Major Players: Part 1

Blood Bowl lore is full of great tournaments on and lost by the biggest teams in the sport, but four of these tournaments stand head and shoulders (and occasionally horns as well) above the rest. These are the Blood Bowl Majors: iconic tournaments steeped in the history of the sport and a coveted prize among many of the biggest coaches (and also the best coaches too - some of whom are also quite big…).

Some serious (and some not so serious) Blood Bowl at 2026's first Major - Dungeon Bowl

The illustrious four are: 

• The Blood Bowl (UK)* - May

• Spike! Trophy (Canada) - September

• The Chaos Cup (USA) - November

• The Dungeonbowl (GER) - March

NOTE: The NAF have also designated Euc Bowl in Australia as a 5th Major for those players who’d struggle to get to the other four - which is nice of them.

“The Blood Bowl” was renamed “The NAF Championship” in 2010 due to GW shenanigans

Scots on Tour

Scotland has its own merry band of travelling Blood Bowl coaches called the Tartan Trailblazers. This hardy bunch of Blood Bowl troubadours journey far and wide to bring the Scottish community’s traditions of tough competition, honest sportsmanship, hard drinking and Uno (yes, Uno) to the international community. Every year, Scots travel to many different tournaments round Europe and beyond to experience the culture, sample the food - and share in the Blood Bowler’s universal language: snaking GFIs into the end zone. One of the best things about being a member of the Trailblazer community is hearing tales of tournaments around the world and some of the cool things that people get up to.

The XXI. Dungeonbowl 2026 (GER)

Dungeonbowl holds a special place in the hearts of many Bloodbowlers. Dungeonbowl is the German Major, held each year in Düsseldorf. This year saw (at least) 3 intrepid Scots venture over to do their wurst (Get it? Cos “wurst” is German for… I’ll get my coat.)

Düsseldorf: 6th largest city in Germany. Home of Kraftwerk, "The Longest Bar in the World" and Dungeon Bowl (slightly disappointingly not actually held in a dungeon)

I caught up with Trailblazers Ryan and Chris (Rafferty) to give us a flavour:

CR: Dungeonbowl is smaller in scale to NAFC. About a third of the size with the overall attendance only reaching 91 on the day. However there is no reduction in the standard of blood bowl played and the tournament was very well run. It is definitely worth a visit.

RO: It was run really well, nice practice for Eurobowl. I’d never been to Germany, always wanted to visit. Chris highlighted the event.

CR: There was definitely a strong standard of blood bowl at the event (but) you always have the ability to find games of your own level in the latter rounds. … I had 6 good fun games of blood bowl with 6 really friendly opponents who made the experience enjoyable and good banter.

RO: The standard of Blood Bowl was very high.

CR: My personal highlight of the event was going unbeaten over the weekend. After 6 strong games of blood bowl I managed to hang on in every game to at least secure a draw which given I was playing Nurgle, it was all about. So it was a good outing to practice my role for the Eur’Open this year. 

RO: And the cheap Radler kept all the Scots very happy! But Düsseldorf is a very beautiful city, beer/food was excellent.

Two of SBBC's many Chris-es - and Ryan.

CR: That’s what these weekends are about, getting away with the guys and enjoying the full weekend, socialising with coaches from other communities and getting the drinks in. … Plan to do more in the city than just play the game. You’ll get so much more from it. Feel free to join us at the Tartan Trailblazers also if you are looking to travel as we are always looking to get away and we welcome anyone who wants to join us.

Thanks guys! Anyone interested in joining the Tartan Trailblazers should head over to the Discord here: https://discord.gg/MJueq35BFA

Next time I'll be catching up with a few Scots who got down to Major #2: The NAF Champs which happened last weekend (9-10 May). Stay tuned to see how they got on.