by Darkson (full results at the bottom)
The dust has settled, the sugar dispenser cleaned out and the tournament box packed away, possibly to never see the daylight again.
So how did my final ARBBL(?) go?
Well, from the organiser’s chair, it all went rather well. From a high of 47 signees, we eventually ended up with 38 coaches on the day, a nice even number that meant I wouldn’t have to play and could concentrate on the admin side. A late-arriving coach meant that the first round was delayed a little, but the flex I’ve always added into the lunch break meant we easily caught that up.
The coaches were soon rolling dice, cursing softly (or loudly in some cases) and trying their hardest to make those all important Touchdowns. Amongst the coaches were the youngest ever participant, Dementor, and perhaps the n00biest n00b to ever enter a Blood Bowl tournament, BinarySeconday, who had only managed a half of Blood Bowl before the event started (on the Friday night!).
The games trundled along at a fair pace for the most part, though SillySod had to be told repeatedly to hurry up. One game, due to some serious nufflings of one side was finished within half an hour of the round starting.
Also from game 2, the spot prizes came into play, so at least if you had some serious bad luck you got a little something (the “first block to injure your own player” prize went first.
End of day one had a very close field at the top of the table. I deliberately didn’t let anyone see the scores, TDs or Cas as I wanted to keep everything as much a surprise as possible. I was also presented by the bad news a coach was going to have to drop out of day 2, so unless I could get a ringer in I’d have to play.
The Saturday night was a games night. In previous years we’d gone out for a meal, but the regular restaurant had closed, and the other option had been a dead-loss at the Pick’n’Mix, so I offered the coaches a choice of going out somewhere or staying in the hall for whatever games people wanted to play. Those that replied said nerding, so nerding it was. Various board, card and dice games were brought out and enjoyed. Evening was spoilt a little by the local pizza place being useless at delivery, but an enjoyable evening nonetheless. Also added a new word to BB vocabulary, “poot”, as we had children present. 😉
Day 2 started with no ringer, and surprisingly, given that the clocks had gone forward an hour, no missing coaches, so I dived into playing, hoping to get my games finished as quickly as possible. Also meant I didn’t have as much time to watch what was going on, but by now there was a gap appearing between the top 8 or so coaches and the rest. The games went on, Jokers were played, and finally it was time for the final round.
The bottom 4 coaches went off to play in the Pumpkinbowl 4-way, and the other coaches started their final game. 8 coaches had a chance (some better than others) of taking the tile, but it was most likely to be decided by the top 2 games. Elsewhere, especially given that we don’t award more than one prize per coach, Most TDs and Most Cas were both to be fought over.
Eventually the last game was finished, and with the Pumpkinbowl ongoing, the tables and chairs were tidied away. The Pumpkinbowl got progressively more vicious in the hope to find a winner, but in the end no-one scored, so the title was awarded to the player with the most players left alive (there were only 17 players left of 48+).
The final scores were tallied, the winners double-checked and the it was time for the awards. Everyone pretty much knew who’d won, given his record, but the other awards all came as a surprise, especially Giraffe winning Most Cas, who was so excited he almost punched himself in the face as he was celebrating!
With the awards done, it was just a case of thanking the guys at ARBBL that helped, thank the coaches for attending, then send them on their way to discuss the “what ifs” and work out what they were going to take to the next tournament.
As for me, the final tidying, then that was it. I’d already said I was taking a break from BB tournaments in 2016, so this might have been the last ARBBL, or at least the last for me. 11 tournaments over 8 years, so I hope the coaches that have attended, once or multiple times, have enjoyed themselves, as that’s the only reason to run these things. The ARBBL might be back under new management next year, it might not, but from me, thank you all.
Winners:
Welsh Open On Tour (WOOT!) award: Dementor
Splat: Most Cas taken: Radster (26)
Rolled Over: Most TDs conceded: BinarySecond (12) [Dementor had 15]
Pumpkinbowl Spoon Winner: Enderman
Most Cas: Giraffe (24)
Most TDs: Lycos (14) [Val had 16]
Stunty Cup: Itchen
Glowworm award: hawca
Runner Up: CeeTee
Champion: vmcat
Final Results (including “joker bonus”)
| # | Team | Race | NAF Name | Score | Touchdowns | Casualties | ||||
| 1 | 21. We Got Wood | Wood Elf | vmcat | 364 | 16 | – | 7 | 11 | – | 17 |
| 2 | 5. Galloping Ghosts | Chaos Dwarf | Ceetee | 317 | 9 | – | 4 | 15 | – | 10 |
| 3 | 14. Gorachod Heb Taflwr | Wood Elf | Dionysian | 305 | 12 | – | 6 | 6 | – | 10 |
| 4 | 11. Welsh River Rats | Skaven | hawca | 286 | 11 | – | 7 | 11 | – | 9 |
| 5 | 35. Hawk | Wood Elf | Hawk | 281 | 12 | – | 10 | 8 | – | 13 |
| 6 | 28. I Can See My House Fimir | Chaos | sann0638 | 279 | 9 | – | 7 | 14 | – | 6 |
| 7 | 25. NorthernKnight | Undead | Northernknight | 277 | 8 | – | 5 | 11 | – | 8 |
| 8 | 15. Ravenstone Ravengers | Norse | Cerumol | 262 | 7 | – | 4 | 15 | – | 10 |
| 9 | 33. Hogshine | Human | Hogshine | 262 | 8 | – | 6 | 13 | – | 13 |
| 10 | 16. Goblian | Goblin | Itchen | 258 | 6 | – | 5 | 20 | – | 18 |
| 11 | 39. Bad Habits | Amazon | Merrick | 255 | 9 | – | 5 | 8 | – | 12 |
| 12 | 13. blocknroll | Human | blocknroll | 255 | 9 | – | 8 | 9 | – | 7 |
| 13 | 17. Scorpion Legion | Necromantic | DeeTee | 242 | 10 | – | 8 | 14 | – | 10 |
| 14 | 24. Kurgan’s Kannibals | Norse | WaddyWoos | 240 | 8 | – | 9 | 13 | – | 15 |
| 15 | 26. Eski | Chaos Dwarf | Eski | 237 | 7 | – | 4 | 12 | – | 12 |
| 16 | 37. Deaf Leppers | Undead | Giraffe | 237 | 5 | – | 5 | 24 | – | 3 |
| 17 | 12. Dapiranha | Skaven | dapiranha | 236 | 8 | – | 7 | 8 | – | 13 |
| 18 | 6. Purple People Eaters | Dark Elf | Besters | 235 | 6 | – | 5 | 13 | – | 11 |
| 19 | 18. Lycos | Wood Elf | Lycos | 227 | 14 | – | 9 | 6 | – | 10 |
| 20 | 19. Great Graven | Necromantic | Gazza | 227 | 10 | – | 7 | 16 | – | 13 |
| 21 | 32. Sillysod | Goblin | Sillysod | 210 | 7 | – | 6 | 11 | – | 24 |
| 22 | 23. sfisher91 | Wood Elf | sfisher91 | 205 | 9 | – | 7 | 4 | – | 9 |
| 23 | 1. Eternal Lament | High Elf | moodygit | 203 | 7 | – | 9 | 9 | – | 5 |
| 24 | 20. I Thought You Were Playing Ogres or Human? | Dwarf | lunchmoney | 198 | 5 | – | 8 | 13 | – | 5 |
| 25 | 27. Sisters of No Mercy | Human | Glowworm | 189 | 6 | – | 9 | 11 | – | 13 |
| 26 | 22. On Target | Pro Elf | radster | 178 | 9 | – | 8 | 5 | – | 26 |
| 27 | 31. scs.sam | Chaos | scs.sam | 173 | 5 | – | 9 | 14 | – | 10 |
| 28 | 3. Brians Blessed | Chaos Dwarf | nobbynobbs | 168 | 5 | – | 7 | 13 | – | 16 |
| 29 | 8. The Darkhold Crushers | Dwarf | canteloup | 156 | 6 | – | 8 | 4 | – | 11 |
| 30 | 10. James | Skaven | BinarySecondary | 156 | 9 | – | 12 | 4 | – | 5 |
| 31 | 38. jimmy_jazz | Necromantic | jimmy_jazz | 155 | 8 | – | 10 | 13 | – | 3 |
| 32 | 0. Darkson | Chaos | Darkson | 151 | 4 | – | 0 | 10 | – | 2 |
| 33 | 7. camsbell1514 | Halfling | camsbell1514 | 136 | 4 | – | 9 | 15 | – | 25 |
| 34 | 29. Enderman | Dwarf | Enderman | 124 | 4 | – | 8 | 11 | – | 7 |
| 35 | 9. Team Sexual Beard | Dwarf | Shipley_Dancing_Man | 111 | 3 | – | 11 | 8 | – | 7 |
| 36 | 30. Average Avengers | Human | Dementor | 111 | 4 | – | 15 | 10 | – | 10 |
| 37 | 2. BigBelcher | Lizardman | BigBelcher | 108 | 3 | – | 6 | 4 | – | 16 |
| 38 | 4. Skaffen | Nurgle Rotters | Skaffen | 64 | 1 | – | 11 | 12 | – | 7 |
| 39 | 34. Joth | Dwarf | Joth | 56 | 3 | – | 5 | 8 | – | 5 |