Pipey wrote:
Planning to do a tournament report for this. Must remember to take some pictures this time...
I humbly present my Burger Bowl report as promised…
Burger TO Garrick sporting a welcoming grin!
Burger Bowl is a tournament I always do my very best to get to. An hour and a half or so on the train from Durham (or Newcastle) makes it a very convenient trip for Geordie Blood Bowlers. Edinburgh is a beautiful city, a great night out, and the people are always welcoming. Five of the extended Geordie clan travelled up to the 56th parallel to do battle for the fabled Burger King Crown; they were Schmee, Stick, Don_Vito, Circusbear and myself.
The venue, a Swedish-themed bar, was really nice: spacious, airy and with great food and beer. The Burger entry package was £25 for two excellent meals (burger Saturday, soup and filled bagels Sunday), coffee on tap and all the prizes, trophies and spot giveaways each round. Excellent value for money. The beer was a shade expensive as the only down side but that was no issue, other than the time I managed to pay £8 for a pint of beer but I’m still not sure how that happened…
The venue. We were upstairs which was actually much more spacious than downstairs which was nice enough!
And so a relatively potted rundown of my matches…
I used Undead. These were Eurobowl rules so it was 6 skills for me at TR110. Nothing fruity here, just 4 block ghouls and 2 guard wights, 12 men and 3RRs (FF3). Keeping it simple is my new mantra! Some of the lower tier teams had bonus skills, though generally this was a very tier 1 heavy tournament. Plenty of dark elves, dwarf, undead, lizards floating around.
Game 1 vs. TommyBoy80 and his Dwarves
4 guard, MB slayer, block runner, 11+apo and 3RR
My second match against Tommy. A lovely chap born on nearly the same day as me so we somehow hit it off straight away! I was asked to kick and started my drive with 9 guys. Ouch. I was still able to control the advance of the slow dwarves to a degree, but knew at some point they would be ready for a push. I recall things went wrong quite badly for Tommy when he rolled skull-reroll-skull on a one die block early in a crucial turn. From here things swung in my favour and I started to rack up stuns and KOs and took control. Tommy did have a crazy shot at 1-0 at the half with AG2 elf bowl and no RRs which very nearly came off; alas the pass was inaccurate. The second half arrived and Tommy’s one dicers continued their trajectory of misery. I kept hitting POWs and stuns (or worse) and my drive was comfortable in the end, stalling out for a
1-0 win.
Game 2 vs. Tinfish with Necromantic
All 8 positionals, 12 guys, 2RRs; leader, block wolves, couple of guard, blodge ghoul, block golem
A strange game when my offense started with a cage in my own half and a blodging ball carrier (owing to Grant hitting the perfect Blitz!). Suddenly defending, I set about the task aggressively and in the initial turns of the half he had to make lots of squeaky dodges and one dicers to progress, all of which came off nicely meaning he nearly scored. A scramble in my own backfield went my way in the end, and I just about managed to score in turn 8 needing a GFI with no RR. In the second half Grant came close to 1-1 but he failed his spuds check* with a blodging ghoul, killing the ghoul. Tough game this... I retrieved the ball and comfortably converted for a
2-0 win. Flattering score line in the end.
*GFI roll into the endzone, Mancunian vernacular
Game 3 vs. GWI1874 and his Lizardmen
6 block, 12 guys, 3RRs
Mass block lizards is always an issue. I received and had a fairly torrid time advancing the ball from deep after RRs spent on the pickup and a double skull. There were one or two very important ghoul dodges. I scored in T7 with a hand off and dodge: no gimmie. Gordon couldn’t convert his two turner failing his first 8in9 stunty dodge. This made it 1-0 at the half which I felt was a little fortunate. In the second half Gordon kept good control of the ball until an opening presented itself (I had a poor turn for one reason or another). I could later force Gordon to score leaving me three turns for 2-1. A Riot reduced this to two and a deep kick made it even trickier. A crazy pass and suicide dodges nearly got me through the line but it ended a
1-1 draw. A win would’ve been an injustice.
A very healthy field of around 40 were competing for this impressive array of prizes, all to play for…
Game 4 vs. Stripey Dave (real name Chris!)
and Humans
13 guys and apo, 2RR and leader; tackle and MB blitzers, 2 guard blitzers, wrestle and diving catch catchers, block ogre
Again I was asked to kick and found myself a player down early. Soon my mummies got into contact and started to tear up the AV8 handsomely. Aggressive Undead defence with players up was extremely demanding; the humans couldn’t protect the ball and I got the better of the ensuing stramash. I went 1-0 up against the drive at half time. In the second half I continued to deal out the casualties and things escalated. This was a
3-0 win in the end. There was plenty of tension in the first two or three turns but things changed rapidly once my armour and injury dice went postal!
Game 5 vs. Bazooka25 with Lizardmen
11 guys, apo, 3RR; 6 block just like Gordon
A similar first half to the prior lizard match. I scored in T7 leaving Bazooka (Barry) two turns back which he didn’t convert owing to a little bad luck. My drive had been pressurised, generally being a player down and fending off lots of big scaly things. In the second half the lizards scored but perhaps too early, leaving me plenty of time to stall out for a
2-1 win. I had also whittled the 11-man roster down a shade which made driving easier. Another tough game. The wall of St4 and block is extremely tough to deal with.
Game 6 vs. Stick_with_poo using Undead
Same base roster as me; tackle wight, guard wight, guard mummy, two block ghouls and a wrestle ghoul
The 30th meeting between Stick and Pipey in NAF tournament history: I believe this is still a record. This was the second tournament this year that saw us go head to head on table one for the title (the other being Waterbowl). Exciting stuff, and a very interesting match. I was asked to kick, we removed a wight each (tackle for guard). Next I decided to defend with all men's (my favourite strategy it seems, reading this through!) at the half way line after I got a key stun on Stick’s other wight. Under significant pressure and with a mummy sat on the ball carrier stick went for a solo hand off and dash with a blodger. Dodge and 4+ hand off required. The play worked and my four dice at the ball was unsuccessful. Things now looked favourable for him but he needed a dodge to support the ghoul and this hit the deck. I took possession of the ball in my own half but soon started to lose out on attrition heavily. Real ebb and flow fare. The final crucial swing in fortunes came at the end of the half when I dodged a ghoul through and out of a TZ into scoring range who caught an accurate long pass, all with no RRs. Stick had a GFI for one die but hit skull. 1-0 at the half against serve.
Stick had a player advantage on my offence and I was treated to some very aggressive and problematic defence, I got the better of this to go 2-0 around T4 with Stick unable to convert another one die hit on my ball carrier. 2-0 but several players down (7 vs. 11 I think), Stick wasn’t out of it yet. Scoring on his drive was inevitable but crucially I avoided conceding a two-turner after some poor ghoul dodging denied Stick yet again. 2-1 was achieved in T6 leaving two turns for him to get the draw
which would be enough for him to win the tournament on a 5/0/0 record compared to my 4/1/0. A shallow kick applied more pressure though I could pick up and hand off to a ghoul who scarpered accompanied by another ghoul deep towards my own endzone. In Stick’s T8 I presented him with a "corner cage" (ball carrier on corner square, protecting ghoul on the diagonal) leaving him a 5+ dodge to surf the ball, pick up and retrieve. He got the dodge and surf, but the ball came out up the sideline bouncing into play on his left. A wight needed dodge, pick up, pass (and ghoul catch) which only got as far as the pass. A properly entertaining
2-1 win which saw me take the Burger title!
The winner’s prize which I was fortunate enough to take away. These chaps will be making an appearance at Geordie Bowl in September…
And finally…
This is what happens if you book cheap accommodation in the Scottish capital!
I plan to be back next year and would highly recommend the trip. A real northern classic, this. Hopefully see you there!