I played the final PodBowl game last night and went into the game needing a win to top the table.

I was playing Nightwing and his Necro. It's a solid and developed team compared to the shambles left by Glowworm so I got lots of inducements. I opted to stick with my policy so far of taking stars where possible and picked up Glart Smashrip Jr., a Skaven Blitzer with Claw, Juggernaut and St 4. He only lacks Mighty Blow to be spectacular (and probably broken). I also got a Babe with the change.

Nightwing won the toss and opted to receive. He drove down my right flank safe in the knowledge that he could surf any of my players that got too close to the sidelines. I pressured the cage with my fast moving rats and forced him to break to the mid pitch within scoring range. I was able to blitz the ball carrier but I had to GFI to put a TZ on the ball so inevitably fell over. Nightwing ran round the defenders with a Doggy to clear the ball and a Ghoul scampered up, picked up and scored.

With 4 turns left in the half I figured it was worth trying to score back. I didn't have any rerolls left though and so didn't want to risk a throw team mate for no reason. The kick off was perfect defense so my drive down the mid-right was scuppered from the off. I tried to push down the left but I didn't have the muscle to force a way through. On turn 8 I had the chance to run the ball to a Goblin and throw it but failed the first dice roll of the move.

Second Half I received and Percy or Glart double skulled right off the bat (or that was the last drive, I' not totally sure). The ball was safe enough but it wasn't a great start. This half saw lots of KOs with both teams whittling the other away as the turns progressed. I caged up on the left but again the Necro stodged everything up. In the end the ball changed hands a few time in the Necro backfield and I had a chance to score but couldn't get the dice I needed. The game finished 1-0.

I don't feel I had bad dice but with a little more luck it could have been a very different game. Nightwing played better than me (I haven't played in ages and practise makes me a better player) and deserved the win. Like many low scoring games though I found it really fun. As great as running 6 TDs in is, a 0-0 1-0 or 1-1 game is always really a really tight and tactical affair and this was no different.

I finished 3rd in the European PodBowl league with 4 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses with Underworld (a team I took partly as an excuse in case everyone else was much better than me) so I'm pretty happy. I think I just need to practise more. None of the games failed to be fun and I'm slightly relieved not to have to try and arrange games against the North American podcasters because with my schedule that was going to be a nightmare.