Blood Bowl Kickoff!

We had our kick off event for Blood Bowl on Thursday. Overall, we had a great turnout of 8 out of the 10 league players in attendance. Everyone got at least one game in (I got two in with the same opponent) and we enjoyed some pizza thanks to our organizer.

Both of my games were against Patrick. I find it amusing that since I have grown older how many people have Patrick in their first or middle name that play various games. To me, it is almost like something in the personality of the name that draws us to gaming of one sort or another. As I grew up, I never hardly knew of another Patrick, much less a gamer until I was in college and my gaming community grew from a small local gaming group to sci-fi conventions and several LGS.

 Patrick and I have both been with the league since the start 2 seasons ago. This now being our third season, not only that this is our largest season with 10 players and the longest run. Amazing enough, we managed to finish two games while everyone else was only able to finish one game. Granted 2 players was green and 1 was not very experienced either. We hoped to get another match with another team but once we saw the time factor Patrick suggested we throw down again so he can get some revenge.

Game 1 was just brutal to the Slann by my Orks. I put 3 Slann team models in the Dead and Injured (DAI) and another 3 or so in the KO’ed box. I had one Blitzer in the DAI box when the game was over. First half, I took the kick and he tried to do a short kick to the line in hopes of grabbing the ball on a turnover. I plowed down his line and created a cage from hell. Most of the first half was him beating on the cage trying to do something. Meanwhile I am bashing away and slowly grinding his team away. I rode the clock down and scored. Second round was just as ugly, both of his KO’ed players failed to recover. It was another grind as I blocked his progress and was able to get the ball. Again with another cage I made it down to the end of the field with one turn left. What made the second half bad for him was that our league is allowing free game cards to make the game a bit more interesting. So, I threw spiked ball and sprinklers out causing a -1 to pass, catch and such with the ball and also he could be stabbed if he failed a pick up roll.

Game 2 was a total fluke, a pitch invasion stuns about half my team. I was able to keep the Slann from getting very far and ended up chasing him down the field and trying to keep him out of his end zone once most of my team recovered. The second half was pretty much the same game with him making a second TD after I did a turnover. I was able to beat down his team on the second half to score at least once to make the loss not so terrible.

Wow, Slann are SICK! +2 jumping all over the place with no penalty, yes please! So, you can get some models where you can support the rest of the team and just maul someone with assisted blocks! He could be a rough opponent later in the season as I am note slated to play him until last. He is my final opponent near the end of the league.

The store owner tossed out some prizes that night. I won most points scored (we counted only one game as everyone finished one)  I rolled off against another player that had two from his game. I was shooting for just conversion but we dolled out prizes so everyone could get something if possible.  With my prize money I picked up a Scraplauncher/Ironblaster kit to add to my building Ogre army. It was a good night for everyone and we all had a blast!

We even talked about making a “road trip” to a major tournament or even perhaps setup a “Lustria Bowl” here in Florida.

Here is my pairings for each round of the league (2 games per month block, adjusted slightly for holidays):

First Round: Tenacious Turtles (Dwarf) & Warpstone Wierdos (Skaven)

Second Round: It's a Glandular Problem! (Nurgle) & Adam (Skaven)

Third Round: Naggaroth Raiders (Dark Elf)  & Body Snatchers (Undead)

Fourth Round: Great Maw Murderfaces (Ogres) & Nick (Unkown)

Fifth Round: Mossylog Pollywogs (Slann) & Squickbowl Championships  

So, this works out to one fast and one tough team for the first 4 rounds. What is good and bad is 3 out of the 4 opponents are newer. I plan to play by the book and I will help them along, but I don’t plan to give them an easy win. The last is the Commish (League Organizer) which will be a tough game. I am only glad I get him early before the team has the chance to go mutation crazy. I would hate to see him with claws all over his team!

Third and Fourth rounds are going to be tough, one new (but seasoned) player and 3 seasoned players. Most will have at least 4 games under them in SPP so these games will be tough. When I hit the finish line another veteran is going to be in my face with a built up team, I fear the Slann once they are beefed up some with SPP! Going to be an interesting season!