OCC Division 6A, Match 9

The Grey Haven Guard v Ulmus Lupus

A game against a somewhat battered necro team, for whom both wolves had died recently. I was giving away 470k of inducements, which they spent on Ramtut (first time I'd played against him) and a bribe.

Firstly - Ramtut is shit. What the hell is wrestle doing on that character. Seriously. "Waste of money" I thought, and so he proved - right up until the end of the game.

The first half was fine. I ran the ball. Badly hurt a Golem with my first block of the game. The bugger regenerated, but still. I just kept going left and blitzing with Vanval, until I was able to tiptoe around the left hand edge of the pitch and score on turn 6. I could have scored earlier or later, but I think that leaving the opponent 3 turns is optimum - give him the opportunity to score if (i) he takes risks and (ii) I defend badly. Gives the chance of a defensive score for me.

And so it proved - my opponent passed his 88% chance of not conceding a second score (I got a TZ on his ball carrier, but he dodged away with his AG3-and-a-reroll-ness), but I held firm and went in 1-0 up.

The second half was a bit of a ruck, and it all went wrong at the end. Up until about turn 13 I was trying to decide whether I would win 1-0 or 2-0, but I ended up conceding an equaliser and having to try a 1 turner to win the game. Not *really* sure how it happened - I think I really need to watch the replay and try to work it out, but the fault was mine and mine alone. I should not have conceded that touchdown, but basically half my team were miles away from the ball stunned, when they should have been blocking off blodger wights from scoring (blodger wights? who in their right mind takes dodge on a wight? madness!). It was a positioning mistake, getting too many of my team the wrong side of the ball.

My opponent scored on his turn 16, leaving 2 golems and Ramtut on the LOS. The only non-stand firmer was Ramtut, and I was reduced to blocking and blitzing him to get my catcher in position, but nevertheless it worked, although my attempt failed when I failed to pick up the ball.

The game finished 1-1, which means that I finish at best 3rd in the league, and probably 4th. A win would have meant 2nd. I therefore lose the shiny award, but will almost certainly be promoted at least one tier in any event. When I drafted this post I referred to the match a couple of times as a defeat, which is how I feel about it really. I should not have lost this game, dice rolls apart.

I had intended to reroll to Khorne next season, but I'll stick with these boys at least one more season and see how they get on. Vanval has emerged as the division's most violent player with 6 casualties, and was joint second highest scorer with 5 - not bad for a rookie in MD1!