Div 2: Read in Tooth and Claw (Nec) vs. Lucky Lycanthropes (Nec)
NieA7 and I met up today, the first time my boys have played against another Necromantic team. I had a sizeable TV advantage, giving him Nekbrekerekh and a Babe. NieA7 won the toss and chose to receive, setting up a very strong line to punch through my weak zombie LoS. He came out roaring, hammering my line and scoring two stuns in the process. Then he failed a hand-off between his ghouls, giving me a small opening. I moved a wight onto the ball, and started dashing players up to cover it; but the second player to get in position, my less-skilled werewolf, failed his GFI and his reroll, getting KO'd in the process. NieA7 caged up in the middle of the field, but still well within range, so I was able to get a zombie and a werewolf onto the ball carrier. NieA7 broke for the sideline, trying to reform his cage away from my players. He zigzagged down the field, his +AG ghoul consistently dodging away, until finally I got my (accidental) Strip Ball ghoul to make a block on him and free up the ball. But when I passed a player over the ball to pick it up (Side Stepping away from a block), the bounce went straight into a whole pile of NieA7's players. Dang. NieA7 wound up with a turn 7 TD, after which one his KO recovered and neither of mine did. Dang. Then we both lost a player to Sweltering heat, but his was a zombie and mine was a Flesh Golem. Dang. The weather then switched to pouring rain; I received the kickoff and made a valiant attempt at 2-turning EEEELFBAAAAALLLL, but was thwarted by the rain and the difficulty of playing necros like they're elves. End the first half, 1-0.
The rain stopped, at least, as I received in the second half still down two players. I played very loosely, aggressively pushing upfield. I got lucky, as NieA7 tried to exploit my gaps a couple of times only to be thwarted by failed dodges. The drive ended with a seriously risky handoff to a marked-up werewolf; but he made the grab, dodged free, and scored a TD in turn 11. 1-1. The ref ran the clock down to resume, while my KOs finally woke up, evening things up a bit (though I had a zombie who'd been sent off for fouling, as well). NieA7 caged up heavily on the left side, and things settled into a bashfest. I did succeed in shaking the ball loose in turn 14, but the bounce stayed near his team. But he didn't pick it up for a turn, which let me bash in, push a zombie onto it, and bounce it behind his mob. I got a werewolf to the ball, and a ghoul in position to run at it; but he knocked the wolf down, and picked the ball up with a wolf of his own. But the maneuver ate a couple of vital turns. NieA7 still had one trick up his sleeve, though. He dodged a wight away from the mess, and got him just barely within scoring range. My ST4 wight blocked him, but didn't knock him down. So on turn 16, NieA7 opened up his ball carrier in terrific style, and had Nekbrekerekh throw a sure-thing 2D block against that wight...and rolled double-skull, double-skull. Game end, 1-1.
Read in Tooth and Claw 1 - 1 Lucky Lycanthropes
My thanks to NieA7 for a terrific match! Very enjoyable, and challenging throughout. The dice broke slightly in my favor, especially in clutch moments (the werewolf-handoff and Nek's spectacular failure), which makes it even more impressive on NieA7's part that I barely scraped out a draw. I suspected at the start of the season that Tier 1 would be more than a match for me, and it appears to be true :).