“Start of another season :) While doing well so far in the leeague, Scavengers has still to make an impression in the play-offs. Let that be the goal this year. At least we are back where we belong, in Bretonnia! A tough field, though, headed by nemesis GoldLords and the succesful Lumberjacks, and with three tough elf teams who can score out of nothing with as few as 5-6 players on the field making it very hard to do better than a draw. Vagabonds, Dogz, Remnants and Frostheim will be tough as well, and can really hurt my team, even if they may not win.

We start with one of the toughest opponents in the division, the Nilfheim Lumberjacks. We beat them 2-1 in the first match against them, when they were rather green, but lost 0-1 in season VII after a legendary battle that ended 5-6 in casualties, killing 'Jacks star ST5 berserker Battle-axe Nielson and seriously injuring five other players! We expect no less this time...

'Jacks has the home field advantage and the fan advantage, but we start with the ball... except... the 'Jacks are blitzing! In combinations with a short kick, the 'Jacks manage to set up star runner Runaway Aaron III to catch the ball, and he has fairly good support. Aggresive Scavengers are frustrated, and manage to channel the frustration into hard-hitting blows, KO-ing Cordwood Lars and Moonbeam Sigmar, stunning Batlle-axe Nielson II and, most important of all, toppling Runaway Aaron to free the ball. Bjorn the Logger hits Mobster and pushes him onto the ball. This bounces the ball to a place where Runaway Aaron can get to it, but he is promptly divetackled by Wiggler. Scavengers try to consolidate around the ball, but the 'Jacks use thesame tactic again and logger pushes Wiggler onto the ball. This time it bounces between two saurii, and even though Aaron manages to dodge in between them and pick up the ball, Fraternizer tackles him on his way out of the tackle zone, and Aaron crashes to the ground on our right sideline. This time, we make sure to pick it up, and attempts to bring it into security, while Claws KO's Three-Fingered Thane II. 11 vs 8 now, so the 'Jacks hit promtply back and Battle-axe Nielson blocks Breaker away, setting up Aaron for the blitz on the ballcarrier. Aaron sends Wiggler off badly hurt, but can't get to the ball himself. Fraternizer takes responsibility and gets rid of the pest Batle-axe Nielson. A smashed ankle sends him off for the match (apo rolls kill), and the next one as well. At the same time, Brewer sends Squeaky Kare off badly hurt. 10 to 6 now, and only one half of the first half is played.

Breaker picks up the ball now, and runs it across the centreline, protected by Peeler and Brewer, but when rookie skink Diver tries to dodge away from Timber Jonas II, he trips and is carried off badly hurt. Only two skinks left, but Breaker runs almost to the goalline, and has fair protection. Unfortunately, Aaron brings off a -2D blitz to push Claws away, freeing up Tin-Can Rolf to go after him. Tin-Can rolf stumbles when going for it, and we can score. Unfortunately (for us) we decide to stall, and pull Breaker down towards our left sideline and let the saurii loose on the remaining 'Jacks. Protector steps on Bjorn the Logger and sends him off for the match with a broken leg, while Moonlight Olaf is KO'd. Only 4 valiant loggers left, but boy, what damage they can do! Aaron breaks away from a confused Claws and hits Breaker, freeing up the ball. We try to cover the ball, but Aaron can pick it up from two tackle zones (Claws and Peeler), and makes a 5+ pass to Timber Jonas, who runs the ball into the goal after fending off a blitz from Idler. 1-0 'Jacks, with four players on the field!

Second half starts with 10 Scavengers (we are short two badly hurt skinks) defending against 8 'Jacks. Like the 'Jacks, we start with a blitz, and puts pressure on the 'Jacks. Timber Jonas picks up the long kick, but has nowhere to go. Scavengers puts on more pressure and Booster KO's Three-Fingered Thane while Fraternizer and Brewer co-operates to crowdsurf Whispering Leif. 10 vs 6 is the count now, and only two 'Jacks are still standing. Timber Jonas hits Mobster and tries to go towards the middle, but Scavengers shift to keep up the pressure. Again Timber Jonas shifts towards our right sideline (almost there now) and again the Scavengers shifts to follow. In the scuffle that follows, Idler finally succeeds in KO'ing Timber Jonas, while at the LOS, Claws KO's hairplitting Henrika. Thus numbers are now down to 10 vs 4, and the Scavengers can control the ball to a TD by Breaker while the remaining 'Jacks run away... :)

1-1 is a result that the 'Jacks have the most reason to be content with. It came as a direct effect of Runaway Aaron's heroic gameplay at the end of the first half. Well done, 'Jacks! Next opponent is the Malice...


”