League Rules

TEAM BUILDING RULES

Pre-Season – Team Drafting:

All starting teams will be drafted with a starting budget 1.3 million gold plus any bonuses collected due to league or knockout cup positioning

Teams can be drafted using any of the team rosters found in the Blood Bowl Rulebook, Spike Magazines / Spike Almanac or the Blood Bowl Teams of Legend rules published on the GW Website as well as Slann and Demons of Khorne from NAF website.

All team rosters need to be submitted to the League Commissioner before the League commences. The latest published team list will always be used. If a Spike for a team is published mid-season and there are changes made to the players available, the coach of that team can continue using any players that can no longer be purchased for their team until they die or are sacked but cannot replace them and they must use the new roster as soon as they are able.

All teams must purchase a minimum of 11 players.

Skills can be bought to improve the base team at the costs equivalent to the player having gained that skill during the season, but only one added skills per player.

10,000 gold Random primary or +1 AV

20,000 gold Chosen primary, random secondary, +1 PA or +1 MA

40,000 gold Chosen secondary or +1 AG

80,000 gold +1 ST

Reminder: All teams start with 1 free point of Dedicated Fans.

FROM SEASON THREE ONWARDS NO TEAMS MAY START WITH STAR PLAYERS OR INDUCEMENTS.

Pre-Season – Re-Drafting Teams:

Prior to the new season a coach may choose to re-draft a returning team. This team must be built up to the 1300 CTV plus any bonuses collected due to league or knockout cup positioning.

All SPPs not assigned prior to the end of the previous season will be removed and the player will start the following season with zero SPPs. All players that have gained skills can be kept at their current value but cannot have additional skills added to them.

New players may be bought with a single skill added as with building a team from scratch.

For any player returning for his second season in a team the coach must roll for possible retirement of each veteran on the team. To check for retirement roll a D8 (or a D6 if won Phoenix Division) and if the result is less than the number of skills added the player has played in the team they have decided to hand up their boots and retire.

Retiring Teams Mid-Season:

A coach may choose to retire an active team at any point in the regular season. A retired team retains their accrued league points and will receive a final league position but a retired team is considered to have disbanded and may not be re-drafted between seasons.

LEAGUE FORMAT

The League will be made up of a regular season divided into two divisions and a knockout tournament.

The Regular Season :
Regular league matches will take place on Sundays at the St James on the Grange, Coventry between 2pm and 5pm. Match-ups will be determined on a fixture list that will be available at the start of the season.

There will be two separate divisions running simultaneously.

Division One will be played using full league rules and players will gain SPPs, injuries and death on a fixed fixture list.

Division Two will be allowed to begin using Resurrection rules which will mean that no players will be injured or gain SPPs and the team will receive zero gold. This will continue until the team achieves it's first win, after which they will be played using full league rules and players will gain SPPs, injuries and death. This will take effect on the following game.

All teams in both divisions will abide by the same team building rules at the start of each season.

All coaches must report the results of their match to the league commissioners for the match to count as an official fixture for the purposes of league scoring.

All matches in the will be of standard length (two halves, made of 8 turns per coach per half). If the score is tied at the end of the match Extra Time will not be played and the match will be recorded as a draw.

Rookie Coaches:
The Phoenix Blood Bowl League is keen to encourage new players into the game of Blood Bowl, but we also recognise that picking up a new game can be challenging when you are playing against veteran players. To accommodate this our Division Two allows players to begin with players using resurrection rules to try and help new coaches through the learning curve.

Any coach playing in their lower league may automatically heal any injuries and player deaths in the post-match sequence. This rule comes into play at the end of a match, during the post match sequence, and ensures that a coach will always start their next game with a full-strength roster. All casualties will be treated normally while the match is in progress (after all, learning to play with a reduced team is a key part of learning to play Blood Bowl), and all other rules linked to causing casualties, e.g. the effects of the Plague Ridden or Master of Death special rules, will activate as normal.

Once the coach has achieved his first win then full rules will come into effect. All SPPs earned from this game will be collected by the relevant players and all players will be fully healed for the start of the next game.

Availability

All games are set with a two week time scale to play. If you are unable to play your game in the time slot allotted for any fixture please let a commissioner know beforehand. Each coach will be allowed to carry one game in hand to be played at a later date. The current week's games must always take precedence and the second week of each league week can be used to catch up on the game in hand.

Once a coach is unavailable for a second game they must declare one of those games as a 2-0 loss so that the league can continue smoothly.

League Scoring:

League points will be awarded as follows:

Win = 5 points
Draw = 3 points
Loss = 1 point

In addition, bonus points will be awarded after each game for the following achievements:

Three TDs = 1 point
Three casualties = 1 point

Clean Sheet = 2pts

Final league position will be based on the total number of league points at the end of the regular season.

In the event of two teams ending the regular season with an equal number of league points, final position will be determined by the following sequence of tie-breakers:

Total league points for matches played against each other, net touchdowns and casualties (total number of touchdowns and casualties achieved minus total touchdowns and casualties against), number of touchdowns scored, casualties inflicted and kills inflicted

If the two teams cannot be differentiated by the above tie-breakers then final league position will be determined by a coin-toss.

Coach dropping out mid-season:

If a coach has to drop out of either division mid-season then all future games that the coach would have played are considered a 2-0 for the coach that would play them.

A D16 will be rolled to determine which players scored during this game as well as the MVP and the relevant SPPs will be added.

Money will be earned as if the game went ahead with a Fan Factor of 3 for the removed team.

Coaches joining mid-season:

A coach can join Division Two at any point during the season and play as many games as they are able.

Once all other coaches have completed their relevant games then the season will end at that point even if the new coach has not completed their full quota of games.

Season Length:

All Phoenix Division teams will face each other in a head to head format for a total of 10 games.

All Leofric Division teams will face each other once and then a set format for the final games for a total of 10 games.

End of the Regular Season:

At the end of the regular season the two lowest placed teams in Phoenix will be relegated into Division Two.

The winner and runner-up of Division Two will be promoted to Phoenix.

The next lowest team of Phoenix and the third placed team with the most league points in Division Two will play a single game with the winner to be placed into Phoenix for the following season.

If there are enough players entering Division Two the following season they will be drawn to choose which conference they will be playing in for the upcoming season. This selection process will begin with any new players joining the league followed by, in reverse points order, all returning players.

At the end of the regular season, prize money will be awarded based on final league position and placing in the knockout cup as follows:

1st Place: an additional 100,000 gold pieces added to the team cap for the next season

2nd Place: an additional 50,000 gold pieces added to the team cap for the next season.

3rd Place: an additional 20,000 gold pieces added to the team cap for the next season.

In addition the team scoring most TDs, causing the most casualties or the combined totals will also recieve a further 25,000 gold.

A maximum of 150,000 gold can be added to a team’s cap for the following season.

KNOCKOUT CUP

All teams will be allowed entry into the knockout cup. The fixtures will be set at the end of the previous season. Places on the tournament schedule will be chosen based on the placing of teams from the previous season. All new players will choose first followed by, in reverse order, all returning players.

If 17 players have entered then the current KO Cup Champion will face the current Phoenix Champion to reduce the teams entered to 16 teams. If these are the same team then the second placed in Phoenix will take one of these spots.

If 18 players have entered then the above game will take place plus the runners up of both competitions. If either of these are the same team then the next highest ranked player from Phoenix will take their place.

Each round will take place on the first Sunday after each three week block of league games.

All teams entering each round of the KO Cup will be as their current league team. Inducements will be allowed for the team with the lowest CTV. Each KO Cup game will be played under Resurrection rules meaning no injuries will incur for any player but also teams will not gain monies or SPPs for these games.

If a coach is unable to fulfil their fixture they will forfeit their match. In the event of a forfeit, the remaining coach will receive a bye through to the next round.

The winner of each game, by score, will progress to the next round.

If at the end of regulation time the match is a draw then the following procedure will take place:

If the two teams are from different divisions then the team from the lower division will be declared the winner.

FROM SEASON 4: If both teams are from the same division then the player that was knocked out earliest in the previous KO Cup will be declared the winner. If neither of these rules achieve a winner then the Sudden Death rules from the Bloodbowl Rulebook will come into effect.

For the KO Cup Final if the match is a draw then the tiebreaker will be casualties caused. If this is a tie then it will head into Sudden Death rules.

Both teams will roll a D6, rerolling ties, and the first team to win three die rolls will be declared the winner