Hail from Finland!

[Darkian]

Thanks for the good luck guys, Nuffle was definitely bribed to sit comfortably on my shoulder...today I won the Ragnarock Ravens (Norse) 4-0! A whopping 20 spp in one game. Though I have to say in defense of the Ravens coach, it was his first match in this league and he hadn't played at all for many many years.

Wow, Netsmurf! It must be awesome to have that many games going on simultaneously!
Today we eventually had only two boards playing at the same time because two people couldn't make it. We were even supposed to play two games each, but we started late and had to settle for only one.

Nikolai II, I'm with you on this one. My first game in this league was against Blood River Buccaneers (Dark Elf) using 6min/turn and we thought it was doable, I recall us both agreeing that we should aim for 4min/turn. But we have to take into consideration that not all the participants are used to having time limits and that they haven't played in a long time. Also we're not in any hurry, so my last two games have been without a timer. But still the over-all time spent on a match is 4h-4,5h. In retrospect, I'd prefer using the timer because it brings a totally different perspective to the game, tempo-wise of course.

Anyway, if someone is interested, the play-by-play for today's matches will probably be posted some time next week on the aforementioned blog site.

PS
Sorry for the long rant.

[Mikeal]

I'm just going to muscle in on Darkian's thread as we're playing in the same league. I coach the high elf Tor Achare Titans, currently 1-2-0, having lost to Darkian's Brutes and my brother's Chaos team...

I'm trying to get a game recap or at least a boxscore for all the games posted to my blog (if you just want the league posts, that's possible through the HKIRBBTL label), which Darkian already kindly advertised. Maybe I'll get around to writing a team blog thing on the forums here... (no promises!)

As for me, I've been messing around with GW games ever since I got a copy of Space Marine in 1992 or thereabouts. Played some Blood Bowl on the old styrofoam board, and a few games with the latest boxed set, but like so many others, only really got back into it with the Cyanide game. As we'd managed to run a fairly successful Necromunda campaign some years ago, I figured we could put together a proper tabletop league, and here we are! Seven players: my high elves, Darkian's orcs, two dark elf teams, Norse, Chaos and lizards.

The articles on the site here have been a huge help to us getting started, so I thought the least I could do is drop by and give Coach a big thank you for writing them! If you look at my starting roster, you may spot a resemblance to his recommendations... I've also enjoyed reading the forums, and maybe I'll try to make some contributions of my own at some point. But for now, thanks for a great site and forum!

P.S. The Ravens coach is highly amused by the notion of his having Swedish roots. The real truth is that Swedish is still a compulsory subject in Finnish elementary schools, so you'll find that pretty much all Finnish people can string together a "tack så mycket" or "när går nästa bussen till Slussen"...

[Nikolai II]

Well, given that 10% of Finland has Swedish-speaking roots close enough to the surface, it was a fair cop in my opinion

And that "pakkoruotsi" was why I'd expect Swedish roots. Otherwise anyone with the help of google can name their team with names from any nationality or theme.

Nice having a league - with seven players, how do you handle games? Is it challenge games, normal league but with bye weeks, or what?

[Mikeal]

Originally Posted by Nikolai II

Well, given that 10% of Finland has Swedish-speaking roots close enough to the surface, it was a fair cop in my opinion

And that "pakkoruotsi" was why I'd expect Swedish roots. Otherwise anyone with the help of google can name their team with names from any nationality or theme.

Sure, it's a fair guess, but the point is that because of compulsory Swedish, just about anyone can create more-or-less convincing fake Swedish, whether they actually speak it or not. I should also note that as a rule, Finnish people find Sweden and Swedish inherently funny, so it's actually more likely that a faux Swedish/Norwegian Blood Bowl team from Finland was created by a Finnish-speaker as a joke. As in this case. Just trying to make this an educational post!

Nice having a league - with seven players, how do you handle games? Is it challenge games, normal league but with bye weeks, or what?

In a word: erratically. The league format is a simple double round-robin, and we'be left it up to each coach to arrange their games themselves. With our varied schedules, that's been the only practical approach so far. There's a tacit understanding to try to avoid games with big TV disparities and not let anyone fall too far behind in games played. It's worked so far! (knocks on wood)

[Coach]

Hey Guys, welcome to the forum.

Nice to hear of a league going in Finland.

Are you aware of the Eurobowl that takes place three out of four years? This year it takes place in Denmark (most likely Copenhagen).

Up till now there have been no teams from Finland, Sweden and Norway participating. If you can get a team of 8 players together it would be great to see a new nation taking part.

The format is usually:
8 players per country
Each player has to have a different Blood Bowl Race
Usually get TV1100 teams and get to add one skill per game
Each round it is country vs country, so your 8 players match up against 8 players from another country.
6 rounds / games
1 point for a win, half for a draw, 0 for a loss

[Netsmurf]

I can confirm that it is in Copenhagen

[Darkian]

Thanks Coach...and Netsmurf for the confirmation! Eurobowl sounds quite awesome. The rules are so much different from ours, but still somehow very appealing. I think we as a hypothetical national team would need just a touch of practice before hitching a flight and making an attendance. Maybe we'll take a rain check on that. You've at least given me something to seriously consider.
So Coach, are you yourself registering for the Eurobowl? And what about you Netsmurf, are you?

[Netsmurf]

I am not good enough to play amongst the top 8 in Denmark, so I will have a spot in the side tourney - the tourney were drinking while playing is socialy accepted and very normal

[Darkian]

Hah! It would seem we would get along just fine if we played someday. I just now thought of a drinking game (probably not a new one for you); every time you make a successful throw with the dice, you have to drink...using four minute turns! Pandemonium! Feel free to use this "tactic" in your Eurobowl side tourney. Good luck.

PS
Where can I follow the matches when they start?

[Mikeal]

Originally Posted by Coach

Hey Guys, welcome to the forum.

Nice to hear of a league going in Finland.

Thanks!

Are you aware of the Eurobowl that takes place three out of four years? This year it takes place in Denmark (most likely Copenhagen).

Up till now there have been no teams from Finland, Sweden and Norway participating. If you can get a team of 8 players together it would be great to see a new nation taking part.

Sounds fascinating. I'm actually a little surprised there's never been a Finnish team; I've been under the impression that there are quite a few Finnish Blood Bowl coaches... Certainly there have been several Blood Bowl events over the years at Ropecon. I'll certainly keep it in mind! Thanks for the heads-up.