Quick reprisal of the match:

Immediately after kickoff it became clear that this game would be fun to watch. Neither of the two teams paid much attention to caging or defense - as soon as they had the ball, they went forward. Unfortunately, during the first four turns for each side, the players lacked the skills to actually make that work - elves threw fumbled passes (though they managed to pick up the ball at least, they _are_ improving!), thrown snotlings crash-landed and lost the ball, ogres stood around scratching their heads.

This changed when Fanny Hill - the wardancer who played so spectacularly bad against the Red Lantern - managed three successful dodges, a block sending the ball carrier down, and a ball pick-up, all in the same turn. A few successful dodges and a handover later, my catcher Chuck Berry scored his first touchdown. I could have stalled or tried to get another pass in, but from the way the match was going so far, I decided to better not take unnecessary risks.

Kickoff. My kicker was still injured and couldn't play, so my wardancer played it safe and aimed at the middle of the opposing half. With a 6 on the distance roll, the ball nevertheless shot over the boundary. Ghiro gives the ball to Fredo Stickyfeet, his level 4 snotling with Sure Feet and Sprint. He clears out my line of scrimmage, throws Fredo across my defenses, and the snotling scatters into a position from which he can score immediately. One-turn touchdown, nicely done!

In the next drive, I get a Quick Snap, and the ball scatters right into the hands of my wardancer. She gives the ball to my second catcher (E. Wood), who zips past the ogres and runs almost up to the scoring line. The FIsts try to stop him with three snotlings orchestrating a block, but the blitzer fails his go-for-it twice. Eldril, one of my two star players, incapacitates the second snotling, and Wood dodges past the last one for the first touchdown in his career.

Kickoff. My wardancer again aims for the middle of the pitch, rolls again 6 for the distance, and the ball _again_ leaves the pitch. I should consider getting a backup kicker. The Fists try another one-turn touchdown, but this time the snotling lands too far away from the scoring line. Phew. ;)

In the second half, my kickoff actualled landed _inside_ the opposing half. Also, lineelf Billy Ocean, who had scored the second ever touchdown in the team's history, died unspectacularly by trying to dodge away from the line of scrimmage. However, he managed to dispose of his body in a way that was so aesthetically pleasing that his teammates opted to not use the apothecary, since any future death of his would probably be less beautiful to look at. The apothecary sighed, mumbled something about artists and their disregard for life, and embalmed the body, which is now displayed in the team's club house (that was a bit short of exhibits anyway, and the lack of trophies was bad for the general mood).

The second half followed a repeating pattern: The Fists picked up the ball and tried to build a good position, but one or two ogres always failed to comprehend the strategy, which left room for my wardancers to blitz the ball carrier and obtain the ball. Some ogre then smashed my ball carrier, a snotling picked up the ball again, and the pattern repeated itself. At one point, a wizard rose in the audience and threw a fireball on the pitch, which knocked down two ogres and killed the poor young snotling Ignatz, who was just about to reach his second level.

Eventually the ball scattered out of the clot of players, and one of my catchers could pick it up and run with it. A desperate blitzing attempt from a single snotling couldn't stop him, and I managed to score a third touchdown - which the team gave to Fanny Hill, to celebrate her outstanding performance in the match. In the last three turns, _everything_ that my team tried, worked, including two unnecessary passes. Also, my second wardancer (Amy Pond) managed to knock down an ogre, who is ironically named "Elf-Smacker". I guess that angered her. ;)

With three touchdowns, two completed passes, and two casualties caused, this was an unexpectedly successful match. The match itself was tighter than the result suggests though, I think a 2-1 or 3-2 would have reflected the happenings on the pitch better. But in general, I have a feeling that ogre teams are having tough times against opponents with high mobility and agility. With bone-headed ogres and weak snotlings, there are always lines opening up through which a high mobility team can send its players, and with MA 5, the ogres and snotlings have a hard time cathcing those.

Side note: For the THIRD time now, my MVP points have gone to a loner. Grrrr. ;) Is there some pro-star player bias in the calculations?