Scotland descend on York in force for a cracking weekend of Blood Bowl and shenanigans!
The Blood Bowl Tartan Army marched on York for their annual trip south to UKTC with just under forty coaches gathering to see if they could sack the castle walls or whether they’d have to retreat on Monday with their tails between their legs. Regardless, the ninth edition of UKTC was guaranteed to deliver one outcome - a cracking good weekend! Leagues from all over Scotland where representing from as far north as Aberdeen with the Granite City Seagulls, Seagulls 2: Electric Boogaloo and Two Guys One Dice Cup podcast to the big central belt league Murder King BB League sporting the teams named Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks and Jokers - named perhaps, or perhaps not, on their expected outcomes over the weekend. There were plenty of Scots peppered in amongst other teams including Sann Clann, CLAW and Awesome Party People to name a few.
Granite City Seagulls
What was in no doubt was the Scots who were there in numbers were guaranteed to have a good time, but whether we’d come away with honours we’d have to see. Scottish Blood Bowl is often considered the smaller cousin to the behemoth of their English Blood Bowl neighbours. However size is not everything as it was the Two Guys One Dice Cup in UKTC XIII who came closest to the title as runner-ups only being pipped to the post by the winners Lutece Noobz sporting the current French Eurobowl Captain, Zahiko. Could Scottish Bloodbowl go one better?
Prior to the tournament starting if I were a betting coach on a Scottish team then my money was on Murder Aces going deepest in the competition, which just so happened to be the team I was on!
The Aces were ably captained by Purdindas, Scotland’s Eurobowl Captain on Necro, with Gerdleah back on Humans having beat OlivierDulac at the previous year’s UKTC, Sporran, former NAFC winner on his favoured Orcs and BB_Jock sporting Slann, a more obscure pick from the elves that he normally rolls with at big tournaments.
Round One - Murder Kings (SCO)
Round One was drawn in advance on Friday night and having travelled to meet coaches from far and wide the Aces were drawn to the league’s second squad - The Kings! Nothing like a little bit of internal rivalry to get the tournament off to an interesting start!
At one point on the Friday night in York, after leaving Brew York, Gerdleah managed to steer Purdindas away from the late night shenanigans that the Kings were intent on… it was to pay dividends as the Aces turned up relatively fresh whilst their opponents, the Kings, were visibly wearing the effects of their late night revelry!! The first round went according to form guide with the Aces putting the Kings to the sword and leaving them to pick up the pieces from their well-earned hangovers.
Result: Murder Aces Win 3.5 vs 0.5 points
Round Two: Wrekin Wraiders (ENG)
With the warm-up of the Kings dispatched, the Aces were to march into round two to face the Wrekin Wraiders with Speedingbullet, a current member of the Team England selection committee - a coach who clearly knew his onions. I was paired up against Dragonborn with his Lizards.
I fancied the match up with my strip ball and wrestle linos threatening to sack the skink ball carrier at will. Winning the toss I put the lizards in to receive and they were entrenched deep in their half struggling to make much forward progress in the face of heavy contact and pressure. This eventually led to a couple of sack turnovers as we tussled for supremacy. My frogs did their job to secure the turn eight score against the drive as hoped for. A relatively quick score to secure the win, gave Dragonborn a chance to get a score in for a 2-1 win for my Slann.
Across the boards progress was positive with Gerleadh picking up the draw on board one whilst the rest of us scooped up wins for another convincing round performance - Wrekin Wraiders, suitably wrecked and the Aces sitting comfortably on two wins from two.
Result: Murder Aces Win 3.5 vs 0.5 points
Round Three: Les Azes(!) (FR)
On the second top boards, the last round of the day one and we drew none other than the winning squad from the Alicante World Cup V - this was not going to be a walk in the park Kazansky! But hey this is why UKTC is loved, going well in this tournament gives you the opportunity to face top class coaches who come from all over Europe to compete in this well-regarded tournament.
Board one had Sporran and his Orcs paired off against Silkoun on Zons - a tough match up if he couldn’t knock them down, on board two my Slann had paired Galladur on humans, could go either way. On board three Purdindas had Biereforever sporting some Norse - with his wolves’ claws largely blunted! Gerdleah on four was on the wrong end of the human vs orc racial match up coached by Oklahoma. Whatever the outcome neither side was going to be given a gimmie off the back of this. As One!! The Scots heaved only to be met by equal force of the French scrum with boards three and four both ending in closely fought 1-1 draws. With Gerd’s humans hanging tough on the wrong-end of the racial match up, perhaps there was a small path through to the round victory…
My Slann stopped Galladur’s drive, with the second half ahead all that was called for was a solid eight turn drive to lock up a 1-0 lead before the right of reply with the one-turn… The drive delivered, score! The one-turn, unsuccessful, delivers an invaluable win and the Aces edge ahead in the round with only Sporran on board one to go…
The score set at 1-1 with ball in the Orcs hand, but under heavy pressure from the Zons, this was ideally placed for Sporran to turtle and to deliver the draw, in turn the round win, to beat the World Champs and head into the end of day one on an impeccable three wins, zero coach losses…
However Nuffle does like to ensure that a head of hubris is not built up… Quad Skulls!! Sporran’s chances of locking up the draw collapsed on the 1 in 1296 outcome and just like that Silkoun (TO for the French team tournament, Rugbowl) overwhelmed the Orcs position and scampered away for a second TD and the unlikely win - gutted!
Result: Draw 2 vs 2 points
The World Champs had come within a whisker of defeat at the hands of the bravehearts, but their gallic charm had been blessed from none other than Nuffle himself. Still, the Aces at the end of round three could be pleased with two wins, one team draw and only one solitary coach loss all day.
Saturday night was off to Fancy Hanks in town for a hearty meal with the Scots set to feast on hot dogs, beer and an evening of good spirited banter, albeit with some slightly reduced alcohol consumption from the previous big night out!
Round Four: Tactics and Theatrics (ENG)
With the round four draw published the night before we knew we had a big draw in the morning with Tactics and Theatrics - who also happen to be a team I played on at this year’s Tilean Team Cup in Genoa. So I knew the guys well. We were guaranteed a hard match, but a lot of fun to boot.
Haychdee, Tactics and Theatrics and new Tournament Organiser for UKTC X in 2025
As the away team I was on board one with three wins drawing Haychdee with Zons, which meant facing the likelihood of a ST4 ball carrier. Sporran’s Orcs had a tough match against Bashto sporting some Vamps, which could go either way, Gerdleah’s Humans had drawn Bloodtithe with Khorne, where the hope is his guard and speed is enough to overcome and our skipper, Purdindas, had drawn Team England starlet Breakmonker, on Humans - who’d put Ant to the sword when they faced off against each other at Home Nations the previous month. All to play for as the opening dice were rolled…
In my match I put Haychdee into drive and he played well - turn 6 having nibbled at the ball carrier with the wrestle linos it was time to go all in with my stripball on the big girl who was blodged. 2D uphill, looking for a push pow to yank the ball from her grasp… double pow! Lady Luck had decided to smile upon me, briefly, as the ball carrier came crashing to the ground. The scatter could have been worse, 4+ pick up for my dodge catcher with RR, decent chance to escape and stop the drive. Sadly the pick up failed and having weathered the storm Haychdee scored on his drive to take the lead 1-0. Elsewhere the boards were tight, and the tie was in the balance.
As the half progressed it looked like the Vamps were imploding, much to Sporran’s relief and Gerdleah had the win withing his grasp, which meant I could dial back and drive for the draw to secure the round win. Over on board four Purdindas having a solid tournament managed to peg Breakmonker to the draw enabling us to win the tie much more comfortably than would have been predicted. The Aces bounded into round five on 3-1-0 and were definitely in the hunt.
Result: Murder Aces win 3 vs 1 points
Round Five: Shiretown Stuffers (ENG)
On home soil the team carries the moniker Shiretown Stuffers, but more famously when they go on their travels this is the always well turned out Hakflem Globetrotters captained by Cornish - as stylish a coach as there is to imagine! These guys are a lot of fun both on and off the board, but they hadn’t climbed to the second table in round five on good looks alone - they could play.
I’d drawn the effervescent Everybodys_Dead_Dave on his favoured Elven Union, Sporran had Whitey’s Lizards, Gerdleah faced the tough prospect of Cornish sporting Dark Elfs and Purdindas would get to use his wolves to good effect against El_Spoonio solid on his Orcs.
Everybodys_Dead_Dave of the Shiretown Stuffers or Hakflem Globetrotters when they go international!
‘Dave’ put me into receive, and I fully expected immediate and sustained pressure from the elves as I tried to stabilise from a deep kick. Fortunately for me armour breaks were plentiful and my Krox behaved as I progressed up to the halfway line. To truly break free I needed a series of successful leaps away and as Dave started counting successful leaps I could sense the increasing frustration emanating from across the table.
A well placed Krox tail, and the unfashionable diving tackle blitzer meant the elf cage dive was only ever on offer on a six-up, uphill blitz - unfavourable odds rightly declined. I managed to see out the eight turn score, but not before I inflicted a casualty on one of the side-step blodgers… apo requested, apo failed… along with a couple of other chips this tie was now tipped in my favour. So it would prove out in the second half forcing a quick score down mens to give me all the time in the world to finish off the 2-1 grind for the win.
Elsewhere down the table Sporran suffered a rare 3-0 loss at the hands of Whitey to balance the tie, whilst the ever dependable Gerdleah and his humans held Cornish on Dark Elfs to a tidy 0-0 and it was all down to our skipper. It looked like it was going to end in an honourable 1-1 draw, but a riot gave Purdindas a slither of hope to convert a Necro two-turn, which he duly did - round win! A slice of luck making up for the quad skulls against the French enabled us to convert this to a win by the smallest of margins. We’d be going into the final round on 4-1-0!
Result: Murder Aces win 2.5 vs 1.5 points
Round Six: Bologna Bowl (ITA)
Final Round 6 Murder Aces face off against Bologna Bowl to tussle for UKTC IX Champions
It’s not every day you get to round six of a major team tournament, playing on board one against the Italian Eurobowl Captain in a tie where the winner is crowned the Champions of UKTC. If you’d offered that scenario to any team in the room at the start of the weekend they’d have grabbed your hand off for such a scenario. Facing Liam with his Chaos Chosen he chose to receive and carry on a block Warrior mean it was going to have to be the stripball lino to be a hero. Sadly he was not, three shots at the uphill sack (70% with reroll) all failed and he scored comfortably on his drive 1-0. Over on the other tables we were behind and it was looking like the chance to win the tournament was hanging by the barest of threads.
My drive, my word, quad skulls, snakes everywhere! The dice had evaded me so much that by turn twelve Liam’s goat was four squares from the endzone ball in hand and I was down to zero rerolls. Surely it was 2-0 and all over?! Not so, two leaps, four GFIs and a ball sack with armour break meant there was a glimmer of hope. The following turn a Chaos Warrior barged in and picked up the ball and Liam decided to GFI on turn 13 to move him out of range of the strip ball - snakes! The first piece of luck all match…
I couldn't buy dice on my drive in the last round - quad skulls!
However Houdini levels of escapology were still required to get the ball semi-safe towards the halfway line, never mind score for the equaliser and the draw. Nuffle decided that on turn 14 he was to end my suffering. All the dice were thrown and I was with the ball on a dodge catcher on the halfway line in a cage! Most of Liam’s team staring in disbelief back at my endzone prematurely doing the touchdown dance at what should have been 2-0 and only the Ogre left back as a safety who then promptly boneheaded!
Suffice to say I scrambled down the pitch on turn 15 and required a 1-D push on 16 for the score… nerves shredded after a hatful of bad dice I got the pow to lock up one of the most unlikely of draws having already declared to the team a guaranteed loss.
Engrossed in my game against Liam, who was an absolute gent throughout, it was time to find out how the team was doing. Purdindas and Sporran had both drawn 1-1 so it was down to the last board with Gerd facing Gallo’s Necro. Alas it wasn’t to be as Gallo eked the 2-1 to take the round win and the title of UKTC Winners - Congrats to Bologna Bowl on a perfect 6-0-0 weekend.The Aces coming within a whisker of the title finished on 4-1-1 and fourth overall after a cracking weekend of fun from start to finish on and off the board with coaches from near and far.
Result: Murder Aces loss 1.5 v 2.5 points
Round-up of Scotland Teams
Whilst the Scots invaded with the aim of conquering UKTC they had more success and enjoyment in conquering the bars of York!
Rank | Team | Points | Group Wins | Group Draws | Group Losses |
4 | Murder Aces | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
12 | Sann Clann* | 8 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
29 | Seagulls 2: Electric Boogaloo | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
35 | Two Guys One Dice Cup | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
39 | Murder Queens | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
45 | Team Republic Chill Squad* | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
66 | Murder Kings | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
69 | Awesome Party People | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
72 | Murder Jacks | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
74 | Granite City Seagulls | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
75 | Murder Jokers | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
*Team has at least one Scottish coach in the side
For full results check out the UKTC Results page.
Tournament Awards
So the Murder Aces came within a whisker of winning UKTC, but alas it was not to be. Instead we wish our most heartiest congratulations to the Bologna Bowl, captained by Liam, the Italian Eurobowl captain with an impressive team result of 6-0-0.
Shout out to Scottish coach Chilli winning most Touch downs scored over the weekend with an impressive 18 touchdowns!
Team Winners - Bologna Bowl
UKTC IX Champions (L:R): Liam (Cpt.), Dirold, Fackko, Gallo and Pipey in shot.
Team Runners up - Team Wales
Team Wales (L:R): GColeman, Jayward, Celt, 20Phoenix (Cpt.)
Individual Winner - Firebreather
Best Painted Team - Louis_X
Stunty Cup - Yudlugar
Most Touchdowns - Chilli
Most Casualties - DrHellboy_
Most Touchdowns - Scotland's very own Chilli!
Chilli receiving is trophy for Most Touchdowns scored at this year's UKTC
Thanks to Pipey
This was the ninth iteration of UKTC, having been built-up into the biggest event in the UK and all thanks to the leadership of Bren or Pipey, as many will know him, as the long-time Tournament Organiser. He announced this year in York that he’s set to pass on the baton to Haychdee as the new TO.
So it seems fitting here to say thank you to Bren for his service here and all that he’s done for the community in building this cracking event which has coaches come from all over Europe.
UKTC always attracts an impeccable field with four Eurobowl Captains (L:R): Liam (Italy), Zahiko (France), Edwin (Netherlands), Purdindas (Scotland)
He also ‘retired’ from being TO of the other long-standing staple of the calendar, Monkey Bowl, passing it on to Team England coach Breakmonker. However he’s not set to run off into the sunset just yet - Pipey has launched a brand new event The UK Masters.
The UK Masters is set to take place late November next year in York where half the field has been reserved for coaches who’ve represented their country at Eurobowl. The field should be epic, and it’s going to be one hot ticket, so if you’ve not signed up yet, get on it!
UKTC Moves to Leeds
Keeping up with the news for UKTC, with Haychdee becoming the new TO there’s further changes in the air with the UKTC set to have a new home at Leeds University and will take place on 30-31 August next year. Tickets are set to be released in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled.
Comments