And there was me thinking it was because the Events mob know squat about BB, being standard GW "WFB/40K/LotR" flunkies rather than people who actually care about the rest of us?
(maybe a touch unfair...but thats how it seems)

Torsten,

I will try and clarify for you some of the points you have raised. I
have
put my responses in capitals to distinguish them from your notes.

Brian Aderson

UK Tournaments Manager

-----Original Message-----

Hello Fanatic,
as you are probably experiencing right now, a lot of
people are not happy with the rules preview of the BB
XLIII.

I don't know the structure of Fanatic/GamesWorkshop to
know who's responsible for what, but it appears to me
that the tournament organizers don't seem to have to
much knowledge of Blood Bowl, but a lot knowledge of
Warhammer (& 40K).

The rule set shown on House-Rulez.com look very much
like the WH tournament rules. I don't know if there is
an effort to simplify the rules across all GW games,
but that doesn't seem to make much sense to me (and
others).

THE FORMAT OF THE NEW TOURNAMENT PACK IS INDEED SIMILAR TO THAT OF OTHER GAMES SYSTEMS, BUT THIS IS BECAUSE IT IS A PRACTICAL WAY TO RUN A TOURNAMENT WITH THE FACILITIES AND TIME I HAVE AVAILABLE. I HAVE WRITTEN THIS TOURNAMENT PACK AND PASSED IT ON TO THE FANATIC TEAM FOR APPROVAL AND HAVE
RECEIVED NO CRITICISM OF THE FORMAT. HOWEVER, THE MOST VALUED FEEDBACK I HAVE IS FROM THE PLAYERS IN THE EVENT ITSELF, ALTHOUGH WE ARE NOT IN A POSITION TO MAKE WHOLESALE CHANGES FOR THIS YEARS EVENT I WILL TAKE INTO ACCOUNT ANY FEEDBACK I RECEIVE AT THE WEEKEND AND TAKE THAT INTO ACCOUNT
WHEN REVIEWING THE RULES FOR NEXT YEAR.

I remember reading in one of the BB-Mags an acticle
from Jervis (about the new Elf team I believe) writing
about that he wanted to get away from the Warhammer
theme, because he believes that this was a mistake.
Having that in the back of my mind makes the BB 43
rule set even harder to understand.

THIS RULES SET IS IN NO WAY MOVING TOWARDS WARHAMMER OR ANY OTHER GAMES SYSTEM, IT'S SIMPLY A UNIFIED APPROACH TO A TOURNAMENT FORMAT. THIS APPROACH MAKES IT EASIER FOR STAFF & PLAYERS TO FOLLOW ACROSS A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT
EVENTS. I AM AWARE OF ALL GAMES SYSTEMS DEVELOPED BY GW AND AM OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS ON HOW I CAN CHANGE IT FOR NEXT YEAR BUT I DON'T SEE HOW SIMILARITIES TO OTHER EVENTS IN TERMS OF FORMAT IS A LEGITIMATE REASON FOR CHANGING IT. IF WHEN IT IS PLAYED, PEOPLE FIND IT DOESN'T WORK I WILL LISTEN TO THEIR CONCERNS AND TAKE IT INTO ACCOUNT WHEN THE PACK IS UPDATED, AS IT IS EVERY YEAR FOR ALL GAMES SYSTEMS.

There are a few things I would like you to reconsider
or maybe dropping me a mail and explaining what GW
thought process was behind them to make it easier to
understand.

1.) I'm all for having a differentiation between a
close victory and a blow-out, but I think one step
(win by 1TD & win by 2+TD) is sufficient to have all
players go for the higher victory, but having another
step with 3+TD in there is definatelly tough (or even
impossible) on slower and less agile teams (like e.g.
dwarves)

SEE COMMENTS ABOVE

2.) What's with the WYSIWYG, theme, squad markings and
team sheet? I believe it's Bloodbowl we are talking
about and the majority of Bloodbowl players use
miniatures which clearly show what position a player
holds. That goes the same for the markings, it should
be easy to put 11-16 numbers on each figure (same goes
for team sheet).

THESE CATEGORIES ARE THERE TO REWARD PLAYERS FOR FULFILLING THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR ENTRY INTO THE TOURNAMENT. YES THEY ARE EASY, WHICH MEANS ALL PLAYERS SHOULD HAVE NO PROBLEMS ACHIEVING THEM AND GETTING THE MARK. THERE IS OFTEN, HOWEVER, SITUATIONS WHERE FIGURES DO NOT HAVE THEIR TEAM
NUMBER OR AREN'T ALL PAINTED IN THE SAME TEAM COLOURS, IT IS THESE SITUATIONS WHERE POINTS WILL BE DROPPED. THIS IS A WAY TO ENSURE THAT PLAYERS PRESENT A TEAM AND A TEAM SHEET THAT WILL NOT DECEIVE OR CONFUSE THEIR OPPONENT BECAUSE ALL PLAYERS AND EQUIPMENT ARE CLEARLY MARKED AND IDENTIFIED.

I don't know much about the theme
part, but reading something about writing a short
essay about the team history and stuff is not what I
expect to do when I go to play a game of Blood Bowl.

QUITE HONESTLY, THIS SECTION IS A BIT OF FUN TO GET EVERYBODY INTO THE THEME OF THEIR TEAM. IF THE MAJORITY OF THE PLAYERS AT THE EVENT DON'T LIKE IT THEN WE WILL CONSIDER REMOVING IT FOR NEXT YEAR. BUT, UNLESS I GET THE FEEDBACK FROM THE EVENT ITSELF, I HAVE NO LEGITIMATE REASON FOR CHANGING THIS IN THE TOURNAMENT.

3.) I just like to express my hope that the exam will
be handed out in several languages, because many
players will come from non-english speaking countries.

THE BLOOD BOWL, LIKE ALL THE GT'S HELD IN NOTTINGHAM AT THE MOMENT, IS A UK TOURNAMENT. BECAUSE OF THIS, THE RULES AND ALL ELEMENTS OF THE TOURNAMENT ARE WRITTEN IN ENGLISH. IF INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS WISH TO TRAVEL OVER TO THE
UK TO PLAY BLOOD BOWL, THEN THEY ARE MORE THAN WELCOME, BUT IT IS STILL A UK SHOW AND IS FORMATTED ACCORDINGLY. WE ARE NOT TRYING TO EXCLUDE ANYBODY, WE ARE PURELY PROVIDING THE MOST PRACTICAL WAY TO RUN A TOURNAMENT WITH THE TIME AND FACILITIES AT OUR DISPOSAL. IN ADDITION, IT DOESN'T SEEM TO
HAVE BEEN AN ISSUE LAST YEAR AS THE OVERALL WINNER WAS IN FACT A SPANISH PLAYER (MARCOS TARRASSO OCANA) WHO DIDN'T EXPRESS ANY COMPLAINT ABOUT THE FORMAT OR LANGUAGE RESTRICTIONS WITHIN THE UK BLOOD BOWL TOURNAMENT.

4.) Next, I hope to see a changes towards reflecting
TD and CAS in the scoring.

5.) Lastly I put my pledge in for reducing the
percentage of non-playing tournament points (such as
paining, sportsmanship, team selection, knowledge) in
the overall standings, because 40% is a little too
steep in my opinion.

Let me end on a positive note: I like the game of
Blood Bowl very much and thank Jervis and GW for
bringing it out into the public and for us to play at
a great location.

LET ME END ON A POSITIVE NOTE ALSO, I VALUE THE FEEDBACK FROM PLAYERS OF THE GREAT GAME OF BLOOD BOWL. YOUR COMMENTS WILL BE ON MY MIND WHEN I REVIEW THIS TOURNAMENT PACK AS WILL THE COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS OF ALL PLAYERS WHO ATTEND BLOOD BOWL 43

GOOD LUCK

BRIAN ADERSON

UK TOURNAMENT MANAGER

Best regards
Torsten

Well this is all stuff the NAF can help influence. Hopefully we can have a chat with the UK events team and talk to them about how we can help them in the future.

IN ADDITION, IT DOESN'T SEEM TO
HAVE BEEN AN ISSUE LAST YEAR AS THE OVERALL WINNER WAS IN FACT A SPANISH PLAYER (MARCOS TARRASSO OCANA) WHO DIDN'T EXPRESS ANY COMPLAINT ABOUT THE FORMAT OR LANGUAGE RESTRICTIONS WITHIN THE UK BLOOD BOWL TOURNAMENT.

He also didn't have to write a team background and have 10% of his points come from a written quiz in English.

I DON'T SEE HOW SIMILARITIES TO OTHER EVENTS IN TERMS OF FORMAT IS A LEGITIMATE REASON FOR CHANGING IT.

IN ADDITION, IT DOESN'T SEEM TO
HAVE BEEN AN ISSUE LAST YEAR AS THE OVERALL WINNER WAS IN FACT A SPANISH PLAYER (MARCOS TARRASSO OCANA) WHO DIDN'T EXPRESS ANY COMPLAINT ABOUT THE FORMAT OR LANGUAGE RESTRICTIONS WITHIN THE UK BLOOD BOWL TOURNAMENT.

If Fanatic/GW actually kept the same group organising things from year to year it might actually get better. Instead we just get random change every time.