UKTC 2023 - Auld Alliance prevails - 11th with Orcs!
.jpg "UKTC2023 Trophies") |
| UKTC2023 - Trophies |
Tournament Preamble
Team Redshirts were on a four-man away team for this one... The United Kingdom Team Challenge (from here on referred to as: UKTC) 2023. My first UKTC had been in 2020 where 272 coaches had attended... and it's clearly growing in popularity because this year saw 344 coaches attend! (Yes, that's 86 teams, for those Rachel Rileys amongst you). The tournament has quite rightly grown in popularity under the stewardship of Pipey and the team.
This year, like 2022, was split over two rooms, with the upper tier of the teams table playing in the Kirk centre and the lower tier playing in the Exhibition Centre (which was more airy, bright and pleasant to play in, with a nice view of the Campus Lake).
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| Pic source: https://yorkconferences.com/venues/roger-kirk-centre/ |
I had brought my family with me to York this time. Using a Travelodge at Monks Cross as basecamp, they spent the weekend visiting the City while I moved fantasy football players on a pitch. This worked out nicely, as we decided to use York as a staging post to invade Edinburgh the week after, which was somewhere we hadn't been, and I can heartily recommend to anyone looking to make a holiday of the week. The UKTC2024 will be held in August, so an Easter getaway won't be on the cards next time around and I may not be able to commit as it's a limited window for family summer holidays. Anyway, back to the Blood Bowl tournament...
A quick panoramic view of the Exhibition Centre shows that Charlie Victor was in attendance, selling his variety of Blood Bowl goods, including his excellent cases and skill bands.
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| CV stand and Exhibition Centre (Room 2) - Panoramic photo |
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| Exhibition Centre (Room 2) - Where the action began |
There was also another retailer too and I picked up a Werewolf star player... just because it was a cool model and a ball token:
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I was joined by the full compliment of Team Redshirts friends, Mr_Frodo, LastTimelord and Howlinggriffon:
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| Team Redshirts: Mr_Frodo, (Wotfudboy - me), LastTimelord & Howlinggriffon |
Race & Roster
For those of you that follow this blog, I had been trying out Orcs during 2023, or at least, not dance around between races and styles too much. 2023 feels like more of a year of 'the bash'. I particularly enjoy the UKTC rules set as there aren't Star Players everywhere you look, with them being limited to pure Stunty Teams only.
I went with:
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| Orc Roster - (ignore the Dedicated Fan) - created using: https://bbtc.pl/ |
Howlinggriffon - High Elf (188th)LastTimeLord - Undead (306th)Mr_Frodo - Chaos Renegades (140th)
Race Breakdown (from Pipey)
Day One
Round One vs All The Presidents Men (Finished 10th/86)
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| All The Presidents Men - Purplegoo (sorry Phil!), Lycos, King_Ghidra & Geggster |
Our first round draw was against 'All The Presidents Men'... and anyone who's anyone in Blood Bowl knows these guys from Team England fame and also an online Blood Bowl content creator. This was about as tough as a round one draw gets. Mr_Frodo's Chaos Renegades were up against Purplegoo's Skaven, LastTimelord's Undead had the challenge of Lyco's Underworld and Howlinggriffon was going to have to out-dodge Geggster's Amazons.
Game One (Table 123) vs King_Ghidra's Orcs (338th/344)
This was an Orc-off... Phil had gone with a different roster, still with a Block Troll and a Goblin, but with a Thrower and a variation on skills to me.
.jpg "King_Ghidra's Roster") |
| The alternative Orc roster |
After saying hi to our opponents and getting comfy in the Exhibition Centre, it was time to roll some dice. Fans was 6 vs 4, Weather was Perfect Blood Bowl Weather (and it's the last time I will mention it as it was the same throughout the weekend). I won the kick off and decided to receive. The kick off result was Cheering Fans, which I lost 1-6. Phillip rolled on the Prayers to Nuffle table and got Pro on his Mighty Blow Blitzer for the entire game.
Turn 1/0 - After a few positioning moves and a couple of blocks, we went to pick up the ball and immediately had to use a reroll, which was successful. I then moved in for a foul after setting up 4x assists, and of course rolled 11... (typical!)... and Phillip used his Apothecary on his KO'd Blitzer. Not much happened in response. Turn 2/1 saw us foul and stun another Blitzer, and 3/2 saw us KO a Big Un. Our attack started to fall apart though as my Troll stood still Really Stupid and a blitz on Phillip's Goblin with my Tackle Blitzer resulted in a Push & Skull. We carried on with fouling and stunning a Blitzer again, then managed to KO'd another Big Un (with Block) as we took our attack to the right wing. The KO train carried on as my Troll got in on the act, KOing a Blitzer.
Phillip was having a hard time resisting the attack, and his dice weren't helping. One of his skill-less Big Uns blocked my Tackle Blitzer which resulted in Both Down / Skull... rerolled... Double Skulls... and a Turnover. This really opened the door wide for a turn 7/6 score which we did after blitzing a Goblin out of the way and rushing for the Touch Down, 1-0 (0-0).
Turn 8/8 saw Phillip try a TTM (Throw Team Mate). After making the pick up and hand off to the Goblin, and passing the Really Stupid and Always Hungry the throw ended up being Wildly Inaccurate and the Goblin failed to land... and hurt himself.
The second half began with Cheering Fans again, but this time Greasy Cleats (-ma) was put on one of my Block Big Uns. Things weren't improving for Phillip as his Thrower Snaked his pick up in turn 0/1. After some posturing from both sides, my Blitzer hurt his opposite number (0-1) in turn 3/4 and we managed to sack the Thrower in turn 5/5. Phillip got revenge and hurt one of my Blitzers (1-1) but the game fizzled out from there, and ended 1-0 (1-1).
However, the other members of Team Redshirts weren't so lucky... with Geggster pitch clearing the High Elves and Purplegoo running riot on Touch Downs as the Big Guys stood around dumbly watching. Safe to say, a team loss.
Round Two vs The Holy Order (Finished 60th)
Game Two (Table 145) vs Ozzymfb's Dwarves (284th)
Dwarves this time. Fans was 5 vs 6, and we won the Kick Off and again decided to receive. The kick off result was a Quick Snap!, so we moved 4x players before the ball landed and we managed to catch the ball!
Things began very slowly (as you'd expect from this clash of old enemies)... and nothing really happened apart from players knocking each other and getting back up again... but then we managed to get a bunch of fails in one turn (3/2) when my Troll rolled Really Stupid, I used a RR on a double skulls block and then had my Sneaky Git Goblin sent off (after rolling 1 on the Argue the Call and the coach was sent to the stands). Not a good turn.
By turn 5/4 we started to turn things around by hurting a Linedwarf (1-0). My ball carrying Blitzer made a break for the end zone in turn 6/5, heading for the left hand corner. A double one on a GFI saw a Dwarf hit the floor and enabled us to stall a bit, getting in another injury on a Troll Slayer this time (2-0)... and we scored turn 8/7.
Turn 8/8 saw a frustrated Dwarf play as they took down the Troll on the LoS and then a Runner (with Kick) fouled him. The Runner was sent off, but more importantly the Troll was Hurt and failed to Regenerate! and the half ended 1-0 (2-0).
The second half began with Brilliant Coaching - but we both rolled the same dice, so no additional rerolls for either of us. Turn 0/1 saw the ball kicked deep centre, which the Dwarves promptly collected and attacked up the left hand side. However, the attack was short lived and the ball ended up in the crowd after a succession of blocks... and was promptly thrown back into the Dwarf half.
From here the Orcs pressed their counter attack, collected the ball and defended the ball to score late in the 2nd half. The game finished 2-0 (2-0).
Sadly, my sense of joy at winning was not shared by my team mates as they had a second round of misery.
Round Three vs Team Reds Sheffield Stinkweasels (83rd)
Game Three (Table 161) vs NodgeFodgekins's Khemri (267th)
6 vs 3 on the fans roll, and I won the Kick Off for the third time in a row, and again opted to receive. With a High Kick result we got nearer to the ball, but failed to catch it.
Turn 1/0 saw the Orcs knock out a Lineman AND a Tomb Guardian (from a foul). We had a few turns of weak blocking, but in turn 4/4 my Sneaky Git Goblin was targeted and hurt (0-1). Unfortunately for Ed, his luck ended there as a the foul on my prone Troll resulted in a double 2 on the armour roll... and the lineman was sent off. He did make up for it in turn 5/5 as a Tomb Guardian hurt a Big Un.(0-2). This was really a frustrated punch as the Orcs scored next turn 1-0 (0-2) in turn 6/5. It was 10 vs 11, although a Tomb Guardian failed to return from his Knock Out, but the Khemri could do little more in the remaining turns of the half.
The 4th Tomb Guardian stayed KO. The second half began with a Quick Snap! for the Khemri (sorry, Tomb Kings). The dusty bones rattled up the right hand side, but we then had 8 turns of stout defence, and not much else... and the game finished 1-0 (0-2). Sorry, a short match report!
Fortunately my Team had something positive to round off the day with, being undefeated and a team win!
End of Day One
Everyone packed up after a brain-aching day one and started to make their way out of the campus and on to their respective evening's entertainments. There was a UKTC gathering, but our stomachs opted for a curry at the Bengal Brasserie... highly recommended!
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| Trust me - The test of a good curry house is their Lamb Biryani and Vegetable Curry - it was spot on! |
Talk quickly shifted away from Blood Bowl and on to (frankly any) other matters... and we were delighted to have Phil (aka Darkstar) join us as his team had headed to their local homes for the night.
Day Two
Round Four vs Murder Jacks (Finished 84th)
Game Four (Table 133) vs Braggy's Skaven (263rd)
A new day, new luck? We'll see. I was expecting things to take a turn for the worse, as finishing day one on 3/0/0 was going to be impossible to beat.
Warning, this is going to be a long match report as LOADS happened.
It was 4 vs 5 on the fan roll, and I lost the kick off roll... but the Skaven asked me to receive anyway. The furry boot of a ratman kicked the ball and Nuffle decided it was a Blitz! - Damn it!! A perfect beginning for a Skaven team that choses to kick!
The rats as expected swarmed forward... and put pressure on my Blitzers following the kick on the centre-right of my half. With attack quickly turning into a desperate defence, my Troll started by KOing a linerat. We managed a second rat KO all in the 1st turn and had to blitz away the Skaven Blitzer from the ball on the floor. However, the defence came undone as we failed the pick up even with a reroll... Oh dear. Turn 1/1 saw the Rat Ogre punch and Orc on to the ball which scattered kindly into the awaiting paws of a Gutter Runner.
Turn 2/1 saw me double skull my first block, so yet another reroll used up, but despite blocking a Gutter Runner and fouling the Rat Ogre (after flooring it), both players stayed on the pitch. It was looking ominous. However, Nuffle wasn't done as turn 2/2 saw the Gutter Runner dodge within my Tackle Blitzer's tackle zone, fail, use a reroll, succeed, and then attempt a 2+ dodge, and snaked them!
We had a chance to recover... starting a Big Un hurting a linerat (1-0)... but in order to get into a defensible position and get tackle zones on the ball I needed to rush a Guard Big Un in... who of course snaked his GFI. The rats recovered the ball with ease this time and moved to the left hand corner. We hurt another linerat (2-0), but a desperate blitz in turn 4/3 saw my Blitzer fall over when he failed his rush. Turn 4/4 saw the Rat Ogre attempt a block (with his team hiding the ball out of reach, but double skulled... RR used on loner 4+ ... passed! The Gutter Runner then scored, 0-1 (2-0), and a linerat recovered from his KO.
A Quick Snap saw 4 of the Orcs move around a square, and we started turn 5/4 by KOing another linerat and picking up the ball (I knew they could do it!), but turn 5/4 ended as a Big Un double skulled a block... with no rerolls left it was a turnover.
The Skaven defence continued, but the Orc advance was gaining momentum, with turn 6/5 hurting another linerat (3-0) and the ball on the right wing. We had to push, and managed to cover off enough defenders and protect the ball, equalising in turn 8/7. A Pitch Invasion prevented any Skaven shenanigans and the second half began.
With a Quick Snap!, 5x rats moved around a bit. Turn 0/1 saw the Rat Ogre roll Both Downs on a block, which Ivan successfully used another reroll and passed the 4+ loner. The Orcs were pleased to KO the Skaven Blitzer with Mighty Blow and prone the Rat Ogre... and moved in for a foul, but just Stunned him. The Skaven sought revenge and hurt an Orc Blitzer (2-1).
Turn 2/2 saw the Orcs managed to sack the Gutter Runner ball carrier, but only stunned him. The ball dropped into the crowd who promptly threw it back into the centre of the field.
Time was pressing on in real life as the UKTC clock ticked on, and notes thinned down a bit here... but suffice to say there was a lot of bad and good dice rolled, and the Orcs capitalised on some Gutter Runner failures, made one more injury and scored... and defended well, to end the game 2-1 (3-1).
As for Team Red Shirts, it was a clean sweep, and everyone was delighted to have a win under their belts.
When we got there, it looked like this:
Round Five vs Great Orme Goats (Finished 66th)
Game Five (Table 69) vs LORD BONAN's Goblins (45th)
I took a photo of the Goblin roster... it was small in real life, so the picture won't be much better, but you get the idea!
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| Goblin roster |
It was a 3 vs 4 fans roll, and we won the kick off roll and opted to receive. I can't recall what the kick off result was... (sorry!).
Turn 1/0 saw me double one a gfi as I tried to get a Guard Big Un into the TZ of the ball and chain who was on the LoS for a 2 dice block with the Troll (reroll wasted), and the Goblins capitalised by KOing a Big Un AND a Lineorc via the rampant Ball & Chain. And then the Troll was knocked over, fouled and stunned... and that was all in turn 1/1.
Nothing much occurred until turn 3/3 when the Goblin Chainsaw had a kickback and hurt himself. One of the Goblin Trolls KO'd a Big Un and a foul KO'd a Blitzer... I was losing orcs fast with 4x orcs KO'd.
However, we made a good drive and scored in turn 5/4 - 1-0 (0-0). We both had 3x players KO'd still. The Goblins failed miserably with their Secret Weapons as Tony rolled 3 consecutive ones on Argue the Call, a Bribing special rule (can't remember the name!) and a Bribe.
By turn 5/5 the Goblins had no rerolls, and the drive started with a Pitch Invasion. Fortunately we managed to defend out the drive and finish 1-0 (0-0)... but despite the lack of SPP casualties, the Goblins were inflicting damage, and the 2nd half began with 8 vs 9 players.
My Tackle Orc Blitzer received Knuckledusters from Cheering Fans - Prayers to Nuffle.
Again, this is where the notes disappeared as we were running behind the clock and we thought a chess clock might be needed, with lots of Stunty rolls and thinking having got us behind. However, with few players on the pitch the game sped up.
I don't remember too much of the second half other than by the last couple of turns I had about 3 players on the pitch and it needed a Really Stupid Goblin Troll roll opened up an opportunity for a one dice blitz on the ball carrier. We rolled the dice, Stumble... No!!!.... Reroll... Splat! Wooohoo!
The ball then bounced out and the crowd threw the ball back in, past the centre, just into the Goblin half. No joy for the Goblins from there, and the game finished 1-0 (1-0). That was a lucky result!
Team Redshirts racked up another team win too! And that meant we would be staying in Room One... which was an achievement in itself given our day one results. We were all pleased with that.
What was shocking to me (and most that know me) is that I was on 5 wins out of 5 at this point, and 2nd out of 344 in the individual standings! Sadly, the day couldn't finish there...
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| Round 5 - Individual Standings |
Round Six vs Twitch Stream Dream Team (Finished 18th)
Game Six (Table 45) vs Necrognome's Lizardmen (18th)
Pleasantries done, Sam and I rolled some dice. Firstly, it was 1 vs 4 fans. I won the kick off roll and opted to receive. Again, I seemed to have left off the kick off table result (sorry!).
I simply remember the first half summarised as follows: "Couldn't break them down, tried switching sides, still blocked off... and in the end was forced into a TTM, which worked!... and then the Skinks equalised in two turns!".
Yup, that was basically it. We knocked over some Saurus, but they just got back up again, and they did the same to my Orcs. The Kroxigor remained annoyingly intelligent throughout. And the half ended 1-1 (0-0).
After winning the Cheering Fans roll and getting Knuckledusters on a Saurus, the second half was frankly decided in the Lizards first turn as they KO'd a Big Un and a Lineorc. I did witness a Skink dodge and die in turn 1/2, but that was the end of my "luck" as my Goblin was beaten to death in turn 2/3.
Turn 3/3 saw a desperate 4+ Blitzer dodge fail with a reroll wasted... and then 5/5 saw my Blitzer double skull (with no more rerolls available) against a Skink, and stunned himself. The Lizards eventually scored late into the half and won 1-2 (0-1). It was a game won by fine margins but the Lizards made the most of their upper hand from early on. It was a good game, but I must admit, I couldn't see a way through the Lizard's defence... and I can see why Sam finished 18th!
As for Team Redshirts, despite Howlinggriffon and Mr_Frodo securing draws, we had a team loss... but clearly they were all close games:
Results - Team
As a team we managed to finish in the top half of the table which felt like an achievement given some of our results... although starting against All The Presidents Men did feel like a bit of a hamstringing! 😆.
Results - Individual
Dropping from 2nd to 11th overall with a last round loss was actually quite a result. Still there were three higher Orc teams than mine, which suggests that I could have done better 😇.
Didn't do any harm for my Orc ratings either:
Results - Overall
I mentioned in my title that the Auld Alliance prevailed... with a French team winning overall and a Scottish team coming second. The Scots seemed almost embarrassed to be up there claiming their awards, and the Lutece Noobs thoroughly milked the moment with Champagne popping and a good hearty rendition of the French anthem. Well done guys! We all clapped along... but were secretly hoping they wouldn't go into further verses! 😀
The Team England piping up with lots of individual achievements, with Lycos being the only coach to make 6 wins, PeteW with the Stunty Cup (Goblins) and Purplegoo with most Touch Downs!
Conclusion
It was personally a massive nosebleed of a tournament for me. To be in with a chance of challenging for top spot by game 5 was not something I was expecting at all. I didn't face the same race twice which was really good, given the popularity of Orcs, Skaven and Lizarmen. I also know that the majority of my games were against coaches that finished in the lower half of the Individual table, despite me playing 5 out of 6 games on table 1 (where the in-form coaches were).
As ever it was a well run tournament, with a really clear rule set (despite clarification being needed on SPP casualties only - probably needs to move from FAQ to the main ruleset). Well done to Pipey and his helpers!
Most importantly though, I had fun with Team Redshirts as always.
Next up, the NAF Championships and Nottingham. Not sure what I'm taking though. I don't think it will be Orcs though as I suspect I won't be able to reach the highs of the UKTC and I will just feel disappointed.
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