“Vanguard National All*Star Challenge (July 2010) round 2

Hired a wizard for the match, no handicaps.

For once, the luck meter is fairly accurate for this game with one proviso: The first 4 turns (approximately) I was under 40% luck because both teams were mostly just pushing each other around (all that dodge). Coach adambomb was actually making more rolls, but neither of us were suffering turnovers. Then somewhere around the middle of the 1st half, I started breaking armor. A lot! It was a mixture of fouls and blocks, but Terry Turquoise definitely shined with her shiny new boots (just got Dirty Player after last game). I believe the first (or definitely one of the first) dark elves removed was Twilight's own DP so that netted me a big advantage. If I remember correctly, I had 5 fouls in the 1st half and 6 in the 2nd half. In the 2nd half I had the Ref, but it felt like I had it in both halves as at least 2 of those 5 1st half fouls were with the eye on me. Clearly the ref enjoyed watching Terry work, so he didn't want to send her off. Twilight Descending had other ideas and blitzed Terry into the BH box late in the 1st half. Which turned out to be somewhat fortunate since I did Get the Ref at the opening kickoff of 2nd half. 1st half score I ground out 6 turns to make. Wanted to drag it out longer but couldn't risk it as adambomb was pressuring the ballcarrier quite well despite being down on numbers. It nearly cost me as Drizz't caught the return kickoff (bad kick) and ran straight through my lines with 2 GFIs and a blitzer wingman. I could reach him, but I didn't want to take any chances so I decided to use the wizard. Lightning Bolt went POW! and Drizz't was laying on the ground. This allowed me to blitz the wingman and foul Drizz't to a stun and secure the first half lead. 2nd half we kicked off but had a 2 player advantage. Adambomb did well to protect the ball for as long as he did, but couldn't break anyone free downfield. I finally knocked it away from him, but it took me an extra turn to pick it up and score the 2nd TD. I nearly cleared the pitch but decided I'd rather try for a 3rd score than stall and foul to clear. This left 2 turns for both teams. Next kickoff landed deep and I had either a 5 or 6 player advantage (all those BH). Twilight Descending made a few blocks, then failed a 2+ Dodge with a reroll to cause a turnover. This was not the first time that had happened, as adambomb had a number of instances throughout the game of failing 2+ rolls with rerolls. I know that frustration. With 2 turns left, I concentrated on the ball first. I moved 3 players as close as I could without risking GFIs, then started hitting and marking the remaining elves. On T8 Judy Garnet was able to scoop up the ball (with a reroll) and ran into the endzone for a third score.

Thanks for the game adambomb. I know this isn't what you wanted to rush home from work for. You played well, and if the dice had been a little kinder this one could have gone either way. Clearly there was a mixup in the armor department before the game judging by the CAS results.

There was a dark cloud for the Gems. Angela Azurite's future is in jeopardy as she suffered a really savage hit and lost some AV. But she also picked up the VP and skilled. I'm not sure what we're going to do with her.

Skills (3):
Emma Emerald - Tackle (wanted Mighty Blow but only had 1 tackler at this TR and next opponent has 2 Blodging ballcarriers)
Lucy Lapis lazuli - Side Step (I love Blodging Side Steppers)
Angela Azurite - Sure Hands (this may not matter since I don't know if I want to keep a AV 6 ball-handler)”