Blood Bowl is an individual game, where you pit your wits and luck against an opponent, one on one, but some events take it beyond this to give the extra layer of camaraderie and banter that comes from being on a team of three, four, six or even eight players, who sit together across the table from another team, offering encouragement, abuse, but no coaching!
The biggest of these team events is the NAF World Cup, the third of which takes place in Italy next year. Teams of 6 compete here across 9 games, usually representing a local league rather than a country, or even just a group of friends from a particular country or across the globe. WC1 in Nottingham in 2007 was won by Les Azes from France, and in 2011 the Waterbowlers from Manchester took the trophy home from Amsterdam, leading a field of 480 competitors.
Next up in side is the Eurobowl, coming to Belgium next month for its 10th incarnat
ion, this time with the EurOpen alongside as an event of 3 player teams. In contrast to the WC, the Eurobowl has strictly one team of eight per country, with at least 6 of each team (and usually all of them) being from that country, with the same rules as UEFA for qualifying. There’s a full preview of Eurobowl 2014 on this website.
Moving around the world, the Ausbowl Team Championship takes place every two years with teams of three, and is named after the forum for Australasian coaches. Rumours are that it is heading to New Zealand for the first time in 2016! The North American Team Championship (NATC) experienced the bright lights of Vegas in 2013, and early next year the inaugurual UK Team Championship will draw visitors to the beautiful city of York – still time to get your entry in!
Team events are nothing new however, as this weekend the Rendezvous returns to France, as one of the oldest French BB tournaments. France have a particularly strong record of team tournaments, hosting the Lutece Cup each year (except next, with the WC) in a barn in central France – such a prestigious tournament they have their own currency! Italy have the Tilean Cup, and in Spain there is the aptly named Dream Teams.
On a smaller (but still perfectly formed) scale there are other team events such as the Arbbl Pick n Mix in the UK, where you need to choose two different races to use over the weekend, and in the past Flamebowl in Manchester had a good following, though is on a hiatus at the moment.
In a slightly different format, no doubt across the globe there are other versions of team tournaments, used to satisfy (or sometimes create) local rivalries, as seen in the Jocks v Geordies recent clash. What’s your favourite team tournament, is there a big one we have missed or are missing out on? What should people put on their bucket list?