“This was a nice fast game against a tough opponent that really could have gone either way, score-wise.

I received the kick-off and played it slow and steady, taking two turns to collect the ball and then keeping the thrower back behind the rough group of defenders around the line of scrimmage.I had a couple of targets downfield, but Wolbum made sure they were always covered. Then, in a bid to get the ball downfield, I left my thrower exposed, and sure enough, Wolbum grabbed the opportunity to knock him over and steal the ball. Then off he ran downfield with a couple of humans including the catcher desperately chasing him.

The catcher tried a -2 dice blitz but as both players had block it was a stand-off. But at least I'd put the ball-carrier in a tackle zone, and this proved game-changing when the pestigor failed his dodge and left the ball for the catcher to pick up and run away with.

In theory I could have scored on the final turn of the half. I did manage to hand off to the thrower, blitz a lineman free and put him in the endzone, then run the thrower down for the pass... but these are not elves, and even with strong arm the thrower needed a 6+. He didn't get it.

In the second half I took a pounding on the first turn, but luckily for me the pestigor with sure hands failed to pick up, which allowed me a turn to get a blitzer and the catcher downfield. This interfered with the Nurgle offence just enough to be in the right place at the right time when Wolbum failed a dodge with the ball-carrier.

With the score still 0-0 I decided not to do anything fancy or stupid (like trying to get in a sneaky pass) and I just ran it in with a blitzer. With only half a half left, and against Nurgles, 1-0 was good enough. Wolbum did manage to get the ball way downfield, but a lucky blitz from the humans knocked over the ball-carrier and sent the ball out of bounds. The throw-in was downfield towards the Nurgle endzone, and although the ball ended up in the rotspawn's TZ, he then went and failed his really stupid roll.

I saw my chance. My catcher dodged free and ran downfield, then my thrower ran in, picked up in a TZ, dodged away and threw a pathetic 2 yard pass. Still, I was on schedule for a final turn score...

Until Wolbum ran in the rotspawn, including going for it, to put the catcher in the grasp of those pesky tentacles. No way a ST2 catcher was going to break free from that, so I went for the -3 dice blitz instead. But that damn beast was so hard to shift (he also had stand firm) that I re-rolled the blitz and knocked myself over. Ah well.

So I did get the win, but really it was a close run thing. If Wolbum had made the dodge for the score and been 1-0 up at the half, he could have stalled out the second half, done much more damage to me and secured a comfortable win. Or, if my blitz in the second half had been less than perfect, he probably could have worked out a way to free up the ball-carrier and run him in for the score.

Generally, the Nurgles blocked well, but they just didn't break enough armour, and with only one block on the squad, they ended up failing a couple of crucial blocks and giving up turnovers. All I can say is I'm glad I played them now and not once they've picked up a bit more block and MB.

Afterwards I bought a second catcher, so I'm finally back up to strength after my undead mauling a few games ago where 3 players were killed and the ogre forced to retire.

Onwards and upwards.”