Aftermath Blood Bowl League - Season III

With Season 2 drawing to a close, I just thought I'd go over next season in more detail, further to my post from the 1st May.

In retrospect the decision to have smaller divisions was the correct one, although the consensus seems to be that the divisions should consist of 5-10 teams, as it has not gone unnoticed that season 2 has been a bit short. Therefore the league will be re-organised for season 3 in the following way:

• There will be 4 divisions like season 2, but these will be structured slightly differently. There will be the Premiership, and then 3 divisions below it. (The Championship will be temporarily dissolved)
• The Premiership will consist of 2 of the current Premiership teams plus 4 of the current teams in the Championship plus one from division 1. There's also a possibility of the Gloryhunters returning. If they do they'll almost certainly go into the Premiership (Jim - can you please confirm your team's intentions?)
• The Gooners and Stop It! will - after their outstanding success - take a season off and go on a world tour to allow the other teams to catch up. They will be returning and rejoining the Premiership in season 4. The Fabulous Arabian Knights and the Mozzies are also retiring, leaving the first two definite teams in the premiership to be Orcs Is Da Best and the Executioners.
• Of the current 5 championship teams, The Eagles and the Bunnies will definitely be in the Premiership. The current relegation battle between the Avengers and the Redbulls will decide who becomes the remaining premiership team. Bearded Avengers will also be in the Premiership having won the play-off Game of Doom.
• Wrighty has mentioned he doesn't want to retire OIDB if his Goblins get promoted (due to not being able to run 2 teams in 1 division). Therefore, if this happens he'll remain in his current division but keep the prize money. This means Lee B may be promoted without winning the division. (If either player is unhappy with this then let me know). Lee B won promotion anyway.
• As previously mentioned there will be no Championship, but there will still be 3 divisions below the Premiership. Instead of them being ranked as 2nd, 3rd and 4th division, they will all be considered to be at the same level (they'll probably be named Division 1a, 1b and 1c until I think of something fluffier!). These divisions are likely to number between 5 and 7 teams depending on the amount of entries, and will be made up from the current division 1 and division 2 teams, and from current NEB teams.

There'll be a "free week" between friendlies and the start of Season III for any "miss next game" injuries to heal, so all teams will start the season at full strength.

Teams going into the season 3 Premiership are banned from playing any pre-season NEB games but are allowed to enter the DungeonBowl. Current Division 1 and Division 2 teams are permitted to play pre-season NEB matches after their final league fixture/playoff, and may also enter the DungeonBowl. Obviously teams participating in the DungeonBowl can't play NEB games while they're in the competition, but doing so after they get knocked out/win is fine.

The team value limit for next season's conferences will be 1.6 million, including money in the bank. Any teams starting the season in these divisions who have higher team values than this will have to trim their team/coaching staff/bank balance accordingly.

Hopefully, increasing the amount of games each coach plays should allow teams to skill up more, and provide a bit more longevity and variety for coaches.

I know it seems like the league gets re-arranged every ten minutes (and it almost certainly will have to be again after Stop It and the Gooners return in 2010), but going back to the original league, it was never going to be easy integrating a dozen teams into separate divisions to fit in with loads of new teams (many of which were 2nd teams). I feel that the league has worked as well as it could have done this season, and hopefully will continue to do so.

Play Nice…

Ian - League Commissioner

Aftermath Blood Bowl League - League Rules 

1. Ruleset

1.1 The ABBL uses the LRB5 + Experimental ruleset (lowres copy). A TeamBuilder spreadsheet is available that includes the new Chaos Pact, Slann and Underworld rosters (as well as Squig Herders, in case anyone's as stupid as Emrys and has the urge to run a self-destructive team).

2. Building your team

2.1 Your starting roster must have between 11 and 16 players (plus as many backroom/cheerleading staff as you can afford). Obviously numbers may drop below 11 during the league - but can never exceed 16.

2.2 All teams start with no Fan Factor at all and you can't buy any starting fans - you'll have to earn them by not losing games! [HR]

3. Scoring

3.1 Teams score 3 points for a win and 1 point for a draw.

3.2 If teams are level on points, the positions are decided by touchdown difference then casualty difference then touchdowns scored.

4. Schedule

4.1Coaches are expected to play one game each month (with each team, if running more than one league team).

5. Capping

5.1 While the league structure may vary from season to season to accommodate coaches joining and leaving the league, the intention is for there to be at least two divisions. The lower division(s) will have a maximum starting Team Value (including cash in the bank), so any team relegated from a higher division may have to drop players, staff or rerolls to comply with the maximum TV for their new division. [HR]

5.2 Fan Factor can never be voluntarily reduced to trim Team Value.

6. Conflicts of interest

6.1 Coaches may, if they wish, run two league teams [HR]

6.2 A coach may never have two teams in the same division. If a situation arises where one team gets promoted into a division containing their coach's other team, then the promotion must either be declined or the coach's other team relegated or retired. [HR]

7. Changing a coach

7.1 If a team is retired, it can be taken over by another coach, as long as the original coach agrees and it won't upset the divisions (i.e. no one has more than 1 team in the same division). [HR]

8. Casual Play

8.1 Any coaches who have said that they wish to run a team for 'now and again' type games (whether on it's own or in addition to team/s in the league) are free to play as many games as they like with this team against other non-league teams using an open format (i.e. play who you want, when you want but you can't play the same opponent more than twice in a row). These results will be recorded in the Never-ending Bloodbath table. League teams cannot play friendly matches except between sesons and only then if the rules for their division allows for this. [HR]

9. Time Limits

9.1 It is expected that coaches in the top division of the league will be play matches with the usual 4 minute turn time limit.

9.2 Lower ranked divisions may have longer time limits, so as not to penalise inexperienced coaches. [HR]

9.3 If a turn limit is reached, the currently active player is allowed to finish his action. [HR]

10. Most Valuable Player awards

10.1 The MVP for each game is awarded randomly for each team.

10.2 The award can be given to anyone who took part in the match (i.e. was on the field at some point). [HR]

10.3 This includes any mercenaries, star players or journeymen but doesn't include any players who spent the whole game on the bench.

10.4 MVP can be awarded posthumously.

11. Selling players on

11.1 Before starting each league season teams are allowed to "sell" players and will get, in return, their nominal value taking into account skills gained and stat increases. Unfortunately, their values will also take into account both permanent and niggling injuries (e.g. if your player's lost a point of Strength, he'll be worth $50,000 less than he would have been). Players with niggling injuries have their value reduced by $10,000 per niggle. Any players sold will be leaving to join teams in other leagues and cannot be signed by other ABBL teams (although if uninjured they may appear in the list of journeymen or mercenaries). [HR]

11.2 Teams must always have a minimum of 11 signed players at the start of each league season.

11.3 It is not possible to sell a play mid-season. If you need to free up a space in the roster at another time then retiring a player's the only option available.

12. Journeymen

12.1 Journeymen are available to league team to stand in for players who are missing the next game if the team would otherwise have fewer than 11 players

12.2 Journeymen can also be used to replace deceased or retired players only if if the team cannot afford to hire a permanent replacement. If a team can afford to hire the cheapest player available then no journeyman can be used to replace a dead or retired team-mate. [HR]
For example, Altdorf Aces have 11 players. In their first game one blitzer gets a Miss Next Game injury while another is killed. They get 50,000 gp winnings from the game. The Aces will be allocated a Journeyman to replace the MNG blitzer but because they can afford to replace the dead one (albeit with a lineman) then they would not be allowed a journeyman and may choose to start the next game with 10 players.

Game Aids

Emrys has put together an Excel spreadsheet which may be helpful to you for building your roster and GW produced a spreadsheet to track your team in case the website doing this doesn't satisfy you(!). Both can be downloaded below. Alternatively, use the Forms page to let the website generate your roster sheet.

Downloads

• Living Rulebook version 5 (5.8MB)
• Living Rulebook version 5 plus experimental rules (15.7MB)
• Living Rulebook version 5 plus experimental rules (Low resolution, 5.7MB)
• Emrys's TeamBuilder spreadsheet (LRB5+ version - 72kb)
• TeamRoster spreadsheet (347kb)
• Blank match record sheet [52kb]