Talk Fantasy Football

One thing I've said a lot over the years; part of the skill of playing Blood Bowl is playing to the alloted time. That is 4 minutes per turn, by the rule book. Pretty much every tourney does away with the turn timer and just allots 2 hours or 2 hours 15 minutes per match (which is close enough to 32 turns at 4 minutes).


At the NAFC we enforce chess clocks if, at the 1 hour remaining point, a match is not even at half time. Which is all very well but can be missed by the refs.

Would there be objection to using a 4 minute turn timer if one player asks for it?

For example, I sit down and have genuine reason to think this may be a slow match so I say to my opponent that I would like to use timers from turn 1. What happens if s/he objects and refuses? Can they refuse?


(I was just reading through the 2017 feedback thread and this thought arose.)

but you only take 30 seconds a turn!, surely there isn't anyone out there that cant complete a turn within 7:30!

They can object or refuse if the rulespack said that there is not limit of time per turn. Lot tournament specify that there isn't.

In my opinion should be fine. I like play fast but, take all the time I need when the turn is difficult, and that could take more than 4 minutes.

With the slow opponents I prefer the rule that you have an amount of time to use in your half (like one hour), and using chess clocks, once you have use your hour, you can't do any action in the rest of your turns. That give you the opportunity to play some turns quick and other slow.

If you think/know it might be a slow game I don't see any reason why you cannot start a timer at the start of the game giving both players 1 hour and 7.5 minutes. I think that is better than a 4 minute timer.

zulu wrote:If you think/know it might be a slow game I don't see any reason why you cannot start a timer at the start of the game giving both players 1 hour and 7.5 minutes. I think that is better than a 4 minute timer.

This is probably a better option. But, again, what if the opponent objects right at the start?

zulu wrote:If you think/know it might be a slow game I don't see any reason why you cannot start a timer at the start of the game giving both players 1 hour and 7.5 minutes. I think that is better than a 4 minute timer.

Agreed. Since in BB some turns are 60 seconds long e.g. simply "I'll score" or "dodge reroll fail: turnover". But some are 6 or 7 mins (quite reasonably) when really tough decisions have to be made.

I agree with Brendan and Zulu. Most tournaments can be relaxed enough to let games take their natural course most of the time, but at events like the NAFC where you can't keep 200 other people waiting, in the event one coach wants to get on a global time clock, I think it should be encouraged.

The 'enforce chess clocks with an hour to go' policy is all well and good (and realistically, the most NAFC refs can do), but it can be unsatisfying. If you are the faster coach and you've kicked off first and / or are behind, having significantly less time for the second half when a clock is enforced upon you is pretty rubbish.

While I would hate to see a situation where coaches insisting on clocks became the norm (in most cases at most tournaments it's entirely unnecessary), I think we perhaps need to get over the social stigma of asking for a clock early. If you're 2-3 turns in and your game is already 2-3 turns behind the next guy, at a tournament like the NAFC where you know you'll be called, I think it's more than OK to address the situation sooner rather than have an unsatisfactory ending later.

I would feel bad about it about calling the clock at the start of the game ... on the other hand, I know some players (even above average players) who are really slow and I know that I play quick but I feel forced to play quicker because of their 8 minute turns.