Hello, and welcome to my September round-up of all things NAF tournament!
This month seems to have given us a brief period of respite, what with no new GW news to chew on, and I think that has allowed us to gather our collective breath and look at other things, before BB2020 arrives to dominate the conversation.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic continues to significantly impact tabletop Blood Bowl, we did see a NAF major take place in September as the Chaos Cup took place in Chicago. Jeffro (TO) did an absolutely marvelous job in the build-up, almost incorporating the madness going on around us to the branding of the tournament. It is no small accomplishment, keeping the show on the road in spite of the pandemic impacting every facet of day to day life, and he should be given a warm hand for making do and delivering something that looked awesome. Some more words on the big US shindig below.
There are also more words enclosed in this blog on our recent announcement regarding the 2023 World Cup bidding process and NAF Nationals, a new class of tournament coming your way in 2021. This is a pretty big and exciting addition to the NAF landscape, so it’s no surprise many of you have had your say on social media and via email already.
As per my other recent blogs, it’s difficult to estimate just how much NAF Blood Bowl has taken place this month. We do know that our online tournaments have been COVID-proof and continuing / concluding, and congratulations to All the President’s Men for winning the team-based Amorical Cup Online over on FUMBBL (back on form after a sticky World Cup!) and to Sebotouno and his Lizards for winning the Welsh Open over on BB2. Whatever you online BB platform of choice, I know that in October, the next event is going to be spooling up, so keep those eyes peeled!
On the FUMBBL side, the Amorical Cup Online was Strider84’s last tournament as FUMBBL NAF TO. Organising and running these events to the quality Alex has managed over the recent past is no small feat, nor a trivial time undertaking on his part. Everyone that has participated in these events (and beyond that, everyone happy they’re happening at all) will no doubt wish Strider well in his ‘retirement’ from the job, and I speak for all of us when I thank him for his efforts. The new team of Stingray, Stimme and Neilwat have a lot to live up to, but I’m sure they will!
So, over to Chicago and the Chaos Cup. We’ll hear below from TO Jeffro, we have some images kindly donated from Josh Wojcik (5th with Underworld, he was keen to tell me), and I’ve stolen the odd picture from social media too. 48 coaches, the strongest theme of the majors (arguably?) and the only NAF major to survive COVID. Take it away, Jeff!
Report
Forty-eight masked and healthy coaches attended Chaos Cup 2020 at the Rose Hotel in Rosemont, IL – right by Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The second year at this venue was just as welcoming, and was run much smoother. Any misunderstandings between the guests and the venue from 2019 were ironed out and a thing of the past. All coaches were pleasantly abiding by the Nurgle’s Rot Mitigations put in place, and we had SO much room for games it was luxurious. With the way 2020 has been going, we weren’t sure we would be able to host the event. International visitors were (justifiably) not willing or able to come to the states… which is unfortunate, but not a reason to cancel the event. We were not able to get as many donations from other conventions this year (because they were cancelled) so we didn’t have any raffles for charity… but that rather kept us on schedule and everyone had time for their games, time for meals, time for interaction between games, and everything was on time start to finish. We even started EARLY on Sunday morning – with everyone accounted for!! I do not anticipate that EVER happening again… but it was a welcome surprise. Champions were crowned and glorious stories made and told.
My “soapbox moment” that I want to reiterate here – because there were some people that did not come because they thought it was not safe… and there were people that did not come because they did not think the mask mandate was necessary – my thought was that the measures taken had people from both extremes deciding to not attend of their own volition, based on their choice and comfortability. But with social media and the polarization it thrusts upon the population of the world at large, I did – and do – feel that even though we can play versions of this game online… our game is one where we can sit across from our opponent, know there might be someone who thinks and believes differently than we do, and we can still recognize the humanity of that person… and have a fun game! I know it’s silly (my wife thinks this game is silly ;)) but I do believe that human interaction and the recognition of the differences within our shared humanity is an important thing to have in life right now. We can be easily pulled away from it and go to our social bubbles and echo chambers… but this game and the silly toys we put so much time, effort, and joy into playing with – they can and should be shared in person as much as we are able. I’m thankful for everyone that attended and I look forward to providing more opportunities in the future.
~Jeff Gallenbeck (jeffro)
Some good words and interesting views from Jeff, there. I’m sure that many of us share the view that our game is one of social interaction, which of course the pandemic is robbing us of every day. Whether you think it right and safe to play TT BB at the moment is down to you; your situation, your local guidelines and rules and your appetite for risk. There are no easy answers, but there are nice images when some of us do come together to play, as shown below!
Get over to https://www.facebook.com/thechaoscup/ for more standings, images, news, reviews and whatever else you need, but below is an image of your winner (suitably masked up) William Mayo, who took the title with his Chaos Dwarf outfit. Hard luck to Josh Wyatt’s Norse, who had to settle for runner-up. also shown, glorious swag!
TD Notes
This month, the team and I have approved 27 tournaments (one of which is a Sevens event). this is about half what we would expect in non-pandemic times. As ever, please refer to our advice from earlier in the year if you need to cancel or rearrange your tournament due to reasons outside of your control.
It’s great to be able to begin to set the expectations around World Cup 2023 bidding. I’ve fielded a few emails asking when bidding opens, asking for advice around bidding, etc. I think we as a membership are all really clear that we take what we learned from Dornbirn 2019 and apply it to the next WC, so with that in mind, the support document we plan to have with you around the turn of the year will help shape the bids to deliver the best World Cup for the membership. While we don’t want to stifle any creativity nor tread on any toes, there will be some stuff in there that we feel is a must have. But broadly speaking, I think it’ll be uncontroversial. Mainly, I’m just excited to be thinking about it!
Speaking of excitement, I am super excited about NAF Nationals, for all sorts of reasons. It has long been the case that rabid communities that produce massive 50, 100, 150 + coach tournaments have been locked out of the Major tournament club, simply because there are a finite number of them to go around. Having a new system that is distinct from the Majors but serves these communities has been on several wishlists for a while (we’ve seen ‘Masters Series’, ‘Minor Tour’ and other concepts that fulfill a similar purpose described many times down the years), and I feel like we’ve come up with the best implementation I’ve seen.
How best to introduce the Nationals was always going to be a problem that did not have a perfect solution everyone would immediately buy into (see also: any decision the committee ever make). Moving the Majors around? Causes logistical issues, fallout in communities used to having Majors, probably cuts off whole continents for years on end. Giving every nation a National? Somewhat dilutes the brand, gives us too many ‘double point’ tournaments so they are less meaningful and in some smaller areas, perhaps causes a negative impact on the tournament infrastructure by dominating. Splitting huge geographic countries into regions, to give out Nationals according to space / area? Probably causes complaints that countries have multiple double point tournaments, impacts the size and gravitas of existing Majors, potential for disagreement over where the Nationals are…
I don’t list these potential issues to enter into a debate or to answer any specific member who is feeling aggrieved that the National initiative doesn’t speak to them right now. The purpose was more to show that there isn’t a one size fits all, perfect answer, and all of these points (and more) were considered before we came up with what we felt was a fair and equitable system. I feel like 100 active members and one 50 coach tournament is a mark which is high enough to make Nationals special, but not so high that growing nations are forever frozen out. The mark, to me, feels rewarding, perhaps challenging but not impossible. Which is where it should be.
All that said, we haven’t even named a tournament a National anywhere, yet. Let’s see how the program goes in 2021, if the tournaments are popular, if the mark still feels right after a year of play. We can always revisit and rethink. While I’m speaking to a minority of negative feedback here, there was an overwhelming positivity around the idea, and I think that’s going to generate some really well attended, prestigious events I can’t wait to hear about. And that can’t be a bad thing.
Holiday plans
We covered Jan / Feb last month, so let’s look at what is penciled in for Mar / Apr 2021:
Athens Arena Classic @ OdyCon21 20 Mar. bastion01 runs convention tournaments every year in the US, but this seems to be a new one. Worth getting in at the ground level, if in Ohio.
North Wales Carnage Cup III: STORM WARNING 10 / 11 Apr. If you like heavily house ruled NAF tournaments, roblem has come up with a cracker. Get in here, and bring your GW pitch weather tables.
Coupe des Voraces 3 17 / 18 Apr. I’m told Lyon features the best food in France. Don’t be upset with me, French members from other regions! Also team Blood Bowl in France, probably my favourite thing.
Next time
See you same time, same place for a review of November’s action. As ever, until we meet again, stay safe and well.
Phil.
Awesome blog thank you! These are always fun to read.
I’m super excited about nationals and overall tournaments like that. It could really rope the BB community together even more. Right now (speaking from a US perspective) we have pockets of groups – floridians, midwest, BEAST, great lakes, and there’s a bunch more. It would be neat to have an overall competition that kept us trying to travel around and mingle (when non covid safer of course).
Looks like a fantastic tournament was enjoyed by all. Thanks for the rundown!