“Orcland Wooden Shield 8/07 - round 1
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My rather weak khemri team (no blitz-ra's) faced the Scottish Claymores in the first round. A possible slaughter since they lack armor, but also a very risky match since I lack just about all other skills than just bashing. And at the start of the match I failed even at that. The norsemen got the kickoff and the sluggish khemri lost the advantage by a bad blocking game. I did my best to tie up the ball carrier, but my skilless skeletons were outbashed and my mummies tied up. It looked grim for a while, with the Claymores running in an early TD, me having 4 KO's including a mummy and what looked like could be the beginning of a bad luck streak. But fortunately things changed.

Despite losing a 2nd mummy due to a failed Morley's Revenge roll and missing 3 out of 4 KO recovery rolls I got a bonus that would turn the tide of the match. The ref! A string of casualties and fouls cut the norsemen short and to my own surprise I managed a hand over to a skeleton which could run in a TD in the last turn of the first half, leaving the norsemen crippled for the 2nd half. To add further salt to the wounds I succeeded with all my KO rolls while the Claymores failed, leaving the khemri with a full squad and the norsemen with just 6 players. And it was my turn to recieve the ball.

A succesful pick-up enabled me to slowly grind my cage through the pitch while the rest of my squad worked on clearing the pitch of opponents. The Claymores fought with Scottish fearlessness, but with so few against so many they never managed to knock my ball carrier down. In the end only one norseman was left on the pitch when I walked in my 2nd TD in my last turn.

A kick that landed in the end zone of the norsemen left them without even a theoretical chance to score.

Thanks for the match, SteelThunder. Brave effort! I'm glad that you managed to walk away from this without any SI's or RIP's. At least that's a little comfort :)

The Wrath of Amu Nesehu are now awaiting the outcome of the other first round matches to see how they can best spend their money.”