With their hefty pile of Inducements, the Marauders bribed a random Thrall, bought a pair of Bloodweiser Babes and a metric ton of potions- none of which worked. I think I gave Kanil a Bad Habit too, I forget.
Self Inflicted won the toss and elected to kick off. They were rewarded with a Blitz with the ball in mid-air; fortunately for the Marauders, they failed to achieve a Knockdown or a Hypnotic Gaze on any human player, although they did mark several players on the Marauder half of the field. The Marauders responded by knocking one Thrall bodily off the pitch, and straight up killing another while trying to build a little pocket with what few loose defenders they had. Lee the Vampire managed to blitz the ballcarrier anyway, knocking him aside and picking up the ball. Before he could fully capitalize, however, a Thrall caused a turnover by failing to block effectively, allowing the Marauders to bring most of their defenders to the Vampire with the ball, including four players directly threatening Lee.
I thought I had him cold at this point, but with a clever block, a Hypnotic Gaze, and a Dodge roll, Lee was out of the danger zone and heading for the other side of the pitch, sending the ball skyward to the waiting Vampire. Unfortunately, the pass was inaccurate, landing next to the intended receiver and a Marauder Blitzer. Grant Valdred, the hero of last match, came across the field on a blitz and sent the Vampire down Badly Hurt, but as the other Marauders came back across the field the Catcher tried and failed to pick up the freaking ball, squandering an opportunity to slice into Self Inflicted territory.
During the attempt to extricate his Vampires and Thralls, Kanil suffered a Turnover, giving me another opportunity to put a good cage onto his side of the field- this time, however, the Thrower Helmut Lamprecht failed to scoop up the ball, sending it bouncing away from the group of Marauders. Sure hands my ass! Self Inflicted managed to Hypnotic Gaze my Ogre, get the tackle zone of one Vampire onto the loose ball, and get Lee back over to pick the ball up and move a bit away from my blockers, not to mention marking several other players.
In perhaps the crucial moment of the game, Dagg the Ogre snapped out of his trance, loosed a fell and terrible roar and beat his associated Vampire into the astrogranite, Badly Hurting him and taking him out of the match- he couldn't Regenerate that! A Blitz and some lucky dodging later, and Lee once again had Four (Four Marauders! Ah ah ah) to contend with, while his buddy Vamp was flanked by another two. He did his best, knocking over a Catcher before trying to dodge away, but he just couldn't make the dodge.
This time Helmut picked up the ball with ease, and once again started to the right side of the pitch, hoping to leave the Vampires entangled while he made a dash in the little time remaining in the half. Unfortunately, Dagg chose this moment to be a Bonehead, and I got too clever for my own good, trying to keep the cage mostly between Helmut and the prone Vampire. This allowed a Thrall to get loose, putting pressure on Helmut, and the inevitable blitz by Lee didn't give two figs about my paltry, incomplete cage. Fortunately, Helmut stayed upright and in possession of the ball, and another Thrall caused a Turnover as he tried to shove a Blitzer off the pitch.
Helmut successfully dodged away from Lee, but as he tried to get to a Blitzer for a handoff he failed to Go For It, falling down and ending any hopes of a first half score. A Vampire got free and almost got to the ball, but also failed to Go For It, causing the final turn of the half to be an uninteresting affair.
Halftime: MM 0 - 0 SI
Self Inflicted failed to get back a Knocked Out Thrall, meaning they started the half with only 10 players. This didn't stop them from punching a mile wide hole through the Marauder left flank, putting a pair of Vampires with Thrall protection deep in Marauder territory. The Marauders used their turn to try and contain as much of the incursion as possible, as well as sending a Catcher and Lineman upfield to directly threaten the ballcarrier and his Thrall escort.
The Thrall easily knocked aside the Catcher, and the Vampire dodged away from the Lineman to run forward to the Line of Scrimmage. This pass went off without a hitch, despite the interception attempt by a random Blitzer, and a bit of violence was sufficient to bash apart the pitiful defense, opening an easy path for Shin Sang Moon to run into the endzone with the ball.
Turn 10: MM 0 - 1 SI
Self Inflicted got their KO'd Thrall back, bringing them back up to full strength for the next drive. The ball flew deep into Marauder territory, but this time Helmut picked it up with no problems. The lineup featured the Marauder left flank (consisting of some linemen and Grant the Blitzer) facing off against a few Thralls and a Vampire, while the right flank (with the rest of the Blitzers and the Catcher) tried to power through stiff resistance from Kanil's two remaining Vampires, hoping to spring the Catcher for a scoring threat. Dagg the Ogre held the middle of the field, and Helmut spent his turns running back to the LoS.
The right flank managed to KO a Thrall, and the Blitzers pushed forward, containing Lee. Shin bounced to the other flank, Hypnotizing the Ogre and helping a Vampire push threaten to disrupt the pocket and halt the drive. The Marauders surged back, loosely containing the Self Inflicted thrust and giving Helmut the opportunity to march up and throw the ball to the waiting Catcher. He promptly fumbled the pass, and it landed behind him, next to a couple of downed Thralls.
The Thralls stood up and promptly knocked Helmut down, forming a three man cage about the ball. Lee dodged away from his containment, but failed the Go For It roll once again, kicking the ball back to where only one Thrall could cover it. Bertolf Lutolf the Blitzer blitzed him away and, miracle of miracles, managed to secure the ball. A few linemen were pulled away from where they were covering the Vampires on the left flank in order to protect him while another lineman marked a Thrall coming up from behind.
Once again the Go For It rolls screwed Kanil, as that Thrall dodged away from his Lineman but failed to close the distance to Bertolf. A bit of violence knocked Lee back down and opened a path for Bertolf to run up the right sideline. A Vampire Badly Hurt Grant Valdred, thus opening a chance for Shin Sang Moon to try and blitz his way to Bertolf, but Kanil lacked the rerolls to get him through the tackle zones, and Bertolf was able to run in for the score with only one turn left to play.
Final Score: Monk's Marauders 1 - 1 Self Inficted
All in all, a very fun and challenging match I was quite satisfied to walk away from with a draw. I didn't know what to expect from Vampires since the AI obviously doesn't play them right, and I think I picked up a few cute tricks Kanil sprang on me. That first half was chaotic, and the only reason I didn't give up a TD from the get-go was the temporary numbers advantage I managed to get- I'd add bad luck, but we both had a few "Come on, man!" plays. I rather wish Helmut had completed that pass, since he only needed the one SPP to level up, but the Ogre was blooded and the heroic Manfred from last match caught MVP for his second level, so that's something. I greatly look forward to the rematch- hopefully my pass defense will be better by then!
And hey, I finally figured out the speed settings on the replays- stupid lack of numpad!
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Topic: Bay12 Blood Bowl League - Season 14 Signup - TT S6, SF (Read 263145 times)