The Witch Gate Wanderers

[Raveen]

Exiled from the Dark Elf homeland of Naggaroth for acts of wanton cruelty even by the horriffic standards of that cold place, the Elucidated Brethren of Khaine made a perilous voyage to the Old World. On arrival they met the Blood Bowl promoter Bernard Ecclescakes who recognised that the cruelty of the Brethren was perfect family viewing on the Blood Bowl pitch. The Brethren for their part saw an opportunity to top even the darkest acts performed in their homeland.

The Brethren promptly changed their name to the Witch Gate Wanderers and took to the field against a team of touring goblins. None of the goblins has been seen again but in subsequent appearances the Wanderers have appeared in stylist green leather armour.

[Raveen]

Chaos. Ugh, they're nasty, they're mutated and they're wearing anoraks for some reason. We kept our distance from the scummy, nasty, nerdy things and kicked off to them in the first half. By keeping back we stopped them getting too far until an opportunity to pop the ball free presented itself. A few hits along the way managed to KO a couple of beastmen and once the ball was free we ran the hell away and scored on the last turn of the half.

in the second half they kicked  ot us but the ball was coated in some sort of goo (topical cream they say but I have other suspicions) so we decided to drop it in front of their chaos warrior so he could clean it. Instead the bastards run at us with the damn thing forcing us to play the stall and fade game again. This time I leave one opening allowing them to get too close and I couldn't keep them out in the last turn.

I would like to point out that, although I only failed 2 out of 34 dodges, NJ didn't roll a single 1 all game. Bloomin' dice!

[Raveen]

Dwarves. There's nothing worth saying about Dwarves. They're short and that's about it. And it was bloody cold. A blizzard blew through the ground for the whole game making running and passing a risky business.

We kicked and set about disabusing the shorties of any idea that they might want to score. They hit at us but we danced around them and broke the ball away from the slow slow "runner" to score at the end of the half.

In the second half their kick was so poor that it barely even crossed the line and even then they blitzed to get an extra go at picking it up. Dressed only in our skimpy armour a number of the Wanderers decided to lie down or even go off for a hot bath but enough remained to get the ball free and run it safe but the clock was against us and we couldn't get the score. Still the earnings from the match has bought an apothecary and we intend to bribe a weather witch for a nice sunny day before our next match.

[Raveen]

Cursed tree loving scumbelinas. We were overcome with hatred and rather forgot about that ball thingy. The first half saw tempers flare on both sides with 6 players heading off the pitch to the KO or injured boxes in the first few turns including that poncey wardancer whose apothecary managed to turn from badly injured to dead. The woodelf scum recieved the ball and knocked out our valiant linelves before passing the ball through and scoring. we received but general incompetence led to the ball being turned over and heading into halftime 2-0 down.

The second half started more in our favour with a solid set of hits leading to a touchdown. Sadly the luck wasn't to last and some disastrous play saw the ball punted deep into our backfield. the speed of the woodelves meant that we missjudged a block and pushed a single elf into a position where he could score in the final moments of the game and his luck held to make it 3-1 to the Everglade Scum.

[Raveen]

Following the loss to our woodland cousins we spent the week in ritual penitence and sacrificed many virgins on the alters of our dark gods. The priestesses bathed in blood and undertook terrible acts to win favour for the final game of the season.

Humans are just so terribly mundane aren't they. Unimaginative plodders the lot of them and as for that Ogre? The Empire can keep 'em that's what we say.

We started off receiving the ball which was gathered simply and we started to grind down the pitch. The humans seemed unwilling to engage us but were able to slow us to a crawl. Fortunately we were able to force the issue and broke through. Sadly we managed to lose the ball as we broke through but some skilled play got the job done. With plenty of time left the Humans were able to fight their way back up the pitch and they scored as the whistle blew to end the half.

The second half looked dire. We had been unable to keep the humans out of the endzone for a quarter, let alone a full half. The ball went deep but they took it like professionals and caged up at the half way line. We tried to stall them and succeed in knocking three humans out, but again they were able to knock a hole in the defence with a lucky tackle. A few humans with the ball spilled through our defences but their team was split. Unfortunately the ball carrier was at the limit of our range as we sprinted back up the pitch. A blitz in from our runner knocked the ball back but only as far as a human blitzer. We have a loose screen and the humans can't knock enough Elves down to walk through. A boot in the right place trips the ball carrier on the way to the line and the ball spills onto the ground between a human and an elf. Riannhor, our star blitzer who had been knocked to the ground by that brutish ogre saw an opportunity. He scrambled to his feet and dodged away from the ogre. Dancing between the humans he snatched up the ball and launched it down the field to Althion. Althion, another blitzer, has been training hard since our last game and can run faster than anyone. With the ball unexpectedly in hand he high tailed it in the direction of the endzone, and away from the fists of the humans. The rest of the team follow suit and the humans are left choking on our dust. A quick jog over the line and the game is ours.

A really well played game by Idan that I totally didn't deserve to win. I did the calculations on that winning move (dodge, pickup in in a TZ, throw in a TZ, interception chance and catch) and I should have failed 9 times in 10. Luck was with me and it won me the game. Idan will be a holy terror if he ever gets his hands on an elf team so remember people, if you see Idan hanging around with some pointy eared gits start calling in the assassins guild

[Idanmel]

A very well played game, Rav. I enjoyed it!

[Raveen]

Bathed in blood the Witch Elf gloried in her new role. In a furious rage she had blocked two of the human scum off the pitch. The game had gone well, an early touchdown by the humans gave the Wanderers the ball and then they managed to pummel their way through to score at half time. Despite losing a lineelf after the ref spotted the boot going in hard we were on top.

In the second half we recieved the ball and punished the humans for  their presumptuousness. Their foolish Ogre just stood around dumbfounded and we attacked, first on the left, then switching to the right before diving through the middle. We held the ball in hand and taunted them for a couple of turns before jogging it home. A tense few turns at the end of the game saw us force the humans into a pressure situation and they didn't have the chance to get the ball near the line. They did however kill a lineelf who shall be remembered as giving his life at the very last to achieve not much of anything.

A good game by Idan marred by shabbily unlucky dice on his part and a couple of lucky injuries by my team. Even with 2 causalties and 3 turns left it wasn't an easy win for me and it's a credit to Idan that he kept his cool in the face of nasty nasty dice (7 out of 14 bonehead rolls failed. that's a 1 in 6 roll btw).

Thanks for the game Idan and i hope we meet again under better circumstances.

[Raveen]

Liardmen, they're just so terribly gauche. All scaly and smelly and talkign about their 'Guv'.

The first half saw us kicking the ball to the uncouth police-lizards. They failed to pick it up so we blitzed in and grabbed the ball, throwing it back and running it across our half before taking it down the other wing. Straight into a bunch of Sauri with notebooks. A scrabble ensued but we broke away in the end to score after a turn or two of stalling.

We kicked off again and the Liards marched confidently in a cage towards us. We force them to the sidelines and start pushing them into the crowd. A chain push sees the ball carrier in the crowd and the ball thrown into space. A run, grab and then it was half time.

We received in the second half and ran in a quick touchdown although there was the awesome dodge, dodge, block, push into push into touchdown affair.

We kicked off again, and the lizards came swinging. Again we broke it free and run it through for a touchdown in the dying seconds.

A fun game for me, not so much for nj I think The lizards will be holy terrors given some skills but the lack of block and sure hands is holding them up at the moment. I lost my runner to an injury so he's missing the next game but I did get a second Witch Elf so I'll at least be starting with 11 men against the Chaos Dwarves.

[notjarvis]

That game turned on a few moments for me.
- The first touchdown was enabled by me rolling 6 block dice to make 2 blocks (I re-rolled one of them) and 5 of them were both down or defender down, leaving the ball open-ish for you to run it free
- That extraordinary move where a surrounded player - 4 players around him managed to block and dodge himself free to score single-handed.

Other notes from my end -
- I could have pulled one back to 2-1 at least if I had just picked up the ball on a 3+ with a re-roll (and only 1 GFI) 2 turns later too.
- The third touchdown was a result of that failure plus the fact that desparate late move had overextended/exposed too many skinks to blocks
Sigh - sometimes things don't go your way :-) Well played

[Raveen]

I was certainly trying to get rid of skinks in the second half. Once I realised there were only two left I thought it might be possible. I think that skink management is the hardest part of coaching lizards (which I never have, so this is speculation) simply because, unlike dwarves, Sauri just cannot get the job done with 1 Ag.

[notjarvis]

Yeah.
To be honest - if I wasn't so desperate to get a quick score to get something out of that game, I wouldn't have left so many near your players, I normally try to keep them from harm more.

[Raveen]

It was an interesting counterpoint to our last game. My team is developed now whereas you have another fresh team. The strength deficit bothered me less this time so I was willing to let you get hits in against my armour 8 guys far more this time. I was also more active about breaking the ball out as well as using defensive techniques that Idan uses so well to slow you down.

[Raveen]

Ugh, Chaos Dwarves. Such terrible taste in millinery don't you think? At least it kept the rain off their tiny little heads but it's still a shocking fashion faux pas.

We chose to kick in the first half and sent the ball deep into the opposing half. The Dwarves had front loaded their offence and we were able to get moving before they realised the whistle had blown. First things first, a Chaos Dwarf Blocker on his face in the dirt and we were through the line into the opposing half, chasing down the ball. The hobgoblins Made it to the ball first and promptly dropped it. A scrum formed around the ball but they were able to break it free. We stalled them on the sideline and the ball ended up bouncing out of play. The throw in landed in Wanderer territory and we tried an ambitious pass and run move in the dying seconds of the half but it wasn't to be.

We received in the second half and this time a Witch Elf was able to surf a Blocker. We gathered the ball and caged on the left. The dwarves moved to counter leaving a gap in the centre that we were happy to exploit. The Dwarves moved to counter again but it was all too easy to break out and score.
`````````````````````````````````
We kicked off again, aiming to replicate the first half by driving the ball deep. The crowd don't approve and send a rock sailing into the midpitch stunning a linelf. The Champions were brutal in their push through and were able to get a pass through to a Bull Centaur who easily ran home for a touchdown.

We received again as the rain finally stopped. An early failed dodge ended our first move and stalled our offence. We moved the ball up and broke through but it was too late and we were unable to get to the line before the whistle blew. A final score of 1-1 and a Witch Elf who failed too many dodge rolls being fully disciplined for the next seven days.

[Raveen]

And the Witch Gate Wanderers go out of the cup in a shock defeat by the Brewers Brawlers! There will be a long period of contemplation, meditation and ultra-violence as the ramifications of this are felt. The Wanderers will stay to see the final victor of the tournament before setting off for pastures new.

That was a horrible game. Not because of Spinx, although his mental passing game reared it's ugly head again But in this game I rolled 41 D6s of which 10 came up 1 and another 9 came up 2. That made it really hard to achieve anything because I couldn't dodge so my turns were pretty short

The first half started well, I kicked short and was able to get in and steal the ball out of the rudimentary cage that the dwarves were forming. They got it back, I took it off them and ran up the field. The dwarves followed and got a good block in and passed it back to where it started. In the ensuing scrum the Elves were going down harder than the dwarves and numbers because very one sided. The Brawlers marched the ball home happily. This is where the bad luck started and I couldn't get or hold the ball well. Happily at half time my KOd players returned. It didn't do any good though. Unable to roll more than 1 unless I needed a 3 in which case a 2 would do, I couldn't do much to move the ball and it ended up in a scrum midfield. I had a receiver ready to pounce and had several opportunities to break the ball out but sadly I wasn't able to get it done. It came down to a block on the very last turn but unfortunately the guy who blitzed picked up the scattered ball and a player who's blitzing can't pass or hand off. Game over 1-0.

Thanks to Spinx for playing and remaining a fun opponent, I hope I didn't get too ratty but I was pretty frustrated for a while there

[Raveen]

The brethren bore their fallen brothers away from the stadium. It was clear that there was no place for them any more at this competition. They would need to find a new way.

They set off across the continent, accompanied by the lamentations of all they encountered. Occasionally they would stop to play a game of Blood Bowl, the rites must be observed after all, but their hearts were not in it. No matter the margin of victory, no matter the quantity of blood spilt, nothing would clean away the stain of failure.

From the frozen north they travelled through the Empire of the Humans and into the lands of the questing knights. Estalia and Tilea felt their rage and were happy to see them leave Human lands and cross into the Orc infested Badlands. The Greenskins fared no better than the Humans had and these darkest of Elves passed almost unmolested into the south, beyond the sight of any living eyes.

Through the desert they trekked. Finally they came to a great, wide valley with steep mountainous sides. The sands had not touched this place and the parched earth was bare. The only natural features of note were hundreds of petrified tree stumps. Once, eons ago, a great forest must have grown in this place, before evil overcame the land and the dead overcame the living.

After weeks of searching the Dark Elves found what they had been drawn to. With the correct rituals and sacrifices being performed a crack in the rock wall opened to show a tight passage down into the heart of the mountain. The Elves steadied themselves and strode into the deep darkness. Inside they found what they had been seeking.

Throughout the valley, where nothing had moved for millennia, a sound was heard, not that there were any left to hear it. It was a dry, creaking, rattling sound, like the laughter of a corpse.

Hya hya hya!