“Semi-final of Orcland Wooden Shield 7/08
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The Isengard Desolates came out strong and determined from the orc skirmish against the Great Greenskins, but in the semi-final a radically different opponent waited. A team of skaven, flanked by two very sneaky gutter runners. One fast enough to almost be impossible to catch and the other brave enough to take on even the black orcs in a duel. They also had a brutish rat ogre to lead the charges.

The Desolates won the kickoff and set to work on the skaven linemen. One was knocked out by the black orcs, which lead to the skaven trying an assault to find a gap in the LOS lines. The rat ogre lead the charge, but it was unprepared to meet an equally strong opponent in the immense uruk-hai Kagor. He sent the rat ogre to the ground and it was quickly surrounded and fouled out, badly wounded by a foul kick from Vuurz.

Meanwhile Urhnat had picked up the ball and the team formed a protective cage around him. The skaven tried their best to pry it open, but were badly underpowered against the black orcs and with poor moral with the loss of their rat ogre. The cage slowly crept forward while several skaven were knocked out and sent sprawling into the grass.

In the end the skaven couldn't hold the greenskins. The cage moved through and moved towards the end zone line. Along the way one of the gutter runners went down and Rigash quickly ran forward, knocking him out with a foul. This time the ref had his eye on the Desolates though and despite protests from their coach Rigash was sent off. It didn't stop Urhnat from running in the TD though.

The skaven tried a daring approach with the few seconds they had left. With some quick steps just before the kickoff they found time for the lightning fast Phineas to run in the ball. The Desolates had anticipated it and lined most of their men up along their end zone line and managed to trip him up when he made his way through. A sigh of relief went across the Desolate supporters stand when the gutter runner fell over and landed in the end zone area without the ball. 1-0 for the Desolates in half time.

In the second half the skaven seemed to suffer from bad confidence and made a lot of easy mistakes. Phineas removed himself as a problem when he knocked himself out on a failed sprint and a failed pass over to the other gutter runner ended with the greenskins being able to box them in and beat them down. The poor skaven suffered under the orcs boots and despite brave attempts to break free and stop the ball carrier they couldn't hinder the Desolates from scoring another TD.

Thanks for the match, gabeln. You had some very bad luck on some crucial rolls. I wish I had a temper like yours in those situations :)”