“So, that was horrible.

Actually, that's not true. It was a terrible game in a lot of ways (as you'll see from the rest of the report). I was completely out-played, completely out-scored and (although it didn't really affect the result, just the scoreline) completely out-lucked. But it wasn't horrible. It was actually fun.

Why? Well, mostly because I had a great opponent, and really, that makes all the difference. It doesn't matter what the score was, or who died, or how bad my dice were. What matters is that I took an hour out of my day to sit in front of the computer and I came away at the end of it feeling that it had been an hour well spent.

But anyway, let me tell you about that hour...

Both teams were fairly evenly matched, although if anything, I was the stronger, having the block tree and the only tackler on the field. But having played fallingdownjoe before, I knew it was going to be all about the passing game and quite likely to be high-scoring.

Well, it began as expected, with the wood elves taking the lead on turn 2 with a long bomb and a short run into the end zone. So far, so good.

But then disaster struck. Almost the first block of the drive resulted in a serious injury (MNG only) on my thrower. I took it philosophically, deciding that it would at least give the AG5 wardancer the opportunity to earn some passing SPPs and was happy enough for the high elves to score quickly, giving me back the ball on turn 4.

Then disaster struck again. And again. And again. So much for AG5! I couldn't pick up the ball no matter how hard I tried. But the high elves could, quite easily, so they scored a second TD while I was still struggling to put on my special passing mittens. Never mind, plenty of time to pull one back...

Blitz! And a particularly horrible one from my point of view. Suddenly the ball was in the hands of a ST4 high elf catcher, who brought two of his mates along just in case, and to cap it all, they decided to hang around on the far side of the field from my tackler. I did manage to get a guard across, but then failed a gfi on the blitz.

And then suddenly it was 1-3. Oh yes, and that was also the drive in which two of my linemen also picked up permanent injuries. As I told fallingdownjoe at the time, 'take a deep breath, count to ten, wait for the second half'.

I didn't go for a one-turn attempt on my final turn of the half - mostly, I think, because I wasn't paying attention, but I suspect deep down I knew it wouldn't have worked anyway.

So, second half. Again I got a catcher all the way down to the thrower, and then failed a gfi to get a second catcher down for the blitz. Result: another score for the high elves.

Followed by another blitz. Followed by a failed dodge. Followed by another score for the high elves.

So as you can see, there was something of a pattern emerging.

But then something happened that the ring did not expect... I killed someone. Fortunately the apo worked. Then I killed someone else. At 1-5 down it seemed a little rude really, and pointlessly vicious, but hey, that's dice for you. Still didn't help me to score though, as I continued to mess up the basics of throwing and catching and with only half a team left on the pitch, any mess-up was likely to hand the ball to the high elves.

And sure enough, they scored once more - but only after exacting some revenge by killing the passingly-challenged AG5 wardancer. (Apo saved him. Not sure he deserved to be saved).

This time I did try a one-turner, but you know how hard that is with only six players. Anyway, something failed - not the pass or catch, surprisingly, but possibly one of the blocks or something.

And that was that.

I lost some fans, only won 10K, and retired the -ST lineman, plus have to play the next game with no thrower. On the plus side, however, the +ST catcher picked up a double. As I already have a couple of guard on the team I decided to go with mighty blow instead. I realise this is something of an invitation to be fouled into oblivion at every possible opportunity - especially as he doesn't have block yet - but it seemed like it might offer some fun while he's still got all his limbs.

So well done fallingdownjoe. Perhaps not the most hard-fought of victories, but well-deserved nonetheless. And I'm glad both our legend throwers came out of it unscathed. Long may they continue.

And yes, it was fun. Also, it's good to have a game like this every now and then. It helps to remind you that there is so much more to life than CR and win/loss ratio. Also - and much more importantly - it helps to remind you of all the great coaches out there who know how to be gracious in victory, as well as defeat.”