“Tactical Takeaways:

1. Cage Must Be Air Tight

Notes that I've made in the past that I ignored. Left the cage corner based with the troll knowing that the opponent had the strength to take the troll out. Took the troll out and opened the cage for a giant St 5 Mummy blitz on the carrier. The issue was that the cage I had established behind the Troll had the sneaky git as a corner. I wanted the foul so I let the Sneaky Git go and get it - which he did - removal, but it made for an easy knock down of the based Troll and a free walk into the cage turn 2. Scrum for the ball ensued and we didn't come up with it. Ghouls too fast.

2. Handled Kick Much Better

I did not get caught off guard by the kick player. He was labeled and I aligned accordingly. We did have one kick that caused us issues, end of the 1st half, he put it deep and we needed 3 turns to score. Went for a handoff to try and get the ball up field but failed. He nearly had a walk in score with a ghoul, but luckily he failed a rush, and we were able to come in with the foul and get a removal. So, no score, but a critical removal.

3. Lining up Strong on the Line and Getting Beat

I thought I had the muscle to hold up the line on defense at the start of the second half, but I was proved wrong. My opponent very skillfully was able to find the Black Orc without Guard, get three bodies on a front chevron and take out the Black Orc. Now that the guard was cleared he was able to work down the line picking up all the assists he needed and go 4/4 on knock downs, with 2 stuns. I don't think I aligned incorrectly here. An argument could be made for putting all guard players in the front 5. That would've prevented this from happening because he wouldn't have been able to get 3 dice on the front chevron.

4. Funnel to the Middle with the Chevron

On a positive note to our line being beat, it forced the opponent to commit all his resources to the middle. We had a deep kick, and this allowed our wing players to get behind the scrum, while still preventing a rush up field through the middle. The opponent attempted to bring the ball up, but needed to clear tackle zones, and take several 1D blocks. It ended up being too far and the cage was insecure. We managed to get two dice on the ball quite easily. A scrum ensued and we came out on top.

5. Fooled by Stand Firm

Again with labeling. The issue is that this blitzer would've been labeled "DGMBTSF" which in hind-sight I should've just done. It seemed excessive so I left out the SF. This resulted in a very big issue as he was marking the ball and I thought we could get an easy push and secure him against the sideline, possibly surf him. Neither worked. Instead he ended up going for the ball and dropped it out of bounds and what appeared to be a crowd advantageous throw ensued.

6. Sneaky Git, Dirty Player Foul at Will

Although the Sneaky Git did create problems on my second turn. He was incredibly effective. Took out at least 4 players, maybe more, including a skilled up mummy. The bribe is worth the money to keep that guy around. This was a glorious moment for fouling. ”