Crumb-bowl – the King of British one-day tournaments – has been reincarnated as SAWBBowl, standing for Swindon and Wiltshire (Blood?) Bowl, to mirror the new name for the local league (SAWBBL). 56 coaches signed up for the new venue, with lots still on the waiting list. Why? A combination of the friendly host (Glowworm), the excellent lunch (John the Noodle Guy), the noob-friendly rules (3 games, 1100, 5 normals and a double) and the glorious sunshine (seemingly guaranteed!).
While 3-game tournaments of this size are a bit of a raffle for who wins, you do still need to win all 3 games, so competition was fierce. Scoring (12/5/0, bonuses for TD and Cas up to 3 each) rewarded pushing for big wins.
I took Skaven, as I’m using them in most tournaments this year, and also took the Sann Clan along – Linus with Chaos Dwarfs and Alex with Amazons and Zara. My build was the same as previous – 4 GR, 2 Blitzers, 1 Thrower, 6 Linemen, 3 RR, Apo. 2 Block GR, 1 Wrestle, Blitzers with Guard and Frenzy, and then as a quirk of this tournament (Glow obsessed with the number 4), the number 4 player could have 2 normal skills instead of one double, so I went with Wrestle and Strip Ball on a Gutter, which I have christened “Wrip Ball”.
Game 1 was against Tank’s Vampires, on his birthday! Not a great birthday treat, to play against Tier 1 with a team he hadn’t used before, but hopefully it was fun anyway! I made a mistake early on, choosing to 1D blitz with my Wripper rather than a normal two-dice with no skills. Against a Sure Hands thrall, this decision was all kinds of wrong. Ah well. He scored, but I managed to recover the game and win 3-1, as well as getting three casualties after his Vampire skulled out to death with the last block of the game. Max points, and everything shiny. Had a chat with Tank after the game, suggesting some stuff (putting thralls where you want vamps to be, always setting up for 2D blocks on the line), and I think he won a game later, as well as winning some shiny dice, so his day improved!
Lunch was awesome as ever, and the boys played vast amounts of football on the lawn outside with Cam, Gorgoroth’s son. Still missing the Caterham crew, who weren’t able to make it this year, but hopefully they will be back next year.
Game 2 was v the Skaven of Shortarse, a local coach with whom I am building up quite a rivalry (after his mino scored in turn 24 of a previous game of ours, grumble grumble). He had Glart, instead of the extra players, and had sidestep on his Gutters and a Dirty Player, so a very different build to mine. He took to fouling quite early on, which led to an opening in the cage, but there was a whole comedy of errors (including me mistaking a blue skill ring for block, whereas it was actually wrestle, more grumble) leading to a scoreless first half. He was a couple of Gutters down, however, and the second half turned into a bloodfest – I think he only had 3 players left at the end, and after a few turns of stalling I scored in turn 16. RIOT, ARGH! Luckily, he didn’t manage to pull off the score. Phew.
Game 3, on table 1, playing for the title as long as a decent number of points were gained. Tricky though, as it was against Wishwellington’s Wood Elves. A decent coach from UKBBL playing with the best team, which included a Tackle/Strip (Strackle?) Wardancer. Yuck. I had a couple of decent chances on his drive, but nothing quite came off, and then three minutes of horror led to three of my Gutters heading to the dead box. Waaah. I then uttered the words “well, that’s game over”, which should basically be a hanging offence, as in the second half my single remaining Gutter somehow managed to hang on the ball long enough to get into his half, and then a linerat scooped up the ball and limped over the line. He had a decent chance for the Turn 16 one-turner, assisted by a Quick Snap, but it didn’t come off. So a draw, and neither of us got silverware!
Congratulations to 20phoenix, with his first tournament win after quite a few second places, and Darkson who managed 2nd with vampires. Alex picked up the wooden spoon, and won an excellent board game donated by Canteloup (who is still alive, hurrah!), who also donated a win to Linus.
The new venue is tremendous, and the capacity for next year will be 60. I thoroughly recommend signing up as soon as the tournament is announced, and paying by the end of January to secure your place, as this really is one of the hottest BB tickets of the year.