“Very long and intense match, to the last turn. Both Svinehyrderne and Hiten Mitsurugi proved to be good at scoring while receiving. First half saw 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, and then on Nighteye's last drive of the half I managed to go through a gap in his defense, take down the ballcarrier and eventually score on my last turn.

Second half looks bright enough with a 3-1 lead, but Svinehyrderne promptly reduce to 3-2, and on the subsequent kickoff, to my horror, the dice come up with a blitz. Damn, damn, damn. The humans go ahead and box in the projected landing square, which just happens to be close enough to the line of scrimmage to reach, but also deep enough to sprint to the endzone from there. I send my players to bar the way and attempt to get the ball free, but I'm placed too badly and the ball eventually scatters to a human who catches it. Nothing more to do about it. Nighteye does a handoff and then sends his catcher sprinting all the way in for a touchdown, pulling off some decent dodges on the way. 3-3, and none of the elven players look all too cheery, except maybe team captain Innovindil Naïlo, known to never lose her spirit.

The next kickoff goes without blitzes, and I score 4-3 without much hassle. Nighteye, of course, replies right away with 4-4. Three turns to go, in what will be the last drive in the game with any chance of scoring, and even though Nighteye pulls up a good defense (he almost suceeds in blitzing my ballcarrier into the crowd, were it not for rolling a skull + skull/pow.. but then again, he was rather lucky to reach the position from which he blocked), after some blocking and rearranging I manage to get the ball to Andariel Mifune, leap over, dodge out, and score. 5-4, which came to be the final result, both teams having just one turn left.

Besides exciting and close, this was also a drawn-out match, lasting at least two and a half hours, if I remember correctly. Both Nighteye and me got into the habit of spending quite some time pondering our moves whenever the ball got into a tricky position, which happened quite a lot. Me being used to turns taking some time, don't really mind that, and Nighteye was very patient as well, never complaining about the clock. Our planned moves paid off, too, as nearly every drive resulted in a touchdown for the receiving team.

Other than this it was also - for the most part - a very friendly and painless game. Nighteye didn't break my armour at all until the very end of first half, and then only with KOs. I got one or two KOs as well, and then the first casualty came, in my favour, during turn five of second half, a SI that was apo:d. So, it actually looked like both teams would emerge fully intact, up until that last drive when the score was already decided. Nighteye blocks away and gets first a BH and a then a SI, which my apotechary, naturally, fails to fix. It was just too good to be true, I guess. During my last turn, not expecting it to work out, I stand the Treeman up, gfi and blitzes, resulting in a SI on a blitzer.. first casualty for him in all of his 14 matches. I guess the fallen line elf comrade infuriated him beyond his usual benign manner.

Either way, I can't complain. Nighteye's a well-playing and kind opponent, and this was the best match I've had in some time. Thanks for the game.”