September: Simosan Secures Sandy Sevens Success

At the end of September (gosh, has it been that long?) Scotland's premier (and only) sevens tournament was held in Sunny Dunbar in picturesque East Lothian. A heady mix of broadly bashy teams and elves turned up, but it was Garry Simpson (SIMOSAN) who proved to be the finest sand based tactician, fielding his Coastline Corpses (Necromantic Horror) which defeated all before it, being the only team to record FOUR wins on the day.

Congratulations on the win! What's the story behind your NAF name?

Not the most exciting story, my last name is Simpson and I get called Simo.

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

I played blood bowl a few times as a teenager but started playing BB2 online around 2018, then BB3. I was not really aware of the table top scene. Then I played BB Jock in an online tourney and he contacted me after and put me in touch with MKBBL and I found Crossfire at same time, this was about a year and half ago.

I will always be an Elf coach at heart, Elven Union are fun but Dark and High elves are more durable so been playing them but I also play Humans and Necro. I tried some bash with Tomb Kings but didn't suit my playstyle so didn't fair well with them!

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

Well, as I am still fairly new to tabletop, I only have around 4 or 5 teams built and painted. I wanted a break from elves and I had a look at necro and was surprised i could afford 2 wolves and also get 9 players plus my human coach to make it 10. I also didn't realise the beach bowl pitch was narrower than normal 7s so (Spolier Alert) that faired well for my wolves for some surfing!

Who did you play against, how did you feel the matchups went?

Game 1 was against Gordon Batchelor and his Renegade team with Ogre, Troll and all the toys, elf, rat, orc etc. Not much happened in 1st half if I recall and i went 1-0 up. 2nd half turned into a scrum in the middle of the pitch and I managed to CAS the rat and managed to get the ball out and prevent the score so finished 1-0.

Game 2 was against the TO Tom and lizard team, this was a fun game (well for me anyway) It was beach bowl after all so my Wolves went surfing, sometimes with a cheaky 1d on the saurus, the removals helped my to turnover the lizards to score then further score on my own drive for 2-0.

Game 3 was against Don Vito and OWA. Was a tough matchup with the mix of dwarves to bash me and the human blitzer and catcher which gave my ghoul some problems. I scored to make it 1-0 and i struggled on defence and was looking a certain draw but for a turn of many 1d pows, much to my opponents misery so will deff admit I was very lucky on that game against a tough opponent.

Game 4 against my buddy Connor (The Bunneh) and his very dangerous Snotling team, I have played Connor in 2 league playoff finals in the past year and I joked at the start of the day I would see him in the final. Due to riotous rookie then swarming, I was playing 7v10 all game and not sure i got and removals at all. Facing up against Ripper, Pump Wagon and Bombers was always gonna be tough, however the beach weather saved me. Was very sunny plus kick off event of seagulls meant there was -2 on passing so Throw team mate and bombs were heavily affected. Was a very hard fought tussle, but I ran the ball on a wolf for this game and my movement speed paid off in the end to win 1-0

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

There are 2 stand out moments I remember.

In Game 2, A skink failed to pick up the ball and Tom had his Human coach on with leader but said he would save his reroll as my wolves and ghoul far enough away. I however on the next turn took pleasure in surfing the human off the field and leader reroll lost in the process, I was able to rush the ball and steal it to score against the drive.

In game 3, I mentioned I had a great turn of 1d pows, my whole team was marked except for 1 zombie, so my 1st action of turn was a 1d blitz with zombie on the ball carrier, got a pow, friendly scatter in 1 tacklezone, further 1d pow, then 2 more. I tried to pick up ball but failed and ball in 2 tacklezones and all opp players on ground meant it was difficult to recover.

What advice do you have for coaches looking to go along to this tournament?

I like the fast paced gameplay of 7s so can get more games in on 1 day and meet more players. Was nice to have a kitchen to have a cuppa tea and biscuits inbetween games while discussing our games with tales of woes and jubilations!

Thanks, Garry (and TO Tom for writing an easily steal-able tournament description on the NAF site).

Sunny Dunny has already been announced for 18th September next year, but if you want some crazy variant action in the meantime, check out Brungeon Bowl next March: https://www.talkfantasyfootball.org/viewtopic.php?p=836050#p836050