Thrudball 2024 (including Thrud 7s)
Last year was my first time at Thrudball. I hadn't planned to go this year as it clashed with my wife's birthday. But then I accidentally won a ticket at Glowbowl earlier this year, and she told me I had to go.
Thrudball is an annual event held in Swindon each year, with a focus on raising money for charity along with promoting a family friendly inclusive Blood Bowl event.
Last year, eight SKABB league members travelled up although for various reasons, this year it was just myself and Oli (eldritchfox). After a brief stop in Reading to pick up a stranded German (Joe aka Zallas) we arrived just in time for me to join in the Sevens event whilst Oli set up the items in advance of Saturday evening's auction.
I had decided to play vampires to get a bit more practice in with them. I'd used them in our between seasons Sevens league and found them to be very hit and miss, winning about half my games and losing the other half. The format of the event is that you get to assign Pro to a "Team Captain" at the start of the event, then add 1 skill prior to each game including the first. I decided that I was going to add pro to a vampire by the end of each round. The number of positionals are also halved, so I had one vargheist, one blitzer, one runner and one thrower with three thralls to round out the roster.
Game 1 v Mike (sann0638)
As I was running late, I was paired up against Mike who was acting as the spare man. For anyone who is unaware, Mike is a former NAF president, general data wizard and rather good at Blood Bowl. He had opted to play gnomes all weekend and had one of each of the positionals plus a few extra gnomes.
After kicking, I attempted to surf a gnome with the vargheist and ended up tagging the ball carrying fox. Mike failed a roll which then allowed the vargheist a three dice block on the fox.... which he managed to triple skull and knock himself out. The fox then danced away to score.
Another triple skulls photo to add to the many already on my phone!
I received the ball and after sending most of my team up the pitch, I failed the bloodlust on my thrower who picked up the ball and moved it forward but then promptly dropped it. A thrown gnome managed to land, nick the ball and score a second, so I was going in 2-0 down at half time.
Receiving the ball again, a lot of very silly plays happened on both sides and I ended up losing the game 3-1.
Game 2 v Brendan (bubblefuzz)
Brendan has brought along some lizards and I forced him to score early, however I was unable to reply due to my vampires not behaving themselves.
I scored on my turn 4 although was a bit shakey. I had managed to just about recover the ball and hand off after my original pick up attempt had meant that the ball went into the crowd and was thrown back on.
I was unable to stop a score back against me and so I lost this one 2-1.
Game 3 v Jake (dinlo)
Jake was playing Chaos Chosen and he kicked to me. Despite my bad dice, I managed to score. Jake was also suffering from being cursed by Nuffle however and this allowed me to get around his defence. Annoyingly on my turn 5 when I wanted to score my blitzer failed the bloodlust roll and then the pro attempt to re-roll it, so had to loiter around eating a thrall. On my turn 6 when he attempted to score he again failed the bloodlust - if the pro roll had failed it would have meant I was unable to score as I couldn't get a thrall to the endzone for him to bite. Fortunately it succeeded this time and I was 1-0 up at half time.
In the second half, I got 2 blitzes on 2 kick offs, and each time the ball went out for a touch back, and each time Jake chose the fun option of giving it to his minotaur. I managed to get the ball and score a second, and for a third I was able to recover when the minotaur failed a dodge trying to get to a scoring position. This one ended 3-0.
Thrudball Proper
The tournament ruleset was widely thought to have under-tiered high elves, and as I had not played them previously I joined the other 13 coaches who decided to bring them along. My build was the only one to include a player with strip ball which I feel is really useful to the way that I like playing elves - a high pressure defence attempting to turnover, recover and score as often as possible. I had two blitzers (both had dodge and one had guard), four catchers (three with dodge and one with wrestle and strip ball), a thrower, five linemen, three re-rolls and two coaches. I had played this in the FUMBBL warm up tournament and not done amazingly well, going 2/0/4, although I always struggle to concentrate as much when playing online so I was hoping to do a bit better in person. As always, my goal was to go better than even.
Game 1 v Karl (torquemada)
Thrudball allows you to "grudge" someone in exchange for a £5 donation to charity. If you accept the grudge, then you are guaranteed to be playing them in round 1. I had been grudged by Karl after just beating him to the tournament win at Glowbowl on tiebreakers. I'm pleased he grudged me as I had been considering doing the same!
We'd not previously played and I was glad of the opportunity to do so. Karl was also playing high elves, which he had used at Glowbowl in the same ruleset. He had two blitzers with dodge, three catchers (two with block and dodge and 1 with wrestle), a thrower with leader, six linemen, three re-rolls and an apothecary.
I kick the ball and receiving, Karl fouls two players into my casualty box in the first two turns. In doing so, he split his team a little, allowing me to dodge out my strip ball catchers to get a hit on the ball and knock it down where I could steal it. I managed to do so but with a lot of dice, it gets popped loose again. I push a player onto the ball which makes it scatter out of play and the crowd throw it in perfectly for me. I run down the other flank and shield the ball to go in 1-0 up at half time.
Karl kicks to me and gets a blitz but slightly overcommits to putting pressure on the ball which is then caught by my catcher. The catcher dodges out and hands off to my thrower who then passes it on to a catcher who runs down the field. A desperation blitz manages to knock the ball loose but it falls perfectly to my catcher who with a guard assist dodges out and pushes a space to get through and score my second.
Torquemada scores quickly with very little I could do to stop him and he pulls one back. When I receive the ball, I drop back and send all of my catchers through. Unable to cover everyone, he puts pressure on but my thrower dodges away and makes the pass to score for a third.
Karl sets up for a one turn attempt to then have a chance at putting pressure on to equalise, however a perfect defence allows me to move players in to stop him having the space to be able to do what he needs to do. He cages up but I dive my wrestle strip ball into the cage - the ball pops loose and my thrower picks it up, dodges and hands off for me to run away. Getting giddy at the thought of a forth touchdown, I don't think to count how many squares away his players are. Karl is able to pop it lose, recover and get it up field for a consolation touchdown to make it 3-2 (and 2-4 on casualties).
I knew Karl would be a difficult player to face, and losing players early on made me get a bit despondent but I'm really pleased that I managed to get a result despite things initially going against me. I hope we get to play again soon as this was a really good match.
Karl ended up winning most touchdowns just by one so the consolation touchdown here was actually very important!
Game 2 v Stuart (peanut_uk)
I had been sat next to Stuart during one of the games of sevens and had helped out him and his opponent with a rules query. He had had a bit of a chat at breakfast and I discovered that the Sevens event was his first ever tournament, with the main event therefore being his second.
He was playing norse and with all of that block I wondered if it was not a great match up for me.
I kicked to Stuart and managed to get a one dice pow on the ball carrier but I couldn't keep it safe. The norse scored on turn six but after a couple of removals. I sent loads of players through to his backfield and held the ball back. Stuart committed to one side which allowed me to score down the others, and I even had the time to foul the yhetee into the casualty box but annoyingly his apothecary was able to patch him up so he could rejoin the game later. We go in at half time at 1-1.
The norse got a blitz on the kick off and my high elves danced around with the ball waiting for a gap to get through. I tried to force a gap by using my blitzer to hit a lineman out of the way. I got two pushes and decided to re-roll it as a knockdown would give me a gap to more easily flood my team into the backfield. Just as Stuart was saying he thought it was a good idea to do the re-roll, I lifted my dice cup up to reveal double skulls.
I managed to get through later but then scoring I left the norse 3 turns to reply. The valkyrie failed to pick up the ball and my elves dashed through to try to recover and look for a third touchdown, feeling that the game was wrapped up. The pick up was failed which actually left the norse the chance to level up after the ball was caught by a valkyrie. and all the dice to move the ball upfield worked successfully... until the rush into the endzone which the drunk norse lineman failed.
Game 3 v Erik (erik)
I had played Erik previously on FUMBBL and chatted to him via Discord whilst we did so, and then met him in person for the first time last Thrudball (he lives in the Netherlands) and it was a pleasure to be drawn against him to be able to play in real life.
We moved our pitch to play in the other quieter room and so we were able to have a good chat whilst the game was going on. Erik had an undead team with a fairly standard skillset.
After kicking to him, I kept backing off a square in front of him. I managed to get around the back and had a blitz on the ball carrier but eventually what allowed me to gain possession of the ball was a failed hand off. Erik admitted that perhaps he was being a bit too cautious and worried about my strip ball player - I don't blame him, it terrifies me when I discover my opponent has strip ball! I managed to get the dice I needed to move the ball up field and hand off to my waiting catcher which allowed me to go 1-0 up before half time.
In the second half I did a lot of dilly-dallying whilst I waited for an opening to make a break for it. I was getting low on players and with a player in scoring range, I got them to catch and blitz through with a rush to wrap up the game for me.
I ended the day on three wins, which I have to admit was extremely unexpected. I ended the day in fourth place, with 11 other coaches having won all three games.
Game 4 v John (grumbledook)
I was obviously going to be in with some difficult games on day two, and I started by playing John who is the founder of the bbtactics website which I have read bits of many times over the years.
He was playing tomb kings and elected to kick to me. I tried to get players through into his backfield but a few removals and my blitzer rolling snake eyes on a couple of occasions meant I felt I was forced to score earlier than I had hoped. This involved passing over a couple of tomb kings who initially interfered with my pass but I was able to get them to re-roll it due to the high elf thrower's cloud burster rule.
As you'd expect from someone who runs a tactics website, there was a lot of solid play and very few opportunities for me to attack the ball. There was one 5+ dodge which would have allowed me a one-dice hit on the ball, but the dodge failed and it wasn't to be.
The second half continued in a very similar pattern and with no chance of getting the ball and very few of my players on the pitch, I got them to run away and preserve themselves for a one turn touchdown defence.
As it happens, time out was rolled on the kick off table. I still maintain it is the worst result on the kick off table, even though on this occasion it worked in my favour. I sent two catchers through and retrieved the ball.
John was able to knock one catcher over meaning that I had to make a 4+ then 2+ dodge, followed by a long bomb (apparently around a 25% chance of success) to get an undeserved equaliser and draw the game 2-2.
Game 5 v Steve (el_spoonio)
Steve had won the sevens event on Friday with vampires (proving that it is possible to do well with them in the format). I was aware that he was a good player, having finished as runner up at the NAFC a couple of years ago, and so I thought I was in for a difficult game.
However, the dice really went in my favour. Steve chose to kick and I managed to get a good few hits on some players - three thralls ended up in the casualty box by the end of the game along with a runner who was able to regenerate. In the first half, I also managed to foul two vampires into the casualty box and this allowed me to score at my leisure... or so I thought. On the key turn the 2+ catch with in built re-roll was snaked and we go into half time at 0-0 meaning the KO'd vampires only had one chance to come back, which they didn't.
Steve's bloodlust rolls had really been letting him down and when he tried to pick up the ball on his drive he wasn't able to. He elected to score quickly to try to get his team back - I wasn't quite able to make the stop and so I also tried a quick score, meaning that we were both able to play for the win - which both made the game more exciting and allowed both of us to stay in the hunt for the whole tournament (it was won with a 5/1/0 record last year so it was possible).
After receiving, the vampires bunker up and I try a lot of elf nonsense and manage to knock the ball loose with my strip ball player. With dodges, blocks and rushes I manage to get a successful pass and catch to go 2-1 up.
Steve spends quite a while trying to work out a one turn touchdown with the number of players he has, and after thinking he has sussed it, the crowd knock down the player that he had been intending to push around to make it work. He tries to work out another way on the fly but he gets a knockdown when he just needed one more push and I ended up winning this game 2-1 and 4-0 on casualties.
Game 6 v Nicky (MisspelledTree)
After 5 games, there were three coaches on 5 wins. I was in fourth place just behind them and would likely be playing one of these, with the other two playing each other.
There was another player on the same record as me and theoretically any of the 5 of us could win the event, depending on how the results played out. The likelihood is that the winner of the game between me and Tree would be guaranteed 2nd spot. If there was a winner in the other game, they would most likely win the event due to their final game having a better strength of schedule - although as this is affected by a number of other games also being played there are no guarantees on how it will pan out.
Tree also had high elves and a slightly different roster to me. She had the same skills on blitzers (dodge and dodge/guard), but the catchers were wrestle, wrestle and dodge, and just dodge, and leader on the thrower, along with the star player bomber Maude Rosbif (the first time I'd seen a star all weekend) and an apothecary.
This meant that whilst she had an advantage in the re-rolls and the long range threat, I had a slight advantage in turning over the ball.
We rolled for the weather which was sweltering heat and I won the choice of the toss. I targeted the weaker catchers (the one with dodge and the one with just wrestle) in the hope of a removal and I got an early one. I then started to put a lot of pressure on, basing up most of the opposition and trying to hit weaker goblin to get a further numbers advantage. Tree was forced to use re-rolls early in the half and was running very low so I upped the pressure a bit more. I hit Maude onto the sideline and was tagging the ball carrier with my guard blitzer, knowing there was a potential danger for a surf if Tree hit with the ball carrier. I wasn't sure if she would and I thought it was worth the risk. As it turns out, it wasn't. The ball carrier hit and then a couple of players moved around to allow Maude to surf - and casualty - my guard blitzer! It's possible that I pushed Maude to the wrong square, although I think the surf was feasible wherever I had pushed them.
The commitment to the surf meant I was able to get my strip ball blitzer in for a 1 dice blitz on the ball carrier but unfortunately even with this I wasn't able to stop the score.
The logic of choosing to kick for the first have is to have more control over the game - however I realised mid-way through the first half that with the weather this is probably not the best idea. Any chance at a one turn touchdown is severely hampered by the fact that at least one and possibly three players will be missing for the attempt. I think this is one instance when receiving might have been the smarter option, because as it happened I was down three players from the heat for my attempt, and trying to do so I actually removed one more of my own players. As such I was 1-0 down at half time.
I decided that I was going to attempt to score quickly to try to push for the win - I would rather one of us has the opportunity at winning the whole event than to stall out for a draw, and it made it much more exciting. I sent a lot of catchers into the backfield on turn 1 and dropped back with a thrower and a lineman. Despite being swarmed, I was able to blitz a gap for my thrower to head through, make the pass and score in two turns.
At this point, Tree pointed out we were effectively playing sevens due to the removals and players sitting out due to the weather. She collected the ball and moved up the pitch caging and screening as best as possible with the number of players. I repeatedly tried cage diving - my best opportunity being a 5+ with my wrestle strip ball that I spent a re-roll on. Had that succeeded then I may have been able to recover for the win, depending on where it landed. As it failed, it meant that the opposing high elves were able to regroup near my endzone leaving me a desperation cage dive to save a draw which unfortunately failed, meaning the game finished with a 2-1 loss.
Conclusion
I ended up in 9th place with a 4/1/1 record which is my best performance at a 2-day event and I am dead chuffed by. The possibility of winning the event before the final game is something I've only had at much smaller events and will give me a lot of confidence in the future.
I do feel for Tree as, despite winning all 6 games, she only finished in 2nd placed - missing out on her first tournament win on strength of schedule by the difference between a draw and a win. Had she been drawn against and beaten the eventual winner, AndyDavo in the final round she would have won the event. It's difficult to know what to say in this situation - however there needs to be some form of tiebreaker in any event and someone has to miss out. Both players were given a free grudge for next year, so hopefully they can settle their differences on the pitch!
Other things
On Saturday evening there is a charity auction where people bid ridiculous amounts for dice. Last year I hadn't bid on any of the items. I decided to bid on something this year - so I bid £10 on a set of mugs kindly donated by Chris from the Bromley League. I was very quickly outbid way past what I thought was acceptable, but at least I got involved!
Combined, the event raised over £15,000 for charity - surpassing last year's total which was an incredible feat given that last year two painted teams brought in over £2,000 of the total in the auction alone and there wasn't anything that came close to matching the price this year.
I'd love to be able to go back to Thrud next year, although at this stage it is unlikely. I did ask them if they could move the event so it doesn't fall on my wife's birthday but I'm not sure whether that will happen...
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