“Win or lose, there's nothing I like more than a fast-paced game, full of daring plays and plenty of scoring, and today I wasn't disappointed.

Even slightly below full strength, the Jungle Fighters were going to be a tough opponent. Most of the skinks were as agile as the elves, with more MA and a fair bit of side-step between them, and I still have no tackle. And then there's the saurus, of course, with their comfortable ST4 and, in this case, plenty of break tackle. Two of them are even blodgers!

So it was no surprise when they scored, almost untouched, on the first drive.

My following drive was best forgotten. It began with a high kick which the thrower caught right in the endzone and then ended about ten seconds later when his pass was double-fumbled by the catcher standing just behind the tree. That allowed all the skinks to get to the ball, and once they had hold of it, they certainly weren't letting go. I can't remember what other disaster befell the wood elves - a failed block, I think - but two turns after setting up for my first offensive drive I was doing the same again.

But then things started to go a little better for the elves. I managed to knock over some sauruses, I got some players downfield and I threw a looooong bomb down for the score.

Then it was the Jungle Fighters' turn to mess up, failing a gfi right in my endzone. And sadly for them, the ball scattered off the field and was thrown back in, landing two squares away from my thrower. Yet again, he didn't disappoint, and I ran in the score right on the half time whistle.

So now I was receiving again, and a quick score would give me the lead. However, another amazing full-distance pass was dropped in the lizards' endzone by my rookie wardancer and this allowed those super-mobile skinks to push the wardancer into the crowd, grab the ball and begin a slow and steady advance all the way up the field until they scored their third.

Now it was time for the wood elves to pull it out of the bag. I was playing catch-up and I was determined to show the Jungle Fighters just what a determined bunch of wood elves is capable of. (You can tell, can't you, that I'm building up the suspense).

The kick was shallow and in order to get it safely back to the thrower I had to run it back with the rookie wardancer. This left no one free to run down the bottom edge of the pitch and Quaruk had no problem tying-up the three guys on the top - because not only were the skinks fast and agile, but they were demons when it came to blocking as well. So I was forced to go down the middle, and even though I managed another long bomb to a lineman, he was on his own and within go-for-it range of a saurus...who went for it and knocked him over. And then the skinks came along, got hold of the ball, ran, passed, ran, scored and put the game firmly out of reach for the wood elves.

On my final turn, with the game lost, I decided I'd just get in one more long bomb rather than mess about with an unnecessary one-turn score attempt. But the lizards weren't done with me yet and kicked-off with a sneaky blitz. Needless to say, they got the ball. Surprisingly, I knocked it free. Needless to say, I fumbled the pick-up. Surprisingly, it bounced into the hands of a waiting skink. Needless to say, they went for the final-turn score. Surprisingly, they didn't make it.

So 2-4 it was at the final whistle.

But what fun I had. I'm grateful to Quaruk for his speedy play and his stall-free scoring, allowing me plenty of time on offence and helping me towards a very satisfying 5 for 50 with the thrower. It could so easily have been 7 for 70 if the wardancer had made his catch and if I'd been able to get off a last-minute pass in my final turn, but honestly, I'm not complaining. Any game against lizards where you come away with no injuries is almost a victory in itself and Thursdaynight picked up the MVP yet again. And I've finally managed to get a tackler on the team, so those skinks won't have such an easy time of it next time around - assuming the wood elf lineman is still around after another ten games.

So there you have it. It could have been 3-3, it could have been 2-5, but it certainly couldn't have been any more fun.”