Minimum experience for Tournament

[Vanguard]

Looking for some community input here, how experienced should a coach be before attending a tournament?
As a TO, I'd want to encourage attendance as much as possible but on the flip side, I wouldn't want anyone to feel they'd a ruined game because their opponent wasn't up to speed.
Wondering what the general feeling was and if anyone has had a similar issue before?

[frogboy]

The pre game set up is difficult to remember when you ain't played a real game for a while. Luckily my opponents usually know what to do, but after the first game warm up I'm good.

Skill misinterpretations are often settled between the coaches in close proximity and rarely need a ref.

Slow play can be the biggest problem, but that's not just new coaches.

I think a new coach should at least have played a few games, read the rules and know what a block dice is. If there asking "how dose dodge work?" Or saying things like "all my players have stunty so I can Blitz as many times as I like" then that would be hard work.

[Darkson]

I'd normally say that a coach needs to know the basics, set-up, basic skills, their own roster(!).

That said, we had a coach turn up that had played half(!) a game before round 1 - I knew he was new to the game, I didn't realise how new - and I think he did ok, I didn't have anyone complain*, and he kept out of the bottom 4, which I hadn't expected. None of his games were the last to finish either, but then we had SillySod in attendance, so that's to be expected. I know he had spent the train down from Preston reading the rulebook and talking to a fellow coach about the game, so that might have helped.


* - As a side note, if you did play him, and did have a complaint, it's a bit late to say anything now!

[sann0638]

And it meant that Alex got a win!

[RoterSternHochdahl]

If you know the rules and have played a match you are good to go

[Saebelsultan]

I found that most BB coaches are very patient as long as you show the will to play properly. Having played a game before obviously helps though.

[Sizzler]

I don't think anything should act as a barrier to attendance. If it's the choice of whether to go to a tournament, meet some new coaches, play some games and see Blood Bowl first hand, or whether to stay at home because you're worried that you haven't played enough, then I'd always say to just give it a go.

The community in Blood Bowl has always been welcoming to new players and most of us will be happy to answer any questions. We were all new at one point and if I'd felt intimidated when first starting out I probably would have stayed in the dark and played something else.

[Valen]

As long as someone knows the basics and can at least take a turn (whether or not they are making silly moves or not) then it is all good.

My lads have played three tournaments now and I have had no complaints, they do silly things but all that means is their opponent wins lol

[Vanguard]

Thanks very much for the feedback guys. I'd a relatively inexperienced coach ask if he should attend a tournament and while I wanted to encourage him, I also wanted to check it wouldn't negatively impact on other coaches. General feeling seems to be that it wouldn't and new coaches should be encouraged. Cheers.

[rolo]

I went to a tournament with a real newbie, he'd played maybe three or four matches before the tournament.

He's a friendly guy, wasn't expecting to win everything, so he and his opponents had fun. I'd bring him back.
The only issue was that he played very slowly, his table was always the last to finish and a couple times his games had to be shortened.

I'm all for letting anyone play, but you might need to have a time limit policy in place, especially for tournaments with tight scheduling.

[babass]

Looking for some community input here, how experienced should a coach be before attending a tournament?
As a TO, I'd want to encourage attendance as much as possible but on the flip side, I wouldn't want anyone to feel they'd a ruined game because their opponent wasn't up to speed.
Wondering what the general feeling was and if anyone has had a similar issue before?

Imo. The only requirement to attend a tourney is to able to play a game within the schedule.

[Heff]

My ideal opponent knows just enough to play but not enough to be any good.
so a mirror to me really.

[Glowworm]

My ideal opponent knows just enough to play but not enough to be any good.
so a mirror to me really.

...that would be me then !