“This game was an excellent example of how everything can pivot on a single bad die roll at the wrong time. Our teams were fairly evenly matched, with the dark elves bringing Roxanna Darknail along to add to their 12-man squad. In return, I had my scary-looking tree to control the frontline, but no wardancers and four journeymen. It looked like it was going to be a fun game...

...especially as the weather was nice. NICE! No sun, no blizzard, nothing. Perfect passing weather, and I was determined to make the most of it.

So I was set up to start with my usual long pass, run back and hand-off routine, but the dark elves put paid to that, either with a perfect defence or a blitz (I can't remember which). So I long-bombed to a catcher and ran it downfield instead, Roxanna then showed why she's worth her fee by leaping in and knocking the ball free, but after a couple of messy turns I had it again and ran it in.

Then came the first of Ulfwerner's unlucky dice rolls, when he opened up one half of the field and then fumbled the easy pass, leaving the ball horribly exposed. I capitalised on his bad luck and scored again.

It might easily have been 2-0 at the half as Ulf had a long way to go in a very short time after the kick, but Ulfwerner pushed forward as fast as he could and was in a position to score on his final turn. I snuck in a diving tackler next to him, hoping he wouldn't notice, but as it turned out the dark elf simple dodged away from him anyway.

At the top of the second half, the weather changed. I suppose it was too much to expect the nice weather to last, but for once it didn't affect the passing game and the nice weather turned into sweltering heat, which stayed with us till the end. The thrower will be affected, I told myself. He's bound to be. That would be just typical. But I'm pleased to say I was completely wrong and he got to play the whole of the second half, sweating like a pig but staying on regardless.

Ulfwerner then fumbled another pass, just when he really didn't want to, and those pesky wood elf catchers were there to capitalise once again.

At 3-1 down, the dark elves were facing an uphill struggle. Ulfwerner didn't give up, however, even when I had him against the ropes, with a downed ball-carrier and the ball sitting there in three tackle zones. He went for it anyway, with his AG5 witch, who picked-up, dodged and dodged and dodged, ran round and passed to the other witch, who ran down safely out of harm's way and scored on the following turn. Hugely impressive.

At this point a dark elf blitz, or a fumbled pass from me, could have seen Ulfwerner right back in the game. There was still plenty of time for him to score quickly and then defend for the draw or even push his luck for a win, but it didn't happen. My own luck held out, even when my brain failed me... I could see a chance to score, so I ran a catcher into the endzone, cleared a path to the ball for my thrower and nipped in, relying on my nerves of steel to make the pass. Except that I forgot to select pass. Also, I'd picked the one catcher without side step, so on the following turn Ulfwerer sensibly blitzed him off the end of the pitch, forcing me to do the whole thing again. Which I did.

And that's how it ended. Ulf did try for a last-turn score, but as he discovered, it's hard to push your opponent about when they're journeymen who fall over at the slightest hint of danger.

Still and all, it was a nice gentle game, with a good bit of passing and no blizzards. Afterwards I bought myself a wardancer, and the other one has returned from injury, so I'm back to something resembling a full squad.

So, let's see what's out there...”