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On February 17th I made the short journey to Stockport for the 13th Waterbowl Weekender, the famed 6 game Swiss style Blood Bowl tournament.

I struggle to start articles. This was the suggested one:

“Despite current CAS champ and local hero, Dfunk not being there, the tourney was surprisingly a success.” – Dfunkateer

Dfunk was sunning it up abroad, but was in contact for updates throughout the weekend.

THE TEAM

I opted to use my Nurgle team and took the 5 normal, 1 double option for addition skills. Although I ended up taking 6 regular skills in the end.

Beast of Nurgle – Stand Firm

Nurgle Warrior – Guard

Nurgle Warrior – Guard

Nurgle Warrior – Claw

Nurgle Warrior

Pestigor – Tackle

Pestigor – Frenzy

Rotter

Rotter

Rotter

Rotter

Rotter

2 Re-rolls, 1 assistant coach, 1 cheerleader

Considering I assembled this team in December 2016, I only finished painting it a week before this event, albeit to my “That’ll Do” level.

THE EVENT

This was my first event at the fantastic North West Gaming Centre, home of Element Games. 80 or so coaches entered, with a mix of nationalities, from Danes to an over excited Spaniard chef.

In all honesty, I was slightly in awe at the turn out and venue. With spotting people I recognised from White Dwarf issues and podcasts, it was certainly different from my usual 6 man (if we are lucky) league.

With every one registered it was time for the first round match

DAY ONE

Round One – CQN23 with Skaven

I dusted off the ring rust with a match against Skaven. I hate Skaven. Nippy rat bastards.

It started off well early, managing to pull off a Rotter interception. Unfortunately this was the highlight of the loss. He scored fast in the first half, with my mistake letting him score a second after he stole the ball in his own half.

0-2 Loss

0 Wins

1 Loss

Round Two – Wightlord with Chaos Dwarfs

Wightlord is the nicest man in Blood Bowl.

I will start by saying that. An absolutely delightful individual.

So much so that being on the end of a 3 nil thumping still didn’t seem as bad.

Right, well I have never played against Chaos Dwarfs. It showed in this match. I had no real idea how to combat the combined minotaur and bull centaur attack.

First kick off of the game resulted in a Blitz! for the Chaos Dwarfs, decimating any semblance of a set up I had. This was also the game where seemingly no block attempts produced Push results. It was all violence, all the time.

It could have been a bigger loss if it wasn’t for my one dice block bullshit and the Mino managing to fail Wild Animal 3 turns in a row, followed by a success but failed Foul Appearance on a blitz.

After the game, Wightlord gave me advice of being less stand offish and attack more with the warriors and Beast. I used this advice in the next match.

0-3 Loss

0 Wins

2 Losses

Round Three – Odin65 with Goblins

This was the most fun I have ever had playing Blood Bowl, alternating between sublime and ridiculous.

I received the kick and managed to score in the second turn. This was followed up by a 1 turn Doom Diver touchdown. Then a Riot knocked the turn counter backwards.

So going into my turn 2, it was technically 1-1

I then received and managed to grind up the pitch, dodging bombs all the way, to make it 2-1.

And then ANOTHER DOOM DIVER TOUCHDOWN! His trolls were the Bret Favre and Peyton Manning of Goblin Tossing

2-2

Luckily it then gave me the chance to do a typical Nurgle grind up the pitch to win 3-2. Made a lot easier as I had the 9 – 6 man advantage.

In total I took 3 Goblins out of play, he took 4 goblins out of play with 5 sendings off

3-2 Win

1 Win

2 Losses

Ended Day One with a losing record, but had such a great day. Then home for a gargantuan spicy veg pizza and an early night

DAY 2

Round Four – Longstride (he of Two Drunk Flings podcast fame) with Halflings – Table 32

Whereas I had an early night, Liam had anything but. Living up to his podcasts moniker, he was indeed a drunk ‘fling coach. With a pre-match note from Liam of “If you don’t win this, I’ll never let you live it down” it was time for kick off.

The one-two combination of Deeproot and Puggy played their part in making this more competitive than it could have been. Strength 3 Halflings are nowt to be sniffed at.

I forgot how enjoyable Halfling games are, be it playing them or against them. And I now have one to start a team with, thanks to Liam and Iron Golems

1-0 Win

2 Wins

2 Losses

At lunch I had a quick chat with other podcast royalty, Merrick of the ABAO Podcast. Great guy, struggling with the ‘flings though.

Round Five – Ruthy with Slann

I won the toss and chose to receive. The opening kick scattered one square away from the halfway line, out on the flank, with the Kick Off result of a High Kick. My Pestigor failed the catch, fumbling it into the Slann half. Of course this being a Touchback, I practically had a cage formed out wide. I used this to get a 5 turn grind up the pitch with the Touchdown occurring in the Slann turn with a leaping blitz to push me in the endzone, stopping the stall.

On defence I used the Warriors and Rotters to shepherd the Slann towards the Beast of Nurgle, with Tentacles being the skill of the game. I was fearful of the Leaping receivers so played a spread defence, hard to do with speed 4 and 5 pieces, but it worked in this situation.

Ruthy had the worst luck I have ever seen in a Blood Bowl game. I cannot even claim I played amazingly, because when your opponent constantly rolls 1s and 2s, and you roll 10s on every armour break, it takes the skill out.

4-0 Win

3 Wins

2 Losses

Round Six – Scouseboy with Orcs – Table 15 (Almost dizzy at such a high spot)

Finally a team that I recognise. Pretty much the same roster as the Orc build I was going to use (4 Block Black Orcs, Block on the Troll…I forget the last skill)

I expected this to be a grinding out, fist fight in the middle of the pitch, I was right. Luckily I was the only one breaking armour in this game

His opening gambit was a cage down the flank, which was surprising with my Frenzy piece. After a protracted fight I got the ball free and up the pitch with a Pestigor for the score.

This was another game where my opponent couldn’t move the ball, failing pickups around the board. I was willing his final turn attempt to score, just for some form of luck justice.

Final game and a great guy to finish the tournament with.

2-0 Win – Managed the bonus points for 2+ Crowd pushes

FINAL RESULT

4 WINS

2 LOSSES

ABSOLUTELY BUZZING!

Considering that:

A: It was my first tournament in about 10 years

B: I was using Nurgle and aiming for 2 wins

This was an amazing result!

FINAL STANDINGS

Winner: Pipey (Undead)

Runner up: Podfrey (DE)

Third: DougLowe (Khorne)

Most TDs: 17 Sann0638 (WE)

Most Cas: 21 Volkmair (Dwarf)

Best Overseas Coach: RoterSternHochdahl (Undead)

Best Kid: Dementor (Elven Union)

Stunty Cup: Ratman (Goblin)

Best Painted: Thor87 (New Wheeled Order)

Best Sunday Comeback:

Coma (I thought my 3 win bounce would have got me this)

Nosebleed/Vertigo: JBone

Couldn’t Score:

Least Dangerous:

Best Costume: Rakkzull (Chef)

Spoon: Odin65 (My 3rd Round opponent)

NOTES ON MY TEAM

Overall I think Claw was pretty useless, only coming into play twice in the tournament.

The lack of block didn’t hurt as much as it could do, only really happening in the match against Chaos Dwarfs. Foul Appearance, Guarders and Strength 4 helped keep my guys on the pitch

Before the tournament I planned on using the Pestigor as Sweepers. I found they are better being pressure pieces further up the pitch

After the advice from Wightlord, I was very aggressive with my Warrior placement. In the match vs Ruthy’s Slann I managed to push 4 of her team into tentacle range, with Guarders helping keep them in place.

FINAL THOUGHTS

From what I heard of the past opinions of the North West Gaming Centre, Element Games have really raised the bar for tournament venues. The staff on the bar were wonderful, keeping it fully stocked with my water tipple of choice.

Special thanks go to Alex Wormall for organising a superb event, I shall be joining you again next year!

Visit Element Games here (Use the code DAN2300 at Checkout for double points)

Listen to the Two Drunk Flings podcast here

Listen to the Anything But A One podcast here