Pre-NAFC 7s at Warhammer World

The NAF Championship (or NAFC for short) was the first large Blood Bowl event that I attended and for me, I think it will always be THE Blood Bowl event. 

The first time I went up in 2019, I had been unable to get the day off work so took the train up to Nottingham after I finished and got a taxi to Warhammer World - after explaining to the driver what it was -  to meet up with 3 league mates (Oli, Matt and Wes) who were already there.  

I had really wanted to play in the sevens event there, especially as I'd never played a single game of Sevens previously. It was like it was a form of Blood Bowl that was only available in exotic places such as Nottingham. 

Walking into Warhammer World (WHW) for the first time blew my little mind. I've literally never played another Games Workshop game but the place itself is just really exciting and gives me a bit of a buzz just being there. Fast forward 4 years to my third visit and that buzz is still there - and this time I was helping Oli - the SKABB Commissioner - to run the event in the absence of the normal organiser.

We got ourselves a couple of customary tourist photos and myself, Ross and Marianne took part in the event whilst Oli ran it and Craig just got excited at his first time at WHW looking for exclusive goodies and touring the exhibition which I previously found impressive despite not knowing what 90% of the models were.

I decided to take Chaos Chosen for 3 equally valid reasons:

1) They were already in my case

2) Having played them for 2 league seasons I know the team inside out

3) Both Oli and myself were in the top 30 Chaos Chosen Sevens players in the world (admittedly only out of 81) and I wanted to try to beat his ranking. 

The rules for the tournament allow you to assign one player as your captain and give them the Pro skill and then add one skill prior to each game, with each of these skills needing to go to a different player (but you can add an additional one to your captain).

Round 1

In my first game I was drawn against Phil also known as vagabond1982uk. I'd not played him before but I knew he was a good player, and that he was a previous winner of the Waterbowl League so I was expecting a tough match up. As well as a great match, he was also a great opponent - really enjoyable to play against and for me, that is often more important than the result. 

Phil was playing skaven who are great at sevens and I was expecting him to run rings around me. I'd given the captaincy of the team to my minotaur who also gained the juggernaut skill prior to this game. This meant that I could blitz with him with the confidence he would most likely do what I wanted him to do. 

I received and proceeded to march up the pitch taking out a large numbers of Phil's rats. With him pressing to turnover the ball, I managed to surf at least one player on the narrow pitch, with 3 in the KO box and a couple in the casualty box by the time I walked the ball in on the final turn of the first half. 

All three knocked out players made it back for the second half but Phil was feeling like he would struggle to stall out and opted to score quickly and try to turn me over for the win. This made for an exciting end to the game as I managed to make it nearly into his third but he had a shot at my ball carrier with his gutter runner failing the dodge to give an assist to the player who was about to blitz. I was able to walk it in removing more players as I did so for a 2-0 win, taking 3 casualties.

Round 2

For round 2, I was drawn against Padster who is known as Ronnie when he isn't in Blood Bowl circles. For the second game running I was up against skaven. Ronnie is a much more focussed player - great to talk to and really lovely (I'm not just saying that because he later bought me a Guinness) but when playing the game he is very focussed. Again I'd not played him before but knew that he was a good player so I was excited for the challenge. 

I added Block to a Chaos Warrior and kicked to Ronnie who scored quickly allowing me the time to get an equaliser before half time. I marched up the pitch had the ball in the hands of a Chaos Warrior at the end of my turn 5. All Ronnie could do was to put 2 players directly in his path meaning that whatever I did, a dodge would be required. The warrior blitzed and knocked over the player in front of him, dodged to an empty square and just as Ronnie was congratulating me on my equaliser (I don't think he realised I was 1 square short), he failed the rush into the endzone. 

The second half started badly - my minotaur who supposedly quite reliable went to surf a linerat and double skulled, then failing the pro re-roll. Fortunately the ball was too far away to be nabbed by a rat so I managed to get myself into a similar position as the first half and needed a dodge to end the game with a draw, which my beastman promptly failed. 

A 1-0 loss was disappointing but it felt good to know that I was competitive throughout the game against a good player. I also racked up a further 2 casualties which meant I was on 5 in 2 games leaving me hopeful for a shot at the most casualties award.

Round 3

The final round saw me pitted against Sancho (abaddon in NAF lingo) who was a very lively opponent which made for a fun game. Sancho was playing khorne so I went boring and put block on a beastman for my final skill. Kicking to the blood worshippers, I managed to casualty 2 of their players in quick succession. As neither of us had a bench, this meant I'd have the numbers advantage for the majority of the game which in this sort of match up can be really important.

I managed to stop the score in the first half and then drove up the pitch, stalling out and intending to score on my final turn. Sancho tried a couple of suicide blitzes which actually frightened me a bit but they didn't work and my ball carrier stepped over the line to win the game 1-0, with 2 casualties to none.

Results

I was pleased finishing on a 2-0-1 record in 7th place, with my only loss being against Padster who went on to win the tournament. I was also pleased having caused 7 casualties and received none against, which turned out to be enough to win the most casualties award.

The other winners were javin23 who got most touchdowns with underworld, kismet got best painted for his underworld team, Glowworm playing goblins got the stunty cup (we won't tell the reader that he was the only stunty coach) with vladtheimp very bravely playing nurgle picking up the wooden spoon.

It was an honour being involved in running a tournament at WHW and I think we would do it again if asked. 

And most importantly I am now the number 8th best Chaos Chosen Sevens coach in the world, ahead of Oli in 13th place! I am tempted to taken Chaos Chosen to my next Sevens event - most likely Thrud 7s - as I'm maybe only a win or two away of being the best in the world in a niche category of a niche variant of a niche game, which I feel would definitely be something to put on my CV. 

I will look to do a write up of the NAFC itself when I have a bit more time.