So this weekend been I helped fill out a spot in one of the New Zealand teams entered into the Ausbowl State Championship held in Victoria. I'd played some tabletop in the MBBL league since my move to Melbourne 2 years ago, but I'd not played in a tabletop tournament before. Given that it was just down the road it seemed like a great time to check out a major tournament, and when the Kiwis needed a warm body to fill out numbers I was more than happy to help out. Fortunately no one on the team had picked humans so I got my first preference for team as well!

The Kiwi's weren't expected to contest the state team title, and they were a nice bunch of blokes and blokette - NZ South was the team I joined based on my Island of Origin and their team motto was "May we not disgrace ourselves". I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to team tournament play.

I faced two Chaos Dwarf teams, two Orc teams, a skaven team and wood elf team.

My first opponent was from NSW and was playing a very bash focused Chaos Dwarf team. He was down 2-0 at half time after receiving, his bashing skills had done nothing and the second half didn't get much better with a 3-0 victory kicking off my tournament. After being tormented by my two stand firm guard blitzers and a kicker with a pair of perfectly weighted kicks into the endzone my opponent celebrated the result with a turn 16 foul - which is pretty entertaining in a resurrection tournament.

Round two was vs Victorian Skaven and that was a 2-1 victory with a convincing 4-1 casualty count as well. It was a box like finish as I stalled out in a rock solid position of dominance and fouling anything that looked like it was getting remotely near a threat. A classic box type finish, but much harder when the other guy is sitting across the table from you and not having fun. A top notch block who contributed significantly to the tournament by making an awesome trophy, he probably deserved a better game.

We had a bye in the third round before playing the captain of the other New Zealand team at the end of the day. Being pretty tired and having had a few beers during the course of the day my losing position against a really solid Orc team was turned into a dirty dirty draw on the back of a 6.2% passing play sequence. Fortunately my opponent never told me the odds before I started rolling dice. Had he managed the win he would have ended up top of the table for individual results, while at the same time collecting the team event wooden spoon. This appeals so much to my sense of humour I almost regret taking away the draw.

Day two saw more Orcs, a race that was well suited for the format and made an appearance in every team. These ones were from Western Australia, and from memory it was a 2-1 score line. This was another better to be lucky than good result with my thrower coming through with a 4+ 4+ 3+ 2+ 5+ 4+ 3+ sequence for my second TD when attrition and heat had me well beaten (about 3.4% odds of success). I didn't play especially smart in the end and a mistake on my part going for a vanity TD opened up a chain push to put a guy in range. Nuffle smiled on the humans once more.

Round six (game 5) was an amazingly close game against Wood Elves from South Australia. An early Ogre induced turnover when receiving before I fully secured the ball saw immense pressure come my way. It also lured out his Wardancers who were knocked to the ground before my dirty player kicked them to the KO bin. A solid elven defense failed on turn 8 with a rare dodge fail, and my stand firm blitzers and the ogre took the line to ensure no one turning was to happen before half time. The woodies equalized with a two turn touch down, before we took the pitch again for the final drive, with KO recoveries having the woodies at full potency. A sprinkler malfunction and a kick to the sideline saw echo's of the first half with me finishing my first turn of the drive with the ball on the ground. Quad skulls added to my issues but I managed to get my standfirm guards and side stepping catcher into spoil the elves at the start of what became an epic scrum near my endzone. I was playing an exceptionally nice guy playing a great game with a quality team with reasonably fair dice to both sides. So even though I thought he had it in the bag I was having a great time and felt it doesn't get any better than this, despite my imminent loss. Then it got better - a fortuitous bounce went my way I made my pickup and the thrower ran just about the length of the pitch escorted by the linemen. Another 2-1 result, with every single player contributing at critical times.

Last game was after lunch and they told me I was in contention for the individual award, having gone 4-1-0 at that stage. I was up against another Chaos Dwarf team, from the Barbarian team coached by the D_Arquebus, who is by all accounts the godfather of tournament play in Australia. The entirety of this game was played in the rain which saw me elect to kick rather than receive in the first half. Whilst I managed to stop him scoring on his drive in the first half a better understanding of card play might have allowed a defensive touchdown the first half. In the second half with attrition kicking early, I again found myself in the position of being on the back foot, with about five players left on the pitch and with the Thrower boxed in 3 squares from my endzone it was a 1D block to open a hole, and then the moment came. You see he'd been worried about a blitzer on the left wide zone so had committed to him, leaving an Ogre unmarked over on the other wing at around the halfway line. You meatbox guys know the play, the Thrower dodges, runs, pass, an Ogre catch in the rain, and he spends the rest of that turn and the next two waddling into the endzone, not a bonehead in sight. 1-0 victory, and a fairy tale ending.

This is the trophy that the Skaven coach made, and it's mine until the ASC V