So, what exactly happened in that match between Talking Dead and Natural Disaster? Here are the highlights, comments are welcome. :)
- We (Natural Disaster) bought a third re-roll before going into the match. With only 9 healthy players, this was a tough decision between buying the re-roll or another player, but a typical Wood Elf team depends on so many 3+ rolls to succeed that a 50% increase in the amount of re-rolls ought to make a difference. This turned out to be a good decision, I desperately needed every re-roll I had.
- I even thought I had been smart and made sure that the purchase wouldn't push my team value into a range that would make inducements available to NoHit - but I completely forgot that I would get two mercenaries, which were added to the team value. This left NoHit with exactly 100,000 gold for inducements, but apparently he was as surprised as myself, and he didn't actually use them. Or I misunderstood something, which is perfectly possible. ;)
- In their first turn, Talking Dead tried to pick the ball up with Caleb, their agility-reduced werewolf. The 5+ roll failed twice; luckily (for them) the ball bounced to a well-protected square that was impossible for us to reach. NoHit told me in the chat that he hadn't actually intended to pick the ball up with that player, his movement path just accidentally led him to the ball. Curiously, I made exactly the same mistake in the second half, but my wardancer managed to pick up the ball (and succeeded with two GFIs to get back to safety).
- After having sustained three deaths and three stat-reducing injuries in the first seven matches, and seeing that my still largely unskilled players were facing an opponent with two big guys and 5 players with "block", I changed my tactical approach. I had been aggressively ball-hunting in the first matches, but now opted for a zonal defense, dodging away from opponents instead of marking them directly, aiming to keep my players on the pitch for as long as possible. The results of this tactic were:
- Turn 1a, opponent player makes his first block on the Line of Scrimmage, my player goes down -> casualty
- Turn 1b, my player tries to get away from the LoS, fails a dodge -> casualty
- Turn 2b, my player tries to get away from the opponent, fails a dodge -> KO'd
- Turn 3b, my catcher (who has the dodge skill) tries to get away from his opponent, rolls two 1's in a row -> KO'd
- Turn 5a, an opponent sends my lineman crowd surfing -> casualty
- Turn 6a, an opponent blocks my player (who has dodge) -> KO'd
- Despite the numerical disadvantage (Talking Dead still had all 11 players), my players succeeded in sacking the ball from an unprotected ghoul and mounting a bit of a counter-offense ... but Orlando Bloom critically failed to catch an accurate 20-yard pass. He was probably exhausted, it was already turn 4, and by this time he has usually managed to get himself blown off the pitch, and sits in the changing room, tending to his hair-do. Unfortunately this turn's re-roll was already used up when Amy Pond critically failed to grab a hand-off. (I rolled a lot of 1's throughout the match).
- By turn 6b, the ball was still in NoHit's half, and I started to become hopeful that my remaining 5 players might be able to hold the tie until half-time. Then, while positioning the remnants of my defense, my catcher (who has dodge) rolls a double-1 while attempting to get away from his opponent. This move has an 89% success chance, but failed me for the second time in this match. In the next turn, Talking Dead's wight Ulric picks up a contested ball (4+ roll), dodges away from my player (4+ roll), stands a GFI (2+ roll), and throws an accurate pass to the ghoul (4+ roll), who catches the ball (4+ roll) and runs into the end zone. Success chance of the whole operation: 5.2%. Beautiful touchdown though. :) Also, pretty embarrassing for my wood elves that this was the only successful pass in the entire match ...
- Three of my KO'd players went back on the pitch, which left me with 8 players and 2 turns to score an equalizer. With a bit of luck, that's something that even a largely unskilled wood elf team _can_ pull off. And this time I had that bit of luck that I had been lacking so far. I got a quick snap event, NoHit kicked the ball off the pitch, and I broke through their defense with four players and the ball (not without critically failing another dodge first, but that's why the third re-roll was so valuable ...). No Hit did his best to prevent the touchdown and actually sent my ball carrier to the ground (never mind that he had Dodge ... my whole team had pretty much forgotten what the Dodge skill was for, with one important exception). His werewolf also tried to block Fanny Hill, one of my wardancer, but she dodged him twice. Then Ulric the wight came and tried to pick up the ball. But apparently he had exhausted his luck in the previous drive. The ball scattered and landed in a position that was close to the end zone, but still marked by a Talking Dead player and difficult to get to. That's when Fanny Hill leapt to the ball, picked it up, and dodged away successfully into the end zone. Phew. :)
- I went into the second half with 9 players on the pitch. Talking Dead made a safety kick this time, but it would have landed straight in the hands of Amy Pond - had she not critically failed to catch it (again). I still managed to pick up and protect the ball, while one of my linemen tried to get away from the line of scrimmage and critically failed his dodge (again).
- The second half was less eventful. I played a less risky offense, actually building full cages, while NoHit played a tighter defense. Despite trying to stay out of harm's way, NoHit's blocks and blitzes were brutal whenever he had the chance, and by turn 12, I had suffered two more casualties and was again down to 7 players. He pressured my cage efficiently, and my ball carrier (who had dodge) rolled a double-1 while trying to get away from his werewolf. This was the third time in the match that this 89% success chance just didn't work. Luckily, the ball scattered to my wardancer Amy Pond - who failed her third catch roll in this match (out of four), despite having a 66% success chance every time. I decided to spend a re-roll, which resulted in Amy failing her fourth catch attempt as well.
- Towards the end of the match, both teams went for victory - no cowards here. ;) Taking Dead pushed forward with all players, while I had sent two players into his backfield and hoped to dodge away from the onslaught for perhaps a lucky breakthrough. Fanny Hill managed to pick up the ball again, got floored immediately, and then the ball bounced 6 times in a row, until it landed in the spot that was perhaps the least promising for NoHit - he had surrounded my ball carrier with five players, all of them ready to catch the ball or at least guard it for a pick-up in the next turn, but the ball ignored all of them, and landed in a space where NoHit had "only" two tackle zones on it. My catcher managed to get up, dodge free, pick up the ball, and .... fumbled the pass to my two players in NoHit's backfield. He was immediately punished with a casualty, so I was down to 6 players.
- NoHit's ghoul tried to pick up the free ball and failed. Talking Dead didn't have any re-rolls left. The ball again ignored four surrounding players of the Necromantic team and scattered to a free space, this time one with three tackle zones on it. But it was now in reach of my players in NoHit's backfield. In turn 15, my lineman Gunter Grass - usually completely useless, the only player in the team who hasn't earned a single SPP - picked up the ball that was guarded by three of Talking Dead's players, and dodged away from them to the sideline. In the next turn, poor Gunter was floored by one of NoHit's Flesh Golems. His Ghoul rushed to the unprotected ball to make up for his fumble in the last turn ... and fumbled again.
- In turn 16, Gunter took his revenge in wood elven style: He got up, made two succesful dodges, picked up the ball, and handed it over to Elijah Wood, who - for the last few turns - had simply stood in the backfield, posing for the spectators. Elijah grabbed the ball and ran it to the end zone. Phew! Again, that was very close ...
So what's the lesson from this nerve-wrecking match?
One, our plan to keep our players on the pitch failed spectacularly. NoHit's block dice and injury rolls were brutal throughout the match. Also, in the beginning of the match, my attempts to dodge away from opposing players were at least as dangerous for my players as sustaining blocks. I was lucky that I'll miss only one player in the next match - two more permanent injuries went to mercenaries who, sorry to say, I decided not to buy ...
Two, a handful of wood elf players are still enough to pose a threat.
Three, even with horrible dice throughout 70% of the match and an opponent who apparently erased "attacker down" from his block dice, wood elves can still win. That's actually what I like most about them. You may get pounded for most of the game, but if just two turns in a row go your way, you can always make a comeback. :)
Post edited August 13, 2013 by Psyringe
