UK Team Challenge 2020 - Food, hugs & beer... and some Blood Bowl!

A herald arrived, slightly pale and panting, filthy from 184 miles of exhausting travel from the Roman city of York. I took the scroll from the lad, unfurled the now dampened parchment and started to read. An opportunity to display tactical mastery, strength and unmatched feats of agility on the Blood Bowl field of York University has presented itself. Coaches are asked to form uneasy teams of four, and submit their heraldry to High Lord Brendan of Pipey, master of ceremonies at the UKTC. 

News of the tournament was sent far and wide, and soon, Sir Howling of Griffon sent forth a summons to both myself the Duke of Wotfudboy, Sir Vulture of Squadron and the infamous White Knight Besters - Team 'Unlikely Lads' had been formed.

Suitable accomodation was sourced at the Ye Olde Holiday Inn Express with strict orders to start the roasting and uncork the kegs for our arrival. Many tales shall be told of our exploits... and so it was.

Warning Dear Reader - This is my longest, most picture & video laden blog yet... Stock up on nibbles, refill your mug and toddle off to the bathroom now before venturing any further! :) 

272 Blood Bowling coaches of various regions of the UK and other countries arrived for registration at a light and airy Roger Kirk Centre (or, like probably so many others nerds, the Captain Kirk Centre). This was my first UKTC. In a fabulously modern conference hall complete with bar, stage and breakout room for light dining and refreshments, 68 Teams gathered, knowing their opposition (due to the draw being published the night before) and keen to spill some opposition blood and bruise some ego.

We were team 'Unlikely Lads' consisting of skipper Howlinggriffon (Nurgle Rotters), Vulturesquadron (Orcs), Besters (Humans) and Wotfudboy (Chaos Dwarfs). Besters was our ringer, with 10 NAF tournament wins alone and numerous other non-NAF tournaments and other accolades to his name [EDIT: And just announced as a Team England member - Congratulations!].

My Chaos Dwarf roster was as follows; A Clawed Minotaur, 6x Chaos Dwarfs (2x Guard), 2x Bull Centaurs with Block, and 3x Hob Goblins (1x Sure Hands). Also 2x Rerolls and 1x Fan Factor. Simple.

In fact, Team 'Unlikely Lads' had quite a low tiering overall, with an average of 11.3. In fact, NAF volunteer-hero and statistics nerd Mike Davies has produced a dazzling set of statistics here for you all to enjoy (once you've digested my blog of course!). With no elves in our team (particularly Wood Elves or Dark Elves), and no Tier 1 or 2 races at all we were, on paper, up against it! Here's a quick tiering table for reference:

DAY ONE

Game One vs Badstorm's Wood Elves of 'Team Alfea' - Draw! 1-1 (4-0 cas), Team Draw! 3-3 (11-6 cas)

All cheesy smiles after an honourable draw against Team Alfea

Oh my! My first game was against the World Cup finalists from Italy, Team Alfea. More to the point, I was up against Badstorm (ranked #2 in the world with a Glicko ranking of 254.73 for WE's)...

Badstorm & his painted Wood Elves! :)

...who had thoroughly kicked my Dwarves hides with his Wood Elves at the NAF Champs... where, due to our game, I had publicly berated any coach for bringing an unpainted team to a NAF major event. Fortunately he was very forgiving, even apologetic, as his team mates had given him huge grief for fielding bare-metal miniatures, so he got someone to paint his team (very nicely I might add) for him.

Pictured above, one Treeman before being thrown into the chipper!

It was perfect Blood Bowl weather with Badstorm bringing more fans along and choosing to receive the ball from my kicker. After a fairly simple first turn for the Wood Elves the Minotaur decided to make a name for himself... with a simple assist the horned beast charged, flattened and killed the Treeman to the throaty roars of the crowd. First blood!

It didn't take long for Badstorm to recover from this as he neatly chain-crowd-surfed a Chaos Dwarf (who returned to the Reserves box after landing in the bearded fans enclosure) after some dice let us down. We matched this by KOing a pesky catcher, but frankly this was the last successful thing we achieved as the Wood Elves held out to score in their drive (turn 7/8), 0-1.

We vented our frustration in the last turn of the half and KO'd a WE lineman and gang-fouled another, but left him only stunned. 

Coach Wotfudboy was not impressed, and the half-time brandin iron was liberally used to 'encourage' the evil short ones. The KO'd Wood Elf lineman heard the screams from the other changing room and decided not to come back on to the field for the second half. 

However, the WE's got a Perfect Defence for the second half, but it didn't stop us killing a WE lineman, and our Sure-Hands Hob Goblin picked up the ball with no Kick to worry about! Soon the fists were flying, so much so that we got over excited and double-skulled... rerolled, broke armour but only stunned another lineman. By turn 3/2 the Mino killed another lineman.

Just when the dwarven cage was looking strong, we got over eager to engage more of the pointy-eared freaks, only to see some pushing allowing a Wardancer to 2x dice uphill both down/splat my poor ball carrier, stunning him. Fortunately Badstorm couldn't get to gather the ball and another Hob Goblin picked up, only to be Strip Ball blitzed by the other Wardancer (pesky gits!) and collect the ball, only to be KO'd by a Bull Centaur who gleefully snatch it up again to the combined moans of the wood elf fans.

After killing a Catcher, and KOing another Catcher and then a Dodge-lineman, and avoiding a snaked GFI by a Chorf, we scored in turn 16/15. Even with so few WE's left to field we feared a Riot, but it wasn't to be as a High Kick was rolled and Badstorm couldn't get any joy with chain pushes to make an equaliser. The game finished 1-1 (4-0 cas). Hands were shaken, photo's were taken and off to lunch we went.

Round One - Team Summary

Safe to say, talk in the bar the night before had mainly been about the quality of our opposition and the likely kicking we were going to get, so when all of us managed to draw our games we were frankly gobsmacked! We were even up on casualties, so in many ways it was a winning draw... it certainly felt like it! A cracking achievement! As it happened, Badstorm and his team mates were apparently really worried about going up against us, which was a compliment in itself!

LUNCHTIME HUGS!

I'm going to have to get more detail here later, but coach Peo2223 stood up on stage and briefly mentioned a close family bereavement to suicide, and talked about the importance of mental health and knowing that there is help out there.

In order to raise awareness [Edit: Could someone put the links Peo had as a comment on this blog please!], and to add a bit of fun, he was looking for help to break a World Record for the most hugs given/received in a minute. Rules were simple - 1 minute to make torso to torso contact with both arms wrapped around the back of the other... we got pretty close after our practise attempt... only a handful short I think. Sadly the weather didn't help a second attempt on Sunday. Here's a video of the hugging attempt I took after I had raced away after mine!;

Game Two vs Firebreather's Dwarves of Team 'Mid-table Marauders' - Draw! 1-1 (3-1 cas), Team Draw! 4-3 (11-2 cas)

Out of 272 coaches there were only seven Dwarf teams at the UKTC and I faced the first of two of them in round two! The game started in the Pouring Rain, but there were more Chaos Dwarf fans singing in it!

Firebreather examining his opposition

I won the coin toss and decided to receive, despite the rain, just so I could have a crack at getting a few early hits in... However, the clouds parted and the game began in perfect weather, only for me to double skull my first block! Fortunately I hadn't had the chance in one turn of the game to use all my rerolls. The Minotaur showed how it should have been done and Seriously Injured the Mighty Blow Dwarf lineman, and coach Firebreather decided not to use his apothecary.

The Minotaur gets really really... clawy?

By turn 4/3 I BH'd another hapless Dwarf lineman only for him to be saved and put back snuggly in to the Reserves box to be available at the next drive. Obviously the Dwarves retaliated after seeing another team mate hurt, and killed a perfectly innocent Bull Centaur, which was a game changer for me. It was getting close, and my nerves weren't exactly settled when I double skulled again (and Reroll used) in turn 6/5, but managed to sneak in a Touch Down in turn 8/7 after a successful GFI (without the insurance of a reroll at hand!). 

Still in good humour going into game two vs Mid-table Marauders

The second half began with a High Kick to the Dwarves on the LoS. The annoying dwarf butterfingered the catch and it scattered over the line for a touch back. With the ball safely in the hands of a Block Runner, Firebreather began by KOing a Chaos Dwarf. In retaliation my Minotaur 1'd a Blitz for the second time in the game, but a Chaos Dwarf killed a Guard-lineman. By turn 3 the Minotaur managed another 1 but this time on a Block, and subsequently a Hob Goblin was KO'd. Annoyingly the Minotaur 1'd again in turn 4 (3 in the half! - I did check I wasn't rolling a D3!).

The Venga Bus? Going on a Summer Holiday? The wheels on the bus?... No!, Firebreather Tours.

By turn 5 I was getting desperate and was down to dodging my remaining Bull Centaur (using a reroll) only to see him roll pushes against the ball carrier. We tried again in the next turn but the Bull Centaur failed his dodge to blitz and the Dwarves scored. Just to show our frustration the Minotaur had the last laugh and killed a Dwarf in the final turn. Certainly this was the first and only game where I regretted not having Break Tackle on a BC, but over the weekend Block did more for me. The game finished 1-1 (3-1 cas). 

Round Two - Team Summary

The skipper led by example with a win, but our Ringer was trying to find his mojo in his human vs human match up. The draws reached by Vulturesquadron and myself meant a team draw, but another whopping 11 casualties were dished out, making this another winning draw, if there is such a thing. This second draw left us on table 49-52 out of 136 tables, so we were just above mid-table mediocrity, ironically!

Game Three vs Sprinter's Dark Elves of Team 'Zwo, Eins, Risiko!' - Loss! 1-2 (4-2 cas), Team Loss! 2-7 (10-6 cas)

Well, much like England in the Euros football match, we had played the Italians and now it was on to the Germans! I was up against Sprinter (aka Stefan) who dished out the nicest thorough beating I've ever had. 

Wotfudboy - Prepare to be schooled by Dark Elves!

The starting game dice were rolled leading to perfect weather and the Dark Elves fans dominating the stands. But it was the Chaos Dwarves who chose to receive and looked to get some early elf injuries. Sadly, that isn't how it began. In turn 2/2 a DE Blitzer blocked and killed a Chaos Dwarf, and in turn 3/3 a Hob Goblin followed with nothing to show for it in return. So, with some furious instructions being shouted from the dug out, the dwarves managed to kill a DE lineman, but then managed to double skull, using the last of our Rerolls.

The Dwarves were confused by the cleavage on display

Unfortunately things turned from bad to worse as we just couldn't get out of our half and in turn 5 the Hob Goblin ball carrier got 1 dice both downed, and the ball scattered for a DE to pick up and hand off to safety. We managed to dodge a Hob Goblin out for a GFI blitz but failed, and my notes get a bit hazy here but I think, despite and elf fumbling a throw they still managed to get the ball and score, 0-1 (0-2 cas) at the end of the first half.

The second half began with my Chaos Dwarves starting with only 10 players vs 11 for the first time in the weekend. Of course the sneaky Dark Elves rolled Quick Snap, but in their first turn double skulled a block, having to use a Reroll. There was calamity from both sides as a Bull Centaur's Sure Feet let him down as he failed a GFI, and the DE's double skulled again, this time against a Bull Centaur. However, by turn 3/4 I was 0-2 down, and the only KO'd elf came back on the pitch.

Then they got a Blitz! with the ball sitting on the LoS on my right wing.

We'd had enough of this by turn 4/4, so my Bull Centaur killed a DE lineman with double 6 on armour and double 6 on injury! Take that!! Then the Dark Elves double skulled their first block of turn 4/5 and the drive was stopped with injuries suddenly coming, but all too late. On turn 6/6 we killed a very annoying ball carrying Witch Elf, and quickly retrieved the ball and handed off to an awaiting Bull Centaur who ran in for a consolation TD. 

However Nuffle wasn't kind enough to assist in turn 7, and the elves controlled the ball in the back field and safely away from the furious dwarves. The game ended 1-2 (4-2 cas).

With perfectly brilliant comic timing, Purplegoo decided to pop over and present me with the NAF trophies I had won from my exploits at CamDub and the Red Trophy... The irony wasn't lost on me after such a beating.

It should have been a special moment... in a way, it was.

Round Three - Team Summary

With both Howlinggriffon and myself losing, and Besters unable to score more than 1 touch down for the day, the team suffered it's first loss, with only Vulturesquadron remaining undefeated on the first day. The german lads were just too good for us, but it was all played out in a really good spirit and frankly we didn't mind losing to opponents this good natured. We still made 10 casualties though, and finished the day 29th out of 68 teams, with the highest casualties inflicted! 

I still felt downbeat though finishing Day One on 0/2/1 as I felt it could have been a 1/1/1 but hey-ho. Perhaps I could do a little bit of a 'submarine' on Sunday.

Dear Reader - That was only Day One! Time to ditch the coffee and get a cold one out the fridge... then put the lizard back and get a beer! You might want to check the salted snack levels too...

I was lucky enough to enjoy another large carvery with my team mates at the Toby Inn, avoiding any more drenching rain from storm Brendan, and a decent night's sleep in the Holiday Inn Express... callously enjoying a second night away from an ill wife & daughter... I'm sooo going to pay for that! But, it was probably worth it! :)  

DAY TWO

Game Four - vs Spudson's Dwarfs of Team 'The Gobblers' - Win! 2-0 (3-2 cas), Team Win! 4-2 (9-7 cas)

As mentioned previously, I learned over night that I would be facing Dwarves... again. What were the odds of that with only 7 teams of them present? I'll leave that to the mathematicians! Answers on a post card...

We're Dwarves and we're cool, man! Gobble Gobble Gobble!!

Anyway, Spudson had virtually no NAF record but had played a lot online and clearly knew what he was doing. Armed with a clearly marked 3rd edition dwarf team we drew up the battle lines, exchanged hand shakes and cracked on! 

Orange hair - check, golden winged helmets - check, secret weapon... shhhhh!

There were more Dwarven fans at the match than those that had fallen to Chaos and Ian won the kick off result, but unusually decided to kick even in the Perfect Weather. I gladly took him up on this.

However, the only noteworthy thing that occurred in my first two turns was my Minotaur 1'ing a blitz, much to Spudson's relief! Spudson then followed suit by using a reroll on a double skull, and then turn 3/2 saw my Bull Centaur do the same against a Troll Slayer, and Ian skulled a Troll Slayer block against a Chaos Dwarf - Far too many skulls for 3 turns!

Finally by turn 4 armour started to break with the Minotaur KOing a Dwarf lineman and a Chaos Dwarf KOing a Guard-lineman, only for a Mighty Blow-Troll Slayer to kill off a Chaos Dwarf. Unfortunately for Ian he then single dice blocked, skulled and stunned himself. This left my Minotaur free to BH a Dwarf only for the Apothecary to be used and the Dwarf sent to the Reserves box... but the very next block by a Chaos Dwarf killed a lineman. Things were hotting up!

By turn 5 the Dwarves were desperate and -2 dice blitzed/skulled/rerolled and pushed the Hob Goblin ball carrier. Eventually after nothing much more than a little delay the Chaos Dwarves scored in turn 8/7, but Spudson successfully Argued the Call to allow Barik Farblast and his Hail Mary Pass secret weapon to stay on the pitch. Only one of the 2 KO'd dwarves came back on though... and then we rolled a Blitz! on the hapless Dwarves but the Minotaur could only stun a Guard-Blitzer, and the half ended without much else happening.

The second half began with Spudson successfully Arguing the Call for Barik Farblast again! This wouldn't be the last time I would suffer this today... However, importantly the Guard-Blitzer remained KO'd. It was 11 vs 10. Spudson had a Quick Snap and Barak picked up the ball with his Sure Hands. In turn 1/1 my Minotaur 1'd his blitz, and Spudon was forced to reroll a Runner's dodge. Turn 2/2 the Minotaur made up for things and killed a Mighty Blow-lineman, but then after using a reroll on a Chaos Dwarf GFI I then double skulled a block with my Hob Goblin leaving a Chaos Dwarf to be easily crowd-surfed. Of course, to rub salt into the wound the Minotaur 1'd another block in turn 3/3.

Spudson used another reroll on an unagile runner and then skulled a 1 dice block thrown by his Troll Slayer, but then things took a dreadful turn as the ball went lose, and the dwarves saw their chance. With the ball on the sidelines just squares from the endzone, Barak got up, dodged away, picked up the ball in a tackle zone, and successfully passed the ball in a tackle zone to an awaiting runner who was nicely placed in the end zone (after I had failed the intercept with the Bull Centaur). As the ball was thrown back on the field I managed to surf the annoying Barak and the Runner and get the ball up field despite the Minotaur failing a 2 dice block - both down/skull/Reroll used/Loner passed/Both Down/Skull result.

To rub salt in to the wound though I managed to complete a short pass to a Bull Centaur who ran in for a second touch down. On Spudson's set up he managed another casualty but the game was over 2-0 (3-2 cas), and my first win of the weekend! My mood improved. We also had a nice team photo taken afterwards.

Still on speaking terms after an Unlikely Lads win

Round Four - Team Summary

With Vulture Squadron also getting a win, and Howlinggriffon grabbing a draw we managed to get a team win! Surprisingly Besters lost... he really wasn't having a good weekend with a 0/2/2 so far... most un-Besters-like. We began to suspect Goblin mischief!!

Game Five - vs Crowdog09's Orcs of 'Team REBBL' - Draw! 0-0 (2-3 cas), Team Win! 5-2 (8-5 cas)

Well, it turns out that Crowdog09's Orcs won the 'Most Casualties' award... but not necessarily from playing me it seems! To be disgustingly honest the Most Casualties award should have gone to the nasal passages of our noses because the guys behind me were... well... suffering the effects of the night before... put it this way, it felt like we were surrounded by Nurgle Rotters, so we should get kudos for suffering through that!

An Orc's killing mentality and Irish charm - a deadly combination!

The Chaos Dwarf fans were obviously too scary for the Orc fans this match and the greenskins stayed away for the most part, but they cheered as the Orcs won the coin toss received the kick off in Perfect Weather.

"Errr... Coach! - Deez guyz 'av proppa arm-er... Wot do we do?"... "Hit 'em arrderr!!"

The ball was kicked, scattered 6 and bounced off the field for a touch back - the ball going to the Orc thrower. I won Brilliant Coaching for a much needed extra Reroll, and the game began.The orcs proned a few dwarves in the first turn but the Minotaur decided that just having murdered one big guy during the weekend wasn't enough and killed the Troll who failed to regenerate!

Next turn however the Minotaur 1'd his blitz and the Orcs moved in and killed a Chaos Dwarf, proned the Minotaur, fouled him... only to stun him and get sent off for his troubles. By turn 3/4 Crowdog09 felt the need to reroll a skulled block on a Hob Goblin taking him down this time and killed him. They were some angry Orcs! Unfortunately for me, the still prone Minotaur 1'd his blitz again but I had managed to sack the carrier and the ball was free on the floor, but they gathered it again, only for the Bull Centaur to sack the Blitzer carrier again, the ball scattered several times and ended up back in the hands of the Orc Thrower! Doh!! 

Crowdog09 then used another reroll on a double skulled block, and then in turn 6/6 I managed to BH the Thrower, and the Apothecary was used. In turn 7/7 it was my turn to reroll a double skull, but then the Minotaur went Both down on a block against a Guard-Black Orc, who promptly was KO'd, with Minotaur just proned. We successfully defended with the score 0-0 (2-2 cas) with an Orc sent off.

The second half began with a Get the Ref (which I think we both forgot about!) as we got a Bribe each. There wasn't too much to say really as the Chaos Dwarfs moved up the pitch steadily, sprinkled with further 1's from the Minotaur of course. Bt by turn 4/4 and Orc blitzer had to make a desperate play to stop our drive and managed a 3+ dodge, a 4+ dodge, 2x GFI and a 1 dice blitz, which ended in a POW and a RIP Sure Hands-Hob Goblin!! Not good news for me. I managed to pick up again only for the other Hob Goblin to get sacked, and then, of course I failed a vital Chaos Dwarf GFI to assist a series of blocks to try and pick up the ball. In the end the Orcs were able to defend the free ball with just enough players to stop me scoring and the match ended 0-0 (2-3 casualties). I was gutted not to win in the end but the Orcs made the dice they needed to.

Round Five - Team Summary

Besters finally came through with a win along with Vulturesquadron, while Howlinggriffon secured a draw like me, which resulted in a team win, 5-2, (8-5 cas). Again another good natured match up for both teams, and an important second victory for the Unlikely Lads.

Game Six - vs Yudlugar's Goblins of Team 'Bigger Mugs Than Sports Direct' - Win! 1-0 (4-0 cas), Team Win! 4-2 (9-5 cas)

What's this? Goblins?? With Ripper, a Doom Diver, a chainsaw, a ball & chain complete with two Trolls and Bribes and Rerolls... Uh Oh... I detect sneakiness coming my way...

"No seriously, there's a man-chicken behind you..."

Yudlugar (aka James) was apparently doing very well with his band of Goblins this weekend and I don't think he relished facing 6x Chaos Dwarves with Tackle! Then again, I knew how awesome a Ripper (no negatraits) and Doom Diver combination was for Throwing Team Mate.

The match started with more Chaos Dwarf fans turning up for what they hoped would be a blood bath, and they cheered noisily when we won the coin toss and decided to receive the kick.

The Chaos Dwarfs get ready to kick some Troll butts!

However, Yudlugar didn't need to worry about Tackle as I double-skulled my first dwarf blitz and had to use a reroll. We then failed to pick up the ball deep in my back field, which was troubling given the numbers of flying goblins that could come my way any time soon! Fortunately one Troll rolled 1 on Really Stupid in turn 1/1.

In turn 3/3 the chainsaw was forced to use a Reroll after getting a kickback from the mighty weapon and I managed to kill a goblin in turn 4/3, and by turn 5/4 I ran in to score, 1-0 (1-0 cas). With the new Goblin drive imminent, Yudlugar managed to Argue the Call successfully with the referee (probably with Ripper grinning menacingly over his shoulder at the ref!) and the Chainsaw didn't need to use a bribe, but the Ball & Chain did.

In turn 5/5 a Troll KO'd a dwarf, and in turn 7/6 a Bull Centaur snaked a GFI, but the defence was holding strong and it required a last ditch effort by the Goblins to equalise... and then Ripper failed to pick up the Goblin with the ball, and the half ended... with Yudlugar managing to Argue the Call successfully again for the Chainsaw!! Gah!!

The second half began with me winning Brilliant Coaching and getting a Reroll, but by turn 1/2 the fortunate Chainsaw attacked a Hob Goblin, slicing him in two. He then killed a Chaos Dwarf in turn 2/3. It was with much relief that the Chainsaw finally snaked a Kickback, but only stunned himself!

However the Goblin drive was starting to falter as by turn 6/6 a Chaos Dwarf blocked the ball carrying Goblin to death and also got a chance to kill the Chainsaw too with double 6's on the injury, and then inflicted two more Knock Outs. 

It was far from over though as one brave (or slightly insane) little Goblin dodged through CD tackle zones, picked up the ball and legged it towards the end zone with all the Chaos Dwarves marked up. With a reroll in hand (and going unused) I was fortunate enough to successfully dodge a Hob Goblin away to blitz the ball carrying Goblin, killed him and secured the ball in turn 7/7 and there was nothing more the Goblins could do. On another day, on another pitch that would have ended very differently!! But we won 1-0 (4-0 cas). 

I finished the weekend on 2/3/1 and in 81st place, which given the first day's results was a fantastic turn around! Although not exactly exciting on the Touch Downs front (6-4) I did rack up casualties (20-8). My Chaos Dwarf ranking moved from 167.95 to 177.54 which was cool, but I was still annoyed with myself for not being able to get a team ready in time to chalk off my 24.

Round Six - Team Summary

Most importantly though was that we secured the third team win of the weekend, with both myself and Vulture Squadron winning and Howlinggriffon and Besters earning draws. We finished as team on 3/2/1 which wasn't a bad effort at all.

Unlikely Lads Tournament Summary

It had been a really well organised tournament. I can't stress this enough - rounds started on time, time left was really clear, slow games were well managed, the website was really well done - especially given the author was off in hospital. The venue was spot on, the packed lunch bags were perfectly fine and everyone seemed to be catered for... even the smokers could go outside easily, and drinkers had access to the bar.

I thought as a team we did really well too, especially given that we ended up facing both the winning team and the runners up, and I personally faced the best individual player and the most casualties winner!! Besters (186th) might have had better results had some important dice rolls gone his way, but everyone did their bit at the right times. Special mention for Vulturesquadron though who finished the weekend undefeated in 15th place!, and of course thanks to Howlinggriffon (124th) for managing all the captain's duties and putting the team together and organising comms.

Thanks especially to all our opponents who made the matches so pleasurable (dice aside), and it was great to see sooooo many familiar faces at the tournament from the various NAF leadership, to Team England members, the lads from Tackle Zone, the FUMBBL team, previous opponents from other tournaments and various other sites and podcasts too.

The Tournament Organisers

Thanks also to Pipey and his fellow tournament organisers. They managed to just about cope without the website creator being around, and it was a shame a final round redraw scuppered the production of the results as everything else had gone so well.

Pipey laying out the pre-tournament rules and schedule

Deep in Tournament Organiser mode

Results & Awards

Some excellent trophies... very jealous!

Well done to all the winners below. I think our first round draw helped Team Alfea 'submarine' their way to a win... but that's just my thinking! :)

And finally...

...please feel free to comment on here or like/comment on Facebook/Twitter if you liked it... or if I've got something wrong or there is something to add. If you use any of my photos please link this blog & my name just so I can take the credit... or the blame! Hope you enjoyed the read and it helped lift an otherwise dull day.