Foul Bowl 3 & Skaven

Deep in darkest Swindon something rancid stirred in the shadows. The townsfolk carried about their business completely unaware that the foulest of the foul tournament organisers known as Jip had called upon the meanest, sneakiest and most unpleasant coaches from across the land (mostly around the infamous M4) to come together and perform the ritual known as Blood Bowl.

Armed with a free bribe, 1.2 million gold pieces and 3 printed bottle tops, the wretched coaches chose their races and picked their teams... and then the organised foulness began...

With 4 points for a win, 2 for a draw and a maximum 1 bonus point for a casualty from a foul, coaches needed tactics, sneakiness and a good deal of luck to get through the four matches in the day.

Having recently completed the assembly and painting of a 3rd edition Skaven team it seemed like the perfect time to field these guys;

...and the roster looked like this. Skills bands are blue=block, pink/orange=MB/tackle, white=sure hands. The ominous looking horned rat with the scrying sphere is the Coach.

The theatre of death, otherwise known as Firestorm Games had one main room upstairs...

 ...with a sideroom...

...and it's fair to say that the rooms had a 'the-previous-residents-stripped-the-place-of-everything-right-down-to-the-dodgy-looking-floorboards' feel to it... with some coaches worried about their dice disappearing down a few of the holes in the floor!

I even found the foul T.O. Jip lurking in a corner deeply engaged in social media, enjoying the stress-free role to the max.

Before I start, I didn't take notes as I usually do, so match reports may be confused, short or just plain wrong! If any of my opponents or TO want to correct me please feel free and I'll edit!

Game One vs Enderman's Pro-elves / Elven Union - Win - 2-1

First up was the eldest son of the Sann Clann armed with some fast and furious elves. The blodging sidestepping blitzers were a pain, along with the star player Swift Twins who basically guaranteed a pass completion (along with the NoS catchers) and maybe a hurt rat or two. As a sidenote, this was the new (edit:) Nurgle Wood Elf pitch... and the squares and colour are too dark for older eyes!
Enderman was down 2-0 by the end of the first half as the rats successfully managed to turn defence in to counter attack. This was despite me rolling 3 dice for my Rat Ogre's first block - getting 2x skulls and a both down... fortunately I had chosen block and not claw!!
However, as Endermann scored earlyish in the second half it was up to me to either score a third or at the very least hang on to the ball... After being prevented from an easy score, and with numbers suddenly thinning, we just hung on for the win.

Game Two vs Alchemist's Skaven - Win 2-1

Things started to go a bit wrong here after a pretty good first game. My very first block double skulled! Fortunately a reroll came to the rescue. But as a result I decided to pick up the ball in case another block failed me... only to roll snake eyes with my sure hands gutter runner!

Somehow though, despite some back and forth I managed to score, leaving Alchemist with one turn to score. He had to field Fezglitch (the St7 ball & chain star), but he wasn't able to nudge his team any further up the field. I think a quick snap had been rolled which helped Alchemist, and some good Rat Ogre blitzing and subsequent player nudging left a gutter in range with the ball... and with multiple dodges and go-for-its- passed, he scored! Gah! 1-1
Now I'm a bit fuzzy here, but I think I managed to score and defend okay in the second half leaving me with a 2-1 win. It was a tight game for sure and after the start I felt fortunate to win it for sure.

Game Three vs Itchen's Khemri - Lost 1-2

Okay, so Itchen had to borrow a Khemri team, so it's not his fault that his Tomb Guardians were 3x Trees and an Ogre... but I have to say, the number of times I had to check myself from thinking they had stand firm or less movement was annoying. But it was the luck that deserted me this game. For the second game in a row my surehands gutter runner failed to pick up, and Itchen had rolled a Blitz! (which he gleefully told was hi 3rd in 3 games in a row! - jealous much)...And this is how the game proceeded. I always seem to do okay at tournaments but have a game that stuffs me.
Once the Khemri were fully engaged with the Blitz! they made numbers count and reduced mine... going 0-1 up. This left me a turn to score, but a Riot! helped turn the clocks back and I scored by the skin of my yellow rodent teeth to equalise, but at the cost of most of my team. Itchen then received in the second half, starting of course with a high kick and of course caught it on a natural 6! Despite the off half chance, Itchen made good his attack, scoring again, and there was no such repeat (or enough players against 3xStr5 guard Tomb Guardians to get a quick score. Oh well. Mustn't get too despondent I told myself... but in a 4 game tournament I knew my chances of any podium had gone.

Game Four vs Hobnail's Lizardmen 1-1 draw.

Uh oh. Lots of block Sauruses with the blodge-sidestepping-stabby star player that is Hemlock... My Armour 7 suddenly felt especially vulnerable! And Hobnail was fresh from the barbers shop, fully ready to face me in all his splendour! :)
The game began with the usual rolls (no weather roll though - each match started with good weather unless it changed later in the game)... Hobnail rolled double 6's for fans, and I rolled 6,5 and added 2x fans... Hobnail lost the Fame roll rolling double 6's... first time that's happened in my experience!! It didn't do me much good though - the only game I used +Fame was this one... and I rolled a 1 on my D3... Hobnail got the reroll! LOL.

Highlights of the game included me killing a Saurus with a foul, along with quite a few double 6's being rolled on armour. On the flip side, Hobnail had an apothecary which worked, and I couldn't roll very good injury dice... and that Hemlock just wouldn't fall down and die event to Tackle/MB.
The game was balanced at 1-1 with Hemlock looking good to score again, but I managed to some how get the ball back but failed the 3+ hand off (and therefore didn't roll the 2x GFIs) necessary to score and win. However a draw felt fair.

Results
So in the end I finished 5th on a 2-1-1. That's my 27th tournament attended and my 14th race done and dusted. What next?

Thanks to Jip, Mike and all the guys - and grats to Hellboy for the win! Nice to see friendly faces and new guys too. Swindon I think is on the limit of my range though for a one-dayer as the driving there and back after 4 games was tough.

EDIT: On a final note... the Sure Hands gutter runner prepared himself for a post tournament beating;

Hope you liked the blog... feel free to comment here or on Facebook with your own experiences too!