“This was not a particularly elegant game, with plenty of turnovers on both sides - particularly at the start. Still, despite being rubbish at picking up the ball when it was easy, SiPa managed to do it when it was really difficult, and he opened the scoring after three turns. I then did my usual two turn thingy to make it 1-1 and then we got ready to repeat the whole process.

But Sipa's bad dice continued. He used the apo on a SI from my tree on his star blitzer to take it from -AV to a niggler, and not having him around for the rest of the game was probably one of the main reasons for the uneven scoreline. Also, SiPa was still failing important rolls when it mattered and I was able to capitalise, getting in a cheeky score as the half ended, and then getting in another on my first drive of the second half.

So by the time he was allowed back on offence, SiPa was already 3-1 down and several key players down as well. It wasn't a completely lost game for him at this point, but it was when I hammered the final nail in the coffin with a ludicrous move by my thrower who dodged into two tackle zones in order to pick-up the ball. I only needed a 4+ for each roll, but it felt like I was just rubbing salt into SiPa's wounds.

After that, the final few turns were just about getting to the end of the game as quickly as possible. SiPa really wanted that second score, but without any good dice to back him up, and with me failing almost nothing, it was going to be a tough job. On my final turn, just because I could, I got the ball out of the danger zone, handed-off to my thrower, passed to a lone lineman who ran it all the way down through an empty backfield and then promptly fell over in the endzone, allowing the ball to be thrown back in within easy reach of one of Sipa's players. All he had to do was dodge out of a TZ to get to the ball...

It's a game of luck, and sometimes things don't always go your way, but today nothing went SiPa's way. If you can't get anywhere with throwing the ball, at least you can generally rely on hurting some wood elves. But no, with the exception of a couple of early SIs against unimportant players, the dark elves got nothing. And when your opponent isn't failing anything at the same time, it gets really, really frustrating. So sorry, SiPa. I can only hope your next game is better - it certainly can't be any worse.

But for whatever reason, it was a good win for me. I was a little upset that my new thrower disappeared so early on - I would have liked to give him a few passes to get him up to his first skill - but in the end he took the MVP anyway. And I rolled a 6,6 for him. Pretty much everyone agrees that when you roll a 12, you take the +ST, but I'm an obsessive long-bomber so I took strong arm instead. And meanwhile, my number one thrower was having a great day. Apart from the aforementioned dodge and pick-up, he managed a respectable 7 for 55, even with his new gammy leg.

And my lesson for the day? Watch out for the assassin with multiple block. Every time I set up in defence I forgot and was subjected to a double stab, until the final time when I remembered to set up with my players away from each other - only to then realise the damned assassin was KO'd!

So, a satisfying result from a very one-sided game. A good skill roll, and no long-term injuries. Not a bad start to the day.”