Day three and the resolutions, side quests and big ambitions keep on coming. Today we hear from Ulva, another NAF committee member and former World Cup host, Kilowoggy prospective lead host from the Dallas World Cup bid, the new Ireland Eurobowl captain and a special guest star from down under!
This is the third in a three-part series. If you’ve missed out, check out part 1 and part 2 over a cup of coffee!
So I put a few coaches from Scotland, and around the world, in the hot seat to ask them;
Before we look forward to the heady heights of 2025, what was your Blood Bowl highlight of 2024?
What’s on your Blood Bowl bucket list for 2025, on or off the board?
Here’s what the coaches from around the globe had to say!
JimmyFantastic, Twitch streamer extraordinaire (and rumoured table topper!)
Going to Montpellier twice to cast the Cyanide Blood Bowl 3 Season 2 Finals and BB3 World Championship! It was great meeting Andy (Davo) and (Misspelled) Tree, and a lot of fun to do. Also winning the BB3 Super League to qualify for the world championship, beating 11 of the absolute best players in the world!
BB3 had a bad start and I had some health issues, but now both have got better and I've turned over a new leaf personality wise! I am very excited to take streaming and YouTubing more seriously this year, lots of guides and beginner content on the way! I'm also going to dip my toes into tabletop in 2025. Hopefully gonna do OK at UKTC with some fellow 'fun havers' in PurpleChest, AndyDavo, and KFoged. I'll try to get some other events in too, with a view to playing more in 2026. Maybe I'll go to Hungary Eurobowl as a freebooter if a team can pay me!
Kilowoggy, TO for Orclahoma Bowl and lead organiser on the Dallas NAF World Cup Bid
First off, the real answer to both questions is the World Cup. Putting the bid in and hoping to get it. But that's an easy and obvious answer.
My highlight of 2024 was visiting 11 new states and running events in states that hadn't had NAF tournaments before. It's been a ton of fun and very rewarding. It's great to see people come out and experience tournament play and community for the first time.
I have lots of plans for 2025 but my current goal is playing or running an NAF tournament in every state. I'm currently at 22 and hope to push past 30 (at least) by the end of 2025. This is in addition to attending local tournaments and running our Orclahoma Weekend events back in Oklahoma.
Kilowoggy's fifty State challenge, 22 down, 28 to go!
Ulva, NAF Treasurer and lead organiser for the Alicante Blood Bowl World Cup
2024 has been a year full of great Blood Bowl moments for me.
First of all, we held the XV edition of the Reva (of which I am part of the staff), with a total of 258 participants, making it the third largest individual tournament in NAF history (and the fifteenth largest overall), only surpassed by the NAFC 2022 and 2023 (according to Sann's numbers). This coming January we will be holding the 16th edition of Reva, and we already have 280 coaches registered from eight different countries, so it will be an amazing experience for us.
In addition, I was fortunate enough to celebrate my wedding during the tournament, surrounded by most of our Blood Bowl family, so (for my sake) I have to mark it as one of the most special moments of this year.
On a different subject, I have been honoured to be elected NAF Treasurer and Committee member in 2024. Although I already had contact with most of the Committee members, having the opportunity to be part of the NAF structure and to participate in decision making and improving the structure and functioning of the NAF is something very special.
On a purely personal level, it has been the first year in which I have attended tournaments outside Spain. In this case, Lusobowl (Portugal), Berlin Rumble (Germany) and Europen (Greece). I have to say that I have enjoyed and had a lot of fun in all three, and I have met some lovely and wonderful people. While each tournament was very different (Berlin was like being at home, they made us feel like family), I loved the Athens experience. Meeting again with so many acquaintances from the Alicante World Cup, strengthening ties with great friends (like Jock, the author of this blog), and meeting new people has been an outstanding experience.
OK, I've talked about the 2025 Reva before. This is our most immediate project, but not the only one. We’re planning to open a new NAF territory by celebrating a tourney in Gibraltar. Still planning it, no dates or similar decided, but it will be announced on time. (Ed: Wow, count me in! I’ll be there if the dates work)
Apart from that, I’d like to continue travelling to foreign tournaments. Not only to the Europen (which apparently will be huge and full of friends), but to tournaments held in different countries. I have tournaments in Malta and Finland on my agenda, and if possible, some other country (I won't lie, Scotland gives me goosebumps with excitement and tempts me so badly).
At NAF level, members of the Committee will continue to work and do our best to improve and strengthen the NAF. There are a number of projects in the pipeline that may come to fruition in the near future, which we hope our members will enjoy. We’ll keep working for all our members during 2025, and we invite all of you to send any idea, suggestion or critique you may have. We constantly study and consider any suggestions, so feel free to send your proposals to improve NAF.
Regarding gaming, I have no plans or projects. I'm well aware of my low coaching level, so I don't want to challenge myself beyond my poor skills. I only ask 2025 to keep enjoying, having fun and getting frustrated with this game, as I have done for the last 36 years (16 of them as a NAF member).
Best wishes and all the best for 2025 to all the Scottish BB members
GColeman76, Wales resident High Elf Coach
My year in Blood Bowl: 13 Tournaments, 3 Overall wins. Runner Up at UKTC following up winning the previous time I entered, winning the Tacklezone team trophy with team Wales at the UK Games Expo, Captaining the Welsh team at the inaugural Home Nations and of course representing Wales in Greece at the Eurobowl, finishing as the top Welsh Coach. All great achievements, but the highlight for the year was regaining my place as the number one High Elf player in the world, now I just need to hang on to it!
Team Wales win Tacklezone Team Trophy, L:R - RickWreckless, Dionysian, AndyDavo, GColeman76, Jayward and Nonumber (captain)
Looking forward to 2025, the Welsh Eurobowl team will be announced soon, but I will be in Hungary, you will have to see if I am bowling or in the open. Although I can assure you that Wales will be looking to build on what was achieved in Greece, we have the players to do well and we just need a little grace from the almighty Nuffle and who knows what can be realised.
Personally I will endeavour to keep plying the trade with my favourite races and perhaps try one or two new ones and perhaps get one or two more races over the magic 200 rating. (Although, personally, I prefer Glicko ranking). There is a new Welsh qualifying charter which guides us in how we qualify for future Eurobowls so that will be something all who represent the Dragon will need to get used to, it will be an exciting year.
I am running the 21st UK Blood Bowl League tabletop tournament at the start of March and it looks like a strong field with spaces still available so if you are free please do sign up for that. The UKBBL is one of the largest perpetual online leagues that runs on BB3 and many familiar names participate so do look out for us, or drop me a DM on discord if anyone else wants to get involved.
Off the board I am painting more and more and have begun to take some commissions. I'm a fair standard but I hope to improve as the year progresses.
Torquemada, 2024’s most frequent flier and new record holder with 183 games in a single season!
After spending 2023 chasing NAF shields, I figured if I wanted to actually get good at the game I needed to broaden my horizons and look for quality more than quantity. So I sought out the toughest fields I could in the UK and beyond - UKTC, Tilean Team Cup and Waterbowl were first on the list, but they were swiftly joined by a whole swathe of other big tournaments and soon I discovered that in this golden age of Blood Bowl one can have both quantity and quality, if one is prepared to travel (and has a supportive partner!).
And travel I did! Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Genoa and of course Athens all welcomed me and my Vampires as we rolled our way through dozens of international games against some of the best coaches Europe had to offer.
Torquemada (left), with his Blood Bowl partner in crime, GreenskinPhil in Copenhagen at Pier Bowl
But if I had to mention only one, without a doubt that would be the madness that is Turncoat. Run in a small village in Belgium by the lovely Bart (Magictobe), Turncoat MAX is a 24-hour, 11-game event, with a twist. Odd-numbered rounds are as you'd expect, but for even-numbered rounds, you swap teams with your opponent. So not only are you playing an ungodly number of games back to back, you are never playing the same roster twice.
And if this weren't enough, on the Sunday after there is another tournament, Turncoat MINI, this one a 4-game one-dayer, with the same roster-swapping rules. So if you want to play a cool 15 games of NAF Blood Bowl in a single weekend, Turncoat is just the ticket. Now, I have to confess, I didn't get the full experience, as due to some last-minute dropouts we could "only" do 5 games on the Saturday instead of the full 11.
This was a shame, but I cannot speak highly enough of Bart, the TO, who was kind enough to house myself and Volkajo, who had traveled to Belgium for the tournament and had nowhere to stay on Friday night (as we'd planned to spend it playing Blood Bowl!). Bart and his family were incredible hosts, and the atmosphere at the tournament was unbeatable - home cooked food, delicious Belgian beer by the crateload, a charity raffle and many rounds of Crokinole in between games made for a fantastic experience that I really hope will be repeated in 2025. If this sounds like something you’d want to try (and why wouldn’t you!) do get in touch - I’m hoping to get a big UK contingent to make the trip this year.
Lovely prizes at Turncoat Max
As for my 2025 goals, the main one is to make the England team and play in the Eurobowl for the first time. But as that one's not entirely on me, here are a few side quests:
Regain my world #1 Vamp spot
Actually play a 24h tournament
Get 2 more NAF shields
Win a tournament series
Nudge NAF winrate up to 70%
Get another 2 teams up to 200 NAF rating
Run my own tournament
Complete arena runs with every available team on BB3
(Ed: phew I’m tired just reading all that, but it sounds like I’ve found my tournament in Belgium!)
Dementor, Welsh coach who has many Eurobowl theories (Athens)
My personal highlight for the year was coming 3rd individual at UKTC with vampires, going 5-1-0. Some great games and opponents in there. For 2025, I'm hoping to win a 2 day tournament. I've floated around the top a few times in the past, so would be nice to close one out at some point. Maybe the Welsh in Jan, or Thrudball in Aug.
Wulfyn, the newly elected England Captain for Eurobowl
Highlight of 2024 was getting back to hitting the circuit again post-Covid. Met so many new and great people!
Bucket list for 2025 can't be anything other than winning EB as captain! I have three stats based side quests - one is trying to extend my unbeaten streak. I got it up to 14 in 2024 before that dastardly Haychdee defeated me at UKTC!
The other is an oldie but a goodie - having more wins than draws + losses combined. Constantly just a few off! And finally I'm on a bit of a hot streak with Lizards ELO so will be looking to see if I can push to UK #1 for the first time.
Off the board I don't really have any. The only tournament left I really want to go to for BB is Fulginium, but that will have to be a 2026 thing I think. Mainly I spend my hobby time building and painting other games systems that I never play much. It's more about the story of the army, writing the characters and why the army exists.
GeorgieChristo, Australian Eurobowl Captain
Organising and captaining the first Team Australia at EuroBowl, Athens. The team performed well, it was great to meet BB friends new and old from across the world.
For 2025 I’m looking forward to playing 100 NAF table-top matches with Underworld. I'm currently on 93 matches after 4 years of playing them exclusively. I'm looking forward to another challenge. I’ve been inspired by the BB3 World Championship and I’m going to be giving Wood Elves a go.
The last word in this epic series goes to…
Keithabix, the newly elected Ireland Captain for Eurobowl
It's hard to pinpoint one highlight in particular. 2024 was such an amazing year for me and my Blood Bowl. Having increased my tournaments from seven tournaments in 2023 to seventeen across the table and three online tournaments in 2024 there's a lot to choose from.
2024 I hosted my first Blood Bowl tournament - Eurovision Bowl and won a Stunty Cup with Gnomes!. I also became the Irish blood bowl captain for Eurobowl 2025. However, undoubtedly the highlight for me was playing in Eurobowl XV with the rest of the Irish team in Athens.
Team Ireland and Australia in Athens at Eurobowl swapping flags and celebrating a hard fought match. Raging82, Ireland Captain holding the Australian pennant (front row), Keithabix (Ireland Captain for 2025 three in from the right) next to GeorgieChristo, Australian Eurobowl Captain
In 2025 I've my eyes set on trying to win my first NAF event having come pretty close a few times. I'd love to win one in Ireland in particular, although being based in Scotland winning one here would mean a lot to me also.
I also want to continue towards playing a tournament with every race. Currently sitting on 13 races but with 19 tournaments booked in for 2025 already I reckon I can do it. Besides those minor goals (Ed: Silly side quests if you please) I just want to continue travelling to events and meeting up with the great people involved in our Blood Bowl community and to continue having an amazing time wherever the dice may lead. Best wishes to all for 2025.
I hope you enjoyed reading the 2025 New Year’s Resolutions, silly side quests and big ambitions, as much as I have. Many thanks to all the generous contributors taking the time to give us their musings. Scottish Blood Bowl hopes your 2025 has many Side Quests and Big Ambitions to come!
Comments