“XLF VIII Orc - Round 1

There was plenty of wine in one dugout, plenty of whine in the other. Despite boasting the much harder hitting team and out-blocking their brethren opponents, the 'Saws were the ones leaving the ground with more than just bruises.

Both halves started stressfully for me. Salvos of double skulls (2 in the opening 2 turns of the 1st half, 3 in the opening 3 turns of the 2nd) left me perilously without rerolls. The whine started to flow, with Kam quizzically glancing over, sipping on his wine thinking, "He should chill out."

Kam got a bit too chilled. His offense escaped a serious situation with some nifty footwork and a lucky escape by Gorg - the blitz by Major failing to pin the freak orc by the sideline. (Rumours about the ground are that Gorg and Aztec are related.) The pressure forced the touchdown, and the 2 turn equalizer came off with comparative ease - aided by Kam confusing his blitzers and ending up with a less-than sound defense.

The 2nd half got underway and promisingly so after the wizard's fireball failed to expose the ball, but it quickly fell apart for me soon after. The mounting skulls were stressful, even moreso when combined with the 1D hitting power of Kam's blitzers. With the ball loose, rerolls gone, and blitzer Steel's knee smashed (apo fail), it looked over. However Kam had been battling his own bad dice - failed go for its and a dodge consuming his rerolls. Aztec pulled off the tacklezone pick up in the wet at the 2nd attempt, and managed to get distance between himself and Gorg. Then Kam hit skulls, and Aztec ran clear to win it.

Battered and bruised, but victorious. Kam will rue this as a missed opportunity to claim a major tournament scalp.”