So it's week seven of the Ars Maledicta League, and I'm playing the another Chaos team in the league called Horn 'n' Scorn. You may remember Horn 'n' Scorn from my week two blog post where they were utterly destroyed by the Ogre team Full-Field Press. Lucky for me Horn 'n' Scorn was down their +1 ST Minotaur, and having played Chaos teams in numerious matches before I was pretty confident that I'd be able to pull off a win here, even with it being week seven, and Horn 'n' Scorn having more experience than the Bestigor Freebooters had when I played them earlier in the league.
Match Date: 01-14-2012
I choose to receive the ball, and started setting up my players. Just as I had my lineup all set, I noticed that my Black Orc with Guard was missing. Now I had no injuries, so all my players are available, yet a he is missing. I frantically looked all over the pitch for him, and he was no where to be found. I asked my opponent, and he stated that he saw him disappear from the pitch. Crap! I was running out of time, and I still couldn't find him. So I tried to bring in my spare Lineman, and I couldn't as the game stated I already had eleven players on the pitch, yet both my opponent, and I only saw ten. I literally ran out of setup time just looking for this Black Orc, because I knew my LoS was going to be seriously fucked without him.
Time ran out of coarse, and the ball was kicked off. As the ball lands I notice my -1 MV Lineman standing down by my fucking end zone, and the Black Orc is now on the sidelines. Son of a bitch! So right off the bat my LoS is totally fucked because of this game bug, and I've got a huge gaping hole in my LoS that my opponent can easily run straight fucking through. Naturally my opponent kicks the ball so it lands right near the gaping hole in my LoS as well! I haven't made a single move, and I'm already fucked! Not one to just give up, and roll over I decide to make due with what I've got. So I sent in my Thrower to secure the ball, so I can form a cage up quickly. My Thrower fails to pick up the ball causing a turnover! For the second game in a row Sure Hands fucking fails, and at the worst possible time. Yeah, it's clear this game isn't starting out well.
My opponent opens up with a Beastman blitz into a lone Lineman on the LoS, knocking him to the ground, and then moves the same Beastman behind one of my Black Orcs. A Chaos Warrior then throws a block into that Black Orc stunning him for two turns. Another Chaos Warrior throws another block into a Black Orc, and injures him, taking him out of the game. Mother fuck crap hole! So on turn one I've now lost two Black Orcs, one from a game bug, a second from being injured who wouldn't have gotten injured if that first Black Orc didn't vanish from a game bug! That gaping hole in my LoS I spoke of earlier, has now tripped in size. Two Beastmen com rushing through my nonexistent LoS, and are now in front of the ball, a third makes an easy dodge past my Troll, and also ends up in front of the ball, while a Chaos Warrior also dodges past my Troll, and stands behind him. Um yeah ....
Akzar Spinebreaker Is Injured
I move up three of my Blitzers, and the one Lineman near the end zone to help cover the ball. With a fourth Blitzer I blitzed into a Beastman knocking him to the ground, my Troll throws a block, and rolls Both Down resulting in a turnover. Joy ....
My opponent moved up two Chaos Warriors to help support taking the ball, while three Beastmen triple teamed one of my remaining Black Orcs, stunning him for two turns. My opponent then moved up several more Beastmen in support around the ball. Basically my opponents entire team was now surrounding the ball!
I've got five Beastmen, and two Chaos Warriors surrounding the ball. I am totally out muscled here, and can't throw any significant blocks. Time is wasting, and I've got to recover the ball, and move it down field quickly. The only way I can do that, is with a pass. So I decide to set one up. With the support of a Lineman, a Blitzer blitzes into a Beastman knocking him to the ground. Just past the LoS, I've got a Lineman marking a Chaos Warrior, so I decide to move him down the pitch some to where he is open for a pass. My Thrower runs in, grabs the ball, and somehow dodges out of three tackle zones! My remaining two Blitzers in the area form a half cage around my Thrower. My fourth Blitzer marks a Chaos Warrior so he can't intercept the pass to my Lineman down range. I'm now in perfect position to throw a pass, and hopefully be able to score on my next turn, or two.
My opponent moves up a Beastman to mark my open Lineman, while blitzing a Chaos Warrior into my Thrower, and naturally on a 1d block knocks him down, Dump-Off works, however the Blitzer that the pass went to fails to catch the ball, and it lands on the ground next to my opponents players. My opponent then moves up more players around the ball, four Beastmen, and two Chaos Warriors. A few blocks here, a few blocks there, and he manages to knock down almost my entire team as well. Crapola!
Once again my Orcs are out muscled, and I'm only able to knock down one Beastman near the ball, while my Troll, and Lineman down range manage to roll pushes only.
My opponent manages to knock down, or push every single Orc I have near the ball with ease. He also tried to setup my Thrower to be surfed, however rolled a Both Down instead, causing a turnover.
I stand my Orcs back up, and manage to get two more near the ball again, while bringing down a Black Orc, and my Troll off a blitz to help support recovering the ball. That was about it on this turn of mine.
My opponent manages to push off the two Orcs I had near the ball, while recovering the ball with on of his nearby Beastmen. With the Support of a Beastman, and Chaos Warrior, another Beastman blitzes into my Troll knocking him to the ground. Another near by Chaos Warrior pushes one of my Blitzers back, and my opponent then forms up a cage around his ball carrying Beastman. I'm pretty much fucked at this point.
One of my Blitzers throws a block into a Beastman knocking him down, breaking my opponents cage. I then blitzed into another Beastman with a Black Orc also knocking that Beastman to the ground. I've busted up the cage, and got two players marking the ball carrying Beastman, but I don't think it's going to be enough as my opponent can just hand the ball off to another Beastman, and run it in for the touchdown.
My opponent didn't go for the hand off, instead he knocked down the two Orcs I had marking his ball carrying Beastman, then blitzed with another Beastman into one of my Blitzers crowd surfing him, and getting a KO. Then ran the ball carrying Beastman into the end zone making a GFI, and scoring the touch down. The score was now 1-0 in my opponents favor.
Naturally my KO'd Blitzer didn't wake up, and the ball is kicked off to me. I recover the ball, and quickly move up the right side of the pitch, and formed a cage around my Thrower. My Troll opened up with a block, and injured a Beastman, but then a Black Orc threw a block, and rolled Both Down causing a turnover. I did however managed to KO the Beastman, so I guess it wasn't to bad of a roll.
Rotgut Skaveneater Smashes The Knee Of Mymulgors
Not much my opponent could do here, but throw some blocks. Which he did, but didn't manage any injuries.
It's the top of turn eight, and I have no chance of scoring here. So I just went for a short pass that was successful, and got my Thrower +1 SPP, while my Troll failed his Really Stupid roll, and didn't get up.
My opponent tried to take out my Thrower, but failed to get the injury roll that he hoping for, but did manage to KO a Lineman. It's Half-Time, and I've got three players out, to my opponents two players.
Neither of my two KO's woke up, however neither did my opponents one KO, so both of us would be starting out with nine players on the pitch. I kicked the ball off to my opponent, and it was going to land out of bounds, however I got a blitz on the kick off event! I moved a Lineman back behind his LoS, along with another Blitzer, and with my +1 MV Blitzer I blitzed into one of his kick off return Beastman, knocking him to the ground. So he only had one option to give the ball to, and that Beastman was already surrounded by three Orcs. Hopefully I could recover the ball quickly, and score to tie up the game.
Once more dice rolls, dodges, and the like favor my opponent! He manages to knock down my entire LoS, then blitzes another Beastman into my Thrower who was playing safety in the back field knocking him to the ground. So the ball carrying Beastman goes straight up the center of the pitch totally unopposed, and protected by a cage. So much for my lucky blitz kick off event ...
I blitzed one of my Blitzers into a Chaos Warrior knocking him down, and then marked my opponents ball carrying Beastman with him, then also managed to get two other Blitzers to mark that Beastman as well, along with support from my Thrower, and two Black Orcs. My Troll failed his Really Stupid roll, and continued to lay there.
My opponent knocked down one of my Blitzers marking his ball carrying Beastman, while another Beastman knocked down my Thrower. The ball carrying Beastman wasn't going anywhere though, as he was still in the two tackle zones of my two Blitzers, or so I thought! The ball carrying Beastman dodged out of those two tackle zones as though he was an Elf, and ran straight towards the end zone, also making two GFI's. How super!
I had no chance of stopping the Beastman from making the touchdown, so I decided I'd throw blocks instead. On my second block attempt I rolled a Attacker Down with a Lineman, used a RR, and rolled Attacker down again causing a turnover. Wonderful ...
My opponent knocked a few Orcs down, but didn't manage any injures, and then ran his Beastman in for the touchdown. Which brought the score to 2-0 in his favor.
Out of the three KO'd Orcs, one managed to wake up, as did my opponents Beastman. We'd both be starting out with ten players on the pitch. The ball is kicked, and I quickly grab it up with my Thrower, and form a cage around him with three Blitzers. I was unable to use the fourth or I'd have had a hole in my LoS again. With the first block thrown I manage to roll a Both Down from a Black Orc, and cause a turnover! So now there's a hole in my LoS anyhow!
Once more my opponent knocks down my entire LoS with blocks, then blitzes a Beastman into one of my cage Blitzers, getting the KO! Ugh!
I stand my downed players back up, and then blitz the Beastman marking my Thrower, which stuns him for two turns. Then move up the other Blitzer, along with my Thrower, and form up a sloppy cage. It was all I could do to keep the ball protected, I didn't have many cage options at this point.
And again my opponent knocks down my entire LoS, then manages to push off one of my Blitzers playing cage defense which opens a path for a Beastman to blitz into my Thrower knocking him to the ground. Dump-Off is successful, however the Blitzer nearby doesn't make the catch, and ball lands at his feet. With some more blocks thrown my opponent manages to knock down my entire team except for two players.
At this point I can't even throw a single block, my only hope is to recover the ball, and pass it to the right side of the pitch where my opponent doesn't have a single player, and I've got a lone Lineman. I stand the Lineman up, and move up a couple squares where he's open. I then stand the rest of my team up except for my Troll who fails his Really Stupid roll again, and my Thrower. Now all my Thrower has to do is stand up, make a GFI, grab the ball, and pass it to that Lineman, and I'll be in a good position to score. I know it's a lot, but I've pulled magic out of my ass before with this team, so I can do it again! I stand my Thrower up, and he heads towards the ball, fails his GFI, falls back down, and scatters the ball almost out of bounds. Yeah, fuck me running!
My opponent starts off by crowd surfing one of my Blitzers, who is of coarse injured. Then proceeds to knock down the rest of my team except two players again. A three armed Beastman then runs up, grabs the ball, and starts heading towards the end zone, however falls down when he fails a GFI.
Grimnail Jawripah Is Crowd Surfed
Now where the ball landed, I've got one change to grab it, and pass it off to that lone Lineman still cause my Thrower is still close by. This time he's got to get up, dodge past a Chaos Warrior, make a GFI, and pass the ball. Once more I have faith in my Thrower, and once more he fucks it up again by failing the GFI!
My opponent stands up his Beastman that failed his GFI on his last turn, then grabs the ball, and then makes two GFI's headed towards the end zone. A Chaos Warrior, and two other Beastman provide protection for him.
I can't stop the touchdown, really the only options I had were standing players back up, and throwing two blocks. One block resulted in a stun, the other block resulted in an Attacker Down which stunned my player for two turns.
With it being the top of turn sixteen, my opponent runs his Beastman in for the touchdown, bringing the score to 3-0 in his favor.
It's my last turn, and none of my KO's wake up either. The ball is kicked off to me, and I go for the usual last turn game ending play. Which is to throw blocks, one of which resulted in a KO, and throw a short pass for +1 SPP, which resulted in a scattered launch. Yes please, add more salt into my already bleeding profusely wounds!
The game was over, and I'd lost 3-0. I honestly had to walk away from my PC when this game ended, and cool off. This game really pissed me off. Now normally I wouldn't have gotten mad if I'd lost because of bad playing, and stupid mistakes on my part, but that didn't happen. I lost this game because of a game breaking bug that took place before the initial kick off even happened, period.
My Thrower failing to pick up the ball on turn one wouldn't have been bad if that missing Black Orc was actually on the LoS like he was supposed to be, or had that Lineman been on the LoS like he was supposed to be. I'd have been able to hold off my opponent longer, and been able to recover the ball, and move it forward. Instead I started off with a gaping hole in my LoS that my opponent was able to exploit, which was made worse when he injured a Black Orc on the LoS as well.
So on his first turn he was able to mark the ball totally unopposed with three Beastmen! Let's not forget the 240K of inducements he got as well because my TV was higher than his, which he used to remove one of my RR's, and gain another RR for himself. That game breaking bug cause an avalanche of bullshit to just cascaded down upon me throughout the entire match.
After talking with a few other folks in the league, it was brought to my attention that the game should have been restarted, which I didn't know. Weather or not my opponent knew this, I haven't a clue. I do know that had our roles been reversed, I'd have offered to restart the game. I personally like to win matches because I played good, not because a game breaking bug gave me an advantage over my opponent.
With this loss, I dropped from fourth place in the league, to eighth place. I'm now in a position where I can loose my playoffs spot!
Current Standings
1) Sneaky Jerks (Skaven)
2) Ashes & Dust (Undead)
3) Horn 'n' Scorn (Chaos)
4) Graveyard Hex (Necromantic)
5) Bro Elves (Elves)
6) Full-Field Press (Ogres)
7) Night Dragonnes (Dark Elves)
8) Orkago Boars (Orcs)
9) Bestigor Freebooters (Chaos)
10) Flaming Geckos (Lizardmen)