“NWFL Season III Playoffs - round 2 (Crusaders earned a BYE in round 1)

Handicaps for - Buzzing (went to Otranto Frankenstein)

I knew this was going to be a tough game against a good opponent and it was every bit of that. First half we won the toss and opted to receive. A Bad Kick put the ball in Schedoni's capable hands. Then we started hitting and fouling. Not a lot of success here, netted a stun on a BoB. However, the Blasters couldn't hit back much better so things were looking good for the Crusaders. Then Schedoni failed a Quick Pass to Loup-Garou, followed by a failed handoff the next turn and things started unravelling. Several turns ticked by with the Blasters unable to get the ball but covering it well. In a desparation move on T6, Schedoni stood up from his nap on the pitch, dodged to pick up the ball in traffic, dodged again and sprinted for the endzone. The Crusaders were hopeful they could hold the Blasters scoreless with only 3 turns and they almost pulled it off. But a last ditch effort by the Blasters opened up a hole for Pin Ball Jr. to complete a pass to Morg 'N' Thorg and he GFI'd his way into the endzone. Meanwhile, Count von Drakenborg spent the bulk of the game in the KO box (he was sent there around T4 and never came back). So that was 90k of wasted gold.

The 2nd half saw the Orcs dismember the poor Crusaders. In addition to failing easy passes/handoffs in the first half, the Crusaders failed 3 out of 4 regen rolls and 4 out of 5 KO rolls for the entire game. Meanwhile our only CAS came in T16 when we were desperately trying to rack up 2 CAS to save FF. We got 1 on a foul on the Blasters Troll, but couldn't hurt anyone else. This was a punch to the gut as getting a +1 on the FF roll would have netted us a 2, instead of losing FF like we did.

Montoni the Cavalier announced his retirement after the game, and Berlifitzing was forced into early retirement and is enjoying a well-deserved dirt nap. Otranto Frankenstein managed to give the Blasters a few scary moments with his Dodging/Stand Firm ways, and Udolpho Quasimodo received the MVP and is shaping up to be a very stout defender. Count DeMoney completed a meaningless pass to gain Block, but aged on his first skill roll and lost AG. He must have pulled something on that throw, and it's doubtful he'll be making many more attempts as he's earned a spot on the LOS along with Snorri Sturlasson.

This is not the way I wanted to end the NWFL season, but it's the way I expected it to end after the Crusaders' 2nd game against the Blasters in the regular season. Jasfmpgh is too good of a coach, and orcs are too tough a race for a necromancer team to overcome the kind of rolls we were suffering. The team never gave up, and there were a few times where I thought I might actually pull off a tie and force OT, but I would have needed a lot of help with the dice and I just wasn't getting it. Great game, Jasfmpgh, and a very sincere good luck to you in the NWFL championship game. Go represent the Alpha Conference and bring home the trophy! I hope I'm not in your division next season :)

Skills (1):
Count DeMoney - Block (aged on 1st skill roll, -AG. meh, it's a zombie. could have been worse, but it still sucks that I'm getting so many aging rolls lately)”