Two Weeks' Worth of Procrastination. Here's the news in brief!

Due to a combination of writer's block and tightly-packed schedules, MMBBL blog updates were stymied these last two weeks. Since going back to write up for each game, at this point, would only delay future reports as well, we're going to give you the reports in brief from each of five games that recently went down.

Week two action saw three games played, the first of which was a battle between the stalwart Smash and Go'nads and the highly unfortunate Muenster Valley Stinkers.
When all was said and done, the score was a surprisingly narrow victory for the Go'nads, 3-2, with the winning touchdown coming very late in the second half. Stu Padasso, Adam Meway and Moe Lester scored for the dwarves, while Nudgy Bangfart and Donker Dungheap earned the goblin squad's points. MVPs were Stu Padasso and Windmill Widegut. Widegut also suffered a serious injury in the second half, and will miss the next game as a result.

Second on the card was a match between the highly-favoured Blueriver Wardoves and the newcomers of the Sun Temple Chupacabras.
The hometown team beat the odds and came out with a 3-2 victory of the Wardoves. Touchdowns for the lizardmen were scored by Pablo, Harpo and Sue Xtopilopicoatl, while Fhorin Bloodmeadow and Albiir Featherdeath put points up for the elves. MVP awards went to El Mucho Grande, saurus of the Chupacabras, and Fhorin Bloodmeadow, the Wardoves blitzer. Tanthil Twigbreaker suffered an undisclosed but non-serious injury, and will be resting up during the Wardoves' upcoming second game.

The third and final match of week two pitted the speedy skaven of the Blackwater Bilgerunners against the rowdy chaos forces of the BloodDrunk Berserkers. We did manage to get this report in from one of our skaven correspondents, and here's the wire from the Tidybowl now.
Tonight's match was the inaugural meet at the Bilgerunners Tidybowl, and the cool dank air that passes for a nice day in the city cisterns greeted nearly twenty thousand rabid fans. Fresh off their preseason matches, the Blackwater Bilgerunners took to the field with professional confidence, flanked by their new assistant coach and cheerleading team. Facing them would be the chaotic BloodDrunk Berserkers, resplendent in their spiked crimson armor, and snarling in defiance.

As the Chaos Warriors kicked to the Skaven team, it appears the Bilgerunners' new assistant coach was already earning his keep. With O'Rattigan roaring and pounding through the front lines, Skaven captain Fivel Mausketrap scooped up the ball, lobbing the pass off to Twinkletoes. Breaking through the newly opened hole in the Berserker defenses, Twinkletoes sprinted into the end zone in a textbook Rat Rush. The Bilgerunners looked to have all the breaks so far, could the Berserkers respond?

The answer came in the sound of diesel fueled mayhem as Max Spleenripper took to the line of scrimmage. Once again the coaching staff of the Bilgerunners were at their peak, and the ball sailed off to rest in a far corner of the Chaos field. Brilliant coaching was no match for the spinning chromite teeth however, as Max tore into O'Rattigan with his trusty chainsaw. First blood had been spilled, and the rat ogre was sent to the infimary for the rest of the match. Apparently, brute force was an excellent response to speed and skill in this league, as braying beastmen Skin Shredder and Gutripper knocked the sense out of Gurglergasp and Gimpy respectively. Meanwhile, Warheart had fetched the ball, and was quickly surrounded by his fellow beastmen and chaos warriors, setting up a strong defensive cage that moved cautiously upfield.

The steady march of the Chaos team was almost overshadowed by the mixed brawls on the field. At one point, the chain on Max Spleenripper's saw snapped, stunning him breifly. It's hard to keep a good maniac down for long, as he recovered enough to clobber Stumptail with the chainsaw's heavy gearbox. The clock was running down, and the Chaos team was approaching the end zone. Warheart, apparently bored with the steady coverage of the advancing cage, broke loose for a blitz, stunning one of the storm vermin. The opening was just enough for Krunch to throw a desperate block at Warheart. Both dropped and the ball rolled back towards Chaos Warrior Ozz Painkiller, who retrieved it handily. Painkiller slipped towards the sidelines, letting the spread of his team-makes tie up the skaven defenders. But once again, courage or desperation seized the skaven, this time in the form of Squeesplat, who, breaking free from Cardo Starbreaker at midfield, crashed into the mighty Painkiller, knocking the ball to Twinkletoes. With a few final punches, the whistle was blown on the first half, and a relieved cheer went up from the skaven fans as Max Spleenripper left the field.

It was the Chaos fans that would be cheering after the halftime however, as once again Max Spleenripper took to the field! Apparently the referee was more interested in his own well-being than a clean game. As usual, the coaching was flawless for the skaven, but the kick was not, nearly landing in the hands of Ozz Painkiller. Max was up to his usual mayhem on the front line, and it wasn't long before Jenner was clocked by the flat of the chainsaw, and had to be dragged off the pitch.

Painkiller picked up the ball, and once again, a defensive cage gathered around him. The Bilgerunners mounted another effort to breach the Chaos defenses, with Fivel Mausketrap even managing to knock Skin Shredder unconscious. But the Chaos team was ready for these moves, and inflicted greater casualties, with beastman Face Eater sending Krunch off for a nap, and Max sending a heavily bleeding Brutus to the infirmary. Nimble-fingered apothecaries were standing by however, stitching him up expertly for the next drive. With few of the rats left to challenge him, Ozz strode over the finish line to the raucous cheers of the Chaos fans, and Max was finally ejected from the stadium for good.

The chaos team had definitely knocked the wind out of the Bilgerunner sails, as the latter team took to the pitch looking exhausted. The Berserkers kicked the ball just behind the line of scrimmage, to be scooped up by Fivel, throwing the ball laterally to Twinkletoes. The catch was fumbled however, and the ball proceeded to bounce wildly in the scrum at mid-field. Neither skaven nor beastman could get a grip on the slippery skin. Finally, the ball bounced it's way back to Twinkletoes, who was off in a flash across the field to a hole in the line, his fellow gutter runners running interference. With the clock running down, the forces of Chaos expertly tied up any would-be rescuers at midfield, and penned in the advance. Making one last desperate attempt, Twinkletoes attempted to pass off the ball to Piddlepaw, but the ball was fumbled, and a final horn ended the game, knotted at one to one.

A well deserved MVP was awarded to Ozz Painkiller in recognition of his excellent plays and strong blocking, and one to Brutus for assisting his team-mates on the front line. An excellent showing for the BloodDrunk Berserkers in their first match of their young history, to be sure. The Bilgerunners, however, will have the pressure on for their next matches, needing more than ties to keep pace with the league's elite.

On now to the action from week three. Two of the three scheduled games took place, with the Fly-by Knights visiting the Razor Hill Spinebreakers, and the Darkmire Carnosaurs hosting the Pancake valley Shortstacks. The third match, seeing the Traumatic Takedown play the Asgard Raiders at Midgard Battlefield, was delayed on account of Valkyrie interference, and will be played as soon as the meddlesome battlemaidens stop trying to carry the players off the pitch.
The highest attendance so far this season was only the beginning for this match. before the game was even kicked off, the teams needed to be pulled apart as a riot nearly erupted in the pregame warm-ups. Two touchdowns, a handful of casualties and a pitch invasion later, the Knights emerged victorious with a 2-0 win. Points were scored by the explosive Victor Dashing, and later from a surprising effort from lineman Solomon Squatz, who was awarded the MVP award for the humans. Kiro Stormaxe, the latest greenskin phenom in the MMBBL, received the honour for the Spinebreakers. After the match, the orcs needed to fill a gap left by Kolark Bonefist who will be missing a game with an injury, thought all they managed to find was a goblin named Huck Skudfungus, who will likely play the role of projectile.
Game two resulted in an impressive 3-0 victory for the Darkmire Carnosaurs over the Pancake Valley Shortstacks. Skinks Reedrush, Puddlejumper and Mudrunner each scored for the lizardmen, And while the saurus players were uncharacteristically gentle, the halflings managed to sustain three serious injuries. As a result, Pimpley Backfat, Sloth Lovechunk and Cream Sugarfoot will each be missing the Shortstacks' next contest. Pip Pieface did manage to get out alive with the MVP award for his team, while Threehorns of the Carnosaurs earned the accolades for his squad.

And so you're up to date, sportsfiends, however slapdash it may be. What's important is that there's more action happening tonight! Week four is upon us and it's shaping up to be a real doozy!

Blood Bowl Day 2008: Highlights and Hijinx

This past Sunday we held Blood Bowl Day, our one-year anniversary celebration for the MMBBL. By all accounts, it was a complete success, thanks to the enthusiasm and efforts of our eight coaches. Off-field highlights included four pizzas, three cases of pop, and a lot of laughter. The on-field highlights are a bit more...reportable. Additionally, we implemented our new "Stadium Rules" for the first time, for the most part to everyone's great amusement. We'll have another post up about them soon.

The Asgard Raiders had a pair of games, and their results were varied. On the upside, both the team's runners learned to dodge thanks to some fortuitous doubles being rolled, but on the downside, lineman Thor Kilval was turned into a sort of viking paste.

The Blackwater Bilgerunners had some significant successes in their outings. Linerat Stumptail learned Dauntless, marking him as a sort of secret weapon against big guys. Piddlepaw the gutter runner, after an entirely ridiculous four touchdown performance against some goblins, learned Sure Feet, while his associate Dingleberry mutated himself some Extra Arms and the towering O'Rattigan took Stand Firm on his level up. Finally, a new linerat by the name of Notchear was added to the mix.

The BloodDrunk Berserkers had one game, and the results were not pleasant. A few points were awarded, but most notable were the niggling injury picked up by beastman Bone Chewer and the gruesome death of chaos warrior Halford Heartripper.

The Darkmire Carnosaurs did well for their first outings, and though Kakayo Puddlejumper was throttled out of a movement point in one game, he regained it later on in a level-up. Toka Reedrush was another skink to get faster, and Huila Windwhip picked up Sidestep and topped the team with eight Star Player Points.

Gildengrip's Goldminers made an appearance at Blood Bowl Day, and made a strong showing of it. Line dwarf Willron Weldon learned the Guard ability, and runner Gilgarry Goldrush picked up Block after his touchdown and MVP performance. Though he learned Mighty Blow, blitzer Cooper O'Copper's day was soured slightly when he was slapped with a niggling injury.

Also making a brief appearance were the Mount Darkham Gryphons, a human squad fielded by the coach of the Smash and Go'nads. Their victory was well-played, particularly by "The Presence" John McElroy at quarterback, and "Shake and Bake" Blake Baker at receiver, who far and away had the most amusing name at the entire event. The former picked up the Strong Arm skill while the latter increased his movement rate.

The Muenster Valley Stinkers easily had the worst night of the lot. Five games, each one a loss, saw a litany of injuries and a pair of deaths. Goblins Slappy Sloptongue and Armpit Goozer met their respective ends, the latter after learning Sidestep in a previous encounter. Among the permanent but not fatal injuries suffered by others were a loss of strength and a niggling injury for Punchy Clognostril, an agility down for Donker Dungheap, Armour penalties for Nudgy Bangfart and Kicky Mudgob, and a niggling injury for bombardier Blaggat Horkbag. The only bright spots on this day were the discipline of the team's trolls, who didn't eat a single goblin all day, and Ziddy Blotch, who learned sure feet and was given the captaincy for not dying. The Stinkers were also able to hire on a fanatic, one Whirly Early.

The Pancake Valley Shortstacks fared much better than their equally stunty counterparts, though possibly only because they knew when to quit. Cream Sugarfoot had two touchdowns in their lone game, earning him the Sprint ability.

The Razor Hill Spinebreakers played very well, with all but three players earning points of one kind or another, and one of them actually leveling up twice! Kiro Stormaxe was the blitzer in question, collecting a whopping 23 Star Player Points en route to picking up the Sure Hands and Fend skills. Fellow Blitzer Soran Steelfury had a kill and learned Strip Ball, and two black orcs, Kolark Bonefist and Brakgul Bloodsnarl, each got Block. Bonefist also had a fatality attributed to him. After the day was done, the orcs made matters worse for their opponents by adding troll Zor Loneblow to the team. From what I can tell after one day, the Spinebreakers are going to be one hell of a fun team to watch.

The Sun Temple Chupacabras had a couple of strong games, and were rewarded by saurus El Mucho Grande getting faster and skink Harpo Xtopilopicoatl picking up the Side Step skill. Aditionally, Meepo Xtopilopicoatl became the latest of the Xtopilopicoatl siblings to join the team.
Finally, the Traumatic Takedown had a day full of pleasant surprises, as line dwarf Rip Tendon picked up two casualties and a kill, and hobgoblin Ortho Pnoea got Block on a level up. Perhaps the most impressive of all, however, is centaur Charlie Horse, who, after getting an agility increase last season, followed up by learning Dodge on Blood Bowl Day. The only downside for the Takedown was line dwarf The Buccinator getting an armour penalty.

With all said and done, there's going to be a lot of heavy competition in the MMBBL this coming season! Many of the newer teams picked up significant amounts of Star Player Points and won't be rushing into the season without anything to build on. Only two squads came up worse than they started, and neither of their coaches is particularly discouraged. The regular season kicks off on the 30th of September, so look for more posts here and there before then!

Spiffying Up the Blog, Part 3

Welcome to the Neighbourhood.

In the interest of fleshing out our Blood Bowl world, I built a map a little while ago with a nifty little program called Fractal Mapper. The result is what you see above, with the addition of team and stadium markings. You may notice some teams on the map which have never been seen before - they're a combination of new teams who haven't gotten their shot yet, and old squads players brought in from previous leagues but haven't used yet. For now this is all for show, but in the future, who knows? Ther may be a need for specific divisions may arise if we keep expanding.

Spiffying Up the Blog, Part 2

For the second stage of the spiffy-up, we figured it was time we had some visual cues to know our teams by. With most of us being artistically inclined, it was easy enough to get creative juices flowing and before we knew it, we had a heap of very strong, unique, and above all, convincing logos on our hands. So, for your viewing as well as reading pleasure, we present the twelve teams taking part in the MMBBL's 2008 Autumn season.

ASGARD RAIDERS

The Raiders are the second Norse team to enter the league, and are one of the two teams coached by the reigning champion, Curtis Hunt. The squad has two logos: the one on the left is their main brand; the second, a longship topped with a bold "A", will appear on their helmets.







BLACKWATER BILGERUNNERS
The Bilgerunners, the MMBBL's lone Skaven team, had an incredible breakout season this past Summer with rookie coach Jonathan Roth at the helm. We can't wait to see what kind of high-flying antics the Rat Rush will bring this Fall.








BLOODDRUNK BERSERKERS
The Berserkers are the second team fielded by coaching phenom Curtis Hunt. In addition to his coaching and illustrating skills, Curt actually built his team's chaos warriors and minotaur with his own modeling material and unique flair for the pointy and killy.








BLUERIVER WARDOVES
The Wardoves had a strong season under the watchful eyes of coach Chris Mudd, who is also distinguished as the league's Coach Wrangler and one of the reasons we're as successful as we are today. The Wardoves' third season promises to be full of incredible displays of skill and speed, as well as tasteful but exciting photo opportunities.






DARKMIRE CARNOSAURS
J Gagnon had a strong second season with his Brutakai Ragefangs this past Summer, and the success he found has spurred him on to new challenges. Shelving the orcs in favour of a Lizardman team, J brings the Darkmire Carnosaurs into contention. In the tradition he began with the Ragefangs, we can't wait to see the memorable characters the Carnosaurs roster will put on display.






FLY-BY KNIGHTS
Given the opportunity to toot my own horn, I'll do my best not to embellish the accomplishments of Matt Stroud's Fly-by Knights. Until now, they'd only been played every other season, with more experimental squads showing up in the Winter and Summer seasons. Coming into the Autumn season, the Knights are the highest-rated squad, and the oldest team in current contention.






MUENSTER VALLEY STINKERS
As one of the four coaches fielding two teams this season, the Commissioner, Matt Stroud, retains much of his flair for the experimental. Given how many times we've seen a troll casually try to devour a goblin teammate, it's perhaps a surprise to see a team enter the league based almost entirely around that strategy. If nothing else, the Stinkers should provide a healthy dose of questionable moral fiber.





PANCAKE VALLEY SHORTSTACKS
In a similar case of experimental curiosity meeting morbid fascination, coach Sandy Miller, known up to now for his widely popular Meathooks squad, will be fielding a halfling roster as one of his two teams this Fall. Keep those Tree Men standing, Sandy old boy, and don't get discouraged if you lose a dozen or so of your plucky halfling projectiles.






RAZOR HILL SPINEBREAKERS
Inspired perhaps by the wanton carnage caused by other orc teams, comeback-of-the-year coach Ryan Keizer is bringing a greenskin squad of his own to the league. Without question, the Spinebreakers are a team built to crush the opposition. If they can score some points along the way - hey, bonus!







SMASH AND GO'NADS
The Smash and Go'nads were last season's cinderella story, making a headlong rush into the Blood Bowl and coming oh-so-close to victory. Back with a wealth of experience and a sickening number of guard assists, the Go'nads remain the powerhouse team in coach Ryan Keizer's stable.







SUN TEMPLE CHUPACABRAS
Sandy Miller brings another Lizardman team into the mix, Leading his luchador lizards out of the jungle and, hopefully, into the winner's circle. Probably a more reliable bet that a halfling team, look for the Chupacabras to play with pride and power.








TRAUMATIC TAKEDOWN
Keith Dury's chaos dwarves hit some rough patches throughout last season, and some bad luck kept him from accumulating a truly powerful presence on the pitch. Returning this Autumn and not discouraged in the slightest, the Takedown find themselves in the upper middle of the pack as more new teams join the league. As with most second-year teams, look for improvement by leaps and bounds from the Traumatic Takedown.

Owners, officials, coaches and fans, I present to you, the Autumn 2008 MMBBL!

Spiffying Up the Blog, Part 1

As part of the celebrations surrounding Blood Bowl Day, and our ongoing effort to make this league as cool as possible, We're stepping up the graphics here on the MMBBL Blog. Part one of this initiative is a more intense way to display the games that are played each season, specifically a more dynamic header for each post.


There's going to be one of these babies up for every game post - regular season, challenge, and playoffs - from now on. The two teams, the arena, and attendance. Not too much else to say about it except a big thanks to coach Ryan Keizer for the idea!

League Expansion, Returning Teams, and Blood Bowl Day

Time now for a few administrative posts concerning the MMBBL.

First up, we're expanding the league from eight to twelve teams this Autumn. We don't have any new coaches, but four of our current coaches have expressed interest in fielding a second team. Therefore, there will be six teams in each division, with each of the two-team coaches having one team in each division. When playoff time comes, only one of that coach's two teams may advance, even if both teams are technically eligible.

In theory, we have the resources to support up to sixteen teams at this point, since there are four boards among us. If we expand further, it will be directly to sixteen teams if possible. If that can't work, then the two-team fielding coaches may be asked to cut back to one in subsequent seasons. This is simply a matter of everyone being able to play on the alternating game nights of the two conferences, Bloodbath and Deathdealer. having an odd number of teams in either division means that someone's got to wait nearly a month between games, and that would be frustrating to say the least.

And now on to the returning teams announcement. To begin, several teams who've been with us recently are taking breaks, mostly so the coaches can experiment with new team types. The Dusk Hill Dirt Bursters, Meathooks, Brutakai Ragefangs, and Bloodsand Blasters are all getting put on the shelf for a little while, after four, four, two and one season of play, respectively.

Returning are four of the squads from last season - The Smash and Go'nads, the Blueriver Wardoves, the Traumatic Takedown and the Blackwater Bilgerunners, as well as a previously established team, the Fly-by Knights, who were last seen in the Spring season. with five returning teams, this means that over half of the league will be entirely new squads. Though the returning teams have an edge as far as skill and playoff hope goes, there's still a lot of wiggle room for new teams to get off the ground quickly. Those new teams will be given an introductory post soon.

Something that pleases me to no end will be our first annual Blood Bowl Day. Commemorating the start of the MMBBL last year, this is the sort of landmark that every league commissioner hopes for. Enthusiasm seems to permeate the league, we've managed to find a balance between the more casual and more hardcore players (namely the aforementioned two-team coaches) and we've set a foundation of league history that we can build on with each passing game. Everybody still gets a little chill at the mention of Ol' Teabagger. We know what it means to exclaim "HUNGRY!" when the die roll comes up a 1. We've even got a handful of creative alternative projectiles when "Throw a Rock" comes up on a kickoff. In short, we've taken the generic core of the game and covered it with a gooey, sweet, unique MMBBL frosting. This Fall, we start on the second tier of this delicious, vicious cake.

Blood Bowl Day is going to be a celebration of the league, and as well an excuse to hang out with what's become a tightly-knit crew of fantasy sports fans. There'll be pizza, drinks, and of course on-pitch carnage. The games themselves with carry a few twists - money earned will be halved as it's "preseason" play, the games themselves won't count in the standings (thought star player points will), and teams who aren't even in the league itself this season will be welcome. Don't expect to see too much on the blog about the games, aside from the major highlights. I love updating this site, but there's no way I'm going to be able to scribble out 10-15 matches in full detail.

There's still a couple of posts to be made - One concerning the new teams, one for a new house rule we're implementing which will give flavour to the different venues the teams play in, and one to showcase some new graphics - a league map, a "head-to-head" match post header, the MMBBL logo with all the current team logos incorporated, and the biggest project to date, player cards! Keep an eye open, and we'll see you on Blood Bowl Day!

MMBBL Welcomes Three New Squads

As you may know, the MMBBL is gaining popularity, and as a direct result we are pleased to announce the addition of three new teams to join a roster of eight for the upcoming Blood Bowl Summer season.

First to arrive are the Blackwater Bilgerunners, a Skaven squad loaded with speed and skill. With more on their arrival we have a report from our dwarven correspondent, Rock Blottem.

The Blackwater Bilgerunners, hailing from the sewers of an unnamed Imperium city, enter the MMBBL’s Summer Season Blood Bowl campaign for the first time under the sponsorship of Baron Blackwater of Clan Moulder. Eager to regain the honour of former Skaven greats like the Skavenblight Scramblers (and ease his infamously lethal boredom), the Baron has graciously donated much to his team, and a great deal of the talent comes from his own personal guard. The roster includes gutter runners Twinkletoes, Piddlepaw, and Dingleberry; Stormvermin bodyguards Brutus and Jenner as blitzers; Fivel Mausketrap serving as thrower; as well as a team of plucky linerats culled from the peasantry.

We are assured that the shivering and high pitched squeals of Limpy, Gimpy, Lamefist, Stumptail, Krunch, and Squeesplat are those of ecstasy at the prospect of upholding Skavenblight honour, rather than fear for their own personal survival or the well-being of their families.

What was once a league built around mere brute force is now showing room for skilled teams, it would appear. The Fly-by Knights, followed by the agile Blueriver Wardoves, and now the Blackwater Bilgerunners; we'll see how talent measures up against force in the upcoming season! Moving on to the second new team, we move away from the skittishness and skill of the Skaven to a more balanced combination of stoutness, sneakiness, and speed: The chaos dwarf team known as Traumatic Takedown. With the report, we have junior goblin correspondent Smerk Noseminer.

The Traumatic Takedown is just disembarking from their caravan after a long journey from the mountains, and...augh! AUUUUGH! AAAAWWWRAAAGH!
...

It appears that we'll have to wait for more information about the Takedown, though by the sounds of things, Smerk has gotten an exclusive interview with their bull centaur!

Finally, the third team to join the league, and joining the Traumatic Takedown in the Bloodbath division, are the enigmatic Bloodsand Blasters. Shipped in from their native Ogodytsot Desert in a series of crates, these undead warriors represent a chapter in the history of Blood Bowl that was written before many other teams even got around to crawling out of the swamp on two legs. An ancient textbook marked by hieroglyphics as the "Tome of Takkul'bal" shows a field of play similar to the Blood Bowl pitch, but with a noticeable lack of end zones. It would seem that the Bloodsand Blasters and their predecessors had no concept of "points" and simply played until everyone was dead or collapsed from heatstroke.

We have not been able to secure an interview with anyone directly affiliated with the Blasters yet. We do, however, have access to their current roster, which was dropped off at the MMBBL headquarters. After half an hour of wresting it from the jaws of the delivery animal (crocodiles are not particularly cooperative) We are now able to present it to the public. Their coach is listed as the Divine Takkul, the actual author of the ancient playbook. Among their ranks are eight lesser skeletal beings and four, that's right, FOUR mummies. We have seen how much damage the two mummies of the Dusk Hill Dirt Bursters can cause. Having four on the pitch at once is sure to be absolute carnage. The roster itself is as follows.

Lesser Skeletal Servants: Dirty Suez, Cairo Practor, Cal Ciferous, Dusty Tombs, Mister Urns, Gus Sarcopha, Sahket Toomi, and Helter Skeleter.

Great and Wise Tyrants of the Sands: Old Giza, West Nile Cyrus, Durdurhotep, and Battering Ramses.

A strange and terrifying bunch, indeed. We hope to learn more about these terrors from beyond the sands of time as they are unpacked and reassembled in their imported pyramid. Hopefully we'll have more on them, the Traumatic Takedown, and the Blackwater Bilgerunners as the season nears its beginning! Look forward to more in the coming days, including the Chaos Cup end-of-season awards!

State of the MMBBL Address

The start of the Dungeonbowl season is upon us, and it's time for a "state of the league" type of address.

While we're sad at the loss of a couple of regular teams, we're happy that we've got a solid four-player base on which to expand. At one point we had envisioned allowing players to run two teams this season to add more variety, but the general consensus is that it's too much work too soon. As a result, the four players and their teams are as follows for this season.

Chris Mudd - The Days End: The Gold Miners will be taking a rest for the Winter and their place will be taken by a Vampire squad, complete with emo-goth names for the vamps and taste-related IDs for the thralls (my favourite is "Like-Chicken").

Matt Stroud - The Woad Warriors: The Fly-by Knights, being students of traditional warfare, will not compete in the Winter months. They are replaced by a squad of Norse with a Scottish bent, mostly named with permutations of famous highland folk.

Sandy Miller - The Meathooks: One of two returning squads is the Meathooks, continuing their legacy of looking at the casualty count instead of the scoreboard to measure their success. Look for them to make a splash in their second season.

Curtis Hunt - The Dusk Hill Dirt Bursters: The returning champs are, well, returning. A strong, well-rounded squad which prides itself on both the lethal efficiency of its mummies and the highlight-reel calibre play of its ghouls is sure to electrify the crowd once again...and possibly be electrified once or twice too, since they have the highest team rating in the league.

Relegation: The Fly-by Knights and Gildengrip's Gold Miners are on one-season hiatus at this point, likely to return for the Spring season. The Greenskin Bumlookers and the Low-Blows, due to the commitments of their respective coaches, are on an indefinite "stand-by" status, and may play a match here and there as their schedule and interest permits.

Introduction: One, possibly two new players will take the pitch this season. Rob Anderson is set to field a Dwarf squad (and we've seen just how fun those can be) and Andrew "Beans" Embury is listed as possible and hasn't yet chosen a team. We wish these two the best of luck, and let them know that anything can happen once you have a feel for the game. Curtis can attest to that after defeating the only two players with actual experience prior to last season in the playoffs for the Spike! title.

The league's first meeting for the Winter season is this Wednesday, and it looks like we're going to have two matches on tap. The Dirt Bursters vs the Meathooks, and the Day's End vs. the Woad Warriors. These may change depending on player availability, but if all proceeds as normal then Rob and Beans will have their own teams created before the evening ends.

That's about it for the administrative aspects of the league. On to other matters.

A minor rules change to reflect the Winter season - The Sweltering Heat result in the weather table is being replaced by a second Blizzard result. The reverse will occur in the Summer season, to reflect the...lack of blizzards, mostly.

The league is being switched over to Excel-based team sheets. This is for three very good reasons. The first is that if a sheet gets lost, we can just print a new one out. The second is that they are much tidier and easier to track stats on. The third is that, after some strange talleys during the transfer, things like missing players, phantom injuries and miscounted skill points were popping up like some kind of numerical case of chicken pox. Luckily, we got it while we were young and with luck we can be immune from this point on.

It's good to see we've got it in us for another season, it's great to see the potential for new players as well. We'll see you Wednesday night for the first matches, and then back here on the blog for the results!

Know your Players

This league is just getting off the ground, but we've got a good group of characters running the teams. Six coaches so far, and hopefully more at the end of this first season. We'll learn more about these warriors as we go on, but for now here's a taste of the talent that will be tearing up the pitch this Fall!

Matt "The Commissioner" Stroud - Human team - The Fly-by Knights
Chris "Magical Mister" Mudd - Dwarf team - Gildengrip's Gold Miners
Geremy "I <3 Green Things" Walker - Orc Team - The Greenskin Bumlookers
Curtis "D&D Minis Will Do for Now" Hunt - Undead Team - The Dusk Hill Dirt Bursters
Sandy "The Thriller" Miller - Orc Team - Not Yet Named
Dave "Omnivorous; Bipedal" Rigley - Undecided Team - Not Yet Named

More will follow soon, including team crests (since we're all animators and therefore feel the need to illustrate everything we do) theme songs (thank you, NFL Films!) and player rosters! Talk to you again soon, sports fiends!