Races of all shapes and sizes. Shaming themselves. Leaving their homes for shiny, shiny coins. To do what, you ask? To play Blood Bowl for the Imperial Citizenry of the Empire, that's what.
Years of peace and prosperity has brought the Empire unimaginable wealth. The triumph of this great nation has prompted the leading figures of its townships and cities to demand more from their Blood Bowl.
With CPOMB Sunday/Mondays, Bretonnia Joust Tuesdays, 2-1 Grind Wednesdays, OWCC game Thursdays and HUBBA on Fridays, what are the poor folks sat in taverns up and down this great country expected to do on a Saturday? Go home to their families? Listen to the bard? Talk to each other over a quiet pint?! Well, sod that! Spying a gap in the market, an enterprising band of men in Altdorf formed the Conclave.
After plenty of market research ("Oi, Alfric, reckon a quick-fire league'd be alright on Saturdays to stop punters kickiing the crap out of each other?", "Erm, we could knock a copper off the beer?" "Try again. New league on Saturdays?" "Yeah mate. Probably be fine.") and a tavern-ful of coin, the Conclave set up the Empire Elite League. The concept: wealthy Imperial landowners hiring human coaches to lead teams of all kinds of races. All for the entertainment of the masses - and, of course, for money.
With ludicrous amounts of gold being thrown around, you can expect to see plenty of haughty Dorfs, Elves and Greenskin swallowing their pride and throwing their lot in with their betters: the imperial humans of the Old World.
Expect to see pointed ears. Expect to see bearded fools. Expect to see horrific, twisted demons loyal to Khorne. All playing for the men and women of the Empire.
It's going to be dEELicious (sorry).
Super 4 Headlines
Racial cap in place. Only two teams of each roster.
Four team round robin divisional play, followed by Super 4 playoffs and the Super 4 Grand Final.
Charity Bowl for teams that do not qualify for playoffs.
European Time Zone (though any coach able to play BB time evenings welcome)
League Structure:
Multiple Division Round Robins of four teams, followed by playoffs for those who qualify. A Charity Bowl is held for those that don't qualify and new teams may enter midseason at this point. Coaches may carry their teams from season to season, or fold and start a new rookie team.
Current Season:
Season 1
Round Length:
7 Days (rolling schedule)
Current Round:
Pre-Season
Round Deadline:
N/A
Season Legnth:
N/A
Joining
Team Names:
The EEL is a fluffy league. Wealthy human landowners hire human coaches to coach races from all over the known world that have been lured from their homes to play Blood Bowl within the borders of the Empire. All franchises hail from locations within the Empire. Therefore, the EEL operates a naming policy.
Please adhere to the following format: [Empire State/City/Town Name][Team Name]. You might want to add racial flavour in the team name for fluffiness.
I recommend using this huge map to find a location within the Empire. Names that "sound like" they're from the Empire are perfectly fine.
There are no limits to the team names i.e. we could have three Altdorf teams and/or two "Ranger" teams. Rivalries are actively encouraged.
Player Names:
Please, for fluffiness, create player names that could reasonably be classed as Elfy i.e. Barannir Bladeweasel okay; Jim DangerTrousers not so much. However, nicknames are fine: Barannir "DangerTrousers". If you need help, google fantasy name generators.
Images:
If possible, try to have a team badge created for your team. This will allow me to induct your team into the Hall of Fame when they do something brilliant. Seriously, I'm no artist, and the crapper the badge the better. If you're good with pixels, please feel free to tell me how bad the images I've made for the EEL are and remake them.
EEL Games Only:
You may only play games within the EEL. Non-vanilla teams are not permitted.
Racial Cap:
There may only be two teams of each race in the EEL at any given time. Teams of the same race will not play in the same division, where possible.
Playing
Timezone:
It's a European based league. Coaches are welcome from anywhere so long as they can normally play games during 1800-2300 server time (GMT+1).
Game Frequency:
Games are played according to a schedule of 1 game per 7 days. A rolling schedule will be in place, however, and if you are able to play ahead then feel free to do so. Extensions can be given based on the circumstances and a reasonable amount of time and notice.
Forfeits:
Hopefully the EEL won't have any forfeits. Coaches who have to forfeit games without reasonable excuse will not be asked back to the EEL next season, and their coach's soul will be baked into an Eel Pie and eaten at the next meeting of the Conclave.
Conceding:
You are here to entertain the masses of Imperial Citizenry. The Slippery Eel Stadium Complex has five Blood Bowl pitches, thirteen restaurants and sixty-eight bars - it also has a policy of teams fighting on until the final whistle. Everybody likes an underdog. Conceding a game results in a 1 point deduction.
Game Etiquette:
Don't be a douche to other coaches. Everyone should be here to have fun. Unfortunately for your str 4 agi 5 legend wardancer, that rookie linemen is perfectly within his rights to kill-foul him. Even in t16. The EEL will issue the offending Coach with an extremely stern reprimand letter for such behaviour, which will be good for the Coach in question if the privy is out of toilet paper. Seriously though: anything goes in the EEL so long as it's in the CRP rulebook and allowed in the client, and follows the other rules mentioned herein. Timeouts will be heavily frowned on.
Drop Outs:
Drop outs will be hunted and killed. Not really, but the EEL kindly asks that you do not drop out midseason. It sucks for everyone. Sometimes there is a legitimate reason (for example, I dropped out of a league earlier in the year because of an extended stay in hospital), but dropouts without reasonable excuse will never be allowed back into the EEL. After the regular season (which, I hasten to add, is only 3 games long), a Coach may decide to fold their franchise. This enables them to quit the EEL or immediately enter another EEL-legal franchise into the Charity Bowl. Please battle on to the bitter end; everyone loves an underdog.
Divisions
Naming:
Divisions are named after some of the delicacies available in the Slippery Eel Stadium Complex. We personally recommend you dine in one of the Slippery Eel Taverns, as you're slightly less likely to get food poisioning. Examples of names include (please declare which ones you like, which ones suck and any others you think are better):
In the inaugural season, teams will randomly be drawn into divisions of four teams. Everyone plays everyone for a total of three games. 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. -1 and a ton of boos if you concede.
Tiebreaking:
If two teams are tied on the same number of points, they are separated by head to head record, TD-difference, TDs-scored. If they're still tied, it goes down to 'Emperor's Choice'. Basically a game of 'Which hand is the baby eel in, coach?' (a coin flip).
Winning:
The winner of the division nets themselves a trophy and is given an invitation to the season's Conclave (explained below). The winner of a division also stays in that division next season unless they exit the EEL, in order to defend their divisional title.
Playoffs:
The winner of a division always qualifies for the playoffs. Who gets the other playoff spots will be decided once we have an idea of how many teams are entering the EEL, and how many divisions there will be.
Other Accolades:
The Emperor's Trophy goes to the team who scored the most TDs during the regular season. The EEL Reprimand Letter goes to the team who causes the most casualties during the regular season. This team is cautioned for its Orcish antics and each player given a clip round their ears. EEL Caution Letters will be handed out to teams that end the careers of notable EEL players. Coaches may choose to display such letters proudly, or fold them up and use them to prevent a Coach's chair or desk from rocking.
Charity Bowl
Entry:
Any team that does not make the playoffs may optionally enter the Charity Bowl. They must register their entry with the EEL admin. Any EEL coach may also fold their team and enter a new rookie team at this point. Additionally, any coach that wishes to join the EEL for its next season may enter the Charity Bowl, respecting the team racial caps.
Format:
The Charity Bowl is a randomly seeded KotH style tournament (each round is random; you won't know who you're playing next). Byes may be used if there are an odd number of teams entering the tournament.
Charity Bowl-Off:
The winner takes home the Charity Bowl (they probably should give the Bowl away to charity, but they've already done their bit for the Orphaned Orc Babies and EEL Conservation groups). This nets the team a random MVP. Finally, the winner of the Charity Bowl may name any new divisions by selecting one of the Eel-related dishes on offer in the Slippery Eel Stadium Complex, if there's still a new division that needs naming after the EEL Trophy winner has waved their magic wand.
Playoffs
Format:
KO tournament with teams seeded based on where they placed in the regular season. Divisional winners are seeded 1st, 2nd etc. in order of their divisional records (tiebreaks are handed in the same way as divisional play). Following that, teams take the remaining seeds based on their divisional records. Depending on numbers, the playoffs will consist of 4 or 8 teams. The last remaining 4 teams are known as the 'EEL Super 4' for that season.
The Grand Final:
The winner of the Grand Final takes home the EEL Trophy. They will be awarded with a random MVP and a game's worth of gold. If the winner of the Grand Final did not win a divisional title, they are also invited to the Conclave. Finally, the winner of the Grand Final can name a new division by selecting one of the Eel-related dishes on offer in the Stadium Complex. Alternatively, they may choose to change the name of the division title they are currently defending.
The Conclave
Forming the Conclave:
The Conclave is a meeting of EEL Coaches held at the end of one season before the start of the next. It is responsible for The Draft. The Draft places teams into the respective divisions. The following coaches are invited to The Conclave: the divisional winners, the holder of the EEL Trophy and the winner of the Charity Bowl. Each of the Coaches sits down at a large oak table (made from trees cut down in Athel Loren, herp derp), eat a fourteen-course eel-heavy meal, smoke from the Pipe of Plenty and sample the finest Bretonnian wines and Imperial Pale Ales. When they're done, they get down to deciding which teams will face whom.
The Draft:
Each member of the Conclave is randomly assigned a number. This is the order they will choose and seed teams into divisions. Importantly, if a Coach's team won both their division and the EEL Trophy (a prestigious double), they do not receive two votes: they still vote only once.
First, teams who won divisions are automatically seeded into the division they won. Then, in order, each member of the Conclave assigns any team from the pool of remaining EEL teams into any division they wish until the divisions are full or the pool of teams is empty.
Star Player Pictures
[L] Necromantic Horror
