UKTC 2022 - A weekend of counting out loud...

UK Team Challenge 2022... and goodies

Like a bunch of nerdy-bears emerging from hibernation, we poked our heads outside of our dark working-from-home caves. Our collective noses twitched like that of a 'Bisto kid' just before a roast dinner at the prospect of going to a big tournament, and getting to grips with new rules, new races and new challenges... and seeing some old friendly faces again.

We had all booked into the Premier Inn North York and had enjoyed a superb curry at 29 States on the Friday night. We weren't going to attempt a 4 hour drive (200 mile journey) in time for a 9.30 registration on Saturday! No way. We're too old and sensible for that!

I had recently attended another Team tournament with Team Redshirts where three of us had been victorious, but that was nothing compared to the scale of the UK Team Challenge 2022. For a start, we needed not one, but two halls to fit the 344 players making up the 86 four-person teams. The other difference was that we had not one but two Darrens in our team, with LastTimelord joining myself, skipper Mr_Frodo and Howlinggriffon this time around.

Team Redshirts materialise for an away mission

I thought the tournament was very well run, especially given it was across two hall. Rounds were generally on time, and the organisers dealt very well with late drop outs, ensuring all coaches got a game. There was ample parking, plenty of facilities, a VERY smoothly run lunch queue, some nice free gifts (pictured above) and the Exhibition Centre in particular was light and airy (particularly important in these challenging times we live in!). What's most unique about the UKTC (which is very obvious) is that this was a team event, and it was great to sit along side your mates as we tried to collectively progress.

The Exhibition Centre - That's where all the cool cats were all weekend!

I've attended five small tournaments using the 2020 rules and I still feel uncomfortable with them as I'm constantly struggling with self-doubt over what the rule is now. Kick off rolls and new skills had to be checked several times, and having a Cheat Sheet to hand was essential for me. I did take comfort in that I could hear similar conversations around the room, so I wasn't the only one!

I decided to take High Elves, which were tier 4 in this ruleset. That enabled me to take 12x Elfs and 2x rerolls and a good number of skills. I had 4x Catchers with Dodge (x2), Wrestle and Block, and 2x Blitzers with Tackle & Guard, a Sure Hands Thrower and a Kick lineman. My tactics were simple, kick to a far corner and hope you can put pressure on the opponent, because we weren't going to win any fisticuffs on the pitch!

Day One - Match One 

vs Team: 'Hit Me Baby One More Tyne' & Pipey's Norse

Put your thumbs up if you like Byker Grove & Cheryl Tweedy

How a tournament organiser, involved in a tournament of this size, can possibly do all that AND play 6 games is quite beyond me. I was starting to wonder if Pipey was going to turn up for our match as he was delayed over in the Kirk Centre getting things started, and dealing with last minute spanners... well, you know what I mean! :)

The TO offers a cheesy grin... and a kicking!

Even during the game, the number of different people that came over to him with the opening phrase "sorry to disturb but...", and then phone calls he had to make/receive etc would probably explain the final score... but hey... let's talk about the match first!

The match began with Perfect Weather and me losing both the fans and kick roll. I was told I was kicking. I made the most of a real bonus as the ball landed deep in the back right of the field and after some repositioning, the Norse failed to pick up. At this point I could simply end the match report just saying this... "the Norse failed to pick up, the Norse failed to pick up"... because that's how it went. I managed to grab the ball in turn 2/2. However, it didn't all go my way as I lost a lineman to an injury in turn 2/3 and my Block Catcher was surfed in turn 3/4 as I tried to maintain pressure.

"The ball's loose deep in the Norse half, Jim!"... "Sounds painful, Bob!!"

Pipey simply stood his players around the ball and let me fail... or beat me down and fouled when he could... despite the Norse snaking a foul in turn 4/5 and getting sent off for his tickle... but had Pipey delayed too long? Ultimately yes. Despite not having quite enough luck to score, the High Elves held on to successfully defend, taking 0-0 and only 1 casualty into half time! That said, 3 out of 4 Knock Out rolls failed to come back for me for the second half... while the Norse had 2 players in the sin bin (although he had 3 reserves!) and Coach Pipey was ejected from the stadium for arguing too much!

The 2nd half kicks off... 7 High Elves have to dance down the field to score...

I scored very quickly... and in hindsight, too quickly in turn 2/1... the idea being to get another go and getting my KO's back... however, I used up both rerolls in scoring, rolling a 1 on both a dodge and a pick up attempt. 1-0 (0-1).

This made the fans angry, and a Pitch Invasion ensued, with 2x elves and 3x norse stunned. I had managed to get some elves back from the KO box, but the Yeti (really Games Workshop? Yhetee?? - I'm only just getting over Aeldari!!) had other ideas and injured a lineman on a blitz... but he was exposed... and a blitz straight out of their own Norse playbook saw a HE Blitzer injure the Yeti in turn 3/3. Justice! :) Clearly the rest of the game was a blur by that point as my note-taking skills decided to go AWOL. The game did finish 1-1 (1-5) though, and I was pretty pleased to get that against and coach with a mere 38 tournament titles to his name in 900+ NAF games!! I think a tie was fair given some of the dice on show. Unfortunately, my teams mates each lost to the Tyne boys, so a team 0/1/3 loss. Pipey went on to finish 31st out of 344 coaches, and his team 5th out of 86 teams. 

And on to lunch... yum! Sure, it was a choose-your-own packed lunch, but everything was good and there was plenty of choice!

We also had time to browse, with some brilliant printed teams by SJE Miniatures who provided prize support. Check them out here.

Match Two

vs Team: 'Squad Khorne' & Maverick's Pro-Elves

Well, after a round 1 team trouncing, Team Redshirts were on the table that was the furthest you could get from the 'winners' hall... so we were bound to get a bunch of noobs... Oh... this team has got Maverick and Landrover in it... um... oh dear...

Wave your hands in the air like you just don't care!

So, why's there only 3x guys on the Squad Khorne team? you may ask... Well, one very disappointed friend of theirs tested positive for Covid before the weekend, and I have to say, he should get a special medal, because he didn't selfishly come along and spread it around. Unfortunately his team mates took an automatic 2-0 loss every round... but they were still happy to be there with us on the bottom table!

Such a friendly chap and a very good-natured game!

Well... this match started off in the Pouring Rain, and Maverick had all the fans with him... but I did win the choice on kick off and decided to receive... hopefully that Armour 8+ would crumple... I got Cheering Fans and Iron Man was placed on my Block Catcher.

Let the elf-off begin

And this is where I was properly introduced to the new Sneaky Git rule. You can move after fouling, which is awesome. By turn 2/2 the proelves had fouled and injured an out-of-position lineman, but the High Elves rallied and we made our first completion / pass action... another minefield of new rules... and we scored in turn 5/4. 1-0 (0-0*) *only SPP injuries count at UKTC. 

I'm not quite sure how, but in turn 5/5 I left myself exposed to a crowd surf... fortunately just placed in the Reserves box... but having done the hard part, the pro-elves failed to pick up the ball. All ReRolls had been used by turn 6/5 as we simply couldn't pick up the ball either. However, the pro-elves made it count and promptly after killing the HE Thrower in turn 7/7 they ran in to score in turn 8/8. End of first half, 1-1 (0-1).

I can't say I was feeling too optimistic, as we began the second half, but the High Elves used kick to great effect and managed to put enough pressure on their opponents to grab the ball by turn 5/4. We managed to keep hold of it deep on the left flank and score late on for a 2-1 (1-1) win. Either of us could have won that game 2-1... it was just a matter of who failed hardest... and for now, this wasn't me. Little did I know what was to come! Overall, Team Redshirts completed a team 4-0 win over Squad Khorne... and this rocketed us up from table 161 to table 73... and into the (aptly named for Team Redshirts) Kirk Centre (see video below).

Match Three

vs Team: 'Shiretown Stuffers' & Whitey's Orcs

The Stuffers... and another photo with half my face in it :)

Get ready for a Shiretown Stuffing

I think I had a brain-fart. I've been so used to playing more bashy-style teams that when I pick up an agility team with good movement I need to pick KICK on kick-off and NOT Receive! Perhaps, in my mind, the only thing that occurred to me as I surveyed all that strength, block, guard (and, of course, a Sneaky Git Goblin) was that this might be my only chance to score early with minimum fuss and have the numbers to hold out for the rest of the turn. It didn't quite go according to plan.

"This is gonna hurt!"

In Perfect Weather, with the same number of fans, I secured the ball and launched up the left wing. By turn 3/2 I was 1-0 up with no casualties suffered. This was going ok so far...

After an Officious Ref, the Orcs secured the ball and after some reshuffling after a hastily constructed elven defence, the Orcs progressed inevitably towards my end zone. However, some heroic efforts meant that Whitey needed to make 2x Rushing (the action previously known as Go For It!) without any rerolls. Of course, the Orcs made it... and it was pretty much game over. It was 1-1 (0-2).

And then the cursed 'ones' appeared along with the other failures. Turn 4/4 saw my Blitzer roll consecutive ones and injure himself on a 2+ dodge. I already had 4 players off the pitch, mostly down to being fouled every turn which either stunned me, KO'd me (and didn't come back) or injured me... and this soon became 5 as the Troll stepped up and smeared a Lineelf into the grass. Turn 5/5 my Thrower failed a Rush and injured himself. 6 off. And any hope of stopping the green tide went with them. The match finished 1-2 (0-4). As a team, Howlinggriffon's Humans drew, but Mr_Frodo's Dwarves won. LastTimelord's Undead lost. So overall, a team (1/1/2) loss.

And with that sobering result, we limped off back to the hotel to get freshened up, ready for another nice meal out. This time I had booked a table at Fancy Hank's... My word, that spare rib Darren had... I'm sure it was from a Diplodocus!

Day Two - Match Four

vs Team: 'The GoBBlers' & Lord_Chelmsford's Orcs

Someone else took the photo... so I'm in it! :)

Yay... Orcs with a SneakyGit Goblin again...

On table 109, another game began in Perfect Weather, and for then second game in a row, we had equal fans. However, when I won the kick off roll, I chose to Kick this time!

"Tally Ho Chaps... we'll distract them and you go get the ball!"

I aimed the kick for the right side of the field after setting my linemen up on the left to try and create an imbalance in the orc positioning. This allowed my Catchers more freedom down the right. And it paid off too... Blitz! We managed to flood the back field, but the orcs still picked up the ball in their turn 1. We managed to sack the ball carrier and pick up the ball but at great expense... both rerolls were used.
Despite taking out the serious threat of the Sneaky Git goblin via a KO in turn 2/2 the orcs quickly retaliated by KOing my guard Blitzer injuring the block Catcher.

I'm fuzzy on the details as I can't make sense of my notes... I know frustration had set in as for a second game in a row, 1's seem to be haunting me... When asked later how it had gone I said that "I had more No1's than the Beatles"... I must have scored, but only after rolling double 1 on a gang foul on the Orc Thrower. I suspect then, the Orcs equalised by the end of the half.

I know the Orcs got Solid Defence for the second half, and by turn 3/3 the orcs got the ball. We did manage to sack the ball carrier, only for the ball to scatter and the orc thrower picked up on a 6. And the inevitable happened and the orcs won 1-2 (0-2). 

What did I learn? Kicking or Receiving, I couldn't stop Orcs. :(

Elsewhere, LastTimelord's Undead lost to Lizardmen, Mr_Frodo Dwarves drew against a Imperial Nobility side that seemed designed just to counter everything they had, and Howlinggriffon Human's lost to a Necromantic team. So overall, a team (0/1/3) loss.

And to lunch... we all love a flapjack! :)

Match Five

vs Team: 'Teuchters Anonymous' & Kasiraghi's Lizardmen

We had dropped to table 137-140 out of 172 and looked to be cemented in the Exhibition Centre, which actually was no bad thing. 

Thumbs up for a high scoring game

Kasi... Kasira.... Finlay won the kick off roll and I was kicking in Perfect Weather. This was going to be a different type of game than against the Orcs, but in order to get to the Skinks I still had a lot of Str4 to get through. Our cause was not helped when the Lizards got "High Kick" and strengthened bodies near the ball, but didn't catch it.

A lovely painted lizardman team looking to chew some elves...

Kasiraghi didn't have any skill rings so he made do with paper which was perfectly fine as long as we were careful. Nicely painted team too!

We were lucky though, as we managed to engineer crowd-surfing and injuring a Saurus in turn 2/2 which slowed the lizards advance a little and made them pause for thought. The ball was on the left wing, in the claws of a Skink... and they promptly set up a cage. I did manage to KO another Skink by turn 4/4 but I was already out of rerolls. Seriously, where do they go?!

I did get a shot at the ball carrier, with a 2 dice blitz in turn 5/5 but it resulted in a Skull/Pushback... no joy there. Having pushed the attack backwards, the lizards resorted to doing what they do best and stunty dodging through the defence, making 2x Rush (GFI) all without any rerolls and scored in turn 5/6. 0-1.

However, a perfect lightning counter attack saw me equalise in turn 7/7, 1-1 (0-1). The rest of the first half was uneventful.

When the High Elves received in the second half, we dragged it out for as long as we could, but the threat of high movement all over pitch, and a Krox that was very keen to blitz anything he could meant we scored in turn 4/3 to make it 2-1 (0-1). 

The Lizards weren't done yet, as more high speed dodging shenanigans by the skinks meant they were unstoppable. 2-2 (0-1). I had just two turns to try and make something happen.

We packed the right side of the field and got a couple of catchers into the Lizard's half, trying to mark as many of them as I could with available linemen... but not risking too much as rerolls were precious!
A couple of blocks didn't work out, but the elven Thrower had the ball... and then "You have 90 seconds left" was announced on the tannoy, and we went into speed mode. The thrower aimed for a catcher, marked by three lizards. The thrower took aim, and it was a perfect throw. The catcher needed to catch on a 5+, and his first attempt failed... but the second attempt didn't and he caught it. All he had to do now was make two dodges... 4+ and a 2+ ... and he made it... scoring just before the round ended. The match finished 3-2 (0-1). 

After the results had been submitted, Teuchters Anonymous collectively wondered if there had been a chance to interfere with the pass... To be honest I couldn't say, but I do know with the High Elf Thrower's skills it would have taken consecutive 6's to make it... still, it could have been possible if there was someone in the grid to interfere. I'm not sure what should happen in that situation. Was it Kasiraghi's responsibility to point out he needed to make an interference roll? (assuming there was one to make). Either way, Kasiraghi seemed resigned to accept what occurred... and it didn't make a difference to the team result...

Elsewhere, Howlinggriffon won 3-0 vs some Skaven, Mr_Frodo earned another draw against yet another Imperial Nobility side, and LastTimelord won in a Undead-off. So overall, a team (3/1/0) win.

Match Six

vs Team: 'DBL Moderate Effort ' & Raughri's High Elves

Raughri getting his metal on...

We had risen back up to tables 105-108. It was a same race clash - High Elf vs High Elf. And I have to say, this was the most fun game of the lot... and there had been some really friendly games prior to this too! It was the last game of the weekend and I think we were all just trying to get the most enjoyment out of it before the long journey home.

"You guys look familiar!"

I lost the kick off roll, and kicked in Perfect Weather. Rory started things off by knocking out a lineelf. We got a couple of bites of the cherry in terms of getting a hit on their ball carrier. My turn 1/1 saw a dodge and 1 dice blitz, skull, reroll skull. Not great. Turn 3/3 saw a both down result on the ball carrier too... and by turn 4/4 I had collected the loose ball. However, neither of us had any rerolls left, so it was in Nuffles hands. Rory countered and the ball was bouncing around for the next couple of turns. Unfortunately, a double skulls Blitzer block left Rory with a walk in score and the half ended 0-1 (0-0).
The second half didn't begin much better as I double skulled the opening hit, rerolled and injured a lineelf. 

We moved on up the pitch and I had a decision to make. Equalise early and go for the win or go for the draw. I had no rerolls and Rory had 3x Rerolls unused and players in Reserve. In the end I stalled out for a 1-1 (2-0) win covering as many avenues as possible to make it extremely difficult for Rory to get to my ball carrier. I just had to hope my colleagues faired better.

It was an eventful match with much drama, and frankly it was good to properly laugh at the dice than sink lower in the chair in despair. 

Elsewhere, LastTimelord lost out to Lizardmen, and Howlinggriffon drew with some Undead, so it was all on Mr_Frodo... but he also finished with a draw, so sadly, another team loss 0/3/1.

Results

As a team we finished a lowly 66th out of 86, but we really did have a good weekend. Individually we were spread across the table of 344 coaches, with Mr_Frodo best placed on 99th on a 2/3/1, me 168th on 2/2/2, Howlinggriffon 204th on 2/2/2 and LastTimelord 287th on 2/0/4.

My NAF Coach Rating went up by just over 4 points, so that was nice... mainly due to drawing with Pipey.

Congratulations to team UKBBL A for an overall win!

Other winners were:

Best Painted Team Winner: Jackal (Necromantic) – DBL Moderate Effort

Most Casualties: Varagh (30) – Retromonguer 3

Most Touchdowns: Lemmiwinks (18) – Foxy and the Hounds

Other Results

Sadly, I didn't feel to good on Tuesday, so I tested three times as I was deeply suspicious of the symptoms...

...and by Wednesday afternoon I had a positive Covid test, and it seems I am by no means the only one. I know my skipper has been getting in touch with the teams we played. Hopefully everyone, like me, will test before going to any event and stay home if positive. I think I'll be wearing a mask for the NAF Championships and any other tournament. A necessary evil. I really would like to avoid feeling as rubbish as I have this week.

What did I learn?

Well, I have to say, in terms of the 2020 rules, being able to use multiple rerolls in a move is a great benefit. Obviously you can't reroll the same dice more than once, but I had an example where I rolled a 1 on a dodge, rerolled, and 1'd the pick up and rerolled... and that allowed me to score. And I've read JoeManji's thoughts elsewhere about how this affects one-turner scores. Also see Twelfman's blog - I used his 'Anything But a One' dice... Put it this way... it started well... I even told Alex I had used the dice. I probably came across as too much of a fan boy! :) 

My experience facing the two Orc teams that Sneaky Git combined with Guard is very strong and allows teams without lots of Mighty Blow or Claw to put a player at least face down every turn following a good block or blitz. 

Other than that, no one used the 'step over' agility roll. It is very situational, but I can see that being useful against Dwarven teams that like to seal up channels.

I don't like the new passing and interference rules. When you see a whole pages dedicated in the rulebook you know it's already too complicated... I liked a few things, like reducing the impact of a Blitz! by being 3 + D3 players able to move. That was a good idea. And the kick off table in general seemed better, although getting used to D3 or D6 or random or whatever... lots of checking tables and re-reading words... doesn't make for quick game play, but I suppose understanding will come with time. Certainly, getting to grips with the new rules in general will take time and experience just like anything, and for me it's trying to unlearn everything and treat it as something different. 

I took HE's because I felt they had more staying power than the Skaven I took to Beast from the Beast, but they certainly lack any physical threat. Sure, I can dodge lineelfs away on a 2+ whereas Linerats tend to trip over and die... and HE Catchers having 1 more strength and 1 less movement than Gutter Runners is more than a fair trade off. The only thing they have is their elfy speed/agility and when the other team secures the ball and starts whittling your team away, you are in for a tough time. Still, it was nice to get them out the box one more time. I don't think I'll be taking them to the NAF Championships, or the London GT (if I can secure a ticket!).

And finally...

Thanks to my team mates first and foremost for a really enjoyable and relaxed weekend which more than made up for the 1's and skulls. Thank you to all my opponents and their teams. And it was really nice to catch up with some familiar faces and see some new ones too. Well done to all the winners, and a big thank you to the organisers for a superb event. We look forward to the next one which I'm sure will be even better!