Having posted in several threads along the theme of 'what is your favourite / best / most memorable / funniest / most frustrating etc etc... I thought I'd put all of those together in one big blog entry. The aim is to help me remember all these things, all the highs and lows, of nearly 10 years playing Blood Bowl. (PS: this has turned out to be a LONG one... I'm impressed if you actually read it all :O)

Over 800 matches played (I know that's nothing for come coaches here!!) have meant I have seen a LOT of things both unlikely, 'impossible' and downright hilarious!

Here are just a few:

Best Win:
Not going on the scoreline, but the win I'm most 'proud' of was beating a 186 TR undead team, with two blocking mummies, and Count Luthor, with 108 TR halflings!

Closest Matches:
Apart from the obvious answer of 'everything I've ever drawn', the games that have been most nerve -racking, and have gone right to the final whistle were:

My table-top Blood Bowl Open final (see the report below)

A tabletop Spike Open with skaven vs skaven. This was in the days when our leagues did not have sudden-death, just overtime and rematches. Game 1 full-time 3-3, overtime 5-5. Game 2, full-time 4-4, overtime 6-6. Game 3 full-time 4-4, overtime... opponent conceded due to lack of players, after nearly 70 turns (including blitz actions) and a total scoreline of 15-15!

Shortest Serving Player

Well, halflings... they're pretty short...!
Seriously though, my shortest serving player award goes to Frodo Jr, who died on his debut match for the one-match wanderers (currently approaching their 20th match). He died BEFORE turn 1, when, during a blitz action, a bomb exploded next to him while he was still trying to work out which way round to put the helmet on!

Memorable Deaths:

Several gfi to score, especially with gutter runners... 1, rr, 1, RIP!

My blocking ogre – killed while blocking a goblin, 3 dice in his favour – 3 skulls, RIP, apo fail :O)

Treeman for my halfling team: In a table-top league with slightly different apo rules: stood up and gfi to blitz the ball carrier....1 rr (in the days when big-guys could use rr, but progressed at half-rate) 1... armour roll 6,6 injury roll 6,6 RIP! Apo 1, kicked him out and bought a NEW apo mid game (we could do that then! :O) 1, bribe the ref the 40k left in my treasury to use his apo, 1, offer my opponent all my winnings to use his apo.... rolls a 1. An experienced tree and 160k lost, but I got some new walnut panelling for the dressing room :O)

Several Halflings who died heroically in service to the team, stopping a TD by:

Taking a both down result, RIP and RIP or injure the opponent aswell.

Being thrown, landing on the ball carrier to stop a TD and dying in the process.

Intercepting a bomb destined for the ball carrier, only to have it explode and kill them before they could throw it elsewhere.

AG5 halfling: I had 2 AG 5 halfings on one team, and got the death-zone card which allowed me to sneak an extra player on anywhere on the pitch after the kickoff, but rolling for scatter. Bought up one AG5 halfling in my opponent's half, passed the ball with the other AG5 halfling, and got the ball out of reach of my opponent. My opponent used a series of special play cards to get extra movement and a bonus turn, and floored the ball-carrier. I used one to stop him reclaiming the ball. All I had to do to score was dodge with an AG5 halfling, pick up the ball and score. Rolled 1, rr, 1, RIP, apo fail. All the time, the other AG5 halfling had been running the length of the pitch, in a perfectly straight line, through all the fighting, past the prone players and fouling, snatched the ball the following turn, after the ghoul failed to pick it up, and scored!

Fanatic – turn 1, floors three players including two Kroxigors, then keels over and dies!

In table-top league (where blitzes get declared when you use them, not at the start of a model's movement) moved a tree ready to blitz a rat ogre, failed take root, so snatched up the nearest halfling instead, threw him in the general direction of the rat ogre. He landed on the rat-ogre and badly hurt it, but died in the process. I laughed lots :O)

Killing one of a vampire team's two AG6 vampires, resurrecting it as a zombie, and later using it to foul, and RIP, the other AG6 vampire!

Most embarrassing loss

Most embarassing for me are the games I've lost (or not won) due to my own stupidity, and can't blame the dice for it!!

Halfings vs Chaos: ended 1-1 when I got carried away and forgot to move my ball-carrier within range for a TD on my turn 7 :O(

Not causing a loss, but forgetting to aim my lightning bolt properly... rolled a 1,1, missed the intended target, and realised I'd aimed it so that it hit, and SI'd, one of MY players instead :O)

Losing due to a turn 16 1 turn TD from a MA8 dark elf!!!! That was a real eye-opener and a bit of Blood Bowl genius (aided by the quick-snap). Really wish I hadn't put that Blodge black orc on the front line!!!

Biggest screwing by the dice:

(some of these are me being screwed, some my opponent... I don't want this to turn in to a whining section... I know it happens both ways!)

Having 9 skulls for the first 9 dice of a game, KO'ing two of my own players in the process!

My opponent's triple skull when it mattered most (see the Blood Bowl Open report)

Having a wall of 3 chaos flings standing in front of a goblin ball-carrier in turn 8. The only way he can score is to go through the middle of all 3 with a blitz and dodge from diving tackle. Instead, he lights a bomb, throws it maximum range, and lands it in the middle of the crush of players. His ball carrier remains standing, my three halfings are KO, BH, and SI'd :O)

Having all 5 attempts to use a chainsaw on AV7 fail, along with all 3 fouls, 2 with DP and assists, which failed to break AV, and resulted in 2 of my players being sent off.

Playing against norse – two debut teams. Seriously Injured 4 players on turn 1!!!

Losing a cheering fans roll when my opponent really needed the reroll... the only result that could get him the re-roll was 6,6 1,1 , which is what we rolled :O) he later used that re-roll to score!

Nuffle at his finest: I got a blitz result on the kick-off in turn 1, which I thought was a good thing. Failed to start my chainsaw, failed to knock anyone over, rolled a 1 to light a bomb, rr, 1, BH! :O)
Instead of giving me the advantage I'd hoped, it left me with 1 player and 1 rr down :O)

Most Memorable TD

This has to go to my opponent in a table-top league. My halflings were 1-0 up on turn 16, and had the ball.

My opponent, with no re-rolls, dodged an orc lineman, and gfi twice to get the the endzone. Dodged with a 4+, 3+ to blitz the ball carrier, KO'ing him in the process. Dodge the thrower with a 4+. 3+, gfi twice to pick up the ball and long-pass. Re-rolled the pass with the Pass skill and got it on target, only to fail the catch, and the ball landed in the crowd. He went to shake my hand, when I foolishly said 'it's not over yet... the crowd haven't thrown the ball back'. I rolled the throw-in, which was a 1-1. The ball landed next to the lineman who had failed to catch the ball, scattered back on to him, and he caught it, leaving the score-line at 1-1!

My ogre being bonehead 12 turns out of 16 during one match!

Most Memorable events:

Having my ogre KO'd by a skill-less goblin on a 3 dice in MY favour block... POW, POW, POW!

Having all 5 kinds of weather in one match!

Seriously Injuring a Blodging Dragon Warrior with a 0spp high-elf lineman, apo succeeds. Very next action for my team, the same 0spp lineman Seriously Injured the same Blodging Dragon Warrior, with exactly the same block roll and armour and injury result! De-ja-vu!

Stopping a clear TD by landing a halfling on the gutter-runner ball carrier... knocked down but not injured, so stood up the uninjured halfling, fouled the gutter-runner and seriously injured it :O)

Having a halfling kick the ball out of the stadium 3 times in a row in one match, only to take a fourth kick and have it come down and hit himself on the head with it!

Threw a rock with woodelves, stunning a player on the pitch. Had the 'the boy's got talent' card, so had a woodelf from the crowd join the team for free. He obviously left an impression, as well as leaving his bag of rocks behind, as my woodelves threw 3 more rocks during the game, 2 more hit the same player as the first one did :O)

Having a riot, get the ref, pitch invasion and rock in the same match, with an injury count for both sides higher than most teams would score in an entire league!

Ogre intercepting a ball, running three quarters of the way down the pitch, blitzing players out of the way, passing bone-head, making break-tackle rolls, putting 3 opposing players off of the pitch in the process, and tripping on the gfi to score!

Playing 'greased shoes' on my opponent (a gfi each time that player moves) only to have my opponent not move him all half. On turn 5 I decided to MAKE him move, and blitzed him, only to have him play 'exploding player' (can only be used on someone who hasn't moved all drive), which exploded when I blitzed, seriously injuring my player :O) I'd only snuck in to the dressing rooms and greased the shoes of a dummy player they'd made, and didn't spot the straw sticking out at the bottom of the trousers!!!

Rat Ogre with the old wild animal:
Playing dungeon bowl: teleported the rat ogre in on turn 1, only for him to be wild animal, appear next to a throng of dark-elves, and fail to hurt any. He got smacked back in to the teleported, and landed in front of the 4 skaven players in my endzone with a broken neck... kinda spoiled their bravado after that.

Next game, I decided to start with the rat ogre on the pitch instead, and move him out of range of the rest of my players asap. Needless to say, he went wild-animal on turn 1 and SI'd my own thrower :O)

Having Rakarths's Spell of Petty Spite (or 'Sh*t Break' as we like to call it) played on my War Dancer. Failed to come out for 9 of the 10 drives in the match! After the game, cured his 'ailment' by wiping his ar*e with the healing scroll which the team hadn't needed to use during the game :O)

Playing against dwarves with my halfling team... and scoring more casualties than them!:O)

Cheekiest Moves:

As mentioned earlier, being 1 turn TD'd by a MA8 dark-elf!!!

Having a goblin ref demand that my ogre throw him closer to the ball, or he'd send him off. Happy to oblige, my ogre picked him up and pitched him in to the crowd, who tore him to pieces!

Score-line level on my opponent's turn 16, ball prone and no-one in a position to score. I goaded my opponent in to fouling my stunned gutter runner, which he did. He RIPped him, I used the apo, turned him face UP, and on my turn, got up and scored to win the match :O) He really should have seen that one coming!! :O)

Winning a 'cheering fans' roll with my goblin ref, who has over 300spp, and comes with his own entourage, including 5 cheerleaders :O)

My opponent failing 4 dauntless rolls in a row, only to knock my player over each and every time anyway! :O)

Most Promising Players:

Going to stick to table-top, cos they're FAR to many spp monsters out there!!!

AG5 dodge, pass-block orc lineman!

ST5 orc thrower with block and Mblow!

David Hasselhoof (or 'the Hoof' for short), chaos minotaur. In a table-top league, he scored more casualties by himself, than any other entire TEAM scored between them!

A debut dark elf team (not mine) in which the witch-elf got 23spp in their first ever match!

Orc lineman, in my first ever Blood Bowl team, who did NOTHING every match apart from getting injured. He received the first 5 MVP awards I ever had, earning himself 25spp for nothing! :O)

Orc blitzer (not mine) with block, dodge, +MA and ST5!

What most frustrates me?

Not being able to do anything due to skulls, 1's and forced turn-overs from only doing essential, important and 'risk free' moves, and having my opponent take the absolute p*ss by doing completely unnecessary rolls, including 2 in my favour blocks, and putting my players down and off the pitch in the process. This has included in the past, my opponent fouling with the ball carrier while being watched, doing 5 1 dice blocks, mostly without the block skill, and doing so with the ball-carrier and getting way with it :O) I hate to see stupidity rewarded (unless it's me... then I'm quite happy to see it ;O)

What would I most like to see next?

I haven't heard of this one being done, but if it HAS been done, this is the place... I'd like to see someone score a TD in a blitz action, by getting to the endzone, and having the ball fall in to their waiting arms! :O)