BB Match Reports - 11th Feb

[Wyld Karde]

Astrogranite Apocalypse (Chaos) vs Adept's Halfpints (Halflings)

A pretty standard bashy team vs halflings match.  Many casualties inflicted.  Not really any remarkable plays made, except that Adept did manage to pull off the ol' ball carrying halfling throw for a score, leading to an end result of 2-1.

Astrogranite Apocalypse (Chaos) vs Sleeping Beauty (Orc)

Mordechaj's inaugeral game of the league was definitely a change of pace.  For once I found myself facing a team that's as bashy as I am, and boy did it show.  Mord accidentally misclicked during setup and went into the match without inducements, which makes his performance all the more impressive.
The orcs opted to receive at the kickoff, and began as they meant to continue, bashing and smashing away at the chaos team.  The Apocalypse boys gave as good as they got, but the orcs eventually won out the opening brawl and managed to make a hole in the chaos right side, driving a cage down near the side of the pitch to score the first touchdown of the game.
In the end though, the superior experience of the Apocalypse players won out.  I'd actually invested in some ball handling and some slightly elfball plays allowed me to outmaneuver the orcs once the ball was in my possession.  There was some heavy bashing by both teams, but it was the orc dugout that ended up filling with casualties allowing the chaos team to win through attrition with a last minute touchdown taking the score to 2-1 to the Apocalypse.

Mordechaj played well and if it hadn't been for the unfair advantage I had due to Mord's misclick during setup this could easily have been a draw, or possibly even a win for the orcs.

[Mordechaj]

Except for the obvious difference in skill and experience (of the coach, not the players ) - the main difference was in my team not having any dedicated ball handlers. No throwers, no catchers.
Wyld's minotaur did dish out some damage, and I believe a non-orc team would be in a problem without it's own "Big Guy" to tie him up.
Once the casualties started to add up I wasn't able to counter the passing game, since we were pretty equal in the bashing department, with Chaos having more reserves, and double the re-rolls.

Interesting game for me, looking forward to more like this one.

[Gandalf]

Good to see Morde make his debut. Almost a shock result.

I played Idanmel tonight (Skaven vs Amazonians)

First half. Gandalf kicks off. A bit of bashing around happened and tunrs took a long time. I think what happened is Idan dropped the ball, and one of my gutter runners sneaked in, grabbed it and scored a touchdown.

Gameplay had been slow and the game lengthened even longer as the kickoff gave us an extra move each. More kicking ensued, and I managed to kill 2 of the Amazonians! They sure are squishy when they get hit. One of them was his level 3 catcher, Idan was not best pleased. Idan pushed towards my line, but I had massive strength in numbers and pinned his team against the sideline (see screenshot 1). One of my gutter runners picked up the loose ball and controversially passed the ball into space instead of running it, the receiver ran most of the way up the pitch then got flattened. However the Amazonians only had 4 people standing and lost the ball before long. With the pitch wide open I managed to nab a touchdown, making it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time.

Second half and it was now 9 against 11 Rats. However I think this was the most entertaining period of play. On the first turn, my thrower failed to pick the ball up, doh (Safe Hands clearly not all that safe). It was too far in my territory for Idan to come onto so I had a second bite of the cherry. I picked it up and made a short pass to someone who ran to about 5 squares from the touchdown, thanks to Pinky helping to bash a hole in the thin Amazonian lines. However this guy was closed down and tackled. The Amazonians then opened up a gap on the left and went for a long pass - however Mighty Mouse leapt beautifully and intercepted! (First time I've seen an interception). He ran in to score.

There were still about 5 turns left. I think I sneaked through but was brought down again before the line. Idan had half his team back getting the ball off me and the other half on the right flank. A pass later and suddenly everyone from both teams hurried to the right flank - it was a right pile-on (except Pinky who was "playing" with a lone Amazonian on the other side of the board) and the game ended with what felt like hundreds of blocks. It was a right royal melee but no-one was seriously hurt (see screenshot 2). Idan was at one stage considering a 4xdodge and 2xGFI for a touchdown, until he accidentally pushed one of my players into the tiny gap. Doh!

All in all, 6 passes happened, what a cracking high total. The injuries inflicted have really hurt Idan's team though, which is now worth less than 1 million. At least the luck of the game changed a bit after - I rolled a 1 for money, re-rolled and got another 1, so I got 30,000 to Idan's 60,000 (very-much needed for replacements). Also, one of my gutter runners levelled up to level 4, and took Diving Catch.

Here are the images - right-click and choose view image to get a proper look at them.