Talk Fantasy Football

I had only attended the 2005 BB cup at WW, but had been to WW for a few 40k tournaments and I can safely say I preferred what I experienced over the weekend!
My own 2 gripes on the venue where the pack lunches, and the table issues others have stated.
Having the venue and hotel so close was great, admittedly we did pop into Beeston for a few cheap beers on Saturday night, but being able to prop ourselves up at the bar when we got back and drink until the early hours and enjoy the company of our fellow BB'ers was something that really made the tournament.
I'll be back next year

From page 4:

Darkson wrote:Is late-May likely to be the regular date now,.or is the intention to go back to early May for 2014+?

Geggster wrote:More beer (and more staff to serve beer) is easily fixable. You should remember that this was just as much a learning experience for them as it was for us, and 150 odd Bloodbowlers clearly drink more than 150 regular folk.

I had a chat with the bar staff as I was getting a coke on Saturday morning and from that they were not expecting many people to be drinking in the evening. I didn't foresee them running out of beer though.

I thought the lunch bags were a good job, but the sandwiches in them could have been better, they weren't particularly great. The venue itself was good and the fact that everyone was staying the night there for a reasonable price meant that the games and the socialising were great. I wasn't too surprised about the beer prices either, although I must admit £3 for a pint of coke was a bit steep, paying £4 a pint of beer though is something I'm unfortunately used to nowadays

Darkson wrote:Can I please request it doesn't fall on the 25th in future? Much as I enjoyed Thruxton, I'd rather be playing BB.

Good reason to keep it to the same dates.....

Just added the money raised at the NAF, £20, hoped for more but with those bar prices .......

Thanks to everyone for the support shown, and my opponents for their patience...

Now topped £385, still hoping to reach the £500 before the " Main event"

Please feel free to share the link ( see my sig)

Firstly, a massive thank you to the volunteers. I said a few words to Frank to that effect on my way out, but I wanted to make sure you all know I appreciate the hard work you all put into these events.

A few notes from me:

Venue: Generally excellent. The staff were top notch, no complaints about the room, and the all you-can-eat breakfasts were also very good. Having the tournament venue on the same site as the accommodation is obviously a massive plus. My criticisms are covered in the points made below.

Reception: It would be nice to have had an organised social mixer on the Friday night. Eurobowl 2012 had one of these and it was great to catch up with people before the serious business got underway.

Dinner - more curry, less "other stuff". Gnocchi and naan isn't the best combo, but it's all that was left. And I ate it with a teaspoon as they were running low on cutlery.

As for lunch, I thought it was OK in concept but a bit lacking in quality - I nearly lost a filling on a ham sandwich. I'd pay a small premium for a hot lunch though.

Hard drink: £4 a pint seemed a lot. They wanted a bit more for the 12-year old single malt, but that's my own fault.

Soft drinks: On day 2 I found a solution of sorts: Fresh orange and soda is £1.50 a pint, far better than £3 a pint for Coke.

Tables: A tad large. I have something akin to arthritis and suffered somewhat from leaning over tables all day, especially from the stretching involved to move pieces around my opponent's end zone, but at least the big surfaces gave me somewhere to roll dice. I gather I was not alone in my post-match suffering though. One of my opponents preferred to shove the board to and fro, but that seemed too risky to do every game.

Table allocation: As always seems to be the case at these events, it took a while to be able to view the fixtures lists. I'd like bigger text on more sheets for multi-angle viewing and perhaps use could also be made of the projection facilities at such a venue.

I also agree that it would have been nice to have Jervis say a few words from the podium, I felt a bigger deal could have been made of his attendance. I'm aware of course that he still works for Granny so the TOs might be a bit limited on that front. I did point him out to a couple of fellow attendees who didn't know him on sight and were impressed he turned up.

On the whole, I'd love to come back.

Personally love the hotel, so as a venue it's wonderful. Stayed there a few months previous and its one of the main reasons I came to the tourney!

For me, £50 for playing blood bowl seemed a little steep especially with travel costs*, and when the sandwiches came out I felt a little bit gypped. But now I think about it, especially considering the massive delay in getting the hot meal, what else could be done for such a large crowd? Think the organisers got this part right.

Maybe sandwiches for both days but no set meal in the evening? The hotel can provide as per regular guests if wanted. Trips to restaurants in Nottingham instead? There's a Chinese I *need* to go back to


My only 2 gripes for the weekend: Newcastle Brown Ale was £5 a go. The cleaners nicked the free pen from my room!


*the very reasonable hotel costs offset this somewhat.

It would be nice to have had an organised social mixer on the Friday night.

So next year Geggster needs to find a gay-bar, yes , for 150 gamers to have an evening of social interaction in, yes , because an ordinary bar isn't enough

I'm all behind the idea, up to the point that I want Geggster to trawl the gay bars of Nottingham looking for somewhere to hold a social mixer for 150 blokes.
In fact I'm confident that the vote required of the membershio to make this happen is such a landslide result in potentia that even posting this puts a tremendous amount of pressure on him to make it so.
Even Electric Six are so on board with the idea that they are re-releasing their 2004 chart topper with Geggster and the NAF champs name-checked in the second verse.

Personally though, I'll be in the hotel bar chatting loudly to anyone and everyone who looks like; a) a BB player or b) a hotel guest or c) a fit barmaid.

ps: I do understand that a social mixer doesn't need to be held in a gay-bar, but it's either that or we hold a mixer in flat-land and all turn up wearing Hulk hands and carrying Green Lantern lanterns.

I don't think anyone has posted a photo of the lovely giveaway.

Here it is!

Want! (Still want one from last year to. )

Lycos only had one left from last year :!: , and that went as a spot prize if memory serves correct.
Looks like you'll be searching Ebay for a good deal amongst the silly prices.

Wait, Jervis was there?

Yes on the stage at the end for prize giving. He was around for an hour before that chatting to people too.

JT-Y wrote:Lycos only had one left from last year :!: , and that went as a spot prize if memory serves correct.
Looks like you'll be searching Ebay for a good deal amongst the silly prices.

Oh well, was promised one for reffing the previous year, but I completely forgot about asking about it. Never mind.
Damn my father for having a birthday in May!

Darkson wrote:

JT-Y wrote:Lycos only had one left from last year :!: , and that went as a spot prize if memory serves correct.
Looks like you'll be searching Ebay for a good deal amongst the silly prices.

Oh well, was promised one for reffing the previous year, but I completely forgot about asking about it. Never mind.
Damn my father for having a birthday in May!

Did we get 1 like this last year, wasnt it the big coin? Ive somehow got 2 of this years turn markers, if you ask nicely i might let you have the 2nd...