Thrudball 2014 dates 9-10th August

[J_Bone]

I'm pleased to say I got my first tournament prize! 0-1-5! Wooden spoon y'all!

Still had a great weekend even if I did get mullered in a series of increasingly crazy and / or improbable ways! Last tournament I left my team behind, this tournament I thought about doing it again! Haha!

[Hudson]

Missing 1 dice bag. Red HQ bowl bag with loads of dice in. Had the dice from my French opponent that i was going to gu e to Isla for her French themed week.

[Darkson]

Bit more awake so...

3/2/1, which I'd have taken at the start, and I'm pretty sure 6 new opponents which is always good.

Game 1: vs Kwek's Halflings. Kwek's mad! He's won the Dungeonbowl in Germany (not with Halflings) but just prefers to play the short fellows. I was (iirc) his 189th NAF-ranked game with 'Flings. I received, and had the ball with my Block/Dodge werewolf, and was moving up the pitch, but made a mistake, and 2 1/2dice blocks later the wolf was in the crowd and I was on defense. I managed to stop him scoring, but still had the 2nd half to defend. Made him work for it, but couldn't keep him out in the end. Got a riot which gave me 2 turns to equalise, but failed the hand-off. My AV rolls were awful, and his dodge rolls great, but if I'm honest he just played much better than me. When he finished 6th overall I didn't feel so bad. Lose: 0-1, 3-2 cas.

Game 2: vs Funny_Valentines' Necros. Game just went wrong for him from the start. He had 1 reroll and Leader, and used them in the first two turns (which both failed) which let me get all over him. Turned him over and scored, managed to surf the Leader (for a Cas that failed to Regen) and turned him over to score again. Received 2nd half, and he put up a good defence so it took me all half to score. Win: 3-0, 0-1 cas.

Game 3: vs S_Dogs' Skaven. Ouch. Started removing players early, and it just continued. He scored in 2 turns (Hakflem was unstoppable!), and I took the rest of the half to equalise as he kept getting players in the way. Setting up for the 2nd half he only had 6 players, but still had a Gutter and Hakflem, so I never felt safe, nor did I want to score as I knew he could equalise with just 2 players! Eventually managed to surf Hakflem, and scored in T16. Another riot gave him a shot, but with only 4 players it didn't work. Win: 2-1, 8-1 cas

Game 4: vs Heff's Skaven. The game I actually feel bad about the most. Heff received, and I didn't think I'd get a chance to stop him so I just hoped to make him score quickly, but a failed pick up in the rain gave me a chance. Managed to steal the ball, and scored in my T8. 2nd half, and I was slowly working my way down field. Heff managed to 1/2 dice the Blodge Ghoul (a recurring theme all weekend!), got the ball but failed the pass to the open GR. I hoped to clear the TZ off the ball to give the Sure Hands Ghoul a chance, got a skull/both down against a Wrestle. Made the mistake of rerolling it (doubleskulls, Werewolf kills himself), and Heff gets the ball free. Managed to get a blitz with the other wolf (through TZ) and got the GR down, but couldn't break AV. Heff failed to pick up the ball, so hit the GR again, again got him down, again failed to break AV. 2nd mistake was not to attempt to pick up the ball with the Blitzing wolf, which Heff duly punished by dodging, picking up in a TZ (in the rain), dodging, dodging and scoring. So close, but for a couple of mistakes... Draw: 1-1, 2-2 cas

Game 5: vs Jimmy_Jazz's Humans. Jimmy received, and scored in his T4, but I couldn't make an equaliser before the half ended. 2nd half, although I managed to get all the Blitzers off the field still couldn't make the space to get free to score, and in the end had to really struggle to equalise in T8. Probavbly lucky to draw this one. Draw 1-1, 2-1 cas

Game 6: vs Tank15's Necro. He had Wilhem, who proved both the good and bad of Stars in the space of a couple of turns. Scored in T6, as bad positioning meant if I tried to stall he's have a chance to surf me. A riot gave him 4 turns to equalise, and although I did my best to make it difficult, he managed a hand-off to a ghoul who dodged out, just neediing a GFI to score. This is where the game turned. Nuffle sucks, and Tank's Ghoul failed, hit the deck and stunned himself. Ball stayed in the EZ. Having not broken AV all game to that point, I then proceeded to kill a Wight and a skilled Werewolf, and secured the ball with the SH Ghoul. Wilhem just needed to knock down the zombie marking him and he could put pressure on the ghoul and allow his 2nd wolf and a ghoul a free run at my players. Double skulls, Loner failed and I'm clear. Run upfield, hand-off to Wolf who runs free up the pitch. Tank can get a TZ on the wolf, but an easy blitz gets the wolf free for 2-0. 2nd half Tank receives, and scores quickly, hoping to get the turn over. I secure the ball, but a failed GFI gives him the chance of a blitz on the ball carrier. Wilhem screws it up again. Although never 100% safe as a couple of KO/cas had left us equal on numbers, I managed to hold onto the ball and score in T16. Game changed completely on one GFI. Win 3-1, 4-2 cas.


Finished 13th of 50(?), and if you'd offered me 3/2/1 at the beginning I'd have taken it, so I can't complain (though I might use the game vs Heff as a counter-rant every time he mentions Dwarfs ).

Cheers to Frank, and all that helped.

[sann0638]

Hmm, had the plan of using a thrud to hold my naf shield but seems they cost £50. Time to kitbash a muscled bloke with a small head!

[Darkson]

Big Boris from Heresy?

I'd recommend Big Boris III then just replace the head.
Andy used to do a Thrud figure, but I can't find it so I guess he's not got the rights anymore.

[sann0638]

Ah, good point!

[TheDancingClown]

Thanks to everyone who welcomed a newbie bb player with special thanks to those opponents who let me win a couple of games. Thanks also to the organisers, I enjoyed every game I played and had a great weekend.

I was less impressed with the kitchen fitter who turned up at 8.30 this morning (instead of Thursday) expecting to start work amidst a pile of damp tent and halfling star players.

[Darkson]

"FRAMES"

[Heff]

So where are the standings?

[Itchen Masack]

Enjoyed all my games and weirdly the two that I lost were the most enjoyable, close affairs. But you gotta watch out for these foreigners I find!

French Black Orc dodged into the cage to surf my ball carrier and that cost me the draw. In another match when an English Norseman did exactly the same dodge, he had the decency to double skull, re-roll double skull instead!

And as for the Germans... ''Green is for Guard he said...I have the skill rings phonetically to make it easy''. Good idea I thought. Only during the match we discovered Green is for Leader and the team didn't even have guard at all lol. Genuine mistake and I have no complaints. Dirty chorf team, but we actually had a good game. Made more fun by a goblin taking down the Bull on a 1/3d block

[lunchmoney]

So where are the standings?

With Frank, so might be a while....

[Itchen Masack]

Always nice to see where we finished, but I've learnt to be patient. Especially when I see these fine people organizing a tourney for us and not even getting to play themselves. Much respect. Have to admit, I'd be too selfish to do it myself!

[Heff]

Just wondered cos Darkson knows.
Also heard a rumour that Hawk has put some black naf dice he picked up at the weekend on flea bay. Something about needing to pay for dentistry

[lunchmoney]

Photos taken by me
https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/gall ... br34kkrjmc

[mawph]

Great weekend and where ever I've ended up, it represents the best showing in a tournament with a 4-0-2 record. Lost against Merrick on day 1 and the eventual runner up in the final game of day two. It should also send my Chaos NAF ranking to a semi-respectable level too

Thanks to all my opponents and the other folks I ended up speaking with and drinking with over the weekend. I've just got to see about returning next year now...