Talk Fantasy Football

My gaming group is starting a Blood Bowl League (consisting of nothing but total newcomers or people that haven't played the game for many years). I've been elected commissioner, which I'm rather pleased about, but I've never been Commish before.

Do any, more experienced commissioners have any pointers for a guy just starting out?

get hold of a copy of BBMag2 and read the articles there.


take lots of time to get the basics right


have at least two other coaches work with you to make decisions, although keep the final decision yours


keep it fun

burn beardy types at the stake

Ensure you are registered to NAF

Establish the rules with respect to start up team costs, are stars allowed, any house rules - I would get league input in this so you have buy in.

Agree meeting time and how you are to schedule matches are they to be fixed or random pairings on the night dependent on attendence.

Get all team sheets in before league starts so you can check they are official. Also check them off at the end of each match.

Know the rules and keep a copy on you for clarity on the night.

I would ensure each member contributes something to the league £2-3 for a prize at the end of it. It keeps them motivated to do well!

Hope this helps.

Only do fixed schedule if you're 100% sure if everyone will stick by it. One coach dropping out can ruin everything. This has crippled many leagues as most people start really enthusiastic but some will lose interest after a while (especially if they're doing badly). If some are more dedicated then others use an open system with a play-off system after a set period of time.

Set up a website and keep track of all kinds of stats and fun stuff, this keeps coaches involved and interested even though they have no shot at winning the league, eg, they might go for the "most kills" award.

Or, if your skills (like mine) don't run to hosting a website with a database hidden away in the background, I can email you a league management excel thingy that will track up to 20 or so teams. I can't claim to have created it (can't remember who did, now - halfling scribe?) but antipixi and I have updated it to LRB 5 with costs and automatic value changes etc.

Tritex wrote:Ensure you are registered to NAF

Not that I've got anything against the NAF (hell, I'm a member), but what does registering for the NAF have to do with being a league commish?
I happily ran my home league without anything from the NAF.

Rab wrote:Or, if your skills (like mine) don't run to hosting a website with a database hidden away in the background, I can email you a league management excel thingy that will track up to 20 or so teams. I can't claim to have created it (can't remember who did, now - halfling scribe?) but antipixi and I have updated it to LRB 5 with costs and automatic value changes etc.

that was a much respected german coach, tim ibe, known as tim on the boards. at least i think it was him. now i've put that down i'm doubting myself

No, you're right, Halfling Scribe was by Tim.

wooot!!! i remembered something, which with the week i've had is really something.

Darkson wrote:

Tritex wrote:Ensure you are registered to NAF

Not that I've got anything against the NAF (hell, I'm a member), but what does registering for the NAF have to do with being a league commish?
I happily ran my home league without anything from the NAF.

Actually, there have been times when the NAF didnt even exist and leagues were working.

Checking out the NAF doesnt hurt though ... they´re a cool bunch ... kind of.

I cant stress the point of "fixed schedule may cause serious problems" enough. Our league has a fixed schedule and every other night (at least!) one of the guys cant come => no bloodbowl that night. So, I strongly recommend an open format.

Fixed schedules have been working just fine for our league (just finishing up the 10th season). If the coaches can't play on league night they find a time before the next league night to play their game. Anyone who drops out before the season is over (darn that real life virus) has the rest of their games treated as byes. This clearly doesn't work for all leagues, but it can work so keep an open mind.

How to schedule games is obviously an important decision for any league. You need buy in on this one so be sure to get as much input from the other coaches as you can.

Darkson wrote:

Tritex wrote:Ensure you are registered to NAF

Not that I've got anything against the NAF (hell, I'm a member), but what does registering for the NAF have to do with being a league commish?
I happily ran my home league without anything from the NAF.

What I really meant was it help to put your league forward so other members can locate you if looking for a game in your area. Also thers some really useful advise on here including downloads to help with runnig leagues.

If you cannot set up a web site - there is a league tracker you can use for other members too.

However I agree its not a necessity!!

I'm a first time commish... and I'm running a small league. Flexibility is a must. We're all professionals with families and meeting times don't always work out for the group. So we're doing our best just to keep the games about evenly distributed with basic recording stats. Nevertheless, it's huge fun....

Secondary concern is how to rate teams. I'm using a differential system which is the only thing keeping the Chaos player in the running (casualties), but turns out it's killing the Ogre player (receiving bunches of casualties, vis-a-vis snots). Were we using a 3-1-0 Win-Tie-Loss scheme then Chaos would be dead last and Ogres in 2nd place.... The guys are good about not complaining but, as Commish, I'm concerned with fairness....

Oh, and I've got my own LeagueTracker excel sheets if your interested: ARoninPhilosopher@yahoo.com

Most important thing: have fun!

I guess the biggest sticking point for a commish and members of any non-fixed schedule league is dealing with an uneven number of games. Has anybody come up with anything besides the league point system that is used, for example, in MBBL?

I wish that BB league tables could be as straightforward as the ones used by football leagues. This way every player can clearly know who they have to beat to to get into the playoff, etc. Unfortunately, uncertain fixtures/open matches pretty much scupper this option.

The best I've been able to brainstorm is using the LP system with a K threshold tuned to different TRs akin to the chess ELO ratings, with small bonuses for TD and CAS.

The only other league concern I can think off is getting all the coaches to compile any house-rules and league rules into a league book at the start of the season. Have every coach sign off on it before joining and beginning each season. The document doesn't have to be a formal tome, even a single point-form page that everyone agrees to is probably enough.

You might be surprised at how much griping and bickering it can prevent from bothering you as commish. This way, all 'meta' league issues are dealt with after a season, and coaches have a clear and stable reference for what they can and cannot do during the season (i.e. no inducements for playoffs, home-brewed rosters, etc.). Coaches can lobby for changes to league rules only during the off-season, meaning the commish doesn't have to get bogged down in league rule debates 100% of the time.

Make sure for starters what kind of league you want: an open one or a closed one ith a fixed schedule; LRB4, LRB5, house rules...

I am Commish for the second time now and in my league I have the support of a rules guru (who comes up with our house rules), a layout guy who does the layout of our magazine and someone who is in charge of our website.
My role is basically to annoy everybody to play their game within the allocated time, to update all the team rosters and to write some articles about the league for our magazine.
Being a commish is a lot of fun (especially when everybody is motivated), but it is a lot of work as well... but that's all part of the job.

Cheers