Welcome to the June issue of the Tournament Director Blog, your prime source for all things related to NAF tournaments. Here, we provide not only the latest updates from the tournament scene, but also key information, previews of upcoming events, and of course, recaps of recent tournaments.
For this month’s edition, we cover the North American tournament series GLAM, the Big Lick, and the Tilean Teams Cup.
As always, if you want to contribute any content to this blog (e.g. a report of a recent tournament you visited or ran), reach out! Contact info is available on our NAF staff site.
Content
- NAF Chatter
1.1 Clarification of Membership Fee
1.2 Multiple Accounts - Report: Tournament Series GLAM (by seanh1986)
- Report: Big Lick (by Megamind)
- Report: Tilean Teams Cup (by Volkajo)
- Outlook
1. NAF Chatter
1.1. Clarification of Membership Fee
Another NAF committee meeting recently took place, and you can expect the minutes to be published very soon. One item that was covered, and which I would like to highlight already now, is a clarification of the annual membership fee.
As a rule of thumb, we have been asking for 5 EUR/USD/GBP when signing up (or renewing) in person, and 10 equivalent currency units when signing up or renewing online on the website. The reason is that we save shipping costs when new and old members receive the annual gift directly from a NAF representative. Now, it seems that this has been handled differently when there was no representative available at a tournament. In some cases, tournament organizers would collect a fiver, while others would collect a tenner.
Facing increasingly rising shipping costs and the workload associated with coordinating these shipments, we want to clarify now: the fee is 5 EUR/USD/GBP when the gift is provided on-site, and 10 bucks when shipping is required.
Not all tournaments will have a representative or distributor present that can supply the gifts on the day of the tournaments. We highly encourage organizers that would like to offer the reduced price to their attendees to contact their local NAF reps to organize a batch shipment or hand-off of the required gifts. They’ll be happy to assist.
The respective NAF site has now been also updated with the clarified guidelines.
1.2 Multiple Accounts
Let’s come straight to the point. Nobody should have multiple NAF accounts, even if you are certified bipolar and have a doctor’s attest that testifies that you both love and hate playing Dwarves at the same time.
We occasionally stumble across multi-account users. Sometimes members don’t remember that they had already opened an account ten years earlier, sometimes there is confusion with the tournament organizer who assumes the coach is new. Sometimes coaches forget their passwords or want to forget their poor opening performance and decide to open a new account.
I have heard that some coaches have “fun” accounts that they use for more exotic tournaments or to try stuff out. That’s as acceptable as having a fun driver’s license to speed on the Autobahn, or a fun passport to smuggle Xbox games for Kim Jong Un.
In any case, no coach should have more than one associated account. It undermines the fairness of the game by distorting (even more) players’ rankings and statistics and skews the competitive landscape. It makes it challenging to keep track of actual member numbers. And importantly, it creates issues when it comes to NAF committee elections.
If you are aware of duplicate accounts, or need help to merge existing accounts (which is manually possible), please reach out to a NAF staff member and we’ll get it fixed.
2. Report: Tournament Series GLAM (by seanh1986)
About the Series
The GLAM (Great Lakes Amorical) tournament series was started in 2016, aiming to promote travel and greater participation in Blood Bowl events in the Great Lakes area. It is sanctioned and sponsored by the NAF and includes Canadian and US-American tournaments in the states of Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
In short, coaches earn points based on their performance in tournaments within the region. Larger tournaments earn more points. At the end of the year, coaches earn awards based on their performance.
Main & Stunty Rankings
Over the years, the GLAM rule set has evolved, leading to much tighter races as well as offering participants a wider variety of ways to compete. A detailed breakdown of the GLAM rules can be found on the site, with the key elements highlighted below.
- Scores are determined based on the best 5 tournaments
- Organizers can earn a maximum of 2 bonus points for the year
- Four events are designated as Premier events, earning participants extra points
Achievement Rankings
In addition to the main rankings and the corresponding stunty rankings, the GLAM also introduced the Achievement Rankings, which are intended to focus on other aspects of blood bowl tournament participation, aside from simply winning. The winner of the achievement points earns a separate prize. The achievement points are broken down into the following criteria.
- Attendance (up to 4 points)
- Organizer (Up to 3 points)
- Racial Diversity (Up to 5 points, e.g., playing different races or stunties)
- Winning Awards (Up to 6 points, e.g., most TD/casualties, best painted, wooden spoon)
- Travel (Up to 2 points, e.g., playing in different cities or countries)
- Variants (Up to 2 points, e.g., playing different blood bowl variants)
Awards & Prizes
Dice
Individuals that have attended a minimum of 5 GLAM tournaments are eligible for a set of GLAM D6s. In addition, winners of the GLAM series also earn Gold, Silver, or Bronze dice. Similarly, Stunty and Achievement winners also receive unique D6s.
GLAM Trophies (3D printed in resin, ~2” tall)
Trophies will be awarded for the following individuals.
- Champion
- Runner-Up
- Third Place
- Stunty Champ
- Top Achiever
- Top Ontario
- Top Quebec
- Top Ohio
- Top Michigan
- Top Illinois
- Top Indiana
GLAM Current Status
If you’re interested in the 2024 GLAM results, the website is updated regularly. Or you can check out the Eye of Nuffle podcast’s Glance at the GLAM segment. The popularity of the Eye of Nuffle podcast has definitely helped inspire recognition across the GLAM region and boosted tournament attendance, especially across borders!
At the halfway point through the year, we have had 23 GLAM events so far! This puts us on pace for ~46 GLAM events, which would break 2023’s record of 41!
In January, we had our first Premier event of the year, the Capital City Kick Off (CCKO), with +50 participants, the winner, mrlight, earned 20 points and jumped out to an early lead! In May, the second premier event was the Brewhouse Bowl, which was won by seanh1986, earning him 17 points. Most recently, the Amorical Cup concluded in Ottawa, Ontario, which included +200 attendees, leading to many GLAM points, and shaking up the current rankings. As of June 9, the current rankings are shown below. Note that variant tournaments count towards the achievement rankings but not towards the main rankings.
Main Rankings
- seanh1986 – 76 points (9 tournaments)
- Drakenspear – 71 points (9 tournaments)
- Manz62 – 66 points (5 tournaments)
- Meerkul – 64 points (9 tournaments)
- frozenflame – 63 points (4 tournaments)
- Valgas – 63 points (5 tournaments)
- sols – 62 points (5 tournaments)
- runki_khrum – 61 points (10 tournaments)
- mrlight – 61 points (5 tournaments)
- Buffalo_Chris – 57 points (9 tournaments)
Stunty Rankings
- Valgas – 41 points (3 tournaments)
- cam – 40 pts (4 tournaments)
- hammer16 – 35 pts (3 tournaments)
Achievement Rankings
- Drakenspear – 13 points (12 tournaments)
- KidRichard – 12 points (12 tournaments)
- NotThePornGuy – 10 points (10 tournaments)
- Meerkul – 10 points (12 tournaments)
- Buffalo_Chris – 10 points (10 tournaments)
Once again, it looks like it will be a tight race right until the end! There is still lots of time for movement in the rankings, especially with the two remaining Premier events: Zlurpee Bowl (August 24-24 in Indiana) and Underworld Cup (October 19-20 in Michigan).
3. Report: Big Lick (by Megamind)
The 6th edition of the Big Lick Brawl took place in Roanoke, Virginia, this past April, attracting 68 coaches and making it the largest single-day team tournament in the United States this year. Blood Bowl enthusiasts came together for a day of intense competition, camaraderie, and celebration. Coaches engaged in three games of Blood Bowl mayhem, with four players composing each team. The tournament featured numerous exciting giveaways, individual and squad awards, and recognition for the best race performance under special rules (i.e. keywords such as Favored Of, Elven Kingdoms, and World’s Edge Superleague).
The night before the tournament, many Blood Bowl coaches attended the Roanoke Railyard Dawgs hockey game. It was a great way to get into the sporting spirit and provided an excellent excuse to enjoy copious amounts of beer and indulge in nachos. Attendees witnessed the Dawgs defeating the Ice Bears 3-0! For some, it was their first hockey experience, and a few lucky ones even appeared on the Jumbotron. This unique outing allowed coaches to relax and connect with others they might not have the chance to play against the next day. I encourage other tournament organizers to look into hosting these sort of non-Blood Bowl events to get more quality time together with the community.
In our region, we have a strong preference for endzone-to-endzone orientation in Blood Bowl matches. However, achieving this can be challenging due to the standard table sizes available at most venues and game stores. To enhance player experience, we implemented a significant improvement this year: custom table-toppers.
“Big Lick Brawl is one of my favorite annual Blood Bowl events! Events like these truly make the Blood Bowl community thrive.” – Fluff
These toppers were crafted from plywood, secured in place with cut wood blocks, and covered with a tablecloth. The effort invested in creating these reusable toppers allowed coaches to maintain our region’s popular pitch orientation style without the strain of reaching across two tables. Additionally, they eliminated the discomfort of knees bumping under the table or accidental miniature squashing in the dugouts that can be experienced during side-to-side play.
We borrowed the plywood table-topper idea from Gaixo, the United States’ NAF Tournament Organizer, who organizes the annual Atlantic Coast Charity Cup (ACCC) in Virginia Beach. Gaixo successfully used this technique during the 2023 ACCC event, receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback. The ACCC is one of our region’s largest and most successful tournaments, and it has a long-standing tradition of supporting charity causes raising over $25,000! This year the ACCC is going to be in August!
The Big Lick Brawl utilized ExScore 10.4 to run the event, which is a team tournament software developed by Sann0638. It was perfect to run the team tournament format and show the individual results. Once things kicked off on Saturday you could see the excitement around the room from the coaches as they all realized that today will be filled with Blood Bowl games! I usually start advertising for Big Lick Brawl about 6 months in advance of the tournament so for many coaches this day was a long wait. The three rounds went smoothly and this was one of the most memorable years for the tournament as well as the BEAST tournament series region.
Team Champions: Richmond Lickers (dylanthesquig, captainkellen, genghisdhan, gobdomino).
2nd Place Team: 4 Goblins in a Trench Coat (Pox, Arcayn, Bowser89, csshoup70)
Underdog Team: Oak City Reapers (half_baked, littledenny, dewsdwarfs, GMWspider)
| Tournament Champion: Jleav (Amazons) 2nd Place: Pox (Amazons) Stunty Cup: half_baked (Ogres) Best Offense: GMWspider (Imperial Nobility) Most Violent: dieuraskel (OWA) Best Defense: dylanthesquig (Norse) Wooden Spoon: Marko83 (Goblins) Best Favored Of…: dylanthesquig (Norse) Best Elven Kingdoms: genghisdhan (Elf Union) Best Underworld Challenge: Arcayn (Underworld Denizens) | Best Badlands Brawl: half_baked (Ogre) Best Old World Classic: GWMspider (Imperial Nobility) Best Bribery and Corruption: gmcguire87 (Black Orcs) Best Lustrian SuperLeague: Jleav (Amazons) Best Worlds Edge Superleague: Shadowmanes (Dwarfs) Best Sylvanian Spotlight: roymchunter (Tomb Kings) Best Halfling Thimble Cup: Nomas4474 (Halflings) Best Painted: Matthew Phillipson (Goblins) Rookie of the Year: Rottweilerme (Lizardmen) |
All event photos taken by David Wayne Brown: https://photos.app.goo.gl/RFfVu5fdb2JWAxyaA
The Big Lick Brawl 2024 was a thrilling ride of touchdowns, triumphs, and for many, turnovers. Each team fought valiantly, and the camaraderie among coaches made it a truly memorable event!
4. Report: Tilean Teams Cup (by Volkajo)
The Tilean Teams Cup is the biggest Blood Bowl tournament in Italy. Hosting rights can be claimed by the highest-ranked Italian team of the competition, and luckily, last year a team from the lovely city of Genoa performed rather well. As a result, around 200 BB coaches got to hang out in the picturesque Italian harbor town. I took the night train from Berlin, which allowed me to spend Friday downtown, adding significantly to the entire trip.
The organization team made a smart move by approaching the official Genoa sports festival to see if the TTC could be a part of it, and the city agreed. This (at least I assume) made the tournament a lot more efficient and quite a bit cheaper. The tournament took place right by the waterfront, with a beautiful view of the ocean on one side and the town accompanied by surrounding hills on the other. The price we had to pay was the noise from kids having lightsaber fights, skating competitions, and the occasional kung fu scream.
On Friday night, the team booked a restaurant where mainly the international coaches showed up. This is always a nice way to start the tournament. The group continued into town and potentially made a few decisions that hurt the next day, but the atmosphere was great. The town, though not big, was rather busy in the center, making it fun to run into BB coaches at every other bar. And it would be rude not to have a drink with them.
Day one went smoothly. Focaccia breakfast was provided, and due to the large number of players, the tournament area (indoor) was extended to a tent outside the venue where the top tables were played. The nice weather obviously helped with all of this. On Saturday evening, the teams went out by themselves, with the games finishing at different times, but even more than on Friday, there was no chance to avoid running into other Blood Bowlers.
The quality of Blood Bowl was pretty good, I would say. Even the middle tables did not offer easy games, and with a few international top teams participating, the top tables were very strong. The international tryhards, Them Chimera (Siggi, Straume, Jokaero, Harti), took the title with an impressive record of 6-0-0 as a team, which in my recent experience is rather rare. Apart from a few delays in the lunch delivery, the event was well organized, even though the TO team had a hard time competing with the sports festival during the awards ceremony.
We decided to stay for one additional night, and luckily quite a few coaches had the same idea, so Sunday ended up being another social night out with the Blood Bowl gang, closing down the last bar in Genoa. This highlights another fantastic aspect of traveling for the game. You meet the group of “traveling coaches” more often, and at some point, it just feels like a group of friends you meet once a month. And those friends eventually start bringing more friends. It is almost as if social activities, hanging out with friends, and making new ones is the reason why we do all this; Blood Bowl is just an excuse for traveling.
On Monday, we decided to hang out in the city for a while, and since I talked to Siggi about writing this piece, it would be wrong not to do a hike and include a picture from above. Genoa and the surrounding area are simply beautiful. Maybe a bit touristy downtown, but if you are happy to accept that, you will have a very good time. Let’s hope that the organization team from Florence (they won the hosting rights) will be able to match this. We will most certainly be back!
5. Outlook
Summer has arrived in the Northern hemisphere, and little surprisingly July sees a small dip in number, with a total of 75 tournaments in 21 different countries. The current season is once again reflected in the tournament names, with no fewer than nine events having “summer” in their title.
On the less summerish half of the globe, the Australian major Eucalyptus Bowl is happening. In Finland, the ninth iteration of the JMG Open is taking place, while Madrid will see the fifteenth instance of Septimo Bowl. And the ever expanding Border Princes Summer Festival at the US-Canadian border goes into the tenth round.
Looks like my own tournament calendar will also look quieter in July, with no tournament scheduled so far. Who knows, maybe something will pop up spontaneously!