“Just a few words on the game. Please note this is not ironic.

Seppuku received palmed coin (rubbish, but at least he had a chance to bash earlier), buzzing (which he gave to a MB Black Orc) and virus. Virus left me without the only Dauntless guy in the team and without reserves. Not ideal in a game vs an Orc team.

In the first turn, one elf got knocked out. I would play with 10 or fewer players for the rest of the game. Then, he failed a gfi before picking up the ball, so the elves stormed and grabbed it. The catcher was blocked by a non-tackle Orc, so he just step aside and scored next turn.

The Orcs began their drive and slowly pounded their way towards the Endzone. Weirdly enough, several of them became entangled with the tree, which gave us some much-needed time.

The entire game was played in the rain. I thought this would help my elves, since I had two AG5 players. The Orcs, however, never failed to pick it up or hand it off, something I did twice (i.e. four rolls) with my sure-handed thrower.

The first half was spent trying to slow down the Orcs and prevent them from advancing. I stripped the ball (with 2 dice) in turn 7. My thrower dodged to get in scoring position and tripped (double 1). Next, the AG4 Orc dodged my WD, picked up the ball and handed it off to an Orc blitzer. Luckily for me, he failed the gfi. Lucky, but hard fought in the previous turns to force them to roll as many dices as possible in order to score (2+, 3+, 5+, 3+). You failed the dodge, but got the ball rolling a 6 in a 5+ roll!

At the beginning of the second half, the Orcs blitzed and got in contact with my whole line. I had to throw several blocks to make way for my catcher, who passed through the Orc line without rolling a single dodge. The only Orc in blitz range had 1 TZ, which he had no problems in leaving before knocking down the Catcher. However, two more elves were behind the Orc line, so they blitzed this last Orc to allow the catcher to stand up and score the 2-0 in turn 2.

The strategy was obvious — delay a TD from the Orcs as much as possible as to prevent the 2-2. Ironically, this is the tactic used by all Orc coaches, btw. This was done more or less effectively. I got cocky and failed a +3 dodge (repeated), which resulted in Quicksand being crowd pushed and killed. Meanwhile, my Wardancer kept jumping and stripballing as long as I had rerolls left.

In turn 7, the Orcs scored. The victory thus seemed ours. However, the kick off result was injury time. I protected the ball before trying to pick it up. My sure-handed thrower failed both times and the ball ended in the hands of a wide open Wardancer. The Orcs could blitz him and get close enough to reach the endzone in turn 8. Surprisingly, they decided to blitz in the LoS instead of going for the draw.

************
I do not want to sound sarcastic, far from it. To me, the key was that the Orcs failed to hurt us early in the first half, and so our game plan prevailed. Still, this game was very close. Seppuku could have scored the 1-1 or tried for the 2-2. A different roll here and there could have changed the final result. There was no point in letting the Orcs score. I was not denying a chance of a skill, but trying to prevent you from scoring. A 2-1 result with four or five turns left would have been suicidal because I was outnumbered. Besides, 1 TD means 1 point in Faction, and that might be crucial (gold medals have been won by that much difference).

*************
Again, you underestimate yourself, for this game was closer that you think. As for incredible games, i tied this <a href="http://fumbbl.com/FUMBBL.php?page=match&op=view&id=775013">game</a> when I was leading 4-2 in turn 7, going for the 5-2.


”