Bowlesque exposure

It started on http://fumbbl.com/ where I played some matches with a Necromantic team, and I really enjoyed myself. Soon I just had to have a ready necro team to play next season in my local league. I put the Chaos farm rest and just started painting some of the many miniatures I had. The team is not ready yet, I have not select zombie models as I think the ones I have from Willy's are to big, but I wanted to share my progress. Here are some almost finished players for Chilltown Crypt Creeps

 

The Werevolfes and Wights are from Willy miniatures. The fleshgolems are bought from franarscilla and can nowdays be found at Meiko.

I have also started painted 2 mummies and 4 golems from Willys. The Golems have gotten different heads thou. 

 

These models are even futher from finished than the first bunch.

 

 

Otherwise are we preparing to go to Austria and fight for the EuroBowl. Team Sweden have practise a lot and have a really great gang going this year. If the quality of Chaos Cup and Spike tournament is anything to go by, Sweden will do very well. Congrats to Magnus, Jonas och Anders for great achivements and specially to David, the Chaos Cup champ.

/Lard

         

After Low Cash Cup the whole team Sweden have been selected. I think we have a really strong team this year and that my goal, that team Sweden will finish above 8:th place, is really possible to achieve. The eight coaches this are Melisqus, Jammydodger, Dragons, Skoberget, Johnnyd, Mago, Ozt and me, Lard. As reserves we have two other strong coaches; Coma and Bloodbowlgurra. Anyhow, now it is summertime and the tournamentscene in Sweden are on vacation. In the autumn Team Sweden will have a training camp in September and then it is the big showdown in Oktober: EuroBowl. A bunch of Swedish coaches are going to the states for the Chaos Cup and the Spike Cup, and as mush as I would like to meet and beat some US-coaches, I will have to pass this year.

New Kids on the pitch
New team aren’t that many finished yet but we have some upcoming project that could need your support, if you like the minis:

Star bowl fantasy fotboll and Shadow elfs

2 different Halfling team from Willy miniatures are also coming, you can see the minis in this TFF thread

or at this picts: 

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1004430_10200152542512603_1966161468_n.jpg
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/163/3/f/halfling_team___willy_miniatures_by_serg_natos-d68pvn3.jpg

Modelling: Old Ma Chaos

The team is coming along nicely. I have gotten some more hillbilly miniatures and are about to finish the marauders. For the farm animals (position players) I already have some beastmen from Gaspez but cant really decide if they are enough “farmy”. Here are some of my simple conversions on the Old Glory hillbillies. The models are really nice and fitting. The only problem was that Old Glory only sell the hillbillies in pack of 12 and even if I just wanted 3-5 models out of each pack I had to buy the whole “family”. If anyone wants some hillbillies with guns, axes or similar just contact me and we can arrange it.

Before:        

after:           

before:   after:              

before:     

after, but not finished: 

I also got this miniature as the coach: 

That all for this time, Ill be back when I have painted some more minis.

/ Coach M.

NAF: Lard.

It is always like this. You have an ambition to write often but then it gets less often and more not at all. But hey, now I am back with allot to tell you.

New kids on the pitch

Team Snö from Greebo is a new beautiful Norse team and if you are in the mind frame to buy a Norse team this is one of the best on the market.

UsCarl miniatures have released a Renegade elf team that could work for dark elfs.

Gaspez have some mummies for ther Egyptian warrior team - Khemri.

Willy miniature is about to kick start a Chaos team   that also looks really great. They have no miniatures yet but the pictures look top notch.

There is also this kick starter for some goblin secret weapons with a Halloween theme, and maybe a robotic troll...

I might have missed some of the new miniatures due to the long "blog writers block" but in the case I find newer teams out there they will be added in future Side Line recaps.

Bowl overview

This section will be mostly about EuroBowl but first I will mention the upcoming tournaments in Sweden. Next year has a great start of the tournament scene in Sweden!

Choose from:

Landskamp Denmark vs. Sweden - round 3.12 January in Copenhagen. RES/SWISS 1100K + 3 skills.

DOUBT IV 12-13 January in Umeå. RES/SWISS 1200K +4 skills (+2 more after game 4) 6 games in total.

TWIN mountain cup, 26-27 January in Sundsvall. RES/SWISS 1100K + skillpacks.

I am sure I will go to DOUBT and then we will see if can join any more tournament.

EuroBowl report

I was in team Sweden and went to Copenhagen to play some Blood Bowl. I had a Wood elf team with 2 wardancers, 4 catchers, 5 linemen and 3 rerolls. In hindsight can I see that it wasn't that optimal... It was great fun to hang with Team Sweden and to approach the game as a team. That was totally different from regular tournaments. The arrangement was also super good. The Danes had really made an effort to make it a perfect blood bowl tournament and I think they were pretty close to perfection.

 Team Sweden in all its glory

Game 1

We meet Belgium first and I was up against another wood elf coach - Da great MC. He played 2 wardancers, 4 catchers, 1 tree, 4 line and 2 reroll. Sure hands on a catcher, strip ball on a wardancer and one more skill I do not remember.

 

After a brutal Pitch invasion traded we TD:s for 1-1. He had the ball for a second try first half. I got a leap/sack chance with my strip ball wardancer, got the ball lose and then after a bunch it ended in my wardancers hand. Sadly he couldn't get away with it as he was out of moment so The MC just rolled a POW and scored in turn 8. In second half no one was able to stop the other one from scoring so the result was 3-4 to MC. He was the better player and had a little better time management so he was up 2-1 till the second half.

         The Belgium team gave us a great treat to eat. 

Team Sweden over all draw agains the Belgium team - 4-4.

Game 2

Next up was England and I was up against a Chaos Dwarf team played by Lycos. This was my 6:th NAF ranked game in my life. It was his 807:th...

I got the ball and the offense but wasn't able to stall enough as I had to score in turn 4. That meant that he had 5 turns to even things out. He got a high kick on a bull centaur that cached the ball and ran the Bull in a cage that was really hard to stop. 1-1 after first half. In second half he picked up the ball with a bullcantaur and ran it in a cage. It was hard to stop also this time. My one turn attempt failed.

As a curiosity was the only player that failed a roll in the Chaos Dwarf team the Minotaur, he rolled both down 4 times during the game. Due to this had Lycos not used a single reroll during the whole game.

1-2 Loss.

Over all beat the English team the crap out of Sweden. I think the result was 2-6 to England.

Game 3

A little discouraged I went into the next game against Scotland. To my surprise I meet a Swede - Tribble - that played as a freebooter for Scotland. To my joy was he playing Goblins.

      

It got even better when I rolled Blitz! for the first drive, stole the ball and scored on my turn 1. I then proceeded with another Blitz! roll, another TD and all the Bribes gone. Let's summarize the rest of the game with this: Tribble had really bad dices and I rolled great. Nuffle gives and Nuffle takes.

End result 5-0. Win!

Sweden vs. Scotland went in our favour as we won and Team Sweden got back some steam for game 4.

Game 4

This was a game against Finland (or minor Sweden as we think about it). I was up against a freebooter from Denmark so I had two of our neighbors in the same match. I was facing Kneagtens Humans and as he has his own playbook I thought I had him scouted pretty well.

This was a crazy game in all regards. Kneagten played as he writes in his playbook and fouled, 13-14 times during the game. He was evicted 2 times. He succeeded to score in the first half with a crazy play #pick up, pass, catch in tackle zones...# and evened things out to 1-1. As second half come along so did "get the ref" and the fouling continued. In the end I did not have the man power to stop him so I had to play for a draw with a desperate play. Let's call it Nobody puts side-step wardancer in the corner without the ball.

And yes, you can see my whole team at that point in this picture. Kneagten did that 5+ dodge with a catcher and blitzed both players out in the audiens before he scored. All without reroll.  

2-3 loss.

The important thing is that Sweden won over Finland. 6-2

Second day

Game 5

After cleaning our cabin we faced of against France. I was up against Elyoukey who played Lizardmen.

It was a good game. I scored 1-0 in the first half and succeeded to prevent Elyoukey to equalize. Second half started and the wood elf team had forgot to put on their armor... In a few turns the whole team just vanished to the knock out, injury booths. For the last 2 turns Tribble went for a clearing of the pitch but I succeeded to have one player standing. The game ended 1-1. Draw.

All my players on the pitch and some of his.  

As a whole was France better than Sweden that day and won 5-3 over us.

Game 6

Spain was our next challange and I was facing Barrys Norse. A very nice looking team.

   

I scored easy in first half leaving Barry with two turns to equalize. He rolled well and we had 1-1 after first half. For the first game in a while my players stayed on the pitch so I could slow Barry down in the second half. It was a tight defense and Barry couldn't find any cracks. On the other side, I couldn't get to the ball.

The game ended 1-1 Draw.

Over all Sweden got another beating and Spain won. 5-3

Game 7

Final game was againstSwitzerland and I was facing BDG and his Skavens.

He started with the ball and tried a pass that fell short. I could take the lead and after the next kick-off sack the ball high up on his court. After first half I had a 2-0 lead. I attacked second half and got 3-0. He suceeded to do a TD. I failded my last 2+ roll for 4-1 and he scored for the end result.

3-2 Win.

Sweden won over Switzerland. 6-2.

As the dust settled It seemed that Sweden came on place 8/14. With my 2 won, 2 draw, 3 losses I placed 66 out of 112 coaches. The total experience was a blast! I will definitive do it again if I get the chance. All the coaches and the staff where really friendly and by far this was the best tournament I ever been to.

Next year it is in Austria!

Ready steady go!

At last have I finished the White Rat Thrashers - my new Skaven team made to be possible to play at tournaments that just will accept miniatures from Gran Wendy.  So I give you:

     

The team have basecolor as follows: white - thrower, yellow - gutterrunners, red - blitzers.

What will i do next? Undead/Nekro i think...

/Coach M.

                                                                     

NärkeBowl 2012 results

 /Coach M.

Ok, lets summarize what has happened since recap #1. It has not been so much in the miniature market but for my interest in the kickstarter of DreadBall has grown. So most of this blogpost will be a long ramble off my opinion about that kickstarter.

New kids on the pitch

New Norse team from Mano di Porco,  12 players. There are some good new/old models in this team. The Troll has been around for a while but the players are newer. One problem with the team is that there is just one blitzer in those 12 players so you will have to buy one more of those on the side.

Franarscillas Nurgle team has changed manufacture to Meiko-miniature. As it is one of the greatest Nurgle teams on the market it is good to keep tabs on where you can get hold off one. The change off manufacture did bump the prize with 25-40%  so I´m glad I already have my Likröta BK.

Willy miniature has released some Goblin secret weapons that are really great. I really like the pogoer but I know that many fancy the chainsaw more.

I met a friend to play a game of BloodBowl as practice for EuroBowl and we talked a little about the Dreadball kickstarter. On the train home the idea that we talked about grow on me and I decided to write this thing. So on to the main course:

DreadBall

(and yeah, I think the name suck)

This upcoming game from Mantic is now reaching the second half of the kickstarter. As it seems it is going to be big as many a pleading. It is kind of new as the rules isn’t BB.  And It could even be a good game, but more about that later.

I am a real Blood Bowl fan boy. It is one of the greatest game that I know (with Robo Rally and Puerto Rico). Some of the things I love about BB are things that Dreadball (DB) could repeat. What are the things I love about Blood Bowl then:

• Different ways to the goal. You can play a game in some different way and still come out with the win (Bash/Agility).
• A miniature game there you do not have to have a million miniatures, you are fine with a team out of 11-16 players.
• Tension with the turn over mechanic. You always have to prioritize what you will do first and what risk that is worth it. That makes a good balance of luck and skill the decision maker of who will win.

What difference will it be, the good and the bad.

• DB seems as a faster game. That is good for new players and for tournament play. A DB game has a gaming time about 60-90 minutes. BB takes 110-140. In this hobby it is the painting that is the greatest time thief.
• BB has easy rules compared to miniatures game, but DB rules seem even easier. The rules are more “Eurogame” in the meaning that the game is a more modern game. DB has fewer player types, less skills, less modifiers and seems easier to get a grip on. The rules also seems to have you making some hard decisions (you can just activate 5 out of 6 players, you can suffer a “turn over”, no new set up after scoring and so on).
• Expansions. DB is a new game and the designer and Mantic has announced that it will be three expansions (season 2, Ultimate and Xtreme). The contrast to BB could not be greater as Gran Wendy has not released anything for BB for a long time. It has been a rumor on the net that it would come a new BB box with 4 team and so on but it has not happened and probably never will. The old BB fan base is also so conservative that, when cyanide (who is making the computer version) is releasing a new roaster – Khorne – in their next version of the computer game, the coaches seem almost fear full that it will “break” the game. On the other hand has the designer for DB said that he will use the expansions to twist his new game (many based robots and monsters, 3D terrain and more). That could make the game fly high in the beginning just to make it crash and burn is future expansions if the coaches wont recognize it any longer.
• A new fanbase. If DB gets as many fans as BB has it will be great but if DB gets players that are 14-20 years old instead out of BB older clientele it will not. I will try to recruit my league with BB-players, because most of them are great pals, but many of them play BB out of sentimental reasons, or habit.

If Mantic doesn’t make Gran Wendies mistakes, like giving up on a great game, not supporting the fan community, just will have their own miniatures in their tournaments and so on, Dreadball has a good change to be a new top game. I will gladly play DB when it is released. I will try to get a league running and I will promote it. In five years I know I still will be playing Blood Bowl, but I do not know if I will be playing DreadBall, we will have to see how Mantic handle it.

Bowl overview

NärkeBowl 2012 - 29-30 september - Format Swiss/res TV1250K. NAF

Nordsken - 29 september  Swiss/res TV1100K.

EuroBowl - 20 - 31 October - in Copenhagen. Format Swiss/res TV1100K + 3/3 skills. NAF

Stockbowl cup III - 10 November - in the Swedish Capital are today full at 24 coaches. Format Swiss/res TV1100K + 5 skills. NAF

Ready steady go!

The dice for NärkeBowl are in and ready. I have had a lot of reading in my studies so I have just finished 3 more skavens since last and rebuild the blitzers and a rat ogre. You will have to wait for the next update to see them thou and I hope they all will be painted till then.

 

/Coach M.