“What hopefully should have been an easy first game turned out to be pretty tough. With the Fleetfooters dangerously low on men (only seven active players at first kick off) this should have been a massacre. The Footers must have had divine protection though, as there were _no casualties_ against them despite rampant fouling on my part at the end of the second half. My team, however, suffered a niggling injury. *grrr*

Playwise rydis got the best of me in the beginning of the two halves. It was really humiliating to be sacked in my own end zone for 0-1. I gambled on a seemingly safe bet - 2 dice for pushback or knockdown to clear out the last defender before throwing the ball. Unfortunately the block failed even with a reroll, and the poor thrower was overrun by three elves. I would probably have failed the pass, but with five orcs in the target zone, a turnover there would have been bearable.

At the next drive I chose proper boxing, after having pushed _both_ his wardancers into the crowd (no casualties, mind you). Instead of rushing the drive I spent my last turn scoring a touchdown. Decently safe. Rydis did some fouling instead of stopping me, and poor Iggnbaz was badly assaulted by vicious elves! What bloodlust! Yuck! My fans got the ref after that incident and told him a a few select words - to no avail as I had already spent my last turn on the touchdown...

The Fleetfooters had the first drive in the second half, which led to an easy TD. I left an ugly hole right down the middle of the field. A cadre of sneaky elves shot through the hole and I couldn't stop them. Down by one again.

In the second (and last) drive of the half, the defending Fleetfooters once again managed a perfect defence. *GRRRR* Nothing like watching your black orcs and blitzers suddenly stand without targets. Fortunately, rydis had used up his only reroll putting him in quite a pinch. A couple of bad leaps left the wardancers prone, and I could get a couple of free fouls. Well worth it - with all blockers except one out of commission there was nothing to stop my hordes of vengeful orcs. One lone orc trotted down the field while half a dozen big orcs pounded on the prone elves. Despite four +4/+5-fouls I couldn't manage do harm a single one of them. There is just one word for such failures: Disappointment!

With no elves left on the pitch the TD (by impressive lineman Grok Balogh) in the eight turn for a safe 2-2 draw felt fair, but I really should have done better.”