Journey of the Maulers: Third game in the wander league

"Ooooh man Jim, did that have to happen right now?"

"Even Nurgle can't help it if his sneeze knocks out the big leagues for a while."

"But how are we gonna enjoy a little Blood Bowl?"

"How about we watch a game of budding amateurs instead?

"Yeah, that's a good idea, Jim! Those morons don't know how to do anything - at least that should provide some entertainment!"

In the Maulers' third game of the season, Denis was my opponent, who is also known as Baumling in the forum Tabletowelt.de. We know each other for quite a while now and so it's not surprising that the game had a certain build up. For a while I called his Norseteam soft elves and so I guess I got what I deserved in this game. Denis challenged me - with an Elf Union team!

"Well, the weather seems fine, although a little shady, Bob."

"I knew you'd like that. But speaking of shady, Jim, I don't think you can get any more shady than the Trundlefoot triplets have."

"The Trundlefoot triplets? I have a bad feeling!"

"Yeah. Fantastic, isn't it?"

The triplets function basically like ordinary referees with a certain extra. If you do not roll doubles on a foul, the dice are rolled again immediately afterwards. If a 1 is rolled, the fouling player leaves the field, if a 6 is rolled, the fouled player leaves the field instead. In addition, each coach throws another D6 before the kick-off. If a 1 is rolled, a randomly selected player has to leave the field.

"Hey Jim! Look at those two fans over there! They can't wait any longer."

"I guess you could say that... uh, Bob, does it really belong in the minor leagues, messin' with the players?"

"I don't think so, Jim..."

Before the game really got going, a bit of hooliganism at the kick-off ensured that we had one move less to play. That made me a bit nervous, because especially against elves orcs have difficulties at the beginning and you can easily slow them down for a whole half time. But luck seemed to be on my side at the beginning of the game. Old star Thrat the Threat managed to hurt a catcher badly right in the first turn.

Unfortunately, the Falcons took revenge and sent Thrat to the ground. Only one move later Thrat had to leave the field himself with a strain in his groin and would not be able to play the next game. Well, that's bad luck, in the last match I had lost a blackorc and in this one my recently painted model. Him being a blitzer made things even worse!

Yeah, it's always the same with orc players. As soon as there is one player less on the field, the power of a greenskin team decreases dramatically and you become more cautious. I was no exception and instead of taking unnecessary risks, I formed a cage and tried to sneak along the right flank. To avoid retaliation, I played both my cards to be on the safe side. One oft he close by elves got the cussion gloves, which should protect my thrower.

"We won't see much action from him today, Bob."

"I know, Jim. The NAF's had their eye on this girl for a while. It's only natural she's gonna be a little cautious.

" That' s a guy, Bob..."

"And number 7, Jim? Is that a guy, too?"

"Yes, Bob, and from the looks of it, he's not gonna hold back as much as his teammate! Although I don't think you can call that tiny kick a foul.

"Well, the triplets don't seem to see it your way Jim. Damn referees."

Didn't I say I didn't want any retaliation? Aiklos of Nagarythe probably hadn't received the memo and bravely stepped on a blackorc lying on the ground. But this was quickly avenged, because despite loud protests from the coach, he got ejected.

A little déjà-vu set in when in the fifth turn the spectacle was directly repeated with two fives showing on the dice and Belecast of Yvresse also had to leave the game for the locker room involuntarily.

"Can you believe it, Jim? I can't stand elves very much either, but I still prefer to send them off the field on a stretcher than with that disgusting grin on their face!"

"I guess it's a sort of tactic here in the minor leagues - a player sent off the field can't die...at least not right away..."

The triplets slowly got fed up with the unfair play of the elves, and when they committed another foul a turn later, they showed no mercy. The ranks of the elves thinned without me having to even raise a hand. So at the end of the first half I could comfortably score the 1:0 lead.

The second half passed by in a flash due to the reduced number of players. I was able to cover the field quite well since I had a clear majority in numbers, but Dennis was not ready to give up yet. He played his card, the mighty leap, and tried to use the best chance he had to score the equalizer.

"Not bad Jim, eh?"

"Not bad at all. I haven't seen a jump like that since Spring Skrog had his accident! Only the landing could use a little practice."

His quite realistic efforts ended with the bad luck that he already had throughout the entire match. The landing failed and I was able to prevent the elves from becoming dangerous to me again.

Post Game

As expected, it was a game that Denis and I enjoyed more in spectator mode than in the coaching role. I have to say, there's something appealing about just watching the guaranteed chaos unfold as the game progresses.

We were both lucky with the rewards - the Falcons won 50,000 gold pieces despite their defeat, while I won 90,000 because of the double amount of fans and the victory. These were invested directly to help Borr Eightkilla recover from the chainsaw trauma he suffered in his last game against the Flying Flashgitz. During the roster update I also noticed that I had an apothecary...and I had totally forgotten to use him on blitzer at the beginning of the game! Typical...at least the players behaved and I didn't have to face any further consequences of costly mistakes in the post game sequence.

Unfortunately not enough had happened in the game to get the necessary modifiers for a possible sponsor and also a stadium was not in it, because we had played in a normal stadium. So the team sheet after the third Wanderleague game looks like this:

The fourth game, against my archfriend Swarley, was planned for Easter, but due to the ongoing Corona crisis, it could take place so far. Let's see, maybe it will even turn into a double header, as Swarley's wife is also a pretty good player and has a terrifying reputation as a team killer.

Greetings from the Blood Bowl field

Dino