October Tabletop Bowl & Mandalorian United - The TO wins!!

Nuttychamp (on the right)

I was delighted to come across a Facebook post for a tournament just 30 minutes away from me in Leighton Buzzard. Rather an underwhelmingly-named tournament - October Tabletop Bowl. This needs work! 😏

Venue

Jamie's cafe had only been open for a month or so, and the paint was still fresh on the walls! It's the practical things that help. There is a decent-sized car park at the rear of the cafe, and aside from the drinks you can get at the venue, the cafe was a short walk from a Subway or Greggs on the high street. See below for a quick 360 of the cafe: 

Fortunately there was a great turnout, with coaches coming from both locally and many miles away, looking to put the record straight after the Eurobowl in Poland.

The tournament was on Tour Play which involved us all keeping game events updated as well as having the round draws on there. The tournament details are on NAF too.

Roster

This tournament was using the World Cup rules (hosted in Malta) - which I am not going to be able to get to, so this was my chance at having a go at the ruleset.

It was a great excuse to work on my Human team tactics. This time I went with some friendly advice and went with what was considered an optimal team. This was the first time I got to use Hit & Run on a Catcher (with Block) and it was a useful tool. More on that later. 

The other point to note for myself was the Team Captain & Mascot. With a 50-50 roll to see if the Mascot roll would work was interesting, and remembering to fish for 6's with the Team Captain to get spent rerolls back was something I had to quickly get used to. I think I got one back across the Saturday.

Wrestle on 3 players gave the Humans some flexibility in defence, and made it more reassuring when blocking.

Game One vs dayday's Humans

dayday striking a pose for the camera!

First up was Dayday in a same-race matchup. An experienced coach with a slightly different approach to the human roster than me. The differences were a Block/Guard lineman and 2x Wrestle Catchers - everything else was the same.

David had the dubious honour of being the first coach to be given a set of my newly-made 'Wotfudboy' dice. In fact, these seem to go down well with all my opponents, so I was pleased to have handed them out!

Below, is another 360 video from my vantage point in Game One.

The match started with equal fans in Perfect Weather. I lost the kick roll, but was nominated to Receive in the first drive. It was a placid spectacle to begin with, but we were making ground up the pitch. In turn 4 I had an opportunity to score, but with rerolls in hand I decided to dish out a few blocks and was rewarded with not just one, but two casualties, from the two Mighty Blow players on the pitch - just to run the proverbial salt into the wound as I scored.

By turn 5/5 all of David's Rerolls had been used up, and despite turning 2x skulls into 2x Both Downs we finished the half 1-0 (2-0) up.

What Tour Play doesn't show is a seesaw of a match in the second half which culminated in David trip-wiring in the endzone, after a valiant defence, which then allowed me snatch the ball away and get it relatively safe, but not before another casualty was inflicted. It was a match where the Beskar-armour proved it's worth! The game finished 1-0 (3-0).

Game Two vs Nuttychamp's Black Orcs

Jamie the TO

Well, it was the TO - Jamie! The orcs lined up with a Trained Block Troll, 2x Block and 2x Guard Black Orcs and a Dirty Player Goblin. I'd already heard Jamie's first opponent saying how he couldn't get through the lines... Worrying!

As you can see, we received again, and I committed to an aggressive play up the right but not before I had charged my Team Captain in for a Blitz. This all came to nothing, but left my Blitzer exposed. He was surrounded, blitzed, proned and the quite-rightly fouled... only to be stunned and the offending Dirty Player goblin to be sent off! Result! 

However, that was the last of my good luck. We simply could not get suitably up the field without needing a dodge somewhere... and this meant rolling dice, and sadly my 'Wotfudboy' dice refused to roll anything but 1's and 2's. When things got so desperate that I ended up having to dodge with the ball carrying Catcher, he of course face-planted and we were 0-1 down before the half ended!

When the Black Orcs came back at us, they simply just moved us aside and got the cage further up the field. However, with all the blocks flying around, we only inflicted one casualty each. 

We did however fight as desperately as we could to score a consolation Touch Down, but it was too little too late.

In the end I think Jamie was rather embarrassed to watch as my side self-destructed... he used my dice far more effectively. Spoiler alert - If you're going to lose, lose to the eventual winner!! The match ended 1-2 (1-1)

Game Three vs Donald's Tomb Kings

After a thorough kicking, it was a nice surprise to find my last match would be recorded and end up on the internet. Donald is a streamer and had all the video-camera gear ready to roll. The game got underway, and it was a really nice cherry on top to find that all three of my opponents made the games really enjoyable, no matter the result - The way games should be played!

Thumbs up for streamer Donald

The match got underway with a weird event... Both teams got Dodgy Snack... but even worse, we both rolled a 1. I had my Wrestle Catcher off the pitch along with a Tomb Guardian! They would be back after the drive once they had finished in their respective bathrooms... euuuw.

I will try to get the match link from Donald and put a link here. But in summary, the match couldn't really have gone any more in my favour if Nuffle had tried! Despite a Tomb Guardian getting an early casualty on a lineman, the rest of the luck was really in my direction. 

The game was entirely played in Pouring Rain, which made ball handling very tricky for the Tomb Kings. We managed to sack the ball carrier and score early. We then did the same trick again, ending the half 2-0 up. The humans also managed to inflict some casualties with the winds of magic failing to resurrect the fallen bones.

The second half was just about holding on to the ball and trying to find an opportunity to cement the win. The Tomb Kings defence was a lot tougher and they had their chances, but the human luck won through for a 3rd time and the match finished 3-0 (3-2).

Results

Top 10

Managed to finish 6th out of 24 with a 2/0/1 result. But more to the point was that I've found a new (fairly)local venue and a nice group of coaches. May be a bit far for a league, but who knows - maybe between work and home life I could find the time.

Winners

I nominated myself awards photographer... Not sure I should give up the day job just yet!

1st Place - Nuttychamp (on the right)

2nd Place - Zenjo - Slann

Most Casualties - Graeme Candlish - Nurgle

Best Painted - Andrew Hyatt - Underworld

Stunty Cup - Commissioner Mike - Halfings

Most Touchdowns - Swampy - Skaven

Wooden Spoon - Phillip Jelley - Black Orcs

As always, congratulation to all the winners, and well done to the Jamie and his Cafe full of helpers - a friendly and helpful bunch. Lastly, thanks to my opponents for some tough but fun games.

Check out: https://www.tabletopgamingevents.co.uk/collections/all-tickets for Jamie's next events!