Round 3 Matches

Over the weekend the Man Cave hosted another double header set of matches for the ACT Rookies Division Round Three, with my Darkland Decimators facing off against the Khorne team Surf n' Turf (coached by Richard) and Right Stuff's Sherthor Scorchers playing the Orcs of the Butomax Broots (coached by Leigh).

Sherthor Scorchers VS Butomax Broots 
Amusingly, when I told Right Stuff who he was playing he said "No, not Leigh - he is my Nemesis!".  Right Stuff has played him 4 times and lost every time, including a fantastic match at his first CanCon competition (see Match 5 here).  Anyhow, against this background Right Stuff put his Pro Elves (with 4 Journeymen) against Leigh's Orcs...

Scorchers line out against the Broots

By Right Stuff: 
The game kicked off with myself winning the toss electing to receive. He kicks the ball and it heads towards mid pitch. The kick off result is a Blitz. Great. He charges around my flanks to try and get the ball.  He gets under it but luckily fails the catch. Then I execute what elves do best, score! Then the Elves lose about 4 players in 2 turns (1 being a dead Line elf) but the elves still manage a good defense with the green scum only scoring on turn 8. Half Time: 1-1.

We start the second half with me expecting him to turn the game into a 2-1 grind, but he does the opposite when he drops the ball and I turn him over to score. 2-1 to me. 6 turns left in the game and I am back to defense. He doesn't drop it this time, :( , drives through my defense over time and scores on turn eight. I throw a quick completion to maximise SPPs in my only turn left and the game ends in a 2-2 draw.

Darkland Decimators VS Surf n' Turf
I must admit that the Khorne team were unknown to me and Richard to playing as per the PC game.  A lot of Frenzy on the team, with the odd horns and Juggernaut thrown in.  Not much Block to back it up though, or for ball handling skills either.  The game would also played in Blizzard conditions - not good for my slower team. This would no doubt be a slugfest, to be enjoyed on Richard's newly made custom pitch.

The Khorne boys won the toss and elected to receive.  From the outset Andrew was all over me and is clearly very experienced with Frenzy - he had side pushes and all sorts of moves I just never saw coming.  Very impressive, as opposed to my doubles skulls on my first block!  Somehow within two turns I had multiple players fighting to stay on the pitch, and my Block Bull Centaur went to help Blitz them out of danger - he slipped on the ice and KOed himself, followed by a claw Chaos Dwarf going to the Crowd and being injured (Miss Next Game).  Not going so well here, but the fight went on as Andrew ground out the half to score, with me killing one of his players but no other casualties.  1 nil down at half time.

Chaos Dwarves face off against Khorne!

The second half started with me still 2 players down but a high kick for a ball near the scrimage line let me get my only Bull under it and though he failed to catch it, it set me up nicely for a run up the left flank.  Screened by an array of Hobbos and CDs (its kind of weird screening a 4ST 9AV bull with 3ST 7AV hobbos!) the Bull got to within striking range before he was pulled down by a Bloodletter.  A fortunate bounce put the ball next to a Hobbo though so after the Bull had blitzed the Bloodletter in return, Slave#93497 grabbed it up to equalise the score.

With 4 turns to go the game would be down to the wire, but at last my second Bull came back to the pitch. A Riot on kickoff gave the Khorne team an extra turn to score in, but here the dice started to turn against them.  Previously unfailing dice gave a few early turnovers and I sprinted a Bull and a Hobbo deep into his half to threaten the ball.  Then Nuffle's favour returned to the Khorne and they stunned 4 players in a row, throwing my counter-drive off and making me feel lucky I hadn't got a stack of injuries instead.

4 stuns in one turn? Ouch!

Andrew drove down the centre and with one turn to go I had to pull off something special to prevent him scoring to win.  My unskilled Hobbo made a dodge, 2 go for its (on ice) and a 1 die block to sack the ball carrier with a 'both down' result!  Andrew couldn't get over the line and the game ended on a 1 all draw.

Last turn desperation moves pay off

Result: 1 all draw, with 3:1 Casualties to the CDs (1 kill)
A fantastic game in which I was totally outplayed throughout and I felt like a stole a well earned win from Andrew with some last minute some Nuffle magic.  And of course he was a total gentleman and good sport about it too!

Post Game Management
Sherthor Scorchers: A Lineman skilled up taking Wrestle, and Right Stuff added another catcher to his roster.
Darkland Decimators: Hobgoblin Slave#93497 skilled up with double, taking Dodge (I plan to make him a blodging ball carrier in due course) With my earnings I had enough to my 6th and final Chaos Dwarf.  I'll still only have 5 on the field for the next game with the crowd surfed Claw CD sitting it out with his injury.

So I've held onto second place with my fingertips and Right Stuff moves up to fourth place:

Team	Race & Coach	team value	won tied lost	points	TD score	Cas score (kills)
	Unforgiven	Undead Big Pete	1,120k	3 0 0	60	5 - 1	9 - 5 (3-1)
	Darkland Decimators	Chaos Dwarf Paul O´G	1,140k	1 2 0	40	5 - 4	8 - 3 (1-0)
	Surf n Turf	Khorne Virral	1,050k	1 2 0	40	4 - 3	3 - 5 (0-1)
	Sherthor Scorchers	Elf Right Stuff	1,070k	1 1 1	34	6 - 6	1 - 13 (0-2)
	Brutomax Broots	Orc Lelruthus	1,120k	1 1 1	34	4 - 4	10 - 1 (2-0)
	Team of the Century	Dark Elf Matthew R	1,080k	1 1 0	30	3 - 2	2 - 7 (0-1)
	Lords of Damnation	Chaos Simon M	1,100k	1 0 1	24	2 - 1	0 - 5 (0-1)
	NecroManga	Necromantic Peter M	980k	0 1 1	14	2 - 3	2 - 5 (1-2)
	Fatal Femmes	Chaos James H	1,120k	0 0 3	12	2 - 7	10 - 3 (1-0)
	Gargoth Gargoyles	Chaos Dwarf Andrew O	960k	0 0 2	8	0 - 2	5 - 3 (1-1)

Team photos to follow shortly - promise!