Crimson Calamity 2 - 2 Khornese Kitchen: Averland
In what was easily the most enjoyable match of the season for me, my Chaos squad went up against
@Sataric's Dark Elves, who have more or less dominated the entire division this season right beside
@Ging's Wood Elves - neither team having suffered a loss all season long. After Ging handed me my only loss of the season back in MD2, and knowing what elves can do, I had been quietly dreading this match-up all season long. In the previous weeks, I had watched with mounting horror at this team develop, and by the time I faced them yesterday Sataric had FOUR Agi 5 players, two of them with leap, and one of them with Guard - Yikes! With another wrestling line-elf with guard as well, I was not holding out much hope of winning this match-up.
I ended up being down by 90 TV, even with a bank of 220K, and so induced a wizard and a bribe, ponying up the extra cash as a loss could have jeopardized my chances at promotion next season. Sataric chose to spend some of his own bank to (wisely) induce an extra apo.
I won the toss and elected to kick, hoping to either force Sataric into an early score and try for the 2-1 grind or, even better, get a shot at taking out some of the leaping/guarding/AGI5 on the field before I took a shot at going on offense. First turn saw an unskilled BM KO'ed and a block CW stunned on the LOS. The elves formed up and flooded one side of the field, basing my two BM on that side, while protecting the ball out of reach. I answered by opting to blitz an exposed WE with my Claw POMB'ing BM and KO'ed her - 10 men each. With 8 elves in base-contact with my Chaos, Sataric chose to run in a score on his Turn 2.
The next kick-off saw my KO wake up while his WE did not. Lucky me! Sataric's kick was aimed right at my Wrodge/tackle BM, who caught it! Really wanting to get this to my AGI4 BC BM, I formed up an anti-leaping (the cool kids are calling it a 'Venga-bus' - so I will to moving forward) cage around the wrestler, with the AGI4 beast on a corner, and fouling a blodging line-elf for a stun with my DP. Next turn saw the AGI5 leaper with guard and the other leaper jump in and get a wrestle result on my BC on a 1D, dropping it into 2 Chaos TZ's. Lucky for me Sataric wasn't in a position to really capitalize, and the next turn ended up with the ball there and the Elves moving into a sligtly better position to grab it next turn. I then chose to charge in with my CLAWPOMB'er to hit his Guard leaper, getting an initial both down. Really wanting to get an early removal on this piece, I chose to RR it, and got the POW and an MNG! Sataric chose not to APO him and so I was rewarded by nuffle with the CAS.
However, in my euphoria, I totally forgot I had used my RR that turn and didn't position properly for the protection of the (inevitable) 1 on a 2+ pickup from my AGI4 BM. This resulted in the ball bouncing forward into 3 Chaos TZ's and two DE TZ's. After taking down two of my pieces, it was an easy pickup for his AGI5 blodger, who handed off twice to move the ball within a few squares of my end-zone with his kicker on the sideline. At the start of my turn, given that I had a chance of a throw in and also given that my killer BM may be in range of a bounce the other way, I decided to go for it and Zap the kicker with my wizard - resulting in Death!!! Sataric did use his first apo here, returning the kicker to the sideline but now leaving the ball on the ground within reach of my CLAWPOMB'er. However, now seeing that he only had one piece in range of a pickup, I opted instead to CLAWPOMB that piece (an AGI5 runner), but having to use my second RR on a dub-skull. However, I was rewarded with a stun. I then ran my AGI 4 BM back towards the ball, moved several other pieces around to help screen/protect, threw a couple of blocks (for another stun), and threw a foul onto the AGI5 runner to no effect.
T5 (the next turn) sees both of our sides spread out all over the damn place on my half of the field, me having several pieces in a somewhat weak screen trying to protect my AGI4 BM with the ball who couldn't really make it far after the pickup. Having only 4 turns left in the half, I choose to keep my MB/Block/Tackle CW based on a line-elf just across midfield, and run my jumping BM into Sataric's half of the field as a potential scoring threat. Fortunately he really only had a couple of pieces who were in position to make a play on the ball and ended up getting snake-eyes on a dodge in, failing a Pro RR, to end his turn, leaving one AGI5 elf in contact with my BC. This left me open to run up-field a bit, clearing the way and caging up just behind center field. I was also able to dodge out my jumper scoring threat from his mark and run downfield and toward the side of the field where the ball was. Sataric responded by re-marking the scoring threat, setting up a weak screen in front of the cage, and making the 4+ dodge into my cage to get a POW on a 1D against the BC - super annoying but good play by him! I get a pretty good bounce up against the sideline though and forward one square. I then was able to push a screening line-elf out of the way and get my BC in a pretty lame half-cage against the sideline with a Guard CW and two other CW helping protect. I also was able to dodge out my scorer yet again to get closer to the end-zone. Sataric attempted to get a 1D on one o the CW protecting the ball before blitzing the BC, but got a :SKULL: :SKULL: result after burning a RR. I was then able to get the necessary push on the remaining line elf blocking the way, blitzed my scoring threat's mark down with my jumper and ran him into the end-zone. Then I made 2 GFI's and the 3+ 3+ for the ensuing pass/catch to tie it up 1-1! Exciting half.
Sataric's KO'ed WE came back for the second half, and both teams still had 11 men on the field. I formed up a Venga bus, with my Guard CW in the center, around a short kick again. After some re-positioning/jostling, the elves do their thing yet again, this time making the 4+ doge in to get a defender stumbles on a 1D, leaving the ball open for a leap/grab/dodge/pass out combo to see the ball yet again protected in the elven back-field. Son-of-a-bitch! Sataric then gets four pieces in scoring range. I mark up three and CLAWPOMB the AGI5 Leaper, getting a BH on the PO and removing him from the game (no apo used). Sataric decides to go ahead and score next turn, leaving me 4 turns to respond for a draw...except that a riot gives me an extra turn on the kickoff!
This time, both teams still have 11 men on the field, with Sataric's bench now replacing his two injuries. He kicks deep and I end up getting 3 removals on the LOS - KO on the guard/wrestler, death on one lineman, and I then foul out his third!!! The remainder of the match just sees me march up-field with a 3 man advantage, having taken out both of the elven leapers and guard pieces, there really wasn't a whole lot Sataric could do to prevent the score at that point. I also set up a significant strength/guard advantage on the LOS to prevent a 1-turn attempt, which Sataric didn't really try for given the difficulty there.
GG to you Sataric - thanks for an extremely challenging game! Best of luck in the final match of the season and hope to see you in T2 again next season!