The Bulwark

Lace up your cleats, put on your helmet and poison your knife, Blood Bowl is just around the corner. Bylliam Toofgobbla is your host again as 16 teams struggle for the most points at the end of 16 turns. Players you choose will gain skills, as they become star players adored by fans. Humans, Elves, Orks, and more face off against each other in this parody of American Football where the only way to achieve greatness is by creating a grand ascent of the dead and defeated. Your players will die, become injured, and develop horrible mutations all in pursuit of glory!

While we can certainly take the time to paint the models, and get a board together, we let Blood Bowl do the work for us. Two hosts will hold league nights at their house and run two copies of the Blood Bowl game by Cyanide Studios. Using hotseat mode you and your opponent will be able to sit face to face and do everything they can to remove each other’s blockers.

We look forward to starting a great season, and if you are interested join us at the Round Table on Pilsbury on August 29^th.

If computer games aren’t your thing and turn based strategy only makes you want to scream, perhaps the recently announced Blood Bowl LCG by Fantasy Flight Games may be up your ally?

Saturday witnessed the return of a Bulwark tradition, lying to your friends and enjoying a few beers while they suffer.  Diplomacy is the international game of politics and intrigue, each player makes alliances and breaks them in order the further the ends of his country. For more information on Diplomacy, check out some of our previous articles.

Arch-Duke Jared Gilmore gathered some new faces and some old as Russian swept West with the aid of Turkey. A special nod goes out to Blake Morillas who was sportsman of the evening. Playing as Austria he was first eliminated when the Germans, lead by the Arch-Duke himself, betrayed the nation and allowed Italy to sack the country.

We are looking forward to more Diplomacy games in the future. Some video was taken during the night and posted to our Facebook group, swing by and check it out.

Tomorrow morning history shall be made! The local knights and scions the powerful lords of Westeros will gather on the field of honor. Alliances will be made and broken, young warriors will clash with the old while power and intrigue takes place in the shadows of our great stadium. This is the Tournament of the Hand, and this day will decide the fate of the great Battle for the North.

For the last 5 weeks our players have been vying for position as leader of our Monday Night A Game of Thrones League. As the League closes a winner will be decided. Tomorrow will culminate in the day’s champions vying for total power at the final table. The schedule is below.

We will be seeding first round tables in a group format based on league performance.

10:00 Open
11:00 First Round
1:00 Lunch Break
2:00 Second Round
4:00 Third Round
6:00 Final Table

Also the current standings of the league are below as well.

1^st Sir John Deatrick the Bountiful
2^nd Sir Andrew Flicker, Scion of the Exiled
3^rd Sir Ben Blythe Scion of Lannister
4^th Sir James Stremel, Scion of Winterfell
5^th Dame Margo Franks the Hound Mistress
6^th Sir Andy Able the Furious
7^th Sir Ian Allen the Fruity
8^th Sir Don Boucher, Scion of the Rock
9^th Sir Ryan Huber, Scion of King Robert the Drunk
10^th Dame Jess Thomas the Fierce
11^th Sir Phillip Sexton the Victorious
12^th Sir Dirk Walls, the Upstart
13^th Sir Joel Snow, of the Wall
14^th Sir Chris Patzner, Keeper of the Tolls
15^th Dame Malinda Miller the Mild

Monday night John “JD” Deatrick made a boast. During A Game of Thrones league play he said he would purchase a chapter pack for the player who started on the lowbie table and rose the highest. Phillip “Pip” Sexton has had a wretched time, he is able to hold his own in casual games, but unable to see any sort of victory during league play. He went into the evening with not a single win under his belt. Well that all changed. After a first place win on a table of four and a second place on a table of three, Pip soared up in the rankings and as promised JD has penciled in a special order with the Bulwark’s special order desk.

Congratulations to Pip, and congratulations to JD for maintaining the honor of his house.

Last night The Bulwark hosted a newbie night for A Game of Thrones the Living Card Game. This fantastic game pits players against the other great houses of Westeros in a dangerous game of politics, power, and displays of military might. Each house has their own unique feel, and the game thrives on group mechanics and chains of victories instead of hoary combos that win the game in a few turns.

The local community is happy to welcome several new players into the hobby, who each assumed one of the core houses of Westeros. Margo Franks as house Stark emerged victorious after house Lannister over extended themselves and allowed Stark to press the advantage.  In the adjacent room, on the Jared Gilmore Memorial Table the Bulwark Vets had a dragout two and a half hour game end in a Targaryen victory (lead by Drew Flicker) with Martell one challenge from victory (played by Karen Hechel). “If Drew would have made me loose that stupid challenge I would have won,” Karen lamented. Oh well Martell, maybe next time.

We are happy to welcome all the new players to Chico’s premier A Game of Thrones Living Card Game league as we start up our second season.

The Bulwark is proud to welcome the Chico Beer and Blades club! This Diplomacy group has been negotiating deals, breaking alliances, and tenuously hanging onto their “friendship” for almost a year now. The group will be meeting this Saturday to discuss new league rules, the state of Piedmont, and to play a game. Visitors and newcomers alike are welcome to watch and encouraged to participate. If you have any questions feel free to contact me!