“Matchday again. And todays opponent, the Bonegrinders. strangely enough, we have met this team before as well, and with the Scavengers being a rookie team and all, we unfortunately need to beat them, as they are one of the few teams we really have a chance to beat. Did that in the friendlies, but they have two excellent wolves and a coach whose main weakness is that he loves those wolves very much. Take them out, and you create difficulties. Of course, they are as mentioned above excellent, and as a consequence, not easy to take out :) Gameplan for the day is... keep hitting those wolves and the ghoul, and worry about winning when/if they are gone :)

Weather is not promising. Neither is the fact that the fans are on his side, and then we loose the coin toss.. again. well, well, you can't win a match without successfully defending... :) He lines up to avoid my LOS, and hits the flank instead, but need to redo the pickup of a very good kick. Hollow Claws haven't realised the match has started, but the other sauruses scramble to the defense. the bonegrinderes advances up along the flank, but Victimus is pushed aside, and fraternizer can get close to the ballcarrying Ruinedfang. This may be our chance, so we go for the wizard...and his well-advertised multicoloured express-speed lightning bolt...fizzles. Even my son could have done better. Should teach me not to listen to advertising :) Biron pushes the Fraternizer away and off Ruinedfang goes, only a few squares away from the goalline, and protected by the ghoul and the other wolf. Must be a score for certain... or? The sauruses pushes the zombie lines away to clear the path for Fraternizer and Hollow Claws can sneak up on the wolf from behind. Then the skunk squad, eh... sorry, the skink squad goes to work in death-defying heroics. Marsh Mole binds up the ghoul, Savannah Stalker offers support and Jungle Warriors does the dirty job of up-ending the wolf and pushing him into a position where he is covered by Claws mighty tail! As a bonus, the ball is knocked free and lands between Claws and the sideline, making it hard for the Bonegrinders to reach it. Swamp Swimmer tries, but fails in the pickup and the ball is out of bounds, and then thrown in by the fans about the midline. The Bonegrinders have all their agile players on the wrong side of Hollow Claws, and try to secure the area with their Golem and a zombie. Then, Wrake attempts to get out of the trap by pushing Swamp Swimmer befire him, but Swimmer dodges elegantly, and then resolutely puts his paw out to trip the wolf as he tries to dodge past him. Second time this game that my skinks upends a wolf. It's the kind of behaviour that earns them an extra cookie after the match :) Everything is now ready for a recovery of the ball. Unfortunately the only one who can do the critical blitz is Hollow Claws, and despite intense signalling from the sideline (or maybe because of it), he can't figure out what he is supposed to do...

We turn to plan B, which is to hit as many Bonegrinders as possible and to secure the ball. Ruinedfang is now back in business, and knocks poor Swamp Swimmer onto the ball, taking Swimmer out of the game and the ball out of my range. Wrake then successfully picks it up, and we are back to square one, except more than half the half has passed without a Bonegrinder score. Priority one are the Bonegrinders in scoring position, so Fraternizer knocks out Broken Bones and the skink squad gives Victimus the same treatment with jungle warrior given the honour with support from the other two. Hollow Claws understand this time (the order was simple, though, just to hit the wolf), and traps Ruinedfang between himself and the sideline. Ruinedfang realizes the danger, and promptly knocks himself over to avoid being pushed onto the stands, gambling that Claws is too stupid to hit someone lying down. Which I must admit is generally a mostly correct idea :) The 'Grinders are not without resources though, and with the flank run closed down by Hollow Claws massive body, they instead go for the middle of the field. Biron clears the way by stunning my Team Captain (Guardian), and is followed through the hole in the line by the ballcarrying wolf and a zombie.

Again, we are in trouble, but with the captain down, Grey Challenger rises to the occasion and blitzes his zombie nanny and puts himself right beside Wrake. Protector and Fratenizer closes the other end of the box and Marsh Mole is strategically placed to try to prevent the wolf from dodging his way out. A lowly zombie destroys the trap by ambling to the wolf's help (two GFIs), and Wrake sends the brave Challenger off the pitch for the match with a broken finger and storms for the end zone while the remaining Bonegrinders scrambles to hold up the sauruses. Once again it is up to the skink squad. Hollow Claws storms to the rescue, and Savannah Stalker torpedoes into Ruinedfang, breaking three of the wolf's ribs. The shock from this unexpected event, a proud wolf laid low by a simple skink (on a 1d block), was so big the 'Grinders coach apparently forgot his necromancy spell. In the mean time, Jungle Warrior and Marsh Mole went to work on Wrake, and once again, a skink manages to upend a wolf. The ball is loose, and a way too eager Marsh Mole chases it, but fails to pick it up. This proves to be critical, because then the wolf bounces back, pushes Marsh Mole away, picks up the ball and scores. With only seconds left of the clock, all we can do in the half is to push the Bonegrinders LOS over and make a failed attempt to pass the ball. Gah. Sooo close, and with the wolf and one wight out of it, we had a golden chance to prevent the score... Still, with 10 against 9 and the ball in my posession, chances are quite good for a draw. Unfrtunately, that's not good enough.

Jungle Warrior manages to catch the high kick, so we are relieved from the chore of picking up the ball. The Grinders LOS is pushed back, but nothing breaks, and they regroup a little farther behind the midline. The Scavengers advance slowly and methodically, and hope for a break. It comes a little later, when Biron becomes impatient, and tries to attack on the extreme flank. He upends the Savannah Stalker, but the sauruses strike back, and Fraternizer upends the ghoul and positions the prone ghoul so that when Booster blitzes, there is no other way for Biron than out of bounds. To top it off, he ends up in a group of Scavenger fans who spends the rest of the match plucking ribs out of the unconscious wight. Qualified sources claim that the rest of him was found outside the changing rooms later that evening, and he may be able to play a match again later in the season, if his coach can find some ribs somewhere to replace the lost ones :)Hollow Claws tops this by headbutting his "nanny" Martin Truehammer, sending him off the pitch, but this time the coach rises to the occasion and resurrects the unhappy zombie. If only there will be another drive...

The skink squad gets a bit too cocky though, and strolls along the flank as if all danger had now passed. One chance is, however, more than enough for the remaining Wolf, and off he goes, dodges away from the Black Booster, circles the skink screen and hits Jungle Warrior. Hard. Off with a knocked-out Jungle Warrior, and Wrake can recover the ball. Not much help to find, though, as most of the 'Grinders are busy with their opponents, and only the Ghoul and one zombie can give any help at all against the remaining three skinks and the Booster. With help from the Team Captain, Booster and Swamp Swimmer surf yet another 'Grinder, the ghoul, who manages to land upon the dinner table of Lord Azzarnishipal, a well-known necromancer and luckily for the ghoul, a sponsor of the Bonegrinders. There he is well treated with some exquisite food (and no, don't aks ME what ghouls eat) before he is sent back to the changing room. Marsh Mole and Savannah Stalker makes an attempt on Wrake, but this time the wolf is prepared, and spits the hapless onrushing Stalker on his claws. He then proceeds to throw away the carcass, push the Mole away and run for the midline.

He is on his own, though, as the remaining six 'Grinders on the pitch are all bound up, and the hunt is on. 8 Scavengers are still on the field, and a tricky push on one zombie knocks him over and frees Holllow Claws to get next to the running wolf. Fraternizer supports his larger comrade and Swamp Swimmer covers the dodging areas to make this harder for the ballcarrying Wrake. Protector proceeds to rip Dead Weight apart, and there is next to nothing for the coach to regenerate. With Dead weight dead (finally) and Evander stunned, support for Wrake is now reduced to four. Desperate, Wrake tries to dodge away, but is tripped by Claws tail, and Marsh Mole can pick up the ball. He hesitates to score, though, until the end of the half, since there is not enough time for his team to score twice, whereas the remaining wolf can still manage to score with a little luck. Thus, the game peters out with the only moment of excitement being when Bob the Flesh Golem tries to head butt Guardian and insted hits his left eyehorn, and lullaby time comes up for the unlucky Bob.

So at the end of the day, we got the draw, which is most likely one point short of what we need to have a chance at the play-offs. We also lost the Stalker, our only really agile skink. On the plus side, we have the best casualty difference in the league, and have caused 4 SI's and 2 kills in two games. Teams will know it when they have played the Scavengers. Claws once again received the MVP due, once again, to his headbutting of the zombie Martin Truehammer.

Coachwise, I wasn't totally satisfied. Hollow Claws failed twice in critical tasks, and the skinks was coached a bit too agresively, thus giving away a score in the first half and almost losing the ball for good in the second. On the plus side, it could easily have ended up the other way if Wrake had had just a little support after recovering the ball in the second half.

Thanks also to the opponent, who made the game interesting, close and intense. Nothing personal, but I think we will bet on your opponent in the next game... With a wolf and a wight out with rib problems, next game is going to be tough.




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