The excitement inside the locker room was palpable as the Blitz Blasters donned their fresh and crisp uniforms for the first time. The jerseys were green with a black explosion mark on the front that had a large B in the middle. They treated their new uniforms with a godly reverence, and then huddled around Manager Manger and Coach Summers.

“Okay boys,” Summers began his inspirational speech. “You all have been training very hard for the past few weeks for this moment. Remember what we talked about earlier: keep the ball away from them at all costs; always be sure to have someone to block for you if you have the ball; don’t get sucked into the mid-pitch brawl, ‘Linecruncher’, ‘Limbreaker’, and ‘Devour’ can more than handle themselves versus those puny dwarves. And have fun. If you are having fun out there, I know you will play well. There is no pressure to win or lose, only to do your best.”

“But we get paid more if we win!” sniggered Kneecap and the team laughed, including Summers and Manger.

“Now go on out there!” cried Summers.

“Wait! If I could have a word,” said Manger. The team stayed. Although he wasn’t the actual coach, he did help at practices occasionally and he created the team in the first place, so they listened. “This is my first Blood Bowl game ever, as well as yours. I wouldn’t like it to be ruined by something stupid like an ejection or a death, unless it’s for the other team!” The team chuckled. “So, protect each other out there, have some comradry and sportsmanship. But most of all, let’s go and blitz ‘em, shall we! Hands in! Blitz Blasters on three! One! Two! Three!”

“BLITZ BLASTERS” the team roared. And they ran through the tunnel, into the dugout, and out onto the field where they were greeted by thousands of cheering fans.

Manger, Summers, and Jorkins stayed behind in the dugout. Dark declined a spot in the dugout and so was offered a private box near the top of the dome. The three shook hands. “Good luck, Mr. Manger,” said Jorkins. “Good luck, Alex,” said Summers.

“You too coach,” replied Manger. “And thank you, Mr. Jorkins.”

They looked out of the dugout at about eye level of the pitch. Stairs led up to the field and an awning covered the top of the dugout, protecting them from rowdy fans. The field was made of fine astrogranite painted green to look like grass. The dome itself was in very good condition and was very large. The noise from the fans echoed throughout the building. Because it wasn’t an important game, only ESPNN wanted to cover the game, and they had their own announcer commentate from the commentator’s box upstairs.

Surprisingly, three referees showed up to the game and Knucklebone and Kneecap went to the center of the field for the coin toss. They were met by a stubby dwarf who was too short and scrawny to be a blitzer or a blocker, and so was obviously a runner. “Orcs or Eagles?” the ref asked the dwarf captain over the cheering of the crowd.

“Eagles!” said the runner. The coin landed on orcs and Kneecap chose to receive first.

“Welcome to the Oblitzadome where Steven Scrum’s Little Oblitzerators are taking on the visiting Blitz Blasters headed by Alexander Manger!” called the commentator’s voice over the roar of the stadium. “I’m Jeff Deele and you’re watching Blood Bowl!”

The Blitz Blasters lined up for the kick off with the three Black Orc Blockers on the line of scrimmage. Manger could tell that he had advertised the game well, as most of the fans were cheering for the Dwarves. This seemed to give them a moral boost, and served to lower the orcs’ spirits.

“Hey! Keep you heads up or you’ll get smashed without knowing what hit you!” yelled Summers angrily at the team. “I need to teach them what it is like to have thousands of raving fans yelling at you. If the pressure gets to them, they’ll choke,” he said to Manger.

“Well, it looks like they’re going to have to learn right now,” Manger replied as an opposing blitzer kicked it off.

The ball landed out of bounds and the ref gave it to Kneecap. Stunk and another lineorc named Liff “Sore Tooth” Liffler created a gap on the south side of the pitch, and Kneecap ran into it, but was too excited and overextended himself. He tripped and let the ball loose.

“Ooh, and it looks like Blasters captain Kneecap was not ready for his first game. That fumble might cost his team a touchdown,” said Jeff’s unnaturally loud voice.

“Great. We can’t even hold onto the ball for twenty seconds,” said Summers.

A Dwarf Runner knocked a surprised Liff out of the way and picked the ball up right under Stunk’s nose, which he was picking at the time. Longbeards then raced to enclose around the runner as the orcs got in position to defend the cage. To their side, Manger could see all three black orcs go down on the line.

“There goes Purkelfurton with the ball straight upfield. His team mates are closing around him and it doesn’t look like he’s going to be giving the ball away,” called out Jeff.

“Watch for the tunnel move!” cried Summers, but it was too late. The black orcs on the line kept getting smashed out of the way and a Dwarf Trollslayer pummeled Knark “Bicep” Thrust to create a neat gap for Purkelfurton to scramble through. Knucklebone, seeing the situation, tried to attack the runner, but he was tripped up by a blitzer.

Free of opponents, the Dwarf runner raced to the end zone.

“And that looks like a quick touchdown for the – WAIT! It seems Purkelfurton’s celebration was too soon and he tripped over himself before he scored! What a chance for the Blitz Blasters!” cried Jeff.

“Go now! Get the ball before he gets up!” yelled Summers frantically. Knucklebone and Kneecap complied, but they were too far away. The runner hastily picked the ball up. The ref blew the whistle, the crowd went wild, and the Blitz Blasters had blown it.

“Well, it seems that the Blasters could not capitalize on that opportunity and the Little Oblitzerators score!” said Jeff.

“What’s the matter with you lot?” cried Summers as the orcs walked downtrodden into the dugout. He turned towards the black orcs. “Why can’t you three stay on your feet?” The blockers could easily have ripped Summers apart right there, but they had too much respect for him and were ashamed for themselves.

“Kneecap, I trusted you could hold onto the ball, but I guess I was wrong,” the coach continued. He then sat down in frustration.

“I think what coach Summers is trying to say is that we know you are better than that. You had several opportunities to stop the score and you messed them up. Just play like you have been playing: like a team,” said Manger.

The ref blew the whistle signaling for the next kickoff. As the team walked out onto the pitch, Summers called out, “you had better not make fools out of yourselves!”

Knucklebone called the team together and they huddled up. When the huddle broke, they came out looking much more confident and ready to play. Once again, the kick was out of bounds and Kneecap again got the ball.

“And there goes Kneecap again. Let’s just hope he holds onto the ball this time,” announced Jeff.

He blitzed his way up the side of the field and the dwarves moved in position to block him. Kneecap juked towards the center of the field but then spun away on the sidelines and scored before the dumbstruck dwarves had a chance to turn around.

“Wow! That must be embarrassing for the dwarves. Kneecap totally fooled them! Score for the Blitz Blasters!” called out Jeff.

The crowd loved it and Kneecap did a celebration dance that the whole team joined in on.

“That’s it!” cried Summers with elation. The team’s morale suddenly increased and they looked even fiercer than before.

Knark made the kickoff and it landed out of bounds too. The ref gave it to a runner and the play began. The dwarves made a cage around the runner as they moved to the north side of the field. This time, the Blasters’ defense was more solid and the dwarves were left with no forward option.

“It seems the Blasters are more prepared for the running play this time,” said Jeff over the roaring crowd.
Unable to go forward, the runner broke from the cage and ran south to pass to an open longbeard.

“Would you look at that! Dwarf longbeard Kurdopp has caught the pass! That’s the first completion made by a dwarf team I’ve ever seen!” cried Jeff.

But the longbeard was a long way from the end zone and black orc blocker Mrug “Linecruncher” Moogrot slammed him into the turf. The ball bounced his way but he was too surprised to pick it up.

“But it looks like Linecruncher will end the party. Ouch! That’s gotta hurt!” said Jeff.

Then the ref blew his whistle and the half was over.

“And that’s it for the first half folks! Halftime score: Little Oblitzerators 1, Blitz Blasters 1.”

“Yes, boys, yes!” said coach Summers in the locker room. “That’s what I was talking about.” He looked at the black orcs. “See what happens when you stay on your feet? And Kneecap, superb move. That’s the kind of things we’ve been training for. I knew you could do better. But let’s not let one score get to our heads. We did a good job keeping them out of our end zone after the score and we have to do it again. They’re going to have the ball when we kick off, so we need to first, keep them from scoring, second, get the ball, and third, score ourselves. I don’t care how you do it. If it means hurting some dwarves, then by all means, please do so. But remember the defensive plays we went over. And remember we practiced how to secure the ball. I know you can win this game, so get out there and go!”

The team roared. “Go blitz ‘em!” said Manger. “One, two, three.”

“BLITZ BLASTERS!” the team yelled and they charged back onto the pitch energized.

Once again, Knark’s kick went out of bounds and the captain took the ball this time. As the other runner ran down the side of the field, the captain ran up the middle and attempted to make another pass to the runner. But Blasters lineorc Grawp “Odor” Grip forced a fumble. With the help of Knark, he pushed the captain out of the way and Knucklebone grabbed the ball.

“I don’t believe this!” cried Jeff. “The other Blasters captain, Knucklebone is passing to his brother Kneecap! And he makes it! What a catch!”

Dwarf blitzer Jadimewt tried to stop Kneecap, but a shove from “Linecruncher” pushed him out of bounds and into the crowd. However, the crowd was favorable to the dwarves and safely delivered the blitzer back to his dugout.

“And “Linecruncher” again saves Kneecap from an opponent, this time longbeard Portquinn, and Kneecap scores! Two to one for the Blasters!” shouted Jeff.

The crowd went nuts again, and the team celebrated again.
“Great job guys! Now you just need to stop them from scoring,” said Summers.

“If you just blitz ‘em, the game is in the bag,” said Manger.

As the team walked out onto the field, Summers asked Manger, “what is the deal with you and ‘just blitz ‘em’?”

“I thought that was what every Blood Bowl coach says before a drive,” said Manger. Summers just laughed as the Blitz Blasters did in fact blitz the dwarves. Knark’s kick finally landed in bounds, this time in the end zone itself.

“And there goes Knucklebone breaking through the line,” shouted Jeff.

As Knucklebone raced downfield, the rest of the team was engaged in a brawl on the line. But Portquinn got to the ball first and slipped away from Knucklebone. However, he was not done with the dwarf just yet.

“It looks like Knucklebone doesn’t want his brother to hog all the glory. Whoa! Look at the way he attacked poor Portquinn!” said Jeff.

Despite his relentless attacks, Portquinn stayed on his feet. As his team mates stood by watching, too intimidated to go help out, they called for him to pass it. But Knucklebone didn’t let the ball get away this time, as he finally knocked the longbeard over.

The team was finally winning the battle versus the dwarves on the line, but not in time to help Knucklebone out. Knucklebone himself was having a hard time catching the bouncing ball.

“And with time running out, will Knucklebone finally snag the ball? Or will the dwarves find the inspiration to tie the game?” called Jeff.

The team was exhausted, but they were beating up the dwarves good when Knucklebone finally pounced on the ball threatening to go out of bounds in the end zone.

As he stood up with the ball in his hands over his head, the ref blew the final whistle.

“What a finish! Knucklebone comes up with the ball just as time runs out! Final score: Little Oblitzerators 1, BLITZ BLASTERS 3!!!”

The crowd went crazy and the team, despite their fatigue, sprinted over to Knucklebone to celebrate. Summers and Manger burst from the dugout to meet them and Jorkins followed behind.

The team celebrated with the support of the crowd for well over twenty minutes. At one point, Steven Scrum attempted to congratulate Manger, but Manger was so caught up in the excitement that Scrum never got the chance. They partied on at the Oblitzadome Inn until late in the night. Manger had won his first game of Blood Bowl.