So, tomorrow is the 10 year anniversary of when I registered on fumbbl. Now, I haven’t been active throughout that entire period, like many people I’ve needed a break after enduring a string of especially horrible matches or becoming disillusioned with the “state of the game”. But (so far anyway) Ive always come back. The truth is Bloodbowl remains for me the best game Ive seen for combining tactical challenge and luck while allowing you the coach to develop a playstyle and overall strategy between games – and fumbbl is the best place to play bloodbowl.

Anyway, that's it for the short version of this blog – yay I made it to a decade on fumbbl!

The long version celebrates my own personal bloodbowl journey and will no doubt elicit the usual “em0” responses, but I feel a big anniversary entitles you to a little navel gazing and to loosely connect a whole range of topics just because I find them interesting.

So I actually started playing TT bloodbowl while I was a teenager – over 20 years ago – yikes! But I became frustrated with the challenge of finding reliable opponents in the local area so I moved online to find my BB fix, fumbbl wasn’t yet in existence at that time so I played for several years under what are probably best described as 3rd ed rules +. The reason I mention this is because there are a number of interesting parallels in the way that fumbbl emerged and effectively drove its then rivals into extinction and the way that the Cyanide game could have threatened the longterm prospects of fumbbl.

Because those of us in other online leagues had much the same opinion of fumbbl when it first started as many veterans here had when Cyanide arrived on the scene. A shiny new client playing to an inferior rule set hoovering up all the new coaches, which would lead to the death of proper bloodbowl, the horror! Of course the reality is that if you don’t move with the times you do become extinct – old players leave and aren’t replaced so soon enough it becomes very hard to find a game causing even more players to jump ship. That is why I first joined fumbbl, because it was increasingly hard to get a game in the league I preferred. But even after I registered here it took a couple of years for me to actually play a match – out of guilt for abandoning my friends.

It seems silly now thinking fumbbl was that big evil monster with whiny players and a poor standard of coaching (yes, that is what we thought...). Over 1100 games later I am totally converted to the cause and can't imagine playing anywhere else. Even total technopeasants can play here and learn the ropes quickly which means new players are constantly coming in – which is great as Im keen to keep my win % up.

I'm also of the opinion that switching to the ffb client and the crp ruleset has effectively saved fumbbl from eventually going the way of the dodo. Yes there are issues with some of those crp rules – just like there were with 3rd ed and lrb4 – but without a player base there wouldn’t even be anyone to complain to about it. I want to thank Christer for overseeing that important step and keeping this community alive. Using the official rules also prevents the creation of a kind of bloodbowl ghetto which is incapable of interacting with the wider world.

Now, many of you are probably wondering, “how come he has played so much bloodbowl but Ive never heard of him, he's never won anything major so why does he still bother”. Well, I've been asking myself the same question for quite a while! I think the truth is I shoot myself in the foot winwise by trying to play what I believe to be an “attractive” style of bloodbowl rather than bashing the numbers and power gaming. My version of fun involves swimming against the tide I suppose. I enjoy big plays and forcing the pace rather than ratcheting up the positional pressure and waiting for my opponent to fail.

However, I find myself in a constant dilemna, as I know that “better” play means not taking risks and backing off – and I have found myself playing more and more in exactly this kind of way. Much to my own horror Ive discovered the race I have the greatest recent success with is Khemri – while my OWCC dwarves also win without troubling the flair quotient.

Perhaps this is best summed up by my Dark Elf franchise the Sound of Death. There have been many iterations of this team throughout my whole BB playing career. But most recently I retired Sound of Death XIII from the box – mostly for being embarrassingly poor at winning. It's perhaps time to recognise that the coach I want to be is not the coach I actually am. After enjoying ancient success when Sound of Death II won my local TT league in the 90's and beaten up versions of Sound of Death III and IV lost out in regional finals I have been chasing a dream of sleek stylish bloodbowl through 10 versions of the franchise that hasn’t really been possible since the halycon days of 3rd ed.

So, after reaching this epiphany, what do the next 10 fumbbl years (!!!) have in store for me. Well, I hope to get more involved in league – as I've found that to be a very rewarding experience in OWCC, the Badlands and OBBA. I hope to finally create a legend player and I hope to reach the latter stages of a box major at some point. But most of all I hope to finally find a way to be the type of coach I want to be and still win games.