Brighton Piers 2, 6th September 2025

This past Saturday was the second Brighton Piers event which is a paired tournament held at the Dice Saloon in Brighton.

As with last year, myself and Damology went down as a team. We retained the Evil Dead 2 team name despite switching away from undead teams.  

Damo had opted to take Norse so I went for my favourite team - Wood Elves. I don't like the tree as it doesn't fit my playstyle, so I had 2 wardancers (strip ball and tackle), 4 catchers, 1 thrower (leader) and 4 linemen (3 with dodge).

There was a special rule in place for this event where two of the linemen were deemed to be best friends. Once per half, if either failed an action which would lead to a turnover, then if they were within 3 squares of each other, you could re-roll that action. I made one of my unskilled linemen the BFF of a dodge lineman and tried to keep them close, thus effectively giving him dodge as well. That was the theory - more often than not, one of them was removed immediately. 

Round 1 v Simon (armsiee, The Old Blorcs)

I've played Simon a couple of times - once at Sevens when I won, and once online which he won. He had an OWA team with Maple, 

I kick and I wait patiently for a shot at the ball. He has a thrower with sure hands and it feels like there's no point cage diving while it is in his hands, despite only having 1 guard piece on the team and likely being able to make it a 1 dice block. 

Around the middle of the half he hands off to his human catcher and at this point, it feels very much worthwhile to take a short as I could get a 2 dice block with strip ball and had reasonable recovery options. 

Unfortunately I'm unable to roll a 5+ with dodge both attempts and he is able to score on turn 8.

Despite there being 2 trees on the line of scrimmage, I am able to work out a way to try for a one turn touchdown, but then a blitz is rolled and I am unable to fill in a key square so it doesn't happen.

Receiving I easily get the ball around his defence and with Damo winning, he suggests I play for the draw for the team win. Whilst stalling out, I try to hurt the key players for his attempt at a one turn touchdown, managing to knock out his catcher, thrower and one of his two halflings was sent off. 

When he sets up for his one turn attempt, I also get a blitz! I made a mistake here. I sent the tackle wardancer to blitz the halfling (he had not set up for a catcher attempt) and so a knockdown guarantees the draw but a push probably makes it a draw. I should have moved players to cover the spare that the wardancer was about to vacate before making the blitz, as he fails the 3+ leap to hit the halfling, who is then able to land next to where the wardancer was, blitz a catcher out of the way, dodge, rush and score to get the win. 

This is disappointing as I know I made a mistake to make it easier for the score to happen. I think playing for the draw was the right call, however in a singles event, I would have scored and attempted to turn them over again in the second half.

With a win and a loss, this is a team draw. 

Round 2 v Andy (andydavo)

I've spoken to Andy on several occasions but this was the first time that we had faced each other. He had lizards with a stand firm kroxigor, 6 block saurus and some skinks to 12 with no apothecary. 

He was using the friendship on skinks to effectively give them sure hands, and so was able to make the pickup. 

I kick to him and manage to remove a skink early and then a saurus in the middle of the first half. Being up on numbers doesn't last too long, despite the kroxigor not doing anything for 4 turns, as one wardancer is fouled into the KO box with the other surfed. For anyone who hasn't watched Andy play before, he very much enjoys surfing his opponents. 

On my turn 7 the skink with the ball is 10 squares away from the endzone. I figure a way to do 2 uphill blocks which would chain push him out of range, however I snake a dodge whilst marking up other players before taking the risky play. He clears the path and needs two rushes - each of them come up a 1 but both are re-rolled successfully. 

There is no point going for a one turn touchdown as he sets up to make it nigh on impossible with more risk than I am willing to take. 

Receiving the ball, I make the exact same mistake I made against Meenah last week at UKTC where I forget how fast sauruses are. One gets through and his my ball carrier, with the ball being surrounded by skinks and recovered. I put a lot of pressure on him to score, and he goes 2-0 up early in the second half.

A quick score on my part gives me a chance to put pressure on for the equaliser, however I should have marked up more of his players as he is able to form a 9-player meat cube and deny me any chance of a shot at the ball. 

Damo draws a norse-off with Dimmy and so this is a team loss.

Round 3 v Tom (non-NAF)

After 2 straight losses, I was given an elf off! Tom and his high elves, which was a fun game. We traded touchdowns back and forth such that is was 2-2 at half time.

Receiving the ball I then move slowly up rather than scoring quickly. He isn't afraid to cage dive and manages to knock the ball loose on a couple of occasions, however I recover and further cage dives are unsuccessful. I am winning the war of attrition as I form a Vengabus and score on my turn 8. Not knowing how to get a one turn touchdown, this means I win 3-2.

As Damo also managed a victory, we record our first team win of the day. 

I ended 1/0/2, with the team ending 1/1/1.