Blood Bowl: Tackle Zone Team Trophy

Welcome to the rule pack for the inaugural Tackle Zone Team Trophy (TZTT), a team Blood Bowl tournament taking place at the UK Games Expo (UKGE), at the Birmingham NEC on June 1st and 2nd 2024.

Tickets:

One ticket should be purchased by the CAPTAIN of each team for the whole team. 
So 1 ticket = access for all 6 players to the tournament. 

Each player will also need their own weekend entry ticket to UKGE. 

Purchasing this ticket enters you for both days of this tournament. 

Once your ticket has been purchased please can captains email: tztt@thetacklezone.net to identify themselves with the tournament organisers.

These rules can also be found at http://thetacklezone.net/tztt/RP2024.pdf

Tournament Format:

The TZTT is a resurrection-style team tournament, for teams of 6 coaches. The resurrection format means that players’ teams are given a selection of skills up-front and are then locked in, fully resetting between each round, with no injuries, star player points or other roster changes applied.

Schedule:

The TZTT will be played over 5 rounds, allowing participants time to enjoy the rest of the UKGE. Round times will be:

● Saturday:

○  09:30 - 11:45 (Round 1)

○  14:00 - 16:15 (Round 2)

○  17:00 - 19:15 (Round 3) 

● Sunday:

○  09:30 - 11:45 (Round 4)

○  13:15 - 15:30 (Round 5)

○  16:00 (Awards)

Teams:

A team for the TZTT consists of 6 coaches each playing with a different Blood Bowl race. The team captain will be asked to assign a race and a board number to each of the team members. Both the race and board number selection can be changed by emailing tztt@thetacklezone.net until these are locked in at 12:00 UTC on May 27th 2024.

The Draw:

There are a total of 5 rounds over the weekend. The first-round matchup will be drawn at random. During rounds 2 to 5 team matchups will be drawn using the swiss system, meaning each round your team will play another team on the same points total, if possible. Tiebreakers will not be applied until drawing round 5, and for the final results.

Individual coach matching will not use the Swiss system. Instead, coaches will play all 5 games on the pre-assigned board number allocated to them before the event by their captain. For example, if you have been assigned board 1 by your captain, that will be your seating position for the whole weekend, and you will only play against other coaches also assigned to board 1 for their respective teams. There will be a prize for best-placed coach on each of boards 1 to 6.

Prizes:

● Teams:
○ 1st/2nd/3rd

● Individual:
○ 1st place individual for each of the 6 board positions.

Tournament Scoring:

The TZTT will score the team result using the following scoring and tie breakers:

●  Scoring: Team win: 2 Points / Team draw: 1 Point / Team loss: 0 Points

●  Tie Breakers (for teams on the same total points):

○  Olympiad-Sonneborn-Berger* (strength of schedule variant)

○  Fewest touchdowns conceded

○  Total individual points within the team.

The TZTT will score the individual results using the following scoring and tie breakers:

●  Scoring: Win: 2 Points / Draw: 1 Point / Loss: 0 Points

Note: A concession counts as a loss, with +2 touchdowns added to the score

in favour of the conceding player’s opponent.

●  Tie Breakers (for those on the same total points):

○  Olympiad-Sonneborn-Berger* (Strength of schedule variant)

○  Fewest touchdowns conceded

○  Net touchdowns

In-Game Rules:

The TZTT will abide by the latest guidelines for all NAF tournaments.
The event will follow Games Workshop’s Designer’s Commentary and Teams of Legend documents. Rules released up until March 31st 2024 are allowed, but anything published after this time (including FAQ's and/or commentary) will not be used at this event.

Team Building:

The tournament will be using the following conservative tiering to encourage the best coaches playing the best races:

● Tier 1:
Amazon, Chaos Dwarf, Dark Elf, Dwarf, Lizardman, Norse, Orc, Shambling Undead, Skaven, Underworld Denizens, Wood Elf

● Tier 2:
Black Orc, Chaos Chosen, Chaos Renegade, Elven Union, High Elf, Human, Imperial Nobility, Khorne, Necromantic Horror, Nurgle, Old World Alliance, Slann, Tomb Kings, Vampire

● Tier 3:
Goblin, Halfling, Ogre, Snotling

Each of the 29 races is allocated 1,150,000 gold coins (gc) to spend on roster building only. Roster building comprises the purchasing of players, sideline staff, rerolls, permitted inducements and dedicated fans.

Inducements:

The following inducements are allowed for teams in all tiers:

●  Bloodweiser Kegs: 0-2

●  Mortuary Assistant: 0-1

●  Part-time Assistant Coach: 0-3

●  Plague Doctor: 0-1

●  Temp Agency Cheerleader: 0-4

●  Wandering Apothecary: 0-1

The following inducements are only allowed for tier 3 teams:

●  Biased Referee: 0-1

●  Bribes: 0-3

●  Halfling Master Chef: 0-1

●  Riotous Rookies: 0-1
(If Riotous Rookies are hired, you must roll separately before each match, and ensure you have identifiable painted miniatures for the extra journeymen).

Skill Upgrades:

A player may be allocated a maximum of 1 additional skill. All additional skills are selected prior to the event; random skills and characteristic increases may not be selected. Secondary skills are optional and can be swapped for primary skills if desired.

The different tiers can select from the following skill-pack options:

●  Tier 1:

○  Option A: 6 Primary skills.

○  Option B: 5 Primary skills and 20,000gc extra for roster building.

○  Option C: 4 Primary skills and 40,000gc extra for roster building.

●  Tier 2:

○  Option A: 7 Primary skills.

○  Option B: 6 Primary skills and 20,000gc extra for roster building.

○  Option C: 5 Primary skills and 1 Secondary skill.

●  Tier 3:

○  Option A: 9 Primary skills.

○  Option B: 7 Primary skills and 1 Secondary skill.

○  Option C: 5 Primary skills and 2 Secondary skills.

All skill upgrades should be clearly marked on the player miniatures, through colour coded skill rings, loom bands, or annotated stickers.

The six rosters for a team must be submitted by the team captain to tztt@thetacklezone.net by May 12th 2024.
If the 6 rosters are not submitted on time, the team will be subject to a 2 team-point penalty.

What to Bring:

Coaches should bring their painted Blood Bowl team. Teams must consist of painted miniatures, and all positionals should be readily identifiable. Lego figures and other unpainted proxy figures may not be used at the TZTT.

Coaches should bring a copy of their team roster, showing all player characteristics, skills and costs, plus any other items paid for during roster building. This should be made available to your opponent if they request to see it.

Please bring pitches and dugouts, these will NOT be provided.

Other items coaches should remember to bring are the relevant rulebooks, dice, tokens and templates. It is also a good idea to bring some glue or blu-tack in case of miniature

emergencies over the course of the weekend.

Code of Conduct:

Blood Bowl is a battle of skill and luck between you and your opponent. Quick reference guides for core rules are useful and encouraged; play books that tell you how to set up, attempt a one-turn touchdown, etc. are not permitted.

The use of chess clocks to share the round time equally between the coaches is encouraged, and is mandatory if requested by one of the coaches. Should a player run out of time on their share of the chess clock time they are only allowed to stand up or un-stun players before passing to their opponent.

If a game is called by a referee after the allowed time for the round has expired, the game will end immediately with no further actions taken. As such it is in your interest to ensure you keep an eye on your and your opponent’s game time.

The sharing of dice is encouraged, and is mandatory if requested by one of the coaches at any point in the game.

Establishing dice etiquette before the game starts is encouraged; it is important to clarify your respective interpretation of acceptably rolled dice, cocked dice, etc. before any important rolls are made. Agree on an approach and stick to it throughout!

Always ask your opponent before handling their figures, and respect them if they prefer you not to.

Don’t distract or advise coaches while they are playing their game, especially if you have a vested interest in a particular outcome!

*The Olympiad-Sonneborn-Berger

The Olympiad-Sonneborn-Berger tie breaker is a variant of strength of schedule designed to reward beating teams/coaches with good results. The tie breaker works by multiplying the individual/team points gained against a team/coach with that individual/team's total points.

Example A: Team/coach A scores 6 points against team/coach B that ends on a total of 15 points then that game’s tie breaker score is 90 (6*15).
Example B: Team/coach A scores 5 points against team/coach C that ends on a total of 20 points then that game’s tie breaker score is 100 (5*20).

Prizes:

● Teams:
○ 1st/2nd/3rd

● Individual:
○ 1st place individual for each of the 6 board positions.