And so concludes another SBBC championship season!
The models have been safely put back into the case and the dice are firmly down. This how my year unfolded, and ended in a way I never expected.
This is a story that starts in early 2022, which I know is strange place to start a 2024 in review post, but please bare with me. I was coming back to Blood Bowl after the plague finally wound down and dice rolling was back on the menu. I was excited to try out some Black Orcs to see if the hype I had built up in my head would translate onto the pitch. It did not. 2 tournaments, 6 games, and a record of 2/1/3 made me think it was possibly time to try something else to see if I fared any better.
Due to a (very) large amount of "Uh, Borks are just crap Lizards innit" jokes I finally caved and tried them (Lizardmen) out.
I was suddenly onto a winner. This was a team I felt I could do not just well with, but a team I could potentially do a damn good job with, a team I was finally comfortable saying "I'm good at playing this team". My record before COVID had been firmly spotty at best but I had finally found a team I could earn some respect with.
2023 went swimmingly, the highlights being an impressive (even if I do say so myself) 4-0-2 at the UKTC alongside what I would consider a strong set of teammates (big shout out to Shriyke, Mournival, and fullfatbeard.), and a 3-0-0 that got me my first podium finish at Mega Bowl, only missing out on top spot due to strength of schedule. My lizards had cracked CR 190, I was on top of the world, and the timing couldn't have been better as it was my final warm-up before the NAF World Cup in Alicante.
I had finally moved into position to get something every coach wants, a CR 200+ team. All I needed was a winning record in Alicante and I'd probably just about do enough to see the promised land.
Then it all came crashing down. I went 2/3/4 and my ranking plummeted to ~160. Over a years' worth of hard work just evaporated in front of my eyes over the course of 3 days. I was not a happy man. I was close to not attending the Sunday after going 0/3/3 the first 2 days and having bad match up after bad match up. I did not enjoy myself these 2 days but luckily my captain Mournival spoke me through it and MarcyMarc gave me what can only be described as the pep talk to end all pep talks that got me back to reality and ready to play the Sunday.
I deliberately took the decision to not roll any dice the rest of the year. I was burnt out; I had played with a win at all costs grindset for over a year and I didn't achieve any of my goals. To say I was close to jacking it all in was probably an overstatement but the thought had crossed my mind.
I took stock and decided to play some more games with humans. I had taken them to a couple of tournaments in 2023 where lizards maybe weren't the most competitive team (because at the time I was playing into that unhealthy win at all costs grindset). I was still clinging to the hope that this could be my new competitive team.
It was at this point I finalised my UKTC team. Rather than going for gold like I had done in 2023, I decided to call up my mates who had never played before. I didn't realise it at the time but this was the first inkling that maybe I was changing my perspective.
The first tournament of 2024 (Welsh Open) did not go well. I hadn't shed the grindset so yet again I was left with a sour taste in my mouth after a dismal 1/2/3. I took humans one final time going 2/2/2 at Mulligans (Ivar is beast by the way - would recommend) but I felt my tilt with them was over.
This left me at a crossroads. What do I do? My competitive dreams were in tatters and my thoughts on Blood Bowl had become rather listless.
At this point I have to say a meaningful thank you to both Shriyke and fromherashes. With the highest amount of sincerity, I can safely say they are the reason I am still playing and the reason I'm looking forward to rolling even more dice next year.
I had a fairly long conversation with Shriyke in the build up to 5B's where we discussed how I was fairing as a coach and what I wanted from the game. Did I just care about winning, or was the social aspect more appealing? Why was I not completing "bucket list" items, such as playing a bunch of teams I had never played before but left sitting on the shelf due to "muh winrate"?
It was just me and fromherashes in the car on the way to 5B's. We had a long chat about my future as a coach and what I actually wanted. He made me feel a hell of a lot better about my coaching ability and reminded me of something I had forgotten: a few bad tournaments do not make you a bad coach, letting it get to you does.
Shriyke kindly let me borrow his underworld team and I felt revitalised. Yeah, yeah, tier 1 scrub comments are fair here but I took them to try something completely different yet the same (fouling bay-bay) and it worked, my love of the game was returning. 5B's will always hold a special place for me because of this. HighlandEnoch - if you ever need help relaunching 5B's, once you're ready, give me a shout for anything you need.
Khorne were then taken to Dundee Doubles and I went a mighty 0-0-3 and finished bottom of the individual rankings but finished 16th due to a even mightier 3-0-0 from lewishm. Did I care about going 0-0-3? Absolutely not (sorry not sorry to lewishm here) but I had finally stopped caring about what other coaches made of my results.
Undead were then taken to Glasbowl just so I could field Ivan The Animal. Did it do well? 0/1/2 would say it did not. Was it a lot of fun? You better believe it.
Then came Mega Bowl, which yet again was a "big tournament" warm up, just this time it was UKTC. Going 1/1/1 with Chaos Chosen (my team for UKTC) against some damn fine coaches left me feeling A-Okay going into the most competitive tournament the UK has to offer. I also want to say thanks to the man with the best NAF name I have ever seen batusiagogo. He was an absolute hero and saved me by giving me a lift down. I now will also 100% recommend anyone who's looking for a good travelling companion give him a shout, I guarantee you, you will not regret it! But apologies again for dropping a vape in you car, that one is on me and my damn comfy Seagulls shorts!
Behind the scenes of all this I was doing something I had also never really done before: Coaching.
Specifically helping 3 new players (fredmanwalking, stonethrowingdevil, and europanda) learn the game. Fredmanwalking attended Welsh Open (his first tournament) with me in the January but had barely rolled a block dice before then. UKTC would be stonethrowingdevil and europanda's first ever tournament. Talk about a baptism of fire, eh?
Helping these 3 noobs (sorry boys, you know I'm right) brought out a love of the game in me I never knew was there. I suddenly found passion for watching them grow and learn, all the little tactics talk, helping instill a healthy mindset, helping them understand the culture of the game, it all made me feel prouder than I had ever felt as a coach/player.
We went a mighty 2/0/4 (ignore the UKTC website, the final round was a bye due to our opponents not turning up and the result was put in the wrong way around). I have never felt so much pride as I did after game 6.
Every member of the team got a win! That was the target and they all did it with bells on. But something more important happened. I watched as 3 of my best friends in the whole world had the absolute time of their lives. Each one of them was quickly swapping war stories, talking shop with the wider SBBC, joking about toasters, large ponds and how they might be getting combined. My record of 2/2/2 didn't matter in the slightest, it was all about the team.
I also did one other thing this tournament I had never done before. Our girlfriends made the journey down with us. I am glad to report they all had a lovely time meeting everyone on the Friday night, even if their take away was "if you don't know someone's name, just call them Chris and chances are you'll be right". This added another element to the weekend that made it very different but in the best way possible.
The Granite City Seagulls UKTC 2024 lineup made me absolutely fall deeply in love with coaching.
I tried to throw myself into helping get the new local players ready for Granitebowl and I'd like to think I helped give them a good foundation to build on but you'd have to ask them themselves, ha!
I tried to not only make myself available for practice games and roster chats here or there, I also tried to help get them into the community spirit that we up in ABBC have been working on over many years.
While this was happening in the background, I had Dominionbowl to contend with and I had a difficult decision to make.
Do I go crawling back to Lizards?
I knew it was going to be a competitive field. AndyDavo and a good chunk of the Scotland team were to be in attendance. Did I dare go back to the team that caused me so much heartbreak just 12 short months ago?
I took the plunge. I had used them in 44 games by that point and this would give me an excuse to round that up to a nice 50 total games.
A magical 4/0/2 later and I felt I had exorcised the demons of Alicante by beating both a Skaven and a High Elf team (I was honestly ready to buy a dash team just to take a hammer and smash them into a million pieces I was that fed up of playing against them after the World Cup). It also left my overall Lizards win% at a respectable 60% (23/14/13).
This set the stage for me to try yet another new team at Granitebowl, Dwarves. Yes. I wanted to finally be "that guy". I also deserve any pelters I get for this as you can see the number of memes I've shared into the SBBC Discord/ BBC group on Facebook that can be summed up as "HAHA DWARF BORING! GUARD SCRUB HAHA!".
A respectable 1/1/1 would follow and a great story about Dwarf pass, who knew that was a thing?!
I also tried to make any effort I could to check in with as many coaches as I could, with a particular focus on the new ABBC players. This is my local tournament, ran by our commissioner fromherashes, I see it as my duty (as well as everyone who belongs to the ABBC) to make sure everyone feels welcome and wants to come back in 2025.
I had a lovely surprise when I won the ABBC Sportsperson award. I never really thought of the impact of my new approach, but to see it recognised blew me away. A huge thank you to all.
I then had one more tournament left in me, Food Bowl. This is a 2 day charity tournament at Firestorm in Cardiff, meaning in a poetic twist of fate I would get to finish my year in the same place it started. I took Khorne, deciding to give them one last hurrah before retiring them. 2/1/3 might not have been the greatest set of results but I still had a blast.
But 2 far more important things came out of that lovely weekend away. Fredmanwalking went 2/2/2, he ranked above me! I had a tear in my eye watching his potential finally show through on a bigger stage than the gaming table in his house. The coaching I helped with must have finally paid off! [citation need]
But by far the most important thing that weekend was getting the SBBC to do a whip round and we raised £80! That's £80 extra going towards a fantastic homelessness charity in Newport! Even if it only helps 1 person, we as a community know we helped make a small difference.
So what's my take away from this year and what would I say to anyone else stuck in that rut that contains nothing buy skulls and 1's?
Stop taking things so seriously.
Focus on community.
Go do that stupid (read as "not competitive") thing you've never had a chance to do before.
Take a step back, then take another. You're always better thinking before you do anything rash.
Take time to speak to new coaches, as a community we only get stronger if we have coaches of ALL abilities, regularly playing, and challenging each other. Remember, every world champion starts off as a clueless noob asking "so what does the skull mean"?
And most importantly, remember: we're a big bunch of nerds who spend our free time playing a very stressful game of toy soldiers, be kind to yourself and others.
So, what's on the cards for Spooner and the original recipe Seagulls next year?
Welsh Open, with a FILTHY underworld build
Mulligans Open
Home Nations (which will include another new NAF!)
The Masters, where the WAGs will make the journey again seeing as they loved York so much the last time around.
Fredmanwalking and stonethrowingdevil will be accompanying me to WO, HN, and UKBBM, I appear to have helped them catch the Blood Bowl bug!
I also plan on attending every Scotland based tournament I can.
I will (hopefully) share a hobby update later on if all goes well.
And may I leave you with what many of the Seagulls have been saying all year:
Don't go wasting all you 6's CAW CAW!
-Spooner (Shaun)
Comments