“Coach Mekelan pulled out the big guns for this match, fearing the lightning speed of the gutter runners Brewin had at his disposal, and recruited the services of Nobbla Blackwart. Brewin turned green at the sight of the chainsaw wielding goblin, remembering all too well his brush with him in the academy when he inflicted five casualties. The other 13 members of Mekelan’s team didn’t look too friendly either… especially Durteen, an Orc Lineman who had gratuitously spiked boots that left no doubt as to their deadly purpose.

Things started well enough. Snipers received the ball and scored in short order, and then had the Cyborcs under extreme pressure deep in their half and almost went 2-0 up. But the Cyborcs managed to recover and cage the ball. It was about then that the game got ugly…

Cylde, a Snipers lineman, ran at the cage whilst throwing handfuls of powdered warpstone in the Cyborcs’ eyes in an attempt to distract them. Neither this tactic, nor the blitz was successful. In retaliation, Orc Blitzer Grozzy Grossbutt smashed Cylde to the ground and Durteen promptly ran in for the gang foul and split Cylde’s head open. The Ref saw it all happen and sent Durteen off for the game. Coach Mekelan successfully argued the call (I think the Ref was intimidated by his appearance), meanwhile Coach Brewin found a use for his newly purchased Apothecary and had him save Cylde’s life; Cylde’s second death in as many games.

A bitter battle ensued after that. Gutter Runner Shadow knocked out Nobbla Blackwart, before being knocked down himself and fouled by Durteen. The Ref, observing that this was Durteen’s fourth foul sent him off. Again Coach Mekelan argued the call, but this time the Ref stood by his decision; not only that, he sent Mekelan off the field as well. All of these events just made things on the field worse, such that by the end of the half (when the Cyborcs were able to score with little resistance) only three Snipers were left on the field, and none of them Runners.

There was no respite for the Snipers in the second half. Nobbla Blackwart recovered consciousness and managed to argue with the Ref that he should stay on, and by the end of the first turn the Snipers were again down to four players; none of which were Runners. The Cyborcs, still with eleven players, had the ball safely caged and a stalled half for a 2-1 win looked imminent. A short time later it was 3 versus 11 and Cylde, seeming convinced of his own immortality, ran at the cage again and was promptly taken down and stomped on. The Cyborcs then decided to take the risk by taking the touchdown and seeing if they couldn’t notch up another.

The Snipers’ confidence was somewhat bolstered by the return of two Gutter Runners, even though they were outnumbered 5 to 11 and Nobbla was still on the field. But a disastrous block left the ball exposed on the line of scrimage. Immediately the Cyborcs took advantage of the error, but the ball somehow landed in Cylde’s hands. Cylde was quickly surrounded and Shadow tried running into open space to receive the ball, but tripped instead. The Cyborcs stripped Cylde of the ball, which spilled free for Grozzy Grossbutt to collect who ran with it down the sideline.

Despite being surrounded and outnumbered, Shadow jumped up for a desperate blitz: he burst free from his cage of opposing players and charged at the lone ball carrier. Grozzy would have landed in the crowd were it not for his side-stepping skills. Instead he was able to run the ball in just before the siren sounded to win 3-1. Soon after the remaining Snipers fled the venue; whether this was out of shame or fear is unclear.”