Red Trophy III - Winning with Elven Union!

December 17, 2019

Red Trophy III - Winning with Elven Union!

Okay, I'm going to say it and just get it over with... I won my first solo NAF tournament! WoooHooo!!... there, I'm done. But "How did you do it, Gary?" you may (not) be wondering... "What fine people did you meet?" and frankly, "How the hell did you manage to win?!?".

All fine questions, but let's start with the 'where?'. Since I last visited Tabletop Republic in High Wycombe, NoNumber (aka Thomas Culleton) had moved store premises to this much more suitable venue, complete with plenty of room for a Blood Bowl tournament and more than a few games of Warhammer 40K (and I think even a Dungeons & Dragons game too!). I do recommend popping in!

I had bought the Elven Union (or as I still call them, Pro Elves) a while ago, and had even prepared and primed them... but then I got slightly distracted by getting a Star Bowl team ready for CamDub, and so these guys got put to one side. I had to put to the side 2x throwers, 2x Stars, and a few linemen just to concentrate on getting this roster ready for the Red Trophy. This was my last tournament of 2019 and indeed the decade, so I wanted to make sure they were suitable!

This was also the first time I had based painted a team using Citadel's Contrast paints, after priming them in Wraithbone spray. I had some mixed feelings about some of the paints, but after completing a tester model I was happy with the colour scheme, and I was pleased with the Contrast paints I was going to be using. Hopefully you'll agree that they turned out quite vibrant, with the orange and turquoise complimenting the white armour. As per usual I painted the bases of the models to match their position (as not everyone is used to seeing these 'new' models). I even painted the Catcher's trainers blue and the Linemen's red, and added flowers to the pitch for these elfy dandies.

The tournament rules meant that Elven Union were a Tier Two team with 7 normal skills and access to 1 double, which could be stacked. So I went with 2x Dodge Blitzers, 2x Blodge Catchers, 1x Kick Lineman and 1x Guard Catcher.

Day One
Match One vs Mysterious Handle's Orcs - Draw 1-1 (0-4 cas)

All I could hear around me were mutterings about how many elf teams there were at the tournament... and I get randomly matched up with an Orc team with 2x Blitzers with Tackle which pretty much nullified my Dodge skills.
The pre-match rolls began with me getting +1 Fame, but the weather was very Sunny meaning that there was a -1 to passing rolls.... bummer... not what an elf team wants to hear. I thought it fortunate that I won the kick off decision, thinking that I could pressurise the Orcs and hopefully later the weather would change!... so probably for the first time ever, I kicked!! And then the kick off was resulted in a Perfect Defence!

Unfortunately the Orcs were on song as they bashed their way down the field safely securing the ball and scoring by turn 5/6. In a very short space of time I had not only rolled a lot of ones (which are the bane of any elf team!) but sadly I had rolled consecutive ones... Not good! I also had sustained some heavy damage (as you can see below)...

...but despite this I managed to equalise by turn 7/7, hold off any further damage and importantly got 2 chances and getting my Knocked Out players back.
Just when I thought things were looking up with the score at 1-1, the second half began with a Blitz! And from there on, just when I thought I could roll all the weekend's ones in a single game, more followed, and it was all I could do to keep the game at 1-1 than score! The Very Sunny weather didn't really come into effect as I just had difficulty dodging and picking up! Gaz consoled me after rolling all those ones, and I had got off to a stuttering start to the tournament. If the Orcs played like that throughout the weekend they could cause an upset (it's almost like I know they did!)...

Match Two vs Vodkanaught's Undead - Win 2-1 (0-0)

My decision not to take a tackler felt like a poor one as I came up against the Ghouls of Stuart's Undead. Normally a league player, this was Stuart's first tournament, and he got stuck in! Again I had some useful dice rolls prematch, both getting +1 Fame and winning the kick off roll (and deciding to kick again!). However, for the second match in a row the weather was not fine... this time it was Pouring Rain.
The game started with a Blitz! but I could do little with it and by turn 6/7 the Undead had scored (0-1). I thought about trying to get a lighting equaliser, but double skulls put an end to that idea... it really wasn't looking like my weekend as the dice had not been good again into this half. I was starting to examine my D6's to ensure I hadn't picked up a batch with 3x 1's on them!

Seemingly, kicking first wasn't working out for me, so it was a relief to receive in the second half and I managed to get through the Undead's defence and score in turn 4/3 for 1-1.
Although the dice hadn't been kind when it came to the dodging and pick ups, I can say that my armour held (as did the Undead's) throughout the game which was an unexpected outcome. It also meant that I was really able to pressurise their defence. The 'Kick' skill allowed me to put the ball fairly deep, and I poured through and managed to get the ball and score in turn 6/5 to go 2-1 up. After that I employed the standard guerilla warfare tactics to defend and suppressed any counter attack, and the match ended in a win for me.

I must admit, I was having to learn fast with this team, never having coached Elven Union before... but I've played against some good coaches who have fielded them and I did well to remember their positive tactics.

Match Three vs Fatboyslimming's Humans - Win 2-1 (1-4)

These Humans were elf killers, but playing them would be a useful learning experience for day two (we'll come to that!). Not only did all the Blitzers have Guard, but there was Tackle and Mighty Blow mixed in there too. But the cherry on the cake was the Star Griff Oberwald with Strength 4 / Agility 4 / Blodging combo and the insane speed Movement 7 / Sprint / Surefeet... it meant that the ball wasn't safe anywhere!

Yet again I did well on the Fans roll, this time rolling +2 Fame, all without any fan factor! What helped throughout the weekend was having 1x Assistant Coach and 1x Cheerleader, because with Fame it meant something unusual would have to happen for me not to earn a much desired re-roll. However, I lost the kick off roll and was asked to kick. Dan then proceeded to steamroll down the field. I suffered two RIPs to blocks, but also unfortunately two more 2 failed dodges!! The one's just weren't leaving me alone today, but to suffer serious injury after those ones was salt in the gaping wound! Dan finished the half 0-1 up and 0-4 casualties (yes, anything that ended up in the injury box counted as a casualty under tournament rules!).

With 8 elves lining up for the 2nd half I knew I was in for a testing time, but I managed to score by turn 4/3 leaving the score level at 1-1. But that's a lot of turns for a fast moving human team to score. However, something strange happened. I joked about swapping our dice over (we didn't) but Nuffle seemed to hear... and Dan's dice fell to pieces. Griff failed pickups and loner rerolls and my elves went elf ball crazy. By turn 8/7 I had scored again (2-1), inflicted a casualty and not conceded any further casualties myself! Dan had no answer other than general misery at how the worm had turned.

I ended Day One on a huge emotional high finishing with 2 wins and a draw... Amazingly, given most of the day's dice, I was still in it!

Some of the boys went out for a meal, with two of the guys having come over from Malta in order to visit their brother and get in some Blood Bowl while over here! I went home as it was only 30 mins away and for the first time ever I was back from a tournament by 5pm! I think the wife was pleased. Possibly.

Day Two
Match Four vs Thor's Elven Union - Win 3-1 (1-0)

This was an Elf-off. Thor was gunning for the best painted team award (as he was trying to set a record for Best Painted awards), and had gone with a Christmas 'Elf-On-The-Shelf' theme (as you can see below).

For the 4th match in a row I got +1 Fame (obviously a crowd-pleasing team!) with a close roll of 11 vs 10 for it! I also won the kick off choice, and decided to receive against the elves. The result was a high kick which was duly caught and I decided to slowly & successfully build my drive up the field and score 1-0 in turn 7/6, and prevented Andy from equalising in the first half.
Andy had gone for a different roster choice completely to me, and hired Elijah Doom (6/3/4/9 - Fend, Guard, Loner, Stand Firm, Wrestle)... and he was a complete pain. I did beat his armour once though, only to earn a stun :( - his ability to stand there amongst the line with a supportive guard, get up and repeat was very annoying! Aside from the Star, Andy had 2x Throwers as well.
The second half began with a Pitch Invasion, and despite needing a 5 or 6 to stun Thor's elves, I only manage to face-plant 3 of his, and Thor managed to stun 4 of mine with just a 6 required. Not good! Unsurprisingly Thor went for the win and equalised by turn 1/2.
However, Nuffle again took a hand in the game as one of Thor's catchers failed a dodge, broke armour (10 rolled) and died (12 injury rolled). By turn 5/5 I had gone 2-1 up again, and the next drive began with 'Get the Ref'. I don't think we needed the bribe, although I'm sure fouls were made, but that wasn't the important bit of the game...
Thor instead managed to take a dodging leaf out of my play book and his ball-carrying Thrower spilt the ball on a failed dodge, leaving him wide open for a pick up and score for me, which ended the game 3-1 (1-0 cas).
This game could so easily have ended 2-2 but luck was on my side, which made a nice change to be honest!

Match Five vs Nonumber's Humans - Draw 1-1 (2-2)

And up next, the Tournament Organiser - Tom - Who was breaking with the established protocol by currently winning his own tournament in his own establishment! Coming into this match he was on 4/0/0 and I could see why. Tom's Humans were more of an elf-killing team than Dan's were in match 3. I think there were 2x Tackle/Mighty Blow Blitzers in the set up and 2x Guard/Mighty Blow Blitzers for good measure. Also in the roster was an Ogre and a Catcher. No Stars this time though!

For the 5th consecutive game my fan rolling was awesome, with +2 Fame, but I lost the kick off choice and was asked to kick. The game began with the ball being kicked deepish into the Human half and I was able to pour through the human line and put them under pressure and for a turn or two things looked favourable, but some good counter-play from Tom meant he maneuvered the ball out and despite some further defensive play, scored in turn 7/8, while also managing to kill my Guard Catcher, which I thought was even more decisive.
The second half began with a Riot, meaning less time for both of us, but I equalised by turn 3/2 as I decided to simply go for it.
However things didn't really go well for either of us... the humans couldn't break my lines, and I couldn't get near the ball despite hurting a couple of linemen which delayed the offence. So the game ended 1-1 (2-2).
I was the first coach to take points off Nonumber, but Tom was still leading overall. it would all come down to the last game!

Match Six vs Janninun's Amazons - Win 2-1 (3-2)

I needed to win this last game to be in with a chance, but then I saw one of our Ma/ltese friends, Jean-Marc (hope that's right!), had brought Amazons complete with Roxanna Darknail (8/3/5/7 - Loner, Dodge, Frenzy, Jump Up, Juggernaut, Leap). I didn't have any Mighty Blow or Tackle, but the Amazons did. Uh-oh!

We rolled equal fans, so no Fame for either side, and with normal weather the game began with Janninun kicking to me. I managed to remove a Amazon Linewoman in the first turn and in a fairy uneventful first drive, I scurried through for a touchdown in turn 4/3.
Janninun's drive began by Roxanna catching a High Kick but I managed to hold off the Amazons, and even took another linewoman down with the half ending 1-0 to me.
The second half began and the Amazons were led by Roxanna to equalise (1-1) in turn 5/6 and were clearly pushing for a win, which Roxanna was more than capable of doing.
I had some average fortune in Knock Outs coming back but it was still going to be tight. However, I hadn't seen the last of Nuffle.
I made a foray into the Amazon half, but (memory is starting to fail me here as it was a bit of a blur by this stage and we were all tired!) my ball carrier had got sacked near the edge. Jean-Marc's delight turned into rage as he saw Roxanna fail the pick up and loner roll. I recovered the ball and ploughed deeper into the Amazon half, but the carrier was exposed to a blitz... but this resulted in pushes! Janninun was running out of dice to swap out for his bad rolls but he marked the ball carrier in two tackle zones and then brought Roxanna into complete the marking... but he had made a crucial mistake.... If I played it right, I just needed to bring up a line-elf on a 1xGFI to assist with a block that would allow my ball carrier to be chain-pushed out, leaving him with a 2+ dodge to score!
As I began, Jean-Marc saw his error and was consoled by his brother who by this time had come over to watch. Fortunately for me, without any rerolls to hand I made the GFI, the block and the dodge to score in turn 7/7 and go 2-1 up. This didn't leave the Amazons with any real chance of equalising and I had done all I could do, finishing the tournament on 4/2/0.

Meanwhile...

Tom's (nonumber) Human's were facing Gaz's (Mysterious Handle) Orcs in a classic clash. I tried to stay away while others gathered around on this top table match. Tom just needed a draw to win as he had a better tie-breaking TD/casualty score than me (I think)... but he hadn't counted on some elvish-orcs. For the record, I found a lot of the following info out post-game: Not only had Gaz taken down a number of humans in the first half with a series of heavy hits, but he had taken the humans to 1-1 and had the ball in the last part of the game. From what I understand, some total non-orc style play occurred and the Orcs scored in turn 16 to win the match and effectively hand me my first tournament win, much to the disbelief and sorrow of Tom.

Results

I don't have the final standings table as yet (TBC), but I do have some photos to share of the various winners thanks to cameraman Sebastian (Tom's colleague) for sharing.