Anyone else go to this, yesterday? here is some more info, for those interested.
Was my first WHW tournament; it's about a 2½ hour drive from my way so, along with having a smattering of third party miniatures in most of my teams (rendering them, fairly, unusable at GW tournaments), their stuff has never really been on my radar. However, I got a ticket to a WHW event of my choosing for my birthday last year, so signed up a few months ago.
It was interesting to see how a non-NAF tournament runs. Each coach was allocated a number, then they listed all the numbers and tables between rounds. Score sheets were handed in between rounds, then a final summary was handed in after game three. I think we were one short in the end, as a GW staffer stepped in on the table next to me in game one. I heard later in the day that someone hit the Bugman's a bit hard the night before and hadn't made it to the event, hope the hangover was worth it!
There was a very mixed skill-set in the room, it's actually helped me understand GW's attitude to Blood Bowl a little better if that's the demographic they have on their doorstep - that may seem like a snide comment, which it isn't intended to be.
To give examples, some games were being called in turn three or four of the second half, despite there being a 2hr15min limit. In game three a coach on a table nearby was pulled up by his opponent for having used a banned deck of special play cards in game 1 and 2. One of my opponents had been using Horatio wrong (just one scatter, instead of three), round three saw several draws of mirror matches from a previous round, so we had to swap amongst ourselves (which could be open to abuse) etc. etc.
The other side to it is that the gulf between experienced coaches and newer ones was even more pronounced than at NAF events I've been at, to date. Several coaches had 'forgotten' their Special Play cards, or suggested to opponents they weren't used. Presumably in an attempt to reduce the deviation in the game. It would be perfectly plausible for several NAF (or Blood Bowl in general) veterans to descend on a WHW event and clean up across the board. I'm not even that good and still felt a bit sharky when talking to some players between rounds about their interpretation of the rules.
I finished on 2-1-0 which, if my NAF results are anything to go by, is an incredible deviation from the norm! I'm not ignorant enough to think that's a fair reflection of my ability, so this is definitely not a brag - bit of false hope ahead of attending the Welsh Open next weekend, perhaps!
Given the hype and coverage of the Warhammer Underworlds tournament the day before (live streaming, 175+ [I think?] players, new releases announced on the day, branded lanyards etc), there was a murmuring that Blood Bowl remained the unwanted bastard child of GW as there was a definite drop in the glitz and glamour of the event, in comparison. I felt a bit for the lads on the results desk, as the 45-minute break after the final match meant most players didn't hang around for the awards and stuff - hopefully everyone that stayed came home with gold and riches galore to reward their dedication.
I think future events would be great intro tournaments for newer or returning players, or younger players taking their first steps into the game. I'd definitely recommend them to newer players I meet who don't mind the travel. I really enjoyed the day! The cards and rules (e.g. I didn't take Nurgle, but being able to raise a Rotter in-game rather than after just seems to make sense and I wish the rule had made it into the Nurgle Spike! Journal) were really fun, but that's easy for me to say as I got all three games finished in time and played against opponents that had a reasonable grasp of the ruleset.
With all that said, I might've just caught 'em on a dud day. Anyone else had different experiences with this one, or previous events?
