“This is a match I've been looking forward to for a while now. Guor Gunnr is a passing demon and I was very much looking forward to facing him on the field.

And it didn't disappoint. Combined passing of 11 for 93 and 8 touchdowns is exactly the kind of match I love, and there was even a fair amount of blood for the spectators to enjoy (at one point we had 8, which I think is my record).

So, let's recap...

The Valkyries are pretty solid these days, with a 16-man squad and a rating of 2750, so I figured I'd better spend my huge inducements sum on some solid support to bolster my roster. I went for Morg and Zara as I thought these two would probably be able to hang around for longer than a bunch of merc linemen, even though whenever I hire Morg he has a habit of dying on turn 1. My main concern was becoming seriously outnumbered and having to push my thrower and catchers up into the front lines.

I needn't have worried. For once the wood elves remembered to actually wear their armour, and my blocking was nothing short of miraculous. My MB blitzer notched up 3 cas, the tree added one and even Morg chipped in, earning his match fee for once. LordPetru was never in danger of having to field fewer than 11 men, but he lost some of his best talent at regular intervals and this prevented him from dominating when he was on defence.

In the first half the Valkyries scored two quick touchdowns, sandwiching my first which took a lot longer than I like to spend on offence. Still, I had two turns to pull back the equaliser so I wasn't too worried... until a riot stole one of my turns and left me poorly set-up for a one-turn attempt.

So for the second half I was left to play catch-up - which is never easy when you know your opponent is going to get the last turn and has the equipment to score a one-turner with relative ease. I scored, then he scored, then I scored, and then a superb(ly lucky) kick left the ball right in the far corner of the pitch. LordPetru moved his thrower and support into position for a long bomb on the following turn, but by making a huge number of dice rolls and not failing a single one of them, I was able to put him under enough pressure that it was going to be a risky turn... and sure enough, his catcher fumbled when it mattered most. So all I had to do was make a load more dice rolls. And sure enough, my blocks were all POWs, my throw (with an unskilled lineman) was both accurate and not intercepted, and my catcher ran in the score to put me in the lead.

Now it was LordPetru who had to play catch-up - with two turns to get the score and facing a wood elf team that was still at almost full strength. So I threw everything I had at him and hoped...

...and it wasn't enough. Guor Gunnr casually dodged out of the TZ he was in, sauntered upfield a bit and threw a long bomb to one of about five targets he had available.

So we ended up at 4-4. I have to say, I was extremely lucky. I played like someone who doesn't really care about the result and is just enjoying the ride. All my long passes were at 3+, even when I could have moved forward and taken it to 2+ and I happily threw to linemen rather than catchers, even if I'd already used up my reroll that turn. But this was a game of champions and I was determined not to be out-passed, so it was worth the risk.

So, lessons learned...

LordPetru is a great opponent. One of these days he's going to throw me off the top spot in Highest Passing yards, and in some ways I'll be happy when he does. He plays a lot more than I do, and the Valkyries are a stronger team than Sensation have ever been, and he doesn't seem to be anything like as picky about his opponents as I am, so he probably deserves it. Also, I've been up there on my own for a while now and it gets kind of lonely so a bit of competition will be a good thing.

A high TR is not necessarily a true indication of your team's strength if you have a 16-man squad. You can still only put 11 on the field at any one time, and when you're up against a legendary treeman, two pretty buff star players and a couple of competent wardancers, you're going to be playing at a significant TR disadvantage. Sure, you've got the depth to replace cas along the way, but this just means you're now fielding weaker players so the on-field TR gap becomes even wider. I guess this is kind of obvious to most of you, but as I don't think I've ever played with a 16-man squad (not in R, anyway) it's not something I've ever had to deal with.

I still need kick.

When you buy yourself a second apothecary, remember to use it. Ok, so it was only a rookie lineman, but even so, it's 70K I can't really afford to throw away.

And finally...

Thanks LordPetru for a really good fun game.”