Journey of the Maulers: Meet the Champions

It's finally here, the last game of Mork's Maulers under the 2016 rules also marks the end of the season and what could be more fitting than a game against a legendary team? Games Workshop has made the list of Gouged Eyes from their championship year available for download, and since I already own a painted Gouged Eyes team from third edition (that hasn't seen a gaming table in a while), it fits like a glove that the Maulers play out their true trial against the champion.

Late in the year 2495, Altdorf was a busy place - the home of the Blood Bowl had just come through the finals a few days ago, and Boz felt almost like he was on a plunder pilgrimage. Most of his boyz had matured into capable players. Others, however, had not seen the end of this season.

"All we need is one more game and our treasury will be full enough to make a name for ourselves in the more notable leagues," he said proudly to his Maulers.

"See that?" he asked, pointing to the huge stadium in the heart of the city.

"If you want to play in this stadium one day we have to prove ourselves in our last game!"

"You gitz think you can make it there? Ha! No shaman will ever tell about the Maulers. There's only one way you'll get in there - as fans who buy a Gouged Eyes ticket!" it suddenly sneered.

With a jerk, Boz turned around. It was the Gouged Eyes themselves, the newly crowned champions, mocking them. Granted, there was still a long way to go for the Maulers, but Boz "da Boss" Bonebreaka had been in the sport so long that he didn't have to put up with this arrogance, even from the new champions.

"If this is your game, surely you're competing as our final opponent of the season? Or has the title already softened you up after a few days?" taunted Boz, sensing a chance to make a name for himself in the middle of Altdorf.

"A match? Where? You don't even have your own stadium!" retorted Hurka da Fist, captain of the Gouged Eyes.

 Triumphantly, Boz's eyes lit up and he spoke snarling:

 "A stadium? We're playing. RIGHT HERE!"

I have to mention that, considering private turmoil, it's been a while since I've played the game - to be exact, it was a year and a half ago, a week before BB2020 came out. But good things come to those who wait, so enjoy the game report!

Mork's Maulers facing one of their greatest challenges

The freshly made champions

 

Since the Maulers had a much lower team value compared to the Gouged Eyes, I dug into the deep end a bit and hired two star players for this game. Probably the most famous chainsaw wielder of the greenskins, Ugroth Bolgrot, for 100K gold pieces, and the star player duo Grakh and Crumbleberry, for 300K. In addition, I picked up two bribes and two Bloodweiser Babes, because I had a suspicion that the Gouged Eyes would give me a run for my money.

As an added incentive for the game, Jorm the Ogre would call the game on the whistle. I had rolled for the special ref and...well, so much for my bribes (because Jorm doesn't like cheaters!). When a foul is called, you roll on a D6 beforehand and on a 1, an armor and injury roll is made against a random player. If a team is in the lead, this happens on a 2+. And so my plan to work out a balance with a few fouls went up in smoke.

But it wouldn't have been worthy of a final season game if I hadn't tried to take the chaos to the extreme: I decided to play the Old World Alliance pitch I reviewed some time ago.

The cards were also all about a final game. On the Maulers' side, I had The NAF Fun Police, which prevented me from activating an opponent's card, and Spectacular Catch, which would later help with a pass. The champs, on the other hand, had the cards Ego Trip, which always made Ugroth the first player to activate in the second half, and Everybody Is An Expert, where I unfortunately don't remember what the effect was.

27.000 fans gathered at the market place in a hurry, because nobody wanted to miss this surprise match and the Gouged Eyes had the Fame advantage with 17000 of their own fans. Finally the game got underway and the champions were the first to receive the ball. As the Maulers kicked in quite high, they had the perfect opportunity to place themselves under the ball, but couldn't get it under control.

Turn 1

The Gouged Eyes really got going right away - the first haymaker sent my hired player Grakh straight into the knockout box.

Although my remaining players stayed on the field, they took a nasty beating as the Eyes began to take a solid formation and burrow forward.

The bad start was to continue, as my player stumbled on his first dodge attempt and I had to give up the turn already.

Turn 2

Being old pros, the Eyes naturally accepted this gift, grinning broadly, and marched swiftly forward while forming a near-perfect cage around the ball carrier.

I myself, on the other hand, could not do anything and had to watch as the champs ran away from me.

Turn 3

Boy oh boy, playing against a legendary team was really a challenge. I had to take another player loss when my second star player, Ugroth, also went down knocked out.

I know why I usually don't include star players in the roster - it's like a curse. They have bad karma and are often the first athletes to leave the field. And involuntarily at that.

But I wasn't ready to give up yet, as it was early in the game....

...and a few valiant Go For Its later, I had at least covered the ball carrier with two men to force an evasive dice roll. Looking at the field, however, I wasn't sure if that would really do me any good.

Turn 4

There was no other way to put it, the boys in red had the game in their hands. There was also a great opportunity to foul, but the watchful eye of Jorm suppressed the temptation to put the boot on the mug of the Maulers' catpain, Thrat the Threat. A short moment later the matter was settled and the Gouged Eyes took a 1:0 lead.

TOUCHDOWN!

After a bag of bribe money changed hands and my battered stars recovered, I was able to field the full team again.

I did manage to send a few of the Eyes to the floor, but that was it. The ball pick-up failed with a double-one and I had to hope that no one would snatch the ball from me before I could even close my orcish paws around it properly.

Turn 5 and 6

Unfortunately, the champs had no intention of holding back. The Maulers were beaten to a pulp, while I, for my part, could do almost nothing. It wasn't until the following turn that Ugroth managed to send an opposing Black Orc into the dugout with the help of his chainsaw.

Turn 7

Suddenly, the Eyes sensed they might be in trouble and retreated to a defensive girdle. I, too, suddenly perceived an opportunity to score. The chance was small, but the moment for heroics had come.

Gulgur Goldfingaz saw Blitzer Hacka Bellycutta harassed by two opposing players, but he showed true leadership qualities at that moment. He ran straight at him, while earlier he had directed Ugroth in the same direction, who was able to get rid of a pesky adversary.

At that moment I played my card and after throwing an accurate pass with a 6, Hacka managed to receive the pass in spectacular fashion.

But that wasn't enough, the Maulers' blitzer dove under the Eyes' swings and dodged with a 5.

Only a few steps separated him from the end zone and the hoped-for equalizer...he sprinted once...then twice....

Thrills to the tips of the hair - Hacka scores for the 1:1

Turn 8

After a slight change of weather, the ball landed near the center line, but neither team seemed to care at that moment - the rivalry had escalated to a point where both teams were just furiously maiming each other.

Once again the experience of the Gouged Eyes showed and a foul slightly injured one of my field players. However, Jorm was not at all pleased about it and the fouling player was "expelled" from the game in his turn.

HALFTIME

Turn 1

The second half was already casting a nasty shadow - as much as the fans loved Ugroth's chainsaw, you wouldn't get to see it again today and so I had to receive the ball without the star player.

Also, I had used up all my special cards and saw only one chance against this overpowered opponent - to block as many players as possible at the line of scrimmage and see if an opportunity might arise.

This actually worked surprisingly well, and after I had blocked the sixth player, Thrat even managed to knock out one of the opposing linemen.

I finally got bolder and in my head a plan was forming to send one of the Blitzers over the outer side. Borag Oldboy would catch the ball on the next play, while Gulgur could wait until then, well protected.

But red apparently makes you not only faster, but also meaner, and so I had to accept another knockout for my part. Why was I even surprised that such a brutal brawl was unleashed with two orc teams playing?

Turn 2

On the second play, I made a fatal mistake. All the violence had gotten me a little excited and I had forgotten to protect my ball carrier better.

The Eyes did not take long to respond and liberated the ball without hesitation.

Turn 3

What followed was a wild exchange of blows between two teams that didn't want to give each other anything. I managed to win the ball back...

...only to lose it again immediately.

Turn 4

Again I felt that strange tingle on the back of my neck that tells you "It's now or never" and I was going to throw the ball across the field once more, but the Gouged Eyes showed they had anticipated that move and intercepted the ball.

I could not believe it, a brilliant plan once again thwarted by the brutal superiority of the champion. I had no choice but to watch as the Eyes shielded their ball carrier and that guy took to his heels.

Turn 5

But the game was still in full swing - I pulled in a player to block a Blitzer with my Black Orc, which had strength 4. My own Blitzer now distracted the ball carrier, allowing my Thrower to blitz him and free the ball again. That was now five possession changes in just three plays!!!!

But the leather bounced awkwardly and landed right at the feet of the Gouged Eyes' Thrower.

Turn 6

Immediately, I saw the enemy cage forming again, so I tried to pin the Thrower to the edge of the field as best I could.

As it turned out, this was just a feint and the Gouged Eyes sneaked around my defense. They threw the ball into a free zone, directly to their Blitzer. I was lucky that he didn't catch the ball, but the situation was no less precarious.

Turn 7

My hands were tied and all I could hope to do was make it as difficult as possible to receive the ball and score a touchdown.

But Fortuna is cruel, and the Gouged Eyes were simply out of my league. While a few blows made the play a little easier, they too showed that they could unleash some real fireworks in one play. The Thrower dodged, picked up the ball, escaped the tackle zone again and passed it to the lone Blitzer. The latter made another sprint and scored the late 2:1 lead.

As so often happens in such a match, not much went on in the last play of the game. Hacka Bellycutta became the deserved MVP of the match and received Mighty Blow as a skill. I didn't lose anything in fan factor and I received a cash bonus of 30,000 gold coins. However, the win fizzled out when the team had to recover from a minor incident after the match.

After such a long time, the Maulers' first season is now over. So what's next for the Maulers?

Well, with the new rulebook, in a way I'm back at the beginning of the teams roster sheet. So why not play a Season 2 and build a contemporary team in parallel? I think that sounds pretty good to my ears. But, asked the other way around: since you're reading along so diligently, what would you like to see?

My plan so far looks like this:

- Paint six players for Blitz Bowl and play a few games with them. This is to represent the team making the leap from irrelevance to the more notable leagues.

- Convert and paint six more players. The team needs to keep its individual look as much as possible and not look "like every orc team".

- The number of games shall be increased. I plan to play eight games this time in Wanderleague mode and if possible against other members of the community. For this I will either travel as usual, or receive visitors at my place.

For now, though, the Maulers remain in their current hiatus, as I want to finish a few other projects. Besides, it just increases the immersion when I can devote myself to a single project when the time comes.

One thing is for sure though, Mork's Maulers will be back and I would love to have you join us again for the next step of the Journey of the Maulers!

   "Bob, did you know that the new champions, the Gouged Eyes, surprisingly played a rookie team, Mork's Maulers?"

   "I was lucky enough to be there, Jim! Was just about to go get some halfling snacks when the fight broke out."

   "Oh, which do you like better Bob, the pies or the sausage specials?"

"The halflings, Jim. Anyway, you should watch the recording of the match, it was cracking!"

   "Already done Bob, that match really had it all! Badass maneuvers, desperate moves, trickery, and a serious amount of blows! I' m telling you, that won't be the last we've seen of Boz "da Boss" Bonebreaker's boys."

   "Totally agree with you, Jim!"

 

Greetings from the Chaosbunker

Dino