uzkulak
Joined: Mar 30, 2004
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 Posted:
Apr 18, 2017 - 01:07 |
 
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Really liking your write ups mate, Kislev looks like it is a tight and exciing confere3nce this season |
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The_Carthaginian
Joined: Mar 05, 2015
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Apr 18, 2017 - 08:13 |
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Thank you! I'm enjoying it a lot, for sure! |
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The_Carthaginian
Joined: Mar 05, 2015
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May 06, 2017 - 01:31 |
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Alright sports fans! The Kislev Conference of Season XV is now OVER, and as well as writing a report of THGS' last match in Round 5, I thought I'd give a quick overview of the other goings on in the league.
When we left THGS last time, their chances of finishing in the top half of the league table were slim. They had just drawn against Horns of Turov, leaving them with 3 points. In the other games in Round 4, Tilea Raiders won their rematch against the long-suffering Belyavarota Passers, Mourkain Mad Dogs beat Abominations of Praag, and Badlandz Boars delivered a surprising take-down of the hitherto-undefeated Kaz a Karak Cannonballers.
The matchups for Round 5 were strikingly similar to those I predicted for Round 4 (you know, right before I gave up on making predictions altogether); THGS were pitted against Tilea Raiders, Belyavarota Passers were up against Abominations of Praag in a much-anticipated stunty-off, the Cannonballers were to take on the AV7 Horns of Turov, and Badlandz Boars were facing Mourkain Mad Dogs.
The stunty-on-stunty match was a fairly brutal affair. Belyavarota Passers removed a lot of AoP's players from the pitch in the first half, which seemed promising, but moved a crucial snotling, leaving a gap which allowed AoP to score. Belyavarota Passers, disappointingly, didn't make a TTM attempt at the end of the first half which would have allowed them to equalise. The Passers received in the second half and managed to retain possession more or less for the remainder of the match, but their efforts to get the ball to an Ogre (it seems the Passers are prioritising long-term Ogre development over initial victories) left them without sufficient time to score. Final score 1-0 to AoP.
In a stunning turn of events, Horns of Turov managed to defeat the Cannonballers (giant-killer bonus, anyone?). I was prepared to witness a brutal thrashing from the Cannonballers, but Horns of Turov received in the first half, and managed to outmanoeuvre and out-bash the dwarves in the first half to score, entering the second half 1-0 up! On the other hand, they were 4 players down ... and the Cannonballers had craftily kept their Deathroller in reserve until this drive, their turn to receive. I expected the Cannonballers to equalise easily, but I think they were rattled by the ferocity of HoT's first-half attack, and advanced just a bit too cautiously - despite removing a number of HoT's players from the pitch, they were stuck making a last-minute pass attempt to get the ball within scoring range, and missed. Final score 1-0 to HoT.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that HoT's Snow Troll was removed from play early in the match too, so they were short of a lot of muscle/TV from the get-go!
Badlandz Boars defeated Mourkain Mad Dogs 3-1. MMD received first, but some daring 1d blocks by the Boars saw them stealing the ball and running it into the endzone in T6 of the first half. MMD equalised with a cheeky 2TTD in their next drive, only for the Boars to make it 2-1 with a thrilling TTM action in the final turn of the first half. Receiving in the second half, MMD had some unfortunate dice rolls (a failed GFI, a skull->skull block, and a failed dodge by a wight) that permitted the Boars to slowly drive their way up the pitch, steadily removing players as they went, before making it 3-1 in their last turn of the match.
The outcome of all this is that when it was time for THGS' match against Tilea Raiders, THGS were languishing in 7th place (if my memory serves me correctly). However, as mentioned in an earlier post, the high proportion of draws in this competition meant that the spread of points wasn't very broad. Only the Cannonballers and Badlandz Boars had pulled away from the crowd, and the remainder were on a mixture of 3, 4 or 5 points (excluding Belyavarota Passers). THGS were at the bottom of the pile with 3 points, but crucially, their tiebreaker score was relatively good, thanks to a good scoring record and reasonable casualty economy. This meant that if THGS won this match, they would most likely be sitting pretty at the head of the 5-point club...and in the top half of the league table!
Kislev Conference Match 5: vs Tilea Raiders. Match result: You'll just have to wait and see!
This was not going to be an easy match. Tilea Raiders had 150k in TV on THGS, and Orcs in general are quite a tough opponent for me. The high proportion of S4 and block across the team, along with a smattering of guard and tackle, meant we were likely to get out-bashed. However, we had studied Tilea Raiders' previous matches, and noticed some weaknesses in their strategy that might see us through; reliance on an unusual defensive set-up, and on a very mobile playstyle, involving dodging and passing, supported by a high number of rerolls (4). They also had a Troll, who can be dangerous, but is generally considered less TV-efficient...and potentially unreliable if isolated from other team members.
150k of inducements is an odd number to use...I was tempted by a bribe, but in the end decided to go with an apothecary and a Bloodweiser keg - survival in the face of overwhelming bash was the name of the game!
The Raiders won the toss, and opted to kick to THGS first. My choice as Orcs probably would have been to receive first, and hope to remove players in the first turn of bashing, but it occurred to me that the Raiders had an alternative plan - force us to score early, and then retain possession of the ball throughout the rest of the first half before scoring, and repeating the same feat when it was their turn to receive in the second half.
The Raiders set up in their signature asymmetric receiving formation - three players adjacent to each other on the right flank of the LOS (relative to THGS), 4 players in a line further back, covering the other end of the LOS, and 4 players covering the backfield and wings. Not a bad setup - but potentially vulnerable to a fast team. THGS dodged around the 3 players on the LOS, and punched down the player occupying the right wing, and comitted to that side. The Raiders scrambled over to join the scrum, but with 6 players on the other side of the pitch, weren't able to lock down THGS. An attempt to surf a Black Orc failed, and THGS' chance of competently stalling for more of the half and surfing more and more players while retaining possession seemed slim. Although it felt like playing into the Raiders' hands, the ball was passed to Witch Elf Goldiblocks, who (with the help of an early reroll), ran the ball into the endzone for a touchdown in turn 2.
In the following drive, THGS set up in their own favourite asymmetric formation, while the Raiders put 8 players on the LOS, leaving 2 players to recover the ball, and a Blitzer covering the wing on the side which THGS had committed to. In previous matches, the Raiders could be seen to form a cage on the undefended flank. A deep kick would force them to spend more time recovering the ball, and with the right pressure, attempt a risky pass to get the ball to the cage. And that's more or less what happened; the Raiders advanced, leaving just one Blitzer protecting the Thrower in the backfield, and with LIvio, the Ag4 Lineman on the wing behind the nascent cage, ready to receive a pass. THGS dodged around the forming cage, and sent positionals forward to mark the Thrower and LIvio. The Raiders were forced to move their cage back to mark the positionals, and with the cage disrupted, Thrower THino made a daring pass through a gap in THGS' defence to Blitzer BLuno instead - if the pass was made the Raiders would have had to either score immediately (taking 2 GFIs to do so), or attempt a challenging stall (5 Dark Elf Linemen and a Blitzer vs a Blitzer, 2 Black Orcs, and a potentially unaccompanied troll). In any case, the pass failed, and the ball was loose in THGS' half. Linemen moved forward to secure the ball, and screen off Blitzer The Silhouette as he retrieved the ball and retreated to safety. In their next turn, the Raiders focused their attention on Assassin The Hour of the Wolf, rather than the ball carrier, and it occurred to me that he was being perceived as a distracting threat, to my advantage. Tilea Raiders were consequently forced to GFI to try and get to the ball carrier, and failed - at the start of the second half THGS were 2-0 up, and - incredibly - had lost no players to injury (although Dirty Player Lustrianised Killer Bees was sent off for fouling).
At the start of the second half, both teams set up in pretty much the same formations as before. THGS attempted to kick deep again. The Raiders closed in to surround THGS, and THGS responded by advancing Blitzers to threaten the ball carrier in their backfield, and to mark an isolated player who looked ready to receive a pass. Again, Tilea Raiders attempted a pass to a Blitzer on the LOS, who failed to catch the ball. THGS moved back to retrieve the ball, dropped it, and were given a second chance when the Raiders rolled double skulls on two consecutive blocks. The Nauglir collected the ball and ran for the endzone. The Raiders gave chase, but The Nauglir was able to make a 1d blitz and a series of dodges (I felt fairly safe at this point, with a reroll ready to use if anything went wrong) to score a third touchdown for THGS, in turn 4 of the second half.
This was pretty unbelievable - with 4 turns left, there wasn't much hope left for the Raiders of winning. THGS' numbers had dropped over the match (although there were no serious injuries to trouble either of THGS' apothecaries), leaving 8 Dark Elves to face a full 11 Raiders. However, a by-the-book Elven column defence (as best as could be managed with less than the full complement of players) forced the Raiders to eventually run their Thrower forward with the ball, leaving him open to a 2d blitz which sprung the ball loose. The Raiders, now unable to score, surrounded the ball and were at least able to frustrate an ambitious attempt to make a long pass to score a showboating fourth touchdown.
Final score 3-0
Skill-ups: Side Step (declining +AG) on Witch Elf Goldiblocks
New players: Currently undecided on whether to buy a 12th player - THGS have 80k in the bank, and while an AV8 Lineman is a solid choice, it's also tempting to buy a Runner, for additional MA7 shenanigans, and a prospective cheap Leader reroll.
This was a thrilling end (for me, at least) to the Conference - THGS won their 5 points and scraped into 4th place in the league, which means they will enter a playoff competition with Horns of Turov, and whoever finishes 7th in the Albion and Bretonnia conferences, to see which 2 teams will play in the grown-ups conferences next season, and which go to Kislev. |
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The_Carthaginian
Joined: Mar 05, 2015
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May 28, 2017 - 12:25 |
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Season XV Playoffs - Match 1: vs Doom Glade Swamp-Risers. Match result: 0-2
Oh boy. As the lowest TV team in the playoffs, I was really hoping that the Swamp Risers and Horns of Turov would play each other first, and beat the tar out of each other to give the Showstoppers an easier time. In the end I convinced myself that playing the Swamp Risers while several hundred TV down wasn't such a terrible idea as we could induce Eldril and Morg, and be more likely to squeeze out a cheeky draw - as opposed to narrowing the TV gap a little and getting fewer inducements.
On starting the game I realised I done goofed, and was short 100k of inducement money for Morg! I wanted to take Hubris Rakarth, but his cheeky 260k value meant I'd be losing out on babes, so in the end I settled on Horkon (with Eldril and two kegs of the good stuff).
DGSR won the toss and chose to receive. The amount of Guard, Block and Tackle on their team became more apparent. Gulp. THGS set up in an asymmetric formation. The Swamp-Risers KO'd 2 players in the first turn and retrieved the ball. THGS made a risky play to surf a Guard Zombie, but ended up getting Eldril surfed instead. OOPS. DGSR formed a cage and began advancing. Already 4 players down, some drastic action was needed, and Horkon leapt into the cage to stab Swift Fury, the Ghoul carrying the ball - although the stab failed, it prompted Swift Fury to attempt a Dump Off that went terribly wrong, and left the ball well out of their cage and away from play.
The Nauglir was able to pick it up, and made a cynical attempt to throw the ball back into DSGR's half; with no players left there, it would have forced a race between THGS' Blitzers and GSGR's Ghouls to retrieve it. Unfortunately, he fumbled, and it was relatively straightforward for DSGR to knock him down, retrieve the ball, and stall to turn 8 while surfing and bashing THGS around the pitch.
In T8 of H1, I tried to set up a 1TTD using Eldril, but an enthusiastic fan with a rock KO'd him, ending that idea (and I'm not sure I could have made it work with the numbers and DSGR's setup, anyway).
H2 started off really well for THGS; a feint down their left wing pulled most of DSGR to that side of the pitch, leaving them out of position when Goldiblocks ran down the other flank with the ball. She was well screened off, and I fancied my chances at stalling long enough to force a draw. The opportunity to score was there in T3, but I wanted one more turn run off the clock to feel safe. Big mistake. DSGR managed to blitz away part of the screen, allowing Ghoul Hanging Mist II to mark Goldiblocks on the edge of the endzone. However, it was trivial to set up a 2db that would knock him away and allow her to step into the endzone. No big deal, right? WRONG. The 2db turned into double skulls. Goldiblocks got taken down by a Wight, DGSR retrieved the ball, and although we forced another dodgy Dump Off, we didn't have manpower to stop them from making a passing play that saw the final score go to 0-2.
Final score: 0-2
Skill-ups: Dodge (The Hour of the Wolf, Assassin), Tackle (Straight Outta' Ghrond, Blitzer).
Injuries: -AG on two linemen, one of whom is a Dirty Player.
New players: I'm still debating this. I didn't buy a twelfth player before this game as I thought it was better to have a Journeyman to get knocked around instead. THGS now have 120k, enough to buy one of any player type. It's tempting to get a second Witch Elf, but with 2 MNGs, I'm not confident I'd be able to keep her safe if we play Horns of Turov next. It might be better going into that match with 2 Journeymen and 200k or so of inducements.
In any case, I consider any duty to the playoffs well and truly discharged - after this drubbing, we'll definitely wait for HoT to play DSGR before going up against them! |
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