“Coach Kondor sat in the visiting owner’s box in Volksgrad Stadium, having decided it was too cold to sit on the sidelines. He would let the poor schmuck he called an assistant coach step in. It was unseasonably cold with snow coating the field. He was glad that roaring furnace on one side of the box had a state of the art heating tubes conducting warmth to seats at the front of the room. As he settled in, his assistant handed him a note that the bribe had been accepted.

Excellent!

Outside the comfort of the box, the stadium erupted in thunderous applause and then boos as both teams took the field. As they lined up to get the match underway one of the referees walked over and stopped Malcom “the X-Man” Brown and asked him to lift one of the plates on his armor. Tucked neatly inside was a 2” blade. Nothing out of the ordinary but technically illegal if it is not declared in the pre-match ceremony. Despite complaints by the player and the White Wolf staff a red card was shown and the X-Man was escorted from the field.

Kondor smiled knowingly as his gold was well spent.

Most of the first half turned out to be uneventful. Legion took the opening kick and feigned an effort to score on the North half of the field. The Wolves countered well to close all Northern progress so Legion redirected to the South side. The Wolves were unable to fully recover and had to be content forcing an early score. The only point of note was the hard hit delivered to the reigning Dirtiest Player in the league. Knuckles took a solid hit that put him on the sideline for the remainder of the match.

After scoring, with limited time left in the half, the Legion set up in a semi prevent defense with side-stepping specialists on the line to prevent the one turn touch down. The defense was solid until a pair of skulls opened a crack in the defense. Kendall “Magic” Wright lived up to his moniker by dancing through tackle zones then scoring in the snow with a full sprint. (GFI X3)

The second half kick was taken by the Wight Wolves who methodically started working down the field. With a couple quick KO’s Legion had to make a choice. Pressure and hope for a turnover or continue looking for an opening but expect to need a 1 turn score. The coaching staff called to pressure the ball.

Over the course of several turns, the Legionnaires started harassing the ball carrier. There were no clean shots on the ball, but they were able to put some players in the ball carrier’s face. Midway through the half, the legendary thrower Brett Hundley became annoyed, flustered, and slightly distracted. He tripped trying to get away from an ogre’s grasp and lay stunned on the field.

Here is where Nuffle stepped in with her trademark chuckle to completely screw the White Wolves.

The Legionnaires were able to clear most of the wolves from the ball but the Ogre big Bill Hernandez would not be moved. Dorian O’Daniel showed why an extra agile dodging blitzer can be useful. He came up on Bill’s blind side, dodged right next to him, picked up the ball, then dodged away, sprinting to get as far away as possible. (Dodge next to the ogre then away with 2 GFI in the snow without using a reroll.)

Howling boos erupted from the Volksgrad crowd but there was little else to be done. The White Wolves would valiantly try to stop O’Daniel from scoring, but the effort was futile. O’Daniel scored the winning point as time ran out.

When the teams left the field Coach Rhumy was left in a bit of shock cursing Nuffle under his breath. Meanwhile, in the visiting owner’s boxes Kondor slumped exhausted with relief in his chair. This was Blood Bowl. This was the game where tactics are only 85% of the game. Nuffle will always be there for the other 15%.
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