Oct 27, 2016

EurOpen

EurOpen

This was my first EurOpen (and Eurobowl) and I was excited to play in my home country, Sweden. The tournament was played in a castle in the city of Örebro. The venue was very good and to be honest, I didn't have any complains on the organization either. The organizers made sure that this was the best Eurobowl it could be.

Our team, the League of Extraordinary Freebooters was made up of JBone, Spielmacher and myself.
JBone was playing dwarves, Spielmacher Lizards and I was playing dark elves. I've played dark elves a lot this year and this was the culmination and hopefully a chance to get back to my NAF-ranking as it was after Stockbowl Cup VI. This was however the first tournament with this roster, which I like more than the standard roster I've been playing before.

Roster
4x Blitzers (2x Dodge, yellow ring)
Witch Elf (Wrestle, white ring)
Runner (Leader, dark blue ring)
5x Linemen (2x Block, light blue ring)
2x Reroll
Apo
Fan Factor

The idea behind the roster is to not rely on blodge and dodge, but rather block and positioning. It's safer to block with block, if you have a reroll to spare than to dodge with dodge. Without a reroll it's the same risk. Which means that my turns should be safer as long as I have rerolls and I'm blocking with the block players (which is half the team). I've also got less AV7 and an Apo, which should in theory mean that my players stay on the pitch.

Game 1 vs Lizardmen

I was up against lizardmen, which is one of the more difficult opponents for dark elves, due to the speed and strength. My opponent had given block to all his saurus.

I started with the ball and moved from left to right and back again, trying to get a good blitz on him and/or getting him out of position. It was quite uneventful and my opponent played very well, but his Kroxigor decided to go stupid one turn and I used that to my advantage and went for the right hand side. I did however not go all the way, but my opponent over committed and I could go back to the left flank. I based half his saurus, on that side and the rest were to far away to catch up, so it was up to the skinks.

Moving from side to side
The skinks manage to knock the ball lose, but I could recover and score in turn 8.
Ball recovered and in a good position
My opponent scored in the second half, making it a 1-1 game, but I was receiving. I felt quite good about the game, although I was down on players. Maybe I could score or at least keep the ball and stall out the draw. I wasn't meant to be. My runner failed to pick the ball up deep in my half and his skinks moved forward.

Skinks moving in
The turn after, I did manage to pick the ball up, but my plan was to hand it off to a blodging blitzer instead of the runner, to make it more difficult for my opponent to get the ball. I set up a half cage, which the runner would make a corner of (I'd dodge the other corners out if everything went according to plan. I had the option of making a GFI for a hand off or a pass (it was very sunny) on a 3+. I opted for the hand off, but in hindsight, I should have gone for the pass, even if it was more difficult. The reason being, that even if the pass failed, I'd have the ball in a tackle zone (unless I was really unlucky and got a 2 plus a bad scatter for the inaccurate pass). What happened was that the runner missed the GFI, with a reroll and stunned himself. The skinks moved in and picked the ball up. All that could save me was a blitz with the hand off target, the blodging blitzer, but I had to use my last reroll on one of the dodges on the way and of course I failed the last GFI for the actual hit. That was it, the skink ran the ball in and I lost 2-1. It was still a fun and tight game against a great opponent. He played well and we had a laugh. I wasn't too upset.

Game 2 vs Underworld

I was happy to face underworld, since you rarely see them in tournaments. It also felt like an easy opponent due to the AV7. I got the ball first and protected the ball while moving up the pitch, trying to get his players off of it. 
Moving up the pitch
He made an attempt at getting the ball with Skitter Stab Stab, but I dumped the ball off to a lineman and when the stab was a dud, I could just move on up the field and hit Skitter. I never really felt threatened after that and could score in my turn 8. I also got Skitter out (KO), which made me feel even better about the game. 

Moving away from Skitter and his not so useful knifes
He tried the one turn TD, but failed the landing in two tackle zones. All I needed to do now was to stop him from scoring.

He ran up the pitch and set up a screen, using one of his thrower (with leader) as the ball carrier. He tried to set up a screen, but failed to see the 2+ patch through it. I went for it with a blitzer but only managed a push. Reroll, push. He then scored in his following turn, but that left me with too much time. Skitter didn't come back, which made it even better, at least in theory.

What did happened though, was that his players started getting my players of the pitch and he pressured me deep in my half, but I could get the ball deep in to his half with a hand off and he was out of position. It was still a close call in the end, since he boxed me in and put a two headed goblin in the way for my ball carrier I had to make a 3+ dodge (with reroll) for the win and it succeeded, ending the game 2-1 in my favor.

Game 3 vs Undead

This was a good game and I started on defense and got a perfect defense, which I then ended up screwing up. I mistook his frenzy wight for his guard wight, but a dodge pow saved my blodging blitzer from being surfed. My opponent then realized that he had to dodge the wight out or get it and a zombie surfed. This resulted in an early turn over, but I couldn't capitalize since he'd moved his players prior to the blitz and was in a safe position.

He played well and I tried to stop him with the traditional elf stall, but I failed a dodge in one of my turns, which meant that he could advance his cage forward. I then tried to make it hard for him to score, but left an opportunity in which he just had to blitz, make a 3+ dodge (with the dodge skill) and a GFI. He scored in turn 8. I could have made it even harder, if I had forgone a block with my runner and instead dodged the runner out to stand behind the blitzer, who was blitzed away. The block was however safer and losing my leader for the second half could have been really bad.

Elves moving up the pitch
It was by no means over though and I got the ball in the second half. I tried to move up my left side, but was stoped. I then moved my runner back to the middle, just behind the LOS. He took a chance and dodged out with a zombie to blitz the runner, who dumped the ball of to one of the block linemen. I then handed the ball to a blitzer in my turn and scored.

This left my opponent with a couple turns to score and my plan was to put him under pressure for the win. I was lucky in that it was a deep kick and I moved up my players to threaten the ghoul who had failed at picking the ball up. This left my opponent with a pass, which he failed. All I had to do was pick the ball up, hand it over and score. It was a series of 2+ dodges, a pick up on a 2+ (after a blitz), a catch in a tackle zone, another dodge and a GFI. I got as far as the 3+ catch, but failed it even with a reroll. My opponent had forgotten to move any players in to scoring range in his 7th turn, so the game ended in a draw, but it was close.

That meant that I had a 1-1-1 record after day one, which I was okay with, but I felt that I could have done better.

Game 4 vs Necromantic Undead

Game 4 saw me up against a Swedish coach, Bim. We've played once, at Stockbowl Cup V, were we drew. She elected to kick, which I was fine with. If I have the choice I usually like to kick, because it's easier to defend with a full team and I know what pace I need to set in the second half.

She moved the ball up towards the LOS and knocked some of my players down and although one was stunned, none left the pitch. I started with the standard elf defense and she didn't get past the LOS. She also left me a gap. A 4+ dodge for a one die hit on the ball carrier. The ghoul didn't have block, so I went for it and managed to knock the ghoul down with a both down (using a reroll) and the ball bounced out to a lineman next to the cage.
Blitzer dodging in to the cage and getting the ball lose
Bim managed to knock the ball lose again, but couldn't get to it and I picked it up again and was off. I scored earlier than I wanted, due to her pressuring me, but I was fine with that since I had suffered a KO (and a badly hurt). We also had sweltering heat, so the number of players that were to be set up could swing in my favor. The sweltering heat didn't do much, but I managed to stop her and could almost score. I got as far as getting the ball on the ground an picking it up in a tackle zone with my runner. Instead of dodging the runner out (I had no reroll left) I decided to pass on a 3+ instead of a 2+, but if I failed my runner would be intact (as well as my leader reroll). I rolled a 2 and the pass was inaccurate, so I was just up 1-0 instead of 2-0.

I got the ball in the second half and moved from side to side, to get an opportunity to break off with the ball and to buy some time. I got a break and could move the ball carrier off and screen him off. Bim put me under pressure and I decided not to score, since I had surfed one of the wolves (and the other one was suffering from the heat) which meant that she didn't have any players there were faster than mine. Even if she got the ball, she wouldn't be able to out run me nor keep it safe. I stalled until my turn 16. She got the ball carrier down once, but I just picked the ball up again and moved off to the other side of the pitch. A bit arrogant perhaps, but even if she'd gotten the ball, she was running out of time and I'd probably win 1-0. Hence, I took risks and trusted the blodge and my screen. It paid of and I won the game 2-0.

Game 5 vs Dark Elves

This was my worst game of the tournament because I played badly. I got the ball to start the game and didn't try to advance at all in the beginning. I just sent a player or two forward, so he'd have to blitz them instead of attacking the ball carrier, but one turn I left an opening and realized just as I ended my turn. He put pressure on me and managed to get the ball on the ground. I recovered and moved up the pitch since he had over committed and was out of position, but it didn't matter. He dodged his witch elf through my screen and hit the ball carrier. This is where I made a huge mistake. I dumped off to an empty square behind the witch elf, close to the endzone. The witch intercepted the ball! I should have dumped it off backwards, towards my players, but I was afraid that it would scatter out, but I guess that it was less likely than the interception.

I got my wrestle witch to blitz the other witch, with the ball and threw two dice at her. I didn't manage to get her down and the blitz went into a one die. I should have rerolled the two dice and I don't know why I didn't. The one die didn't do the trick either, so he could just dodge out and pass and hand off to be on the other side of the field. He eventually scored, but he had four KOs, but he got two of them back and then the other two at half time.

Nothing worked an we set up for his drive. He went down the sideline and I put my players at risk, trying to get at the ball carrier (a witch elf) down. He surfed a lot of my players before I could finally get the witch off the field. (It just took me nine block dice to get the ball (including the three from the first half. There should have been a both down or a pow in one of the nine.) Sadly, I didn't have enough players to really protect the ball carrier once I picked it up, but I did my best. Sadly, I missed a dodge as I was trying to get the ball to a blodger and he could pick it up and run in the 2-0.

Game 6 vs Undead

This was probably the game in which I played best. I was facing a good undead coach and kicked to him to start the game off. I defended with the standard columns and it would probably have worked if it wasn't for an error I made in my turn 6.

I had a blitzer and a lineman next to each other and a lineman behind the lineman. The error was that I counted the two squares to the right of the group from the blitzer, which mean that my opponent just needed to blitz the blitzer down to get a line through. He blitzed with a wrestle ghoul and got a push, but rerolled and got the both down. His cage could then move through and stand in front of the endzone. I did try to get the ball by chain pushing the ghoul out next to my witch elf, but didn't manage to get the ball on the ground. I was down 0-1 at the half.

I thought about just going safe and scoring as late as possible, but I wanted to win, so I went for a quick two turn score. I'm quite sure that my opponent was happy with this since it left him with the standard 2-1 grind option.

I kicked the ball to him again and started to defend in columns. He moved forward, but climbed together and I saw an opening. It started with me -2d blocking a mummy and I got the push/dodge pow, so the mummy was pushed backwards, which pushed the ball carrier out next to one of the corners (due to him having surrounded and fouled a stunned player). I then blitzed a zombie and chain pushed the ball carrier back behind his team and based it with two players and surrounded his players. He couldn't blitz the ghoul free and had to go for the dodge. A 2. Dodge reroll. A 2. The ball was on the ground and I could then pick it up in my turn and run of with it. I scored in my turn 16 which ended the game 2-1 for me.

I felt that my defense was strong in this game, except for the mental error in turn 6.

Edit: Since I won the last game, I also won the pitch. A nice bonus to take with me home.
The moose on the field was also handed out as a goodie as well as a set of block dice.

End of the tournament

Just before all the winners were announced
This was the end of my first EurOpen and I ended on a 3-1-2 record.
Sadly though, I didn't get many NAF-ranking points out of it and my ranking remains below what it was after Stockbowl Cup VI last year. I'd like to get it up, but I don't think I'll play dark elves for a while now.

My teammates ended the tournament on
Spielmacher 4-1-1
JBone 1-1-4

That saw us ending up in 12th place, which we were all happy with.

Thanks for reading.


Oct 20, 2016

Underground Cup II

Underground Cup II

It was time for the second installment of my co-organized tournament and this time around we had 20 coaches, which is a decline from last year, but it was an improvement to last year in terms of venue.

Since I was organizing and playing, I didn't really have time to note down my games and this will be a brief report.

I was playing halflings, since I wanted there to be a stunty cup (or at least I hoped that there would be one, since I handed my roster in before anyone else).

Gesundbrunnen Picknick Packers

2 Trees (2x Block)
10. Halflings (4x Side Step (green ring), 2x Diving Tackle (yellow ring), Sure Feet (white ring))
Puggy
Deeproot
Master Chef
Cheerleader
Assistant Coach

There was one coach brave enough to join me in taking a stunty team and the stunty cup would be won by either halflings or goblins. Let the games begin!

Game 1 vs Norse

I was facing a norse team with just eleven players and if I managed to get them of the pitch, this could work out. My opponent elected to receive and I managed to shut him out in the first half and reducing him down to just six players for the second half.

Halfling defense holding tight
I felt confident that I'd least get a draw out of this game as we started the second half, but that changed fast. I don't know how, but I couldn't pick up the ball and my opponent dodge through tackle zones, picked the ball up and somehow managed to score in turn 16. I lost the game, not a good start to the tournament.

Halflings can't pick up the ball
0-1 (5-3)

Game 2 vs Slann

This was a fun game, but also horrible. My opponent was also playing with an eleven man roster, which made me happy. Frogs without block against three mighty blow block trees? I should have the upper hand when it came to casualties. 

I got to receive the ball and I got one lineman out from the get go. Secured the ball and handed over to my opponent. He just leaped over my screen without any problem. I thought I had him, when he leaped a blitzer over my diving tackle and then dodged away, but he managed to roll a 5 on the reroll. Darn. He knocked my ball carrier down and leaped a catcher over my screen, dodged into two tackle zones, picked the ball up and dodged out. It was a series of 4s, 5s and 6s, just when he needed them. He scored in his second turn, because I couldn't get the catcher down with three block dice (blitzed with Puggy against a catcher with dodge). Frustrating, but such luck couldn't possibly continue, right?

Just before the frogs steal the ball for the first time
Second kick off and he does the same thing and by turn 4 or 5, I'm behind by two TDs. At least I'm up on casualties and my hope was that he'd run out of players, so I could at least tie the game.

I managed to score the 1-2 and he was running out of players, but I didn't manage to score again and the game ended 1-2, but it was close and exciting until the whistle was blown.

1-2 (4-1)

Game 3 vs Skaven

Skaven is one of the teams that I don't like to face with halflings, due to their speed and that proved to be the case in this game as well. I defended and shut him out in the first half, but a gutter runner managed to get the ball from me in the second half and scored at the end of the game. A fun and close game against a rookie tournament player.

0-1 (4-1)

At least I was up on casualties and actually in the lead for most CAS. Having lost all my games so far, I should be up against a soft team and I might be able to score even more casualties. Yeah, that's the plan, let's go for most CAS.

Game 4 vs Dwarves

How can you be on the bottom table and face dwarves? I was not liking this match up, but it proved to be a game in which my luck turned. The game started with a pitch invasion and I had +2 FAME. Eight dwarves were stunned. 8!

Pitch Invasion!
With such a lucky start, I managed to shut him out in his drive and then scored in mine. Also worth noting is that I managed to CAS three dwarves. 3!

1-0 (3-3)

Game 5 vs Dwarves

Facing dwarves twice in a row isn't really what you want as a halfling player. This was the first game in which I didn't stop my opponent from scoring in his/her drive. My opponent scored in his turn 6, which left me with enough time to score an equalizer before half time.

Jelly Nelson on his way to scoring the equalizer
I received the ball in the second half and my opponent was very aggressive, leaving me little room to run. He did however overcommit. I managed to get my ball carrier next to a tree, free the tree with a blitz and then throw the halfling with the tree. An okay scatter and some dodges later, he was screened of from almost the whole dwarf team. There were two longbeards who could reach the ball carrier, but they needed to dodge. To make it even more difficult, I dodge Puggy through his line and managed three 3+ dodges to be in a position where only one of the longbeards could reach Jelly Nelson with the ball. If I had gone for a fourth dodge, he would have been out of reach for the whole dwarf team, but I didn't want to push my luck any further. The longbeard dodged out, GFIed twice and knocked the ball lose. 
I had a second chance, to pick up with a halfling, but didn't manage the pick up in a tackle zone. My opponent then picked the ball up, KOed or CASed the players who could reach the dwarf with the ball and scored the final touchdown in turn 16. What a close game and I'm still debating if I should have made the fourth and final Puggy dodge.

1-2 (0-6)

My opponent later got Most CAS. His skill choice was 6x mighty blow and yes, he was thrilled to have faced halflings.

Game 6 vs Humans

This game was against my co-organizer Spielmacher, who had to fill in for day two. We play a lot of games against and they're all fun games. So was this one.

I managed to yet again stop my opponent from scoring in his drive (first half). It was pouring rain, which helped neither team. I did however managed to pick the ball up on a bounce in the second half, but spent to much time trying to be safe, that I didn't make enough progress forward. The game ended 0-0.

0-0 (3-3)

I was happy with how I played, stopping my opponents in all but one game. I just need to work on my offense. It was fun playing halflings again after a couple of tournaments with dark elves.

Here are some pictures from the tournament

The prize table
Players in action on table 2 and 3
Players in action
Worth noting is that the winner of the tournament, Melisqus had a 6-0-0 and won Most TD, with dwarves! Very very impressive.

What's next?

EurOpen is almost here. I'm leaving for Sweden tomorrow and will be playing in the EurOpen with Spielmacher and JBone. I'm taking dark elves, but with a different build this time.

4x Blitzer (2x Dodge)
1x Witch (Wrestle)
1x Runner (Leader)
5x Linemen (2x Block)
2x Reroll
1x Fan Factor
Apo

I've tried this roster in a couple of games and I like that it's more resilient and less "all eggs in one basket". Wish me luck!

Practice game vs Spielmacher

Wood Elves

A quick update on the wood elves, which are still on track for being painted for the first tournament of the year, next year. Preußenbowl on the 25th and 26th of February

I'm currently working on the wardancers

and here's the rest of the team
Thanks for reading!