The full roster for the weekend was:
4 x Black Orcs
4 Blitzers
3 Lineorcs
2 RR
and, of course, Varag
All of which weighed in at a whopping Team Value of 1.2million. The tournament also granted every team 5 free Fan Factor and an extra player in the shape of a baby cow whose stat line was MA5 ST3 AG2 AV7 and she came with Loner, Disturbing Presence and Horns. I'll say it now, I fielded her once in the entire tournament and that was when I was forced to bring her on as a sub due to a couple refusing to leave the KO box for the drive. I felt that having Varag with Loner on the pitch was risk enough and she just didn't add to my team. I think she worked well for some rosters but, for me, she wasn't really required. Maybe I'm an old killjoy - everyone else seemed to have a lot of fun using her although Glowworm flatly refused my request to declare a "Mooo-ve" action when moving her - but she stayed in the reserves for the almost the whole day
Skills wise, the Orcs were considered a Tier 1 team and I was only allowed to take 4 skills and none of them could be a double. I ended up going with 2 Block Black Orcs, a Tackle Blitzer and a Guard Blitzer. I was concerned that only having 4 skills would actually hurt the Orcs and not having access to doubles (or a thrower in my team build) I couldn't get Leader on anyone to give me the third RR. In actual fact, I think they worked really well. Yes, a third RR would have been nice and I only won FAME once in 4 games so didn't even pick up many 'free' RR from events but it was ok, I managed the 2 I had quite well. The biggest problem, as always with the Orcs, is the fact they're very much a Jack-of-all-trades team with no real specialist skills that can allow you to change games. This became most apparent in the last game of the day but more on that later.
So, on to the event itself. It was held on the farm of one of the organisers. Not an old farm or a disused farm but a proper, working farm and the shed where we were playing was only yards from the cow sheds. The shed itself was cold and, as evening fell, lit by people's iPhones to supplement the few bare bulbs that were in there. It was however, an absolutely cracking day and the venue just added to it. There's always a real sense of camaraderie at Blood Bowl tournaments and it was more present than ever as coaches laughed and joked about the weather and we hunkered down into our layers of clothing to keep warm - all of us bar Loki who, as a Scot, found it all a bit warm and played in his shirt sleeves!! Hungdonkeyman, whose farm it was, had roped in his family to help and his wife was getting the urn going as I turned up so we had tea & coffee all day with a plentiful supply of biscuits. At lunchtime she cooked a wonderful chilli-con-carne with rice and garlic bread for all 30 of us and it ranks up there as the best food I've had at a Blood Bowl tournament. If it's held there again next year, I'll definitely be returning.
Game 1 - First game of the day was against a player I met last year via Twitter and who has become a good mate. Hairy Pete, who also runs the Exebowl tournament, had brought down his Chaos team to play the day. This team being classed as a Tier 2 team had access to 6 skills and the Clawed up Minotaur was a worry from the minute I saw it. In what became a pattern for the day I lost the FAME roll, won the Kick Off roll and elected to receive. In hindsight I should have probably kicked but I didn't. Something to remember for the next time. I worked the ball up the pitch and the both of us took turn to ineffectually swat at each other before I finally scored to make it 1-0. Pete worked his drive well and it was 1-1 at the half. I kicked off for the second half and promptly saw a Blitzer take a rock to the face, KOing him and leaving me with 10 on the field. I hate, HATE, that event. At one point I thought I had him and could take the ball away but it wasn't to be and Pete took the game 2-1. It was a great game, lots of fun and very close. I don't think Pete would mind me saying that it really could have gone either way. One dice roll here or there a little different and who knows, the result could have been reversed. It was nice to play Pete though and despite the loss, I really enjoyed the game. Oh, as it turned out, the Mino had rubber tips to his claws in our game and I came out of it unscathed. In fact, for a game between Chaos and Orcs, the casualty count was a woeful 0.
Game 2 - Second game was against Enderman, the youngest player at the tournament. He had travelled down with his dad, Sann0638, and quite honestly, his enthusiam for the game should be an example to us all. His cries of joy as he caused casualties were often heard across the hall and he simply enjoyed playing the game regardless of what was happening. If there was a "Most Sporting" award he would have got my vote. I'm old and forgetful and declared a 1 dice block at one stage. Before I rolled the dice he stopped me and pointed out an assist I missed thus giving me a less risky 2 dice block. Fair play to him as it would have been easy to be quiet but he didn't and you have to respect him for pointing it out and his dad for passing on the ethos of playing fair. He played Orcs as well and his basic roster was similar but he took Scrappa Sorehead as his Star Player and he had 3RR, an Apothecary and a Cheerleader. He played really well but I got a couple of breaks early on, including killing one of his players and managed to take the game 2-0. It was a lot closer than the score suggests and the fact that he went on to win his third game shows he was a more than capable player.
Game 3 - In the break between games, Glowworm collared me and asked what I was on. "A win and a loss", I replied. "Same as me", he said, "We could play next". "I hope not" was my response. Now, I love Glowworm, he's a great bloke, well known on the tournament circuit and I always enjoy my games with him. Thing is, he's in my local league and I can play him whenever I want. In fact, I played him the Tuesday before the tournament in a practice match for the tournament! Of course, as game 3 was announced I had drawn Glow. He had brought his Underworld team out to play with Glart Smashrip and Skitta Stab-Stab in tow. To my relief, he had decided not to put Claw on his Troll as that had caused me no end of trouble in our practice game. I was still perturbed to see Skitter again though or, as I like to call him, Skitta the c**t, because he is a real pain. I tried as hard as I could to get him off the pitch but the bloody thing had mithril armour that refused to break. Again though, this was a great game and I haven't laughed so much during a game as we did in this one. We shared a few jokes with MadeofWelsh who was on the table next to us - he particularly like my "Mooo-ve" action joke - and the game went by quite quickly. It ended up a 1-1 draw, which I was happy with. Highlight of the game was Varag picking the ball up and Glow moaning (he didn't mean it, we do it to each other whenever an action succeeds) about Varag getting the ball. "Of course he's picked the ball up!", I shouted, "He's a fucking Star Player, he rolled a 6! That's how we roll dice in the big leagues!" Even Glow cracked a smile.
Game 4 - Going into the final game with a 1-1-1 record I was determined not to lose. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to win but I was determined that this wouldn't end with a loss. I was up against Frogboy, a player I hadn't played before but I had seen at other tournaments, and his Necro team. It had been a long day and we were both feeling a little jaded. Luckily Lunchmoney was next to us on the table and he was able to provide shortbread to keep us going. This was the only game that I won FAME but, for the 4th game in a row I won the kick off and, for the 4th time in a row, I elected to receive. I caused an early casualty to a zombie but he regened so would be back next drive. I did manage to KO a few and with numbers reduced, Frogboy couldn't stop me scoring on my drive. The biggest thing for me in the game was badly hurting one of Flesh Golems who then failed to regen. I stopped his drive and the ball was on the floor flanked by 2 Orcs. He dodged a Werewolf free, stepped onto the ball, picked it up on a 5, dodged out on a 3+ and ran off to score. I was gutted but fair play to him, if you don't make the play then you can't get the score. I've done similar myself in a tournament and so can't complain. On the next kick off I got the ball and had two chances to get the ball into the hands of a Blitzer who would have then scored. 1st time I failed the throw but the scatter saw it caught by another of my players so not the end of the world. Second attempt, without RR, I failed the GFI to bring the range down to a 3+ throw and that was the game.
I finished my day on 1-2-1 in 19th position out of 30. I had 4 great games against 4 great opponents and really enjoyed the whole day, you can't ask much more than that really. The Orcs worked much better for me this time round and Varag was a beast. Sadly, I don't know many tournaments where I'll be able to fit him in around a solid team, certainly not the NAFC, so he won't see any use for a while but it was fun while it lasted. I don't have a tournament booked in for while now but hopefully I'll get some more in before the NAFC in Nottingham. I'm up to 71 NAF ranked games now and would like to hit 100 before the year is out so I had better start looking at the calendar.
