Eucalyptus Bowl 2017

Euc Bowl was last weekend, and I had a great time with my new Underworld team, the Surrender Monkeys.

The Euc Bowl quick guide:  six games, two days, resurrection, Swiss pairing, ~125kgp, up to one non-double skill per player.

There were 54 coaches playing eighteen different teams. There were subtle incentives to take a variety of teams, which seemed to work- the most common team was goblins, and no-one took dwarves! Each round had a variety of unlucky prizes, such as the first coach to trip over on the touchdown line.

My roster was a Troll with Claw,  two Blitzers with Guard, two Linerats with Wrestle, one Thrower with Leader, one Thrower with Kick-off Return, seven Goblins (two with Two Heads), three Rerolls, and an Apothecary.

The Surrender Monkeys

Match 1

Chopper coached the Sin City Star Lords, a Pro Elf team. I got 2-0 up in the first half, and he tried valiantly to catch up but was unable to. Final result a 4-3 win with 2-1 casualties.

The Surrender Monkeys take it to the Star Lords

Match 2

I was relieved to face another elf team for my second match, as I knew I would struggle against a bashy team. George's Wood Elves, the University of Oregon, played a strong and unexpected stalling game to be leading 2-1 in the last turn. However, I pulled off a one-turn touchdown by throwing a goblin carrying the ball into the endzone for a 2-2 tie! It was really exciting watching every die roll, knowing that a failure would cost me the match. Casualties were 4-4 each.

The Surrender Monkeys barrel into the Wood Elf defences.

Match 3

Scott had an Undead team, Grabbed by the Ghoulies. He KO'd my Troll in the first half, and I was lucky to stop him from scoring leaving me 1-0 up at half time when my Troll recovered. He equalised in the second half, and with nothing to lose I pulled off a ridiculous dodging play to finish with a 2-1 win, although I was tailing badly 0-4 in the casualties.

The green ghoul has the ball- the Surrender Monkeys try to absorb the Undead drive

Match 4

I played JoeKano's Chaos Pact team, the Renegades of Skye. Joe won Euc Bowl last year with Amazons, and he had a slight edge over me for the first half. He played a really strong fluid cage play, swinging his offense easily from side to side. I luckily took out his Ogre early in the second half, which enabled me to win 2-1 by the end. I won the casualties 4-3.

The Renegades push down their left before swinging to the other wide zone.

Match 5

As yet undefeated, I was now on Table 2 and waiting for karma to catch up. Glen's orcs, the Eye Eaters, were happy to oblige, getting a Perfect Defence roll before the match had started. I loathe Perfect Defence more than I loathe Blitz on the kick-off table. This completely dislocated my offensive plans, and I spent the rest of the game trying to survive. I lost 2-0 with 1-3 casualties. Glen played very clinically, like a good dwarf coach, and there was little I could do. Glen ended up coming 4th overall.

The surviving Surrender Monkeys are helpless in front of the Eye Eaters

Match 6

I was relieved to face another elf team in the last match- Jason's Pro Elves, the Who's Town Rockets. He had an amazing thrower, and I was lucky to equalise in the first half 1-1. I got a few favourable armour rolls in the second half and took a leaf from George's playbook to stall for time. Jason put the pressure on, and I was lucky to dodge out of his grasp and score on the last turn for a 2-1 win.

The Surrender Monkeys smash through the elf front line.

So, I did much better than I had expected with a team I had never played before, with 4-1-1 record. This was enough to give me an overall placing of 6th! I don't think I've finished that high up the ladder before. I had a lot of lucky plays, which helped me pull draws from losses and wins from draws. The winning team was Bojo's Undead.

The prize table

I was impressed with the Underworld- the Skaven are really quick and the goblins are fairly flexible. The Claws on the Troll weren't great, but I didn't play too many high armour teams. I would have been better off with a Keg than the Apothecary. I could probably have dropped a Goblin and taken a few more skills like Diving Tackle or Side Step.

Loot

I've now played tournaments with 21 of the 24 official teams!

Best painted team: Jonno's Halflings on their display base!

Additional photos from the Euc Bowl Facebook page.