The Loreni Jadefire joined the OWCC at the end of its fourth season. They are financed by the Cryptic Humours and their Eternal Gemstone Tour. The organisation also run the Jaarvic Craghammers in the open play division and have an EEL franchise hailing from Nordland in the Empire. Previously, they led the human team Reikland Ruin before selling the outfit on.
The Jadefire are led by Head Coach Anzelak Stonefist, an undead dwarf. You can read more about how this strange turn of events came about here. They play in green and white uniforms.
In their first season, the Jadefire took home the Kislev Plate after a narrow 1-0 victory in a tense final. 19,000 Jadefire fans came out to see the sides battle with a new record gate of 26,000.
Season IV Post-Season Review
On the whole, the preparation for the new season goes well. The Jadefire are overly conservative in their debut game, leading to a 1-1 draw with the Hurricanes. However, they step it up in game 2 against DElf team Dark Crag Cripplers and win with two unanswered touchdowns.
The Jadefire's final prep game, against the Shark-Toads, ends with a 1-0 win. Catcher Rolonae grabs wrestle and linemen Arandor, Valiath and Erathdur take dodge, kick and wrestle respectively.
The Jadefire were punished for avoiding greenskins in the Season IV post-season with an opening game against the very same. It seems that the bribes sent to the OWCC administration were utterly wasted (if we'd known Winni was the staff member responsible for Kislev, we would never have tried it).
The Mo'rodaz elect to receive and their opening blocks are as bad their spelling. They BH one of our sacrificial lambs and MNG another. At least they got out of the game early, eh?
A daring attempt at a sack is foiled after some decidedly unelfy leaping from Wardancer Malavaeth. At that point, the wizard blows his lightning bolt wide of the mark (again: three cheers for the OWCC admin - where did they get this wizard? A Dwarfen hold?).
Malavaeth does get his act together and strips the ball from the Orc carrier but the Jadefire allow the Orcs to play their blocking game. Inevitably, they smash us off the pitch. A 1 rr 1 dodge threatens to put Wardancer Malavaeth out of the game, but we riskily decide to use the apo to keep him in the contest.
At the start of the second half the Jadefire can field 9 players. The Mo'rodaz block agi 5 Wardancer Oreth to prevent the score but they just don't have the skill to bring him down and he leaps for the quick touchdown.
Cue 7 turns of well-worked Orc coaching: positional bash, positional bash, positional bash. The riskier Jadefire plays don't pay off - but nobody is seriously hurt either - and it gets to the point where the fans are quietly pleased that our players are getting stretchered to the KO box rather than the morgue.
It was bad - but it could have been much, much worse. If the Jadefire are to have any real chance in the bashy big leagues, they must step up their game a notch.
Kudos to our rival coach FRSHMN who was an absolute gent to roll dice with.
Next up were the DElf team Dark Crag Cripplers, who we had swept aside in the Season IV post-season with a 2-0 victory. Today knightsweats' team were in no such mood. The two teams played out hands down one of the finest games of Blood Bowl in recent memory. It was outlandish.
The Jadefire's start was pitiful. Cowed by the Orc beating, their blocks were atrociously lackluster from the off. A quad skull in the opening moments led to immediate pressure (and an incredibly dangerous foul on Wardancer Malavaeth that led to Coach Stonefist being removed from the sideline for assaulting an OWCC refereeing official).
After the poor blocking, catcher Rolonae unexpectedly fumbled a pass in the first of a string of a shambolic handling errors. The DElves moved in to kill the game off early. A well worked blitz from Wardancer Oreth freed up a little space but the decision was made to cover the ball up rather than pick it up. As a result, the DElves took the early lead.
Another serious Rolonae handling error led to more DElf pressure after the kick-off. Struggling to recover position, the Jadefire signed off on a terrible half with a failed dodge that led ultimately to a free run on the end zone for DElf lineman Ziron. However, he stumbled at the last second and the crowd passed it around amongst themselves for a while before hurling the ball back in (thus demonstrating better ball-handling skills than either of the Elf teams could often manage).
Eager to get the game tied up, Oreth dashed off for a run down to the DElf endzone only to be sacked again after poor screening.
The ball went out again into the crowd who hurled it towards plucky Jadefire lineman Upadien (who is of pure blood, and struggles to shut the hell up about it). He caught the ball and was so pleased with himself that he didn't see the gigantic incoming hit from Delf Blitzer Ulfar. As a result, he'll sit out the next game.
However, the Delves couldn't make the pass for score #2 - flumping the ball just short of its intended target. WD Malavaeth decided to give the Jadefire fans something to cheer about: he picked up the dropped ball on his way into a crunching blitz that pushed Ziron directly into a particularly buff rowdy section of Loreni fans. The poor lad survived, at least. Agi 5 WD Oreth then survived 9 dice of blocking in a moment of intense silence from anyone wearing a Jadefire jersey.
Second half then? The Cripplers storm forward down their right flank to snuff the game out. Malavaeth frees up the ball with a decent strip but the Cripplers are right back on it. The witch stuns him for his audacity, so then WD Oreth turns on the style and leaps into the fray to sack the carrier. Lineman Arandor decides he'll catch the ball but is quickly flattened and the ball spills out - again - into the hands of the eager crowd. They do their best to hurl it towards the Crippler endzone but those dastardly villains retake possession and get a deserved second score.
2-0 and out then? The Jadefire quick snap to show their eagerness. Then they punch a hole and tear down their right flank. The witch sacks the carrier easily - but then it happens. The Jadefire turn on the style. WD Oreth makes a ridiculous leap to strip the new DElf carrier, the ball spills free and after another block from Malavaeth dodging lineman Arandor gets a hold on the ball and pulls one back.
Quite understandably, everyone wearing the Cripplers uniform took offence to this and they quickly rioted. True to form, the OWCC admin couldn't quite manage to work out how the stop button worked on the clock timer and a precious turn was flushed down the privy.
Never ye mind. An excellent and clutch defensive play worked by the Cripplers set up what looked like a sureshot victory. Then Rolonae decided to reverse everyone's dampened opinions of him. An absolutely insane trackback to a punted ball into a mind-boggling half-pitch pass, resulting in a tying score nobody could have expected.
The Jadefire celebrated like they'd won the match. Now can they make the playoffs?
Hats off to our rival coach knightsweats who was a pleasure to play with in a wild, wild game.
Round 3 - Loreni Jadefire 1 - 0 Old World HalfeReplay.
We narrowly edge a halfling team 1-0 (embarrassing in itself perhaps?) in this heavily delayed game to return ourselves to the upper part of the Kislev table.
The flings knock out three sacrificial lambs in the first turn of their offence. Star dancer Oreth gets hold of the ball in our first turn but the flings play a clever positional game to get it safe. Later, after the ball is knocked free again, it bounces to a free fling who is thrown but can't land safely for the score. The Jadefire go for the counter but a -2d blitz on the dancer results in a pow/pow for the 1 in 36 blitz.
Still, Catcher Rolonae picks up the ball and hands off to a waiting Malavaeth who converts for the games only td.
Second half. A perfect defence from the flings turns the Jadefire away from going for a quick score. They commit WD Malavaeth who is subsequently bashed around my multiple flings and BH. Questionably, the Jadefire coaching staff decide to apo him. WD Oreth dashes down the left flank but is sacked by a tiny army of flings.
The flings get set up to go for the TTM touchdown but superb leaping from Oreth makes it harder. He eventually grabs the ball but is sacked by a halfling resulting in treeman Liver gaining possession of the ball for the final whistle!
The Jadefire win their second game in a row after Hérion Oreth gets an early touchdown and Loreni defend for the rest of the game. Line-elf Úpadien is killed on 4 spp after some ill-advised man-to-man marking. Nostolon Malavaeth should really have made it 2-0 before the half time horn, but he fails on the endzone GFI and can't make the play.
Wrestling line-elf Erathdur is MNG'd early in the second half and adds to a rapidly filling injury box. But while the DElves grind the numbers, the few remaining Jadefire players manage to keep out an equalising TD and take home full points. Clutch leap strip-ballin' from Hérion helps, of course, but dodge line-elf Arandor is the real unsung hero with a last ditch sack when a draw seemed certain (kicker Valiath did his part covering up the ball too with another lucky 1d pow).
In the end, the Jadefire have 3 players left on the pitch and suffer 3/1/1 in casulties. It's 15-8 spp in favour of the Corsairs.
The final game against Chaos - probably unimportant in terms of standings - is rained off after a great storm. The Loreni administration blame the weather on Chaos magic. The Jadefire finish 2nd place in Kislev. They automatically qualify for the big leagues and enter the Kislev Plate post-season tournament well rested.
The Jadefire record their biggest ever win in the opening round of the Kislev Plate against a new High Elf team packing 200k of inducements.
Two perfect defence kick-off events and over twice the number of Jadefire fans as our rival Elves ensured the Jadefire put in a performance to remember. However, a late fumbled catch from Hérion Oreth - who secured two tds, a completion and a casulty for his third skill - meant that Nostolon Malavaeth took a crunching hit.
It would have been a career-ending -1 MA but after our apo was finished "helping him out" Nostolon was brought away from the stadium in a body bag. Head Coach Stonefist denied the apothecary's actions had anything to do with the high payouts the OWCC requires for injured players. Sawing and screaming could clearly be heard around the stadium, however. Replacement wardancer Maeion Aldavir had arrived in a few hours. He'll have a lot to do to carve out a place in this team.
The Jadefire started flat, probably a little rusty from their time out of action. A careless misplaced catch from dodge-lino Arandor led to immediate High Elven pressure.
However, the Jadefire locked up their defensive position and began racking up a long stream of first-half KOs (which the induced High Elven babes would make short work of at half time). Stylish early ball collecting from Hérion ensured the ball got back with the Jadefire. Look out for a hilariously reckless 1d block from a journeyman that results in a rented Jadefire getting BH (and leading to us being outnumbered 11-10 in the second half).
A nasty incident with the referee early on ensured the next black-and-white shirt out was a little lax with his whistle. Nevertheless, lunatic line-elf Indóton survived a brutal gang-foul at the end of the first half. He was KO'd but the medical team got him back out for the second half.
The second half was how the Jadefire would like to play next season in the big leagues. Next to nothing went wrong for them. In fact, overlooking the incident with Nostolon, the Jadefire can only be incredibly pleased. Roll on the semi-final!
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Final - Loreni Jadefire 1 - 0 Arkhan FaraohsReplay.
The Loreni Jadefire are champions in their first season, taking home the Kislev Plate after a narrow 1-0 victory in a tense final. 19,000 Jadefire fans came out to see the sides battle with a new record gate of 26,000.
The Arkhan Faroahs had dealt out plenty of damage on their way to the final, and they weren't about to rest on their laurels. A journeyman lino had his collar bone wrecked, ensuring any future he has with the Jadefire will be shovelling out the privy troughs. Dodge/guard lino Arandor - known for being a bit fancy, even for an Elf - met a grisly end at the hand of Throw-Ra Sefu (who skilled up for the effort).
Loreni elected to receive. The Faraohs offered up a very high kick but catcher Taniion Rolonae, not known for his outstanding ball handling skills, couldn't make the catch. The Jadefire began with some flat, disinterested blocking which set the tone for the match. Today would be about dodging away from Faraohs and keeping the block count as low as possible.
Arkhan had other ideas. They began the onslaught early. Blitz-Ra Horus (who was outstanding throughout the game) removed old man Tiduron before he'd even found his elbows.
Loreni moved the ball around well. A catcher hand-off to emerging star wardancer Hérion Oreth led to a left-right-left switch up pass to kicker Valiath. Wrestling lino Tûrin managed to badly hurt himself on a dodge in one of the few serious failings of the match.
Valiath ran in the turn 5 score in spite of a stifling Faraoh defence. The Jadefire set up then with Tiduron KO'd and Tûrin BH. 9 players left; no harm done. YET. Wrestler lino Belthorion, picked for LoS duty, got smashed out of the game on the first block of turn 5 and Thro-Ra Sefu picked up the ball for the rush. WD Hérion Oreth responded with the Jadefire's only casualty against a skeleton who was hit so hard he couldn't even regenerate.
However, Hérion's dazzling leap-blitz on the thro-ra couldn't strip the ball away from the carrier (skull/skull rr'd push/push). Blitz-Ra Horus then KO'd the Jadefire's #1 player for his efforts, significantly reducing our options for outlandish plays. -2d attempts on the carrier produced no fruits either. However, the eventual no-guts-no-glory run on the endzone from the Faraohs ended with their man on the ground and the score still firmly at 1-0 for the Jadefire.
Second half. Hérion in the KO box and 7 Welves left. Tiduron had come back though, and had the fans chanting his name after forcing a both down against the Tomb Guardian that blocked him. Replacement WD Maeion Aldavir, playing in his second game, had the chance to make a name for himself. He leapt towards the open ball (requiring a RR) and then failed the pickup. This Elf needs training hard before Season VI if he's to have any chance of becoming something! Blitz-Ra Horus had no difficulty bringing the pointy-eared fool down but Thro-Ra Sefu still couldn't get a handle on the ball.
Undeterred, Maeion tried for his second leap to get a blitz on the carrier and get the ball. He 2/1'd the leap and ended up on his arse. Well, we can't say he hasn't got spirit. He just needs skill to back that up. Turn 3 then, and the Faroahs still can't get possession of the ball. Finally, on his third attempt Maeion grabs the ball and sprints to the end zone for certain victory and his first slab of SPP!
OR NOT! The OWCC wizard's bolt slams into the top of the WD's frame to the fury of 19,000 fans! The ball scatters and Maeion is dragged off BH by the snotlings to be patched up by the apothecary (although he never returned, and we could have used the apo roll shortly thereafter). Catcher Taniion was crowd pushed, luckily finding himself in the midst of his own fans and able to find his way back to the reserves bench (after a long crowdsurfing detour).
Then Thro-Ra Sefu, who had struggled so much to get hold of the ball, made his own fans sing with a brutal hit on dodge/guard lino Arandor that ended his career - and less importantly, his life. He had 1 Cp, 2 Tds, 1 Cs and 2 Mvps for 19 Spp. He was also responsible for brutally murdering Celuhabar in our debut game way back in the pre-season. It was fitting he went out this way.
Down to 4 then. A wrestle lino, a kick lino and two lackeys. Faraoh hero Horus slowly brings the ball from a long way down the field. The WElves ready themselves for the equalising score and the 5-man OT. They keep together and get a few blocks in where they can. Their dodging is competent. Their skills are mediocre. They're doing better than the rest - they're still on the pitch! The Faraohs creep forward and Erathudur even decides to KO a skeleton (perhaps he said something about the lad's receding hairline?).
In fact - someone surely did say something about his hairline - because Erathudur dodges away from his marker and puts the 1d blitz on the carrier, wrestling Horus down. Then Siladon (who was promised a portrait if he could "be the hero") forces the both down on a Tomb Guardian to end the Faraohs chances of equalising.
The Jadefire win with four left on the pitch. Hérion can't even be roused from unconsciousness to receive the Kislev Plate so scorer Valiath is given the honour! Roll on Season VI!
Gnomes are trash
[L] Wood Elf
