So Sam was kind enough to meet up with me for a practice game. It was also an opportunity for Sam to both get a better handle on Blood Bowl (having only played it once) and to use his excellently painted Norse team.
With that, the Loch Rysk Warhawks arrived at Loki's Field to play against the Thor's Thunder!
The game started with the Thunder choosing to receive. Of course, some mushroom-and-mead fueled madman in the stands lobbed a rock at the visiting Warhawks and knocked out a Catcher. Somewhat worried, the Warhawks kicked high and the ball landed just short of the scrimmage, right in front of a Thunder player.
The Norse made for a quick drive up the side of the pitch with a loose formation, but couldn't stop the Warhawks from knocking the ball carrier down.
Undaunted, the Thunder launched a fierce counter attack, opened a hole and ran the ball in for an early score.
After both teams set back up, the Thunder kicked off, with the ball scattering off the pitch and handed to the Human's Thrower. The Warhawks moved up and tried to make an opening, while trying to avoid the rampaging Yhetee that had knocked down the opposing Ogre.
The Warhawks got a lucky break when the Ogre recovered from a single turn of being Bone-headed, blitzed the Yhetee and punched its lights out! This also opened a hole in the Norse line that the Warhawks' Catcher sprinted through. When the Thrower, however, tried to follow up, he got tripped up and went down hard.
Both teams scrambled for the ball, but the Warhawks recovered it first and sent it downfield to the waiting catcher, who moved to just outside the endzone. Feeling safe in their numerical advantage, the Warhawks took the opportunity to do some damage to the Norse before the end of the first half.
When the Thunder couldn't deal out any pain in return, the Warhawks scored at the end of the first half to tie up the score.
With the second half starting, the Norse found themselves down several players, with some unconscious and others dead.
The Warhawks were looking to knock out a few more players before pressing forward with the ball.
The Thunder coach, seeing his players getting knocked around, waved a few hand signals. The team took the hint and disengaged to a new line, waiting for the Warhawks to approach.
The Warhawks obliged on one side of the pitch, but the Ogre went Bone-headed again.
With the Ogre recovering its meagre wits, the Warhawks slammed into the Thunder defensive line, and finally made a move to hand the ball off to the Catcher and ready him for a run at the endzone.
However, in a move that had the Warhawks' coach chewing at his clipboard in anger, the players made a positioning mistake, which let the Thunder blitz the ball carrier, recover the ball, and sprint down the side of the pitch without any opposition!
The Warhawks managed to shove the ball carrier off the pitch (and their obliging fans beat the opposing player unconscious), but the ball landed nearly in the middle of the field - right where another Norse player could sneak through the Warhawks line and pick it up!
Scrambling to prevent a sudden loss in the last turn of the game, the Warhawks surrounded the Thunder player and stopped him from running the ball in. It all came down to a failed pass that scattered off the table and was thrown-in multiple times before finally landing back in the pitch just as the whistle was blown for the end of the second half.
The game ended in a tie, 1-1.
It was a close one, however! Had I waited maybe another turn, or better protected the Catcher, I probably would have had a chance to score and prevent Sam from scoring in a couple turns.
I do like my extra skill placement - two Guard Blitzers, a Tackle Blitzer, a Leader Thrower, and a Block Ogre. It meant that I had a decent armor threat with the Ogre, a 13-deep bench, and three re-rolls per half.
I'm not wholly confidant of my chances to win any game at the tournament, but at least I'll be able to scratch Humans off the list of teams that I have painted and need to play with (next will be Orcs, and then I'm free to get more teams!).
No comments:
Post a Comment