Ten Years Later: Now an International Event
The weekend of September the 14th and 15th marked the tenth anniversary of the Spike! Magazine Blood Bowl tournament. 6 years since the tournament made its way out to the Pacific North West from where it started in Ontario back in 2004, and the Canadian Major that at times had struggled to take place at all has now become an international event with participants not only from Washington State and Oregon, but now coaches from Spain, Denmark and now Sweden. Like its North American counterpart the Chaos Cup, the Spike! Magazine tournament has long ceased being a tournament with only local participants but the international NAF Major it was always meant to be.
Both North American Majors experienced a Swedish invasion this year, with Jonas (ozt) leading his troupe from Sodertalje and Stockholm to hit both the Chaos Cup and the Spike! Magazine. David (meowth) took the Chaos Cup, as well as Most Touchdowns at the Spike! Jonas placed 2nd and 4th at Chaos Cup and Spike! respectively, Magnus (Mago) took 3rd at both events, with Anders (NIWnW) being the undisputed Stunty Champion at both Majors this year! Needless to say the Swedes were coming for blood this year taking 3 out of the 10 glittering prizes at this year’s Spike!
2013 also saw the return of Spike! Magazine 2012 Champion Kaare Foged (kfoged) from Denmark – not only to try and defend his Spike! title but also to take another crack at winning the Chaos Cup. As it turned out Kaare placed 2nd at the Spike! this year and it was one of the most contested Spike! championships in recent memory. Nobody at Spike! 2013 had a perfect record, and the difference between 2nd and Champion came down to bonus points and head to head.
Travis (frostitute) from the Ordo Fanaticus club in Portland, Oregon took home the Spike! Magazine Trophy this year. This was Travis’s fourth appearance at the Spike! as well as his club mates. He took 4th last year at Spike! 2012 with Underworld and Fezglitch so one could say he was due once he played a more competitive team like Undead. Although he beat Kaare this year in the fourth round he lost to Tyler (lordchaos) in the fifth. We honestly didn’t know who was going to win the whole thing until the completion of the final round, which made it very exiting for myself as well as the participants, as well as a testament to how deep the coaching pool has become in recent years.
To no surprise Mike (nitnit) took home the Painting Award for the second time in 6 years with his amazing Amazon team. To those who know him and have seen his work first hand, Mike continues to raise the bar not only with his technique but also his modeling. His Snotling Hordes army for WFB is still legendary in the Pacific North West for those who had the fortune to witness it, and his Goblin Team he constructed for his first Spike! Painting Award in 2010 still turns heads.
Jay (weav) from Portland, Oregon winning Outstanding Sportsmanship for the second time in 4 years came as no surprise as well. Weav has always been a great ambassador of the hobby and is one of the principle organizers in Oregon, running premier WFB and 40K events at the annual OFCC in Portland.
Surprises this year came from Eric (Raindog), also from Portland, winning the Rambo Award for Most Casualties Inflicted, and Tyler (lordchaos) winning Best Defense. Tyler being in contention for taking the whole event came as a shock this year – not because he’s not a good player, but because he’s gone out of his way to capture the Rambo Award each year: or at least 3 years in a row. It was refreshing to see him in the running for something other than Casualties.
It’ll come as no surprise to his club mates from Thunderbowl who have witnessed his on field dilemmas over the last decade in League play, but a shock to those who witnessed his great run at this year’s North American Team Challenge, but Kristian (wedge22) won the infamous Glass Joe Award this year for Lowest Coaching Score with one tie with Ogres. This came with Damion (tremere) from Edmonton’s relief after earning the infamous distinction for the last 2 Spike!s in a row. Probably not the Award he wished to win, but finally Kristian was able to take home some silverware after being a Spike! faithful for the last 6 years. Needless to say he’s retiring the Ogres in tournament play for good.
Given it was the tenth anniversary of the Spike! Magazine tournament, Thunderbowl was very proud to be able to giveaway a full set of 104 Special Play Cards to every participant who attended this year. Full coloured, complete with card descriptions and pictures, as well as embossed in laminate for protection from drunken gamers. We had a substantial door prize table this year provided from Impact Miniatures, as well as donations from participants themselves as well as from the NAF. Special thanks goes out to Bryan (grither) from Utah for donating a great ape Big Guy model, as well as Trevor (islandtrevor) donating his entire painted Amazon team at the conclusion of the event. Every participant not only walked away with a deck of cards but also something from the door prize table.
As an organizer this was probably the best Spike! Magazine tournament that we’ve held to date. The venue – the Pacific Inn Resort in White Rock, British Columbia was outstanding. The banquet room we held the event in had it own private backyard for participants to get a breather, and the hall itself was very spacious, and the service was phenomenal. And finally we had credible air conditioning that we actually had to turn down. In all: the smoothest event we’ve ever had the pleasure to host.
I’d not only like to thank Jonas, Magnus, David, Anders and Kaare for making the journey across the 
Atlantic, but also Damion (tremere) and Sean (Balbaroy) faithfully doing the drive from Edmonton year after year. Thanks to Jay, Dan, David, Shane, Mark, Eric and Travis from Portland for continuing to make the trek from Oregon, as well as Andy (Khail), Jason (casebolt), and Mike (Awruan) from Washington State for their support. It was great meeting Dale (mrblack) this year from the Island, as well as huge thanks to Bryan (grither) for making the trip out from Utah thus year. This event would be nothing without the continuing support from Washington State, Oregon, Alberta as well as our internationals and so we thank you.
The Spike! website has full details, including loads of pictures and an alternative report.
– GeneralJason
There were 2 Englishmen and at least 4 Americans at the first one I went to in 2004!
History, schmistory 😉