Spike! 2011 was the fourth consecutive of growth for the tournament, up from 48 registered coaches last year to 56 teams by the end of the weekend. Again largest Spike! coaching turnout within it's history, and the largest BB tournament Canada has ever seen. Tied Chaos Cup for largest number of players at a North American tournament last year as well! Great year for the Majors.
Our dedicated crew from Edmonton made the trek once again, as well as coaches from Rat City Rumble in Seattle and half a dozen members from OrdoFanaticus in Oregon. Thank you Tremere, Da Scum, Khail and Weav for organizing that. I was also happy to meet Mike and Rachel from Spokane and SPEW (Star Players of Eastern Washington). They hit both NA Majors last year! Mike also won an award at both Majors as well. Good show, and thank you for introducing the Iron Mike tournament to the Pacific Northwest! I was also happy to see Dennis from Quake make the trip out. From what you told me Nuffle didn't seem to. We look forward to seeing last year's participants return and hope to see a lot of new faces as well. 2012 is going to be even bigger.
For those of you unfamiliar with the SPIKE!, the SPIKE! Magazine Blood Bowl Championship is the Canadian Blood Bowl NAF Major. Five "Major" tournments take place annually, each in a different country. They are in chronological order:
1. The Southern Wastes Scrimmage, held each year in January at CanCon in Canberra, Australia.
2. The Dungeonbowl, held each year in March in Duesseldorf, Germany
3. The Blood Bowl (aka NAF Championship), held each year in May at GW HQ in Nottingham, England
4. The Chaos Cup, held each year in mid September at the Battle Bunker Chicago, Illinous, USA
5. The Spike! Magazine Trophy, held this year in late September in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
2012 sees the continuance of the one-week-or-no-more-than-a-fortnight policy between NA Majors, where the organizers of the Spike! Magazine and the Chaos Cup host the 2 North American Majors within 2 weeks of each other. We started this 3 years ago with Tom, with a fortnight between them in the same month. Last year we did them 7 days from each other. This year due to circumstances out of our control the Majors are back to fortnight in between for 2012. For those travellers wishing to make it out for a North American Major now you can try to make it out to both of them in one trip!
Things that have been added or changed from last year's event:
01. Spike! Champion: Going forward, Spike! Champion will be rewarded for Coaching Scores alone. Full rules can be found on the website.
02. Painting/Sportsmanship Scores: No longer added to Best Overall. Best Painting and Best Sportsmanship still have their own awards.
03. Blow-out Bonuses: To reflect the points system, The TD bonus for a 2+ difference has been increased back to +5 points from 2. Also, with the Blow-out Casualty bonus, same criteria, same +5 points.
04. 2nd and 3rd Place Awards: As a result of making Spike! Champion rely on Coaching scores alone we have removed the Outstanding Coaching Award. We have instead replaced it with two more additional awards this year for Second and Third Place. So along with Spike! Champion, Sportsmanship, Painting, Touchdowns For, Best Defence, Casualties For, Best Stunty, and Dead Last we are giving away 10 awards this year that look like this:
Spike! Magazine 2012 Blood Bowl Grand Tournament
Dates: Saturday, September 29th, and Sunday, September the 30th, 2012
Location: Compass Point Inn
Address: 9850 King George BVLD, Surrey, B.C.
Hotel Website: http://compasspointinn.com/
Accomodations: Mention the Spike Tournament when booking a room at the Compass Point Inn and receive the Corporate Rate.
Time: 8AM Registration Saturday
Contact: Craig or Mike
Email: thunder-bowl@hotmail.com or PM me (generaljason) here.
Web: http://www.spiketournament.com/
Additional Information:
- $45 non-NAF pre-registration, or $50 at the door
- $40 NAF member pre-registration
- 6-game Swiss Resurrection TV 110
- Door prizes from local and online stores
This year all registered participants at Spike! 2012 will get a set of 3 official Thunderbowl block dice, complete in the traditional TB colours of silver on black, and designed by our very own Blammaham (aka Steve).
Each attending coach will also receive a pair of Spike! 2012 d6s:
And this year, after FOUR LONG YEARS OF WAITING, with continued support from the NAF, the SPIKE! MAGAZINE TROPHY is being REFORGED for 2012!!! :D
Pre-registration will start Monday, July the 2nd, 2012 and will continue over the next 9 weeks. Hope to see you out in British Columbia 3 months from now, hopefully enjoying our late summers, a beer, and a weekend filled with the game we all love.
Stay tuned for any new developments in this thread. Any questions feel free to post away and looking forward to seeing some more of you on the other side of the pitch.
Gj.
wow.. Lets see if I can make it to both majors
Looking forward to seeing you out! 
After a great NAF Championship (6/0/0 with Darkies) I can't wait to get to the states for more Blood Bowl Majors 
