Well, I thought last year was going to be my last SGC but apparently I need to attend this event. 6 from 6! Pretty happy with that effort as it is such a good tourney.

My original plan for this was to bring ogres. Have a laugh of a weekend. This became a high elf team as I wanted to use an AG team... Then I realised that was going to be better for development and with the 6 skills figured out a list that held 3 werewolves with one being Wilhelm Chaney... So 3 frenzied clawed MA 8 dudes seemed like a lot of fun. Potentially effective but I just wanted to enjoy it and werewolves are by far my favourite position in the game. So the necros came out again.

Game 1 I played Onyx on his incredible board. This was always going to be a fun game as Onyx and I are really good mates and as I am heading overseas soon, it was a good chance to sit down with him and just spend a couple of hours gaming I had helped him with his team a few nights prior... and he had taken notes! Took me down 2-1 with some good play. A lot of fun and an incredible pitch!

Game 2 I played Ron and his lego team and pitch. This is such a great idea. I mean having a full undead team made of lego just made me laugh so hard I think I ended up winning this one 2-0 which can largely be attributed to the first kick off knocking out one of his mummies and stunning my flesh golem (thick skull!)

Game 3 was against the Jungle Deamons (Rhett). Unfortunately for Rhett his dice decided that he was not going to be allowed to achieve much in this game. It was still a lot of fun and great to play somebody new, but I don't think I won that game, the dice on the opposite side of the table definitely did most of the work for me. I cannot remember the score - 2-0 or 3-0. Not sure.

Game 4 was against Dark Elves and Hutch from over East. This was a great game and it all balanced on a knife edge pretty much the whole time until a couple of crucial rolls that swung it his way 2-1 in the end.

In the draft I picked up strip ball for a wight and guard for a zombie giving me 3 guarders.

Game 5 I played against doobleg and his goblins. I haven't played Greg since he first joined BRAWL many years ago now so was a great chance to get in another game. He had double chainsaws and a bribe with a bomber and ball and chain. Unfortunately for Greg I managed to get enough cas to force the secret weapons onto the pitch, and then they were all gone only giving me a larger numbers advantage. I think it was 3-1.

Game 6 I played Paul from Sydney, Creature on Ausbowl. he had high elves, and as I was looking at bringing them it was a nice match up for me. My dice decided to fire this game though and at one stage there were only 2 elves on the pitch... So I ended up winning 3-0 after a late blitz on the kick off chart with bulk casualties.

After day 1 i wasn't expecting to go to far given I was at 2 wins and 2 losses. but with 2 solid wins on day 2 and a SWAG of bonus points I pulled myself up into contention for 3rd and 4th. I really like the SGC bonus system. This is mainly because most people fail to play with it. I was deliberately trying for every bonus point I could muster in each game knowing full well that a couple of games of getting 2 points with 6 rounds is worth MORE than a win if you can string them together. Losing 1-0 but fouling to get cas turns a 1 point round into a 3 point round... winning and getting car nets you 12 points over 10... I managed to get a LOT of points by going for these points. I think the mentality in Perth needs to be more focussed on playing the tournament rather than playing the GAME. So with a 4-2 record I think I ended up with more points than some people who had a 5-1 record... Definitely something for everyone to consider in the future.

So that paired me up with Runejack. While in Perth I NEVER got to play against Joel. So it was really great to get to play him. His dice were seriously magical though and there really is nothing like watching an elf team do absolutely everything they want to do. He didn't fail a dodge the enter game and his re-roll saved his infrequent go for it failures. It was quite the spectacle and I could not get numbers. I really enjoyed the game though and ended up losing it 3-1 with a marginally failed attempt to region it into 3-2 in the dying turns of the game.

So I ended up 4th at SGC 6.

My record at the event has been pretty solid so I was really stoked with this result and was not expecting it. SGC 1 I came 4th, SGC 2 I came 6th, SGC 3 5th, SGC 4 2nd, SGC 5 15th (we don't talk about that one!) and SGC 6 4th.

So while I am heading off now, I hope to play the SGC again in the future some time.

Huge thanks to all my opponents, congrats to the winners. Most of all thanks to Drew and DAve for all their efforts in getting BB in WA to where it is today , the results show that the level of play of there is definitely good enough to take it to the big boys from over east

_________________
Westgamer Ultimates Judge - '07, '08, '09
Ex-Host : World's End Radio
2013 X-Wing Miniatures Game Australian National Champion

Yes. One of the reasons why i don't play sandgroper anymore. Bonus points screwed me out of a final once. Its funny, you go a whole tournament without loosing a game and its still not good enought to make a final.

Sorry mate - I believe it was me who did that, then proceeded to lose it.

I think it is like I say though. Play the tourney, not the game.

_________________
Westgamer Ultimates Judge - '07, '08, '09
Ex-Host : World's End Radio
2013 X-Wing Miniatures Game Australian National Champion

I wasn't having a crack at you, just using what you had said to have a crack at the system. Personally I think the bonus points system screws people who play good games.
Unfortunately what you said is here is true. The Sandgroper tournament doesn't reward good players.

I don't think that is true.

I agree that being able to consistently win is good play, but a good player adapts to any change in the rules that crops up. A good player at 40k will win their games. A good 40k tournament player will look at how to achieve the bonus objectives etc, to turn a win into a massacre. That is all the bonus points do here.

You are not just playing to win, you are playing to get points. So a good player would identify that and achieve as many points as possible.

I agree with your sentiment though - don't get me wrong. Dropping a game puts you 9 points behind, so pulling those back with bonus points is no mean feat, and if done I think is highly indicative of a good player.

And I know you weren't having a go at me mate, just pointing it out

_________________
Westgamer Ultimates Judge - '07, '08, '09
Ex-Host : World's End Radio
2013 X-Wing Miniatures Game Australian National Champion

It certainly helps if you keep your eye on the bonus points and where you are. It can also make you go for things you normally wouldn't, in search of the bonus point. That can also lead to a change in the game with the more risk's you take.

Was good to see you again mate, and look forward to the next time you will be able to make it back.

_________________
Spikey Balls, Chainsaws and Pogo Sticks! What more could you want from a game?


WWW.SOULRAVEN.COM
WWW.BRAWLBB.COM
Official MERCS Black Ops Representative

Thank you again for the enjoyable game!

I like it when tournaments try and add things so that each one isn't just a carbon copy of the other. It adds a game within the game element which requires extra thought as far as lists, style, and extra chances that need to be taken. I can appreciate that not everyone would agree with that.

Joel

_________________
WWW.SANDGROPERCUP.COM
WWW.BRAWLBB.COM

Actually, I have to mention what was without a doubt one of the biggest laughs I've ever had in a BloodBowl match. My team kicked the ball and it ended up in his endzone. He did a few blocks and a blitz and then ran his Wight back to pick up the ball because his Ghoul was out of the game at this point. The wet ball (pouring rain) then squirted out from between the Wight's skeletal fingers into the crowd. The overenthusiastic undead fans then proceeded to chuck the ball 12 squares down the pitch which then bounced an additional square straight towards the line of scrimmage. Oof.

Joel

_________________
WWW.SANDGROPERCUP.COM
WWW.BRAWLBB.COM

yea that must be it. You win 4 and draw 1 and miss out on the finals to someone who lost games. entirely fair.........

I lost one game that year in the lead up mate.

I guess the scoring isn't for everyone and everyone will have different opinions. Didn't know you were this put off by it though.

I was surprised when they read the results out that year but it was two years ago now, sure you cannot be that put off by it still?

_________________
Westgamer Ultimates Judge - '07, '08, '09
Ex-Host : World's End Radio
2013 X-Wing Miniatures Game Australian National Champion

Bringing this thread back to this year's Sandgroper Cup, I thought I'd add my game details to this thread as it has a more generic title (didn't want to steal anyone elses thunder).

I had an absolute ball at the tournament.
I went in hoping to do well in the custom pitch award and to win a game each day. I've only really played 12 games of Blood Bowl before this weekend so I was trying to be realistic in my expectations.

My team - The Nevasbober Vikings (Norse).

2x Ulfwerners (both with Wrestle)
2x Berzerkers (1 with Tackle and the other with Guard)
2x Runners (1 with Sure Hands and the other with Diving Tackle)
6x Linemen ((1 with Guard and the other with Dodge - both picked up through the draft)
Helmut Wolf
3 Re-rolls
1 Fan Factor
1 Assistant Coach
1 Cheerleader

Game 1 was with JJ (Necromantic) and it was great to play another game of Blood Bowl with him. It was fairly even (mostly thanks to JJ's advice before the event) until one of JJ dice rolls went pear shaped and left me an opening. A 2-1 win and a 3-3 cas score.
well I didn't expect that and I had a beaming smile on face afterwards!

Game 2 was with Chris' Chaos team. 2 Minotaurs (including Grashnak Blackhoof), 4 Chaos Warriors (all with Guard) and lots of Beastmen looked pretty tough to me. Unfortunately for Chris, his dice deserted him in this game and they shaped the outcome of the game. A 3-0 win to me and I think it was a 3-0 cas score aswell.

I'm 2 wins from 2 games with a couple of bonus points...

So this lined me up to play with Duro and the Dwarves. I haven't really figured out how to beat Dwarves with Norse yet. They do everything I do but seemingly better (I'm not making enough use of my speed advantage either). We had a real arm-wrestle of a game which was scoreless right up until the last turn of the game where Duro finally ran in the winning touchdown. Duro also scored more casualties 3-1. I think the casualties were a bit low as we went hell for leather after each others chainsaw star players as soon as possible!

So 2 wins and 1 loss put me in line to play my last game of the day with Gregg and his Goblin team of tricks. I'd never played against Goblins before... so many nasty tricks! Gregg was a great bloke to play with and he was very helpful in explaining all these nasty tricks to me. I really enjoyed this game and it was an excellent way to round out the first day. The game was a 1-1 draw and I think I won the Cas count but I can't remember (my brain was fried by the end of day 1).

So first day ends and I pick up Guard and Dodge in the draft. I'm in the top half of the ladder and pretty much stunned by my results.

Day 2 and I get Goblins again, this time played by Chris (from Queensland). What a top bloke. Again, he was helpful and fun to play against. The Goblin ball and chain scares the pants off me! In my first game against Goblins, I'd had 4 players KO'd and got them all back straight away. In this game, Chris again KO'd 4 players but this time I had a special play card that allowed them all to come back on at the beginning of the next drive (prone or stunned). I managed to get a 1-0 lead and it was heading for a 1 all draw but one of Chris' goblins failed a go for it roll to score a TD. I scooped the ball and ran down the clock. 1-0 win and a 5-2 Cas count in my favour.

Game 6 lined me up with Bruno and his Dark Elves... I admit I was a little intimidated (didn't need to be as he was a very gracious player, even when I knocked the board and players went diving about the place... ). He knew exactly what he was doing and the speed with which he made decisions was impressive. The score line was 2-1 to Bruno but that does not truly reflect how much in control of the game he was. I can't remember the Cas count but since a lot of my players went crowd surfing, it must have been quite one-sided (even though the crowd casualties didn't count for bonus points). I got to see the useless side of a chainsaw player as Helmut Wolf rolled a 1 for his first attack and then followed it up with another 1 in his second Bloke which resulted in him killing hhimself...

So I'm 3 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses heading into the final round. I hoped I was somewhere in the top half of the draw. My final game was with Steven from over east and Slaan, another team I'd never played agaisnt before. I had some chances in this game but my mind was getting fuzzy again after a long weekend and I think I made a few poor choices. I kept the pressure on but all that Leap and Long Legs stuff was amazing. His Kroxy thing had a some fun and caused a few casualties. The final score was 2-1 to Steven whilst the Cas score was fairly close from memory. A lovely fella and a great game to round out my first Sandgroper Cup.

So I finished 3-1-3. No one was more suprised than me that I managed 14th place. I couldn't be happier with that result. 2 of my losses were to the 2 eventual finalists so no shame there!
Also taking out the Best Pitch, Best Painted Team and Best Support Staff was a real buzz.
Blood Bowl is a fantastic game and my only regret is that i didn't start playing it ealier.

A BIG thanks to Jules, Dave and Drew (and the rest of the team). You guys put on a fantastic event!

Thanks to JJ, Chris, Duro, Gregg, Chris, Bruno and Steven. You were all very patient with this n00b and I very grateful.

Lastly, a BIG thanks to my wife (Bec) as there is no way I'd have been able to finish the stadium in time without her help.

Here's a few photos from the weekend (I forgot to take more as I was having so much fun).




Cheers,
Steve.

_________________
NetEA: Epic Armageddon by and for the community
My Hobby site.
Useful Epic Armageddon Links
Want to play Iron Warriors in Epic Armageddon? Click HERE

Bonus points...

The only thing I don't like about them is that it encourages people back to the "Powa" teams that can score heavily or inflict bulk cas.

A bit counter intuitive when the skill set is opened up to 6 to encourage a wider variety of teams.

Awesome awesome pitch and team Onyx! Well done.

_________________
Tabletop gaming...What's all that about then?

Rabids Sandgroper Report – Hellpit Hooligans Flop
Well folks as your all no doubt aware… the mighty has certainly fallen. Part of me really wanted to defend my title with the Woodies… but in an attempt to play more races I had a closer look at some other teams. I had in my head to bring 6 PO Ogres but I played a few games with them on cyanide and just hated it. I hate losing by the way.. so going for the stunty cup kinda lost its appeal for me when I took a hard look at myself and realised I didn’t want to travel all that way to play 7 games at a premier tournament and get my ass handed to me and not enjoy myself (cue irony). I had a good run with Lizardmen recently at the AusBowl Teams tournament and had played them in a season of SLOBB and enjoyed that so they were my next choice. I was probably still bringing them (even though the 1 FF ruined my dream team) until my Skaven team arrived from Bensquig. I took up the game in high school when 3rd ed and Deathzone etc came out. My team of choice was skaven. I was rather dominant amongst my circle of friends.. and not being a painter I had hung onto the team for years. I’d added some rare figures to the team.. but never committed to doing anything with them. I finally said stuff it and got an awesome painter in South Australia to paint them.. and when they arrived a couple of weeks ago, I decided my first loved team had to go to Sandgroper. All I can say is… aaarrrrgggghhhh. I really thought the team would play rather similar to Woodies but they really don’t.
The Team
2 Stormvermin (1 Guard, 1 Tackle) Happy with these choices.
4 Gutter Runners (3 Block, 1 Wrestle) Pretty happy here, I considered Strip Ball instead of one of the blocks.. but I worried with 6 skills teams were bound to have sure hands.. I played plenty of teams that didn’t in the end.
2 Throwers (Kick – in the draft) had one roster with linemen instead and 4 rerolls but changed my mind, didn’t really come into play with their skills, failed some pickups when used.
1 Rat Ogre (Block – In the draft) The bane of my team. I saw what a big player they were last year.. Lukes failed miserably and he lost, while Sumblokes worked a treat (with Block) and really pushed me. He (censored) up soooooo many things… but with the rest of the team pretty cheap I don’t see why you would bother leaving him out.
3 Linemen – Meh
1 Apoth (I like this option… he saved the Ratogre, a thrower, and 4 line rats for me, and failed to save a ratogre that had been killed early and I just had to try, much better value than just another rat. Be strong save him just for Badly hurts.)
3 rerolls
1 AC, 1 Cheer, 1 FF
I didn’t hate my team roster.. I just didn’t play that well and had bad dice at crucial times. I recall sumbloke having Glart last year.. I couldn’t really see a good fit for any stars.. my only consideration would have been Skittar.. and I just felt I needed the deeper bench. One thing I did notice was lots of teams having Stars and running only 2 rerolls… I have no idea how that bloody well worked. I ran 4 rerolls with woodies last year too (1 leader).. I was waiting for these teams to burn their rerolls and fall in a heap but it never bloody happened. Shows what I know.
Game 1 – Whip Smart (Runejack) Darke Elves
2 witches, 1 block 1 wrestle (I think)
4 blitzers, 3 dodge, 1 tackle (I think)
6 linos
Apoth
2 rerolls
I was really chuffed to play Joel (though Im pretty suss on the round 1 match ups as all the eastern invaders drew the cream of the crop in WA, but I was happy all the same). This game really deflated my whole tournament for me unfortunately. Joel is the nicest bloke so I hated having the (censored) but the slow play in this game really really got to me. We started a little late due to some confusion over the table arrangements. This was an arm wrestle. I lost my ratogre on a double both down block which I didn’t even try to reroll.. he wasted my apoth too, I felt in big trouble. I managed to turn Joel over in his drive and I was winning the casualty war, we sacked each other over atleast 4 turns each to end the half before I ran it in. There was a key ruling from a crowd throw in.. that made a big difference (which ate some time also). I was felling pretty confident going into second half. We started this half with 30 mins to go. Joel was playing too well for me to be stupid and rush my turns so I played at normal pace and joel played at joel pace. I was comfortable.. We had 5 minutes left halfway through the 2nd half and I was caged up.. I was moving forward and I had gotten frustrated with how stretched for time we were so in my head I just said if they call it they call it. Satisfied I was in control and was going to score anyway.. so all was fair. Then Joel pulled off a Joel. I had heard about his crazy plays and how they worked but I had the displeasure of seeing it first hand. A 5+ dodge into my cage, a 2 dice blitz of my blodger, a 5+ dodge into my cage, a 5+ pickup, and a 6+ long pass pass (very sunny and 3 tackle zones) and a 2+ catch.. and I was gutted. I started furiously playing my turns.. he had no rerolls left I was comfortable… I am 95% confident I would have won the game… but we got called. I was quietly really angry.. even though I know how hard it is as a tournament commissioner etc to rule on these things. Im sure Joel will say we were both to blame… and I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t pick up my pace excessively (in part I was annoyed that I might have to and risk making a mistake). I would love a rematch in the future, maybe both a tournament game where Time management issues are addressed.. and even a social no time limits one (because I think that would be awesome and testing). I hate this post because I look like im slagging a really top bloke and its not my intention. I just really hated how this game panned out, and my skin is thick enough to stand by my words, and I think my face to face reputation is a good one and Joel wont take too much offence and share a drink with me in the future.
1-1 Draw. Cas 4-1 I think.
Game 2 – The Tantra Bay Bunny Ears (Reaper) Amazons
4 blitzers ( all guard)
Roxanna
The rest linos (no idea actually)
2 rerolls think.

Ha ha you can run but you cant hide Drew. So happy to get this match up. I was sad when drew challenged an easy round 1 win in Virral as I wanted to complete the set of BRAWL commissioners I started last year. I think Aesthetically Steve had the best board I have probably ever had the pleasure of playing on. But from a gaming purpose this was my number #1. It was sooooo damn comfortable and the big rolling zones really made me want to use the dice tower. I considered zons… and my star of choice probably would have been Zara but Roxanna is a very good choice. Its risky having your prime ball carrier without sure hands and having loner.. but it seemed to work for drew. I cant remember much of the game. I was 2-0 up having been able to bring down Roxanna because she had no block. He did score with her in the 2nd half… just needing 4 x 2s. But I got another one late.
3-1 Win. No idea Cas
Game 3 – Khornes Krispy Krusaders (Monty) Chaos
4 Chaos Warriors (all block)
Beastmen (one sure hands, 1 extra arms)
Grashnak
2 rerolls
Tough game this. I thought 2 rerolls was gonna bite my opponent in the ass.. but he only used 2… for the whole game (says it all really for a chaos team). Grashnak destroyed me. He could do nothing wrong. With no negatrait he went rampant destroying my team and being untouchable. I struggled to contain the drive… I threw a goblin fanatic on to try and do something as I just couldn’t get the better of his higher strength and my ogre was gonski. Harold made a bit of a mistake here. He scored. With no real danger… he really should have squashed me and gone to the sheds at 1-0. Thankfully he didn’t because with a bit of luck I managed to square the ledger at half time. I pushed hard in the second half.. trying for a dash away with my gutter runner. I failed a gfi roll so I settled with just the one square rather than the safety of 2. He brought me down but then failed to go for the ball and pick it up (he had rerolls). He just marked the ball. My Gutter runner bounced back up skirted around his team to score. I tried ever so hard to hold him out.. but to no avail.
2-2 Draw casualties Bad
Game 4 – Nameless Undead (Darkproth) Khemri
You’ve seen his roster
What do you need at the end of the long day… a weird dude that drops jokes contantly. When gary first started I thought oh Gawd is he going to do this the whole time. I thought it would get old real fast. But it didn’t. Gary is a funny bloke and made a tiring day doable with his good natured chatting. I really had fun with this game. Sure there are some glaring mistakes in the game of Gary. He really didn’t adjust to the team he was playing… setting up completely on the front line just with Ithaca back. So yeah I wracked up a (censored) heap of TDS. I also got some Cas… his only came very late. Hes done himself an injustice though.. I failed the dodge (twice) to go up 6-0.
5-0 Win 4-5 Cas (Maybe)
So yeah I pick up block for my ratogre and kick for my thrower. Im sitting ok, I think with 2 wins Im still a shot at making the final (proven as Bruno made the final).
Game 5 – Blackhearts (Bruno) Dark Elves
I cant remember his team.
Aarggh… my dice really failed me in this one. Buoyed by the block skill I went to the ratogre too much.. when he double skulled it destroyed my drive and basically cost me the game there. This was a good fun intense game. Tactically I think both of us were strong… my dice just didn’t let my tactics work. Taking nothing away from Bruno.. who was a top coach. This was a big What if game. He got 2-1 up late in the 2nd half.. I think he actually felt sorry for me with my dice rolling as he got very loose at the end… should have completely covered up my lost possession but instead I was a 3,2 or 2,2,2 from a td and a draw. I went for the 2,2,2, and rolled a 5 then a 1 (so thankfully neither would have worked). Awesome game… I so want a rematch against doubleskulls conqueror… a proven slayer of the East !!!
1-2 Loss casualties similar
Game 6 – Greensland Morons (Gunnar) Orcs
Troll
4 Black Orcs (2 block, 1 guard) I think
4 Blitzers ( 2 tackle, 1 stripball, 1 dodge)
Gobo
Thrower (leader)?
Maybe some linos or more gobos
This was a tense game. Which ran a little over time (hmm maybe it wasn’t all joels fault) I scored my early one. Couldn’t stop his drive, though I think I sacked the ball carrier atleast once by bursting through his front line when the troll went really stupid. Gunnar (resplendent in NSW Blue Beanie).. ground me out of this game. Got just enough casualties to make it hard for me.. while my rat ogre stuffed up left right and centre. We decided to roll a dice when time was called to see whether he would score now or we would just play it out. I didn’t really get what was meant at the time.. but it was a fair solution. The dice said we play on. I don’t think I realised he was going to give me my one turn option… so I foolishly threw players at his ball carrying blitzer hanging out on my td line with his buddies. I lost a bunch to crowd surfs and failed doges etc. I should mention his troll went down to start the turn leaving me a bit of an opening. Unfortunately his gobbo had already caught the kick off and I couldn’t actually reach him… but I swarmed.. massively over committing. I marked the gobbo and the majority of his deep players.. I thought I had out maneuvered him. But really all it was was 3x 3+ rolls to get clear of me and head up field and sew up the game. If he’d failed a roll I would have looked like a genius instead I was a chump. I failed to mention we played on Onyx’s awesome board… so grateful for that chance. So I had my one turner. My brain wasn’t working super quick, but I did everything right. I had a reroll… I needed 2 pushes from my ratogre (or a push and then a pow even better), but the sod as he had done all tournament failed me when I needed him most.. knocking over the blackorc instead .
1-2 Loss casualties Bad
Round 7- Nameless undead again
When this one was called out I was disappointed. Not because it was gary but simply because we had already played. I know last year tribal and doubleskulls switched opponents for the final game forfeiting their higher positions. In hindsight I would have liked to have done the same here. But truth be told the ugly side of me came out.. the calculating one that thought.. maybe a win was what I needed to feel better.. and maybe I was still a chance of most tds from this match. Gary did his same funny stacked front line with no defence. I scored. But this time I couldn’t stop him scoring.. and my players were disappearing. 1-1 at the half. I cant stop him again… 2-1 to nameless. I pull out another.. Im hoping for O/T and getting the kick off result even though im fast running out of players. Its 2-2 and he has 2 turns left. That becomes 3 turns after a riot.. and my few players just cant hold him out. A strong win by Gary and another lesson in humility for me.
2-3 loss and awful cas count.
I had finished 24th and had my worst day of Blood Bowl ever. I had not only lost my first game of interstate Blood Bowl.. I had gone on to lose 3 (the first time I had ever lost 3 games at a tournament) and had a negative win/draw/ loss record to finish… oh woe is me. I think I had fun though still.
So just to finish. Thankyou to all my opponents. Skaven suck.. hmm what else. I think I’ll be back again.
Some shout outs:
• Duro – You da frikkin man.. man. I know you just said you were having fun and all that.. but 7-0 is bloody impressive. This was a rez tourney not something like Cancon where skill rolls can give your team the edge. Only Doubleksulls (before the oz community got better), tribal (at cancon) and Grumpsh (at a NSW selection tourney) have pulled off 6-0 (that I recall).. 7-0 is freakin sick as bro. I have 6 tournaments where I have won 5 games and 5 of them I haven’t lost at.. you’ve really put down a big achievement. Its been mentioned already but WA is looking strong with you in the team.. every good team needs a hard ass dwarf coach.. and it looks like WA has theirs in you. Well done.
• Onyx – I was gonna challenge this guy... mainly to play on his board. Probably would have beaten me too based on his tournament. Champion let me play on his board. Thanks mate.
• OSOI – Liam for finishing my Vampire team for me. Really happy with them.. I really appreciated the extra yards you went to to get them done. Thanks mate.
• The commish’s – Well run folks
• Joel – Just because I feel like an ass for having a dig at the slow play. I want that rematch mate.
• Bruno – for handing me my first loss
• Reaper – for completing my set of defeated BRAWL commissioners.
Was really great to see you all again. Great community and great tournament.

_________________
Sandgroper Cup V Champion

Well as all the other cool kids are doing I might as well too

After taking a break from Bloodbowl since March last year I thought SC6 would be good for me to get back and play a lot of games. Unfortunately due to a lot of painting on my plate I didnt get to paint up the couple of teams I had initialling thought to use and at one stage I was considering taking my Orcs again but I am updating their strip and thought I would mix it up a little, enter our generous Commissioner Drew with his Elf team (I didnt know about 'the curse" at this stage). So with the team in hand I decided to go with Pro Eleves and the following roster:

2 Blitzers: 1 Tackle, 1 Diving Tackle
4 Catchers: 2 Wrestle, 1 Sure Hands
1 Thrower
5 Line Elves: 1 Kick
3 RR
1 Apoth
1 FF

I thought 12 players, 3 rerolls plus an Apoth for an Elf team was pretty good going in theory, lets see how it worked in practise.

Game 1
vs Daniel Hutchinson (Dark Elves)

When I saw the draw for round 1 I thought this isnt going to be easy, and it wasnt. I was struggling to find my rythym and it showed. Hutchie was a great guy to play against and a good game was had. I prefaced almost every single roll with "time for my bad dice" and it managed a couple of early armour breaks and knock outs. Beyond that I was being outplayed and it felt like I wasnt in control of the game. It was to be expected.
Loss 2-1

Game 2
vs Michael Watson (Orcs)

Michael lost his match against Duro the round before so we faced off. I dont mind playing against Orcs since they are a team I am so familair with but boy can they control the pitch if you arent careful. I cant remember too many details of the game but I started to find my inner elf again and things started to click.
Win 2-1

Game 3
vs Justin Martin (Wood Elves)

Justin is one of the guys from Albany who I have managed to get a few games against over the years, and I have always left being the victor. Each time we play Justin is improving as a player which is good to see but I know he wasnt looking forward to our game, the fact he was playing Wood Elves meant I wasnt looking forward to it either. The game begun with my receving and trying to control the clock, I didnt want to score quickly but it was hard to control the pace of the game when your opponent is quicker than you and was reducing my number as well. The half ended with the scores locked 1-1. The second half my dice abandoned me and I was not a happy person, for the first time I got very close to wanting to throw dice. I defended as hard as I could but Nuffle screwed me ... multiple times. Justin managed to pick up the ball from my end zone and had the conduit working to score at the other end other pitch.
Loss 2-1

Game 4
vs Paul Morris (High Elves)

Another Eastern Stater, the less said about this game the better, it was a long day and Pauls dice while not amazing didnt fail him when it counted, mine on the other hand abandoned me completely. There was no point being miserable about it and I actually managed to score a TD and pull of some pretty ballsy stuff, but I thought in the end its a Res tournament so no long term harm done, I was playing 7s for most of the game.
Loss 4-1

At the end of day 1 I wasnt happy with my standings but at least it would give me a good pick at the draft. Hutchie picked up some skills as my proxy and I got +1 AG and Any Normal Skill. So a catcher got the AG and the Thrower got Leader. I resolved that come day 2 I had to win every game, that was my new goal.

Game 5
vs Seth Capon (Undead)

Ok, I'm against the commish's son, well I thought we will see how he plays and take it from there. I have to give it to Seth he does know how to play and with more experience I can see his coaching skills continue to improve. As always when I am playing against younger players I see som unconventional stuff but with Seth some of it was good and worked, he had reasoning behind why he was doing things and I could see his logic, I helped through some plays and how to handle things, Dave there is promise in your boy and you can tell him I said that. The scoreline doesnt reflect that I did need to work for some of my TD's really hard but things were made easy by him having a KO'd Wight most of the game and reducing him down to just a single Ghoul.
Win 5-0

Game 6
vs Kyle Harper (Orcs)

I played Kyle last year at the Ausbowl in an Orc vs Orc a thon, it was a tight game that he just won, I knew this would be another tight game. I received first an dgot a score on the board early, I figured if I can score early Kyle will take the rest of the half to equalise but at least th epressure is on him to score to equalise rather than me. Plus I could turn him over and make things easier. Alas Kyle played the percentages and controlled the rest of the half trundling in the equaliser on turn 8. The second half was a lot more even, I managed to turn Kyle over and disrupt the Orc movement I was able to get a catcher free into the end zone and dodge my thrower to pick up the loose ball after Kyle's thrower over extended himself to get into safety and fell over, the pick up was good as was the pass and the winning TD was scored. A very even game that I only won because of that one mistake.
Win 2-1

Game 7
vs Justin Martin (Wood Elves)

Here facing Justin again I vowed revenge and wanted a clean sheet for day 2. I scored quickly and managed to compress the Wood Elves against a sideline and started to send them into the crowd helping thin their numbers, it turns out crowds dont like War Dancers either. 1-0 up at the half with Justin to now receive. I played my ball clone card which Justin did not like (but took it like a champ) fortunately he grabbed the real ball and scored quickly ending those shenanigans. I replied in turn putting me up 2-1. At this stage Justin had seven players left on the pitch and I had 9. I mananged to turn him over and worked the clock and position to score on my turn 15, having numbers was a relief but when a Catcher blitzes your ballcarrier 3 dice against and rolls POW, both down and Skull when you dont have block or dodge and you are adjacent to the end zone you start getting scared, Justin rerolled and fortunately it was a carbon copy result so down he went.
Win 3-1

Finishing 19th was acceptable as it was within the top 20 after over a year off with a team I havent used in a while (and is cursed). I made my day 2 goal of winning every game so now I start playing more Bloodbowl again.

_________________
Pull My Finger - The Malifaux Wiki

Wyrd Henchman

Funny Joel said the same thing to me I think Reaper wanted to give all those traveling a good first game since you can control that and as I said to Joel if you wanted to win then you were going to have to play him at some point in the weekend.