sann0638 wrote:Starting with the waterbowl?
Challenge accepted!
Waterbowl Weekender 9
As a member of the Danish BB community you'll have to be living under a rock in order NOT to hear about Waterbowl. Lots of Danish coaches attend this tourney and as I didn't want to pass on the opportunity to participate I quickly signed up as well.
I knew that this tourney would field a lot of great coaches so I quickly decided to bring my A-game (or something like that) - the Undead. When reading the rules and learning that Secret Weapons would also count as CAS I then decided to build my team around mr. Deadly - Hack Enslash himself. I also decided to give MB to a Wight thinking that 3 MBs plus a Chainsaw should be enough to give me 3-4 CAS per game and give me a chance of winning the 'Most Deadly' trophy.
The 'Deathstars' roster looked something like this: 2 Mummies (1*Block / 1*Guard), 2 Wights (1*MB), 4 Ghouls (2*Block / 1*Wrestle), 3 Zombies, Hack Enslash, 2 RRs, 2 FF.
So I packed my bag and headed for Stockport.
Game 1: Sizzler / Dark Elves / TD: 1-2 / CAS: 2-2
Not much to say about this game, really... Andy only rolled one '1' during the first half which made it very difficult for me to contain his players. In the second half I had the chance to sack his ball carrier in turn 16 but my Wrestle Ghoul failed a 3+ Dodge (hate them 2/1 rolls!) and the game was lost.
Game 2: Jimjimany / Chaos / TD: 1-2 / CAS: 5-2
Not much to say about this game either... Jim is a great coach and way better than me. He controlled the game and even though I managed to send 5 of his players to the CAS box the game was never really close.
Game 3: Mawph / Chaos Pact / TD: 1-0 / CAS: 4-2
In the first half, John's Minotaur didn't really want to perform. He spent a lot of time on the ground trying to get up and when the Ogre decided to just stand around and pick his nose instead of playing Blood Bowl I wasted no time sacking the Dark Elf ball carrier and score the decisive TD. In the second half I opted to secure the win instead of trying to go for the kill and it all came down to the Minotaur's inability to pick up, dodge and hand off the ball. A solid win for the Deathstars.
Then there was curry at the nearby Indian place. After a handful of hours with great food and likewise company, I decided to go to bed and get ready for day 2 - karaoke bars just ain't my thang...
Game 4: hana_666 / Orcs / TD: 2-1 / CAS: 4-3
I hate playing Orcs. It's as simple as that. They can Dodge. They can score OTTs. They have lots of strong players. And they have high armour. First half was a bit of a mess but luckily the dice didn't favor one of us over the other. I received the ball and even though Hannah pulled out some great moves to trap my Ghoul on the sideline, fortunately (for me, at least) the crowd decided to throw the ball back into her end zone. Another Ghoul then made a semi-heroic move (3+ Dodge, two 2+ GFIs and a 3+ Pick Up) to score a TD. In turn 7 I really felt I had the Orcs under control but made a stupid block with a Ghoul that sent himself to the ground and made it a bit easier for the ball carrying Blitzer to score in turn 8. Stupid, stupid Ghoul... In turn 9, Hannahs Troll rolled a '1' on the Really Stupid roll and I then decided to use this opportunity to swarm her ball carrier and go for the kill. I managed to put the lone Gobbo in the CAS box (and remove the threat of the OTT), turn over the ball and win the game 2-1.
Game 5: SpecialOne / Lizardmen / TD: 1-1 / CAS: 2-1
So now I faced one of my Danish co-travellers, Steen. We've played quite a few matches against each other and I'm generally quite comfortable playing against the Lizzies - as opposed to playing against Orcs for example. I received the kick off and in my first turn I decided to Blitz a Block Saurus with Hack Enslash, sending the Saurus to the KO box. One of the other Saurus immediately wanted revenge but ended up as a CAS himself! Hack ended up in the KO box and was therefore removed from the game but losing 2 Saurus in each of our first turns left Steen very disillusioned. At this point I was feeling pretty confident that I would grind the half down for a 1-0 lead, but then I made a crucial mistake... Steens Krox was lying on the ground and somehow I misread where he was lying. I positioned the ball carrying Ghoul in the wrong square, leaving him wide open for a Blitzing Saurus. The two following turns both ended with failed Dodges (I rolled 2, 1, 1, 1) and then Steen could easily score to end the half. I needed to pull off something spectacular to avoid a loss and decided to go all in and swarm the ball carrier (just like in my previous match vs. Hannah). It payed off and I was able to steal the ball. Looking at the turn markers and both our KO boxes I then decided to settle for a draw. It was a good game in which I made a very costly mistake that easily could have given Steen the win.
Game 6: dalfort / Dwarves / TD: 1-1 / CAS: 1-1
At this point I was third in the overall CAS competition needing 2 CAS more than the leader (who also was scheduled to play Dwarves in the last round). As all of you probably know, Dwarves are notorious very difficult to CAS, which was also going to be the case in this match. I received the kick off and tried to lure Barries Dwarves to one side of the field. The I tried to lure them to the other side. And back to the first side again. I was never really able to create a hole for my Ghouls to swarm through and thus ended up with a somewhat heroic move from my ball carrying Block Ghoul: 1 dice Blitz (against a Blitzer), followed by a 3+ Dodge (away from a Longbeard), ending with one or two (can't remember exactly how many) GFIs into the end zone. In the second half the Sweltering Heat was replaced by some Pouring Rain and as my Reserves and KO boxes were filling up with players I did have one chance to stop his grind: I'm not sure why but instead of moving his ball carrier forward, he decided to move him back to the LOS giving my Wight a chance to stop him. Although I did manage to get the ball on the ground I had too few players on the field to pose a serious threat and Barrie eventually scored in turn 16. I had enough players to try a OTT but on a 3 dice Block one of the Mummies decided to end the game by putting a Longbeard on the ground. Nonetheless this was a very good game that we both enjoyed very much.
The complete results are not in yet but I accomplished my goal of 3 CAS per game and I think I ended either 2nd or 3rd overall in the 'Most Deadly' competition - just 3 CAS behind the winner (another dane, Lasse, with 21 CAS to his name). Not bad at all (even though my MB Wight didn't record one single CAS during the six games...).
All in all I really enjoyed the tourney and I'm definately coming back for the 10th anniversary next year! Thanks to Alex and Jim for a great tourney, to my 6 opponents for some well played matches and the rest of the guys (and grrrls) for lots of laughs.
EDIT:
I actually finished 21st overall and 4th in the 'Most Deadly' competition.
The results can be found here:
http://www.thenaf.net/2014/02/waterbowl-2014-results/