Return of the Barbarians
- Jock Wright
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
Purplechest to Captain the Barbarians seeking a second upset!
The inaugural Home Nations played host to the four home nations, Malta as the tournament’s first guest nation and the Barbarians. Purplechest was offered the captaincy of the Barbars with a simple instruction from TO, BB_Jock.
Put together a squad of Barbarians who could do the unthinkable - stop Team England, the heavy favourites, from winning the first Home Nations.
Inspired by the Barbarians Rugby team, Purplechest set about assembling a team that had fair representation of good coaches from the home nations, and further afield. Impressively in the first year PC gained commitment from seven strong coaches including Candlejack from Germany, and JLeav travelling all the way from the U.S.!
However, the bubble almost burst in the first round before the tournament really got going as the Barbarians got caught cold and sank to a shock defeat to Team Scotland. On paper this was a mismatch, but the Scots hadn’t climbed over Hadrian’s Wall to take it easy. So the mission was nearly derailed before lunch on the first day!
But there were four more rounds to go and a hill to be climbed. Victory against Team England was a non-negotiable. The Barbarians would also need heavy scoring wins against Wales, Ireland and Malta to be in with a chance. By the end of round five everyone in the room knew that the tournament had gone to tiebreak after the Barbarians had gained a narrow victory against England at the end of Day one.
The question hung heavy in the air; who had won the first Home Nations Bowl?!
The Barbarians were triumphant in victory, by a single coach point over England - it couldn’t have been closer, they had done it! The Barbarians had come to add flair to proceedings and walked away with the first Bowl in doing so.
The Barbarians are back, and looking to write a new tale in the lore of the tournament
With a late drop out from Team France the call went out to Purplechest. Between PC and Jock a new set of Barbarians were hastily assembled with the goal of giving the national squads a run for their money.
Purplechest will tell anyone who’s listening, that this squad was put together with less than four weeks to go, and whilst it's a strong line-up the Barbarians are just there for a good time. Don’t believe a word of it; Purplechest is one of the most battle hardened Blood Bowl coaches in the UK, and he wouldn’t have relished the challenge of playing in the Bowl if he didn’t think the Barbarians couldn’t steal away a second title from under the national squads’ noses!
Speaking of which, let’s meet Purplechest’s fellow Barbarians.
Meet the Barbarians
The Barbarians come from five different nations and include; two former Barbarians, a Eurobowl Captain, four Eurobowl capped coaches, a Home Nations MVP and a legendary streamer of online Blood Bowl. This is a squad who should not be taken lightly, and they’ll be there to compete - trust me.
Purplechest, Captain
Purplechest is a serial tournament winner, not least the Home Nations Bowl in 2024, two-time Barbarian Captain who has never been capped by his country, but he’s definitely of that quality. He’s also known for his One World One Blood Bowl Podcast (OWOBB) that delves into all corners of the game and the community, which in turn enables him to convince some of the finest coaches to be a Barbarian! Expect him to lead the charge from the front and show no quarter.
Famous for saying, “Better to be lucky than good!” However he’s just as good as he is lucky!
Candlejack, Barbarian and Team Germany coach
Candlejack is a well known coach of the community, probably most famously for helping Christer over the years in coding and maintaining Fumbbl - such an incredibly important institution to the game.
However, that’s not all he’s good at - Candlejack, alongside PC is a returning Barbarian who tasted victory at the first Home Nations and he’s been capped on several occasions for Team Germany at Eurobowl over the years. A towering presence, quite literally, who’ll be key to building round wins off the back of.
Tshchirgant, Team Germany Captain
A baby-faced assassin in the shape of Tschirgant, current captain of Team Germany for this year’s Eurobowl is a class act both on and off the pitch. I have had the pleasure of playing alongside him at the recent Tilean Team Cup and I’m glad my good friend is in the line-up for the Barbarians. A quality coach who I’m sure no Bowl coach will be underestimating if they face him across the table.
Tobi brings a great attitude to the game, when I asked him for a quote on how he sees the game he said, “There’s nothing to win in Blood Bowl, besides friends!” - a very fitting sentiment, so whilst he’s ready to make friends I don’t think he’s going to be handing out free wins!
Loki, Six-time capped Scotland coach
Loki, sporting NAF number 371, has been around the game for a long-time. A stalwart of Scottish Blood Bowl, six-time Eurobowl capped and was crucial to the Scotland Squad last year, which finally delivered Eurobowl hosting rights in Budapest.
Loki is a rock of a coach, and in team tournaments is a steadying force to help build round wins. He’s also a bit of a sage philosopher. When I asked him what kind of advice he’d give to fellow coaches looking to make the step-up to international Blood Bowl he said, “Always make sure you know the difference between your dice cup and your pint!
TheRake, former England Eurobowl coach
TheRake is the fourth of our Eurobowl capped coaches, earning his stripes in Athens at Eurobowl XV for Team England. Known for flamboyant hair and flamboyant minis he walks a less traditional path typically whilst piloting Norse extremely well. Although I have it on good authority not for the Home Nations.
Asked for some words of wisdom he lives by, “Whatever happens, no matter how bad it looks, potatoing is always a valid strategy…Also subtly giving your opponent the finger can be surprisingly therapeutic!”
Scouseboy, Home Nations I Open winner and MVP of the tournament
Scouseboy has been involved with the Team England set-up over the years, and notably was part of the team who won the first Home Nations Open in 2024. Not only that, but he put in a brilliant shift going 4-1-0 and secured the MVP of the tournament and his team.
Craig is a solid player, who also knows when to gamble, “Play like you’ll get it. If you need a long shot, assume you’ll get there and set up the play to maximise that.” Coaches be warned - he’s coming for your ball!
Elyod, Blood Bowl 2 streaming legend
Elyod is not someone you’ll have seen at your local tournament. With only a handful of tabletop tournaments under his belt he was predominantly a streamer in the glory days of BB2. It’s also no word of a lie that I learnt a few of my chops from watching Elyod on stream. He’s considered a ‘poly-Bowler’ who is adept with any race. I think I’m not wrong in saying in BB2 days, the only coach on the platform to qualify for Chalice with every single race.
He’s quiet, unassuming, but don’t be fooled, if he can convert his talent for the game from online to tabletop you’re going to be on the wrong end of the result!
SickasEggs, all-round good egg
SickasEggs hails from the Waterbowl league and he’s probably the most fresh-faced of the team to the game. However, don't let that fool you. At Waterbowl this year he put Siggi, Team Switzerland captain, to the sword in an impressive result and won’t be phased by squaring off against ‘big names’ across the table from him.
Live Round 1 Draw this Monday 29 June on Twitch
If you’re set to play at the Home Nations, you won’t want to miss out seeing who you’ve got the in the first round*Nothing goes wrong when you do such things live on TV, right? Tune in on Monday 29 June at 8pm (UK) on Keithabixx’s stream: https://www.twitch.tv/keithabixx
*like all good T&Cs in small writing at the bottom - Round One will be subject to redraw if teams, for whatever reason, don’t turn up to registration on the morning of the tournament.
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