Shambling and Bashing to second place at OctOgre Cup Two

Two weeks running, two first times trying a game at a tournament. This time moving from the pointy spears of playing Lumineth at LGT to the muscular slowish moving Shambling Undead of Blood Bowl. I've played plenty of Blood Bowl 2 over the past couple of years running an online league with some friends (I really credit the mindset I developed playing Blood Bowl to me getting better at 40k as a side note) but hadn't played much of the physical board game. I considered doing Blood Bowl at LGT but ended up doing AoS. My youngest brother had intended to do Blood Bowl at LGT but with it being cancelled found this event instead and with my schedule no longer conflicted I was able to attend as well.  

  

Undead and Vampire trade blows in a desperate scrap for the ball.

So OctoOgre cup - 3 house rules to note to represent the location of playing blood bowl in the Ogre Kingdoms , a weather table that didn't end up coming up (the one time it did the weather changed immediately) secondly given any scatter would scatter an additional time (if not picked up) given the rocky terrain and finally OGRE THE TOP - every team that could bring a Str 5+ player had to, and if for any reason the team didn't have a Str 5 at start of the drive a random player on the team got KO and replaced with a Drunk Ogre Fan - MA 4: ST5 AG 5+ PA - AV 9+ Mighty Blow 1+, Bonehead, No Hands, Animal Savagery, Ball And Chain, Loner 6+.  

 

The last one really influenced by team choice. The knowledge that there was going to be a big guy on every team meant I wanted primarily a disposable throwaway position that was semi tough to just man-mark the big guy and leave TV elsewhere - in other words a Zombie. I'd played Necromantic a few times and always loved them, but Undead with two Str 5 so ensure I didn't have the Drunk Ogre (which seemed like a boon until I realised how many bad rules it had, the thought of it randomly replacing a skilled up Wardancer or similar was a scary thought.) Vampires made a late play with their release and how cool they looked but jumping ship to a team I'd never played and trying to learn at a tournament felt like a push given I was still making sure I was at ease with the tabletop version. 

  

Tournament ruleset also meant a chance to try a star player which I hadn't ever done before before. It came to a choice between Frank 'n' Stien and Wilhelm Chaney - Frank really added to that all out muscle but Wilhelm like he just added so much to a running Plan B if the punching plan struggled whilst still providing muscle of his own. I had to only go with 2 re-rolls to get everything else into the 1,150,000 value which felt like one to few, but meant I could get full positional’s so the line-up was: 

 

2 Mummies (Guard on both) 

2 Ghoul Runners (block on one) 

2 Wight Blitzer (One Guard, one Tackle) 

One Skeleton 

4 Zombies 

Wilhelm Chaney 

 

Given undead had Tier one status had 30 ssp to spend - triple Guard (one the green bases in the photo's) were easy enough to add to brawling, 2 on the slow Mummies for the Line of Scrimmage, one a Blitzer for a more mobile platform. After several test games against my brothers Amazons the lack of tackle was becoming a real issue so having one to Blitz key players was a must. The Ghoul's block was the last pick - I'd gone with Sure hands to try and get an extra re-roll and considered dropping tackle and the Ghoul upgrade for Leader to get a 3rd re-roll but turns out block is really good. Going into the event wasn't sure what to expect - a slight positive win rate, or 50% with some strong wins and close losses was the aim at first tournament with anything more a bonus. Also apologises in advance to everyone who I played, and I forgot their names almost immediately - sadly a lack of BCP means I can't cheat to look it up after.  

Round 1 - Snotlings. 

List (all lists from memory and possibly contain errors, I miss BCP!) - Ripper Bolgrot, Troll, 2 Stilty Runners, 2 Fun-Hoppa's, what felt like infinite Snotlings oh and a Giant.   

Pregame thoughts - So yeah first time against a giant. A very scary line of scrimmage and I decided I didn't want to mess with the giant. With enough guard I could possibly get a 2 dice block on it, but I was sure it would take too long to take out and I already had a mountain of tackle zones to break past. I ended up receiving the kick off, so plan was tried and leave a trail of zombies taking up the Giant, push a flank and grind it up near but not on the sideline. 

 

Undead receive first kick. With Giant on line elect to leave it marked with a Zombie and focus on trying to push a flank.

Undead turn two - manage to pick up the ball with a ghoul and start pushing up the right flank away from Bolgrot. My tackle Wright ends up doing most of the Blitzing at the start over Chainey given the sidestepping Snotlings

Snotlings start to move over towards right Flank as induvial Snotlings hurl themselves at the cage. Chainey has to Wrestle one to the floor as the Cage is stuck in first gear.

Ripper is slowly chewing through Zombies on the left but is mostly out the game. Snotlings attacks on the cage stall the advance completely.

Turn 5 - getting really tough to push upfield as time pressure start to come in and the not inconsiderable might of the Giant starts to make its presence known.

Giant gets taken out for a turn and Undead finally start moving.

On turn 7 Undead make a breakout with the Giant and trolls away from the ball. See if you can predict what goes wrong for Undead.

To answer the question - Snotlings get behind the ball Carrier, the one next to it stands up and the last goes for a three dice uphill block and manages to push the ball of the pitch. It scatters off the pitch and near the one Snotling who runs up to Giant who tries to throw it downfield but fails. Chainey runs back in Undead turn to try a YOLO downfield pass but drops the ball to end the half.

Go for the boat defensive set up in second half - pretty sure this is wrong. Logic was Snotlings will get were they want to and protects Ghouls from a Blitzing troll but would have rather spaced out in retrospect. Zombies on the line start getting beaten up by the Snotling big guys

Undead mostly stand off in response happy to guard space over bodies.

Snotling big guys start softening up the Undead line up and cage up Midfield. 

Mummy guarding a flank wasn't really the plan as Ripper is knocked over but Snotlings start pouring through Undead Lines.

Snotlings make a total breakthrough and its emergency stations for Undead. The Ghoul in the middle of shot makes a hero blitz, dodging through tackle zone after tackle zone and rushing to the ball carrier tacking the Snotling out. Sadly the double bouncing ball moves away from the Ghoul and Snotlings score next turn.

Running low on time but the ref gets distracted in the Riot and Undead have 3 turns to score. Zombies mark the big guys as the rest prepare to charge up left field. 

Snotlings swarm left and cover the flank in tackle zones. Undead move up and try and set up a last chance play. They end up with one player able to score in last turn but surrounded by tackle zones they can't break through.

Result - 1-0 loss. 

Postgame thoughts - Really intense game, losing the ghoul to a three dice uphill block to stop my scoring certainly stung, but it was an excellent playing to out moments and my opponent played well throughout - I never felt like I was in control for any length of time and whilst it wasn't great to lose it didn't feel unfair which can happen in Blood Bowl. Shame to start with a loss, but close game against a list type I hadn't played against before. 

  

Round 2 - Ogres 

List - 4 normal Ogres (lots of Brawler), one Punter, loads of Gnoblars 

Pregame thoughts - Back-to-back big guys and stunties. Lost the roll off and was receiving kick - happy with this as it meant I could line up my guard players up against the Ogres, try and put as many of them on the floor as possible and tie the rest up with fodder. Happy to play a bit looser - the Ghouls would be hard to pin down and take out for the Gnoblars so if they were exposed it was less of an issue than normal.  

Set up from both teams with Undead to receive (ball not in play yet) Mummies set up to allow Chainey early 2 dice blocks into the Ogres.

Undeads turn one goes well stunning a couple of Ogres and blocking space for Ogres to run through. The Ghoul at the back fumbles the pick up and with only 2 re-rolls I elect not to re-roll. The punter decides to ignore the line of Undead, kick a Gnoblar downfield who lands and gratefully picks up the ball to score for Ogres.

Ok - so a couple of turns later Undead take their revenge. The reset allows another round of Chainey Ogre attacks and the Wolf decapitated an Ogre. The Punter goes downfield in Ogre turn to apply pressure to the Ghoul who thankfully picks up the ball as Undead secure the ball in a cage on the right side over next turns.

Ogre team takes a few early poundings and the Gnoblars can't threaten the cage with the Ogres occupied. A few of them are thrown at the ball carries but outside of the threat of flying Gnoblar to the face the cage passes through Ogre lines without too much difficulty and stalls to level the score.

Ogres get on turn to try and score again via punted Gnoblar but fail to pick up the ball.

Second half after both players turn 1. The kick off ends up in the hands of the Gnoblar near the sweet Spot who throws it downfield to a Gnoblar next to the Punter at bottom of shot next to the Mummy. It wildly scatters away from them but bounces back to avoid the turnover. The Punter shrugs and decides to kick the Gnoblar downfield, fails and the ball scatter all the way to were its pictured. Undead move up to apply tackle zone pressure on the ball.

The ball is probably somewhere in that mess of bodies as Undead start smashing Ogres in the face. I think I have the ball?

Ah there it is on the far side. Cage not fully formed but Gnoblars have to three dice uphill block to get the ball of the Blodge Ghoul - that can never go wrong can it?

The Ogres can't escape the Brawl as the Undead slowly grind back infield to make Gnoblar screening harder.

Ogres try and fight through Undead screens as Gnoblars fall over everywhere.

Undead dodge duck dip and dive the hail of thrown Gnoblars as they stall out before scoring turn 8.

Result - 2-1 win for Undead 

Postgame thoughts - Ok so this started horribly but went pretty much to plan from there. The Ogre 1 turn touchdown plan was something my opponent had built for and it payed off at the earliest opportunity. That said after that the plan went off without a hitch - Chaney had a pretty 'meh' game against the Snotlings without a real target but taking out an Ogre early meant I was pretty much always in control of the LoS and I was either able to overpower or ignore the remaining Ogres. Thrown Gnoblar shenanigans occasionally caused a problem and thankfully Ogres weren't able to sneak a touchdown at the end to level up. Good solid (outside turn 1) win to get on the board. 

At lunch having a quick look how my brother was getting on with his Amazon team. This game wasn't going well.

Game 3 - Lizardmen 

List - 13 Skinks, a Cameleon Skink, Akhorne, a Kroxigor. 

Pregame thoughts - WTF is this? So, without having played the match up 'normal' Lizardmen felt like a hard but favourable match up for a heavy guard Undead. Apparently, my opponent had run a more typical Saurus heavy list at the World Cup and got rather bored of it so went full Skink. So, third game with lots of Stunty dodging shenanigans. Nothing fancy pre-game plan wise - cage up and blast any skink out the way.  

Undead receive the kick off and start trying to Bludgeon skinks without any great success. After facing Gnoblars and Snotings in previous games Skinks felt weirdly tanky. Tackle Wright makes sure to go in the middle to try and dissuades the LoS skinks from running away.

After undead turn 2 - Kroxigor commits to left to Undead go right  as they go to the highly subtle and intricate "Bludgeon the Skinks until there aren't any" plan into action

Lizarmen respond with a cage dive, Guard Skin dodges in next to ball carrier and Akhorne frenzy smashes the Ghoul twice but can't mange more than pushes. 

Undeads mometum is stalled by Akhorne who keeps side stepping around the ball carrier and it takes most of the team to get them away - taking Akhorne off the pitch at the cost of almost every punch (really wanted to Blitz the Skink on right off the pitch after it was pushed by a Zombie but Akhorne was greater focus.)

Without Akhorne though and with Kroxigor unable to slow the cage Undead are able to pick up pace despite the loss of a Mummy to a Kroxigor blitz/skink foul. 

Kroxigor is able to break tackle to at least stay relevant and the Skinks start screening out rather than directly attacking, but when they fail a key dodge Undead get a chance to inflict some real damage.

Undead clear a large amount of Skinks with trademark 'subtlety' 

Skinks run out of bodies and Undead score turn 8 without a dice roll needed. Lizards try a one turn touchdown but can't make it. 

Undead manage perfect defense - moving up two Zombies to mark Skinks. One Mummy on the line to force Skinks to really commit if they want to take out Zombies. 

Lizardmen get the ball and fall back away from the line. Undead take a few punchs but don't chase the ball (don't want Skinks getting behind and 1-0 up happy to slow game up.)

It may not look like it but this is about 4 turns later as both players stand up, do a punch or two between us and end turn with minor shuffling. 

Skinks make thier play after Kroxigor gets stunned. Undead move left to respond to the threat and try and make it awkward to swing back right. 

Skinks to swing back right but can't get a full cage/screen up. The Wright on the right (does that count as a pun?) dodges away from the Skink that was marking it and takes out the ball carrier. 

Lizards can't retrieve the ball and it bounces out, then lands infield. Undead surround the ball before the Ghoul picks it up. Lizards have one last desperate Blitz into a cage but can't dislodge the ball. 

 

Result - 1-0 Win for Undead 

 

Post game thoughts - So the Lizardmen plan was scary - briefly. Having a guard skink jump in before Akhorne blitzed in with Dauntless certainly wasn't comfortable but taking Akhorne out left the Skink tricks pretty limited. Was happy with how the defence went through - the speed of the Lizards was still a real threat and was happy with how patient I was around the line - both of us did pretty much 1 /2 quick activations each turn for several turns, and we whizzed through the game. After when I went to see how my brother was doing, he assumed it was a half time break rather than finished. Sadly, as I was giving him a lift, I couldn't disappear off early and had to wait over an hour for him to finish.  

 

Game 4 - Vampires 

 

List - Two Runners, One Thrower, a Blitzer (lots of pro but not exclusively) Varghiest loads of Thralls. 

 

Pregame thoughts - So really excited about this one - wanted to see what new vampires were like even if I was a bit worried about how they would be able to tear apart my cage.. My plan for all the hypnotic gaze stuff was basically to ignore it and cage up and try and grind as normal - possibly the wrong idea but I didn't want to get into a running game with Vampires and felt I might overplay around it, and hope just to require mountains of dice and be prepared that the ball might get turned over. I won the kick off role and elected to receive - about 30 seconds later this felt wrong and I wished I had kicked first, let Vampires had the ball and hope to run them out of bodies - giving them time hurting their own thralls in their attack to hopefully leave more gaps for me later.  

  

Undead with Wrights and Mummy ready to do some damage in the middle whilst Vampires hide behind thralls/at the back. The crowd goes wild and 3 players get stunned to rather slow the early momentum.

Ghoul fails to pick up the ball as Undead start trying to bash through Vampire lines.

Vampire respond by using Hypnotic gaze to get there way past my screening lines and a Thrall picks up the ball. Undead start scrambling back towards the ball in panic mode. 

Both Vampires twice have early touches on the ball with Chainey in particular taking several punches and a foul but armour just holds firm. Huge early moment as he blitzes from the floor and manages to catch the bouncing ball. 

Vampire turn ends up as a bit of whiff and Undead turn up to voilence - one of those turns were every block seemed to result in an armour break and Chaney runs upfield to secure the ball around turn 4. Vampires take a huge blow when the Vargiest is killed by a foul and fails its regenerate roll. 

Reminder of first half is a bloodbath in Undeads favour as they score turn 8. Vampires get in some punches to little effect before the half ends.

Second half stats with the Ogre fan replacing a Thrall as Vampire seem unable to get any players from knock out leaving Undead with numbers up. 

With 5/6ish players knocked out Vampire for an early score pushing hard on the bottom side of the pitch trying to find space for their runner as Thrower gets the ball from the back. 

I elect not the pressure the thrower initally, ignoring the Ogre fan and push as many resources as possible towards the flank to tie up the Vampire runners. 

Vampires are trying to find space but Undead are slowly taking more players out and I'm able to free up a Skeleton and Zombie to pressure the thrower - its go time for the Vampires. 

Ball ends up loose and in hands of the Ghoul after Undead turn. Undead look to be taken control when the drunk ogre stumbles around, knocking down a Zombie on a 2 dice uphill hit, and twice hitting the Ghoul knocking it down. The Vampire runner suddenly has a chance to take the ball of the floor and run to the undefended top side but fails the dodge. 

Undead recover the ball, and with the scare over take out the Ogre and smash the Vampires to the floor. 

Vampires run out of bodies as a cage moves upfield to score with a full screen of bodies between the cage and remaining Vampires.

Undead win 2-0 

Post game - So turns 1 and two I felt like my team was getting torn apart with surgical precision whilst having no control of my own. However, turn 3 went as well as any turn I've had - a huge moment of luck as Chainey avoided being stunned repeatedly after fouls and armour breaks in early turns and was able to get up turn 3 to retrieve the ball and knock out a player in the process. My entire team then chose violence and took several players off the pitch - which combined with some absolutely dire returning from KO rolls (one or two out of 12 I think over touchdown/end of drive) gave me a generous and not particularly well-earned numbers advantage. It was a scrap before an eventual run in touch down with some stalling and the start of the second half certainly had some (apt) scares before a Ghoul managed to collect the loose ball as Vampires just had to roll mountains of dice to keep up - and were probably a single failed dodge away/failed one die blitz from evening up and having another chance to get their knocked out horde back. 

 

Game 5 - Amazon. 

List - 2 Jaguar Warriors with block, 2 Blitzers, 2 Throwers, Mighty Zug, 4 Linewomen. 

Pregame thoughts - Agh. So, I actually double checked with the TO if my opponent was right for this in the off chance, I'd misheard my brother's name. We'd played this match several times in practice and Amazon were just such a pain to deal with - we often didn't do full games in practice (testing line ups from half to half and resetting) but I don't think I had won any Undead v Amazon 'half's and lost a couple convincingly as Amazons had a particularly annoying habit of taking out a Mummy turn one. Going to be a really tough match - I'm not aware of the exact match ups but I heard on the internet (which is never, ever wrong) this was Undeads worst match up. So standard cage plan - Bash them up where I can, use my tackle tech piece to take out key players and try and force as many dodges as possible with my mummies. 

Undead receive the kick off in a Blizzard, but the weather changes to normal and ball scatters into Chainy's hands.

Things don't get off to a great start when my tackle piece brought in specifically for the match up knocks himself early trying to punch an Amazon.

Amazons suffer a turnover of their own when its Zug's turn to knock himself over allowing Undead to cage but another failed block result in a second turnover in quick succesion. 

Almost no movement as Undead struggle to force their way upfield. Amazons take the blocks, reset screens and chip away at the edge of Undeads flank were they can.

Undead crawl upfield over several turns, I commit as many guard pieces as possible to try and disrupt Amazons chipping away and force one dice blocks. 

Amazons burn through re-rolls but manage to push undead back time and again and start to push their way through the cage. 

Undead run out of time as they can't break through the middle - Chainey has already had to make several blocks to secure the ball and goes for a Frenzy blitz to try and get past the double screen on the bottom - he manages the pow but elects to take a push so he only has to make one dodge (as opposed 3, 2 through a tackle zone) to the touchline but ends up failing the second and the ball is turned over.

Second half - Amazons up on attrition as Undead leave the LoS to zombies as I try to entice Amazons into another brawl in the middle. 

Amazons start to push but Undead counter commit to the middle and deny any advance. Amazons decide to try a different approach. 

A Jaguar Warrior gets the ball and bliztes past the Ghoul protecting the flank as most of the rest commit to mark up the Undead. 

Undead have only two players who can realisticly scramble to the ball. The Ghoul gets up and marks the carrier before Chainey dodges around, takes the Jaguar Warrior down and the ball bounces into his claws again!

The game gets very messy - the Jaguar Warrior blitzes back into Chainey but even with two dice and a re-roll can't get the Wolf down. Undead try and scramble towards the ball and knock down several Amazons to free up a couple of players. 

Amazons take down Chainey next turn however but can't protect the ball carrier as Undead slowly force they way towards the ball. 

Another change of possession as this time a Ghoul gets the ball. No cage options so I try and get my Guard pieces around the ball in a line. 

Amazons can't stop the Ghoul and it breaks away to score - they regroup next turn to threaten it and I can't stall out giving Amazons 2 turns to score. 

Undead deployment - I elect to go harder on the flanks and soft in the middle taking up as much of LoS as possible rather than putting pieces together. Its possibly a mistake but with Amazons out of re-roll I want them to roll as many dice as possible and allow both flanks to move into the middle if it collapses rather than have one flank out the game if they commit hard to the other.

Amazons break through the middle and start swarming upfield with urgency. 

Amazons throw the ball at the end to to get it close to my line. I swarm every available body but have to make a rush to get the ball carrier with my newly returned from knocking itself out Wright. With its big moment at hand he falls over Blitzing the ball carrier rushing. Great tech piece. 

Amazons still have plenty of work to do without any re-rolls but manage to push there way clear, and make the dodges and rush required to score right at the death!

 

Final Score - 1 -1 Draw

Post game thoughts - Intense game, certainly up there with round 1, and possibly the hardest mental load. When I failed to score on my drive it felt terminal - especially as I was losing the attrition battle and Amazon's early turns in the second half were cutting in deep. It took a big moment from Wilhelm who managed not just to knock the ball out but catch the ball off the bounce before taking the blitz to the face as the game descended into a brawl for several turns which always felt like Amazons were a lucky bounce from taking the ball and game away. Thankfully it never came and the Undead managed to take controlish of the brawl to score. Amazon scoring with 2 turns was a little lucky with some big rolls without re-rolls (double one to blitz the ball carrier at the end from me as well to maybe get the ball on the floor) but even with lots of sibling rivalry couldn't begrudge the late score. Draw was a weird result that felt both fair and unfair on all parties- on the one hand Amazons had control for majority of match but on the other they never had the lead on scoreboard and their late score was a bit lucky (not that mine wasn't!) Only bad news was at the the same time this was played the news filtered through I'd missed out on my online Blood Bowl 2 league end of season play offs by a single touchdown over the season!

Game 6 - Wood Elves. 

List - 2 Wardancers with tackle, 2 Catchers with block, one Treeman with guard, 6 Linemen one thrower.

Pregame thoughts - So won the toss and elected to kick - Wood Elves could score with any numbers of players so wanted to try and attrition first up and make their defence harder (thinking of my kick tactics v Vampires in particular.) The game plan v Elves? Punch them, cage - nothing surprising, pure dumb brute force as much as possible as often as possible. 

Woold elfs get the kick and start to push the close flank. I elect to keep my Mummies off the LoS to avoid the afro-Treeman but wished I had spaced out the Zombies for the same reason.

Ball is under a coin - harder to spot than in previous games (at back under Thrower.) Chainey moves in to counter Blitz the Wardancer and pushes him to edge to try and threaten a Blitz off next turn. Things in the middle go better than expected as the Tree goes prone of its own punch but a Zombie punch also knocks itself out. 

Look the ball under the catcher with block at the bottom! Its a near disaster turn as Chainey is taken out and fails its regeneration role (fun fact, I made 7 regeneration roles for various players over the event and failed them all.)  The ball however spills lose at from the handoff to stop the early score 

However I can't capitalise on the loose ball. Trying to pick the ball up the Ghoul drops it and it scatter back horribly away from the support. 

Wood Elves pick up the ball and I surround the ball carrier with every body I can manage and try and get my front line back. Its to no available as Wood Elfs blitz some space for the ball carrier to hand off the ball (I think to the Wardancer) and score.  

Undead line up with 4ish turns to score. Things start badly when Wood Elves get the Blitz to stop my momentum before it can start (with my tackle Wright eyeing up the Wardancer.)

I close the gap in my lines the Blitz has created by the Ghoul fumbles the ball for another turnover. 

Wood Elves swarm through but can't get to the ball. The game breaks open with players going everywere. The Ghoul picks the ball up and start to move upfield. 

Wood Elves pressure the cage and I'm forced to abadon it and leave the Ghouls on the side (purple one has the ball.) My Wright with the green base tries to dodge to complete the half cage but fails.

Huge moment as my tackle Wright reception moment comes as he catch's a dodging Wardancer (and fails a team re-roll to boot) who is about to push my Ghoul out and force a turnover and Undead are able to clear a path to equalise as the half time whistle blows. 

Second half deployment - Mummies to try and damage the Elves with a lone hero Zombie marking the tree whilst my tackle Wright prepares to go into the Wardancer again.

Things get off to a, eeer interesting start when the kick bounces near the Green Wright at top of shot and bounces to the Mummy who drops it - all tantalisingly close to going over the LoS for a touchback. Instead the Zombie next to the Treeman picks up the ball which isn't ideal. 

Tackle Wright continues its Redemption taking out a Wardancer and the Zombie hands off to a Ghoul as the Mummies surround the Treeman to try and protect the space around the carrier (wasn't the initial plan but wanted to in case the hand off fails.)

Elfs try and bash their way in to the cage with the Treeman but can't get through despite an uphill blitz attempt. It clears space for the Ghoul to run back and around away from the Treeman

With the ball in possession and away from the Treeman Undead cage around the ball as Elf run low on bodies. 

Undead start to break upfield - elves keep regrouping and keep pressuring the cage. 

Every time I think the Elves are out they find a new angle of attack and burst in. Here getting two players to the carrier.

I'd like to move the cage up a few squares but spent the turn securing the cage again. The Tree takes root and my Mummy/Zombie at the back prepare to take the long way around it. 

Thing take a sudden scary turn when a Wardancer leaps into take on a 5+ and uphill dice gets the double pow and the ball goes loose and keeps bouncing away from the cage towards the catcher with a free run to the line who fails to catch. The hero zombie from the start sticks out a hand and catch's it off the rebound!

The Zombie doesn't have the movement to score but rejoins the cage. Elves make one last dodge into the cage but fail to get to the carrier. The ball is handed off to a Ghoul who steals the Zombies glory and scores in the final turn.

Undead win 2-1  

Postgame thoughts - All my opponents were great but it's always good to get to round 6 of a weekend and have a really chill game were opponent admittedly they wanted a 2-turn touchdown to try and get a spot prize for quickest touchdown and made lots of YOLO plays throughout. My players were certainly less adventurous, especially in the second half were grinding out the last touchdown was key.  

 

So finished up 4 wins a really hard-fought draw and a close lose - delighted with the result and it got better when it turned out I'd managed to finish as runner up (Winner won all 6 games with Underworld, comfortable distance between us.)  

 

Runner up at the event so managed a trophy and a large miniature (which is a fun oxymoron) carrying case

 

List was fun - very grindy in most games but did have the potential to explode out with Chainey/Ghouls Chainey or possibly even Wrights was great - so glad took him over Frank and made several game changing moments over the weekend. The list overwise picks itself really - 2 re-rolls made some hard decisions at time and had to allow several turnovers against Wood Elves/Amazons in particular but the guard and Mummies meaning most of my blocks were 2 dice meant I could get away with 2. I'd like to find a way to get another tackle or dirty player in the list but I'm not sure what I'd give up - I think Guard on both Mummies is probably overkill and having one either skill less or with Stand Firm/something else might be better.  

 

Really fun event, certainly plan on doing it next year if chance arises. Want to give vampires a try out, they look really fun with the sheer options available (glad I didn't bring them, the learning curve looks very steep) but wouldn't object to giving Undead another run again in short term.