“CIBBL+ Y1, Spring - BWM4: round 2:

In their second game the Archivists faced the Church of Khaine the Promoter. Lyndon, the head coach of the Archivists, had seemed absent during the preparation for the game. As if his mind was occupied with another matter altogether. The team's players had done some rowing exercises, but not much else. When the coach didn't show up until an hour before the game, some players began to suspect something was amiss.

In any case, the Archivists had lost the coin toss and started the game kicking. Due to the late arrival of the coach, the game had started a little later than foreseen. The fans had become restive and impatient. Some hooligans had started shouting all kinds of obscenities. The evilly grinning witches seemed to welcome the insults. When the referee finally decided to commence the game, the crowd decided to invade the pitch! This left several players stunned on both sides. To make matters worse, Rhulan Stormsinger took a punch in the face from a malicious Khainite and had to be carried off the field. His game was over before it had even begun.

Not used to peform under such riotous circumstances on dry land, the Archivists hesitated. The lack of instructions by their coach left them leaderless and didn't help the situation at all. The sea elves tried to block off the full width of the field, but their heavy armor restricted their mobility. When Eldain Greenripple received a dirty boot in the stomach and was knocked out, the Archivist's numbers were simply becoming too low to hold the witches in check. Inevitably, the opposition started to slip through. Caoran Surgeriser rushed forward with a bold move, dodging past several Khainites, but his blitz on the ball remained without effect. Next turn the witches ran in the opening touchdown: 0-1.

With three turns left to equalize, the Archivists planned to punch a hole in the opposition's defence and hoped to run through. By then Lyndon, the coach, finally got interested in the ongoing game. "Switch sides", he cried from the sidelines. "Make a feint left, then push through on the right side", he continued. That was easier said than done though, especially with that heavy armour on. Soon the Archivists found themselves boxed in by the Khainites. Eldain Greenripple, who had by now recovered from the earlier boot, decided his 15 minutes of fame had come. He dodged through and made it to the endzone. Unfortuntely Aerys Bluescale, the team's thrower, failed the 4+ pass...

The second half started with new opportunities for the Archivists. The witches' armour held, however. All those hits, but to no avail. A failed dodge by Eldain left his colleague Ethandril - who was carrying the ball - open in the backfield. The inevitable happened. Ethandril was bitzed and lost the ball. Recovery chances were slim, but Gildor Tidebreaker somehow managed to dodge through and take down the ballcarrying witch. Picking up his example, Aerys followed and managed to recover the ball! Although he lost it again next turn. By now the game had turned into a fierce struggle for possession of the ball. Eventally Korvan Floodbringer grasped it and ran to relative safety. The Khainites fell back and regrouped into a defensive position. The Archivists advanced, but got bogged down and dragged into yet another street fight. Unexperienced with these kind of land battles, Lyndon saw his team struggling. On sea it would have been another story, but unfortunately and until further notice blood bowl is still played on dry land. The sea elves made some positioning mistakes and paid the price when Gildor was blitzed and lost the ball. By then the team had spent its rerolls, causing easy turnovers. Most players were exhausted by now, carrying the full weight of their armour for nearly two full halves. The Khainites, by contrast, didn't carry much protective gear at all. They moved faster, leaving the wearisome Archivists behind. Not much later the second and final touchdown of the match was scored: 0-2, game over.

First loss for the Archivists!

”