Weekly, he says!  Ah well, there wasn’t much outcry when they didn’t appear, so no biggy.

What’s been going on in the last few weeks?  These bits and bobs, that’s what!

• Among a load of excellent tournaments, Dungeonbowl was held in Germany, the European NAF Major.  Won by Diomlord’s Orcs.  Lots of good reporting and links on the NAF’s Twitter account, which now has a new master (@Wormito)!
• The NAF World Cup commemorative team was also unveiled there, along with the rules, all on the website, so various tournaments that will be using those rules in 2019 are all starting to plot!
• GW revealed details of their next release, which will be a plastic Chaos team containing 4 warriors and 8 beasts, called the Doom Lords.  Great to see a complete decent starter team in a box, which can be completed with the previously released Forgeworld minotaur,
• GW also showcased Spike magazine, though without any detail of content!  There was a big demon on the front bearing a strong resemblance to Scyla from Warhammer Fantasy.
• The Road to the NAF Championships started on Fumbbl, which means that the big one is only a few weeks away!  160 currently signed for BB goodness in Nottingham in May, but plenty of space for more!
• There has been a bit of an upsurge in 7s tournaments recently, both taking place and also in the calendar.  These are popular either because of the number of games in the day, or they can take place in the evening. It’s also a great way to learn the mechanics of the game.  Since the rankings were added to the database as a separate Variant too, there will be some serious competition!
• Speaking of rankings, the NAF launched a new way of measuring BB ability, the Glicko rankings.  It’s still in alpha, and the NAF’s happy to get feedback about what you think. Have a read!

I’ve probably missed some stuff, but that’s the big news…

What’s caught my eye in the BB world this week?  This lot!

• Two countries had their first NAF tournaments, if not ever then certainly for a while – Greece and Northern Ireland.  I haven’t seen any reports as such, but will keep my eyes peeled.  Great that the game continues to spread across the world.
• As Fumbbl Dungeonbowl draws to a close, with semifinals planned for this week, the Road to the NAF Championship returns for its 4th year, and you can win a ticket to the NAF’s flagship annual event.  Entries close tomorrow evening.
• I went to Bubba, and had a lovely time.  Hawca won, and donated his winning team of Platopodes to my son!  10 of the 32 had to cancel due to snow, but the rest of us thorough enjoyed it.
• Not one, not two, but THREE different companies have Kickstarters going for Kislev teams.  I’ve been trying to figure out the chronology for why they all ended up at the same time, but it’s beyond me – they have been in BB2 for quite a while (two years?), so maybe that is the timeline for getting a team sorted.  In no particular order, here are some links:
  • Vortice on TFF
  • Fantasy Bowl Miniatures
  • Gaspez on TFF
• Someone was asking about BB logos, so worth mentioning again Throweck’s great guide on Fumbbl about how to use GIMP (free Photoshop) to make nice looking ones.  You might need to log in to see it, but that’s always a good idea anyway!
• NAF Tournament Director Purplegoo continues to blog, long may it continue!  More information = good!  I started when I was Pres, but ran out of steam somewhat.  Hope he won’t, I have faith!
• A GW BB event was spotted in the calendar for Warhammer World in the middle of May!  Always nice to play in the shadow of the large Space Marine.  Fingers crossed that it will be prefaced by lots of shiny new releases.

That’s it for just now, I’m off to stick together some Platypodes…

Welcome to the first in what will hopefully be a regular series of updates of what’s going on in the world of Blood Bowl – I keep tabs on discussions on the Facebook group, plus Reddit and Twitter, and TFF, so hopefully should pick up most stuff.

So, what’s new this week (or possibly more than a week, as this is the first…)

• Waterbowl XIII took place last weekend, and Pipey beat Stick in the final, making that fixture the most played ever in NAF history (29 times so far!).  You can check out the full list here.
• Tackle Zone continues to add content, including “what’s the play” strategy articles: http://thetacklezone.net/whats-play-5/
• Throw Team-Mate continues to cause rules difficulties, but luckily there is a clarifications page on the NAF! https://www.thenaf.net/blood-bowl/rules/clarifications/
• The Kickass Cossacks from Gaspez Arts are trundling towards a Kickstarter, and looking pretty cool as the first (?) Kislev team, which uses the Slann rules on BB2: TFF
• Also on Kickstarter, the Occulte Predators Dark Elf team is live for the next fortnight.   A bit naked for my liking, but each to their own.
• Orclahoma Bowl took place yesterday in the US, the biggest ever one-day tournament in the US (though it is followed by another one-dayer, so could be viewed as a two-dayer…)
• Blitz Bowl was previewed at a games convention, marketing itself as “BB Lite”.  Big FB chat about it here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155002698131621&set=gm.1778845115501341&type=3&theater&ifg=1
• Best Coast pairings are a way of managing BB tournaments, and are looking for TO guinea pigs to test out the Android version of their software, having established it on Ipads: https://www.facebook.com/bestcoastpairings/posts/997921460410165
• Rumours are that Two Drunk Flings have been recording a podcast, so that should be out soonish.  If you missed the first, you can find it here! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/two-drunk-flings/id1311705209

Just a quickie this week, to see if there’s an appetite, but I’ll try to put these out reasonably often.