The start of the season

Tuesday night saw us getting the Blood Bowl league started at the club, and it was certainly eventful. The dugouts were packed with the dead and injured by the end of the night, and a good time was had by all!

Week one results
A good week for physical teams, with wins for Dwarves and Orcs. There were three deaths; a Dark Elf Lineman for the Pirates, a Dwarf Slayer and a Human. On top of that not a single team escaped serious injury.

Karak Yermaw (Dwarf) 2-0 Pynk Nightmares (Dark Elf) - 23,000 attendance

The Nob Fumblers (Orc) 3-1 Horny Horny Hippos (Human) - 19,000 attendance

Graveyard United (Necromancer) 1-1 Karond Kar Pirates (Dark Elf) - 25,000 attendance

Karond Kar Pirates vs Graveyard United
(I didn't make any real notes on this, so some of it may be slightly out of sequence)

Two strong wins in pre-season had left me confident going into my first league match, though aware the Necromatic Undead team was going to have a different style of play than the Humans I'd faced so far. Despite kicking in the first half my Dark Elves, true to form, had soon stolen the ball and managed a rush down the centre to the end zone.

Kicking off after this I pushed for a repeat, getting one player within spaces of the endzone. Unfortunately my ball-carrier was blitzed out-of-bounds by an Undead Ghoul who went on to catch the ball when it was thrown in, setting the Undead up to push up field and even the score at 1-1.

Going into the second half I only had 5 players to set up. Of my original 11 two were still unconcious, 3 were out for the rest of the game with injuries (though none of those were long-term), and I'd had a Linesman killed. It wouldn't be easy in that situation, but receiving the kick and with my good speed I'd still have a chance of a touchdown. A combination of luck and good dodging kept my players from taking too much of a beating, but two turns in a row my Witch Elf failed to pick up the ball on 2+. As a fast team I almost managed to bring it to 2-1, but a last turn desperate attempt to dodge tackle zones, pick up the ball and throw a pass into the end zone failed, leaving the game drawn at 1-1.

Lessons so far

1. Dodging out of a tackle zone takes penalties for the square you're moving into, not the one you're moving from. Makes it really easy for my Dark Elves to pull back from the enemy line (typically 2+) and avoid getting into trouble.
   
2. Bring an apothecary. Dark Elves aren't the most physical team, so if your opponent gets the chance he'll try and land blows.
   
3. Stay away from the sidelines. There's nothing worse than getting within one turn of the endzone when the opponent makes a lucky blitz with the only player in range to threaten you and throws your ball carrier out of bounds.
   
4. The dice hate you. If you're making a major play and just need a 2+ to score a touchdown you'll roll a 1. If you've got a re-roll you'll roll another 1.