Well, I have finally faced my fear, and I've challenged the two teams that have been worrying me most, both as newish player & as an elf player.

First, Dwarves:

of beard

I'm pretty certain I was lucky in the first half not to take more casualties from the appalling wall of guard strung across the pitch, and I was definitely lucky to get the second TD.

They still bother me, not so much because of the all over block, but because of the tackle which cuts so badly into the blodging standard for elves that it feels like your team dropped 20 TS just by walking onto the field. In theory, I suppose, the points value is the same, but it feels very different because every elf with dodge cost me several game's worth of play - but tackle comes with every lineman.

It is true that they are horribly, horribly slow, and that IS what gives you the opportunity - but then again, with AV9, it's not going to be cas that take you to the win unless you are another heavy bash team. I am still uncertain whether I'd actively seek them out again.

Second, Khemri:

...know us by the trail of dead

This was a deliberate choice, based on their TR over their TS, and I told the coach specifically that was what I was doing, and that I had no problem with a refusal. I've been concerned about TR bloat on the Mutilators, but I can assure anyone who is interested that this a pretty drastic way to go about improving the matter (it has done, but I'll get to that in a moment).

I play the first half pretty solidly, and work hard at exploiting the lack of tackle (something I have come to appreciate after the dwarf game) and survive even a first turn, first half GTR by staying mobile and elf stalling my way to the 7th turn. I get away with only one niggle, my top blitzer, and one of the main reasons for the bloat, thanks to a failed apo roll. Second half starts well with a blitz that lets me snag the ball and get across the line before the khemri completely swamp my holding line. It's after this that the trouble starts; I make a big mistake and get greedy for the ball. Instead of staying out the way when I was already outmanned but with the game in the bag, I make an abortive attempt at the ball and then try to foul a mummy off. The resulting scrum is a slaughter, and I almost consider myself lucky to get away with only one SI (again, a niggle) and a RIP before extracting my players - the RIP a new player on the brink of skilling, and the SI another one of my better players, but also one of the TR issues.

This, however, ties into the recent forum thread about Khemri. What the match reinforced for me is the sad disparity between losing for bash, and losing for ball. I won the match, and even gained ff, but my team has dropped 20 odd TS, and 2 of my longest serving players, including my first (and so far only) star, are gone. And this is a game I won.

The Khemri lost the game, but the team lost... nothing. Had I lost the game - been unluckier during the first half - then it would almost certainly have been through overwhelming and, potentially, team-retiring casualties.

Now, as far as the team goes, it's just the game, right? In the very long term, I gained a point of ff, and dropped below the 150 mark with a much improved tr/ts ratio to make the rebuild a little easier with what is still a solid, if undermanned team. In the shorter term, I have access to wider range of TS and games across all my teams. In one sense, I haven't really lost anything.

But it still bothers me. I made a mistaken decision and lost two players. I'm sure the Khemri team made errors - but, in an open league, what did they lose? With 3 cas, their fan factor is almost as safe as mine, and they are free to stroll on to the next game. I'm glad I played the game; but, on balance, the risk so badly outweighs the reward - and is so unfairly distributed between the teams anywhere except a tournament - that it's not worth playing them until my coaching skills are much improved.