“This one was interesting. I had a perfectly disastrous start, then a couple of shaky turns, and then suddenly everything fell into place and I could do no wrong for the rest of the match.

So first up was a blitz on the opening kick-off. This is such a horrible way to start a game, not only because it gives your opponent the first turn after all, but it generally messes up any kind of strategy you might have been relying on for getting the ball somewhere safe on your first turn. Fortunately, on this occasion, Lasgalen wasn't able to gat anyone near enough to get to the ball or the thrower, so at least I was still in control at the start of my turn.

Also, Lasgalen had brought everyone forward during the blitz, so after a little bit of blocking, I had my MA9 catcher in the open and ready to run so far downfield that even though he couldn't score this turn, he would almost certainly be uncatchable. So clearly, it was time for another double 1 on the pass (to go with the two I rolled in Sensation's previous game).

IT IS SO ANNOYING WHEN THAT HAPPENS. And because I throw a lot, it happens a lot. AARGH!

So at that point the high elves got the ball and scored nice and easily.

Right, let's try that again...

This time I actually managed to throw the ball, but the receiver fluffed the catch and, being a journeyman, failed his loner roll. AARGH AGAIN!

But at least this time the ball was sitting next to the tree and two linemen so it wasn't as much of a disaster as the first drive. And when the high elves messed up a block, I wasted no time in rushing the thrower up, this time making sure he threw to someone who could actually catch.

The high elves then replied with a fairly speedy TD, so I did the same and got in the equaliser right before the half. This was getting exciting...

But now was when my good luck really started to show. For some strange reason, the wood elves were blocking like a bunch of players who could actually block, and Lasgalen was cursed with failed armour rolls, so that there was a regular flow of high elves off the field - fortunately mostly BHs. Also, not only was he failing his own armour rolls, he was having no luck inflicting any on me, except for a single SI on one of the wardancers and a KO on the other.

So it was impressive that Lasgalen was still able to score once more, even though he was way down on players, but there wasn't really anything he could do to stop me once I got hold of the ball as there were just too many wood elves to cover and I wasn't really failing anything.

There was a point where it was looking as if it might end up at 4-4, but a lucky blitz and an even luckier pick-up and pass in a TZ allowed me to get the ball safely away from my endzone and all the way down to Lasgalen's.

So it was a good win in the end, despite that terrible start. But for a new coach still getting to grips with the game, Lasgalen played well in a difficult situation. And although his yardage was low, he did manage to throw more passes than me, which is very impressive. I look forward to playing him again many times.

One wardancer will be missing the next game, which is a shame, but they both picked up a skill here and I gave them both tackle - something that has been sorely lacking in this team since my last cull and rebuild. I'm still on four journeymen, but the rest of the team is in pretty good shape and the TR isn't ludicrously bloated just yet.

Good game. Good fun.”