The Eagles Crash Back to Earth

After a win in my second game of the league season, my Slann team crashed in their third game.  This game was very much like the first as it was against a developed team which even though I outnumbered them had almost 400K more team value.  I told my wife before I left that my opponent moves faster, hits harder, and handles the ball better so it was going to be a tough game.


What makes this High Elf team especially troublesome is that they have a Str boosted blitzer with Mighty Blow and Tackle(not that my team is loaded with dodge yet).  Two of our Elf teams have this type of player and he makes it pretty easy to blow a hole in any defense.

I started on defense and that went about what I expect with him scoring in two turns with like half his team caged up halfway down my side on my right.  I did manage to get in there and get the ball loose but my dirty play spike ball got the better of me and injured one of my players leaving the ball unmarked.  He them picked it up and scored.

My first offensive possession is what turned the game.  Blood Bowl is sort of like that where one die roll pretty much sets the outcome.  I had a nice play set up to the right so he used kick to put the ball up close on the left.  I still went with my play but when I go to do my 2+ pick up with a reroll, I fail and he gets the ball and scores.  If I had gotten that ball I probably would have got the 2-2 tie at the end of the game or maybe even a 2-1 win as stalling in the second half would have been possible.  I need to remember that ball security in those cases is more important than the play and shield the ball.  Not that screening would help to much as his Str 4 Blitzer can punch a hole and the Blodging Side Stepping Catcher can probably get to the ball.

So Now I am in a 2-0 hole and try to push to get a score before the end of the half.  I fail a Go For It to get the ball within a normal move of the endzone and the tie chance evaporates.  He almost goes up by 3-0 but it remains 2-0 since he fails a ball handling task.  Second half starts with a riot losing a turn and then I score a pretty straight forward touchdown.  With his two score advantage he was playing a no quick score defense which left me pretty easy movement up the pitch.  Now I am down 2-1 and need a turn over or something to go my way but it does not so I go down 3-1.  I ended up with 1 completion, 1 touchdown in the catchers and the MVP on a blizter but also a - 1 AV to a linefrog.  So now I have 2 catcher with dodge and one blitzer with guard.  I am trying to build the team for the long run to be great in my third season and just survive this one.

Next up we have goblins which most people would consider an easy game but the Goblins coach is one of our 2 top guys and he is a serious player.  So serious in fact that we have to reschedule our upcoming match since on normal league night he will be in Italy at least partially for the Blood Bowl World Cup 2015.  He also came in second recently at one of the biggest north american blood bowl events playing Slann so he will not be surprised by anything I do unless it is stupid.

Just like my home town football team, the season is less than half done and I am already planning for the next one.