The two Purples (Goo and Chest, respectively) have been blogging in some detail about their NAF tourney exploits, and it is always well received, so I thought I might try my hand at it, too. I won’t pretend I have the Blood Bowl expertise, nor the wit, of those esteemed gentlemen, but I will try my best!

This blog is about HammaBowl last weekend, some 56 coaches for two days and six matches in the beautiful city of Hamburg, which happens to be my home. The venue is a martial arts studio for that 80s Karate Kid feeling, and comes with a nice bar/lounge area for the breaks. It’s relatively new to the tourney scene (3rd year), but well organized, and growing. There were coaches from all over Germany including some big Fumbbl names such as Oventa, Ignaz, and Jokaero who had made the journey from Switzerland. Four coaches had even travelled all the way from Spain.

The rulesset was straightforward, for tier 1 it was the same as Eurobowl. I had brought the one painted team I own, Darkies, and had gone with the standard Block and Wrestle Witch, 3 Blodge Blitzers, Leader Runner roster, leaving the 4th Blitzer and the Assassin at home in favour of an Apoth (who proved to be worth his money). It was a big and strong field of competitors so winning it was a long shot, and I tried to keep my expectations low, although I quite liked the beautifully painted Slann team that was the first price...

Match 1: Bilbo / Chaos, 1-0 win

Chaos was strong in this tourney, lots of coaches trying it out for the World Cup even though the local rules didn’t really favour it. Bilbo had brought a Claw Mino, 4 Block Warriors and 2 MB Beasts, somewhat unconventional, all-in on artrition, but it didn’t work this match. He chose to receive and an early turnover (didn’t reroll) left a small gap in my defence, into which he went. He had a few turns of rolling only pushes, but then two turns in a row snaking the first dodge got me into real trouble. I had to go full elf mode and had a perfect turn of rolling all the 2+ and 3+, with him failing the subsequent 3+ pick-up in the end zone and the crowd giving me the perfect throw-in for the score. He was having a hard time with these dice although I felt without the two snakes earlier it would have never got to it. Also, I had forgotten I had an Apoth, otherwise would have used it on the Block Witch (I promptly got an Apoth marker as my NAF goodie before the next match).

2nd half I started with the ball and still a good number of Dark Elves, but again got in trouble when Bilbo made a 5+ dodge and pow’d my Blodger who had the ball, and this time the crowd throw-in worked well for the Chaos. In the ensuing Melee I fought for all I was worth. He had a shot at the equalizer last turn but it was a very long shot and the dice didn’t play along. Bilbo seemed quite unhappy with his dice overall and certainly he didn’t break a lot of armour, although I will point out that I didn’t give him too many blocks and he got a number of pows on my Blodgers where a push wouldn’t have helped him.

Match 2: Heroic_Tackle / Chaos, 1-0 win

2nd game, 2nd time Chaos, this time a vaguely familiar name from Fumbbl, and a very pleasant opponent. Heroic_Tackle also had the Claw Mino, but brought a Wrestle and a Tackle Beast and 1 Guard Warrior (3 were Block). From the first turn it was clear that this was going to be a different match than the first, let us say, a bit more conventional? I chose to kick, and had some lucky hits early on, sending both the Tackler and the Leader to the casualty box, which was huge. I then chose an aggressive defence, blitzing his cage open and marking a lot of players. Heroic_Tackle had to blitz with his ball carrier and rerolled into double skulls, by which time he rightly concluded it was past time to open the day’s first bottle of beer. I secured the ball but my stall came under pressure when, following a failed dodge, he swiped around my screen with a 3+ dodge and 2 GFIs and knocked down my Blodge ball carrier. He chose not to push him into the endzone for the chance at the crowd throw-in, probably a mistake as he later admitted, so the ball was still behind my screen, but I broke a little sweat and was forced to score T7 and give him some hits on my LoS.

He was still missing his Tackler and his Leader and I had the ball, so half 2 seemed straightforward enough, but then Heroic_Tackle rolled Perfect Defence and played a really heroic drive, relying a lot on his Mino who for once rewarded that faith, and finally the Elves started leaving the pitch. I had sent two guys downfield for a scoring threat and he was hanging back with three Beasts to keep them in check and secure that I couldn’t escape with a lone Blodger, while his CWs and Mino harassed my screen/cage and really didn’t leave me any spaces to move into. So I found myself moving backward instead of moving forward, having to make dodges where snakes would have been deadly almost every turn. But I didn’t snake, and so, managed to defend my lead standing in my own endzone T8.

Match 3: Pedda / Wood Elves, 1-1 draw

With two victories I was up to table 4, for a rematch with Pedda, Swedish expat coach from Berlin, whom I had played at Plattbowl two years earlier, also a really pleasant opponent. He brought beautifully painted Wood Elves with an Apoth instead of the 3rd reroll, Tackle and Strip Ball Wardancers, 2 Wrestle Linos and a Block Lino, which he used to good effect as a back-up blitzer. I chose to kick and Pedda picked up the ball with his Thrower (I prefer to carry with the Strip Wardancer when playing Woodies on offence). He was hanging back trying to run down the clock while still in his own half, with which a Riot was helping. I sent a Blitzer and a Lineman downfield to put a little pressure on the ball, and tried to wall him up with the remaining 9 guys. He defended the threats and regrouped, minimizing dodges as he had few Dodgers and only 2 rerolls, and cleverly refusing to commit to a side. But as he used his blitzes to defend from my two attackers, and the Tree took root early on, he couldn’t progress. His patience was rewarded in the end, I couldn’t fully wall up and he pushed into scoring range T7. Now I was missing the two guys downfield and so, couldn’t make it super hard for him to score. He still had to roll a 3x 3+ and 3x 2+ with Dodge and Team rerolls, and I had a guy waiting in scoring range, but he passed the rolls and went up 1-0. He thought a while about anti-one-turn-setups but in the end, just put the Tree and two Linos on the LoS and the rest in the back, commenting that it wasn’t very likely with MA7 anyway. He started to sweat when I made the pushes, and the pass, but alas, I failed the dodges and that was that. Still as close as I ever got to one-turning with Darkies.

2nd half offence against Woodies, I had no Guard and no Sure Hands, it was like juggling raw eggs. Pedda made an early gambit hitting my Wrestle Witch with his Tackle Wardancer with 2 GFIs, and I in turn tried to surf his Wardancer, but both didn’t work out. Again I found myself moving backwards on my offence, and sent a Blitzer downfield as a scoring threat to open up the game. Two good turns later I was positioned midfield and Pedda felt it was time for some Leap action. I thought that he hadn’t really been in trouble yet and the bounce was relatively well covered, so probably wouldn’t have taken the risk in his place, especially leaping both Wardancers in to get a 1d block as he did. And indeed, he stripped the ball but couldn’t get to it. I snatched it up and passed it to a Blodger to get as far away from the Wardancers as possible, deep in the Woodies’ half. Pedda now needed to roll a couple of dice, which he did, and some chaotic back and forth ensued, more balls were stripped, dump-offs failed (as they usually do), but in the end a bounce went to my free Witch who caught it and and walked it casually in on T8. I had 11 to stop his one-turner and he didn’t have a reroll left, so I wasn’t too worried about that even before I rolled Perfect Defence. In the end, I felt that I had been slightly closer to the victory than the loss, but at any rate the 1-1 was a good result in this match-up.

In the evening 30+ coaches went to the nearby Croatian Restaurant where tables had been reserved, and most of us indulged in large quantities of meat, garlic and hot pepper sauce, washed down with Pils. I had a good chat with fellow Fumbblers Jokaero and Stimme as well as some other coaches. However, everybody went home early in order to be fresh in the morning, no nightlife exploits to report I am afraid.

Match 4: Caid / Chaos, 1-0 win

I was a little bit tired anyway arriving the next morning, to find that I was yet again scheduled against Chaos, this time coached by Caid, who would have been my teammate in Total Reroll at Lucca 2015 if I hadn’t had to cancel (sigh), and proved to be another very nice guy. He had another slight variation of the same build I had seen before, everybody went Claw Mino and spent the double on Leader. Caid’s squad featured two Guard Warriors and a Wrestle Beast.

I won the toss and chose to kick (indeed I kicked first in every single match). It soon proved I wasn’t really up to speed yet, a few positioning mistakes got me into trouble and I had to make a couple of 1d blocks to free myself, but the dice were kind. I was walling up against a very controlled offence but then snaked in T6, leaving the space Caid had been waiting for to move into scoring range T7. His position was a bit shaky though as he had been conservative with his GFIs. I took a 1d blitz to his ball carrier and got him, picked up the ball with a Blodger and chose to hang on to it instead of punting, forgetting the Wrestle Beastman who was in blitzing range. Both Down happened and I was cursing my mistake but luckily 3+ 3+ 4+ 3+ was too hard even with Team Reroll, so it was 0-0 for half time. My offence was a fairly straightforward affair, Caid didn’t take out enough Elves (I used my Apoth on a K.O.’d Blitzer) and I didn’t snake anything important, his Wrestler made a desperate attempt with a 5+ dodge, which he passed, but the 1d block then failed, and so in the end it was a walk-in for me.

Match 5: peterd / Chaos, 0-0 draw

With a 3-1-0 record I was up to table 2, and can you believe it? It was another Chaos team. This one sported the best team name so far, “Natural Horn Killers”, which as coach peterd explained, he has been using for years in tourneys, including Nottingham, so he is pretty sure he was the one to inspire recent publications. Peter turned out to be a great guy, despite winning the price for most casualties caused. ;-) He had no annoying Wrestlers or Tacklers, instead he had a Sure Hands Beast and an additional Guard, and had sacrificed one Reroll for an Apoth.

I chose to kick and he played a very careful offence, staying out of touch more than I would have expected. I stuck to my successful tactic of sparing two guys to attack his cage and keep him on his toes, and he had to take a couple of skill-less blocks, but nothing came of it. Come T8 he was in scoring range with GFIs but I had walled up well. He found a nice chain push to open my screen but used up his reroll on the blitz, and the 3+ 3+ 2+ 2+ without reroll proved too hard. Phew! On my T8 I caused two Cas and his Apoth failed, he was making a commendable effort not to let that double kidney punch get to him but he did lose some of his spirit for a while there. Still he played a fantastic defence second half, especially considering his Leader was out and he only had one Reroll, and his Mino suffered a couple of Wild Animal fails, too. It was all about anticipating where I wanted to be the next turn and the turn after, the true battle of the minds, and he managed to stay ahead of me. He didn’t have enough guys, so had to leave some gaps, but he spaced them just so that I didn’t really want to move into them. I might have pushed on and scored, but I didn’t want to score too early. Then finally some Mino blitzes worked out, the Elves started leaving the pitch (I had again used my Apoth on a K.O.), and come T8, I found myself having to resort to a 1d Block needing push, and a whole bunch of 2+, albeit with Dodge and Team Rerolls. Alas, I snaked it for the 0-0 tie. I think Peter shook my hand three times, it was a really intense game and really well played by him against the odds, I can see why he was on table 2 in game 5 with Chaos of all rosters, and finished 4th of 56. Hats off!

Match 6: Ignaz / Dark Elves, 2-1 win

For the last match it was table 2 again, this time against a familiar name from Fumbbl, Ignaz (also recent winner of the Berlin Open), who had been playing at table 1 with his Dark Elves the match before. It was three Darkies in the lead, Sprinter and Ignaz had 4-1-0 and I had 3-2-0. Ignaz proved to be a really fun guy and we had a couple of good laughs, completing the entirely pleasant social experience. We both still had a chance to win the tourney (his better than mine) so the pressure was on, but all in good humour.

Ignaz had a fourth Blitzer and no Apoth but otherwise the same roster as me. However, it was soon to show that he plays Darkies with an entirely different philosophy, much more aggressive. He won the toss and chose to receive, pushing into scoring range early. I made a bad decision trying to push his Witch on the sideline, and got a Blitzer surfed as a result (went to reserve). He might have stalled but chose to score T3. My K.O. didn’t come back so I was one man down having 6 turns to score. Made another silly mistake and burned a reroll, my brain felt deep fried at this point. But I stayed patient, protected the ball and sent a scoring threat downfield, which tied up two of his players. Then I found a chainpush to open up his screen, pushed through with six players, and was able to bring in the score with two GFIs in T8.

1-1 and receiving for half 2, still one man down. My poor tired brain had to finally snap into focus as we realized we had less than an hour left, so quick turns were in order, and Ignaz went full aggressive mode on a deep kick, ringfencing all my players except for the three hanging back. But I stepped up to the challenge, freed up some players with a blitz, made some dodges and pushed forward. Now he was hurrying back and the game of switching sides ensued. I had to work hard to protect my Blodge ball carrier, and after I had done that, proceeded to unnerve Ignaz turn for turn by 3+ dodging out of the pockets he was sealing my Dodgers in, while I left my unskilled Linos in contact. I think he probably took a few too many of the blocks I offered, at the cost of position, but of course I was lucky he didn’t cause any real damage. I also sent a scoring threat downfield again and he continued to blitz him instead of blitzing the cage, so I was able to keep the ball relatively safe. We had learnt that Sprinter had won his match on table 1, the word was Ignaz could get to Runner-Up with a tie, while I needed the victory (in fact Ignaz could have even still won the tourney with a victory as he had the better opponent score, but we didn’t know that at the time). I pushed down the right flank, he tried to close the door with some GFIs but failed the last one, and I chose to score T7 with only some 1/36 risks, as I didn’t have anything near a good stall left. He had two turns and a reroll to equalize and 9 against 9, I didn’t really feel confident about it but then I rolled Perfect Defence and he had a turn of rolling crap, and that was that. He was understandably frustrated but kept it together well.

The aftermath: 4-2-0 matches, 6-2 touchdowns, 7-8 casualties, Runner-Up and tied for Best Defence (Stimme was 7-2 so took the latter on tie-breaker). Anyhow, I got a great trophy for Runner-Up and lots of props, very happy with the result. Of course I was lucky drawing 4x Chaos but hey, don’t hold it against me. ;-)