“FUMBBL SMACK Sched PRO CXXXVII round 1

The world must be coming to an end because before this weekend I had never won a SMACK or any round of a Ranked tournament (my 1 victory in the FUMBBL Cup X was technically with a Blackbox team). Now in a single weekend I win 2 1st round games in Scheduled SMACKs back-to-back \o/

Vicius played some nasty frogs, and I knew I was going to have to play an attrition game and at the same time keep a loose cage around the ballcarrier to protect from leaping. Frogs won the toss and elected to kick. It was a deep kick but a High Kick kick-off result ensured I could get my Ag5 Ghoul, Gurney Halleck, under the ball and he caught it. I got an early KO but the frogs managed to get several players deep in my backfield and near the ballcarrier. Partially this was due to the ref sending off Staban Tuek for an early foul attempt (snake eyes on the armor roll), but mostly it was because I had pressed most of my line forward to squash greenies. Gurney came through with a nice pass that got the ball back into a cage. I kept waiting for the wizard to go off, but vicius was extremely patient and also didn't want to drop a fireball anywhere he might hit one of his players (I was managing to keep a prone frog or two near the cage at all times). I decided to use this opportunity to move the cage slowly and burn clock, taking what hits vicius allowed me. He continued to harass the ball carrier but was never able to get the ball (I don't think he sprung it free yet). Finally he got the fireball opportunity he was looking for and unleashed on the ballcarrier and 3 other players. A mummy was knocked prone and Feyd-Rautha, my Mighty Blow/Block zombie, received a Damaged Back and failed regen. A nice bit of revenge for a Badly hurt he inflicted earlier, but the ballcarrier remained on his feet and in possession of the pig-skin. However, with the cage open the frogs struck and got it on the ground. With some pushing and hitting, I was able to clear a spot around it and moved in with Gurney to pick it up. The frogs surrounded my semi-cage and a scrum ensued. I knocked everyone away and cleared a lane for the endzone on T8. Gurney decided to take a blitz opportunity against a Catcher on his way to the endzone. Had to use a reroll to prevent double skulls, and only got a push but did score. T8 saw the frogs set up for a possible 1 turn score. The kick-off result was Perfect Defense and I swamped the catcher with mummies and guard players. Crowding the line almost cost me as the frogs were able to use the blitz to move one of my wights into a dangerous chainpushing situation. Vicius got the ball to the catcher, and I thought for certain he had things set up to make to 3 push attempts that would have moved the catcher 2 forward and within extreme scoring range (Move 9 plus 2 gfis) but something went wrong. Neither of us could figure out what, but his next block on the Wight moved it into an odd spot where he didn't have any active players that could block in the correct direction and that ended the scoring attempt. The Catcher tried to dodge out for a garbage time pass and failed the dodge (snake eyes), stunning himself as the whistle blew.

2nd half saw the Undead set up with 11 on defense vs. 9 frogs (the Babes were pretty good this game). The kick-off result was Get the Ref!, with both teams receiving a free bribe. The undead of Dune made much better use of their bribe with 5 fouls in the 2nd half vs. 1 or 2 for the frogs (can't remember if they fouled in the 1st half). The frogs spent their bribe early while the undead retained their bribe until the end of the game. No CAS either way, but several stuns and KOs which helped the undead increase their manpower advantage. The ever-annoying Tauro got the ball with Diving Catch and ran around in the backfield a lot while frogs tried to get open downfield. I had to split my team into groups to handle all the leapers and finally managed to send some pressure towards the catcher. Seeing the trap close in, Tauro saw a linefrog get open in the endzone and he moved forward for a Long Bomb needing a 5+ but not having a reroll left. He hurled it anyway and ended up fumbling the ball. I moved 2 ghouls in to push him off the ball and Gurney swooped in and scooped it up. Then the rest of the team proceeded to pound frogs into the pitch to keep anyone but Tauro from being able to reach Gurney. Tauro made a valiant attempt with a -2d blitz, but rerolled a (POW POW/PUSH) into (POW/PUSH POW/SKULL) and Gurney punched him in the face. Tauro was Stunned from the surprise counter-attack and I was able to stall out to T16, even getting a pass to Lady Jessica (Gurney's secret paramour) who strolled it in for the final TD and securing the victory.

Thanks for a fun game, vicius, and very well played. You definitely kept me on my toes trying to take Leap into account. Dice definitely played a part and a few crucial rolls could have turned the game into a different result. Good luck with the team and hope to play you again soon.

Update - thanks for the corrections, and you are right on both points. A friend of mine who watched the match mentioned them to me after I wrote the match report. In my excitement I forgot a few details. Still, a heck of a well-played game on both sides, dice really determined this one I think. Which I'm happy to be on the positive side of for a change ;)”