The Waterbowl League

The Waterbowl League is based at Element Games

Whilst coaches can play their games at any time during the week, and any location, our big league is every Tuesday night at Element Games.

Element Games is not open at the moment on Monday night so you will need to play elsewhere if playing then e.g.

The Waterbowl has two leagues:

1.The Premier League: This is for new teams every season and is a fixed schedule league. There are two weeks per round.

You will need to use Tourplay for this competition: http://waterbowl.org.uk/tourplay/

In the coming season we will be using the rules from the Blood Bowl Season 2 boxset, Teams of Legend, Spike! magazines, as well as the following sections of Death Zone:

(In)famous Sideline Staff
Wizards
‘Other Inducements’ (see pages 36-39), with the exception of Team Mascots or Side Bets.
Mercenaries: there will be a selection of admin created Mercenaries available to coaches on Tourplay.

If there are subsequent rules and teams released we will keep you posted as to what is and is not eligible for use.

When Games Workshop release new Designer’s Commentaries the rules updates come into effect immediately.

For new Star Players and Inducements, they will come into play as soon as they are added to Tourplay.

When new BB teams are released/updated (e.g. like with Norse and Amazon) coaches will use their current squad and the new versions will be available from the following season.

Games

Coaches have two weeks to play each round’s games.
Coaches can play their game on deadline day.
Please use the appropriate round’s fixture thread on the Facebook group to arrange your match.
Give your opponent as much notice as possible if you are unable to make your game.
Games cannot be played out of sequence.
Coaches may play ahead in the schedule as long as their opponent is at the same point in their schedule e.g. if both coaches have played their round 1 games before the deadline they can play their round 2 match up.
Matches can be played at any venue but Element Games is the default.
Matches must be played face to face. Table Top Simulator, Fumbbl, BB2/BB3 cannot be used.
There will be no extensions. If you cannot fulfil your fixture, we just roll on to the next round.
In the event of a walkover, a coach will be awarded 2 x MVP, 2 x Winnings, and a victory. An admin will make the rolls for the coach. There is no effect on Designated Fans.
In the event that both coaches have tried to arrange their fixture and they cannot do this due to real life getting in the way, then the fixture will be called as a draw. Both coaches will receive 1 x MVP, 1 x Winnings roll. There is no effect on Designated Fans.
Both coaches will need to have Tourplay open whilst the game is in progress so that the match can be accurately recorded. Please make sure your phone/tablet is charged before the match. Both coaches will need click to end the game.
If you make any errors in your inputting that are not corrected before you finalise the match please let an admin know and we will correct them for you.
If real life is proving to be a roadblock to playing your games please let an admin know asap. Whilst we love BB we do know that real life does get in the way.

Season Format:

There are 2 divisions this season and each team will play every team in their division once during the season.

The top 8 teams in each division will qualify for the Championship Play-Offs, all other coaches will be entered into the Chumps.

In the Championship Play-offs the team that finishes first in Deadbury division will play the team that finishes 8th in Beaten More, 2nd will play 7th, 3rd will play 6th and so on…

In the Chumps it will be an open draw.

Tiebreakers:

Head to Head record
Most Wins
TD+CAS (Net)
TD+CAS (Gross)
Dice-off

The Chumps culminates in a mighty 4-way game of Dungeonbowl!

Should playoff games still be level after normal times, if both coaches agree, the game can be resolved through a dice-off.

Both coaches roll a d6 and the coach that rolls the highest will proceed. Reroll any ties.

Should a coach still have any rerolls remaining from the second half they can add them to a dice roll.

Over-Time

If the coaches proceed to Over-Time then one period of up to 4 turns will be played.
Rerolls do not refresh for the extra period but coaches can carry over any unused rerolls from the second half.
In Over-Time the onus is on the receiving team to score.
If either team scores in this period then the game is automatically ended, golden goal style.
If there are no touchdowns the team that kicked to start Over-Time will advance to the next round.

Inducements:

Coaches may use the same range of inducements that were available in the regular season up until the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals and final coaches may not induce Star Players. However, in a change from previous seasons coaches may hire from the list of WB created mercenaries – you will find them on Tourplay.

2. The Vets League: this is a more relaxed format than the Premier League and is often very handy for newer coaches to get a feel for the league, or for those who find a two week schedule tricky to manage.

There is no minimum commitment. Play as little or as much as you like.

To play in the Vets League you will need to have an account with the OBBLM , which is a free to use Blood Bowl site.

If you do not have an account please go here and register an account. Make sure to choose the WB as your home league.

Coaches can have up to 5 ‘active’ teams per season, and usually these teams can either be rookie teams or ones that have previously played in the Vets, or in the Premier League.

If you choose to make a team ‘inactive’ then they cannot be reactivated again that season.

To make a team inactive

Go to your team profile
Select ‘Team Management’
From the dropdown menu choose ‘Rename Team’
Add (IA) to your teamname

If you use a team in a competition such as the current Vets League Cup you may not use that team for ‘regular’ Vets matches until you are eliminated. Once you have been eliminated from said competition your team can resume playing regular Vets fixtures.

From Autumn 2023 if you are bringing a team into the Vets that has already completed a Premier League season then you will need to re-draft. Liaise with a commissioner using the Ask an Admin chat on Facebook to discuss this.

You may play a particular match-up vs a coach up to twice in the regular season.

Creating a Game

Go to ‘User Menu’
Select ‘Schedule Match’
Choose ‘Regular Season’ from the drop-down. For the Round choose which number game it is for your team e.g. if it is your second game put it as Round 2.
Only one coach should create the team. If there is a duplicate fixture please inform a Commissioner (Dave De Fouw/Dafo, CJ/CJBlackburn, Alex W/Leipziger) and we’ll correct the error.
All game information related to SPP must be entered in the game report.
Game files will be ‘locked’ so please enter your match information in timely manner.

Inducements

In the Vets League coaches can use any of the rules and inducements from the Blood Bowl Season 2 boxset, Teams of Legend, and the Spike! Magazines, and Death Zone other than:

Giants
Blood Bowl Sponsorship
Stadium Ownership & Residency
Special Play Cards
Mercenary creation. For mercenaries please use the WB-specific ones from Tourplay

Both coaches must agree before using special stadia, and special ball rules.

The current Vets regular season will run until December 2023 and then there will be playoffs.

Vets Playoffs

Coaches must play a minimum of 8 games with a team to be eligible for playoff contention.
Coaches must have played a minimum of 5 different coaches to be eligible for the playoffs.
A coach may only take a maximum of one team into the playoffs (But by all means play loads of games with all of your teams)
Qualification will be based on win percentage.
If teams are tied on win percentage the first tiebreaker will be number of games played.
In the event of Over-Time coaches will use the rules used in the Premier League play-offs (Please see above)