“GLT XIV main event: round 1:

After making it to the main event, I was hoping to evade the claws as much as possible. With 3 Chaos Chosen and 3 Nurgle teams that wasn't going to be easy. So I faced Excellence of Execution in the first round, probably the meanest killers around.

The Tribe won the coin toss and decided to receive, hoping to inflict some damage. Alas, no one went out. Much worse, I lost two good black orcs myself in the first two turns of the game (one MNG after apo and 1 dead).

That was not the start I'd been hoping for, but BattleLore heavily committed his team to the centre and the North wing, leaving the South wing relatively undefended. Facing 5 claws/mighty blow/block is scary, and after losing the two black orcs early on, all hope of dominating the first half was gone. So I decided to push for the touchdown. Zoltark Stonejaw, the ST5 blitzer, managed to score in turn 4, leaving 4 more turns for the equalizer.

At kick-off I had 11 players again, but when it was my turn 5, I had lost a lino and - much worse - the troll, who got badly hurt. So no more TTM options. Despite all the violence, Chaos struggled to pick up the ball and failed twice in a row. This allowed the Tribe to put considerable pressure on the ball. In turn 7 I saw an opportunity to get 1d on the ball, but a failed dodge decided otherwise. Despite the setback, the Orcs still managed to cover potential scorers by turn 8. BattleLore had decided to use his last reroll in turn 7 on double skulls, so scoring would be tricky anyway. A failed dodge for the handover resulted in 1-0 at halftime. Still hope.

The second half started with only 10 Orcs on the pitch, including a thrower and a goblin. I tried putting pressure on the ball, but made the worst misclick in my life, resulting in not rerolling a failed go for it with a ST4 blitzer who got fouled to death next turn. The rest of the second half was a typical Chaos grind&stall, aiming at finishing the job in overtime. Meanwhile the Executioners continued fouling, using their 3 bribes at the fullest. Luckily for me, the only dirty player had long left the pitch, failing a dodge in the first half and badly hurting himself in the process. 1-1 at the end of the second half.

The Tribe won the coin toss in overtime, obviously chosing to receive. Despite the massacre, we still had 10 players to field. But having lost two black orcs, a ST4 blitzer and the troll still hurt. I managed to get the ball in the hands of the ST5 blitzer and planned to repeat the touchdown of the first half. This time though, the defense didn't allow it and I was forced to make a tricky pass, that got intercepted. Things looked bad indeed. Meanwhile some more players got injured on both sides. In turn 5 Zoltark managed a 2d blitz on the ball (after a dodge) and knocked it loose. The ball landed in the hands of an orc lineman, only to get knocked free again next turn. The scatter favored the orcs though, and after some more dodges, our thrower managed to pick up the ball and throw it down the field to a blitzer, who - thanks to jump up - had managed to penetrate deep into the half of Excellence of Execution! It was a missed throw, but the ball still landed nicely in front of our blitzer. Things got really crazy now. Chaos didn't manage to knock down our blitzer. Thanks to juggernaut we -2d pushed the ST5 tentacled Chaos Chosen blocker out of the way and dodged, but failed the pick-up (the ball was still in a tackle zone of another Chosen blocker). Next turn Ghorbad Ironclaw was blocked down, but Chaos didn't have people left to pick up the ball. Then Nuffle intervened once more. All hope seemed lost. Even if Chaos would fail the pick-up, pass and hand-off (which wasn't that unlikely), they would still have 3 or 4 rerolls for the penalty shoot-outs (I had already spent all rerolls). Thanks to jump up and blitz Ghorbad had 6 movement left and dodged (3+), picked up the ball (5+), escaped the tentacles (8+), dodged (3+) and made two GFI's (2+,2+) for the winning touchdown in turn 8 of overtime.

Nuffle moves in mysterious ways.

Epic game, especially in overtime!

Thank you BattleLore for the match. After our first encounter - which ended quite similar - I didn't think it would happen again, but the green elves did it once more!









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