S14 - THE FINAL!

[J-Reedy]

This is it... You can feel the excitement in the air - no, wait, that's just the smell of wet rat hair and stench of unwashed chaos dwarf hats, let me get a clothes peg for my nose...
Aah, dhats bedder. Yep, id's dime for dhe final game of de 15dh season of NUL! On dis corner, we have de reigning chump... sorry, champ, LUIGGI widh his fandasdic skaven deam RADDONALD'S! And in dhis corner, we have dhe BARFLY... sorry, BARMUDION widh his shord and sdubby chaos dwarf deam MAD SCIENCE FAIR! Who will dake dhe crown - admin deam would like do poind oud, dhad dhe crown is purely medaphysical and ficdious, dhe winner will only receive our admiradion and respecd, nod an acdual crown - and become dhe champion of the 15dh season of NUL!

LET DHE FINALS COMMENCE!


Here's a picture of from the press conference, the famous Skaven mage - rumoured to be present at the final game - posing with one of the dwarven linemen:

[Luiggi]

Heh, you know me all right :D Nice pic!

So the season punching bag (averaging 18.85 breaks suffered per match) meets the season's biggest brute (averaging 16.61 breaks per match)... This sounds promising!

Anyway, I can play on Tuesday or Thursday at 20.15 (I'd like to start as early as possible just in case we reach overtime... last two finals were 24 and 20 turns long each). Is that ok for you, Barm?

[hakos]

Good luck to both of you. It sure are two worthy finalists.

J-Reedy: Brilliant match announcement

/hakos

[Mr B]

"Simply Brilliant", the sound of NUL

[Barmution]

Heh, you know me all right :D Nice pic!

So the season punching bag (averaging 18.85 breaks suffered per match) meets the season's biggest brute (averaging 16.61 breaks per match)... This sounds promising!

Anyway, I can play on Tuesday or Thursday at 20.15 (I'd like to start as early as possible just in case we reach overtime... last two finals were 24 and 20 turns long each). Is that ok for you, Barm?

Tuesday at 20.15 (GMT+1) is great. Catch you then ;)

[Luiggi]

Hey there, I'm waiting in-game, ready when you are!

[Barmution]

Gratz again, Luiggi!

I must admit I'm a bit down after those last 12 turns. Seems like your rats get exactly the dice they need, no more and no less, every single final.

GG.

[Luiggi]

GG Barmution, those skulls burning the rerolls and my rat's ability to not fail a decisive roll was key in today's final. Thanks for the awesomely close match, today's key plays went in my favor and that was decisive, but you really deserved something more out of this match, if it counts for anything...

I'll upload the game tomorrow, I really should be flying... bloody overtimes, 3 for 3!

Edit: Very true, Barm. You won both regular seasons so that proves a lot as well...

[Mr B]

Gratz  ;D, I'll validate it for you.

[J-Reedy]

Congrats Luiggi! It's a ratty way to take the championship but you've earned it!

[Barmution]

Just to be clear I'm not trying to take anything away from your victory, Luiggi. You played a great game as usual and took the right calculated risks. Absolutely no shame in losing to you :)

Now let's see if I can steal away some balls with Pros!

[The Golden Arrow]

Congratz Luiggi, your rats have trult become a terror :P

[Luiggi]

Just to be clear I'm not trying to take anything away from your victory, Luiggi. You played a great game as usual and took the right calculated risks. Absolutely no shame in losing to you :)

Now let's see if I can steal away some balls with Pros!

I know, Barm, you're a gent in victory and defeat, so there's nothing to clear up :)

Congratz Luiggi, your rats have trult become a terror :P

Congrats Luiggi! It's a ratty way to take the championship but you've earned it!

Thanks!

Here's the match sheet:



Dwarves won the toss and chose to receive. The ref got chased by some fans on kick-off, so this promised to be a fouling game! The rat los got knocked down, the dwarves secured the ball and set up a nice defensive screen. Learning from the previous game, the rats went tried to neutralize both centaurs to try and put some pressure on the ball, while linerats were being fed to the minotaur. So RatMuffin marked the centaur in the back, and the rest of the team knocked down and gangfouled the other centaur. Only a stun (which was already achieved by the block, talk about AV 9!) on the first foul of the game... which surely wouldn't be the last.

The dwarves made a good job at targetting Gutter Runners and crippled one of them (MA bust). The apothecary patched him up, however, and he'd be back in the next drive.

On the other part of the pitch, a Centaur and Ratmuffin could establish a very close relationship. The Centaur hit him at least 4 times, but every time the rat went down, he immediately got back up to mark him again. Ratmuffin found his demise in the hands (or actually... feet) of a dirty hobgoblin. A gangfoul damaged his back, which added to his smashed knee, retired him from the game (and not just this one!). His sacrifice allowed the rats to stall the opposition, who could finally break through and score after two GFI (the last one had to be rerolled, tense moment there!).

1-0 and the rats prepared a 1 turner. The Fair had set up a nice formation to limit the pushing chances, although Ratdonald's had a plan to score (it involved a 3+ roll, 2d block, 2d block, pass and catch). However, the dwarves anticipated this and blitzed! With no scoring chance, the LOS hit every dwarf in sight, and managed to break the neck of one of the blockers. The apothecary could not save him.

The second half started with a high kick, the rats set up a screen in the opposition's half, and scored after leaping over the defensive wall, knocking out the Sure Hands hobgoblin along the way. He recovered for the next drive, though.

With a tie on the scoreboard and several turns to go, the Fair caged up nicely and kept chasing the Gutter Runners. They would refuse to leave the pitch, though. The rats held the line, but made a positioning mistake that was punished by a great move from Barmution, involving some chain pushes that ended up with most of the rats being marked by minotaurs, centaurs and dwarves. Fearing next turn's catastrophe, Ratdonald's wizard stepped up, zapped the carrier, knocked him out and set the ball loose. It was still in the middle of the dwarf scrum, but a 1 dice push made it bounce to a side, where a Gutter Runner could pick it pu (4+), dodge away and pass it to an unmarked runner. With no help in the backfield from any Chaos Dwarf player, the rats held the ball for an extra turn and scored, giving the opposition very little time to recover.

With plenty of rats still on the pitch, and the Sure Hands hobgoblin in the dugout, the Fair was racing the clock. A rookie hobgoblin picked the ball up and moved forward, while other hobgoblins and the centaurs invaded the backfield to stand in scoring positions. Ratter Pounder, the leaping gutter runner, rushed at the carrier, however, and knocked the ball loose, snatching a few more seconds for his team. Another goblin picked it up, and with the help of a third goblin, they fouled the ball chaser and stunned him. In the last turn of the regulation time, another Gutter Runner blitzed the carrier, but got injured! (a push got rerolled into a skull, when the push would have been a very good result now that I think about it :D). After some last-minute bashing, which removed a few more linerats from the game, the rookies pulled off a great passing play to equalize and force overtime! 2-2 at the end of regulation.

Ratdonald's next offense was met with a Perfect Defence! With many rats on the LOS, they would now have to fight or dodge to make it through. Attrition was starting to prove deadly, and with nothing to lose, the rats went for 1 dicers and dodges to set up the necessary screen. None of those rolls failed, and the leaping gutter runner could take the ball into scoring range after a nice pass which flew above the dwarves. The defence put some more pressure on the carrier, but a hobgoblin didn't cover his space correctly and let the carrier leap past the centaurs and dodge away to score! (Note: at this time, Barmution had rolled his 5th double skull of the game, and managed to roll a BD/skull, Skull/Skull, BD/skull sequence when trying to push a Stormvermin off the field... at least Juggernaut fixed it, but... that was just nonsense).

With only 3 turns to score (again), the hobgoblins needed to move fast. Two of them secured the ball, while another two went for the backfield. The rat's numbers were dwindling due to some more KOs, and the ball was taken into scoring range by turn 19, with only 2 Gutter Runners and a Stormvermin on their feet (the other players being two linerats and a thrower, laying on the ground). With the help of a fellow gutter runner, Ratter Pounder blitzed the carrier on a -2d, knocked the ball loose, leaped over it and... couldn't pick it up (tough sequence there, 3+ 2+ 2+ 4+, due to the GFIs and leap, so just not falling was a success). However, the ball bounced back and forced the hobgoblins to either pick it up and make 2 GFI, or pick it up and hand it over. The second option was chosen, a hobgoblin picked the ball up and handed it off... for the other hobgoblin to drop it! With that failed catch, the final was over, with a 3-2 result!

-----------------

My Gutter Runners were again the star of the match (especially Ratter Pounder, scoring 2 touchdowns and knocking the ball loose twice, one of them for the win), and Barmution did a great job at chasing them and fouling them, but they just wouldn't break (at least two of them). The key play was the Bolt + tough pick-up, otherwise the 2-1 grind would have been certain. All in all it was a thrilling game, it had me on the edge of my seat many times, and I also learnt a lot about how to play vs well coached Chaos Dwarves today.

Thank you all for this entertaining season, we'll meet in the next one!

[hakos]

Impressive, 3 wins in a row. Congratulations.

/hakos