Sorry guys... another long one!
Up against the Best scoring threat in Division A, The Goons squared off against the
Thunderhawks. A 190 point Pro Elf team and home to the leagues best thrower and season III 'Scoring Machine'. In my quest to get to the RotGut Dungeon match, I was in a
Must Win situation. A loss or a draw could leave me in a tie for division lead by the time the tally is totalled, and my small TD differential would likely drop me to 2nd place in such a scenario. I went into the match predicting a 2-2 draw or a 2-1 loss and a few of the other BABBL coaches agreed with my predictions.
The Goon Squad would likely struggle to contain the high AG elves and would be out paced by their superior speed of foot. I was determined to make them pay however. With Biff as a heavy Shouldered Spearhead, I meant to smash the Hawks as hard as possible. To prepare for the match and get into the right mind set I placed a 50K bounty on Mustafa, the Hawks super star Catcher.
What just happened?
In the pre-game phase the Hawks induced a Wizard, determined to make my scoring as hard as possible and convert a turn over into a game winning point. The game started and I had the won the fame, but lost the coin toss. Surprisingly, the Hawks elected to Kick? Did They want me to beat them up? With that wizard I may never see the end zone... they have the kick skill, perhaps there is method to this madness! Anticipating a deep kick I placed my thrower a little further back than usual with my MA7AG4 Blitzer not far.
My thrower managed to get under the ball but he was deep in the Goons zone. I started by thrashing the unskilled linemen presented to me and my dumb, stupid, uneducated, idiot, moron Troll rolled a Skull/Skull/Double on a three dice hit. I failed loner and went down hard enough to get niggled.
So begs the question... Do I apo on a first turn injury??? I weighed it up. A two-skill, non-doubles BG with Regen... I may need that Apo later... so I trusted in Nuffle. Well Nuffle being the bearded lady he is, my Troll failed the 4+. I thought to myself, this is bad. I'm going to lose this game and probably get caned.
In his return effort he really just got in front of the team. There was a minor blitz effort on my weaker left side, but that's about it... everyone else dodged away. I used the opportunity to build a wide screen that I knew he wouldn't break through easily. My thrower slotted in and the Blitzers set about picking their targets.
The screen turned into a cage and I was waiting for the fireball, but it never came... His thrower stayed in front of the cage along with a few linemen and a blitzer or two, waiting for the ball go get free. In turn 5 he failed a dodge and elected to keep his re-roll for later. I had the opportunity to surprise him with a little foot work so I handed off to Busta and with a few well place assists, I called a blitz on his Thrower, Ron Burgundy. With a Re-roll in tow I GFIed for the blitz but only scored a push... RR to get the knock down and Dev is smiling because Ron is wearing the Magic Codpiece. Well it was no help and Busta gave him -AV which Dev decided to 'take in stride'. Another GFI and I was in the lead. I don't think Dev was expecting a surge of speed from a fighting team and I robbed him of that Wizard on the first drive.
This turned out to be the theme of the game... Dev just kept getting surprised by the Goons. He set up with the three last remaining turns and set up a screen to cover Ball carrier. I opened a tiny hole on the blitz and swarmed his potential receivers. Then I dodged a Blitzer through and placed the Carrier in a TZ. The Look on Dev's face was worth the whole game!
"Where did he come from?"
Now facing the long way round or some tricky dodges, he attempted to get away and failed the dodge without a RR. First half over and I'm still ahead.
There weren't many injuries but a lot of K/Os. The Hawks were out gunned and they made some good attempts but the Goons kept the ball in the Hawks half. A lightning bolt against Biff finally came out and they managed to get the ball back off the defenders, but then fumbled the pass and the Goons were quick to capitalize. I couldn't help but wonder if Dev was getting desperate... He wouldn't have scored from that bolt. He would have had me slightly out of position, but it wasn't a TD play.
Now the Injuries were racking up. Biff had Killed off Mustafa but the team Apo was there to rescue him. Now Very Seriously out gunned, a sweet kick and Blitz on the kick off table sealed the Hawks fate. The Goons again showed some speed and threatened a loose ball early which had the Hawks offence on the back foot. Out of position and out of options the Goons finished them off and Shut out their biggest threat on the score board.
All isn't happy though... Poor Mr. Piniata Head was retired at the end of the match with Hopes that a Rookie, uninjured Troll would get doubles in his first 16 SPPs. It was hard to let him go... I had grown attached to him and he was on the original roster. This was the first time he suffered anything worse than a BH... Blood Bowl can be cruel... I'm honestly Sad...
But another Casualty Hat-trick for Biff, No way I don't win the Fan Fav (assuming I survive). Dnd I got +ST in Brick (a blitzer) as well. I almost didn't take it... Last game a blitzer rolled doubles and I took Guard because I desperately need it. Brick was going to get Guard too... I even lost a Guarder with the Troll gone! I'm going to trust in ST though. I'm sure I won't regret it!