“New season, new possibilites. Must have had a guardian angel up high to help construct the conferences, since we have avoided the GoldLords, the Pirates and the Wasters. Not to say something bad about the teams in the Bretonnia conference , where the Lumberjacks and the Vagabonds have proved their mettle and a lot of excellent elf teams have taken the step up. But you know, losing against a wood elf team usually don't hurt my players as much as playing against the Pirates or the GoldLords. This season I have decided to shorten my match repotrs somewhat, and instead try to be more up-to-date...:)

Anyway, the new season is underway and we start away against the Malice. Not the worst team to meet for the first match. A very strong runner, and a blodging lineman are the most prominent players. The home team has the fan advantage, but we start with the ball, and it's hot... really hot...!

Our first offensive drive starts badly when their strongman Chaostear seriously injures Blue Brewer almost at the start, and the apothecary can do nothing. We retaliate by sending Magicsling and Icemolder into th KO box. Helped by a failed GFI by Banecutter when blitzing the ballcarrier, we can move to the left side and outnumber the dark elves. They hit back when Clawfletcher KOs our only Star player skink Jungle Warrior, but again we retaliate strongly, and Spelldevil and Firedragon are KOd and Team Captain Yellow Fraternizer sends Clawfletcher to the hospital with a fractured arm.

Reduced to 6 players in the first half of the first half (did you get that right?), the Malice don't give up. Instead, Unholymagus pushes Idler away, opening for yet another blitz on the ballcarrier. Chaostear manages to send Mobster to the KO-box, and the bouncing ball is caught by Unholymagus! With Banecutter and Moonfalcon gunning for our goalline, our only chance is to get the ball, or elfballing will give the Malice a defensive TD. Team Captain Fraternizer arranges that, but when Winner fails to pick up the ball, the daner is still there. The Malice has to pull all available resourcves back though, and Magusslayer almost manages to pick up the ball, but can't hold it and the balll bounces into the firm grip of Purple Protector. We felt pretty safe when the other ones held back the remaining Malice players while Protector ran for the goalline, but desperate rookie witch elf Moonfalcon actually managed to dodge through our line and push Protector off the field, but failed her GFI when trying to get away from the sideline. The fans were kind enough to toss the ball just in front of the Malice goalline, so Breaker could just pivk up the ball and finally run in the TD. In the meantime, Idler had sent Chaostear off with a serious injury that the Malice apothecary managed to fix. THe final Malice turn did not lead to anything.

Despite lots of KOs and a terrible heat, the teams can both muster 10 players for the second half, lacking only their seriousy injured players, Blue Brewer and Ixidatut Clawfletcher respectively. This changes fast though, as first Banecutter fails a dodge and needs to be saved by a RR, and then Magicsling also fails and without a RR, he manages to get badly hurt and sidelined. The Malice has control of the ball, though, with Spelldevil as the ballcarrier on their own half. Since both teams now have a bribe, the skink Water Winner is tempted, and tries to foul Bonemolder, but is immediately spotted by the ref and the bribe is gone, almost before we got it... The Malice plays well and manages to break through in the middle, and even though Bonemolder is KOd by Fraternizer and Icemolder knocks himself out with another failed dodge, the Malice are just barely stopped in a general melee just inside our own half. Two skinks, Warrior and Winner, are both KOd in the process, but no more casualties.

Malice were persistent and brave, but failed too often due to lack of crucial skills such as dodging and blocking, and thus burned their RRs too fast. They were very close to stopping us in the first half though, and if the fans had thrown the ball somewhere else, we would almost surely have failed to score.

No new skills, and we get Wiggler back for the next match, but must get by without Brewer.

”