I'm still a newbie to this game, but having the opportunity to attend such an event like a World Cup in my home country and just a few hours away by car was something I couldn't miss. And I loved it!

First of all, thanks to my team mates to allow me to join them. It was a pleasure to roll my dice next to you, sharing some laughs and those stories about BloodBowl. I'm sorry I was not performing as the pros, but the goal was to have fun and at least I had a lot of fun.

My own goal for the tournament was very humble: just to win at least one match. But I didn't managed!! I ended up with a record of 0-7-2, which I think it's not bad for my first big tournament, in position #1691. Only two defeats is something to call out. But most of those draws felt like a defeat, as I managed to score in my attacking drive, but I was unable to stop my opponent in my defensive drive, being scored in the last turn several times. Most of the games, I was running out of players to make a good enough screen, having my casualty box too crowded.

One thing I learnt by playing Wood Elves: they are fast and agile, but too fragile. This translates to a lot of dice rolls, both for me to dodge away as much as possible and for my opponent breaking my armour too often. And Nuffle takes the price when you pray him that much. But another goal for me was to roll huge amounts of dice, so I completed that one!



Let's go with the actual report. The first day I started playing against the French coach Yugxul and his Chaos Dwarves, who ended in position #734 with a record of 4-2-3. I started attacking and I managed to score in turn 5, but having some casualties. So I wasn't able to defend properly and my opponent scored in turn 8. Tied 1-1 and I had to defend with several casualties. In the second part, playing outnumbered, I wasn't able to stop his attack and he scored in turn 16, losing 2-1 in both touchdowns and casualties.

After waiting the longest queue to eat some paella ever, the second match was against L3athalK and his Lizardmen from Canada, who ended in position #337 with a record of 4-4-1. The weather was very sunny which impacted a little on my passing game. It was a balanced game, with me scoring early and my rival scoring back in the last turn of the first part. Although I removed one of his Saurus early enough, he rapidly outnumbered me, making me 3 casualties. Final score, draw 2-2, losing 3-1 in casualties. My opponent was so nice to offer me with some fine whisky shot and we toasted at the end of the match.

The last match of the first day was against Lichemaster and his Chaos Renegades from Germany, who ended in position #624 with a record of 3-5-1. The start of the match was very promising as I started receiving and I managed to remove 3 players (KOs) in the very first turn. I scored in turn 4 and then I prepared myself to defend for the rest of the match, hoping to steal the ball at some point and score. I stood my ground and my Wardancer did her best diving into his cage to steal the ball and preventing his touchdown in the first part. With only one casualty but several KOs that didn't recover for the second part, I was outnumbered once more. My defensive play was being fruitful until the last turn when he finally managed to score to draw the game 1-1. About the casualties, another draw 1-1.

My first day record of 0-2-1 was not that bad (for a newbie), but it tasted as a defeat, because I was doing well in my attacks, but I was not able to stop my opponents and got scored in the last turns of every match. Time to get some dinner with my team mates, sharing anecdotes and stories from the good old times.

The second day started with a match against Tirly from Netherlands and his Khorne team, who ended in position #1370 with a record of 2-4-3. He tried to bribe me with another shot of whiskey, but it was not even 10am!! I received in the first drive and I scored in turn 5, with some players in my casualty box already. I defended as best I could, but with 3 casualties and some KOs, I couldn't prevent him to score in turn 16. One more draw 1-1 and one more lose in casualties 3-0.

After the break for lunch, the next match was against the Danish coach Gadedrengen and his Ogres with Griff Oberwald. He ended in position #785 with a record of 3-4-2. I had the opportunity early in the first drive to foul Griff to death, but I failed a rush with my fouler leaving him alive unfortunately for me, because in turn 8 Griff scored with a 3+ dodge and 3 rushes. The second part was an elven blood bath and I finished with my casualty box full of players: 4 casualties and 3 KOs. Although I scored in turn 13, with only 4 players in the field I was unable to stop Griff of scoring once more in turn 16. I was defeated 2-1 and losing also in casualties by 4-2.



Last match of the day was against Damyokruder from Portugal and his Skaven, who ended in position #1264, with a record of 4-1-4. I started receiving as usual and I scored in turn 3 and my rival scored back in turn 7. In the second part I scored again in turn 11, but then another elven blood bath happened with 4 casualties in turns 10, 11 and 12. Finally, we were running out of time and he scored in turn 14 with no time left for me to reply back. One more draw 2-2, losing in casualties by 5-2.

Second day finished with the same record of 0-2-1, doing a sub-total of 0-4-2, and feeling again as defeated because I was outnumbered in all the matches and conceding a draw in the last turns. We went for a dinner, having our team mate Godzilla in 6th position tied at the top with a record of 6-0-0. At least someone from the team was doing great!

Third day I arrived early and I found the two people who defeated me playing with each other. Gadedrengen won against Yugxul by 1-0, becoming the champion of our particular triangular tournament.

My next match was against Kross and his Chaos Dwarves from France. He ended in position #1617 with a record of 3-2-4. In my attacking drive I was in a decisive turn in which my Wardancer needed to dodge away from a Chaos Dwarf to blitz a Hobgoblin in order to free up my Catcher to pick up the ball at 3+, dodge again at 2+ and run to score with one rush at 2+. It sounds doable for Wood Elves, right? My Wardancer needed to dodge at 3+ and 2+ and taking into account the dwarf has tackle, I considered it a better option to leap at 3+. Of course, the Wardancer failed the leap and my plans to score were ruined. In the second part, with several players KOed, I managed to knock down his ball carrier when he was in scoring range, and I made a pass to no-man's land, ruining his plans to score. Final result was a draw 0-0 and losing in casualties by 1-0.



Then, I played against my only Spanish opponent, Ignacio_tardon and his Dark Elves. He ended in position #1563 with a record of 2-4-3. Our match was destined to go slow, because my nick Perezoso means "Sloth" and his nick "tardon" means "very late". This time my opponent chose to receive and he caged on a side. My Wardancer dove into the cage and she surfed his ball carrier. The ball landed on my favour and I scored in turn 6. The second part looked favorable, I was winning, with no casualties and receiving the kick. But I got too confident and I left my Thrower exposed after my first turn. He found a hole in my screen and pushed his whole team through, knocking down my Thrower and setting a screen behind my lines. He made tenths of dodges and rushes and he didn't fail a single roll. He scored without sweating in turn 14 and we ran out of time. One more draw 1-1 but this time I won in casualties by 1-0.

The final match of the tournament was against the Swedish coach Adso and his Shambling Undead team, who ended in position #2103 with a record of 2-1-6. I started receiving the kick and I scored in turn 5 with no casualties and two re-rolls left. Everything was promising, but my opponent scored in the turn 8 and he was starting the second part receiving the kick. He scored in turn 13 and it looked really bad for me. But you should never understimate the woodies. He didn't protect well the ball carrier and I surrounded him with everything I had. He tried to get some support by dodging around my wooden wall but he failed, and the brilliant coaching reroll he just got was useless. I knocked down his ball carrier and scored in turn 15. And one more draw 2-2, losing in casualties by 1-0.

But the most interesting match was not mine, t was just two tables away from me. My team mate Godzilla was top ranked after 8th round, being the only one with a record of 8-0-0. Following him there were 4 coaches with 7-1-0, being one of them Zedd. The destiny wanted our squads to play against each other, and they were playing for the individual world championship just next to me. If Godzilla won or tied he was the champion. Zedd needed to win and wait for the other 3 coaches to not win their games (and it happened that the other 3 coaches didn't win their games). In his decisive turn, Godzilla needed a 5+ dodge, plus a 2+ rush to blitz Zedd's ball carrier. He got the 5 and he was rolling the rush when Zedd said that he hasn't seen that 5. We called a referee that said if no one else can confirm the die, the etiquette was to roll again. Godzilla rolled again and of course he failed the dodge this time. Whatever really happened in that dodge roll, only Godzilla and Zedd know. Whatever could have happened if that dodge were successful, only Nuffle knows. Finally, Godzilla lose by 2-1 and Zedd become the individual champion. Leason learnt from this World Cup: always confirm with your rival (and with some other witnesses) when you roll your decisive dice.

But I also learnt other lessons from my own experience. First, that I needed a larger bench; having no substitutes made me to be outnumbered in several games. I also was really unlucky with the recovery from KO rolls, so perhaps having some Bloodweiser Kegs would have helped more than the Apothecary. And of course, my Line Of Scrimmage felt very weak, so I wonder if having a Treeman and trading some speed by strength would be useful. Do you play Wood Elves? What do you recommend?

I hope you liked my report. See you in the next WC.