“The ancient temple to Itzamná was crowded today; the Scourge Pit Slavers brought a hefty influx of fans to the already burgeoning arena. With one of their Bull Centaurs out for injuries it would be a tough match, but the Chaos Dwarves were hardened to life on the pitch and prepared to face the ancient followers of the dead god.

Itzamná's followers elected to receive to start the game, and the timbre of the match was demonstrated on the very first block: Water Carrier hit Blacktowner the Heartless so hard that the Dwarf never rose... until a swirl of Itzamná's energy reanimated him to join the battle on His own side.

The rest of the half was a complicated tangle of fights on the pitch as the enraged Chaos Dwarves did their best to return the blow to their team. It looked like it would all come to naught, though, as the Ghoul Kinich Ahau ran along the sideline with blockers a-plenty... or so he thought.

Chaos Dwarf Hetshut Heartrender put everything he had into a blitz on the Ghoul, his stubby legs pushing him faster than expected, and he slammed into the Ghoul, forever breaking the spell that had kept him running.

Itzamná's warriors were not easily restrained, though, and a moment later Cu Ix beat Hetshut to the ground, dodged away from a band of Hobgoblins, snatched up the ball, and just managed to push himself over the line for a touchdown.

The Undead lined up to kick off with little time remaining, but a bad kick resulted in a touchback, which went right to Bull Centaur Crushskull Hoofstomp. The ancient dead were not quite prepared for the ferocity of his near-solo onslaught, and after a bit of struggle and some near-heroics by Cu Ix he tied the game at 1-1.

It looked grim for Itzamná's risen legion as the second half started with them kicking it away once more. This time the kick was fair, though, and the front line of the Scourge beat down on the Undead as hard as they could while the Hobs screened the ball in the backfield.

Alas, two things kept them from capitalizing on their advantage: the fury of the Undead rose up in response to their initial beating, and they started sending Dwarves and Hobs alike to the injury box. The apothecary worked like mad to keep players on the field, but could only do so much.

The other misfortune was that the Scourge Hobs couldn't seem to pick up the ball. With their front line crumbling and Cu Ix bearing down there was nothing they could do... until after the Wight had snatched the ball from Scurvy Trenchfoot, and the Hob stood up and beat him right back to the ground, grabbing the ball and running pell-mell with it!

Scurvy ran to the line and played a safety by tossing the ball far into the Undead back field, hoping that Sniffle Snotnose could free himself from the Zombie, Rug Mender, on his flank. Unfortunately said Zombie proved to be more than the Hob could handle, and a terrible blow laid the Hob out... forever.

To add insult to injury, Rug Mender then ran over and managed to scoop the ball up in his dead hands! He then began shambling toward midfield as the front line continued its scuffling for position. In the end, too many of the Scourge had been sent off for them to recover, and with a few well-placed blocks the Zombie was able to hand the ball off to the Wight, Cu Ix, who ran the final TD in just before the whistle.

=====
This was a fun game, and both Sigmar1 and I managed some remarkable plays. My hat's off to my opponent for excellent play; in the end it was only my good fortune in causing CAS that enabled me to win it. Sigmar1 kept up a line of friendly patter and was definitely a good sport, so I'll gladly play him again should the opportunity arise.

As a side note, I have become quite disillusioned with Ghouls. I know it's just terrible luck, but I have fielded 4 Ghouls so far: one was SI for -ST and the other three were killed, all in their first or second game! Part of me wants never to hire a Ghoul again, and start relying on Zombie handoffs....”