Major Players: Part 2

As promised (or threatened?): the second part of Major Players focuses on the second "Major" of the calendar. This is the granddaddy of them all - the Blood Bowl! Sorry the NAF Championship!

NAF Champs 2026

This year the NAFC was held in its usual spot - the scenic East Midlands Conference Centre on the outskirts of Nottingham. I've been to NAFC before (last year in fact) and it's an amazing experience with so many players and vendors packed into the hall. This year the field was an impressive 313.

The East Midlands Conference Centre main entrance

There's a hotel onsite and several others nearby which often accommodate attendees and with the plethora of travelling Scots, there'll be guaranteed to be some lively nightlife. Also, there's almost always someone who fancies a trip to Warhammer World to see where it all began...

The equally(?) impressive Warhammer World main entrance

This year there was a fantastic commitment from the travelling contingent - with a number of Scots acquitting themselves admirably with two Scots in the top 10 including a 3rd place finish (on tiebreakers) for Blitzy's Wood Elves.

I managed to catch up with Blitzy to get his thoughts on the weekend:

SD: First of all: congratulations on your 3rd place finish - great achievement.

SD: How long have you been playing and what are your favourite races?

B: This is just my 2nd year of bloodbowl and my favourite race is chaos dwarfs with a multi block stabba (which you cant have in new rules yet 😭)

SD: For this tournament: what was your decision-making process your team selection?

B: I was thinking i am going to a massive tourney so I'm going to pick something I have never played before and that was woodies.

SD: Who did you play against, how did you feel the match ups went?

B: Game 1 was rough for my opponent (just a kid). Game 2 was against Helves and the guy that drove me to the venue and it was an interesting game😂 managed to score twice on his drive for the 2-1 as I failed the 3+ 2+ to score. Games 3-5 were all Humans and apart from game 5 which was a dicing they were all quite even and my final game was against Undead [see below - ed] which I still managed to win 3-1.

SD: What were some of the crucial plays (yours and your opponents) that contributed to your results?

B: It was T8 on the Undead drive and all I had to score was a 2+,2+ so he did a 4+ dodge 4+ pickup and a 6+ pass 3+ catch and scored with no rerolls. Then he said jokingly 3-1😉and in the second half I did make it 3-1 with 3 TDs on my drive!

SD: Sounds exciting! Any other memorable moments?

B: Getting 3rd [on strength of schedule tiebreakers] at my first NAFC was quite incredible with an agility team which I have never played on table top.

SD: What advice do you have for coaches looking to go along to NAFC in future?

B: Just go to have fun, its a great venue with hundreds of other bloodbowlers and if you do get a lucky run like me that's all the better.

Well done again to Blitzy and some honourable mentions to fellow Scots: Mournival (10th), Camelchops (22nd) & Purdindas (50th) [please let me know if I missed anyone]. Also some fantastic advice for those looking to dip their toes into the tournament scene.

If you do fancy going to a tournament and are a bit unsure what to expect or how it all works, fear not - bloodbowlers are generally a friendly bunch. There's likely a tournament happening near you at some point in the year. Check out the tournament page on this very website for details.

If you're still unsure, please do get in touch with me or any of the SBBC through our Discord - or stick around and watch this space as I'm planning on doing a newcomers guide to tournaments on the blog "soon"...