Project 2: The Reiksfang Penitentiary Racketeers

The Necromantic Racketeers are finished and are now my league team for the Victory Doughnut Cup 2013. I also took them to the NAF Championship 2013 in Nottingham, I had a great time but did awful.

Most of the miniatures from this team are from Willy Miniatures. The werewolves and golems painted themselves but the wights and zombie were difficult to get right.

On another note does anyone have any strategy tips for facing Norse when using bash light teams like Necromantic and Dark Elves especially in tournaments. Both teams do something similar with regards to frenzy and using the side lines to surf the opposing team. But the Norse come with a lot of extra block and frenzy with a sprinkling of might blow. The best I can seem to muster is a sprinkling of wrestle to try and negate the block.

Willy miniatures Troll

While at the NAF Championship I bought some miniatures from the guy's from Willy miniature's. I needed the troll for my orc team as the previous troll I was using was to go with my goblin team 'Catchagoogoo'. I thought the previous troll was a little small to go with the orc's. I also bought a werewolf and just ordered some more from them to bulid a necro team (post to come).

NAF Championship

This entry is a little late, as I went to the the NAF Championship Blood Bowl tournament a few weeks ago. I have plenty of pictures (see link).I took my new lizard-men team the Lava Island Zipper's and even wore a straw hat to go with the volcano island theme. I bought the Games Workshop miniatures team. You only get 4 Saurus and after reading some threads on www.talkfantasyfootball.org the general builds use 6. I ordered two more but didn't get time to finish them before the event.

Only having 4 Saurus and no practice before the tournament meant I did't do very well. The Skinks didn't have enough cover and I was constantly getting out bashed. You can see how well I did here at the NAF website.

All my opponents over the two day's were great and I didn't have a bad match. My two highlights was a game against Andy who brought Orcs. I was 1 touch down up and 4 squares away from my opponents end zone. I had Skinks surrounding the ball and all I had to do was pick the ball up and run for the touch down. Obviously the Skink fumbled the pick-up, it bounced to two other Skinks who failed each catch then bounced out of bounds. The throw-in went back down the field just passed a line of orcs.

The second was a great game against a goblin coach Glowworm. The score ended in a 2 -2 draw. I'll remember it for the death of my Crox by a goblin no less and the charismatic coach.

The tournament of 190+ players was excellently organised. The setting GW world was great and even the food each day was good. I met loads of great people and even got to pick up some miniatures from the guys at willy-miniatures.blogspot.com

On the second day I met up with Simon of starblayde.blogspot.com who has a great write up of the event. He was organizing a chat with Jonny P of zlurpcast.com.

I could not recommend these tournaments enough, they are a lot of fun and you get to meet great people who love Blood Bowl.

Waterbowl

The past weekend I went to the Waterbowl a two day Blood Bowl tournament held in Stockport. If you still have never been to a tournament I would really recommend it. The coaches who play are very welcoming and are willing to help you with rules and give you tips. The Swiss system of play is good for new players. Your first round is draw is against a random coach then all you games reflect how you are doing in the tournament. So win matches and your playing the best players. Loose matches and you play coaches more akin to your level of play for that day. With this even as a newer coach has a chance at winning the odd match.

Here are my results:

Game	CR	TD+	TD-	Opponent	Opponent's Race	CR	CR Adjust
1	150	2	1	Shaniepoo1	Orc	150	5.5
2	150	0	3	Leipziger	Skaven	150	-5.5
3	150	1	2	NippyLongskar	Dwarves	150	-5.5
4	150	2	2	Gingadom	Norse	150	0
5	150	3	1	lauth81	Ogres	150	5.5
6	150	3	3	littlejonnyfrostbite	Skaven	150	0

I enjoyed all of my matches and met a lot of great people. Another great point in going to these tournaments as a new player is the range of teams and skill of coaches you meet. I had never played a Skaven on Skaven match and played two in the Waterbowl. Both were great games and I learnt a lot to take into future matches. My two favourtie matches were on day 2. The first against a Norse team and the second an almost mirror match against a Skaven team.

'Doctor Fink' Skaven Ogre

I have just finished my rat ogre using the Warhammer fantasy model Maulerblades. I looked at
the fantasy football miniatures and didn’t really like any of them. He is to fill in on my Skaven team ‘Purple Drain’ a Prince themed Blood Bowl team. I thought Maulerblades being covered in bandages fitted with his name on the team. Doctor Fink was a keyboard player in Prince’s band.

I have played a few games in my last tournament and a few with friends, and found my Skaven team lacked punch. I know you are meant to be able to play around the opposition with the Skaven’s speed. But found it difficult to break cages and punch through the line. Having the rat ogre has alleviated those short comings in my play. At the very least, now I can frenzy a corner off the cage and leave the opposing team with a huge, prehensile tale beast in their midst’s. Or break the opposition defense line and still have my 2 blitzer’s to provide protection.

I will be taking the Skaven team to the Water Bowl Weekender a two day blood bowl tournament on the 19th February.

Skaven Team: Purple Drain

Here are a few pictures of my main team of Skaven called ‘Purple Drain’. They are a Prince themed team with yellow and purple colours.

I took this to to my second tournament the Ironmanj One-dayer II. Here is my team sheet and I came a respectable 8th position. I put this down to the Skaven being very forgiving when I made mistakes and also tips on team selection from a fellow long time Blood Bowl player. If you just play Blood Bowl online or in a private league I would recommend trying a tournament. The tournaments have been a pleasant surprise. All players attending are very relaxed and willing to help you out. The whole atmosphere is welcoming and it’s good to meet fellow Blood Bowl players.