Chaos Cup 2013 Wrap-Up": Awards, Final Thoughts & Looking Forward

It is amazing how much happens in just a few days at something like this.
Conventions & Tournaments are great experiences.  Not that leagues and normal club gaming isn't good, but these are like vacations. They drop little marker stones along the past.

The Chaos Cup

The winner doesn't actually get to take this home, but they do get to lay their grubby mits on it and hold it over their head for a photo, and eventually there will be some kind of engraving plaque I heard, for the names of those who have won it.  

Maybe me someday?  

Not going to hold my breath waiting for the skill...

still, the world can be his who can roll strings of 6's.. but again... I won't hold my breath. 

................................

One last play I saw in the last game. I went to go see how Dan was doing, and was treated to one of the most impressive almost-brilliant plays I've ever seen. 

Dan's Chaos Dwarves were playing Steve's, from the podcast Both Down, Lizardmen. 

The game was a tie and it was the last turn of the game. 

Steve Dodges with his Kroxigor (a big lumbering lizard with the agility of a Redwood) who doesn't have Break Tackle, he has Pro (a 4+ re-roll once per turn). Makes his dodge! Goes to pick up the ball (also nearly impossible for this creature) and snags the ball!  He runs, but he's 2 spaces away from scoring... so he Goes For It... makes it!  Goes For It to score... rolls a 1! Fail! Rolls for Pro... fails it: Kroxigor falls on his face in the end zone: game ends in a tie.  

Wow, that was some amazing skill from the Kroxigor, only let down by the easiest roll he had to make at the end.  I was rooting for that Krox, it would have been glorious. 

..............................

The hall of the event was great.  It didn't get hot, there was plenty of room and it didn't get too noisy. 

Not pictured in the above, directly behind the field of view was Impact Miniatures.
Tom had a large store set up both days which was awesome.  It gave it the feeling of a convention, and also meant you could pick up some items free of tax & shipping.  I got some more Apes.. one can never have too many apes... and a cool laser cut standing scoreboard, and a felt Street Bowl pitch.  Very cool.

The entries for the painting contests are just starting to come in.  There were a lot of great entries, and again, it was very cool to actually have a painting contest: another aspect that made it feel like a convention instead of just a tournament.

Here was a fun entry.  This is Chaos (pronounced "Chaz"),the mascot of the Chaos Cup in Slannesh style.
Chaos changes each year for the theme, and here (s)he is looking a lot like a Daemonette.  If you turn the mini around you'd find tucked between it's legs evidence of the original gender.

So who won the whole thing?

David Granberg, of Sweden earned the honor of hoisting the cup.

He had an Undead team, which I heard had one or two Mighty Blow, Piling On Wights. Ouch!

Interestingly, 4 of the top 5 teams were Undead!  The other being Dark Elves.
The top Wood Elf position was at #11 which surprised me, they're usually close to the very top at tournaments too.

There were a lot of awards given out, and with all of the raffle prizes, this meant a lot of goodies got doled out, which is always nice.

My friend Dan who I conspired with to go to Chaos Cup won Most Traveled from the US, beating me out by about 100 miles.

But I didn't go away empty handed.

I entered all three of the painting contest categories.

For Sideline Miniature, I entered my Frog Coach:

For Single Player Miniature, I entered my Dwarf Boar-rider, the "Norse Dwarf Deathroller"

(click to enlarge)

For Team I entered my Gators.

(I need to take a new picture of the team to include the Albino Alligator Star Player)

Best Sideline Miniature went to me, for my Frog Coach

Best Single Player Miniature went to me, for my Dwarf Boar Rider

Best Team went to Matthew for his Slann Team (see my report for Game Five)

and they had a final category, "Judges' Best of Show" award which was given to me for my Gator Team.

I was pretty blown away by all of that and very happy.
And Matthew's win was very well deserved for his lovely frogs.

So I got to pack 3 trophies to take home:

The trophies also came with some free minis, which I always appreciate!

.............................

Thanks to everyone who had a hand in running Chaos Cup.  It was a really good & well-run tournament. 

So that was Chaos Cup for me, done and dusted.

But if anything, it has got me even more excited about playing more Blood Bowl! 

Next year's theme is Tzeench, the god of change & magic & avians. 

If I go, will I make a new team again, chaos of some type themed for Tzeench this time? 

Of will I do something else.. I have so many teams I'm excited about, waiting for paint.  

I did really enjoy playing the Psychedelic Furs, even though they were not a very competitive team, so I don't know.  

But I have about 10 months to think on it.. 

The next tournament for me on the horizon is likely West Coast Quake, in Los Angeles, in January.  

Hope you enjoyed the reports, thanks for reading!

Enjoy!

The Psychedelic Furs at Chaos Cup 2013: Game Six... the final game.

Losing Game Five meant the, undoubtedly unrealistic, possibility of 'breaking even' over the course of the event was lost: I'd now lost 3, won 1, tied 1 with only 1 game left before me. Not a big deal, my goal had simply been avoid the Wooden Spoon like the plague: as long as I won one game and enjoyed the games I played I'd be happy.  But it wouldn't be so bad to win more than one... let's see...

CHAOS CUP 2013: GAME SIX
Opponent: Pheildorf Steelers, Human.  Coached by Alex

A third human team? Very unusual. Like I mentioned before, I don't see human teams at tournaments very often. I have mixed feelings about humans: I love the roster & how the team plays.  They're an amazingly flexible team: 4 blitzers, a good throwing game, many fast pieces, reliable armor.. if you face a finesse team you can bash them, if you face a bash team you can finesse them. But they are humans.. and we're all humans, so I expect that's why they aren't more represented: if you have a chance to play something different than yourself wouldn't you? But I'm glad to see people decide no and play humans because they are a fun team to play against, even if a very tough challenge for what is pretty much an all-human lineman team that just have horns.

Pre-game: The Steelers stole the heart of the crowd and got +1 Fame.  I won the toss however and elected to kick.  This displeased the crowd and there was a riot: 1 less turn for this half.

The last game allowed teams to give 2 mutations to linemen who had not been given a tournament skill.
We both decided to go with 2 players with Claws since we both had Armor 8 teams.
Claw lets a player break armor on any roll of 8, so it would be easier to break the other's armor.

Since I had 2 players with Claws mutations modeled already, this was my top choice.

First turn, I already forgot he had a frenzy Blitzer and Adam Ant is pushed off the field.
It has been a long weekend ;)

Pretty finally starts to warm up and blitzes the ball-carrying Catcher.

Pretty sacks the catcher, stunning him. 

Ultra Vox goes to pick up the ball: Roll 2. fail.  Re-Roll: 2. yeah, that's a fail still. 

Turn 4 the ball gets crowded as everyone wants a chance at it. 

A goat makes a dodge to reposition: Fail. Re-roll? Fail. 

Turn 5 the humans recover the ball and throw to a catcher, pretty safe in the clear. 

Before the riskier play of a dodge-blitz at the ball carrier I threw a 2 die-block as my first action: Double-Skulls,.. no re-roll, so that ended my turn. 

(hey Big Lee, are you reading these? I applaud your comparatively stellar dice rolling!) 

Turn 6, after this fast turn over, the humans injure Falco, one of my Guards. 

Turn 6 Squeeze blitzes the carrier and wrestles him down: the best I could manage.

It's small bother however as the catcher simply gets up, grabs the ball and scores. 

A quick 1 turn play remains in the half, but I set up for serious play regardless in case of another riot. 

At the end of the half, a riot would set the clock back, and could give me time to score. 

But instead of the hoped-for riot, it starts to rain. 

Pretty was upset by this, for it may disrupt his smoothly brushed fur, and he injures a human lineman in frustration!  A little late to the games Pretty, but welcome all the same!

The Half ends: 0-1. 

Set back up to receive again, the rain continues. 

The ball is kicked as deep as it gets and Inxs retrieves it. 

But #9 Mena T'work hits a Blitzer for 2 dice and gets 2 Both-Down... since the Blitzer has Block and he doesn't, this would put my goat down, so Re-Roll? again: 2 Both Down: my turn ends and Mena T'work is injured.  

It was getting wearisome to suffer these dice at this point, I'm shamed to admit.  

The whole weekend was lower than average dice by a good margin and Re-Rolls especially were poor rolls all weekend... not like they were on crazy chance rolls either, but seems more often than not the re-roll fails and often with the same exact roll.  If that's how good the re-rolls are I'd have been better off playing with no re-rolls and just invest in more players. Maybe I'll have to try a tournament team like that some day. 

It's worth a try. 

Turn 2 a Claw-Lineman Knocks Out Adam Ant. 

Pretty is Blitzed and Stunned. 

Seeing Human Blitzers coming for him, Inxs moves up but he is dangerously exposed.

Inxs makes the best of it and gets near mid-field. 

Pretty recovers but the humans have them corralled. 

Turn 5 Inxs got Blitzed and lost the ball, while Echo got chain-pushed off field: Now down 4 players. 

Last ditch effort, crazy play Xtc dodged to blitz the human ball carrier, needing to dodge in two tackle-zones, but failed. 

The Human Blitzer made 2 Go For Its on the last turn to score again, ending the game 2-0 for the Steelers.

My opponent was a good guy who played a good game, but I'm afraid I didn't give him much of a game.
This was by far my poorest-played game, and worst dice rolling, and the combo saw me not giving him much competition.  Well, it happens: can't be on your game every game.

It did mean our game ended early and I got to walk around and check out other games, as most were still going, and see more teams, which was nice.

Looking at what did go right in the game, I can honestly say that the MVP for the Furs has to go to Pretty!

Pretty N. Pink was the only player to earn any Star Player Points this game: since he caused the 1 injury I inflicted.  Well done Pretty, I knew you had it in you!

So that covers all the games. Final tally: 1 Win, 1 Tie, 4 Loses.
Not my best record, but it won't be my worst ;)

There will be one more update on Chaos Cup before I close the book on this event.
Next I'll do an update for awards, final thoughts and looking toward future tournaments.

Thanks for watching, and enjoy Pretty's moment in the sun...

Enjoy!

The Psychedelic Furs at Chaos Cup 2013: Game Five

After Game Four, I was exhausted.  I am not one to wake in single-digit morning hours.  So Saturday night was calm & relaxed and be ready for early Sunday morning for Game Five.  I had already exceeded my goals for game play, which was "don't lose all the games".  I not only won one, but with a tie that means two games not lost! Granted, not two wins, but two non-loses.. I'll take it.

CHAOS CUP 2013: GAME FIVE
Opponent: Huatl Hurdlers,Slann. Coached by Matthew

Slann!  The frogs... fun! I have never played against Slann in a tournament before.  I have always thought they looked like a very fun team.  It's got to be the oddest play style in Blood Bowl, and though I own a painted Slann team I've never had the opportunity to use mine. Added bonus, as the team started setting up I could see they were gorgeous.  It is so nice to play against a really nice looking team, it makes the whole experience much better.

It was an interesting team: 12 players: 4 catchers, the rest linefrogs. 3 of the catchers had Guard, one linefrog had Wrestle, the other had Wrestle & Strip Ball. I could see the threat right away: Catchers leaping on a 2+, so a guard or two is where they need, then leap in and take the ball from whoever is carrying it. Sneaky.
With all that leap, it would be very hard to defend against.

Pre-game:
I won +1 Fame, but lost the coin toss and he elected to kick... I usually prefer to kick..he's on to me! ;)

Turn 1 I knock out a Frog! Nice.

I decided the best line of attack is to actually attack. If I could inflict some damage on the crunchy frogs I might mitigate their leaping effectiveness.  But I'd need to use my own Guards to surround my ball-carrier, to balance out any leaping guard frogs.  Then be patient, slow and steady while I hurt frogs. That's the plan.

But then you know what they say about plans: Goats Plan and Huitzilopotchli Smiles.

Turn 2 Pretty fails his wild animal roll & does nothing.  He does this often.
But the Frogs injure Ultra Vox!  Uh-oh... that's not according to plan!
  <Shakes fist> Damn You Huitzilopotchli !

It took me until Turn 3 just to cross the mid-line!  These Frogs were proving tough to hurt and just did not give ground.  Against most teams I might have felt alright about moving forward with less of a cage, but with these leapers I felt that was likely unwise.  Still, with this kind of progress I'd never make it.

Pretty lends a hand, but the frogs stick to me with their sticky fingers and I can't shake them.
They do look pretty though.

Hoping to tie up those frogs on the right, I break to the center with the cage: it looks clearer over there.

Turn 6: It looks like it might be clear ahead!

What's this?  It's raining Frogs! 

These pesky Guarding, Leaping Strength 2 catchers popped in & sack Inxs! 

On the plus side, I see I was right to fear that this could happen... on the downside: it happened. 

Turn 7 Inxs gets back up and grabs the ball.  I knock out more Frogs: total in the Knock Out box is now 3!
Too bad they weren't injuries though.. so close!

Turn 7: Inxs gets wrestled down and the frogs steal the ball!
Desperate to remove these catchers, #8 Kajaa Googoo fouled one and Knocked him out! That makes 4.. but Kajaa was ejected.
If he doesn't come back then great, but if he recovers from the knock out then not so worth it.

But Turn 8 right before the half ends the Frogs injure Pretty!  Nooooo!  Poor Pretty. 

This is the first time he's been injured in the tournament. Most teams rightly identify him as no threat whatsoever with his propensity for failing wild animal rolls, but the frogs I determined must be poisonous: they touch you & you are injured.  

Half ends 0-0

Of the four Frogs in the Knock Out box, two come back, so we're both at 10 players on the field. 

The goats set about trying to stamp some frogs, but they just jump away. 

Turn 3 the frogs injure Duran son of Duran!  I haven't hurt one frog.  I have the gentlest dice at the event. 

Step on that frog! But he's impervious to damage. 

Turn 4 Inxs blitzes the ball-carrying frog and puts him down! Though doesn't break armor...he Goes For It .. makes it.. snag the ball? 1 Re-roll? 1.  Guess he needs a 4th arm! 

Next turn he manages to get the ball... 

Set up a makeshift thin defense... But they knock down Inxs, steal the ball, Go For It and score!

All too fast for the camera to catch it!

Score: 0-1

Turn 7: Just 2 turns to score I have to move the ball fast, I pick it up, hand off, but fail to receive it, and with no re-rolls that ends my chance to tie the game. 

Game will end 1-0 In Favor of the Hurdling Frogs. 

I think I had a good plan, but the Frogs played an excellent game.  Their ability to leap reliably made it very hard to defend against them, and with losing players but not taking Frogs off the pitch before they soon recovered, I just couldn't get the momentum I needed. 

A very fun game, excellent opponent and great guy, with a beautiful team.. just can't ask for better conditions for a game. 

I got not a single Star Player point in this game: No scoring, No Injuries, not even a completed hand off. 

The Furs just didn't play a very good game, so it is hard to single out a player for an MVP. 

But Inxs almost scored. He also prevented a Frog Touchdown.. at least for a couple turns before they took the ball back.  So while not successful, he looked to be trying the hardest, so for that, Inxs is our MVP

Next is Game Six: the last game.

Enjoy! 

(this seems appropriate...)

The Psychedelic Furs at Chaos Cup 2013: Game Four

Following Game Three, my first win, I bounced up to almost the mid-tables.. amazing. Game Four was the last game of the day... 4 games in one day is a lot, but we did have a break before to get some lunch.

CHAOS CUP 2013: GAME FOUR
Opponent: Purple Pugilists Pain, Orcs.  Coached by Bobby

Orcs.  I do love Orc teams. But usually I love playing them myself.  Facing a team with better armor, more skills and higher strength though... well, my basic goats are what they are and would just have to try harder.

The Orc team opted for no Troll or Goblins (I tend to favor having them) so had 4 Black Orcs, all with Block (!) 4 Blitzers, one with Sure Hands & Catch, and a Dirty Player Lineorc.
Interesting choice to go with a receiving Blitzer... that would mean I'd have to watch for that potential.

The crowd was just excited in general: we both got Fame +1. I kicked.
Must have been a loyal crowd to come out for the game because we were playing in a Blizzard!

Purple-skinned Orcs!  Clearly they were devotees of Slannesh as well.
But they showed no favors to their brothers as they blitzed after the kick and Injured Falco!
First turn and I was already down a Guard.  Harsh.

The Purple Tide pushed against the Pink.  Turn 2 an Orc Blitzer Injures Inxs! No more extra arms!
I only have 7 players with skills and I'd lost 2 of them before my 2nd turn. Things were looking grim!

But the orcs got excited and the carrying-Blitzer tripped while Going For It! The ball bounced around awhile before resting on the pitch!  Opportunity.

Turn 3 the goats make a line and push the orcs back while Ultra Vox recovers the ball!

Hope was short-lived as Ultra Vox, along with others, get knocked down.

Turn 4, a classic: 2 Die Block:  Double Skull... I Re-Roll it: Double Skull: Squeeze Stuns himself.

The Orcs took the ball down field, and I had just one chance to stop him: it would require 3 dodges in a tackle zone!  Well, he didn't make it.. he knocked himself out!

Orcs score Turn 6: 0-1.

All my thoughts were on moving the ball: must score!
But this turn would see me roll another Double-Skull, with no re-rolls left.

Trying desperately to narrow the player-disadvantage I fouled an Orc: rolled a Double-One for armor: Orc is fine, and my player is ejected.. down yet another player!  I figured it was worth a try... I was down so many I figured one more wouldn't make much difference, but if I could get one of those Blitzer Orcs off it would help.. but it wasn't to be.

Turn 7 the Orcs knock down Adam Ant: armor: rolls a 10, injury: rolls a 12. When dice are on fire like this it is hard to compete.  But he should have saved these rolls for playing Dwarves! ;)

Needless to say, he stopped me from scoring and the half ended 0-1.

With so many players injured and knocked out I had only 8 able to take the pitch against the full Orc team.
I set up heavy to my right: it telegraphs my plan, but I don't have enough players to do it any other way.

It was still a Blizzard, I was many players down and I had to score to tie it up before I lost any more players!

The Orcs crowd in, they knocked Pretty down.. he tried to get up to blitz but rolled a 1 and stayed down!

With Orcs crowding in even more, on Turn 3, Yaz, holding the ball had no choice: make a 1 die blitz to move, then make 2 Go For Its in the Blizzard to score: He Makes It!

Game is now tied 1-1, but now I'm kicking to the Orcs, who now outnumber me by a lot to little...

Set up for the kick, and my Knocked-Out wrestler refused to take the pitch.  Dang.

The Orc Thrower passed the ball to the Receiver Blitzer who ran it, but I managed to stop him!

At this point, Goats were throwing themselves bodily into disadvantageous positions against orcs, just trying to slow them down.

Yaz recovered the ball, while Echo guarded him.

In a last chance to break the tie a Black Orc dodges into two tackle zones!  He rolls a 6!  He makes it! 

He throws his 1 die block and skulls out!  

I'm pretty sure that was a Wood Elf in a Black Orc costume! 

The game ends 1-1. 

A great game, very nice player.  And I want his amazing lucky dice ;)  Should name them 'Armor Breaker' and 'Widow Maker'. 

Usually a tie suggests that it was a close game.. after all it is a Tie. But not this tie.  I was on the backhoof the whole game.  Every turn was a brain-drain of trying to make the most out of very limited resources. 

Achieving this tie felt like one of the biggest victories I've had in Blood Bowl.  

But still, a 'losing tie' being 1-1, where I inflicted no casualties but suffered 3 in return.

So back down the tables I'd be going for Game Five. 

My MVP for the game has to be #13 Yaz.  

He made two Go For Its in a Blizzard (fail on a 1 or 2, not just a 1 like normal) to tie it, then recovered the ball, and held it against the Black Orc blitz to keep the tie he achieved.  Good Job Yaz! 

Enjoy!