The Tahoma Area Blood Bowl League is an inclusive space meant to be representative of all players who participate. That means we do our best to respect every player who plays, refer to them in the way they want to be referred to, and create a space wherein they can feel that they belong. We show respect to each and every player and try our best to create a space for them to play Blood Bowl.

Ladder League Rules

A. League Format

The ladder league is ran from January 1st through December 15th. Players will have this window to get their games in to qualify for any and all prizes that are being provided as part of this format. 

Game limit: 13 per team

Cost of League: Free

Post-season: None

Pre-season: None

Standings tiebreakers:

1. Coach overall Skill Rating Formula (To be tracked outside of TourPlay)

2. Points

3. Head-to-head record

4. [ (# of Wins) + (# of Draws x .5) ] / (# of Games Played)

5. TD +/-

6. Coin Flip

Skill Rating Formula: [(TDD*10)+(WINS*1750)+(DRAWS*1000)+(LOSSES*500)]/(#ofGames+2) 

B. General Rules

Special rules of play are listed below. We play with some slight variations to the Blood Bowl rules to help make the experience better.

1. MVP Selection:

   1. Players are able to roll across the team to choose a new MVP after their match. Players nominate 6 players, roll a d6, and the MVP will be assigned based upon the result of the D6.

2. Concessions: We handle concessions in this league as an “only if absolutely necessary” scenario which is to say that we do not generally allow concessions in this league unless the following condition is met:

   1. 3 Players Left Standing Condition: If, at the beginning of a drive, a player has 3 players or less left on the pitch then the player is permitted to concede legally. No penalties will be assessed to the player in this case.

   2. Illegal concessions: If a concession is made and the player has not met the 3 players left standing condition then the league staff will review the specific scenario and make a determination dependent on the surrounding factors that forced the player to concede. These will be handled on a case-by-case basis and the league will attempt to follow precedent wherever possible. In most cases, the rules from the Blood Bowl 2020 rulebook will be followed. In this case, the conceding player will have any touchdowns scored converted to the opposing team and any player at advancement 3 or beyond may leave the team. Each player at advancement 3 will roll a 1d6 and will stay on the team on a roll of 4+. On a roll of 1-3, the player will leave the team in disgust.

   3. Other scenarios:

The league reserves the right to consider special circumstances in the event of an illegal concession and break from precedent. This means assigning unique punishments or not assigning punishments.

4. MVP’s: The conceding player forfeits their ability to select their MVP. The league staff validating the match will review the MVP. If the MVP falls upon a dead player then league staff will roll 1d(N) where (N) is the number of players on the team and randomly assign the MVP into the team. Two MVP’s will not be assigned to the winning team.

5. Special Circumstances: We are all adults and, occasionally, special circumstances may occur that prevent the successful completion of the game. In these cases, please notify league staff so we can discuss next steps.

4. Scheduling: Scheduling must be done in the TALL Scheduling Channel.

5. Take-backs: In general, play on the board is considered undetermined until, at any point, dice have been rolled. If dice have been rolled since you made a move or your opponent has made a move then the game state is considered “locked” and take backs will not be permitted.

6. Length of the Game: We’re all folks who have busy schedules and busy lives and it’s important that you’re respecting your opponents time. In general, turns should take less than 6 minutes. Over the course of a 16 turn game, this results in a 192 minute game or roughly 3 hours of play. Even a 3 hour game of Blood Bowl is a long one though so try your best to play your games quickly. However, if you and your opponent have agreed to take longer then no big deal. This is a general rule.  If your opponent is taking an excruciatingly long time to play then feel free to remind them of this rule, pull out a chess clock, or just simply let them know that you've other commitments as well.

7. Cocked Dice: Any dice that lands at an angle, off the table, not in its dice tray, or otherwise than its intended location, when it lands will be considered cocked dice and needs to be rerolled. That means, even if it’s a 1 or a Pow, you’ve got to reroll that die if it lands at an angle. However, you and your opponent should take a moment during the setup to agree on cocked dice or a system for each of you to follow at the table. In the absence of any agreement, the rules written here will be considered correct.

8. Mega-Stars and Star Players: Megastars are a list of stars that can be game breaking in a variety of ways. If you've ever been on the receiving end of Morg N' Thorg, you know how much it can hurt to lose your team's star. Our league has adopted special rules to help deal with this:

   1.  In a regular season game, mega-stars are considered to take 2 Star Player Slots. This cannot be hardcoded into TourPlay and if you break the rules then your additional inducement money is forfeit and your opponent may choose to remove any star player that you have hired. 

   2. Teams are limited to 2 Star Player slots per Team.

   3. All other Star Players take 1 Star Player Slot unless special circumstances exist, e.g. Grak & Crumbleberry or Dribl N' Drull

How this works: Timmy and Chad are scheduled to play their match. Timmy is playing a 900K halfling team and Chad has a 1360 Orc Team. Timmy selects Morg N' Thorg and Akhorne as his star players. Chad spotting that this is not a legal choice because Morg is on the Mega-star list and counts for 2 star players asks Timmy to refer to the rules and remove Morg N' Thorg from play. Timmy forfeits his 380k in inducement money and is forced to play with only Akhorne on his roster.

Side note: If Chad wants to be a really cool guy and knows that Timmy is a newer player, he can choose to let Timmy redo his inducement phase and choose new players or inducements. This will be up to the two players to coordinate and decide the exact process for it as it will not be able to be tracked in TourPlay. But Chad isn't required to do this and isn't a bad guy if  he doesn't. It's every player's responsibility to know the rules and it's just on you if you mess up.

9. Permitted Inducements

   1. All inducements are currently permitted.

Conduct Rules

1. Demonstrate mutual respect towards one another. 

This does not mean that one cannot tease, chirp at, or razz the opposing player. It’s Blood Bowl, after all, if you don’t complain about your opponent's dice at least once then are you really playing? But don’t be a dick about it. We’re all adults, we know when it’s too far, don’t go too far. The league will handle sportsmanship complaints with a heavy hand. Don’t make this game unfun for others. 

2. Don’t be *that guy*

We’ve all played against that guy once or twice. They make their skills hard to read, their models can barely be determined what’s what, they try to take that extra movement square when you aren’t looking, or some other sordid act. Don’t be that guy. Be as honest as you can be, try your best to know the rules, and if you’re wrong… just admit you’re wrong and move on.

3. Schedule your games in a timely manner.

Don’t try to mess with your opponent by offering the worst possible windows for scheduling. Be proactive, make concessions, do your best to help get that game played. The effort that you put into scheduling games is part of the decisioning factor if a game ever goes to toss up for forfeit review. 

League Organizers

Eric Paulsen - Commissioner

Jay Smith - Co-Commissioner