Pitch Invasion! June '22 & Halflings & Deeproot

Preamble

Just catching up with tournament blogging. This one was held in High Wycombe at Tabletop Republic in June 2022. Just this post, then I've got one for August, and then I'm up to date! 😊

Tournament rules

For those interested in more details, a TFF rules post can be found here. This was a one-dayer with a 1.15 million budget, and only 1x Star allowed for Stunty teams. You could have either 8x Primary skills OR 5 Primary Skills and 2x Secondary skills.

Roster

By April I had painted up a Halfling team that I have received from Willy Miniatures ages ago, and were rescued from the cupboard of shame... and by June I had painted up Pedro Ramos's stand-in for Deeproot... so it seemed like a good opportunity to chalk the Flings off the list of "races still to coach". (Let's ignore my modelling balls-up on Deeproot and move swiftly on...)

It was a fairly standard Halfling roster. 2x Block Treemen, a Master Chef, 2x Surefeet Catchers (yellow bases), 2x Hopeful's with Diving Tackle, and one with Sneaky Git.

Game One vs Gr4nol4's Slann

Even before I faced Ricardo and his bunch of crazy frogs I already knew that Slann were my bogey team. I've faced them in other tournaments and online and no matter what I do, they just seem to get the better of me. However, in this match, it's fair to say, I was going to be even more up against it with Halflings.

Ricardo won the coin flip in Perfect Weather and decided to kick to me. My Masterchef grabbed 3... yes THREE rerolls from the frogs... but Ricardo already had 5x! And to make matters worse I don't think he used one for the entire first half!! The game began fairly tamely after Brilliant Coaching on kick off. We'd secured the ball (well, I say "secure"...) and tried to form up to defend against the hopping onslaught that was coming my way. However, by turn 2/2 a leaping frog sacked my carrier, but I picked it back up in turn 3/2 only to be sacked again in turn 3/3. I managed to blitz the ball carrier in turn 4/3 and the ball was spilt again, but it was pointless as the Ag4 catchers simply hopped away with it again.

Clearly this upset the Flings as a Treeman injured a Guard Slann, Deeproot injured a linefrog and we fouled the Tackle Slann off the pitch... 3 injuries in one turn! However, we couldn't stop the Catchers and the Slann were winning 0-1 (4-3) at half time.

The second half began with 11 Halflings vs 8 Frogs, but a Time Out reduced our turns by one. The Chef stole 2x rerolls (leaving 3 for the Slann) but the Slann simply rinsed and repeated and were 0-2 (4-3 cas) by turn 2/3.

We managed to get a consolation, but scoring in turn 7/7 was too late, so we took out some hurt on the frogs (again too late) and the game finished 1-2 (6-3 cas). Little was I to know that I would be facing this team again in August!!... (match report to follow!).

Game Two vs Aaramus's Humans

I think I won the coin flip and received after the Master Chef stole 2x rerolls, and the humans having more fans.

The humans began with their Mighty Blow Blitzer injuring a Fling in turn 2/2 and they put up a strong defence, so I felt I was was forced to TTM and managed to pull it off in turn 4/3, 1-0 (1-1 cas)... (no idea what human I hurt!).

Turn 4/4 began and the weather changed to Very Sunny, affecting passing. However the humans stuck to their running game and despite a strong resistance, managed to equalise at the end of the half. 1-1 (1-1 cas).

The second half began with Cheering Fans with Bad Habits being rolled, (I think this was Bone Head on a human... but no notes!) and the humans receiving. Turn 2/2 saw my Treeman avenge the dead halfling and injured the Mighty Blow Human Blitzer. Aaramus used his Apothecary which failed to change the result!

Unfortunately, Deeproot failed a blitz rush (GFI) in turn 3/3 leaving the human ball carrier to score in turn 4/5 - 1-2 (3-1 cas). However, another TTM in turn 5/5 saw the Halflings equalise for 2-2 (3-1) but a Solid Defence for the Humans stopped me pushing for a winner, and the game ended a draw.

Game Three vs Howlinggriffon's Old World Alliance

The unwritten rule is that if you go to a tournament you will always end up playing against your mate who you've played plenty of times before... and this was the case again here!

The game began with an Officious Ref (leaving one of my players prone and stunned), the Chef stole 2x rerolls (leaving Darren 1x). 

I received, but turn 1/0 didn't go very well as one of the Trees Rooted (after snaking the reroll) and the pick up attempt was a 1 too! I was clearly under pressure early doors as by turn 3/2 my ball carrier failed a dodge and spilt the ball. The OWA picked up, but by turn 5/4 I managed to engineer a blitz on the ball carrier - it worked, the ball bounced around and an awaiting Human Thrower caught it. Darren took steps to defend the ball better and scored in turn 8/8 - 0-1 (0-2).

The second half began with the Chef stealing one measly reroll. Clearly excitement occurred, as my erratic handwriting records the OWA treeman knocking over Deeproot and the OWA Sneaky Git Halfling showing up mine by fouling him to splinters. Game over really.

We did injure a Guard Dwarf Blitzer, but it wasn't a fair exchange! By turn 6/7 Darren wrapped up proceedings with a second score and the game fizzled out to a 0-2 (1-4 cas) defeat.

Game Four vs Tropicalremixed's Nurgle

The other "Tabletop Republic Tom", aka Tropicalremix was trying to get Most Casualties and set about the game with that in mind. 

The Chef stole 1x reroll, the Nurgle kick went off the pitch and Quick Snap allowed me to move 5x free players.

There clearly wasn't much to report as my notes simply said by turn 4/3 0-0 (2-0 cas) with the Flings managing to hurt some smelly Nurgle. By turn 5/5 the Nurgle blitzed their way to their first casualty, but I scored in turn 6/5, and the half ended at 1-0 (2-1 cas).

The Chef stole 2x rerolls in the second half, and after alot of Halfling pressure we managed to pick up a spilt ball in the Nurgle endzone, scoring in turn 5/5 - 2-0 (2-3 cas). This clearly angered Papa Nurgle as they made 3 more casualties by the end of the game where I managed to score a third. The day ended with a 3-0 win (3-6 cas) and a vaguely respectable first endeavours for my Halflings.

Results

Well done again to Tom for a well organised tournament, but special congratulations to Daniel Larkin's first tournament victory! Well deserved!! I think we gave Tom some abuse for the space-saving sized trophies! 😜

Winner! Dankin

Results - 14th out of 22... it's a start.