Welcome to the July edition of the Tournament Director Blog! As usual, we highlight tournament-relevant content, give an outlook on upcoming events, and, most importantly, publish reports on a few recent tournaments. For this month’s edition, our authors have been pretty busy, and you can enjoy extensive coverage from all over the world: the first Chinese tournament Summer Smashdown, the German Berlin Rumble, North-American Amorical Cup, and the UK Home Nations events.
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 are available on our NAF staff site.
Content
- NAF Chatter
1.1 Call for World Cup Bids
1.2 Team Tournament Trophies
1.3 Updated Podcast Page
1.4 Use of NAF Logos and Symbols
1.5 JEW’s Technical Tournament Guide - Report: Summer Smashdown (by bloodbowlzhuhai)
- Report: Berlin Rumble (by Kubusta)
- Report: Amorical Cup (by TrevCraig)
- Report: Home Nations (by BB_Jock and Candlejack)
- Outlook
1. NAF Chatter
1.1. Call for World Cup Bids
With the memories of the spectacular World Cup in Alicante still fresh, it’s time to look ahead and begin preparations for the next grand event in 2027. For this reason, we have recently officially announced the call for bids to host the sixth NAF World Cup.
We encourage all those interested in bringing this prestigious event to their city to start preparing their bids. Detailed timelines, guidelines, and helpful information have been compiled to assist you in this process. You can find all the necessary resources on our website: NAF World Cup VI Bids.
Hosting the World Cup is an incredible task, but also a great opportunity to showcase your community and contribute to the global NAF tournament scene. We are anticipating your applications and are deeply grateful for the dedication and effort that go into preparing these bids.
The scheduled timelines are as follows:
- Bid submission deadline: 15 December 2024
- Announcement of winner: 15 February 2025
- Target event date: September 2027
1.2 Team Tournament Trophies
One of the most revered items the NAF offers is the Tournament Trophy for the overall winner of a NAF approved tournament . As per our guidelines, NAF trophies may be awarded to the individual winner of any sanctioned tournaments from the regular Blood variant (i.e. not Sevens, Deathbowl etc.), so long as it meets minimum attendance requirement. If a tournament has 4 game rounds or more, 12 NAF registered coaches are required; if it has 3 rounds, 24 NAF registered coaches are required.
In recent years, team or squad tournaments such as the World Cup or Eurobowl have become increasingly popular. To provide equivalent trophies for winning squads at such events, we are now introducing a special Team Tournament Trophy for squads of two or more coaches.
The requirements to receive Team Tournament Trophies are as follows:
If a tournament has 4 game rounds or more, 24 NAF registered coaches are required; if it has 3 rounds, 48 NAF registered coaches are required.
Importantly, tournaments handing out Team Tournament Trophies are not eligible to receive the existing Individual Trophies!
These new trophies will be first available at EuroBowl. We aim to make them available quickly to all interested organizers and distribute them through the same channels as the existing regular individual trophies!
1.3 Updated Podcast Page
Recent studies have revealed that many people spend significant portions of their commutes on activities like counting red cars or engaging in small talk with other passengers. While these activities can be entertaining, there’s a more productive and enjoyable way to pass the time: tuning into one of the many Blood Bowl podcasts available.
Our comprehensive podcast overview page is brimming with a diverse selection of Blood Bowl podcasts, perfect for immersing yourself in the game you love during those otherwise idle moments. The Blood Bowl podcast community has been growing rapidly, with many new and exciting podcasts emerging recently. With Stewbacca’s help, we recently updated the site with several new additions.
Whether you’re looking for in-depth strategy discussions, game recaps, or entertaining commentary, there’s a podcast for every Blood Bowl enthusiast. We encourage you to explore our updated list, find your new favorite shows, and make your commutes more enjoyable and productive.
As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions. If you have any comments or know of any podcasts that we might have missed, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
1.4 Use of NAF Logos and Symbols
We get frequently asked if it is okay to use the NAF logos and digital files on e.g. team jerseys or tournament web sites. The answer is typically yes. However, we draw the line when it comes to commercial products, especially when you are thinking of selling NAF branded scented soaps and aroma candles on Etsy.
As sann00638 nicely put it in his 2016 post:
The NAF logo is an important commodity to us as it allows for the easy differentiation between what is and is not endorsed by us on behalf of our membership. With this in mind we wish to clarify that the NAF logo should not be used on any products without our express permission. Such permission will be granted on a case by case basis but will not be unreasonably withheld in situations where, for example, a small run of otherwise unbranded products would be distributed as gifts at a NAF sanctioned event.
All requests for permission to use the logo that go beyond your personal use should be submitted to contact@thenaf.net.
This is also a good time to remind you that there are a bunch of people out there that are selling counterfeit NAF block dice on various platforms. Don’t support these fraudsters with your hard earned petty cash that you could instead invest into miniature gold or buying your local NAF rep a beer.
1.5 JEW’s Technical Tournament Guide
Running a tournament for the first time can be a daunting task, especially when it comes to recording and uploading the match data. Several guides are available on the NAF site with useful tips and instructions. We have now added another valuable resource for new tournament organizers, lovingly crafted by JEW. His technical document, JEW’s Big NAF Guide, provides step-by-step instructions to help you seamlessly set up a tournament on the NAF site, efficiently run the tournament using SCORE, and accurately upload the results to the database. This guide also highlights potential sources of errors and common pitfalls, offering practical solutions to ensure a smooth and successful tournament experience. Whether you’re a seasoned organizer teaching others, or yourself new to the role, be sure to check it out and elevate your tournament organizing game.
2. Report: Summer Smashdown (by bloodbowlzhuhai)
What’s better than Bloodbowl? Bloodbowl on the beach! That’s exactly what happened on May 11th in Zhuhai, China, with the first NAF tournament held in mainland China.
Fifteen players from all over the world, including Britain, America, Spain, France, Russia, Australia, and Ireland, with varying levels of experience (some players have been playing since the 80s, while for others, this tournament was only their second game), came together at the Summer Smashdown in this beautiful beach town to battle it out on the gridiron, albeit a sandy one. The tournament featured three intense games and concluded with one overall winner, making for an exciting day of competition.
Round One saw some impressive victories. The Vampires triumphed over the Snotlings with a decisive 3-0 victory, and the Necromantic Horrors defeated the Orc Team 3-0 as well. However, the highlight of the first round was the match between two Khorne teams, which resulted in an epic 9 casualties and numerous players knocked out. Khorne eventually won 2-0, but it’s safe to say that the Blood God was happier with the amount of violence on the pitch.
Round Two featured more thrilling games and a significant surprise when the Gnome Team, making their debut, defeated the Skaven team 3-1 with Zrecballs the Woodland Fox scoring all three touchdowns. The Khorne and Vampire teams narrowly won their second games, setting the stage for a final showdown in the third round.
In Round Three, the final match between the Vampires and Khorne took place. Two great players went head-to-head for the Summer Smashdown trophy. It was a tense game, but the Vampire team ultimately claimed victory with a commanding 3-0 win.
Overall, it was a fantastic day of games, and it’s wonderful to see the Bloodbowl community starting to build in Mainland China. With more leagues forming across the country, Bloodbowl will continue to grow and develop. Here’s to more events in the future!
For detailed information about the tournament, please visit the Summer Smashdown Tournament Details on Tourplay.
Or check out this short video with impressions from the day.
3. Report: Berlin Rumble (by Kubusta)
Berlin Rumble is a 2 day tournament that is a bit different from the other tournaments in Germany, I was told… And it was true! The tournament was located next to a church (Zwolf Apostel), one street away from hookers, two streets away from world embassies, and close to a LGBT+ street… A real multi-culture place!
The venue itself was spacious with a basement (where a “Bless your dice” dark ritual was performed by a live Wardancer), a ground floor where food was served (thanks to the volunteer chef), a garden where the Blood Bowl Quiz took place (moderated by FAKO BOI Titel17), and the first floor where all the games were played (and where Volkajo did all his draws, music, raffles, and fun).
There were four games played on Saturday and two games on Sunday – the participants were given the opportunity to arrive a day earlier in order to meet other coaches, to hang out, to participate in the mentioned ritual and to have a good time. Me and my brother HLiNiC, whom I was traveling with, took advantage of this opportunity and we had a great time – big thanks to Volkajo for offering us a place to stay, which made us finally come, especially as hotel prices skyrocketed thanks to the EURO happening at the same time… (other locals also offered foreigners a place to stay, so big shout out to all who participated in this – I bet we all appreciated it!). I also met Thibault from Spain which gave me the opportunity to meet other members of the Ethics Board in person for the first time.
DAY 1: ♪♪tududududu♪♪ – What do I hear? It’s a Wardancer playing the flute! Oh, that means a Round 1 draw is out! … and so it began… (and I got to play the Wardancer and his awesome tree/plant right away!)
54 coaches ready (also some from Finland, Denmark, Poland, Czechia, Spain,…):
Game 1 -> Lunch -> 3 more games -> dinner and then a football match – Germany vs Denmark in the basements. Cool!
The composition of the teams was similar to what I think the meta is right now, leaning towards the agility play-style rather than the bash play-style. The games went great, most of the coaches present were friendly and fun to play against. What was not cool, though, was the 1st floor – it was a bloody furnace! It was an interesting experience to play while bathing in your own sweat – who did most of it was probably Goblins coached by Pedda who is clearly used to these harsh conditions (or was it the buff from GW that made Goblins clearly OP now? Nerf pls) – they ended up FIRST at the end of day 1 – and they didn’t even have a star player :O !!
DAY2: ♪♪tududududu♪♪ = Game 5 -> Lunch -> Game 6 -> Awards Ceremony. YAY!
Sunday was as hot as Saturday so we all had the same conditions (maybe the Spanish coaches had a little advantage..? ^^). It was exciting to see how the top tables would end up – at the end of round 6, it was Floridaboy’s High Elves who took the first place, with Goblins (pedda) as runner-up. These were unexpected results for me and it’s cool to see that anything is possible in Blood Bowl!
Right after the last round, the awards ceremony started with wonderful, beautiful, and original prizes styled as the Berlin Wall. Kudos to the creators / painters of these beautiful awards.
In the evening, a small group of locals and foreigners went for a dinner (and the best ice cream, said Volkajo) to a local typical German restaurant where we had schnitzel. Then me and my brother went for a walking tour of the city to see the remnants of the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the surrounding sites before leaving the city the next day in the morning.
4. Report: Amorical Cup (by TrevCraig)
From Friday, May 31 through Sunday, June 2, two hundred Blood Bowl coaches descended on Ottawa, Canada for the much-anticipated 2524 Amorical Cup! After being delayed by the pandemic, North America’s premier team tournament was finally happening. Everyone was buzzing, and after the exciting stories from World Cup V in Spain, coaches were looking forward to the unique dynamics of a team tournament (in the Amorical Cup, as in the World Cup, each round teams win/lose/draw based on the overall results of the team members).
I was keen to attend the biggest Blood Bowl event on the continent, and soon found three like-minded Ontario coaches to form a team – the Hogtown Hosers, named for Toronto where two of us play our Blood Bowl. I elected to use Ogres (with Zug and Scrappa Sorehead), tarnmison chose Snotlings (with Varag and the Black Gobbo), Da5id ran Black Orcs (with Ripper) and rainer piloted Elven Union. By choosing lower tier teams, our primary goal was the All-Amorical Cup, awarded to the best team who eschewed the higher-regarded races – but such was our confidence that we thought we could also be game for the Amorical Cup itself!
To kick off the festivities, on Friday night, coaches were welcomed with the Tim Bits Cup, a BB7s tournament, at a local brewery/club. 92 coaches set a global record for the largest BB7s tournament ever (a record that could well be broken at this fall’s Chaos Cup in Florida!), as well as the largest Blood Bowl tournament in Canada – the latter record that would last for 11 hours until the Amorical Cup kicked-off the next day! The tourney featured some truly marvelous swag, including pint glasses engraved with coaches’ NAF name and coffee mugs for trophies, as befitted an event named after Canada’s most famous coffee chain. The coffee is appalling, but the Tim Bits mini-donuts are beloved, and were properly reflected in special rules for one random player each drive getting hopped-up on sugar and being a little bit faster, but more susceptible to knockouts!
The Tim Bits Cup was also a team tournament, but with 2-person teams. Da5id and I teamed up to represent the Hogtown Hosers while tarnmison and rainer arrived later that evening, Da5id taking Chaos Dwarfs and myself taking Chaos Renegades. Our first round match-up was against team Swamp Donkeys, a father-and-son duo of Melifaxis and underx. I matched up against Melifaxis’ goblins, and a draw seems inevitable until the final turn, when my two-headed gobbo received a handoff then ran down the touchline through a gauntlet of tackle zones and rushed to score, to eke out the win. Da5id also won 2-1, which was a fantastic start for us.
Second round saw us go up against team Northern Killer Alpha from Quebec. I was up against Durgil, piloting Old World Alliance, while Da5id earned a 1-1 tie against Bilbon007 and his Skaven. Some hot armour and injury dice meant that I was able to put the pressure on Durgil early and leverage attrition to score in a controlled manner, keep an effective defence, and end up 2-1 winners. That gave the Hogtown Hosers another team win and put us on the top table for the final Round!
The final round was a bit of a sprint – some delays to start the tourney meant that we had only 50 minutes to play the game, as the venue needed us and all our toys packed up by 11pm so they could open to their regular Friday night club clientele! On the top tables, we were matched against team Amorical Idiots; I was up against mechmage piloting Vampires, who blitzed me on the opening kickoff and immediately put the pressure on. The vamps had clearly been well-hydrated before the match and rarely needed a bloody pick-me-up, as I never recovered from losing possession on the blitz and lost the match 0-2. However, Da5id came clutch with a 1-0 win against Grasshopper running Humans, which was enough for a team tie.
That result gave the Hogtown Hosers 2nd place overall on tiebreakers – an auspicious result to start the weekend! Winners of the Tim Bits Cup were Les Dieux de Quebec, featuring Manz62 (with Humans) and Buffalo_Chris (with Wood Elves), who were the only team to go 3-0-0! The evening ended downstairs at the brewery with celebratory beers with other coaches and a sense of excitement for the Amorical Cup to kick-off the next day.
All 200 coaches arrived at the Shaw Centre on Saturday morning, ready for the big show. The hall was spacious and bright, and beverages were soon flowing – we were ready for Blood Bowl! After a welcome from the Amorical Cup Organizers, it was time to throw dice and test ourselves and our rosters against some of the best coaches in North America and beyond!
One of the joys of a massive event like Amorical is the chance to play against coaches from far and wide. For the first round, the Hogtown Hoser were paired against a team from Alberta and fellow All-Amorical competitors, the Alberta Renegades. My first opponent was snowmacus who had taken snotlings with the Black Gobbo and a Giant! Luck immediately went my way, as the Black Gobbo got himself ejected for fouling on the 2nd turn, while the Giant spent almost the entire 2nd half Boneheading, searching in vain for the gnoblars darting around his feet. Without their stars, attrition soon made itself felt and my Ogres were able to run out comfortable 2-1 victors. My teammates did well: Da5id pulled out a 1-0 win against frzntoz’s Nurgle, while rainer held a 0-0 draw against Wyzard’s Halflings, allowing us to overcome a 1-3 ambush by Ty_lepko’s Slann over tarnmison, and earn the Hogtown Hosers a team win to open our campaign!
In Round 2, we found ourselves matched against the Thunderbowlers out of Vancouver. Tarnmison and rainer bounced back to notch their first wins and carry our team through this round – tarnmison in a 1-0 battle against Blammaham’s Chaos Chosen and rainer in a 2-0 mirror match against Warpstone’s Elven Union. Meanwhile Da5id and I earned draws, Da5id in a 1-1 duel with Gimli and his Dwarves, and myself in a 1-1 against badcuz and his Khorne – my gnoblars must have been made of rubber, as time and time again the plucky pipsqueaks refused to break and constantly bounced back up after being knocked down!
For our final opponents of the day, we were paired against the Alberta BBLOC, composed of Bastich running Elven Union, BulletTooth-Tony using Vampires, laika with Amazons, and Innerdemon with Khorne. Again, tarnmison and rainer led the way, with the Snotlings earning a 1-0 win over Khorne and Elven Union rocking up 5 casualties en route to a 2-1 win over Vampires. That allowed me to play to a 2-2 draw against Bastich’s Elven Union and look past a 1-2 loss by Da5id to Amazons – and gave us a third team victory for the day! The highlight of my game was my Ogre accidentally catching a bouncing ball and waddling his way downfield to the first Big Guy touchdown I’ve ever scored on tabletop! Of course he was helped along the way, having been pushed into the endzone in a 2D uphill block – but it still counts! 😉
The Hogtown Hosers ended the day with 3 team victories – one of only three teams out of 50 to go perfect on the day! Each one of us had contributed with wins and crucial results, and we were buzzing with our performances. We had one hand grasping the All-Amorical Cup, and the other was reaching for the Amorical Cup. The day ended with a feast of ribs at Ottawa’s Ribfest, celebrating with our friends from the German team, da oachkatzerl, and chased down with pints at a local pub. BBQ, beer, Blood Bowl and a perfect team record – that’s about as ideal a day as you could ask for!
On Sunday, we psyched ourselves up for the games ahead and told ourselves that no matter what, Saturday was a tremendous achievement. If we could go .500 on the the day, we might at least claim the All-Amorical Cup. Sadly, it was not to be – if Nuffle had shined on us on Saturday, he cursed us on Sunday and we suffered a total turnaround in fortune!
It was precipitated by a team loss to All The President’s Men, a team of luminary and experienced Blood Bowl players from England – Joemanji with Amazons, Geggster with Khorne, Purplegoo with Underworld, and Jimjimany with Elven Union. Rainer held his own in a 1-1 tie against Amazons, but tarnmison and myself went down 0-2 losses against Underworld and Khorne respectively, while Da5id put up more resistance in a 1-2 loss to Elven Union.
No matter – paired against the Cardosa Club Bad Boys from New York state for Round 5, we hoped to bounce back to our winning ways. It was not to be! Rainer fell 0-3 to Amazons led by Wyld, while tarnmison and I could not eke out the draw, each of us falling 1-2 to commisario’s Humans and tilikum’s Underworld respectively. Da5id fought to a 1-1 draw against gaddockteeg’s Halflings, but two consecutive team losses put any hopes of the Amorical Cup out of reach, and allowed other teams competing for the All-Amorical Cup to overtake us in the standings.
Despite dire losses, my game against tilikum was perhaps the most enjoyable and memorable of all my games over the weekend – tilikum fearlessly blitzed my defence at the kickoff to put the pressure on immediately, sacrificing his Gutter Runner to the KO bin while a humble Linerat scored to earn a defensive TD. Tilikum’s murderous Mighty Blow and Tackle Blitzer removed a player every turn, and I was extraordinarily fortunate to eke out a game-tying goal, picking up the ball on a ‘6’ in three tackle zones with a gnoblar and stunty dodging into the endzone at the death! In the second half, throwing and kicking Ogres were able to paratroop gnoblars into the backfield to blitz the gutter runner and turnover the ball, but couldn’t keep the pressure up. I eventually relinquished control and tilikum marched relatively safely into the endzone. A final one-turn touchdown attempt on my last turn gave a glimmer of hope, but the gnoblar scattered backwards out of scoring range to scupper the comeback. Tilikum was a great opponent, and I look forward to one day making a trip to New York for some of their tournaments.
Although our Sunday had been disastrous so far, we stood a thin chance of taking the All-Amorical Cup if we won our final round and other results went our way. Matched up against the Second Sons of Liberty, instead we fumbled our chance at glory! Tarnmison ended the day with the only win our team would see all day (!!) defeating houseblackfyre’s Vampires 2-1, while Rainer, Da5id, and myself all took losses, against Pauladin’s elven union (0-1), Grimfoe’s Khorne (0-2), and Matman’s Chaos Chosen (0-1) respectively.
So ended our Amorical campaign, with 3 straight team losses on the heels of 3 straight team wins! In the end, the Hogtown Hosers finished 22 out of 50 teams, and 4 out of 13 in the All-Amorical rankings – respectable enough results, but Nuffle had tempted us with more!
Deserved champions for the Amorical Cup were the Grand River “Eh” Team from Ontario, who had gone a fearsome 5 wins, 1 draw, 0 losses to etch their names on the Amorical Legacy trophy! 2nd place went to the D Town Underground from Michigan with a 4-2-0 record and 3rd place claimed by the famous goblin Tibum & Friendz from Quebec with a 4-1-1 result. The All-Amorical Cup was claimed by the BBQ Admins Crew, also from Quebec, who had a great Sunday to overtake all competitors and seize the trophy and bragging rights.
Other Amorical titles went to The Expendables for Most Team Casualties (77 Casualties, a +30 CAS differential!), Da oachkatzerl for Most Team Touchdowns (41 TDs, six more than the runner-up!), and Fewest Team TDs to Strange Brew (with a stingy 18 TDs conceded over 24 games of Blood Bowl!).
And so ended the 2524 Amorical Cup! The Hogtown Hosers had flown too close to the sun and gotten burned by capricious Nuffle. But no matter – I’ll always have Saturday’s glories, and the memories of partaking in an incredible event, meeting fantastic coaches from Alberta, British Columbia, New York, and Germany. Thank you to every one of our opponents, who were each class acts and enjoyable opponents, and massive, massive thanks and congratulations to everyone who was part of the Amorical Organizing and Rules Committees. This was a milestone event for Canada and North America, a huge success that was enjoyed by all, and great credit is owed to everyone who helped bring it about.
The only thing that remains is to start planning for the next Amorical Cup! Perhaps next time the Hogtown Hosers will take proper tier 1 and 2 teams and ignore the siren call of the stunties… then again, perhaps not!
5. Home Nations (by BB_Jock and Candlejack)
BB_Jock’s Tournament Organizer View
Late last year I was selected for the first time to play for Team Scotland in Athens at the upcoming Eurobowl X. This coupled with watching Purplechest’s One World One Blood Bowl (OWOBB) special episode on the Team England Captain elections led me to come up with the idea of the Home Nations Bloodbowl. Home Nations would give coaches real-world competitive practice for Eurobowl whilst leaning into the cultural and sporting elements of the Rugby Union tournament dating back to 1883 and offering the winners bragging rights.
With the Home Nations Bowl (invitational) and Home Nations Open we had 120 coaches descend upon Loughborough University for the weekend where I promised that the Blood Bowl would be spicy – and I wasn’t wrong!
The Bowl
The Bowl had six teams; the four Home Nations, Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland, an invited nation, Team Malta and the Barbarians to be captained by Purplechest, selecting coaches from anywhere on the planet – one world one Blood Bowl after all! PC did not disappoint assembling a team that had coaches from as far afield as the US (JLeav), Germany (Candlejack) and noted coaches from Scotland, England and Wales who on another day could easily be selected to play for their respective Home Nations.
Going into the tournament the mighty Team England captained by KFoged were the hot favourites for the Bowl and they were in no mood to disappoint when they kicked-off by putting Wales to the sword with an imperious 6-2 win. The Barbarians fancied themselves to be the disruptors of the natural order. So when Team Scotland beat the Barbarians in round one it was an unexpected upset and a definite setback for PC who had the tournament win firmly in his sights.
Fast forward to round three Team England were the only squad of the six on two wins and they had drawn the Barbarians! A win and they’d be almost out of sight with the tournament pretty much locked up, and the Barbarians would be slain. This match-up had some big individual games; Kfoged vs AndyDavo, PeteW vs RickWreckless, Malmir (of Fumbbl fame) vs The Rake and the Battle of Purple; PurpleGoo vs PurpleChest!
It came down to the match of the Purple’s to decide the tie. Goo failed a 4+ jump to score on his drive so had to stop PC from scoring on his drive. A draw would mean a drawn round favouring England for the tournament. So when Goo sacked the ball carrier for the briefest of seconds it looked possible, but a favourable scatter and 6+ catch on a Big’Un meant PC’s drive was still alive! PC held his nerve to drive home the score taking the win 1-0 and the round! End of Day one in the Bowl and we had England, Wales, Scotland and the Barbarians all on 2-0-1 ensuring that Day two would be tense.
Morning of Day two, Team England chastened by the Barbarians were in no mood to show mercy against the Auld Enemy and swatted Team Scotland aside 5.5-2.5 taking the inaugural Calcutta Cup to put their tournament back on track. Wales lost to Malta in a close match and the Barbarians smashed the Irish 6-2 to catch up on England’s early heavy scoring. Going into Round five it was a shootout against England and the Barbarians with England having to overcome Malta and the Barbarians facing the Welsh.
The last round saw Ireland looking for their first win in the tournament against Scotland in the Centenary Quaich. After a tough weekend they were going home with the wooden spoon come what may, but Raging82 will have been relieved to see the Irish take the win 5-3 to save some pride with their only win of the weekend.
At the top of the table the Maltese ran England close, but narrowly lost to KFoged’s mighty men 3.5-4.5. If the Barbarians were going to realise their mission of denying England the title they were going to need to rack up a big score against Wales. They duly obliged winning the tie 6-2 and they took the inaugural Home Nations Bowl on tiebreak by a single coach point!
L:R Hankok, Sann0638, JLeav, AndyDavo, PurpleChest (Cpt.), Malmir, Candlejack, RickWreckless, BB_Jock (TO)
The Open
On the other side of the tournament the Home Nations Open was no less spicy with 18 squads and representation from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Malta for the national squads amongst an array of established teams like the Hakflem Globetrotters.
It was Tactics and Theatrics who took an early lead through the first two rounds beating Pitch Invaders in round two whilst Team England, the favourites, stumbled, drawing with the Globetrotters (Blue). However it wouldn’t be until Round four that would see Tactics and Theatrics face Team England in an almost winner takes all scenario. England took the win 3-1, but this was a hard fought battle on all four boards.
Team England ended up seeing out Round five and they took the tournament win by one point over Tactics and Theatrics whose only slip was to the eventual winners. Team Northern Ireland, a newly formed national squad, captained by Padster, had chosen the Home Nations to be their first official tournament. They had a great showing achieving a credible third place finish recording a notable win against the Globetrotters (Blue) and a closely fought draw against Team Wales.
Just one point further back were three teams joint equal to round out the top six – honourable mentions to Hakflem Globetrotters (Red), Team Scotland and the Pitch Invaders making for an incredibly tight tournament with squads taking points off each other all weekend. See the full results on Tourplay for the Bowl and the Open.
L:R Geggster, Thulean (Cpt.) NippyLongskar, Scouseboy, BB_Jock (TO)
Whilst the Blood Bowl was spicy this tournament was about camaraderie as coaches from the four corners of the Home Nations and from further afield came together to enjoy the game and each other’s company, including packing out the curry houses in Loughborough on Saturday night.
Thanks go to Wobert, my co-conspirator, with his vast experience, ensuring that my first tournament went without a hitch. I had a blast organising the tournament and from speaking with many of the coaches in attendance they did too!
The Home Nations II is planned to go ahead next year in Loughborough on the first weekend in July where teams will be back to fight for the honour and bragging rights. Will Team England take the title or will the Barbarians under a new captain defend their title?!
Tickets are expected to go on sale sometime this September. Make sure you don’t miss out on the Home Nations – where the Blood Bowl is spicy!
Home Nations Winners:
- Bowl Winners – Team Barbarians Open Winners – Team England
- Bowl Runner-up – Team England Open Runner-up – Tactics and Theatrics
- Bowl Best Individual – AndyDavo Open Best Individual – Scouseboy
- Most Touchdowns – SaltySeaWench Most Casualties – Nickson104
- Best U18 – Nightsword Stunty Cup – StuntedBrainBest Painted – El_Spoonio
Candlejack’s Participant View
The last weekend of June saw the inaugural Home Nations tournament created by the lovely Jock taking place in the Midlands metropolis of Loughborough. The idea of Home Nations is to have the Eurobowl teams of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland to compete against each other. In addition an Open competition for 4 player teams is run in parallel.
In order to have even numbers a Barbarian team is formed to go up against the Home Nations and give them a run for their money. The fabled Purplechest was asked to captain this team and he used his connections in the world of Blood Bowl to put together a team of mercenaries he deemed fit to play top level aggressive Blood Bowl. I was one of the honored members of our community to be asked to join the team. Later on the team of Northern Ireland sadly had to pull out but Jock got the great chaps of Malta to step in.
The event took place in the rooms of the students union of Loughborough. The location is easily accessible by car or a 15-20 minutes walk from the town center. The bar staff happily provided us with drinks throughout the day and we got a nice lunch buffet on both days.
Jock and his team did a bang up job with a very smoothly run tournament, things were kept on schedule and no obvious issues arose. Participants got nice dice and other goodies as well as a bottle of hot sauce, as apparently the Blood Bowl is spicy in the Midlands.
As the Bowl part of the competition only had six teams we played 5 rounds facing each of the other teams. Unfortunately we lost our opening game to Scotland but came around to beat Malta and England in rounds 2 and 3. That last win was especially important as it kept the field close with 4 teams (Barbarians, England, Scotland, Wales) being tied with 2 wins at the end of day one. For dinner a large part of the bowl participants got together in an Indian restaurant for a lovely meal and later a part of the Barbarians ended up in a small pub where we were joined by Team England.
On the second day we started against Ireland while England faced off with Scotland and Malta with Wales. Barbarians, England and Malta stood tall here leaving England and Barbarians tied for the lead. In the final round we faced Wales and England played Malta. With the first tie breaker being coach points we knew that every point might count in the end. We and England prevailed and people started counting points in their heads but to my knowledge no one knew for sure. In the end we got the better of Team England by one measly point and became the first Home Nations champions!!
There are plans for further editions of Home Nations and I can only recommend it to everyone. High class competition, lovely people and a well run organization make it a great addition to everyone’s tournament calendar.
6. Outlook
August brings us as many as 80 tournaments in a total of 17 different countries. GenCon Bowl is returning for the 17th time since it’s first instance in 2003, making it one of the longest running tournaments in NAF history. The organizers of the Swedish Umeå Spring Bowl 6 – A Spring Of Hope must have suffered through an awfully long winter to hope for spring in August. The Cup of Iron Will II in Kyiv will be the first Ukrainian NAF tournament (December’s Kharkiv Winter Cup unfortunately had to be cancelled). And the UK will see two of its annual main events, Thrudball and the UK Team Challenge.
I myself am taking it slow in August and will likely participate only at the German Team Bowl on the last August weekend.