Your correspondent sets off on his journey. He is going south, as naturally most places are south of Middenheim, but on this occassion it really is “south”.
The journey is to Carcassonne, the most southern dukedom of Bretonnia, the watcher of the Irrana mountains who hold back the greenskin tide. Nearly all of its people, from the highest noble to the lowest peasant, is a warrior in both skill and spirit. Being skilled at the arts of war is simply expected within most of Carcassonne’s communities. What better foundation could there be for a bloodbowl team?
Militarily inspired and imposing, your correspondent arrives at the Sieur Domec Stadium, home to the Carcassonne Eagles. A shiver of trepidation runs through this correspondent’s spine, as the doors to stadium shut behind me.
However, the fear is unfounded as we feted as VIPs and Brionne minstrels play calming music as your correspondent enjoys yet more oppulent Bretonnia hospitality. Coach Ravensfan joins us for food in between practice sessions.
Die Fauschlag Nachricten: Coach, after you took over the eagles for S13, its a pleasure to finally meet you in person. How did you feel your first season went? How have you found the learning curve so far in DLE? What went well, and what are you looking to improve upon this coming season?
Coach Ravensfan: A pleasure to meet you too. Well the first season was tough. Not a lot of thing went well. We learned that we need more strength and MB to compensate my poor coaching ability. This year we wanna improve in CAS!
Cause that’s what matters here in Carcassonne. We’ll try to win games for sure but that’s not really the top priority. We think we had an awesome off-season by being able to have 8 ST4 and 1 ST6 in the roster. Add 6 MB and a lot of guards we feel opponent will fear playing vs us. [Your correspondent nods and is very relieved that the Classics played the Eagles last season].
DFN: What prompted the move to Carcassone? I guess for a start it is warmer here south than up in Skadi!
Coach R: Well Sieur Domec [the new owner of the Eagles] had trouble to keep the poor happy in Carcassonne, so when he asked me for a solution, I said to him the poor needs bread and games. Food and entertainment will keep the poor happy. So he decided to bring blood bowl to Carcassonne.
DFN: You took charge after the draft, how did you find your first draft this off-season? Do you think there is anything you will look to do differently next draft?
Coach R: I think we had an awesome compensatory & main draft.
In the compensatory, we were able to select the only +ST available with Jamie Sharper, a pure strength lino. We’ll try to develop him this season to earn at least 2 kills.
For the main draft we had Ed Oliver with the 4th pick, a +ST Block MB lineman. Developing well so far with 2 cas and 1 TD in 4 games. We also draftted Boby Okereke a MB/Guard Blitzer to add more power and to assist our ST4. Felton Davis a +ST catcher dies after only 2 games. That’s the only wasted pick so far. Our draft was given an A – in Coach Dieuraskel’s draft recap.
DFN: The Eagles in the past have gone heavy on +AG. This off-season you seem to have taken a different approach. Tell Blitz! your thinking behind your exciting team construction.
Coach R: As I said earlier when Sieur Domec took the team he asked for pure violence. People of Carcassonne want to see blood. So we thought bringing more Strength and MB players will help us achieve that. We want Carcassonne to be the most violent team of all! We want opponents to have fear before coming in the Sieur Domec Stadium. They might win but they will suffer. We aim at only fielding +ST players in the future.
DFN: Is the team setup fully to your liking or are there changes you still want to implement?
Coach R: Well we want more +ST players. We need may be a thrower and a 1 turn specialist. But we also looking at dirty players to stomp opponent!
DFN: Have ownership set you any targets for S14?
Coach R: The only target is to be in the top 3 Cas. Winning don’t matter here. We need blood! [Your correspondent is beginning to think those rumours of Sieur Domec being from Sylvania might be true…]
DFN: How do you feel your SoS has gone to start the season what do you make of your rivals start in the KFC?
Coach R: Well the SoS was not bad but not good either. No offense but we think we had an rather easy schedule. We finished 1-2-0 but we had to be 2-1-0 if I didn’t coach badly. We played our 4th game vs Wreckers. Once again I feel we had a shot to win it but poor coaching decisions let the wreckers score for the 1-1. But hey we WRECK’EM and that’s what matters!
DFN: The Eagles have a solid history to their backstory, including a Superb Owl visit. How do you see yourself adding to this?
Coach R: Well the Eagles have a big history of losing seasons. Only 2 or 3 playoff runs despite the fact they are here from Season 1. Coach Guiness kinda turned the tide here, as he was able to build a great team and play a Superb Owl the season prior Sieur Domec bought the team. Today the Eagles are looking to become the most violent team of all. Nothing less!
And with that, Coach Ravensfan has to leave, as second training is due to start. I was allowed the privilege of watching these brutes beat each other senseless in training but even this was not enough to quench the blood lust.
Nuffle does his best to remove certainty from the league, but I am sure if there is one thing that will be certain come the end of the season, its that teams will be fearing to come to Carcassonne.
