A General NAFC Report by sann0638

The NAFC is one of the highlights of the year for me, and the definite highlight of the Blood Bowl year. I haven't yet made it to a World Cup, as being a teacher makes it trick to get time off in term-time, so these are the largest gatherings of BB players I attend, and as I've been heading to tournaments for a while, there are a lot of familiar faces.

I travelled up with Canteloup, Buggrit, and Lunchmoney after a 5am start. Canteloup uses a wheelchair, and I think the venue was awesome for him, especially being right next to the hotel. Buggrit got the wooden spoon last year, which meant that he lucked out with free entry to this year's event, and Lunchmoney was one of the refs, which might have meant we should have got there early. Didn't happen though!

The weather was glorious all weekend, and between events loads of people could be found on the lawns outside - not just the smokers!

I won't dwell long on my games (as I ended 2-1-3, very disappointing), but if I had to pick my mix of opponents I couldn't have had 6 better games. Vmcat is an excellent player and good fun to play against, and I was really pleased to sneak a win, only to have to play KFoged in Game 2 and be thoroughly outplayed. Game 3 I played Mago, and one of the highlights of the NAFC is playing overseas coaches, as there are only a few UK tournaments with a large overseas presence, and it does make the NAFC special.

On day 2 I started against Munson's lizards and held on for a draw, then came up against Mattwhile and his halflings. I managed to be 2-0 up at half-time, and then my kick-off was a touchback. Deeproot on the ball! He made very slow progress, but eventually ran out of supporters so I managed to get the 4 assist for a one dice block. Timbeeeeer! Game 6 was my 5th outing against Mr Lycos, and despite having a Tackle Wight and 2 block werewolves I couldn't hurt a single skink, so lost 2-1.

Story of the weekend - in 5 games (leaving out the flings) I managed 2 casualties, and you're not going to win many games that way. Enjoyed using my freebie turn counter though!

I spent Saturday evening in and around the venue, being first in the queue for some curry then playing a league BB game first up (yes, slightly bonkers), before switching systems for some Sopio, Get Bit, Monty Python Fluxx, Exploding Cow and King of Tokyo, all accompanied by some (rather expensive) beer.

There were lots of nice touches about the weekend, including the capes for the leaders in various categories - Stunty, TDs, Cas and overall Leader (purple, right). Spot prizes were nicely handled and appreciated, and the early-bird prize was amazing, well worth entering early again next year if that happens again!

The tournament was very well run, with all rounds going to time, and only a couple of games (very long ones!) needing to be called as people could play into lunch or into the evening, so the refs deserve plaudits.

From the left we have Lycos (Prez), then Jervis Johnson, Joemanji, Lunchmoney, Dave (V-P), Geggster (Treasurer) and Giraffe (Thrudbowl maniac).

As always at these tournaments there is a keen interest in the top tables, and the gathering to the left was to see who was to play Jimjimany in the final.

JockMcRowdy won out, and the stage was set (right). Literally, as the final was played on the raised area for a bit of excitement and to avoid the crowd scenes!

In terms of trophies, the NAF Championship trophy is a great one to win, and there was some excellent other silverware too, with stunty cups, league trophies etc all in place alongside a fab NAF banner.

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable weekend, and the organisers are keen to hear what people thought of it - pop over to the NAF forum to air your thoughts.