The Pinewood Carrions

[Raveen]

An exciting end to the season!

The Brawlers chose to receive which gave their Death Roller a free hit at my team. The roller worried me, it's one of two players in the league able to outstrength my Tomb Guardians and getting hit by Mighty Blow is not what you want when you have Decay. I shoved three skeletons on the line and bade them farewell.

The ball went high and the dwarves collected it neatly, caging up in the middle of the pitch whilst running potential receivers down each flank. I elected to punish the dwarves on my right and started knocking heads together. The skellies in the middle did a sterling job of surviving the Roller and stodging up the mid pitch making it hard for the dwarfs to move. The Brawlers' star blitzer stranded himself on my sideline and I pushed him out easily. The crowd pulled his head off and the poor apothecary didn't have a potion that could cure it.

At this point I decided to engage the cage. The Roller wasn't acheiving much and it was time to make hay with the Guardians. I started pushing the cage about, a tight cage being easier to use for chain pushes to release the ball, and then pulled my whole team round to block down the Roller (who went over stunned).

The ball was forced free but I was totally engaged and couldn't get a Thro-Ra free easily. A turn of pushing got the Thro-Ra even more marked up and then another turn finally released him. He grabbed the ball and scampered off up the pitch Finally scoring on turn 8.

A second injury in the first half and the Death Roller removed by the ref put me against 8 players in the second half. The ball went off the pitch so I gave it to a Tomb guardian. We also had a pitch invasion as the Carrions fans went mental for the second game running leaving players on both sides snoozing. Against a depleted foe it was a relatively simple task to cage down the pitch and tie up the dwarves in the midfield. Poor June Gritfield was used to mark 6 dwarves whilst the rest of the team watched. She went off on a stretcher eventually. The ball was walked over the line with two turns to go.

Another kick off and another touchback. Spinx went for his patent passing play but failed teh catch. I was able to get in a get the ball but there wasn't time left to get to the other endzone and score.

A fun game but very one sided in the second half as Spinx chatted more than he paid attention as things were pretty irretrievable for most of the drive. Dice weren't as one sided as I'd have thought. I did better on the 2D6 rolls which helped but I think Spinx lacking in Troll Slayers helped me more than anything else.

[Raveen]

A shock win over an enemy that tormented us in the league!

The Carrions opted to receive in the first half and I think this was a good move. A deep kick allowed me to bash away at the Necros and cage up. Id3 never managed to get his Flesh Golems into place to be a real nuisance. I killed a zombie and KO'd a Wight and lost a Blitz-Ra, KO'd by a Werewolf blitz. Despite getting that St 4 Blodge Ghoul down and fouling at least twice I was unable to do more than stun the git. Sorry everyone.

There was a hairy moment when Fables! were able to hit the ball carrier scattering the ball. It ended after a turn of bouncing around in the hands of a Skeleton who finally walked it home on turn 8.

All KO'd players returned and we set up for the second half. The kick off was deep but Fables! were making inroads down my right flank. Then the half time whistle blew and we realised we'd actually ben playing Id3's turn 8.

Half Time - 1-0 to the Carrions

The second half kicked off finally and Fables! gathered the ball deep in their half. I pushed a Blitz-Ra forward enough to threaten the ball, hoping to force Id3 to move more quickly than he wanted. Fables! consolidated at midpitch with the ball carrier behind a deep line of players. My forward Blitz-Ra went for a 2D against block against the St 4 blodging monstrosity and I was lucky enough to roll Defender Down and Defender Stumbles with tackle. The ball scattered free behind the Fables! line. Around this time I blocked a Wight down next to the sideline with a Tomb Guardian and followed up to force the Wight to stay down or get surfed. Id3 placed a Golem behind my Guardian and I placed another Guardian next to the Golem. So the line was:

Wight (down) - Guardian1 - Golem - Guardian2

in order to move Guardian 2 I needed to block the Golem down with Guardian1. Did it happen? Yes, but not before turn 16 at the earliest. The really annoying thing was that Guardian 2 would knock it down every turn after Guardian 1 failed. Gah.

Anyway, back to the action. The ball was loose and a scrum formed in the mid-pitch. Last time we played Id3 got the better of me in these situations but I've picked up Guard on a couple of Guardians since then and I makes a difference. Id3 did pick the ball up and moved it into the scrum but I was able to blitz in with a Guardian and release it again, in the middle of a group of players for both teams. Fables! pushed a Guardian onto the ball scattering it to a Blitz-Ra who held it against all odds. From there I just needed to hold on and push forward if possible. In the end I was able to get free and scored a second Touchdown to end the match.

It was a fun game and only felt safe in the last couple of turns. Id3 tried to use his speed against me but I was a bit better prepared for his team this time and didn't get quite so out of shape which allowed him to miss that 2D blitz on the ball carrier and have it mean something. The dice were in my favour but at no point did it feel that either team had an unfair advantage because of it. I probably lucked out over a couple of failed pick-ups by the Ghouls slowing things down more than anything.

[Raveen]

Season 5 starts with a bang. And a crunch. And a whimper!

We kicked and we were lucky that the Chaos got confused on their way onto the pitch and set themselves up all wrong. A Minotaur quarterback is never going to work well (no matter what the AI thinks). Wyld gather the ball at the third time of trying, a move that cost him a KO'd beastman, and caged up at midpitch.

I had run a Tomb Guardian into the melee who was subsequently on the ground but still in the action. I decided to fire a wizard at the cage anyway and got lucky, knocking over 3 Chaos players and stunning at least 1. The ball bounced free and I covered it. There was a big scuffle and eventually the ball bounced free and was gathered by the Khemri. I was up enough on numbers that it was easy to force a way through and score on turn 11.

In the second half the Chaos kicked off and I got to use Kick Off Return for the first time (I think). I managed to catch the ball which was a surprise. I ploughed down the left flank, screening off the 7 Chaos players except for the Minotaur who managed to frenzy himself onto my side of the line. He had to go and he ended up with a fractured leg. I scored in good time figuring that I had the numbers sorted and stood a good chance of TD 3 for the first time ever.

I kicked short and the Chaos caged up on my left. I smashed into the cage with a Tomb Guardian and secured the ball. It wasn't enough though and the final turn rolled round with a deficit of two squares to the endzone. So I decided pass the ball instead which bounced around 4 different players before dribbling onto the ground. Everyone looked suitable shame-faced as the final whistle blew.

It was a fun game and I had the edge on the dice. To be honest though, the Apocalypse were screwed once they started leaving the pitch in numbers, being numbers up is all good for the Khemri.