“This was a game I really wanted to win, and one I really could have won, but somehow it slipped away from me at the last minute. Ah well.

But what a game it was. Flytime was a great opponent and was absolutely fearless in his play. The dark elves may as well have had and extra two MA, seeing as how they all seemed to go for it twice every turn. They also dodged in and out (and occasionally through) my players as if they weren't there and generally they spent the game being the sort of elfy players that other teams hate with a vengeance. However, given that I'm an elfy player, I thought it was awesome.

On my side of the pitch things weren't so wonderful. It was sunny, so the passing game was slightly hampered, and I've come to realise that Easypeasy really isn't that great a passer. 4+ for a long pass is terrible, and if I wasn't trying to give him as many yards as possible, I would probably have benched him until the sun went in. But I am trying to give him as many yards as possible, and the sun didn't go in, so I stuck with him.

So anyway, the dark elves received to start and they took an almost immediate pounding - but luckily for them most of it was KO. It didn't seem to bother them too much, however, and they continued their fearless assault on every turn. They were particularly difficult to deal with when I was on offence, because it didn't matter what sort of cage you build, they just ran right into it, and every 1-dice blitz was a POW.

I did manage to score eventually, and it was 1-1 at the half with me receiving and the dark elves still four players down. At this point, I felt I had things nicely under control, so I scored quickly and thought I'd at least give Flytime the chance to get some of his players back and go for the draw.

Well, the next drive was a bit of a running battle and I was lucky to be able to stop the dark elves a few squares from the endzone. I couldn't get the ball, but it was there, surrounded by my players waiting for my following turn.

So of course, the dark elf runner went in and picked it up in two TZs, dodged out, ran away and threw a long lateral to a lineman on his own on the far side of the pitch, who ran it down to just outside the endzone. I managed to get my catcher all the way over to put him in a TZ, but he easily blitzed his way out of it and in for the score.

So now it was all up to me and my offence. I was still looking good, but a Perfect D put paid to my cunning set-up and then I had the turn from hell. The tree took root in just the wrong place, and then the back-up passer dropped a catch (for the second game in a row, I might add), and cost me my final reroll. Still, I had the ball, I had a catcher downfield and two players with tackle in a position to back him up.

But, oh look, here come the dark elves... The blitzer goes straight into the cage and POWs the ball-carrier before (thankfully) falling over. Not that it mattered, because on my next turn, my attempt to clear the way to the catcher ended in a double skull.

That left the way open for some more outrageous play from the dark elves, who simply ran in and picked up the ball in a host of TZs, dodged into space, threw another long lateral to the waiting witch elf who scored in the final seconds of the game for the win.

I'm certainly no stranger to losing, but in some ways this was a hard one to lose because it felt all the way through as if I was winning it. Still, it just goes to show how you should never relax until the final whistle blows. And something about counting chickens...

And if I'm going to lose, better to do it like this than to a stalling brute squad. Flytime was fun to play against, and was truly the better player here. His was a risky strategy, and I'm sure there are times when he double 1s his first gfi and kills his star blitzer, but that's the pay-off, isn't it? It's risky, but when it works it's magnificent, and today it worked perfectly.

So I don't really feel too bad about the loss, just a little bit jealous :-)

And two further reasons to be happy: -

1 - Despite a mediocre performance, Easypeasy Lemonsqueezy has made it to the all-time top 10 for most passing yards.
2 - Iateawhole Chocolateorange picked up a +AG to go with his strong arm and accurate, so the future of the passing game is looking decidedly rosy.

But now it really feels like it's time for a win...”