CanCon 2018 Part 1: Australian Blood Bowl Nationals

Last weekend was CanCon. I took the Entwives to the Australian Blood Bowl Nationals, which had a new resurrection format this year. It cut down on the bookkeeping, and made squishier teams (such as Wood Elves...) more sustainable.

The details: 7 games, 3 days, resurrection, 1.1million build, adding skills after each game.

The Entwives

I changed my roster at the last minute, and finished a Treeman that was sitting around incompletely painted. My plan was to play fairly conservatively. My roster was two Wardancers, a Thrower, three Catchers, the Treeman, and four Line Elves. I had two rerolls.

Match 1. Roland's Humans

So, the conservative plan went swiftly out of the window. I rolled four successive 1s which left me in a dismal situation, and my Tree rooted himself to the spot. I went down 3-0, suffering 4-1 casualties...

Elves push for the line- I have no idea where the ball is!

Match 2. Patrick's Orcs

I wasn't looking forward to playing Orcs, and struggled in the first half. I tripped over on the line, and the Tree spent most of this game flat on his back failing to get up. I was lucky in my armour, only suffering three casualties from a barrage of blocks. With only six players on the pitch in the second half, I pulled an Elfy comeback and won 3-1.

Orcs punch into my left pitch

Match 3. Andrew's Orcs

More Orcs! I had a fun game against Andrew, where again I had to modify my conservative plan after my Tree was injured very early on. I played for time in the first half, and then got lucky with a cheeky Blitz kick-off to score under his nose, to win 2-1.

A Wood Elf Catcher flees from the Orcs for a touchdown.

Match 4. James' Dwarves

From Orcs to Dwarves, all the Elves' natural enemies... For my first action of the game, the Treeman knocked himself out... then James killed my Wardancer with his first action! He got a bit overconfident after that, and I was able to claw back a draw 2-2 in an enjoyable fight.

Elves face a strong Dwarf cage

Match 5. Virral's Humans

Virral is a long-time Australian Blood Bowl personality, but we don't play each other very often. We had a fun tight game, and he was able to equalise 2-2 on his last turn. I still suffered 4 casualties.

An exposed Elf dares the humans to catch her

Match 6. Aaron's Ogres

I was a bit mentally fatigued at this stage, and wasn't up to the challenge presented by multiple Guard Ogres and Sidestep Snotlings. I suffered a 4-0 casualty beating, but it was another 1-1 draw. Aaron took home the Stunty King award.

An Elven nightmare of tacklezones. Snotlings were tissue with (I hope) green paint

Match 7. Michael's Norse.

This Norse team had a lot of Tackle, and I was in another uphill fight. I was down to six players in the second half, but got one touchdown to lose 3-1.

Elven survivors face a full Norse defense

So, at the end I had two wins, three draws, and two losses. I averaged exactly four casualties against me every game. Many of my second halves were quick as all I was doing was rolling stunned players over!

I was glad to take the Treeman- he gave me a few options and absorbed a lot of punishment. I eventually gave him Jump Up, which was excellent. My conservative plans were quickly scuppered by some bad rolls which left me in dire straits requiring ever-crazier tactics. I had many games with hardly anyone upright.

There were 34 coaches present, and I came 22nd. The winner, Luke, had Dark Elves and had six wins and a draw.

I forgot all my anguish when I received the award for Best Painted Team! Again!  [smug mode]

Next: other CanCon pics