Apologies to the folks who follow my Lead Legion Painting Service blog. You'll have already seen this. Meant to post it here much, much earlier.
Some
actual match reports will follow on during the next few days, but for
now here's a quick summary of the first two weeks games. Note that some
of the player's haven't yet chosen a name for their teams, so for the
time being I've given them temporary names. Expect some of these team
names to spontaneously change during the course of the Season. Other
teams names are, frankly, a bit lewd. But that's my players for you.
As you can see, due to scheduling issues, week 1 was extremely quiet.
This was balanced out in week two, when we had five boards on the go at
one point and played a total of eight games (involving 10 teams) during
the day. We're also expecting at least three more players (two regulars
plus my much, much better -as well as prettier and less hairy- half) to
join us in week three.
I did have photographs of most of these matches by the way, but the camera is presently in Ayr with my wife.
Week One:
Reikland Reavers (Humans) V Pokitt Dewces (Goblins)
In a shock defeat, the Reikland Raiders take four casualties, including
one fatality. In the first game of the season, the Dewces trolls
wreaking bloody havoc on the frailer humans, who struggle to complete a
drive in the face of so many devious goblin tricks. The humans resorted
to dirty tactics and fouling to try and even things up, but this only
resulted in their having a player sent off, leaving them even weaker for
the remainder of the game. The more numerous goblins took just a single
casualty with Troll novice Nose-Biter causing sufficient havoc in his
debut game to earn himself Star Player status.
Final Score: Reavers 0, Dewces 1.
Casualties Inflicted: Reavers 1, Dewces 4.
Gate: 17,000
Filthy Trotz (Nurgle) V Pokitt Dewces (Goblins)
In a stunning reversal of weather conditions (and even more stunning
reversal of fortunes for the Dewces), the Dewces first struggle through a
blinding blizzard and then then scorching heat in a single game. A
side-effect, no doubt, of playing in the Trotz home stadium in the Chaos
Wastes. While the conditions do not seem to phase the Nurgle team at
all, one of the Dewces Trolls spends most of the game in the reserves
box while the other, Star-Player Nose-Biter, is brought down and killed
by a Pestigor in the first drive of the game. Shortly thereafter, a
goblin blows himself into the injury box with a fumbled bomb during a
dastardly revenge attack.
Final Score: Trotz 1, Dewces 0
Casualties Inflicted: Trotz 2, Dewces 1.
Gate: 19,000
Champions of Death (Undead) V Filthy Trotz (Nurgle)
In a slow moving but eventful game, the Trotz and Champions spend the
first half pounding each other into dust, with the Champions getting the
worst of the exchange. Early in the second half, Ghoul Player Koffin
develops star-player quality making an astonishing series of three
dodges and a blitz in a bid to collect a loose ball near his own
end-zone. Alas, despite his impressive feats, he's unable to follow
through on the Blitz and is in fact killed by a nurgle Pestigor during
the attempt. To add insult to injury, Koffin, one of just two players in
the Champions susceptible to Nurgle's Rot, catches the disease and is
recruited to the Filthy Trotz under the new moniker of Chlamydia. The
same Pestigor goes on to take the ball and score the only touch-down of
the game, loitering at the end-zone for four turns while his team-mates
repeatedly pound the Champions. The second half see's fortunes favorites
change repeatedly, with the ball repeatedly traveling the length of the
pitch, back and forth, until a last minute touchdown by the Nurgle team
is defeated by a well-timed block from the Champions.
Final Score: Champions 0, Trotz 1
Casualties Inflicted: Champions 2, Trotz 2
Gate: 21,000
 |
| The Hard-Knockers return to Season 2 as the Belle's of the Brawl. |
Week Two
Fresh Pokitt Dewces (Goblins) V Chaos All-Stars (Chaos)
The Fresh Pokitt Dewces, so named due to the retirement of the Coaches
previous team for un-disclosed reasons probably relating to an
explosives accident (actually, the players I-Pad with the team sheet was
stolen) take the field for what it effectively their first game of the
season. In a rather brutal game, the Dewces inflict three Knock Outs and
3 Injuries on the All Stars in the first half, with the All-Stars Chaos
Warriors making no less than nine failed solo blocks against goblin
players in the course of the game. The All_Stars never come back from
their early losses and manage to inflict just one casualty on the
Dewces.
Final Score: Dewces 1, All Stars 0.
Casualties Inflicted: Dewces 3, All Stars 1
Gate: 18,000
The Frozen Wasters (Norse) V Reikland Reavers (Human)
Playing in surprisingly bright, sunny Norsca, the two human teams of
different flavors spend most of the game pounding one another
ineffectually as they attempt to pick up a ball that's clearly been
rolled in whale fat a little too often. The Frozen Wasters secure a
first half touch-down before the ball mysteriously becomes too slippy
for any player to get a grip on it and the game descends (ascends?) into
a shoving match, with few casualties inflicted on either side, with the
exception of a Waster who slips on some mammoth fat and earns himself a
broken leg. Somehow, the raiders manage to clean the ball well enough
to equalize before the final whistle.
Final Score: Wasters 1, Reavers 1
Casualties Inflicted: Wasters 0, Reavers 1
Gate: 18,000
Belles of the Brawl (Dwarf) V Tomb Raiders (Khemri)
In a rather brutul game, the Belle's voluptuous curves and seductive
manner fails to offer much distraction to the dusty mummy's and
skeletons of the Raiders. In a brutal brawl, two casualties are
inflicted on either side with the ponderous but thrilling Raiders
scoring two touchdowns against the girls from Khazak Gurl. Despite
failing to distinguish himself to any great degree during the game, MVP
for the Raiders turns out to be the Throw-ra, which just goes to show
that most fans can't tell one bandaged corpse from another. Fancy that!
Final Score: Belles 0, Raiders 2
Casualties Inflicted : Belles 2, Raiders 2
Gate: 18,000
 |
| Griff Oberwald, the Iconic Reikland player. |
In yet another excuse for a good brawl, Snala's Orks debut against the
Champions of Death, still reeling from the death of a ghoul player in
their first game of the Season. Despite being crippled by the loss of
one of only two players capable of moving faster than a goblin through a
troll's digestive tract the Champions give good account of themselves
but can't stop the novice Orc coach (first time playing Blood Bowl on
the tabletop) and his boys from taking advantage of their speed to score
an equalizer.
Final Score: Orcs 1, Champions 1
Casualties Inflicted:: Orcs 2, Champions 2
Gate: 17,000
Filthy Trotz (Nurgle) V Naggaroth Nightmares (Dark Elf)
Playing throughout the match in Scorching Heat in front of a very
hostile Nurgel Crowd (+2 Fame for the Trotz) doesn't seem to phase the
Nightmares in the least. Despite taking a pounding between the heat of
the sun and the rotting fists of the Trotz -even fielding just five
players at one point- the Nightmares manage to run rings around their
slow moving opponents who prove that Nurgle coaches can't count by
inexplicable fielding only 10 of their 11 er, healthy, players
throughout the second half. That being said, the Nurgle team
successfully inflicts a fatal injury on an opposing player for the third
game running, giving them a perfect kill streak for their first three
games, as well as adding a 13th player to their ranks in the process.
After the game the Nurgle coach was heard to comment: "A few more losses like that and we'll win the League" before laughing all the way to the Daemon-Pit to hire on a Beast of Nurgle with his winnings.
Final Score: Trotz 0, Nightmares 3
Casualties Inflicted Trotz 2, Nightmares 1
Gate: 21,000
Chaos All-Stars (Chaos) V Reikland Reavers (Human)
Still reeling from their drubbing at the hands of the Fresh Pokitt
Dewces and forced to field a number of Journeymen, the Reikland Reavers
showed their rivals no quarter during this hard fought and somewhat
tense match. The Reavers took advantage of their speed and diverse
player skills to take two touchdowns during the match to the All-Stars
none. Both teams seemed surprisingly well-matched in the brawling front,
taking only a single casualty each during the course of the game. The
fans certainly seemed to enjoy themselves though, thanks to a good old
fashioned riot early in the match.
Final Score: All-Stars 0, Reavers 2
Casualties Inflicted: All-Stars 1, Reavers 1
Gate: Un-recorded due to riots.
 |
| Some Pestigors strutting their stuff in the Chaos Wastes |
Despite a poor start with the Goblin Chainsaw loon massacring himself
(much to the fans player) shortly after the ref's first blow on the
whistle, the Dewces (helped in no small part by their coaches running
commentary in an annoyingly squeaky voice) soon got themselves back into
the game. This despite an early touchdown from the Wasters in turn 2.
Soon, the Wasters are on the back foot, taking a turn 3 casualty
followed by a turn 4 fatality. Unable to capatilize on causing a goblin
casualty in turn 5, the Waster's drive ends when a goblin player
intercepts a pass in turn 7, before handing-off the ball to score the
equalizer in turn 8. Exhausted by the frenetic activity of the first
half, the Norse team hangs back to conserve it players, playing a
defensive game. Between Norse caution and the usual goblin flailing, the
second half is remarkably uneventful until a final round touchdown for
the Dewces.
Final Score: Dewces 2, Wasters 1
Casualties Inflicted: Dewces 2, Wasters 1
Gate: 20,000
Champions of Death (Undead) V Tomb Raiders (Khemri)
A difficult one for the fans to follow, given that too much
head-turning tends to result in the fans literally losing their heads!
The League's two dead teams set about pounding one another into the dust
in what proved to be a surprising mobile and fast game given the
players' obvious limitations in the locomotion department. In fact, it
would prove to be the highest scoring game of the season so far!
Bandages flew everywhere as the teams' mummy players took turns knocking
each other down and standing back up, meaning that it was the faster
players (relatively speaking) who performed the actual scoring. Despite
having just one player standing towards the end of the match (the rest
of them having all been knocked on their asses, er, pelvises, by the
Raiders) the Champions managed to hold on to a convincing draw.
Final Score: Champions 2, Raiders 2
Casualties Inflicted: Champions 1, Raiders 2
Gate: Not recorded
LEAGUE TABLE AND THOUGHTS:
 |
| Note: The Number of wins, losses, casualties for and against etc does not tally correctly due to the retirement of the Pokitt Dewces and their replacement by the Fresh Pokitt Dewces. |
A quick glance at the table will show that last season's winning coach,
Gordon, is in the lead with another novelty team of stunties, albeit
Goblins this time rather than Ogres. This season, we've seen a larger
preponderance of slow, slugging teams and far fewer running or passing
teams. That being said, Alan's Orks seem to favour the throwing game
over beating the snot out of his opponents and the Norse could be
described equally accurately as a throwing or bashing team. Bear in mind
that several other coaches have yet to play their first game of the
season. We'll soon be able to add the Skull n' Skinks (Lizardmen) to the
list of teams and some coaches have yet to pick their teams. As yet,
Skaven and Wood Elves are both noticeably (and surprisingly) absent from
the board.
It's also nice to see so many of the teams that I've painted or previously owned represented in the League.
My own team are sitting in the middle of the table after three games,
with one win and two losses. But as a Nurgle team, you expect to lose
your first few games while you build up your team. The one re-roll has
been hurting me so far, but now that I have fourteen players to my name
-including four Chaos Warriors (one with recently acquired Claws), four
Pestigors and a Beast of Nurgle- I've already filled my roster with all
the available non-Rotter players and should really start wracking up the
wins soon. I've also successfully killed an enemy player in every game,
recruiting two new Rotters in the process.. Now... if I can just save
up for that second re-roll counter
