“Warpstone Open 2013 Qualifier XIII: Round Two

It was the second round of the Warpstone Open and Watchmen Philosophy found themselves up against a formidable skaven squad. The entire qualifier seemed to be teeming with rats from top to bottom, and the Watchmen had come face to face with one determined group of vermin.

The first turn started well enough for the Watchmen - they managed to badly hurt one of the skaven players and knock out another. All seemed to be going according to plan. Grosse Mäuse apparently weren't willing to follow the plan though, and in their turn Feivel landed a crushing blow on Nite Owl that left him for dead. I had a crucial decision to make - use the apothecary on a great, but non-essential player and sweat out the remaining 15 turns, or allow Nite Owl to die on the pitch. I chose to save Nite Owl, but things suddenly looked serious for a chaos team supposed to dish out a beating, instead of taking one. To make matters worse, one of the lineman mercenaries landed a boot to the head of our legend Mothman, knocking him off the pitch and into the KO box. A grim beginning indeed.

With only nine players left for the Watchmen and eight for Grosse Mäuse the Watchmen were forced to play a little more conservatively. They boxed things in around their ballcarrier and played cautiously to avoid a strike for the wizard Grosse Mäuse had pacing the sidelines. Feivel continued his blitzes, but no further deaths were on the horizon for him.

Ozymandias saw an opening and made straight for the line. Grosse Mäuse's coach ordered the wizard to open fire from the sideline with a lightning bolt. Down went Ozymandias, coughing up the ball and allowing Moonray|Aloha Shaka Skaka Shu Shu to swoop in and pick up the ball in scoring range. The brave gutter runner held firm as the crowd waited in anticipation to see how the Watchmen would react...

... and react they did. Hollis Mason leapt to his feet and blitzed the poor gutter runner, sending him crashing to the turf. Other members of the Watchmen fell into place around Ozymandias as he scooped the ball up and retreated into a secure position behind Hollis Mason. When the mercenary rat ogre of Grosse Mäuse sought to extract revenge, Sally Jupiter sent him crawling to the casualty box with his compatriots.

The grind continued for the rest of the half, ending with three skaven left on the pitch and Ozymandias walking into the endzone for the game's first touchdown.

Watchmen Philosophy 1, Grosse Mäuse 0.

The half finished with a valiant attempt at a one turn touchdown by the skaven, but dodging into multiple tackle zones left Knallerella unsteady on his feet.

The second half started with the skaven receiving and Watchmen Philosophy had their work cut out for them again. The bloodweiser babes had brought all KO's for the skaven back on the pitch and they were at full strength - 11 players vs. 11.

Getting the ref found each team in possession of a bribe and they both proceeded to use it well, fouling downed opponents whenever possible. No knockouts were found in that well, however, and the rats were able to make their way to the sidelines in possession of the ball. All seemed to be going well for them, until Rorschach was able to wrap his tentacles around Moonray|Aloha Shaka Skaka Shu Shu, holding him fast as he twice attempted to dodge away.

In short order Moonray|Aloha Shaka Skaka Shu Shu and the one-turn scorer for the skaven Knallerella were both sent packing. That left little doubt for the Watchmen as they surrounded the ball and dimmed any remaining hope for the skaven. The ball popped loose once, but there was little danger to be found in the mercenary lineman who scooped it up for a brief moment.

Midway through the second half, only three skaven remained. Nite Owl, who nearly had met his maker in the opening seconds of the game, was given the honor of walking the ball up the field. The crowd shouted for blood and the Watchmen were happy to oblige. Turn eight of the second half came and a final boot was put to the head of the slippery gutter runner. A clear pitch was not in the cards, but a fortunate victory was. Nite Owl stepped over the goal line to finish off a solid ten-casualty effort from Watchmen Philosophy.

Watchmen Philosophy 2, Grosse Mäuse 0.

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Thanks again for the match and well wishes, Sammler_der_Seelen. I'll do my best to keep things going in the next round, though I'm up against a pretty tough opponent. We'll see how it goes!
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