Team Exiles: A journey from humble beginnings to Italy
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 10:26 am
In 2004 a group of gamers, based in the GW store Bournemouth, decided to run a Blood Bowl league. We called it, "The Bournemouth Blood Bowl League of Bournemouth." (We had been watching Dodgeball a lot recently.)
At its start we had 16 players (an ideal number!) and the commissioner split them up into 4 groups of 4. We played 3 matches and the top of each group played in a semi, then a final. The winner was crowned and his name engraved on a trophy that was on display in the store. A good time was had by all over the 6-7 week period.
Around the same time in 2005 we did it again. I don’t think we had 16 players this time, but we coped and, again, had fun. A winner was crowned, his name added to the trophy.
Rinse/repeat in 2006 and 2007. However in 2007 things changed. In late 2007 we found about tournaments. More precisely we found out about the recent NAF World Cup that had been held in Warhammer World, Nottingham. “That sounded like fun” we said. “Are they doing it again?”
In 2008 we found The Blood Bowl, again at Warhammer World, Nottingham. The timing was great; an event like this in May, just before we kick off our, now, annual Blood Bowl League Season! So four of us bought tickets and planned our weekend away. What an event! We had a great time. We met many different people (some of whom I now hold to be good friends), learned new tricks (like the one turn chain push TD), and generally had a great time. We also found out about the existence of smaller, more local, tournaments. The nearest being in Andover and was due to go ahead in March 2009.
In late 2008, just after the season finals (the very next week in fact), tragedy struck! The new manager at GW Bournemouth didn’t really like Blood Bowl and only let us play our season there on sufferance as the group comprised about two thirds of the entire Veterans night crowd. The week after the finals, a friend and I arranged to play a friendly match as we hadn’t played in that season. We arrived at the store to be told that no Specialist Games can be played there anymore unless it was a store ran campaign, and all the tables were in use for StatHammer 40k. In that moment The Exiles were born.
Several of the regular Vets had already relocated to the GW Poole store, as it was bigger and had easier access (trains, buses and good parking right on the door step). The Blood Bowlers followed and we relocated our league there. The Poole manager was sympathetic to our plight and, being the old manager from Bournemouth, knew us all quite well!
He helped us advertise in White Dwarf – not a massive thing but it did bring in at least 2 new coaches who are now good friends. And when I suggested a Blood Bowl tournament he helped as much as he could.
In 2009 several of us attended our first “local” tournament – ARBBL – in Andover. We met several new people and found out about the NAF (and shiny NAF blocking dice). The man in charge of this organisation, the NAF, was there and we discussed many things. Including running our tournament in Poole .He gave me several good ideas and helped set the wheels in motion.
I checked the calendar list of events on the newly discovered Talk Blood Bowl and saw an opening in September. So we went for it.
Back to the GW manager – We brought the idea of a Blood Bowl tournament to him and he liked it. He helped me advertise in White Dwarf and provided a massive trophy and some prizes – all courtesy of GW.
22 coaches attended the first Exiles Bowl in 2009 and we consider it to have been a success.
Fast forward through 2010 and many tournaments for the group later, we run Exiles Stag Bowl. Once again we were supported by the GW manager, less than by GW, and another success.
At about this time we learned about the NAF World Cup II being organised in Amsterdam, Netherlands. We just have to go to that, we say. However after running the numbers, and looking at the date, only three of us could make it. So we made a call to the other coaches on the newly rebranded Talk Fantasy Football for anyone who wanted to go to Amsterdam and needed a team!
The brother of one our regulars and two local tournament organisers joined up very quickly – forming the Exiles Mercenary Corps, part of Team Exiles.
Over next few months we all played at many tournaments and played many matches. By the time November came round we were quietly confident of at least not embarrassing ourselves….
Our glorious leader collapsed and the rest of the team decided to show solidarity and lose a bunch of games as well. Whilst we weren’t the bottom team, we did hold the “honour” of being the lowest placed English team. Well, someone has to be there so someone else can be on top. We may not have been entirely happy with results, but we knew it was the best we could do on the day, and that counted for us.
Forward we go, another 3 years and the NAF announce they have negotiated and done what they need to do to have a third World Cup – this time in Lucca, Italy. Within minutes members of the 2011 squad were asking if a team was going to be formed again.
Many questions were asked, budgets were looked at and coaches were questioned. Can we go? Who can go? Can we afford it? Several people put their names forward to join Team Exiles; we even had a few come forward and volunteer to join the Exiles Mercenary Corps.
The time comes to make a decision. Yes we can go. Emails and PMs are sent to the members of the last team, but only the core three could say yes. So once again half the team is made up of people who are not, technically, a member of the Exiles League. But that is what the Exiles Mercenary Corps is all about!
Eventually three people were convinced that the best thing they could do was to the join the Exiles Mercenary Corps and be part of Team Exiles for the NAF World Cup 2015. We are assured they have been tested and are of sound mind, but they joined anyway.
With 10 months to go until Lucca we will all be attending tournaments and playing many matches; training and practicing with our chosen races. The worst we can do is to be the bottom English team again (we could be the bottom team overall, but that would still mean we would be the bottom English team), so we can only get better!
At its start we had 16 players (an ideal number!) and the commissioner split them up into 4 groups of 4. We played 3 matches and the top of each group played in a semi, then a final. The winner was crowned and his name engraved on a trophy that was on display in the store. A good time was had by all over the 6-7 week period.
Around the same time in 2005 we did it again. I don’t think we had 16 players this time, but we coped and, again, had fun. A winner was crowned, his name added to the trophy.
Rinse/repeat in 2006 and 2007. However in 2007 things changed. In late 2007 we found about tournaments. More precisely we found out about the recent NAF World Cup that had been held in Warhammer World, Nottingham. “That sounded like fun” we said. “Are they doing it again?”
In 2008 we found The Blood Bowl, again at Warhammer World, Nottingham. The timing was great; an event like this in May, just before we kick off our, now, annual Blood Bowl League Season! So four of us bought tickets and planned our weekend away. What an event! We had a great time. We met many different people (some of whom I now hold to be good friends), learned new tricks (like the one turn chain push TD), and generally had a great time. We also found out about the existence of smaller, more local, tournaments. The nearest being in Andover and was due to go ahead in March 2009.
In late 2008, just after the season finals (the very next week in fact), tragedy struck! The new manager at GW Bournemouth didn’t really like Blood Bowl and only let us play our season there on sufferance as the group comprised about two thirds of the entire Veterans night crowd. The week after the finals, a friend and I arranged to play a friendly match as we hadn’t played in that season. We arrived at the store to be told that no Specialist Games can be played there anymore unless it was a store ran campaign, and all the tables were in use for StatHammer 40k. In that moment The Exiles were born.
Several of the regular Vets had already relocated to the GW Poole store, as it was bigger and had easier access (trains, buses and good parking right on the door step). The Blood Bowlers followed and we relocated our league there. The Poole manager was sympathetic to our plight and, being the old manager from Bournemouth, knew us all quite well!
He helped us advertise in White Dwarf – not a massive thing but it did bring in at least 2 new coaches who are now good friends. And when I suggested a Blood Bowl tournament he helped as much as he could.
In 2009 several of us attended our first “local” tournament – ARBBL – in Andover. We met several new people and found out about the NAF (and shiny NAF blocking dice). The man in charge of this organisation, the NAF, was there and we discussed many things. Including running our tournament in Poole .He gave me several good ideas and helped set the wheels in motion.
I checked the calendar list of events on the newly discovered Talk Blood Bowl and saw an opening in September. So we went for it.
Back to the GW manager – We brought the idea of a Blood Bowl tournament to him and he liked it. He helped me advertise in White Dwarf and provided a massive trophy and some prizes – all courtesy of GW.
22 coaches attended the first Exiles Bowl in 2009 and we consider it to have been a success.
Fast forward through 2010 and many tournaments for the group later, we run Exiles Stag Bowl. Once again we were supported by the GW manager, less than by GW, and another success.
At about this time we learned about the NAF World Cup II being organised in Amsterdam, Netherlands. We just have to go to that, we say. However after running the numbers, and looking at the date, only three of us could make it. So we made a call to the other coaches on the newly rebranded Talk Fantasy Football for anyone who wanted to go to Amsterdam and needed a team!
The brother of one our regulars and two local tournament organisers joined up very quickly – forming the Exiles Mercenary Corps, part of Team Exiles.
Over next few months we all played at many tournaments and played many matches. By the time November came round we were quietly confident of at least not embarrassing ourselves….
Our glorious leader collapsed and the rest of the team decided to show solidarity and lose a bunch of games as well. Whilst we weren’t the bottom team, we did hold the “honour” of being the lowest placed English team. Well, someone has to be there so someone else can be on top. We may not have been entirely happy with results, but we knew it was the best we could do on the day, and that counted for us.
Forward we go, another 3 years and the NAF announce they have negotiated and done what they need to do to have a third World Cup – this time in Lucca, Italy. Within minutes members of the 2011 squad were asking if a team was going to be formed again.
Many questions were asked, budgets were looked at and coaches were questioned. Can we go? Who can go? Can we afford it? Several people put their names forward to join Team Exiles; we even had a few come forward and volunteer to join the Exiles Mercenary Corps.
The time comes to make a decision. Yes we can go. Emails and PMs are sent to the members of the last team, but only the core three could say yes. So once again half the team is made up of people who are not, technically, a member of the Exiles League. But that is what the Exiles Mercenary Corps is all about!
Eventually three people were convinced that the best thing they could do was to the join the Exiles Mercenary Corps and be part of Team Exiles for the NAF World Cup 2015. We are assured they have been tested and are of sound mind, but they joined anyway.
With 10 months to go until Lucca we will all be attending tournaments and playing many matches; training and practicing with our chosen races. The worst we can do is to be the bottom English team again (we could be the bottom team overall, but that would still mean we would be the bottom English team), so we can only get better!