“Ouch. My foot once more sinks into the swampy ground to above the knee, and I grunt as Team Captain Green Guardian helps me dragging it out. "What a mess. Why did we ever come to this %&#! swamp? Can't believe I fell for their sweet suggestion og playing a friendlies at their summer camp..." I glare at Green Guardian, who just grins at me. "It's good training Coach!" I glare some more, and wonder how we will ever get anything useful out of wading around in a knee-deep bog for two halves, provided we can actually FIND this blasted thing." A loud splosh Ahead was followed by silence. I try to maneuver in the direction of the splash, while growling: "What was that splash?" Marsh Mole coughs discreetly. "Uhm. I think it was the local guide disappearing, Coach". "Disappearing?" "Uhm. Yeah. And he hasn't come up after disappearing, either. I think he might have drowned, Coach!" Great. Just great. I trundle on...

We finally found the "stadium" some five hours later, and my mood hadn't improved at all. And... did I mention that the rain was still pouring down? And that our esteemed blood-sucking opponent of course had the fans on his side (as if any of our fans would have any chance of finding this place)? And that he of course won the coin toss (but chose to start kicking)...? A bad day had already gotten worse...

Three vampires and lots of thralls, and a star player. Should be possible... Even though my team has never done it's best in training matches so far :) We start well, as Purple Protector rushes out from the starting position and pulls down Gerard and almost tears off his arm. Gerard won't be coming back in this match, that's for sure. Marsh Mole manages to pick up the ball, wonder oh wonder, and rushes up on our left flank. Oncoming Knights are stopped when Baron Leon can't quite manage to hypnotize Jungle Warrior. That stops their rush, and they settle instead for shifting their players for an in-depth defence. With all three vampires opposing our left flank, we try to shift to the other flank and attempts to lock the vampires down. Undeterred, the Blood Knights follow, and comte Gervais manages to upend Hollow Claws, who is promptly sent off with a KO after a sacrifice foul by the thrall Avent Fayette. it was, of course spotted by the ref (when you climb on top of a saurus and jumps down onto a prone player, it usually is...), and the Scavengers develop their right flank attack. Marsh Mole is now within scoring range, and well protected by Magenta Lightning, Swamp Swimmer and Jungle Warrior, and only one Blood Knight, the thrall Otes Rouart, is anywhere close. The other ones are either down in the mud, or trapped behind a screen of sauruses. Or that's what it looks like. However, in a well planned move, the vampires do their job weel, and with succesful hypnotising of team Captain Green Guardian and the skink Jungle Warrior, Marsh Mole is suddenly exposed, and promptly blitzed by Julien Bessy. Marsh Mole crashes (actually, splashes) to the ground, and the ball is loose!

The Blood Knights fans throw the ball down fro the stand and in front of the feet of Julien. Baron Leon and his faithful thrall Fortune Molat runs into position behind the scavenger screen, and heroic thrall Lozois Bonacieux dodges Black Booser, sprints past the hypnotised scavengers and barely manages to go for it, then picks up the ball and passes to Baron Leon. Hired skink Tristan is just too short to reach the ball as it passes over his head, but luckily for the scavengers, baron Leon fails to catch the pass. The situation is critical, though, since we are nowhere near the Baron and his thrall, and they are both covering the ball. The saurii rushes to rectify the situation. Guardian block the thrall Herbert which allows Black Booster and Purple Protector to gang up on the good baron, but only manages to push him away from the ball. Given the rain and the thrall, we choose not to try to pick up the ball, but move all our skinks except Marsh Mole close to the ball, while Mole is ready to score on a handover. The Blood Knights have more inventive maneuvers, though, and Count Gervais KO's the Swamp Swimmer to get close to the ball. Baron Leon and Fortune pushes two saurii away, allowing Crazy Igor to blitz the third, proud rookie Blue Bomber, but only manages to push him onto the ball, which unfortunately for the Knights lands between Bomber and Booster. Bomber takes revenge and sweeps Fortune down with his tail, knocking him out in the process. Black Booster downs Baron Leon and suddenly there are no Knights close to the ball. Picking up the ball in this pouring rain is still tricky though, so the Scavengers places Tristan in a safety pposition before Jungle Warrior tries to pick it up and run with it to hand it over to Marsh Mole, who is still free and in a scoring position. Unfortunately, the ball bonces out of Warior's hands, and bounces all over the place, and as Booster, Bomber, Protector and Booster again fails to catch the gaily bouncing ball, it finally ends up in the grip of Tristan.

Knights need to take action now, and Baron Severin downs Magenta Lightning, but has to feed and violently enough for poor Lozois to be sent off badly hurt. Julien secures Marsh Mole, and the big Knight player in this half, Baron Leon, once again blitzes the ball carrier, and sends Tristan off with a torn hamstring after downing him and stepping on his foot. Otes follows his master with great heroics and manages (by two GFIs) to reach the ball and pick it up. But the scavenger saurii are not far away, and Protector covers Baron Leon whle Bomber and Booster flattens and stuns Otes, allowing Jungle Warrior to grab the ball while Marsh Mole frees himself and runs into position. Julien and Crazy Igor downs fratenizer, allowing Baron Leon to once again blitz the ballcarrier. Baron Severin picks up the ball this time, and all remaining Knights are now gathered around the ball. The scavengers attempt to box in the Knights, and Protector manages to KO Herbert, but is downed himself in the process. This allows Baron Severin and Crazy Igor to run for the endzone. Team Captain Green Guardian and purple Protector runs after them, but does not manage to get the ball loose, and Jungle Warrior fails to dodge away from comte Gervais to help them, so in the last minutes of the first half, comte Gervais easily dodges away from the grip of Guardian and waltzes in the first Knight TD of the day.

Hollow Claws does not return to the field, so with Tristan hurt, the scavengers are down two players and can only field 9 against 10 Knights, and in defense as well... This doesn't look good. Just before the half, even the weather is against us, as the rain-heavy clouds have passed and the sun shines, making it much easier for the Knights to handle the ball. Our prospects becomes worse, as Fraternizer is blocked hard enough to be carried off the field - knocked out. only one chance here, and that is to attack immediately. Since the ball is on the Knight right side, we move Guardian in a suporting position and blitzes with Protector to cover the ball. Mole also covers the ball, and Warrior is right behind as support. Somewhat surprised, the Knights attempt to recover and Baron Leon grapples with Marsh Mole as Baron SEverin tries to grab the ball. He fails, but luckily for the Knights, the bal bounces onto the inside of their line. Desperate scavengers tries to reach it, and Guardian knocks his man (Fortune) out, but Protector is a bit too eager, and both he and Pons goes crashing down onto the field. the Knights eagerly grabs this chance, and Baron Leon grabs the ball and runs for the center of the field, eagerly followed by Crazy Igor, Baron Severin and Otes. They manage to push aside, Bomber and lightning, the two saurii guarding this side, and now the scavengers pays dearly for their attempt to be aggressive, as the other scavengers are now trapped on the Knigths right flank. THey do their best, and Lightning actually manages to push Crazy igor away and get close to the ballcarrier, but Guardian fails to bring down Comte Gervais and once again the Knights have an opportunity they can exploit!

Julien sends off another saurus, Purple Protector this time, who fortunately is only winded. they also bring Bomber down, but does not dare to go for it, and Baron Leon remains midfield with the ball. The Knights want to fight it out, and in the brawl Bomber is sent off by Baron Severin, complaining of a fractured skull, but an irritated apothecary claims that Bomber is just being a big crybaby, and sends him back onto the bench! However with three saurii and three skinks against 8 Knigts, we are slowly but surely owerpowered. The half is almost over when the Knights tires of this and goes for the score. A bit sloppy, since they allow a last attempt by the scavengers which Guardian and Booster usese to the full by boxing in Baron Leon. However, with contemptuous ease, Comte Gervais pushes Guardian aside, allowing Baron Leon to dodge away and hand the ball over to the Comte. In a final clash, Marsh mole halts off the field bleeding from a skull wound given to him by Baron Leon, and Gervais is free to score the second Knight TD. The match peters out, and the scavengers only manage to position themselvdes for the kick-off before the match is over.

Another training match lost to a well-playing Knights team. We look forward to meeting them in the league later :) And as a small consolation price, both Fraternizer and Protector skills up, and we can buy one more skink and finally have a full team again. Until next time, Knights !”