Friday 7 July 2017

Eucalyptus Bowl 2017

Euc Bowl was last weekend, and I had a great time with my new Underworld team, the Surrender Monkeys.

The Euc Bowl quick guide:  six games, two days, resurrection, Swiss pairing, ~125kgp, up to one non-double skill per player.

There were 54 coaches playing eighteen different teams. There were subtle incentives to take a variety of teams, which seemed to work- the most common team was goblins, and no-one took dwarves! Each round had a variety of unlucky prizes, such as the first coach to trip over on the touchdown line.

My roster was a Troll with Claw,  two Blitzers with Guard, two Linerats with Wrestle, one Thrower with Leader, one Thrower with Kick-off Return, seven Goblins (two with Two Heads), three Rerolls, and an Apothecary.
The Surrender Monkeys

Match 1


Chopper coached the Sin City Star Lords, a Pro Elf team. I got 2-0 up in the first half, and he tried valiantly to catch up but was unable to. Final result a 4-3 win with 2-1 casualties.
The Surrender Monkeys take it to the Star Lords


Match 2


I was relieved to face another elf team for my second match, as I knew I would struggle against a bashy team. George's Wood Elves, the University of Oregon, played a strong and unexpected stalling game to be leading 2-1 in the last turn. However, I pulled off a one-turn touchdown by throwing a goblin carrying the ball into the endzone for a 2-2 tie! It was really exciting watching every die roll, knowing that a failure would cost me the match. Casualties were 4-4 each.
The Surrender Monkeys barrel into the Wood Elf defences.

Match 3


Scott had an Undead team, Grabbed by the Ghoulies. He KO'd my Troll in the first half, and I was lucky to stop him from scoring leaving me 1-0 up at half time when my Troll recovered. He equalised in the second half, and with nothing to lose I pulled off a ridiculous dodging play to finish with a 2-1 win, although I was tailing badly 0-4 in the casualties.
The green ghoul has the ball- the Surrender Monkeys try to absorb the Undead drive

Match 4


I played JoeKano's Chaos Pact team, the Renegades of Skye. Joe won Euc Bowl last year with Amazons, and he had a slight edge over me for the first half. He played a really strong fluid cage play, swinging his offense easily from side to side. I luckily took out his Ogre early in the second half, which enabled me to win 2-1 by the end. I won the casualties 4-3.
The Renegades push down their left before swinging to the other wide zone.

Match 5


As yet undefeated, I was now on Table 2 and waiting for karma to catch up. Glen's orcs, the Eye Eaters, were happy to oblige, getting a Perfect Defence roll before the match had started. I loathe Perfect Defence more than I loathe Blitz on the kick-off table. This completely dislocated my offensive plans, and I spent the rest of the game trying to survive. I lost 2-0 with 1-3 casualties. Glen played very clinically, like a good dwarf coach, and there was little I could do. Glen ended up coming 4th overall.
The surviving Surrender Monkeys are helpless in front of the Eye Eaters

Match 6


I was relieved to face another elf team in the last match- Jason's Pro Elves, the Who's Town Rockets. He had an amazing thrower, and I was lucky to equalise in the first half 1-1. I got a few favourable armour rolls in the second half and took a leaf from George's playbook to stall for time. Jason put the pressure on, and I was lucky to dodge out of his grasp and score on the last turn for a 2-1 win.
The Surrender Monkeys smash through the elf front line.

So, I did much better than I had expected with a team I had never played before, with 4-1-1 record. This was enough to give me an overall placing of 6th! I don't think I've finished that high up the ladder before. I had a lot of lucky plays, which helped me pull draws from losses and wins from draws. The winning team was Bojo's Undead.
The prize table

I was impressed with the Underworld- the Skaven are really quick and the goblins are fairly flexible. The Claws on the Troll weren't great, but I didn't play too many high armour teams. I would have been better off with a Keg than the Apothecary. I could probably have dropped a Goblin and taken a few more skills like Diving Tackle or Side Step.
Loot

I've now played tournaments with 21 of the 24 official teams!

Best painted team: Jonno's Halflings on their display base!
Additional photos from the Euc Bowl Facebook page.

4 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great time and you played a blinder mate!

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    1. It's always good to see old mates, and I did benefit from pushing my luck in true Blood Bowl style!

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  2. Congrats on the excellent performance, Barks! Your beautiful team certainly deserves the laurels. And, even if they weren't so beautifully painted, they would deserve it because "Surrender Monkeys" is the best BB name ever.

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    1. Thanks, Matt! The name was late in coming but I just can't go to a match without one.

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