“And the moral of this story is...never give up on a game just because you have a terrible start.

And believe me, this was one terrible start. Law Counts received the kick and their first few turns confirmed their dominance - two of the vampires being perfectly skilled to hurt poor little wood elves and another two perfectly skilled for getting hold of, and dealing with, the ball (two AG5 vampires - that's just wrong!)

Anyway, their first score took them five turns, but their second (thanks to the complete collapse of the wood elf offence) only took them another two.

So with only two turns left in the half, an with only half a team left on the pitch, it wasn't looking so good for Sensation. If I was a quitter, that's definitely the point I would have quit, but I thought I may as well at least get in some passing before the thrower was injured. And with a bit of luck with the dice to end the half, I was able to long bomb a late score. And then, of course, I was receiving at the top of the second half, so I was ale to do it all again.

So suddenly it was 2-2. I still didn't think I had much of a chance, but as Shadowprime pointed out, with elves you never can tell. And in the end it was a lot closer than I'd expected it to be. Shadowprime's bloodlust rolls were an absolute disaster for him all half, and most of the pro rolls failed as well, giving me plenty of chances to take control of the game.

Sadly, I only had half a team to try it with, and it never really turned around the way it might have done with a full squad - or if the vampires had failed a few more of their armour rolls. One surprising kill was the only injury I managed to inflict all game, with all three of my mighty blowers failing to do anything. And in fact the wardancer spent most of the game in the KO box anyway.

But in the end, the game came down to a last couple of turns as exciting as anything I've played in a long time. First of all the scoring vampire failed his go for it, causing the ball to be thrown back in way over the far side, away from the action, and although the wood elves couldn't score, I could at least prevent the vampires from doing so by passing the ball way downfield to a handy catcher.

Sadly, the thrower failed a dodge along the way, so the vampires had one final chance...

...and after some exciting failed dice along the way, Shadowprime was rewarded with a last-gasp score to end the game.

It was a deserved win for him. I shouldn't really have been able to come back as much as I did, within a single die roll of a draw, but that's the way it goes. If I'd given up after those first few turns, I would have missed out on some genuine excitement and some excellent and challenging play.

Also, 5 for 51 in passing stats!

Excellent game, Shadowprime - I look forward to many more in the future.”