CollegeBowl & Orcs

Collegebowl

I may be getting on a bit, but a 3-game 1-day tournament was very appealing. Packing four games into one day can really give you a headache and you can be dragged down by slow players into talks of chess clocks and such, and there's never a good break to chat and calm down after a tense game.

Collegebowl seemed different. It was the organiser's first tournament. The quietly spoken Arnaud ensured the venue was spaced out nicely on perfectly comfortable chairs with lots of room on tables for all our Blood Bowl paraphernalia. He also had a range of awards and prizes to hand out too, which was really nice to see.

The venue was on the Netherhall School site, and it seemed like a performing arts recording studio, complete with balcony. There wasn't too much on site, with loos a short walk away and a Tesco Express just down the road, so the essentials were there! The good thing was it was right near the car park (free) and it wasn't cold inside (unlike outside which was bitterly cold!).

Here's a quick 180 of the venue:

Rules & Roster

There were the typical rules applied, ie 1,150,000 GC to spend on 11 players before stars, with tiers for stronger to weaker races... but in addition, we could 'study' one of the 8 books from the Cambridge colleges to further enhance the roster. As I was taking Orcs (with no Star again!) I decided to study the Book of sturdiness, which gave my Troll Tackle, Thick Skull, Arm Bar. Should I come across any stunty or elf teams this might be useful to put against a mob of them.

I decided to stick with Orcs for the time being and took 4x Big Uns, 4x Blitzer (1x with Tackle/MB), a Thrower, a Troll and 2x LineOrcs and a Sneaky Git Goblin... and 3x ReRolls. Although there weren't a huge number of coaches, there was a good variation in races... hopefully I'll be able to share a table of this later.

Game One vs Headlesscoach with Undead

Headlesscoach

I've faced Garth before (i'll have to look up where!). As I had brought along my Undead pitch, I had effectively given his Undead the Home advantage 😆. I didn't mind too much - it's a lovely pitch and quite clear (compared to some) and the deathly effects were nice.

First of two matches vs Undead - I shouldn't have given them home pitch advantage! :)

We rolled for Fans and I had more, and we had Perfect Weather (same in all the games actually, so I can stop repeating this!), and I won the Kick Off roll and decided to receive...

We set up and on Kick Off there was a Blitz! Damn. A Blodger Ghoul moved round and into position on the Left Hand Side (LHS) of the LoS, and of course on turn 0/0 he caught the ball.

Turn 1/0 I did a couple of blocks on the LoS and moved players around to block off the left wing, and in turn 1/1 Garth moved the ball back into the centre behind the LoS. However, some major luck came my way as I KO'd a Mummy AND a Wight (making it 11 vs 9 already!). This meant that Garth was already on the back foot, and despite switching sides and trying his luck down the right wing we blocked that off as well... but he was able to play "keep ball". We tried to press the issue, fouling a Ghoul off the pitch too in turn 5/4. Unfortunately for me, we just couldn't get close enough to the MA7 Ghoul and the half ended 0-0.

The Knock Out rolls were vital, as both the Mummy and Wight stayed Knocked Out, but the Ghoul returned.

The second half began and by turn 1/1 I used 2x Rerolls in one turn with 2x Both Down result for my Big Un and a similar block result on a Ghoul with Block. No turn over, just frustrating. However, Garth pushed his players down the left wing and was a little over ambitious, as I managed to counter, free up some players and ended crowd surfing the ball carrier in turn 3/3, with the ball landing in amongst a mob of players from both teams. By turn 4/4 I managed to clear tackle zones on the ball and after making 2x KOs (11 vs 8 now) my Goblin ran in and picked up. This was short lived as the Goblin was sacked in turn 5/5 and the ball in possession of that cursed blodging Ghoul again. 

I had forced the ball carrier back in the centre in the middle of the Undead half... and rolled a 3 dice block... 3 pushes... Gah!... last reroll used... 2 skulls and a push... It was agony. However the Ghoul was surrounded and the dodges finally failed him (the Ghouls and others had successfully dodged away from my Tackle Blitzer and Tackle/Arm Bar Troll all game up to this point!). Fortunately for me, I picked up the ball with a Blitzer (with no reroll for comfort) and scored after delaying, with the game ending 1-0 (1-0) (a regenerated Zombie).

Game Two vs Greenskinphil with Snotlings

Greenskinphil

I'd played Chris's team mate on the last match of Double Standards last month, and Chris was quick to thank me again for getting that much to conclusion, which was nice. He had brought Snotlings this time around, and I had much respect for him because he coached them awesomely. 

Agh! Ripper & Sorehead prepare to play

We rolled dice and and I had less fans, and I won the Kick Off roll, and decided to receive again... although this was a really tough one to decide on... But Chris had not one Star, but two! Ripper the Star Troll and Scrappa Sorehead, the awesome pogoing Goblin. But there were not only stars to deal with but also bombadiers too - sure they are 5+ passers, but even a non-accurate throw in the direction of a cage causes big issues. It was going to be a tough game... 2x Snotlings came on for Swarming.

Turn 1/0 - After a touchback (to a Blitzer) I blitzed and hurt a Snotling with my Tackle/MB Blitzer who came alive this game. Turn 1/1 a bomb was thrown (6!) and the ball was spilt, but I had players around to support. My Thrower recovered the ball. 2/2 the bombadier threw an inaccurate bomb which was interfered with and ended up being caught - but blew up in his face! Turn 5/4 I hurt his Sneaky Git Goblin but those 2+ dodging Snotlings combined with support from the two Trolls and Stars sacked the Thrower and Scrappa Sorehead moved in for the ball, picked it up and bounded away. There was nothing I could do to stop a turn 8/8 score 0-1 (3-1).. and Bribes were used.

The second half saw the Snotlings receiving, and Turn 0/1 bomb (5 - accurate) saw a Lineorc KO'd and my Thrower hurt! 1/1 - managed to hurt a Snotling (4-2) , but Scrappa picked up the ball in turn 1/2 and things were looking iffy. However, Chris pressed for a second touch down and I managed to take down Scrappa (but didn't beat armour with Mighty Blow) and the ball dropped in front of Ripper. I needed to get some chain pushes in to free up the ball (which is difficult when players have Sidestep!!).

Turn 4/4 saw me finally get the bomber off the pitch and KO another Snotling (5-2). Numbers were thinning on the Snotling side as I KO'd another in turn 5/5 leaving 8 vs 8 players on the pitch, and turn 6/6 saw more players hurt (6-3)... but we managed to get the ball free and in the last turn managed a completion to see my run down the wing for a last turn score. To my relief and general good humour between us both the game finished 1-1 (6-3).

Game 3 vs Recalculate's Undead

Ouch. After a redraw due to a slight admin error, I was facing Undead again.

Recalculate

I had less fans this match and completed a hattrick of winning all 3 kick off rolls and decided to receive again. And the Undead were on their Home pitch again... I should rethink my choice of pitches! 😁

3rd Edition miniatures (mostly) prepare to beat heads

Turn 1/0 saw me fail the pick up with my Sure Hands Thrower, but managed to start up the right wing by turn 2/1... which also saw me burn a reroll on double skulls. Turn 3/2 saw me use both my remaining rerolls on two more sets of double skulls... the signs weren't good!

Turn 4/3 knock out my second mummy of the day, but retribution was extracted as an Orc Blitzer got KO'd in turn 4/4.

The game felt close all the way through and we continued to probe away at the defence but just couldn't get through. Turn 8/7 saw us Knock Out a Wight and Ghoul, but the half ended 0-0 (1-0).

Before the second half began, the Mummy and Wight stayed KO'd, with the Ghoul coming back on. My Blitzer stayed KO'd. 

The first couple of turns were quite tame with the Undead receiving and collecting the ball. I burned 2 Rerolls in turn 2/2 on double skulls. Not good. By turn 3/3 I had to use the final reroll on a double both down, and I was unable to stop the Undead push on the left hand wing. This led to the Undead scoring in turn 4/5 0-1 (2-0)... and my Blitzer remained KO still, and in contrast the Undead defence got back to normal strength with the Mummy, Wight and Ghoul all recovering.

We pushed and tried to break down the defence, but the dice just weren't happening. I did get a pass off to the Goblin but I couldn't give him enough protection in the midfield of the Undead half and the quick Ghouls and dodging Wights flattened the poor dude. The Undead defence remained strong and the game ended 0-1 (3-0)

Results

So overall I finished with a win tally of 1/1/1. That was 2-2 on TD's and (10-3) on casualties. I didn't think it was too bad seeing as the Undead roster was quite strong, and I had managed to pull off a draw against that Star laden Snotling team.

The presentation ceremony saw Onyersix win with Ogres and Griff. I have this Final Standings table supplied by MonkeyRage (thanks!). Once I have confirmation of the other trophy winners I'll update here.

Thanks to all my opponents, familiar faces, trophy and prize winners and well done to Arnaud on hosting and managing the event.