Monday, September 22, 2014

Alfheimr Aethernaughts at Black Death



Good evening folks and welcome to the first game of the Blood Bowl II season, I am Slow Ruck and this is my partner Toy Axman. Toy, what can we look forward to tonight.

Slow, we have a classic match up of strength vs skill as the chaos dwarves of Black Death face off against the lovely lady elves of Alfheimr Aethernaughts. Both are new comers to the upper divisions and we are hoping for a great match.


Toy, the conditions are brutally hot today, how will that affect the game?

I would think the elves would have the advantage with their light kit, but those dwarves do spend the week working down in the infernal forges so they are used to the heat.

That is more of a dry heat though isn't it. Anyway, Looks like we are ready to start with the Aethernaughts winning the toss and electing to receive.

Slow, did you see that, one of the hobgoblins is already down.




Which one was it?

Not sure, Slow, they all look the same to me anyway and there does not appear to be much left of his face to make an identification. They really should but numbers on their kit to help the fans keep track of their favorites.

Favorites? You have to be pretty desperate to be following the exploits of a hobgoblin. Looks like the Black Death staff are just pushing the body down into the sewer. Back to the action of the pitch, the Aethernaughts are holding the ball deep in their zone while they try to work their way thru Black Death's defensive scheme.

Definitely holding the ball back almost at their goal line, but it seems to be working as I see 3 of the Aethernaughts have broken the Death's line. It is going to be tough for them to get back to cover them all with the stumpy legs.

The Aethernaughts bring the ball up lightening fast with a hand off to Astrid Belt followed by just a quick toss to Xwing Fighter. She breaks free and scores.

That was a pretty easy score for the Elves, Toy.

Yes, Slow. Black Death failed to apply any pressure to the ball carrier early which allowed the Aethernaughts to just work their way thru the line at multiple points. It is quite hard to hold a line against those nimble Aethernaughts. Impressive how fast they can move the ball the length of the pitch when they have free players positioned properly.

As the teams line up for the kick it appears the heat has gotten the better of the Aethernaughts. Looks like they are short 3 players for this drive while the Death are only down one. A real opportunity for the Death to get a score to before half to even it up.

Black Death gets the ball and tries to go up the middle. They land some solid hits on the Aethernaughts but they just keep getting up for more. Some of the Aethernaughts are so quick that they end up better positioned after the hits than they were before. Just look at the way Buzz Adrenaline avoids those hits. 





Fine play indeed, Slow. I think the Death need to show a little more urgency. They have a long way to go in these waning moments.

Unfortunately for the Death, they just cannot seem to get any more of the Aethernaughts off the pitch. The speed advantage for the Aethernaughts is really apparent as they quickly reorganize their defense to account for any ground the Death appear to make. They appear to try to pass the ball more for practice than to improve their scoring position but these Hobgoblins cannot even get that right.

Well, if they were good at anything would they be the hobgoblins on a chaos dwarf blood bowl team like Black Death.

There is the end of the half. Definitely a good half for the elves with the easy score and solid defense.




We are ready for the second half. Black Death takes the field. Looks like they are missing Naurthang Blacksoul. That is a serious loss for the team in both hitting power and speed. Those Bull Centaurs are the real stars for most Chaos Dwarf teams. You can see him panting on the side line. Do Centaurs sweat? He needs a cooling blanket or something so he can be ready for later. The Aethernaughts looks to have recovered well during the break and are near full strength again. Must have taken some cold showers during the break. Wouldn't mind being a fly on that wall, right Toy.

On to the action. One of the Death’s Hobgoblins has recovered the ball deep and is looking to move up the field for some protection. Definitely want to get a good screen built up. Even a partial opening could allow the nimble players for the Aethernaughts to slip through.

The Death are again taking a very cautious approach up the field. Looks like Ekalim the Mad finely bagged his first elf of the season. I am sure that brings a smile to his face. I do not think Moon Unit Zappa is going to make it. Too bad she was starting to show some real promise.




 

I am not sure if that is going to be enough. These dwarf blockers are just not being aggressive enough. They really should be trying to engage a little more contact on those elves. Are they afraid of some girls?

Well maybe they should be after what happened to that hobgoblin in the opening seconds of the game.

That was pretty ugly.

They have final made a slight break thru with Thrak holding ball behind Carazad Spiketail. Still looks like a solid defense in front of them. Thrak hands the ball to Carazad.




Ooh, it bounces of his knee as he starts to gallop a moment to early but manages to grab it out of the air before it hits the ground. Pretty lucky for the Death as the Aethernaughts could have probably recovered any dropped balls and scored even this deep in their own territory.

Carazad puts his shoulder into an elven defender then cuts left to stay just out the grasp of another. He starts to break up field.

His is starting to slide there, But he keeps his footing. Sometimes four hooves are better than 2 feet, ah Slow.

Certainly Toy, and he scores. Pretty fantastic finish for the Death there to tie the game. I think the Aethernaughts are surprised he was able to make his way through.

Well they have a few moments to retake the lead. They almost have the speed for it but it will be tough with so little time of the clock.

The Black Death do a very conservative kick off and build their line up to give a lot of support just behind the main line. If Aethernaughts were just a little quicker they could easy move up the flanks but only a few players can make that run without a little bump from their friends. Instead, the Aethernaughts try to put the hurt on the Death in the end but are not able to knock them down.

Overall, a fun match wouldn’t you say, Toy?

Definitely, Slow, the Aethernaughts were the better team out there today. They took everything the Death could bring and kept getting back up. If they can stay healthy, they appear to be set to score a lot of touchdowns. They deserved the win but the Black Death riding on the back of Carazad Spiketail manage to get the tie. The Death are not going to win many matches unless they learn how to move the ball up the pitch better. Both teams lost a player permanently in the match, and as always, we thank those braves souls for their sacrifice to Nuffle.

See you next week folks for more great Blood Bowl action.

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