More than a year and a half after my last win, I finally managed to win another official Fumbbl tournament. That it is the first (high) Bar Brawl makes it even nicer. I've been participating in Black Box Brawls and Smacks alike over the past months and years, but the little luck (or skill) to manage three wins in a row had been lacking. Until now. Finally the [B]lack Box Revelation has won its first tourney!

The first round we faced JackH's Uncle Anti-Passers. Since the opposition had been pimped with Ugroth Bolgrot's chainsaw and a bribe we were a little nervous, especially because the renegades received. A turn 1 pitch invasion stunned 4 elves, but also Ugroth, who had been positioned in front of my tree. The renegade's one and only (horned) tackler moved too far forward though, allowing me to blitz him in return. I only got a push, but managed to push him against my tree who 3d whacked him for a Miss Next Game. A tree rooting in turn 1 is never pleasant, but this casualty was more than worth it. In turn 2 my mighty blow wardancer badly hurt another renegade, but I also had lost two players by then. In turn three I managed to pop the ball loose, but couldn't capitalize on it. Next turn double skulls (and no more team reroll) resulted in a quick turnover for the opposition. This time the ball was secured by the elves, leading to 1-0 in turn 7. Nevertheless, the goblin managed to equalize in turn 8. Before halftime I managed to cripple the rat, but the score didn't change anymore: 1-1 at halftime. Only 6 elves and a tree showed up for the second half, but at least we were receiving. The opposition still had a full squad, including the chainsaw. The second half started with a rock from the crowd eliminating a renegade. Gotta love that crowd. The first block resulted in a badly hurt too. Instead of 7vs11, it was now 7vs9, a lot more comfortable. In turn 2 the troll 2d blockskulled himself against the tree (with block) and was badly hurt in the process. One turn later the tree knocked out the goblin too. Meanwhile the chainsaw failed to do any damage and was badly hurt in return. By turn 4 it somehow became 7vs6. Indeed, 6 elves and a tree (with a little help from the crowd) took out 5 guys in 4 turns. Despite all that my ballcarrier was 2d blitzed at some point, but even 4 dice weren't enough for the pow. A snake for the ST4AG4 blodger next turn proved a little too much bad dice for the renegades and the game was practically over. A last turn effort almost worked though; after some heavy dodging my ballcarrier got 2d blitzed, but no pow. A push instead and 2-1 for the elves.

In the next round the Black Box Revelation faced morehouse's Iowa Hawkorks, including two throwers and two goblins. The game was a very tight one, especially during the first four turns. The orcs received, but got blitzed on kick-off. Several elves got through, but thanks to kick-off return the orc thrower had already occupied the square where the ball would land. The wood elf catcher putting a tackle zone on the ball got killed on the first orc blitz of the game, but luckily he got patched up by the apothecary. An AG4 blitzer picked up the ball and even managed to threw it to another blitzer who caught it and got surrounded by some sort of a cage. The guard black orc on the cage's corners was put down with sufficient assists, which opened up the 1d leaping blitz on the ballcarrier: a pow and the ball landed in the hands of the wardancer, who was still surrounded by orcs. So we lost the ball again next turn, and it scattered right into the hands of another orc blitzer. A dirty player lineorc fouled the wardancer of the pitch (MNG) and got sent off himself. The ball was far from safe though. With our second wardancer we managed another blitz on the ball, 2d this time. The orc got badly hurt and the wardancer continued his route a few squares further. The ball was still in a tackle zone so I preferred to pick it up with the AG5 thrower to pass it to the wardancer, who would be safe. The thrower picked up the ball, but snaked the dodge. Turnover. By then it was still only the orcs' turn 3 that would start. This time an orc blitzer recovered the ball once more, all the while trying to get a decent cage around himself, which wasn't easy. After all, due to the first turn Blitz! the orcs had lost the initiative. The elves' remaining wardancer leapt in again and stripped the ball free yet another time. But impossible to recover it, so we went all in and marked as many players as possible. Things started looking dire when the orcs blocked away all tackle zones on the ball, picked it up and fouled our super star blodge guard AG5 leap thrower off the pitch (-MA). It was turn four and with the thrower gone and only 1 wardancer left, it looked like I already had spent my best shots at the game. But then Nuffle intervened and the orc AG4 blitzer carrying the ball snaked a dodge. I only had to pick up the ball and run it in: 1-0. The orcs still had 3 turns left to equalize though. They tried to force an opening on one of the flanks, whilst gently advancing the thrower in a loose cage. The orc forces had been effectively split in two. Then an orc dp lino caused a turnover while blocking High On a Wire, my ST4 blodge line-elf. Suddenly he got an opportunity for a 2d blitz on the ball, after some dodges and 2 gfi's. Nuffle was with the elves on this one and the ball was popped loose once more, although I failed to pick it up. Next turn the frenzy orc blitzer failed his gfi with the team reroll already spent on a dodge. The wardancer came in and blitzed away the last tackle zone on the ball. A lino picked it up and handed it off: 2-0 at halftime. Things looked very bright indeed, since we would receive in the second half. The kick-off result was a riot, pushing the clock one turn further. All looked very well indeed. And yet, it almost went wrong. When my ST4 blodge lino squeezed through the orc line, the plan was to pass him the ball. But the pass was fumbbled and the team reroll was already gone. So the orcs recovered the ball and before I even realized, it was suddenly 2-1 with four more turns to go. I started panicking when I failed to pick up the ball after kick-off and suddenly orcs started putting tackle zones on it. Luckily the thrower failed a gfi so that I had to blitz away only one orc. Pushing for a third touchdown would be taking unnecessary risks, so I withdrew to my own endline and defended the ball to the end of the match: 2-1. The Black Box Revelation would play the final, but with only one wardancer and without the superstar thrower.

In the final we met Valen's Elfheim Eagles who had struggled with some dwarfs in the other semi-final. With 5 nigglers and 2 -AV the high elves were also pretty much beaten up. But more importantly, the MA10 catcher was Miss Next Game. Despite blanket AV7 (except for the tree), the wood elves' armor would held out for the entire game. Not a single KO was suffered. The high elves received in the first half and scored in turn 6, which left me 3 turns to equalize. With all team rerolls gone, it was a risky affair but the dice were kind: 1-1 at halftime. Due to a touchback I was able to give the ball to the blodge ST4 lineman at the start of the second half. He hold onto it until the last turn before running in the winning touchdown. The one-turner effort of the Eagles failed and the 2-1 victory was a fact.

First trophy for the Black Box Revelation!