was a turnover.

The shaven then scored which I wasn't too sad about as I had enough time for a score and some free hits on AV7.

The rats kicked to me and the kick off result was a blitz! This meant that I was under pressure directly and one of my zombies was blitzed off the pitch.

Survived the first blitz

My opponents defense was good from then onwards and he managed to stop me from scoring.

This sadly meant that I was now going for a draw, unless I managed to remove some rats.
The kick off was yet again a blitz!

Under pressure again, but I managed to out maneuver my opponent and he made a mistake, allowing my fast players to make a cut back to the other sideline and my slow players pinned his team to the other side.

The game ended in a 1-1 (3-3) draw.

Game 2 vs Slann

I started with the ball in this one and the plan was of course to smash some frogs, as my opponent was running an 11 man roster.

This went to plan as I managed to casualty one of his blitzes early (apo used), but then the removals halted. I managed to score in turn 8.

After my turn 1

My opponent moved up first in the second half, looking for a quick score, but a double 1 stopped him and gave me a huge chance. I managed to pick up the ball with my sure hands ghoul, but after some leaps and a blitz by the wrestle blitzer, the frogs scooped the ball up and scored in turn 12. I wasn't too worried. I had enough time to score back for the 2-1 grind. All I needed was a KO or hopefully two to wake up. Zero out of three KOs came back and it was now 10 vs 10 on the pitch.
Things were made worse by a thrown rock on the kick off table, removing my mighty blow wolf. This just turned into an up hill battle.

The wolf is removed by a stone

Things were getting even worse as the ghoul managed to drop the ball when trying to pick it up. This meant that the frogs flooded my back field. I was in real trouble here. I managed to pick the ball up, but I couldn't secure my position and the ball was on the ground again during the frogs turn.

I then went for a high risk play, dodging my blodge ghoul in to a tackle zone on a 4+ (with dodge) and blitzed a line frog away, picked the ball up and ran for it. My opponent legged back and in turn 16, has a chance at blitzing the ball carrier. All that was needed was two GFIs. The second one failed and I could score the winning touchdown in my following and last turn.

2-1 (don't remember the casualties)

Game 3 vs Dwarves

FAME -1

Nice weather

I started with the ball in this game and I was hoping to inflict some damage on the dwarves with my mighty blow wolf as I was facing 11 dwarves with an apo. Things didn't go as planned, but I was still stunning she dwarves. However, I made an error in turn 4, trying to push my luck with the mighty blow wolf, whom I then left in contact (flanked by guard). The dwarves blocked the wolf and it went into the KO-box. That's where things went wrong and my team started to crumble. My KO-box was soon full with a wight, both wolves and a ghoul plus a regened zombie in the reserves box. I lost the ball and the dwarves made a run for it down the sideline.

I managed to blitz the ball carrier with the blodge ghoul and picked the ball up. In hindsight, I should have left it there, but I made a GFI to get away from the now downed dwarf, but I rolled a 1. This meant that the dwarves just needed to dodge their scoring threat away, pick the ball up, throw a short pass and catch it. Easy, right? Well, that's exactly what happened.

I rolled for my KOs and I got everything but my two wolves back.

Things were not looking good for the second half.

My opponent blocked some zombies down and then picked the ball up with a blitzer.

The blitzer was however in range of my ghouls, so I blitzed it after making some GFIs (re-roll used), but the blitzer didn't go down, but my opponent was now under pressure.

I did manage to get the ball from the blitzer and run off, but I got greedy and made a zombie block, which resulted in a double both down. This means that a long beard just need a block to free up his tackle troll slayer, in range of my blodge ghoul with the ball. Such a rookie error by me.

The ball carrier was knocked down and the ball bounce in to the hands of the troll slayer, who then ran back towards my endzone. Desperate times and I had to dodge a zombie for a 1d blitz on the slayer (after two GFIs), but was rewarded with a pow.

After some failed pick ups by both parties, I managed to clear the ball and pick up with my sure hands ghoul, followed by a pass to the blodge ghoul in a tackle zone. The ball was caught and all I needed was a dodge for the equalizer in turn 16. A 2! Dodge re-roll and the ghoul was away!

A very lucky touchdown, but I felt that it was fair considering the luck my opponent had in the first half combined with the wolves staying out.

1-1 (don't remember the casualties)

Game 4 vs Chaos Dwarves

Final game of the tournament and I was up against a beautifully painted chaos dwarf team. I kicked the ball off and my opponent didn't really inflict any damage in his first turn, but picked the ball up with one of the bulls. I then stunned the other bull and tied his dwarves up. My opponent then went for the side with the most dwarves (but away from the other bull) and I could push him even more towards the sideline and I also managed to get rid of a guard dwarf.

Bull with ball

Following that, I could put my flesh golems in the wide zone, effectively stopping any progress down that flank. My opponent had to turn back and I could bog him down with zombies and put the blodge ghoul on the ball carrier. My wolves removed more dwarves and it started to get ridiculous.

I then stole the ball and scored in my turn 8.

I got the ball in the second half and was up on players. The snow ball effect was in full role and I managed to inflict seven casualties!

Maybe I should have gone for 3-0, but I didn't really feel like rubbing it in and a win is a win.

2-0 (7-0)

Conclusion

I ended the tournament undefeated on a 2-2-0 record (TD 6-3, CAS 14-7) which I was happy with, but I feel that I could have played better. Especially in game three against the dwarves. I made too many mistakes in that game and the necromantic team really suffers without its wolves.

Speaking of which, I'm not sold on the block mighty blow wolf. Sure it's good and in some game it's great (game 4), but I like to spread my skills and a guard zombie might have been a better use of the double or just block or guard on the second flesh golem plus a fan factor. Not sure and it's rare to be able to play with a block mighty blow wolf in a tournament, so I guess it had to be done.

I need to practice more with the necromantic team, but I did enjoy playing them (although I like undead more). I recently bought an undead/necromantic team from Vortice miniatures and once that's painted I recon that I'll play more with them.

This was my last tournament for 2018 and I'm already looking forward to 2019, which will see me playing at least one new race (in a NAF tournament) and my first World Cup!

Looking back on 2018, I've played in seven tournaments, using five different races.

My combines record was 17-11-7 and 57% of my loses were collected using dwarves. Not my team, but I will give them another chance.

My tournament year 2018

Thank you for reading.

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.

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.