Report time! Last Sunday it was Street Bowl!
This was the Rumble at the Den tournament, at the Ogres Den store in Calgary. Time for my first ever Streetbowl matches. The previous day was the Warpstone rumble, which I couldn't attend, which was a 3 match Bloodbowl tournament won by Maurice (I believe with Humans).

Humans had served me well in Sevens before and I decided to bring out my old mid 90’s classics. At first I was thinking Streetbowl was very similar to Sevens other than oddities like the scary +1AV armour rolls on knockdowns, the +2AV on the side walls instead of surfs, and the rather uneven ball bouncing floor and sides. But then I realized the pitch is the same length as a full Bloodbowl pitch but only seven squares wide. (Jack P of Maelstrom Mats again provided superb pitches). Also at least 1 player must set up on the LOS, so it is quite a unique setup. And then foulers can't be sent off but there is a 50% chance they suffer a +1av armour hit from a fan thrown rock!

I had gone for an Ogre, two Blitzers, a thrower, 4 Linos, and a fan factor. So that gave my "Averheim Street Cleaners" a reserve. The ogre gave me power (and maybe some fouling?), but I knew there was a chance he would let me down often with bonehead. With 60k for skills I gave a Blitzer guard, the thrower block for protection, and the 2nd blitzer tackle. I strongly considered frenzy for making space, or even a 2nd guard. But I thought some folks would take Elves or Zons so better I give myself more chance for specific takedowns in these matchups. No team or leader rerolls on any team meant there would be some shocks happening in this tournament. There are also potions with some random "healing" effects. One free for each team.

December is kind of an off season for Blood Bowl and this was only organized a few weeks ahead, so we had 7 coaches. But what a magnificent and handsome 7. All solid, experienced tournament coaches. The odd number of coaches for 6 rounds meant all but one coach would have a bye round. With the +1AV rolls and reduced turns matches typically take about an hour.

My bye was in the first round. So I had time to watch some delights. One match barely started when I witnessed an extreme Streetbowl event. On kick off (double 6 roll) city guards went after the Skaven team. The Rat Ogre (slowest player) was blocked by a strength 3 city guard. Double pow! The guards carted off the Rat Ogre for the remainder of the match. What a blow for Jess and his side.

Anyway in the 2nd round I got a matchup against Maurice's Amazons (The Street Mice). A very impressive side for the TV with 4 blitzers. Lots of Blodge and of course even the Linos having dodge. I had seen part of their first match when they had been loving KO'ing and cas'ing Bretonnians at will. I hoped my tackler would do his job, and maybe their low armour and no reserves would give me a chance. But not to be.. My fans were barely to be seen. +2 fame to the Zons! (4 kick off results use fame.) My team kicked off the ball and it bounces off a side wall. I put two players on the LOS, probably should have just put one. They immediately ko the blitzer and stun the ogre. We try to reform but get smashed about. Surprisingly they risk a handoff already and it works.. and when I start my turn 2 I have only 2 players standing! The Ogre boneheads. As we try to setup some pressure one of our Linos double skulls. As we get desperate we run and around and fail gfis. It's a mess! The Zons comfortably score. It was near half-time when we got our first knockdown. Tackle not achieving much. At least our Ogre did immensely enjoy doing a casualty foul in our turn 6. But their player returns in a decent state next half through their potion. While our thrower who was ko'd stayed out. We also potioned a Lino, though it made him hyper and now insists he must start first on all our turns.The second half starts with a riot. We suffer 2 stuns. Then early in our drive one of our blitzers double skulls! Moments like that you really miss rerolls. We still pick up the ball, but then the Ogre double both downs.. We started to cause damage at least and were making our way forward. But with little time our carrier had to get forward and had little cover so he suffered a 1dB blitz in turn 11. He goes down. We got the ball again but time was running down and we couldn't quite do enough to scrape an equalizer. A tough match! Maurice did well. We shake our fists at the cursed Zons.

Next I faced Lair and his Bretonnians. Straight off our thrower causes a brutal kill, a blitzer makes a casualty, and we cause a KO. What a cracking start! From then I should have been very careful and controlled the match, but my ogre boneheaded and I didn't move one of my Linos to that side to cover. Overconfident. The Brets passed by that flank and cas'd my tackle blitzer. Suddenly we were in trouble, we made chase but couldn't take them down. They get the ball, their carrier dodged away and gets the TD. Great work by Lair considering their numbers. The Ogre did cackle again when he caused a KO by fouling (but the victim recovered).

My Blitzer took a potion and discovered it is fungus brew! +2 strength, frenzy and wild animal. But also can die on a 2+ at the start of each turn! After picking up I recklessly moved my players to one side of the narrow pitch. I forgot dauntless! Their frenzy player blitzes. Him and another Bret manage gfis to pen us in, and then a dauntless peasant manages to push back our ogre into my ball carrier at the side! The +2AV hit against the wall takes him down. After some ball bouncing the Brets get the ball and they make it 2-0 by half-time. Disastrous play by me and great stuff by Lair and the Brets.Second half my strength 5 funguses fella blitzes me space and I get a quick TD back. The fungus brew finally kills him, but next drive I get another strength 5 player after a Lino takes a bonus (kickoff) brew! We are kicking but have been racking up casualties so have more numbers and still a small chance to equalize. Lair pulls back their thrower. Then as we advance he long passes to our half. He avoids the fumble. A good choice and it is down to a lino to retrieve the ball and get it forward to save us. But after picking up he fails his gfi and we end with a 2nd loss. My team caused a whopping 5 casualties so it was an avoidable one really. Still a fun match.

Next up I faced Ty and his High Elves. No dodge on the Elves, and so my tackler isn’t looking too hot. For the third match we have the fans and fame against us. But we quickly cause a KO. A solid start and we move past their line. Before long our Humans have caused 3 Kos. Just as I start feeling comfortable and try a little stall a lino double skulls! An Elf dodges through (3+) and 1db pows the thrower down! The ball bounces off a couple of walls to the other flank. We can still get to it, but a lino fumbles it. The ball bounces back toward the middle and an Elf gets it! Oh no, we were turning a good position into bad again. But in turn 6 a Blitzer takes the Elf down. Then another Lino picks up and long passes to the Ogre.... the ball bounces around but the Ogre manages a catch! He doesn't bonehead and he gets the ball over the line. A miracle.Second half there was quite the battle. Twice we got down their ball carriers, but both times they recovered. It was a real back and forth half. The last time they actually fumbled around our end zone. We had a desperate chance to save the win but a human gets a classic gfi fail when trying to put a 2nd tackle zone on the ball! They blitz my standing player away and don't make a mistake again. 1-1. A good match.

So with two matches left I was yet to win. Now I faced Jack P's Orcs. We had +1 fame finally as perhaps the fans felt my team was finally warming up. The rain was pouring down and I chose for the Orcs to receive. The sure hands Orc fumbles the wet ball. Some of my fellas rush forward. It fumbles again! They still have a couple of orcs around the ball and we join in to create a mess. Everyone is pushing around and more players gather. Both sides cause a KO. My Ogre is happy to hang around the LOS boneheaded. Another orc fumbles and the ball bounces off a wall. We manage a pickup and score just before half-time!

Second half the Orcs blitz at kickoff. But their sure hands orc had been given fungus brew to get him back on the pitch. He immediately had a heart attack and died! My thrower has his own turn at fumbling the ball which again bounces off the side. Then my ogre double both downs at the start of my turn 2, and dies from the power of a block Black Orc! The Orcs are getting close but now my thrower manages the pickup. He survives the both down 1DB and manage to get away to preserve the 1-0! That was a fun one too. But very tough for Jack with that wet ball that seemed unpickupable early on.

On to the last game against Rob. He brought Masque United, Pro Elves. No dodge on these either. A surprise selection of two Dump Off skills, which are doubles. I receive. My Ogre gets 1db pow’d straight away and the Elves can move through our centre to pressure my thrower. But one of my blitzers kills a line elf! My thrower and co have a successful couple of turns and we are able to get past halfway. Disaster averted. We never look back from here and the sixes seem to be flowing. We score before half-time. In their turn 6 an Elf fouls but is KO’d by an angry fan rock throw.

Next half we kick. The rain is pouring again, and an Elf fumbles! The Humans are really enjoying this weather. My thrower makes a 5+ pickup but is then cas’d from a 1DB. But we keep going as the Ogre causes a KO and a blitzer recovers the ball and scores. A catcher tried to chase him down but could only get the push from a 1DB.
The Elves want a consolation but furious rioters stun 3 of their 5 remaining players! An Elf fumbles and to add more torment one of my Linos kills an Elf. Then to add insult to injury we pull off a handoff and gfi for a lino to make it 3-0! My team were on fire at the end of the tournament, and there was no chance for my opponent with those dice.
So after a dreadful start I ended reasonably overall with 2 wins, a draw, 2 defeats, and a positive TD record. Plus we take the most casualty prize after a couple of big hitting matches. My Ogre did make some highlights but he boneheaded a lot, and let me down overall considering his value. Tackle didn’t do a lot, and of course Guard and block helped significantly. The main thing was a lot of fun was had! Maurice did really well to make it two tournament wins in two days. There was a surprise at the end that the last placed got the most TDs and then I was given Most casualties but also the wooden spoon! Didn’t seem right and after checking the results the next day it seemed there was a mixup with my last match result recording. Bribes must have been provided! But heads were cracked and the rightful results came in a few days later. Maurice stood ahead, and then the rest of us were very closely positioned in 2nd to 7th. Nobody suffering lots of defeats.

Well done to Jess and co for organizing the tournament, and Orrin for organizing the day before. And a special thanks to the rest of the Magnificent 7 for making the day so enjoyable!