Today I learned why Dwarves are to be feared.

I've been playing this team in preparation for a live league some friends at work are going to be running. I ended up randomly in a division consisting of myself and three Dwarf teams, so I was anxious to get my go at a Dwarf team to see what they're all about.

What I found was a nightmare of tackle zones, fouls, and speedsters I was not prepared for.

The Gameplan

After seeing my opponent was playing Chaos Dwarves, I figured I might have a small advantage at the line with my Trees' strength and my Halflings speed (considering I could GFI more often with more rerolls).

Additionally, based on the article I linked yesterday I kept my trees off the line at all times and performing some more blitzing techniques with them depending on the situation.

Lastly, with the lower movement speed, I decided I had much greater odds with Fling plays, since even on a poor roll I might be able to get out of range of any blitzes.

THE GAME

First Half

I won the toss and decided to kick off to him, again based on the article from yesterday. I put Nooba Free, my halfling with Side Step, right in the thick of it, surrounded by two buddies.

The kick gave him the ref, and as such he took full advantage. He KO'd two of my linemen and stunned the third, then got as many of his guys in striking distance as he could.

This is where I learned about Centaurs and Hobgoblins.

My initial assessment about movement speed was completely inaccurate, as these guys seemed quite capable of easily running anywhere on the field. He formed a three man cage around the ball and picked it up with his Hobgoblin to end his first turn.

I moved my guys aggressively, trying to break down his forward protections. I managed to pushback one hobgoblin, but a failed GFI on my Treeman followed by a Skull block on his other hobgoblin left me vulnerable. I had moved my guys into better range, but I didn't inflict the damage I had intended.

Surprisingly, mostly due to his insane movement I'm sure, he ran his guys onto the other side of the field (closer to my tree, no less) and then handed it off to the Centaur. A couple of my halflings were stunned in the process.

I blitzed away a defender with my tree and rushed up into his hobgoblin's TZ. On his turn, when he went to leave it, he was Knocked out, giving me a great shot at the ball carrier.

I immediately surrounded him with Halflings and blitzed with the tree, but only managed a push back. On his turn he managed to KO or stun about four of my halflings before I got to block his ball carrier again with another push back.

2 more KO'd flings later, and I blitzed his ball carrier AGAIN. This time he finally fumbled, giving me a shot at it. Unfortunately it was right next to a Dwarf and his scary TZ.

But, I got it anyway! The halfling went screaming for the end zone, which was oh so close! He ended his movement within range of only one Dwarf and only four squares out of the end zone. I was feeling good about this point.

He apparently had even given up on the TD, for the most part. He sent everyone in to tackle the tree. My tree was surrounded, by the one Dwarf in range was done and he'd used his only Blitz...! Oh, wait... that Sneaky Hobgoblin was in range too... he managed to get into my TZ.

It's ok though, All I needed was one dodge..... but no. Back to back rolls of 1, and I got KO'd. He went ahead and took out a couple more flings and fouled my tree into the injury box.

All that was left on the field was two prone halflings and a rooted tree.

The clock was on my side though. He only had two turns, and he fumbled a pass. I lost yet another fling while trying to dodge, but in the end, no one scored in the first half.

Second Half

The replay on Fumbbl messes up from here, but I'll give what I can recall.

I was set to receive the ball, but I was still down most of my players, including one of my trees.I ended up fielding everyone I could (even the -1 ST guy) and putting myself into a spread formation. I wanted to drive the ball down the field with a run.

I tried to run north with the ball, but he closed that up pretty fast. So I took one of my guys deep down the southern sideline, hoping to open him up to a pass later. As the melee continued in the north, I used my tree to bust a path south and got my man in position to pass.

The pass was good, but now my guy was isolated. I felt pretty good though, as no dwarves could reach me and I was confident in my dodging. A blitzing centaur put me right on the sideline, however, and another one came up to put me in his TZ. A couple dwarves even came in over top to make sure I couldn't dodge my way north.

From here I was feeling pressured, and I wanted to dump the ball off back into safety. However, a failed block from the tree prevented me from getting anyone anywhere. My player was slammed into the crowd the next turn.

After much craziness, including lots more KO'd flings, he managed to get his Centaur downfield to score.

Next drive I was stuck with about 8 players. I went into Fling formation, but he got to blitz me first. Most of what he did wasn't a direct threat to the formation, so the plan was still on. I ran my guy over to pick it up, but he fumbled the pick up. That cost me a turn, and unfortunately from here I lost track of time.

Thinking I still had more time left by the next turn, after picking up the ball I decided to retreat to safer land in hopes of getting a combo pass and fling next turn. But that turn never came.

Final Score: 0 - 1


Final Notes

This team was really tough for me. Things I've taken for granted in past games, like Dodge, were suddenly gone. Instead I was stuck playing against a tough and surprisingly fast team that managed to kill one player and injure two others. I'm pretty sure every player was at least knocked out at some point.

I need to try and figure out a formula to success for the next game, and I think it includes trying to take some of their speedier players out of the game. If I can get my trees stomping down their centaurs or a gang of 'flings to KO'd a Hobgoblin, that might even the odds enough.

Without those players, a quick fling play or a pass down the sideline would be monstrously effective. But figuring out how to get there will be the tricky part.

It wasn't all bad, however. I managed to get another Skilled player. He got +1 MA. May I never be 1 square away from the end zone again!!

But, that's it for now. I'm hoping to get some more play against the Norse tomorrow to see if what I've picked up will be of any use.

Until later!