<i>The fans were going wild and the chanting of thousands of dwarves and hobgoblins echoed from the ceilings of the subterran pitch. Aaron Rastoon, captain of the 'Deadalus Spirits' checked the big clock, sighed and then looked at his team. Or at least the remains of it. He had started out with 14 good comerades - not the most skilled players he had ever seen, but with a power of will he had rarely seen before on the pitch.
They were holding the title of the champion now for four matches and those matches had reduces their numbers to eleven. But now he had only five teammates around. The rest had taken down by the brutal blows of the dwarves they were facing and Aaron was hearing the screams of the injured from the dougout. One minute to go and the spirits were trailing 1-2. They HAD to score and they knew it. The team that holds the title for five games was promised wealth and - even more important - freedom.
The ref came over to the huddle of the human survivors. "Your timeout is over. One minute till kickoff." Everyone nodded. Everybody knew the page of the playbook. They had practised it multiple times - their emergency maneuver. Maruk the ogre would throw Hank, who was son of a hobgoblin and a halfling (at least that was commonly assumed - noone could imagine such a small and ugly thing being human). All they needed was a good pass to him. Aaron took his position in the backfield, while the rest got ready for the play. Even from afar he could see the grim faces of the dwarves under their spiked helmets. "Time to catch them off-guard" he thought as the ref blew his whistle and the ball came flying into their half....
</i>
Deep down in the mines of Kharak-Ankor thousands of slaves are working in the heat of the subterran forges fueling the war maschinery of the chaos dwarves. Each day is a recurring nightmare of pain and misery, braking even the strongest of every race. Desperation drives people into insanity - the insanity needed to put your life on the line in the King of the Hill Battle!
Every full moon slaves are allowed to form a blood bowl team. Those who prove their worth on the field may enter the "King of the Hill" battle and fight for their freedom. Kharak-Ankor contains many levels, reflecting the hirachy among the Chaosdwarves. On the highest level the rules and his most loyal aristrocrats live while the lowest levels are in direct contact with the slave pits. Every level has it`s blood bowl pitch although the teams playing on each level vary greatly in quality. In the "King of the Hill" Tournament every team can challenge a team from a higher level to prove their worth and take their place if they win. The team residing on the top level hold the title of the champion which they need to hold for FIVE games in order to win the tournament, granting the team their freedom and enough money good life afterwards. This might seem odd for the evil Chaos Dwarves, but noone has every made it so far....
<u><b>Join #KotH on irc.fumbbl.com</u></b>
<b><u>Relevant Links:</b></u>
<a href=http://fumbbl.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=13270>Main Thread - Matchups will be posted here at the start of each round</a>
<a href=http://fumbbl.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=13477>Scoring Thread - Post your challenge results here</a>
<u>Tournament Details:</u>
- Race Restriction: Every LRB-race is elegible besides OGRES (they are just too valuable as working horses in the pits to let them form a team)
- Rookie team in [L] to start
- No STAR PLAYERS allowed
- Wizards ARE allowed
- Starting FF of at least 7 (representing the support from fellow slaves, they recruit players from)
- dedicated coaches who are online on a regular basis
- Every coach should write the times he visits fumbbl regulary in his teambio
- No games outside the league
- Race Restriction: Not more than 3 teams of each race
Currently restricted races: <b> Necromantic, Dwarves, Orcs and Undead!</b>
Yes - King of the Hill is back. I again want to apologize for my RL break causing the first incarnation of this system to die. Things have changed for me personally and I`m sure to be in my current work place for at least 2 more years. In addition, PeteW has agreed to be my co-admin for the league and a few kinks have been ironed out from the last round. There are several changes and improvements to make everything run smoothly and less hectic. So if you are looking for an open challenge system, where winning is rewarded, look no further! Join! Now!
<b><u>Current 'King of the Hill'</u>
<a href=http://fumbbl.com/~Treborius>Treborius</a> and his <a href=http://fumbbl.com/FUMBBL.php?page=team&op=view&team_id=454649>'Mithril Mine Diggers'</a> has claimed the crown this round.</b>
<b><u>Current Standing:</b></u>
<div align=center>
<a href=http://www.picoodle.com/view.php?img=/3/10/21/f_KotHround9m_04cc9be.gif&srv=img37><img width="800px" src=http://img37.picoodle.com/img/img37/3/10/21/f_KotHround9m_04cc9be.gif></a></div>
<u>How the league works:</u>
Every team has a rank - indicated by the score on the group-page. In a certain rank are as much teams a the rank says plus 1 e.g. 4 teams are in rank 3 or teams in rank 5. This leads to a pyramid structur:
<code>
1 no cap
2 2 2 no cap
3 3 3 3 TR 190
4 4 4 4 4 TR 170
5 5 5 5 5 5 TR 150
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 TR 130</code>
In the beginning there will be a quick tourney to determine the starting ranks. After that every team has the right to challenge a team from the rank DIRECTLY above. So a team from third rank has three options to challenge if they haven`t played against any of the teams holding rank two. The challenge can be issued by PM to the dedicated admin at the start of each round. These challenges are then matched (to avoid double challenges etc.) and all matchups are posted in <a href=http://fumbbl.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=13270>this thread</a>. The challenged team HAS TO PLAY! If the coach does not want to play, the game counts as a loss for him. If the challenger wins, his team takes over the place of the defeated challenged team. In case of a tie or a loss for the challenger, nothing happens. If a team can hold the title of the champion for SEVEN rounds, the season of the league is over and this team shall be declared the winner.
<u>Overall structure:</u>
The 'King of the Hill Challenge' is onganized in rounds. Each round lasts 14 days. During the first two days, challenges can be made by sending a PM to the challenge admin. After the deadline for challenges has passed, the matchups for the rounds are generated from the challenges and posted in <a href=http://fumbbl.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=13270>this thread</a> here. There are then 11 more days for the coaches to arrange their match, play it and post the result (with a nice matchreport) here.
<u>Friendlies:</u>
After a coach has played his challenge, he may then arrange a friendly game with a team within his tier or an adjacent tier to recover from a bashy challenge or simply to train. Those matches are played after the challenge on a mutual basis (like [R]).
Friendly matches count for the 5-round-limit (see below) and have to be played before the end of the round and NOT during the challenge phase.
<u>Details on issuing a challenge:</u>
- The challenger has to make sure, that the team he wants to challenge is in the tier above him.
- The challenger then checks, if he has played the target team during the last 5 rounds.
- The challenger then sends a PM to the challenge admin.
- After the set deadline, a list of matchups for the round is generated by the challenge-admin. This list is posted in <a href=http://fumbbl.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=13270>this thread</a> here.
- The challenger now contacts his opponent by PM. In this PM he should offer at least two dates to play, selected from the times the challenged coach has put in his teambio
- The challenged coach should reply via PM to confirm one of the times or offer two alternative timepoints (from the times the challenger can play).
<u>The "Challenge the Champion"-rule: </u>
The Champion can be challenged by a tier2-team even if they have faced each other within the last 5 rounds. The champion can always be challenged.
<u>Q&A:</u>
Q: Where can I sign up and when does the league start?
A: You can sign up <a href=http://fumbbl.com/FUMBBL.php?page=group&op=view&group=5586>here on the group page</a>. The league will kick off as soon as there are enough players for the initial tournament. After that, new teams can always join.
Q: There seems to be no penalty for losing an issued challenge - couldn`t Khemri just challenge some skaven 4 times in a row until they have completely destroyed the opposing team?
A: No team may face the same team twice within 5 rounds. So if the skaven win against the khemri, they have at least five games to recover before they can again be challenged by this team.
Q: How can I advance if I have lost against all teams of the rank above me?
A: You have to hold your ground until someone from your rank or the rank above advances and putting a new team above you to challenge or both teams have played enough games to challenge again.
Q: I would love to join, but I know that nuffle gives it to me the hard way in the first game usually and I don`t want to go through a whole season just handing out wins. What should I do?
A: No problem. You can retire your team or drop out from the league any team you like (as long as you are not rank 1 or 2). You can also join the league any time you like with a fresh team.
Q: What happens if a coach drops out?
A: If a coach drops out or retires his team, he leaves a gap in the rank. If a rank has not the full number of teams in it, any challenger managing a draw advances - passing the 'gap' down to the next rank, until it has reached the lowest rank and is filled by new teams. If multiple teams should drop out from one rank of if gaps are accumulating, complete ranks may be deleted, putting the remaining teams in the next lower rank. Any rank having more teams than normal causes the challenged them to be demoted in case of a tie without the challenger advancing.
Q: Don`t the high-AV races have an advantage, because they can become a stronger team in such a hostile environment? Won`t it be impossible to start up new teams when all the other teams are developed?
A: There will be a teamrating limitation tied to the rank. Every team has to stay under this limit. As you climb up the pyramid, your team may become stronger and stronger, matching your opponents.
Q: What happens if a coach doesn`t respond to the challenge?
A: If there is no reply from a coach or two coaches cannot agree on a match-time, they have to contact an admin who then decides what to do.
Q: Is there anything to help sheduling the games? Could there be dodging through pretending not to have time?
A: Coaches are encouraged to put the times, that they usually spent on fumbbl, into the teambio (see example below). The challenger can then offer directly (at least) two dates within those times to play. If the challenged coach cannot make it at those two times and cannot offer two appointments within the timeframe of the challenger, he has to suck it up and fortfeit. The game should take place within 9 days after the challenge was issued.
Example
<code>
Times to play King of the Hill:
Weekdays (except Thursday) 00:30 bb-time to 05:00 bb-time
Weekends 17:00 bb-time to 06:00 bb-time
</code>
Q: If a team is challenged, is that a proprietary challenge, or may other teams challenge the challenged team as well, and if so, which match is the challenged team obliged to play (first)?
A: Only one challenge might be active on one team. The challenge admin will create the matchups from top tier to the bottom. If a team has sucessfully challenged a higher tier team, it cannot be challenged itself. If multiple teams challenge the same team, then the challenger is chosen depending on:
- the number of rounds passed since your last successful challenge
- report points
- coin-toss
Q: In case of a fortfeit - does those teams count to have played?
A: No.
Q: Will there be a racelimit?
A: There shouldn`t be more than 3 teams per race until the league hits 30 teams. After that, one race should not bring in more than 10% of the teams.
Q: Doesn`t the "Challenge the Champion "-rule contradict the 5-round-rule?
A: Yes. The "Challenge the Champion"-rule is <b>the only exception</b> to the 5-round-rule and ensures, that tier 1 is never safe from challenges.