“Rough match from the start. Played the bulk of the game with 7-8 players, often fewer got lucky on KO recoveries). Lost the ball to a crazy play: Cryptex dodged into a TZ, then clear, then hit the ball carrier, dodged into a TZ again to get the ball, picked up in a TZ, dodged out, and made a GFI. A bold play, even with Dodge and Sure Hands! Managed to get the ball back from him twice after that with 2-die hits, rerolled each time (4-die hits!) to get the POW needed without tackle (the second time after he'd stolen it back on a 1-die hit with no reroll).

Turned over twice on Double Skulls, kept losing players to the MB/PO combo (thankfully, most were KOs). Ultimately secured the win by fouling Cyptex after the second POW knockdown: while he stayed on the field, he was stunned and we had time to run away from him. Even at that, we made it look hard by failing to GFI with reroll and losing the ball, only to get it back when Foutsch threw an unnecessary block against a marked player. Not having Block, Foutsch died on the hit and we were able to reacquire the ball and walk it in.

By the end of the game we had six players each. Hardly what I would call dice rape, with good and bad luck on both sides. Timing certainly turned our way in the end however; after losing players early, after several failed dodges and a couple of double skulls early on, we managed to stay mostly on our feet for the last 4 turns, long enough to get the ball down field. More of that kind of success all game and I'd say we had good luck. Given the timing of good and bad dice, I'd say it was about average.

A note on dice rolls: It gets rather annoying when your opponent gripes about "dice rape" in the chat, esp after only minor failures like suffering a POW on a hit against a Blodger. I hit Cryptex repeatedly through the game, often with Mighty Blow on my side, and while I did knock him down three times over the course of the whole game (twice after rerolling the hit), it's hardly news, and I never broke his armour until I fouled him. Anyone ever play an Amazon team? Tell Mr Nekross how often POWs come up, please. In fact, point to this game if you would: while Cryptex has Tackle, I have FOUR players with Dodge, and they were getting knocked down all the time, and not always by Cryptex.

Citing every one of your failures while ignoring those of your opponent can be trying on patience, and declaring every game loss to be "dice rape" is dishonest. You win some, you lose some. Notable bad luck with dice does happen, of course; it is generally noticed by both players, and it's a rare coach who won't acknowledge it. This game is not a case of it, however, and it's bad sport to tell a guy he would never have beat you had he not been lucky.

"Play to have fun, NOT to ruin someone else's."”