An Open Letter to the NAF Committee from a World Cup 2019 Journeyman

Dear NAF Committee

My head is still spinning from the experience of attending the 2019 Blood Bowl World Cup in Dornbirn. It was a huge privilege to be a part of the first African team, The African Impis, and to be teamed up with the coach and South African Blood Bowl legend Da_Imp who taught me the game over 20 years ago in Johannesburg.


I've been playing tabletop miniature games since 1994 and attended tournaments for a wide number of game systems in the UK as well as in South Africa where winners stand the chance of gaining their national sports colours. None of them have come even close to the level of fun and friendship I experienced this past weekend at the NAF World Cup 2019. To be in a room with so many strangers from foreign lands is normally an uneasy experience for me, yet I left there feeling like I had 1,431 more friends than when I arrived. It was a superb atmosphere that was created by the players and I want to thank all the French, Italian, German, Polish, Swedish, Dutch, Belgian, Spanish, Portuguese competitors and other nationalities who went out of their way to make the first Team Africa feel so welcome. Beers were shared and stories swapped with great fellowship. Despite being a member since January 2017 my only prior NAF experience was Joe Allen's (Inderol) excellent BBQ Bowl held in July, likewise an extremely enjoyable experience and he likewise went out of his way to make this first-timer feel completely welcome and at home. It's a common theme and I am really encouraged by that to promote others into getting more involved with NAF events.

Where Sixes Were Rolled

I believe several things certainly contributed to its success. The MesseQuartier was spacious and well equipped for 1,432 coaches. The tables and seating provided were excellent: stable and secure and with sufficient space that coaches did not feel cramped. The vendors provided a dangerous level of distraction to our eyes and wallets between games. Lastly the organisers themselves worked like Trojans late into the night to ensure the success of the tournament after a disastrous first day. They took a lot of flak for the issues but their knuckling down and fixing things under tremendous pressure is most impressive. The enthusiasm of the attendees was highly infectious and in my own opinion this is what kept the event going during delays and made it an enormously fun and friendly place to be. The team outfits and trinkets (cow bells) along with the occasional team chants or singing were simply brilliant.

That being said, there are things I hope you will not see as personal criticism but observations from the peanut gallery that you will find useful towards planning future events of this scale. I will still encourage anyone to get to a World Cup (or any other NAF event) as the joyful camaraderie is unlike anything I've experienced before and it was a wonderful experience.

Where Skulls Were Rolled

The best solution to a problem is to prevent it from happening in the first place. My personal view is the choice of location created too many difficulties for the organisers to have to solve themselves. This past weekend suggests to me the following criteria need to be present for future host cities to be seriously considered for an event of this scale:

One or more airports with regular dedicated transport that is easy to navigate. 

The airport shuttles did the job but the drivers never checked for tickets which meant some presumably saved themselves €40 by sneaking on to buses while others got left behind as the bus was at capacity. I fully accept it to be the bus company's fault rather than the committee's, but ideally this should never have been the responsibility of the committee or hosts.

Suitable public transport offerings that run late within the host city is a must. 

I had no choice but to switch my lodgings to the highly expensive (€770) Sheraton as my original hotel was not on the list of hotels serviced by the shuttles and it would mean a 7km walk carrying all my gear daily. My teammates had to walk 3km back on two occasions late at night in foul weather due to missing the shuttles as our evenings ran late. When they could catch the shuttles I had to store some of their gear for them due to the number of passengers trying to get to their hotels. It was very kind of the committee to organise shuttles but a complicated undertaking that perhaps shouldn't have been needed to be solved in the first place. On leaving Monday morning at 10am I saw a player order a taxi at the hotel reception and it took 50 minutes to arrive. I was left with the impression (which may be mistaken of course) that Dornbirn, while very scenic, is more of a commuter town and not suitably equipped for this level of tourism.

Eateries near the venue.

I was surprised to see competitors being served lunch at one catering service point. With an hour for lunch you only have 0.25 of a second to serve each person to give them all at least 30 mins to eat. It clearly won't be possible. It would be much more realistic to have multiple eateries able to serve hungry Blood Bowlers concurrently and provide a range of options for the different palates of foreign visitors. If catering is to be used then I'd suggest menus being published online including allergens. I had a severe case of dysentery thirteen years ago that's left me with a wide range of intolerances. If there were allergen warnings or allergen-free food options I could not find them anywhere in the food area.

I don't judge the committee too harshly here as this seemed to be a general problem in Dornbirn. While restaurants were very good at listing allergens using a standardised code, frustratingly they did not provide allergen-free alternatives. For example on arrival at the Sheraton I was informed I'd receive gluten-free and dairy-free breakfasts. However, when I got to the dining area Friday morning I got blank looks when I asked for them. They eventually managed to scramble a couple eggs without milk for me but I was still charged €23 for a small portion of eggs, 2 rashers of bacon, a few slivers of salmon and a tomato. I was unable to eat anything on the hotel lunch or dinner room service menus and got back too late for the restaurant at night. I also checked every local restaurant on Google but not a single one offered allergen-free options. My boy scout skills are rusty but I survived the weekend on what I could manage in my hotel room: overnight soaked oats for breakfast, bananas for lunch, and tins of tuna and small gluten-free rice noodle pots for dinner. I hard-boiled eggs in the basin by repeatedly boiling and emptying the kettle into it, the first successful attempt took about 40 minutes. It wasn't great nor was it healthy. Bear Grylls if you're reading this, I could use some tips.

Night Life.

On the final evening my team went out to celebrate after the closing ceremony. We went to the Sheraton hotel bar to find it shut at 10pm. We tried to find a local bar called De Luxe showing on Google but it seemed to have changed into a closed strip club. We landed up in Burger King, and then the Happy Grill where we enjoyed a beer together but were kicked out at 11pm due to local laws. In general there seemed to be no real night life by the venue.

Miscellaneous issues.

Much has been said of the problems with issuing skills bases (and the magnetic stickers that stuck to everything except the bases), the poor sales in dice (I found some of the faces too hard to differentiate), and poor beer sales. I don't have anything to add that hasn't been raised except to say at Happy Grill we found the exact same beer bottle and neck labels (by implication the same beer) being sold 25% cheaper a short walking distance from the venue. I'm also used to tournaments having tea and coffee stations, and I was disappointed to have the options restricted to water, sodas or beer. When I enquired about coffee the NAF staff advised me if I had the time to rather seek out coffee in the shopping centre as it was cheaper and far nicer than the caterers provided. I'm grateful for their honesty in this. It may also reduce the inter-match chaos if winners kept their tables, reducing foot traffic by 50%.

One remaining issue I'd love to help with is technology, and no I'm not referring to the pairing issues on the Friday. I've previously offered to volunteer my technical skills with the NAF but not yet been taken up on it. I feel the starting point has to be the use of a digital certificate to secure all NAF web applications. I'm offering to donate the cost of a certificate if needed to get NAF web traffic encrypted. Security experts all agree it is no longer acceptable for sites not to be secured by encrypted protocols. This ensures browsers don't discourage users from visiting sites (which they are doing in increasingly dramatic ways) and gives users the security of knowing it is not a spoofed site they are using. It also protects passwords entered and personal information, such as players' real names and locations. There are other improvements (such as making sites more mobile friendly) that can be done by volunteers if desired. I'd love to be able to give something back and be more involved.


I know some of this may not be easy reading for the committee. Please be reassured the atmosphere created by the wonderful people attending the tournament, as well as the huge late night effort of the organisers to ensure smooth running of the Saturday and Sunday ensured its success and I had great fun despite the challenges involved. The gaming area was amazing and we had enough room to sit comfortably (a truly rare achievement for a tabletop tournament!). The international community created and sustained by the NAF is amazing and I feel lucky to be a part of it. My intention here is not to point fingers or apportion blame, but I hope some of this may be useful in refining the process to ensure each successive World Cup (and I hope there will be more!) is even better than before. Cities I've personally visited that I would use as examples of what I think would be excellent hosts are the likes of Barcelona, Bordeaux, Rome, and Dublin. Overall while there are certainly lessons to be learned I think you did a smashing job and will never forget the fun I had in Dornbirn.



To my wonderful opponents:

• hockeyfilo: grazie and thank you for the mozzie dice!
• Anubis2406: vielen dank and the coaster is a lovely souvenir!
• hungdonkeyman: thank you for a great game and enjoyable company at the airport.
• Gigio_la_tanica: grazie for a very very close result.
• Môrice_Le_Gris: merci beaucoup, et merci Manant pour le divertissement!
• MadArCay: vielend dank for the beer and chat.
• SouthernSlayer: cheers for the relaxed game and very nice meeting you and The_Martian.
• yeash: the tightest and most Blood Bowly game I've ever played, danke mein Freund for the beer and for being such a great opponent.
• The unknown Frenchman I played a friendly match with as we both had byes, merci and I hope you and your squad did well.

To my African Impis teammates: it was a privilege and a pleasure to spend this World Cup with you, thank you for your encouragement and friendship!

Thank you NAF committee and hope to see you all again my friends in 2023!

Gaslands, Savage Highways - Escape The City

Introduction

Having played many, many Death Race scenarios I was keen to get my newly purchased war rig on to the table. The first expansion for Gaslands is all about war rigs so this seemed the perfect choice and we agreed to play the first scenario. The Riggers choose a faction-specific war rig (I went with Slime for the all round rams) and get 60 cans worth of escorts, while the Gangers get 120 cans worth of vehicles to try and stop the rig with. We set up a wasteland with plenty of scattered terrain to keep things interesting, and the rig came rumbling down the centre.

Sneaky Gits

Before play begins the Gangers get two place two terrain pieces as road blocks. In a very sneaky tactical ploy they placed them in the way of two of the escorts, forcing them to take detours and get left behind the rig. This proved to make a significant difference.

A Rig Runs Through It

The rig went thundering down, aware that speed was its best ally against the swarm of Gangers facing it. It worked the gears hard, working it's way up to top speed at 4th with minimal hazard tokens. Unfortunately, it finished just out of range of the devastating mini gun turret. The plan was to ram the rocky ground lying in the way and cross that rather than risk all the hazards generated from articulating (turning) the vehicle.

Rockets, Rockets Everywhere

The Gangers' monster truck threw itself into high gear, its fat tyres having no problem negotiating the boggy ground beneath. Racing up to the rig it unleashed a spread of rockets with devastating accuracy. Four hits with two of them sixes meant six hits suffered overall, the rig managing to evade only one. At 20 hull points this wasn't as damaging as the tally of hazard tokens added by each rocket. The rig failed its flip check, smashing ahead before shuddering to a halt and back into first gear. The Ganger swarm descended, more rockets ripping into its hull reducing it down to three in next to no time.

Counterattack

Desperate to save their rig, the Rigger escort flew ahead to the rescue. The bike, loaded with grenades, raced into the fight and collided with a ganger head on. The ensuing explosion severely damaging the Ganger jeep but also claiming more of the precious few remaining rig hull points. The two other Riggers got close enough to tangle with the Gangers, with a Ganger buggy filled with molotovs unleashed a volley and set one of them on fire. Sadly the rig's single remaining hull point was claimed and the glorious beast was felled in a cloud of smoke, dust and sparks.

Conclusion

Rockets are amazing! Outrunning the escort is bad. Rigs struggle to manage hazard tokens and if they wipe out that's half your force unable to activate and shoot. I possibly should have taken the Warden rig with its ability to pass hazard tokens on to friendly and enemy vehicles. Gaslands definitely remains one of my favourite games.

Wycombe Warband BBL - Season 1 Game 3

Wycombe Warband Blood Bowl League

Season 1 Game 3

My third game for our league and my Scary Wunz orcs are up against the brick wall that is the dwarf team. The treasury was looking overly full so I splashed out on a troll and an apothecary, it turned out to be a very good decision to get them both together.

Setup 

The dwarves won the toss and elected to kick. The Skull Mountain Stormers set up a strong central line while the orcs set up a very solid wall with six players loosely guarding the infield.

1st Half

The orc thrower successfully picked up the ball from the kick, and the blitzers and lineorc immediately formed a protective cage around him. The dwarves brought their wingers into the centre, helping them gain a strong advantage on the line of scrimmage.

With the dwarves on the left having been sucked into the scrum in midfield, the cage rattled to the left and crossed the centre line into dwarven territory. Stunty legs pumped hard as dwarven blockers legged it from the centre to try and build a wall to stop the cage. This left the orc midfield able to recover, except the troll who failed his Really Stupid roll and sat back on his haunches trying to remember if he'd left the stove on.

The players behind the cage pushed forward, peeling the dwarven wall open and the ball carrier scuttled out and down the left of the field, passing both of his Go For It rolls. The cage was no more, but there was a good chance the dwarves were too tied up to catch him now...

Meanwhie in the centre the dwarves hit back and there was a triple screening of Black Orc Down, along with the troll taking a nap. There was a price, with a blocker being badly hurt and sent to the medical dugout.

Choosing not to lose out due to some horrible dice roll going wrong, the orc thrower ran for the end zone, passing his Go For It roll and scoring the touchdown!

The teams reset for the kick, the outnumbered dwarves looking to cage down their left while the orcs tried to cover all routes.

The scatter was kind, and the dwarves swiftly caged up near the line of scrimmage.

The thin red/green line of orcs sprinted right, hacking away at the cage and hoping to hold it long enough for the half time whistle.

Somehow they managed to peel dwarves away from the cage, slowly cracking it open to expose the ball carrier.

Meanwhile, a troll slayer has found himself deep in orc territory, and dangerously prone on the ground. With the referee distracted, the two orcs foul him with a swift kicking, snapping something important and sending him off to the medical team.

Back near the action, the carrier is sacked and the ball spills away towards the end zone! An orc blitzer tries desperately to gather it up, but fumbles, ending the half.

2nd Half

Both teams set up again, and the orcs kick the ball down to the left midfield. The dwarves gather successfully, swinging down to their right this time.

Finding no way through the orcs, they swing left. Orcy feet work hard trying to keep up and drift the cover defence to the right.

Casualties start coming in thick and fast, with an orc blitzer and the troll both being sent to the medical teams with bad injuries. Both teams are down two players, though the orcs had a lineorc in reserve.

A menacing cage develops on the dwarven left, looking likely to roll past the orc line. The orc players hurl themselves to the right, desperate to cut off the dwarven assault.

The dwarves decide to roll the dice, smashing orcs aside they open the cage, the ball carrier scurrying down the sideline passing Go For It rolls and dashing for the end zone! The orc deep field defence is thinly stretched, can they get to him in time?

Fortunately the orcs are just able to reach the runner, smashing him into the ground, he's knocked out and off to the dugouts for a head injury assessment. The ball lands up in the crowd, obviously on the dwarven side as they choose to hurl the ball right into the orc end zone. Little gits.

The final play sees the orc thrower gather up the ball, the dwarves can't reach him before the final whistle goes.

Final Score: Scary Wunz 1 - 0 Skull Mountain Stormers

Wycombe Warband BBL - Season 1 Game 2

Wycombe Warband Blood Bowl League

Season 1 Game 2

Our league is in full swing and I'm fielding the orc team Scary Wunz. Their second opponent is league leaders the Cow Boils. We'd met before in a friendly, and I was not looking forward to another game of chasing dirty rats around. With the rats a game ahead, the orc coach elected to spend the inducements on a wandering apothecary and a Bloodweiser keg, hoping these would even the match up.

Setup 

The orcs won the toss and elected to receive the kick. The Cow Boils set up a solid midfield with the orcs deciding on a deep deployment which worked against the Scalies.

1st Half

The rats got stuck in, flattening the orc line of scrimmage - this is not permitted! The orc backfield however made good progress collecting the ball and caging up, ready to rumble down field towards the end zone.

Seeing the devastation ahead, the orc maul rolled to the left. The rats scambled to reorganise lines of defence to slow it down. Masstak the Rat Ogre meanwhile ran headlong for the weak corner of the cage, smashing the orc lineman to the ground and everyone winced at the sound of several bones snapping. The thrower carrying the ball was thrust dangerously out the cage.

The orc coach wasted no time sending the wandering apothecary he'd bought with his inducements. Fortunately this particular apothecary trained under the healing wizard Boopah, and he quickly turned a mortal crushing blow into a light stun. The elephant in the cage, as it were, remained a great threat to the orc advance.

Kuulg Bear-Ripper, the black orc blocker in the #2 kit sat up in the middle of the pitch, shaking his head to clear what cobwebs dare be spun in a orc's skull. The rats line of scrimmage had abandoned him. Seeing his buddies in grave danger he hauled his bulk up on to his feet, and with a bellowing cry blitzed towards Masstak, the two blitzers pinning its arms back for him. With a tremendous thud he smashed the enormous rat to the ground. Freed up, the cage reorganised but only made two squares progress, a hole was going to have to be made.

Noticing the centre was only being held by a Gutter Runner and a linerat, the orcs mauled their cage to the right. The resurrected lineorc recovered enough to keep Masstak busy while Kuulg lumbered back to try assist the cage.

The rats fell back again, forming a more solid line of defence. Only seven squares away, the end zone beckoned.

An awful time of deliberation commenced. If the cage sprang open, the ball carrier could reach the end zone if he Goes For It twice. However a failed roll would spill the ball and with the orcs congested the rats would have no trouble dancing across the field for a touchdown. So, putting Elven fancies aside and with a Rat Ogre on the left only just being held by a lineorc,

the orc cage elected to roll again to the right. Time was running down quickly, they were desperate to force their way around and get to the chopper end zone! The battle for the right corner of the pitch began as the cage slammed into the ratmen's line.

The front of the cage mushroomed against the rats, and Vogash Man-Splitter the orc #1 blocker barrelled into the rat's thrower, hoping to drive a wedge through the line for the thrower to slip through.Unfortunately for Vogash, while he's clearly adept at splitting men, this is a rat, and with some swift underworld street fighting moves the Cow Boils thrower upended Vogash and wrecked the orc charge. The cage was split and the precious ball carrier dangerously exposed.

Eyeing the ball with his beady little eyes, yes beady even for a rat, Skryite the linerat with hopes and ambitions above his station launched himself forward in a counterdrive against orc blitzer #7 Vashnak Earth-Cracker, assisted by the thrower. Instead of tasting victory, Skryite was tasting grass, the blitzer having stopped his charge in its tracks.

His reputation in tatters, Vogash Man-Splitter the orc #1 rose to his feet, determined to take the rat thrower down with him. This freed up the two orc blitzers to tag-team the linerat at the end, slamming him back into the end zone. A path cleared, Runk Axe-Breaker sprang through it and into the end zone - touch down Scary Wunz!

2nd Half

The orcs kick the ball down to the Cow Boils, who start the second half in furious form. Hur Nose-Hunter the orc lineman #10 had paid for holding back the Rat Ogre in blood, having left the game badly hurt and unable to return the rats now had the numerical advantage they wanted.

A strong push in the centre saw the orc line of scrimmage buckle but stay on their feet, while on the right wing gutter runners and linerates duelled with orc blitzers who were hard pressed to mark them. The rat throwers gathered the ball, now dangerously able to fling it downfield.

Hurtling downfield with his ears pinned back, Lashutch gutter ran his way through the orc defence to finish in the corner of the end zone, ready to receive the pass and score a touch down.

The orc thrower and two blitzers, seeing the obvious danger, legged it towards the corner. An enviable number of Go For It rolls were passed. Pinned between the thrower and a blitzer, Lashutch could only stare in horror as Kagor Talon-Smasher came hurtling towards him, smacking him off the pitch and into the fans. This never ends well, and the 10,000 rats and 90,000 orcs watching the match made sure to punch past his armour and send him to the medical pit.

The orcs tried to reorganise, that threat was gone but they had abandoned their coverage of the rest of the field.

Fortunately in the centre the blockers had managed to down Masstak and counter the drive.

The rats, noticing the left half of the end field was entirely open, moved a linerat into position, and skittering round the fighting masses the thrower curled the ball back and unleashed a long bomb pass. Players from both sides stopped and stared as the ball arced over the field, looping gently into the arms of the linerat!

For the orcs, it was on like Donkey Kong. Both blitzers hurtled across the field, burning through Go For Its which thankfully all passed, and tip-tackled the ball carrier, spilling the ball.

The battle had shifted across the field in the blink of an eye. Dirty rats!

The centre was a war zone, though failed Wild Animal rolls kept the Rat Ogre down and allowed the black orc blockers to gain the upper hand.

Both sides rush reinforcements to the ball, the rats scooping it up ahead of the orcs but dangerously close to the baying fans.

The orcs in the centre took the kid gloves off and started filling up the medical tent, rat fur flying with each crumping tackle.

Before long the remaining Gutter Runner was knocked out and two more linerats were badly hurt. The middle ground belonged to the orcs.

Rats were flooding towards the ball though, and as already shown they can slip by the orcs like eels

Seeing the rat ball carrier dangerously close to the sideline, the orcs renewed their attack, knocking rats flying left and right and spilling the ball. Again.

Raising himself again from the dirt, Runk Axe-Breaker the thrower and the only orc qualified to pick up the ball trotted over to it and scooped it up.

Disaster strikes the orcs as the rats rise up and smash the orc ball carrier to the ground, the ball bouncing wildly before leaving the pitch! The crowd, their blood up, hurl the ball into the mid-field fully intending to help the orcs, but landing it right at the feet of an unengaged linerat. The only unengaged linerat on the field. The 10,000 rat fans erupt as the linerat scoops the ball up and passes it to the lone receiver waiting in the end zone - touch down Cow Boils!

We set up for another drive, and ten panting orcs, lungs burning, square up to eight rather knackered looking rats.

The line of scrimmage looks forboding, nothing good can come of this.

The orcs collect the ball with the thrower and cage him up with blitzers. Meanwhile on the line of scrimmage the rats are getting reacquainted with the dirt. Three black orc blockers find themselves surrounding the prone figure of a Rat Ogre, and the temptation is just too great. Kuulg Bear-Ripper, the #2 who smashed the Rat Ogre out of the cage and began their blood feud, cannot resist going rat ripping. Raising his enormous armoured foot, his comrades pin Masstak's leg before him and he stomps down hard, smashing the ankle. With a bellow of rage and pain, Masstak is off to the medical pit.

The post match rolls were carnage, and I sat horrified as John's results came in: one Gutter Runner killed, a Rat Ogre with a smashed ankle and two linerats missing the next game. As if Nuffle hadn't beaten them up enough, the rats only scored 20k in winnings. While still top of the league table, they were in a precarious position for their next match with only one Gutter Runner and no big guy. The orcs for some reason did well, the injured lineorc only being badly hurt and gaining 90k in winnings. Things were looking bright for the Scary Wunz.

Final Score: Scary Wunz 1 - 1 Cow Boils