“OCCS - Middenheim Regional Challenge - Round One

This game turned out to be brutal, and it wasn't all elvish blood being spilt! The game started with the Mausoleum receiving and lauth81's teams continued with their excellent defense, this time with the help of a Blitz! kick off result. This allowed the elves to swarm the ball and the undead weren't quite sure how they were going to clear it. Rather than think about it too long they started off with the mummies trying to squish a few elves, Eldwulf managing a kill with his first hit of the game (luckily the apoth was on hand to fix up the unfortunate elf). They then attempted to block as many elves away from the ball as possible and surround it with blodging ghouls.

The game devolved into a maul arround the ball. It was here that the undead shined though with their greater armour allowing them to trade blows with the elves and send a good few of them to the KO box. Eventually the undead collected the ball and drove for the endzone. With few elves left (5 KO by this point) Ingild decided to stall the TD till the end of the half, allowing his teamates to try to hurt a couple more elves. They didn't manage many more but were able to run in a simple TD in the final turn.

The Lovers then attempted a push one-turner but the fans seemed to be against it, with a rock taking out Fern who was the only player in the backfield for the Lovers. Second half and all of the Lovers were back from the KO box. Much to the disappointment of the Mausoleum who knew that a full elvish squad was always going to be too much for them. When things started with a couple of zombie deaths on the line (luckily they both regenerated) the Mausoleum were even more worried. Out bashed by elves!? However would they live it down! The undead could do little to stop the elvish attack so it was all about trying to force an early score. A bit of pressure meant the ball wasn't completely safe for the elves and Ivy ran in the TD on turn three.

With a good six turns left the Mausoleum thought they stood a fairly good chance. They proceeded to secure the ball and try to bash a hole in the Lover's line. The mummies didn't do an especially good job and it was left to Pergolax to apply the boot. He seemed to get a bit carried away and his brutality (along with the fans obvious displeasure first half) convinced Fern that he'd be better off as a zombie for the Mausoleum. The elves retaliated with a boot to a wight but he was only KOed. The elves applied a lot of pressure to the back of the cage and with a few turns left the undead decided to make a break for it. They tried to tie up as many elves as possible and make the route through awkward but this was only possible if two ghouls could manage to dodge away from their markers. Fortunately they did and it looked tough for the Lover's to get to the ball.

The elves had other ideas though, pushing a mummy aside and dodging a few players through several TZs to first get an assist on the ball carrier, then blitz him and finally get someone there to pick it up. With the ball in the hands of the wardancer, Ivy and their last tackler tied up it was down to Eldwulf to blitz in the hope of a POW. Nuffle shined on him and the POW appeared, plus the ball scattered to a free sqaure. Cedric then scooped the ball up and ran in the TD.

Was a very close end to a tense game. Thanks to lauth81 for being such a good sport in both our games. The luck was often against him and he took it well. Looking forward to meeting again in future tournies
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