“What to say about this match...

Well, it was a match. And I didn't lose it.

I haven't played with the high elves for a long time, and generally don't do very well with them anyway. Whenever I play against them, they always seem like an amazing team and so hard to stop, but whenever I play with them I don't really know how to use them. (There speaks a dedicated wood elf coach who spends all his time wishing high elves came with a big guy).

So I began in the same way I begin most of my wood elf games - running all the receivers downfield and throwing a long bomb to whichever one of them looks like he has a chance to score on turn 2. Being a little rusty with high elves, it took me three turns. And I only managed a long pass.

Then the humans took over, bringing Helmut Wulf along for some little-needed but much-enjoyed extra firepower. And what with the Get the Ref result from the first kick-off, I wasn't looking forward to the following few turns...

But actually I survived them fairly well, only losing the two loners along the way - and a lineman I managed to kill myself with a failed dodge! And with the ball being safely boxed-up and basically unattainable, I decided to go for Helmut and get rid of him instead. Sadly, I managed only a KO.

Baluga scored on turn 7 and I really didn't feel up to a 1-turn attempt with only seven players and with none of the catchers having sprint or sure feet yet, so I just threw a long bomb to satisfy my need for air time.

As luck would have it, Helmut stayed in the KO box for my turn 8 and for the first drive of the second half, so I was happy to let it go on for as long as possible. Not long was the answer, as Baluga was obviously looking for a quick score to take back the lead and then an opportunity to bring Helmut back on. But again, he stayed out.

And from that point on all the luck came my way. A pitch invasion on my next drive took out a fair number of humans and only one unimportant elf, so I was easily able to break through and set up for a score on the following turn. Baluga did a great job of getting one of his blitzes all the way back to put me in a TZ, but with so few players at his disposal, there was nothing he could do to stop me score.

And then I got a blitz on the following kick, allowing me to get a couple of players in the human backfield, even though I was nowhere near the ball, which was way back in the endzone. But it was just enough to disrupt the human drive, and prevent them from getting anyone far enough upfield to be in a position to score on the final turn.

Technically I could have scored on my own turn 8. In fact, my attempt began fairly well and I was able to get a 1-dice blitz on the ball carrier (which succeeded). But sadly the ball scattered straight into the hands of another one of the human blitzers and that was that.

So a tough draw, which I was surprised to survive as well as I did. I lost a lineman, but bought a fourth catcher in return, so I've still got a long way to go before I'll feel the team is where I want it to be, but playing high elves wasn't the complete waste of time I've been used to up till now.

I think I'll keep them around for a while longer.”