Match Recap: Tree Hugging Fairies (Wood Elf) vs. Lokapojat (Necro)

New Blood Bowl league season has been opened!
First three games of the regular season were fought simultaneously, but the focus on this recap is on the Necro vs. Wood Elf match. The two other games were Chaos vs. Orcs, and Dark Elfs vs. Chaos Pact. Here seen on the background: on the unforgiving Stone Pitch Greenskin Lovers (Orcs) meets BMC Body Hammers (Chaos). On the foreground is the foam-core pitch with team Necro on the right and Wood Elf on the left represented with unpainted red plastics from the second edition of Blood Bowl.



Team Necro miniatures are still work in progress: one Werewolf figure is a vintage Citadel animal handler (blue base with "2") with greenish skin tone to cheaply imitate his Necromantic quality... Still a long way to go with this posse. Wight figures with Block skill are old Lotr Uruk-hai ("5") and 3rd edition Human blitzer. Zombies and the Ghoul runner holding the ball are closer to the final look of the team. In this match the higher team value of Wood Elf team gave Necro newbies a star player Inducement: J Earlice is chosen for the task. This fast (8 MA) piece with ball handling skills and Dodge is good addition to match the elven speed.

Game starts with the first Kick-Off: Perfect Defense gives the Elf team time to reorganize their players before the undead start to move forward. This does not help the Elfs a lot: Wood Elf defence is not the easiest to thing to manage in Blood Bowl. First turns are really fast and the 4 min time limit is not enforced: Necro fails to pick up the ball, and on their first turn Elf coach rolls "1 re-roll 1" in an attempt to Dodge... Elf Catcher falls down and the fragile armor brakes: Badly Hurt guy with pointed ears is carried of the pitch when game had barely started. With the undermanned defense line the game is relatively fast 1-0 for the Necros. Wight number 6 scores the first touchdown on the 6th turn of the first period.

With only two turns left in the period Elfs try to make it to the end zone fast - no such luck: Werewolf pushes the Catcher out of the Pitch and angry undead fans beat the poor Elf to a pulp. Another Badly Hurt Elf and even less players to put in to the play on the second period.



Second period and third drive of the game starts when Necros kick the ball very close to the Line of Scrimmage.

In this new league we are still using the good old House Rule of two free Special Play Cards (50k decks, drawn randomly) for both teams. First card to see the action is "That Babe's Got Talent" played by the Elven team. "Ball Clone" by the Necros makes the Elven attack disorganized: they have to divide their forces to catch both of the balls. This proves to be ill-advised tactic, soon both balls have changed hands and its team Necro with two balls and Elfs are left with desperate defense.



Now there are only five Elven players left on the pitch: they call on the services of "Rogue Wizard". Fireball finds its target with deadly accuracy: J Earlice carrying the ball is hit! And soon the fire spreads and all supporting Necro players in the loose cage formation are hit to the ground also. Werewolf had already took the false Clone Ball to the Elven Endzone and this thing that J Earlice was holding is the real thing. Elfs have their small window of opportunity, but alas - "1 re-roll 1" again! The Elf coach rolled four of these killer "1 re-roll 1" things in the duration of the game... so with better luck they might have capitalized on this Fireball attack but now it only slowed down the Necro attack.



On the 16th and last turn of the game Werewolfs celebrate the second touchdown: J Earlice seems pretty happy too.

Post match procedures see the touchdown making Werewolf leveling up too: now both Wolfs have the Block skill.

Team standings on the regular season ("Runkosarja" in Finnish) after the first three games. Chaos team BMC Body Hammers managed to pull 2-0 victory on the Orcs, so they are sharing the first place with team Necro. Half of the 12 teams are still without any games, so its too early to say anything about the league in general. But good start for the new Necro team: two games done with 5 touchdowns made, looking forward to more challenges.



The other teams have developed too, there is now AG 4 Line Orc in the Greenskin Lovers team and Chaos Beastman with Side Step. To wrap up this recap - here's a list of the latest skill upgrade picks for the teams in the league.

Jingle Bowls Cup Final Game Recap - Blood Bowl Mayhem with Chaos Dwarfs and High Elfs

Finally - the final match of the season!

This has been a long time comin' - final game of the Jingle Bowls Cup that originated in the late 2012. Six teams started the regular season almost a year ago and now the two top dogs duke it out in the grand final.

With very different seasons behind them the two teams in the final vary in many ways - the tall and proud High Elfs of the team Kallio Noble Killers and the small and wicked Chaos Dwarfs of the Red Anvils. Chaos dwarfs tend to trust their bashing game - hit often and hit hard. High Elfs on the contrary favor fast and accurate passing game with the aid of their high agility. High Elf team has been undefeated in record breaking sequence of 17 (!) games in the row. Elfs won the regular season, while Chaos Dwarfs struggled to even make it to the semifinals - they tied the fourth place with same points as the Slann team.



Within the regular season the same teams played 1-1 tie, with only four Elfs left on the pitch when the game ended. Only thing that saved the Elfs from the defeat was Hobgoblin slaves failing to pick up the ball next to the endzone.

Both teams have plenty of experienced players in their rosters, and surprisingly enough the Team Value is exactly the same for both: 1.960.000 gps. Red Anvils treasury is quite bloated (650.000) so the head coach decides to shop around for some Star Player support. Grashnak Blackhoof is chosen for the task - fast movement (6) and extra strength (6) might come handy when beating the Elfs to pulp. This Minotaur star is notable for two "missing" skills: no Wild Animal and no Block. This Petty Cash transaction left the Elfs with 310.000 worth of Inducements. Pointy eared coach hired two Mercenary Linemen both with Dodge skill. The plan was to have ample reserve of players and keep out of the harms way with Dodge. Now both rosters were ready and the game could star for real.



Fans showed up in large numbers: 13.000 Chaotic supporters and 19.000 with pointed ears - giving the Elf team Fame +1 for this final game. Weather was typical Blood Bowl atmosphere: "Nice", partially cloudy but mostly sunny. Chaos Dwarfs received the first kick-off of the game with Red Anvils trademark setup "The Bloody Wedge", with big emphasis on the left flank. Elfs tried to counter this with "Perfect Kick" Special Play Card - giving them the change to put the ball as far as possible from the offense formation of the dwarfs. This played out nicely for the Elfs - ball landed deep in the right wide zone of the Red Anvil half of the pitch. Small gust of wind (roll of "7" on the Kick-off Table) took the ball even further to the right. The game was on!



Hobgoblin number 10 with Sure Hands skill runs for the ball as fists start to fly on the Line of Scrimmage - two Minotaurs let it loose on the Elven Mercs, few bruises but nothing too serious. Then the Dwarf Blocker number 4, Xem Sickfang, manages to make the first casualty - the poor newbie elf merc is taken out of play (Badly Hurt) even before his first action. Dwarf fans seem to love this: first turn and first elf in the injury box - things are going according to the Red Anvils master plan.

Elfs move into defensive positions - slowing down the forward momentum of the Wedge any way they could. Second turn of the dwarf offensive and the coach gives Blitz order for the hired gun Blackhoof… Double skulls. Money well spent? Well maybe not, armor breaks and the bountyhunter is Stunned. Dwarf attack grinds to a halt, if only for a moment.

Dwarfs form a loose cage formation around the ball handler, but Blackhoofs Turn-over left the thing only half ready. Elfs counter attack but only manage to Pushback the Hobgoblin. Elf coach finds out that his only player with Strip-ball skill is sitting on the Reserves bench - this skill could have changed the outcome of this action altogether. Unlucky, Mr. Bond.

Dwarfs form a better cage and move it deeper into Elven territory, maybe slowly but surely. Dwarfs are almost to the enzone when they stall for delayed goal - if you give Elfs even as little as two turns to score they seem to make it without a fail. On the seventh turn things start to roll for the Dwarfs: BullCentaur gives Fractured Skull (-1 AV) for Naiad (Elf lineman number 6), and defense lines seem to leak more and more. The only Elf with real changes to Blitz on the ball carrier is distracted with "Trampoline Trap" Special Play Card and fails his landing roll - high Agility or not. On their 8th turn Hobgoblin number 12 scores a running touchdown - this time around they surely don't wanna fumble with passes.



The second kick-off the first period scatters the clouds and Very Sunny weather gives -1 to all passing rolls… Even the gods seems to shine on the Dwarfs, this passing modifier definitely hinders High Elfs play style more than Red Anvils cage/running game. Elfs 8th turn is uneventful with a slight sense of frustration - no time to score and no muscles to hurt the opposition.



Second half of the game starts with another Kick-off to the Elfs: "Quick Snap!" result gives some leverage to counter the big hitters on the dwarven line. Second turn comes around and the the Elfs do what they do best: Leap and Dodge in to the deep end, Safe Throw and Catch. The schoolbook version of the two turns touchdown evens the score to 1-1. High Elf Super Star Blitzer Phobos (1) strikes again.

Before the setup of the next drive, Elfs play yet another Special Play Card: "Gromskull's Exploding Runes" - turning one of their players into Bombardier. This is "high risk-high reward" gamble: given the Very Sunny weather and the usual cage style of Dwarfs. If bombs find their target they might be very effective indeed - but if they are fumbled the defense might crumble on its own mistakes.

10th Dwarf turn sees the Kick-off result of "Pitch Invasion!" and the Elf fans seem to hit harder (+1 FAME) this time. Dwarf attack formation is greatly diminished by Stunned guys all over the pitch. Lucky for the Dwarfs there is still plenty of time left. They move thru the right flank with ease - there is more casualties on the High Elf team! Player is hit hard - Smashed Collar Bone would mean -1 to ST, and the Apothecary opens his medical cabinet: the Elf player is only Badly Hurt after the pain killers and healing potions are consumed.



Bombardier lights the fuse and -surprise surprise- the Exploding Runes Knock Down the Hobgoblin holding the ball! For a moment the game might turn either way, scattering ball landing in an empty square next to players from both teams. Dwarfs manage to push the Elfs out of the way and recapture the ball. More pointy ears are taken out of the play (casualty statistics in the end are 7-0 to Red Anvils) - and dwarfs run the ball sideways from right to left.



On the 7th turn of the second half Hobgoblin number 10, Desz Sickbone scores 2-1 for the Dwarfs. Only one turn left in the game situation seems pretty desperate for the Elfs. Only the roll of "3" on the last kick-off table would bring more time… The roll is "11" - frustrated Elf fans Throw a Rock at the BullCentaur next to the right sideline: Stunned. Elfs realize the situation and fall deep into their side of the pitch. Last turn of the game sees the Blackhoof Blitzing with two Go-For-Its: push back... What huge waste of money that Star Player was.



Handshakes and MVPs - High Elf Blitzer Phobos is leveled to the Super Star status with staggering 77 Star Player Points. Phobos is one of the five (!) original players in the Kallio Noble Killers team, all other players have been replaced during the bloody aftermaths of the games. Being undefeated in 17 games in a row definetly comes with a price. Lucky for the Elfs this Original Five includes both Blitzers and Kharon the Elf Thrower with 5 AG and 32 completions to his name. Two experienced Linemen also survive from the original starting roster.

High Elf coach keeps a list titled "Broken dreams" that includes the players that have been kicked off the team because of stat injurys. After this final game there is new addition to this long and sad list: Elf lineman number 10. (named lovingly: Moon8) that got his -1 to MA. There was also death in the team, the High Elf kickers seem to have some kind of a curse: this time the victim was Elf lineman (11) called Triton that had Kick skill. As mentioned above, Elf lineman Naiad (6) also got a Fractured Skull and lost a point of his AV. Maybe it is fitting to end this report with picture of the High Elf injury box: few teams can win the game with seven players there.



Red Anvils wins the Jingle Bowls Cup trophy, silver medals for the High Elfs and bronze goes to the Lizardmen team. Nice cup is finally over and all eyes are on the next season...

Stone Blood Bowl Pitch

Stone pitch for Blood Bowl has finally arrived!



Really heavy stuff, the sturdiest tabletop board I have ever seen. Comes in two parts, with dugout info on the side. Line of scrimmage is elevated and endzones have a bit longer squares.



First match on the stone stadium is fought between Dark Elf team and Skaven ratboys. Elfs have the home team advantage with 13 k fans, Skaven have 10 k supporters. First kick-off lets the Ratboys have an extra turn with Blitz! but the little finks can't manage to get more than push-back of the elf line.



Skaven defense is not the toughest in BB, but with a help of Stolen Playbook card and one lucky intercept they manage to postpone the inevitable. On the turn four Dark elfs score the first touchdown of the new stadium. Home crowd gets wild and wants to see more.





Teams get ready for the second kick-off and Skaven score fast two turn touchdown with duo of Gutter Runners on the front line. End of the first period sees skaven defense getting thinner: unlucky fouling (snake eyes) leaves the rats three players short.



Even more skaven leave the stone field by getting beaten up by the angry home crowd full of blood lust elfs. Dwarf referee can't do little more than count the bodies. Elfs stall the game with cage near the end zone. Just when the Rat Ogre muscle is needed - he gets the Wild Animal fit... Elfs score the 2-1 TD on turn 14. So, skaven got the two turns left to make it even. Some bad rolling and too thin lines end the game with third Dark Elf touchdown on last turn. So it goes, 3-1 TDs and 2-0 casualtys for the elfs leave no room for explanations. Great new stone stadium had it first game, looking forward to many more.