Dec 10, 2018

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.

Nov 10, 2018

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.

Nov 1, 2018

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.

Oct 22, 2018

German Team Bowl 2018

German Team Bowl 2018

It was my first ever German Team Bowl and we had assembled a team from Berlin, the Inglorious Blocksters! We even printed matching t-shirts and all.
Team logo!

Roster

I went for wood elves as I feel that I'm strongest with them out of the teams I have painted.

2 Wardacners (Strip Ball)
Treeman
Catcher
7 Linemen (2 Wrestle, 2 Dodge, Block)
2 Re-rolls
Apo
FF

Game 1 vs Wood Elves (mubo)

We were hoping for an easy game to start the tournament, but we got the opposite and were up against a part of Team England (who later won the tournament). I was facing off against mubo, who's a quite good wood elf coach. I figured that I'd at least be able to learn a thing or two from him.

Very Sunny
FAME +1

I was forced to kick and the first block of the game was a CASed linemen, which I actually used my apothecary on. I figured that numbers would be important in this game and I was hoping that it wouldn't come back to bite me, being so aggressive with the apothecary.

"Zone defence"
My game plan was to play a zone defence in my half, trying to blitz his catchers with three dice. This resulted in a KO in turn 3 and it was then 10 vs 10.

Later in the half, there was an opening (caused by a double one) and I striped the ball from the opposing wardancer's hands and one of my linemen caught it. This stopped mubo's drive and the half ended 0-0.

The lineman catches the ball
In the second half, mubo put me under pressure and I moved up quite quick, scoring in turn 4, thinking that I'd rather have the draw secured rather than potentially lose the ball and lose the game.

The game turned out to be a nail biter as my strip ball wardancer leapt in for a 1d blitz on his wardancer with the ball, rolling a pow. Great, I thought, but then the ball scattered into the hands of the other wardancer, who caught the ball on a six and mubo could then score in turn 16.

END 1-1 (1-2)

Game 2 vs Dwarves (Twyllenimor)

FAME -1

I kicked and Twyllenimor fielded his deathroller. The game then started with a thrown rock and a CASed dodge lineman for me. Not the greatest of starts. The kick was however deep and I tried to funnel the dwarves towards a sideline.

Kick off!
Later in the half, I was surprised that Twyllenimor fouled my wardancer with a longbeard, which was sent off. This meant that there would be only 10 dwarves on the pitch for the next drive (unless he managed to argue the call, for the sent off deathroller). The dwarves scored in turn 8 and I didn't manage my OTTD (failed the first dodge through the back line).

Foulded wardancer
The second half was a completely different game and my dice went hot. I managed to CAS some dwarves and in the end, scored three TDs in the half. Last one thanks to a blitz.

END 3-1 (2-0)

Game 3 vs Orcs (Boss-Gorka)

FAME -1
Nice weather

I started the game on defence and rolled a blitz on the kick off. Not a bad start to the game and I caught my own kick. I then scored in turn 2, thinking that I could perhaps run up the score as I was up against a newer player.

Defencive set up
It wasn't to be though as I snaked a hand off for the 2-0 before halftime.

My drive didn't go as I was hoping and I didn't manage to score again. Still won the game though.

END 1-0 (1-1)

Game 4 vs Norse (lauth81)


FAME +2
Nice weather

This was an exciting game that could have gone either way. I started off by kicking the ball and lauth81 had a scary moment where the yeti decided to roll double both downs on a blitz. The loner re-roll worked and it was all good, but it could have been a disaster as his ball carrier would have been exposed. He then scored in his turn 8 and I didn't manage the OTTD.

The norse team move up the field
Second half saw me scoring quite early and it would come down to the last couple of turns to decide the game. I put lauth81under pressure but he could safely move away out of reach, or so he thought.
End phase of the game

My wardancer dodged away from his marker and leaped in for an up hill blitz, resulting on the ball on the floor. My catcher then went in for the pick up, getting it and then throwing an inaccurate pass to an open lineman. Had the pass been accurate, I would probably have won the game. As it was now, lauth81 still had a chance to win the game, but the required pass turned out to be too much for the noresemen and the game ended in a draw.

END 1-1 (0-3)

Game 5 vs Wood Elves (Jonny_Kanone)

FAME +1
Nice weather

I started with the ball and was able to drive up the field in a mega cage. Jonny_Kanone tried to jump in but had to re-roll the leap and then rolled a skull. I scored in turn 8.

Mega cage
I then set up against the OTTD and forgot that Jonny_Kanone had a grab tree. I also forgot about the frenzy wardancer, who rolled a double skull. This meant that there wasn't a re-rolled to be had when the first GFI failed. It was pure luck on my part to have the half end on 1-0.

In the second half, I suffered a KO in turn 9 and used my apothecary to keep the player on the field.
Jonny_Kanone drove up the field and scored in turn 16, after I failed a leap, re-rolled and rolled a skull on the blitz. Jonny_Kanone then rolled a perfect defense on the kick off, which stopped my OTTD attempt.

END 1-1 (2-1)

Game 6 vs Dwarves (Narok)

FAME -1
Nice weather

I got to kick the ball and was very happy when the kick off result was a blitz! I blitzed a longbeard to the side to enable a dodge lineman to dodge past the deathroller (no tackle) to put pressure on the ball. The dodge was a 1 followed by another 1 and a CAS. Worst blitz ever...

I wasn't able to halt the dwarf cage as my team failed their dodges and KOed themselves. The half ended 0-1.

Dwarf cage on the move
eam to that side of the pitch to stop me. I then cut back and my opponent had to run back the other side to catch up. As the dwarves are a bit slower, this left the sideline exposed and I could score in turn 14. This left the dwarves some time to score and if I was lucky, perhaps I could steal the ball and score for a W.

I didn't managed to steal the ball and thanks to a deep kick, a dwarf score was unlikely.

END 1-1 (1-0)

Conclusion

I managed a 2-4-0 record which I was happy with, considering the competitive climate. I talked to mubo regarding what I could improve and I got some pointers for my roster, which I was going to try out in a future tournament.Stay tunned.

Thanks for reading.

Jul 10, 2018

Braunschweig Open

First ever Braunschweig Open and 16 coaches showed up to play five games of blood bowl. A win awarded 2 points and a draw 1 point.
A small, but good tournament and I'll be back next year. 
Following my disappointing result at Preußenbowl, I decided to give dwarves another go. Could I perhaps improve?


Roster

I had 1200 TV to play with (including skills (max 7, no double)) and played the following roster;
2 Runners
2 Blitzers (2xGuard)
Troll Slayer
7 Longbeards (4xGuard, Mighty Blow)
2 Re-rolls
2 Fan Factor (one fan factor free due to roster being sent in on time)


Game 1 vs Nurgle

First game saw me up against a hard as nails nurgle roster and exactly what I didn't want to face. My opponent played a 12 man roster (4 warriors (2xblock, 2xguard), 2 pestigors (2xblock), BoN (guard), 5 rotters (5xblock) and 1 re-roll).
I started with the ball and went for a surf in turn 1, but double both downs sadly stopped the rotter from being surfed. I was hoping for a man advantage early, to really optimizes my guard.

No surf in turn 1
I went all in on going down the side and was hoping to knock enough of his players down to move through, which could have worked as my opponent had given me a chain push, to push a longbeard forward, next to his last line of defense. Sadly, that turn saw me fail three foul appearance rolls and I was stopped in my tracks.

Dwarves going down one side

This left me with one option, a potato play. I managed to dodge both my runners through his defense (one dodge each), but the blitzer, that was suppose to protect them didn't manage to get away from the BoN. The runners were knocked down and the half ended 0-0.

Potato play
We ran out of time and didn't pay the whole half, but I don't think that the result would have been different. My opponent ran down with both his pestigors and I managed to knock one down and base the other one, having two players waiting for their next move and the rest of his team was based.

The game ended 0-0 (2-0)


Game 2 vs Dwarves

Second game and I was up against one of the three dwarf teams at the tournament. My opponent was a new tournament player and his roster saw just eleven players (runner (block), 2 troll slayers, 2 blitzers, 6 longbeards (all with guard)) and no apo. He had four re-rolls, which I think hurt him as he needed the apo and a twelfth player. Being down in numbers is not what you want as dwarves. 

I received the ball in the first half and started knocking down his players and made a push towards one of the sides. He took the bait and went towards that side, leaving me the possibility to cut back and divide his team. I then started surfing his players on the other side, while he headed backwards with the players on the wrong side. As my opponent engaged me on the other side, I switch back to the middle of the field which was now open. I believe that my opponent had seven dwarves left on the field at the end of the half. I had also managed to casualty one of the longbeards.

Kick off!
My opponent was down on players and guard. He moved towards one side and I set up a defense, stopping him and preventing him from doing what I did, cutting back towards the other side. I again surfed his players and after a turn or two, his ball carrier went off the pitch. The ball scattered in to my half and my runner went back to pick it up. I left him a one die blitz (in to a two dice against) with a marked troll slayer, which he took and made. It wasn't too bad though, as I could recover the ball. I had also sent a blitzer up the field in turn 14 (which he ignored) and in turn 16, I made a GFI and a quick pass for my second score.

The game ended 2-0 (1-0)


Game 3 vs Orcs

Orcs, a tough match up for dwarves. They had two guard and two block BOBs. Two of the blitzers had mighty blow and the thrower had leader. I got the ball first and slowly moved up the pitch. Not much to say about the first half. I got bogged down (the blizzard not helping my speed) and lost the ball (and my runner was MNGed) as well as a guard longbeard, which I used my apo on. It was 0-0 at half time.

Start of turn 2 for the dwarves
The second half saw the orcs moving up extremely slowly (although the weather change to nice) and I could set up a solid defense. The turning point was mid half, when my mighty blow longbeard knocked out the troll. This made things easier as he lost a bit of strength advantage. He did however break through with two blitzers in turn 15. After marking the closest one, I decided to put pressure on the cage instead. Marking the thrower and the other cage corners, forcing him to dodge and blitz away my players, which he did. All he had to do was make the pass in turn 16, but fumbled it. Even if his pass had been successful (5+) the receiver would have still needed to catch and GFI for the touchdown.

The game ended 0-0 (0-2)


Game 4 vs Dwarves

I was yet again up against AV9 and the third dwarf team at the tournament. However, I was looking forward to seeing what the deathroller roster (deathroller, 2 runners (leader, block), 2 blitzers (2xguard), troll slayer, 6 longbeards (3xguard, mighty blow), 1 re-roll) could do. It was also played by one of the better dwarf players in Germany, so I was hopefully in for a lesson.

I got the ball first and tried to go up one side which didn't work when a blitz resulted in a skull and both down, bogging me down next to the side line.

Going down one side line
Commiting to one side
 I had some of my players surfed and decided to change my strategy in the middle of the first half. I retreated and wanted to hold the 0-0 at halftime, hoping to be up on players (the deathroller would be sent off and any KO/CAS would help me be up on players). The ball was however blitz and recovered by my opponent. I could blitz his runner with the ball in turn 8 and got the ball on the ground again, covering it with two players. In his turn 8, the ball was then picked up by his runner (after clearing one of my players marking the ball), but the pass was failed, saving the 0-0 at half time.

After my turn 8. The runner with a white band and the blitzer are in scoring range
To make thing worse for my opponent, his KO didn't wake up and the deathroller was indeed sent off, as was his coach, on a 1. This left my 11 dwarves (6 guard) to his 9 (3 guard). The kick was deep and in my turn 9, I KOed another longbeard. Things were grim for my opponent as I overwhelmed him with guard and just waited for the right time to pounce on his runner with the ball. Once I did, he responded by picking the ball up and punting it down deep in my half. Brilliant move and I had to run back with my runner to pick it up. The position meant that I had to make 4 GFIs in order to score. My turn 15 was extreme, seeing me make 8 GFIs and set up a screen around my runner. My opponent couldn't do much to stop me and I scored in turn 16.

The game ended 1-0 (1-0)

Although I won, I was still given a lesson on how to play dwarves. The punt was brilliant and something I'll take with me for future games.


Game 5 vs Lizardmen

Last game of the tournament and I could theoretically win the whole thing, but it was unlikely. It was however not probable, as I was up against lizardmen, one of my least favorite race to play against. They have it all, speed, strength and armour.

My opponent was playing with 12 lizards, all saurus with block and the krox with guard. Like me, there were just two team re-rolls.

My opponent received the ball and forced me to spread out and defending the whole width of the field. I made a mistake on one side. I should have pushed a saurus away instead of going for a second block. The push would have left me with more longbeards to move away, leaving me in a better position.

First kick off
This saw his skinks speeding down one side, out of my reach. I then followed up with a gamble, fouling his krox (playing for the second half), since my players were there. I rolled a double 6 on the armour and then just stunned the krox, which made it a bad trade. It also enabled my opponent to stall longer and he scored in turn 8. In my turn 8, I KOed a saurus, which then got back up for the second half.

I spent the second half slowly moving up the field and I thought I'd manage the draw, but one annoying saurus among my longbeards just wouldn't go down. It finally did, but after eight block dice and I had to keep my position. That in turn enabled my opponent to solidify his defense. It meant that I had to do riskier moves and it just didn't result in the much needed touchdown.

The game ended 0-1 (0-1)


Conclusion

I ended up in fifth place on a 2-2-1 record. More importantly, I just allowed one touchdown and would have won the best defense award, had there been one.

All in all, I was very happy with my second dwarf tournament. They aren't my cup of tee, but I find that playing them evolves my game. Especially the fact that the game is made up of two halves. Playing elves can sometimes be a higher pace game, which makes it feel like you need to win the game in one half. As an example, in game 4, I played the long game, surrender the first half in favor of the second half. I kind of do that with elves too, just trying to keep my opponent from scoring and not going for the ball at all, but I guess I'm saying that you should never panic. There's always second half and changing you strategy in the first half in favor of it shouldn't be overlooked.

Another thing I already knew that I wanted to try was the deathroller. Seeing it being used as I use my tree man with wood elves made me want to try it even more. Here's some wip pictures of my deathroller.

Deathroller wip
The next time I play dwarves at a tournament, I'll probably bring the deathroller along. I don't know when that will be. Perhaps for next years Preußenbowl. Can't get much worse than it did this year, right?

My next tournament will be the German Team Bowl and I'm probably playing wood elves (also considering pro elves) which will be a change of pace. I've missed playing AG4 this year and getting back to more familiar playing styles will be nice.

Thanks for reading.