Blood Bowl: Griffon Gate Griffons - Sheogorad Saints 2-2

In the third installment of an absolute blitz of Turboleague games, the High Elf Griffon Gate Griffons (proxied by my Tor Achare Titans) will face my Sheogorad Saints next! Here's the Griffon Gate lineup:

#1 Bel-Zothius the Beast - blitzer

#2 Ghoryanus the Mighty - blitzer

#3 Ferreha the Particular - thrower

#9 Ammozalri the Patient - lineman

#10 Shirduzus the Discrete - lineman

#11 Shudris the Sage - lineman

#12 Reidhodi the Poet - lineman

#13 Emmiatidha the Great - lineman

#14 Tarec the Artist - lineman

#15 Aedaentrin the Learned - lineman

#16 Thakevi the Impetuous - lineman

They also start with three re-rolls.

Our earnings in my previous game were dismal, and we lost yet another player, but thanks to the financial windfall that was our game against the Vindaaagh Pulling and their gigantic army of fans, we can finally replace the blitzer we lost to the RagnaRock Ravens. Here's #27 Vermith Targaryen, represented by a Shadowforge Wicked Elf Linebacker.

With this addition to our roster, the current lineup looks like this:

#5 Jenassa Samarys - runner (7 SPP, Dodge)

#11 Barenziah Targaryen - witch elf

#27 Vermith Targaryen, blitzer

#33 Raven Dren - assassin (8 SPP, Side Step)

#44 Irileth Targaryen - blitzer (8 SPP, Guard)

#69: Darane Mencele, line-elf

#71: Hlireni Indavel, line-elf

#73 Brelda Quintella, line-elf

#77: Endroni Dalas, line-elf (1 SPP)

With only nine players on the roster, we're retaining the services of journeyman #75 Morgiah R'zamenar for yet another game, but since journeyelf #66 Lilith Llethri was injured in the previous game, we're replacing her with #66 Nephithah T'rizaron. All this does mean, though, that our team value goes up to 1,150,000gp, and that means inducements for the high elves. Alarmingly, they decided to hire the services of a wizard!

Meanwhile, what with all these pitch invasions, ref-gettings and so on, the Saints have invested in some heavier security for their dug-out.

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I'm also pioneering something new for this game. I have two blitzers, one of whom has Guard. Wouldn't it be handy and sporting to be able to easily tell which is which? I know there are various magnetic skill markers and suchlike out there, and one league a friend plays in has a sort of color coding. I think I'm going to try making a sort of personal version of that.

It starts with a magnet on the player's base, in this case my blitzer #44.

Then we take some tiny little figures I have lying around, and insert an infuriatingly tiny 3mm magnet.

And now we have magnetic skill markers! Here's a skull, off one of those Chaos Space Marine vehicle sprues because I had one handy, to mark that my blitzer has Guard:

And here's a cute little Anvil Industries rat to let everyone know my assassin has Side Step.

And here are all my leveled players with their skill markers!

So far, I'm using the skull to denote a skill that helps with hurting other players, and rats to denote defensive or otherwise annoying skills; I'll think of more if the need arises.

**

The Saints' investment in better dugout security immediately paid off, when the game opened with a riot! The referees let the clock run while the pitch was cleared, and both teams lost a turn. The streak in lopsided attendance continued, with 11 000 Saints fans to the Griffons' 5 000, and the weather was perfect for some Blood Bowl. The Saints won the coin toss and elected to kick.

Griffons blitzer #1 Bel-Zothius the Beast got things started by knocking out Saints line-elf #73 Brelda Quintella, and Saints assassin #33 Raven Dren retaliated by stabbing Griffons line-elf #16 Thakevi the Impetuous, also knocking them out. While a general brawl raged in midfield, the Griffons pressured the Saints left, while penetrating their defensive line on the right.

The Saints were unable to stop Griffons line-elf #14 Tarec the Artist from making his way to the end zone, where he caught a perfect pass from thrower #3 Ferreha the Particular to score the Griffons' first touchdown.

That left the Saints with three turns to get an equalizer before halftime, so we went for an aggressive setup, and were rewarded when the Griffons kick landed out of bounds and we got to start the drive with a touchback.

Saints witch elf #11 Barenziah Targaryen blitzed up the Saints right and managed to push Saints scorer #14 Tarec the Artist into the crowd, although the high elf was later able to make his way back to the Griffons dugout.

This helped clear the way for Saints runner #5 Jenassa Samarys to bring up the ball, blasting past Griffons thrower Ferreha.

The Griffons regrouped to stop the Saints drive, but Samarys elected to run the ball in herself, dodging past the Griffons line to score her first career touchdown and tie the game at the very end of the first half.

**

As the teams returned to the pitch for the second half, the sheer volume of the Saints fans began to tell: a Cheering Fans result on the kickoff table gave us an extra reroll.

In the fray, Saints assassin Dren stabbed Griffons line-elf #9 Ammozalri the Patient, who was taken off the field and will miss the next game with a niggling injury. Saints thrower Samarys secured the ball and started moving it up the center field.

That was when the Griffons wizard struck!

All of my players hit by the fireball were knocked down, with my assassin KO'd and two others stunned, and the ball was loose!

The Griffons quickly pounced on the loose ball, and line-elf #12 Reidhodi the Poet made for the Saints end zone.

Saints witch elf #11 caught up with Reidhodi for the sack, a stat I have sadly neglected to keep track of this year.

However, the Griffons were hot on her heels, and Tarec the Artist blitzed Barenziah Targaryen and knocked her out!

With things looking bad for the Saints, journeyelf #75 Morgiah R'zamenar made a desperate attempt to grab the ball and hand it to blitzer #44 Irileth Targaryen, only to fail her last dodge roll.

The ball, of course, bounced straight to Griffons blitzer Bel-Zothius the Beast, who took it into the end zone for his first career touchdown and a 2-1 Griffons lead.

So, once again the Saints find themselves down a goal and with three turns to score. The teams line up even-handed with ten players on both sides, and once again the Saints strategy is the same: maximum attack.

The Saints smashed aside the Griffons line and tied up both their flanks while runner Samarys retrieved the ball.

We were able to launch both blitzer Irileth Targaryen and recovered KO assassin Raven Dren into the Griffons backfield while knocking down both their blitzers.

This still left us with so little time on the clock that Jenassa Samarys had to launch a risky long pass to assassin Dren, which she caught in the last Saints turn to tie the game with her second career touchdown.

The Griffons used their last drive to score a completion for thrower Ferreha the Particular and knock out Saints journeyelf R'zamenar, and with that, the game ended as a 2-2 tie.

**

Both teams' post-match earnings were 50,000gp; I banked mine to be able to afford some new players later, so my team value only went up by 10,000gp on account of my fan factor. MVP honors went to Saints line-elf #69 Darane Mencele and Griffons line-elf #11 Shudris the Sage.

The game, though, was simply awesome. This was easily one of the most entertaining games of Blood Bowl I've ever played; a very entertaining, fairly loose brawl, with play going this way and that, complete with dramatic last-second scoring plays and also elves falling over a lot. In short, great fun, and what a privilege to welcome yet another new player into the Turboleague.

With this strong debut, the Griffons enter the league in second place, tied with the Reid Death in points but ahead by touchdowns scored. Next time: nuns!

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League table [pts, goal differential, casualty differential, fatalities, completions, interceptions, sacks]

Sheogorad Saints (Dark Elf) (1-0-2) 8 pts, 4-3, 0-4, 0, 3, 1, 0

Griffon Gate Griffons (High Elf) (0-0-1) 2 pts, 2-2, 0-0, 0, 2, 0, 0

Reid Death (Human) (0-0-1) 2 pts, 1-1, 3-0, 1, 1, 0, 0

Vindaaagh Pulling (Orc) (0-1-0) 1 pts, 0-1, 1-0, 0, 1, 0, 0

Touchdowns:

Raven Dren (Saints) 2

Bel-Zothius the Beast (Griffons) 1

Harry E Mitchell (Death) 1

Irileth Targaryen (Saints) 1

Jenassa Samarys (Saints) 1

Tarec the Artist (Griffons) 1

Casualties:

Ed Ranger (Death) 1

Ernie R Jaurigui (Death) 1

Jay Blanchard (Death) 1

VIP#52 (Pulling) 1

Fatalities:

Ernie R Jaurigui (Death) 1

Interceptions:

Irileth Targaryen (Saints) 1

Completions:

Jenassa Samarys (Saints) 3

Ferreha the Particular (Griffons) 2

Randall Gnant (Death) 1

VIP#8 (Pulling) 1