“This was a really interesting game! I would say that the match went in about evenish with a massive wildcard- norse are notoriously strong at low team value, but 2 blodge sidesteppers is difficult to deal with at low tv. The massive wildcard was sweltering heat, which triggered on two players every single drive for each team. This may have made the elves a bit more favored, since when we both start with just 9 my players are generally more mobile and harder to cage out.

Justsaymaybe (JSM from here on) got a ko, two stuns, and a bh in the first four blocks, so I had a really weird mid first half where I had very few players to work with. Later cindy also hit a bomb that stunned two more. I managed to snag a ko and then later lured a wolfman to the side, where I pushed him into the crowd on 2d-. when disaster strikes, we must be bold! And bring rerolls.

JSM predictably tried to stall me out, which wasn't a bad plan. He had control of the end zone, the corner, and made NEARLY a double cage. He doubted my apetite for risk, and left me a 3+ 4+ with a reroll into a 1d block. I took it and powed his valkyrie ball carrier. A very interesting moment came next where we both failed a lot and the ball bounced multiple times right next to the edge. I had a catcher in near scoring range, so we were possibly looking at 1-0, 0-0, or 0-1 at the half. Bounces favored JSM in this case and he found the pows for the blodgers. He stepped into the end zone and picked it up to go up 1-0 with 2 turns left for Midlothians to respond.

Did I say 2 turns? Delay of games turned that into 3. It's Midlothians with 8 players vs Longship Legion with 9. With so few, legion opted for a sort of "wings around the middle" midfield defense. I don't have a lot either, and Midlothians favor a side with one of the blitzers and a catcher (second blitzer is heat exhausted =().

I'm woefully short of bodies but I believe in the power of blodge. I keep the ball in the backfield, aiming for the short pass into handoff into score. I have plenty of time so I don't have to hurry. I misposition a lot, and am forced to keep my blodging blitzer back to mark the wolfman, who can easily surf my catcher otherwise. I'm just going to believe in the power of movement 8 instead.

JSM double marks my catcher, but the second valkyrie is threatened by my blitzer. He tries to knock my blitzer over with the wolfman I was marking, but double skulls into the end of his turn. Now I can easily free up the catcher!

The cool thing about pro elf catchers is that you can easily throw to them and then blitz them free of entanglements. I looked for ways to pow both of his marks, but in the end I just blitzed and knocked over the one in front of me and dodged my way free. Believe in the power of movement 8!

longship get another turn to beat my face, because of the delay of game. Hilariously, I get a blitz. I actually have another turn, so I could realistically score, but both my blitzers are on the LoS and I don't play it as best I could. I get one catcher in range to score before falling over. JSM blitzes my catcher down before skull/both down'ing against my blitzer on the LoS. I in turn get nothing much on my last turn, and the half ends.

I begin the second half 8 vs 9 again, but JSM is down a valkyrie and a lino while I'm down only a thrower and a lino. I'm receiving, and JSM opts for wings round the middle midfield again.

I bias the other side this time, I have both blitzers, but I condemn them to line duty so I can get some knockdowns. I get a lucky ko at the end of my turn, and play some risky spp farming in the center. it's hard to protect much with so few, though. That heat!

JSM puts pressure on the ball, but commits only halfway to a brawl on the lower side of the scrum. I want to brawl him since we're both av7, and I back the ball way up with a lone catcher, threatening the catcher to catcher handoff. I commit wholly to the fight, then screw up and give myself a 1d block into the wolf. I lucker into a pow rerolled from a skull and don't get punished for my greed. I send the blitzer out as a potential scoring threat, although probably a wild goose chase really. My next activation sees a lucky ko (the second on a drunkard!) and now I outnumber my opponent. Since JSM brought a keg, I realize with a sinking feeling that I probably shouldn't give him more than a turn or two to score.

JSM commits three bodies to the chase, and mostly tries to leverage their 4str. I'm able to pivot to the other side of the pitch, neatly dodging past the goose chasers and claiming the bottom sideline corridor.

JSM rushes to cut off my corridor. They knock both the blitzers down, but neither shot pierces armor and they're both in favorable positions to dodge out and cage.

I think I'm going to cage up near the end zone, but it's only my turn 4 and I'm not ready to score so I change my mind mid play and leave a catcher and a blitzer deep. I have the advantage of speed and I can retreat behind a relatively safe wall of bodies while I continue to fish for lucky ko's or casualties. Unfortunately I find one, in the form of a failed elf dodge.

JSM covers my deep blitzer, then snags a -av on my catcher with a wolf man. Things are looking a lot grimmer all of a sudden! They double cover my deep blitzer, but neither of us have a lot of bodies to even act left.

I form a weak screen on the top corridor, knocking down both norse linos on that side of the field. I put the ball in very dubious cover, then casually waltz out of double coverage with my blitzer to plug the top. Side switch achieved!

JSM wasn't fast enough to completely deny me the sideline. I attempted a 1 turn stall with two blitzers and a lino protecting my catcher and his dodge into the end zone, and JSM forced me to make the dodge. I did, and led 2-1 with 2 turns remaining for JSM to score.

The last two turns were 6v6, and I had two blodge ss blitzers. The dice didn't particularly favor JSM at this point, and they were forced into an unsafe cage due to speed and clock limitations. I knocked the ball to the ground and JSM didn't roll a bunch of high dice in a row, so the game ended 2-1. A hard fought game, definitely one dominated by the weather and some well timed removals. Could have easily gone the other way! Cheers.

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