THE WORLD CUP - DAY 2

Round 4: Barcelona Bad Rolls

Saturday morning came too soon, and team GooseBumps awoke and hurriedly got ready for the second day of games. We had been out for tapas and then down to the beach with some UK friends, so we had barely managed 4 hours of sleep (still, twice than on day 1!). Though the merrymaking had been much needed to address our ailing morale, the lack of sleep would do us no favours in the playing well department. Some coffees were procured from the cafeteria and we made our way to our assigned table, where our opponents soon joined us for the first game of the day.

THE MATCHUPS:

Coach	Team	Coach	Team
Torquemada	Elven Union	Popeye	Old World Alliance
Outkast	Underworld Denizens	Jope	Lizardmen
Tadhgy	Dwarf	oriolripoll2	Wood Elf
Manuuelesantoro	Necromantic Horror	Leibstandarte	Dark Elf
mefspores	Wood Elf	Renoloko	Elf Union
GooseKnight	Snotlings	RACSO	Norse

Ah, OWA. A team that seems useless on paper, but with a tendency to win far more than you'd expect. The roster came with a lot of Dorfs and a tree, giving me a decent speed advantage, though Popeye's two Tackle pieces would prove a challenge. I chose to kick, and as usual went on the offensive early. I put a Blitzer inside the cage, pressuring the OWA side to make their way down while my linos kept his all-important Tackle pieces engaged. Blodge failed and the Blitzer went down, his armour giving way and leaving him stunned on the pitch (a theme that would be repeated often in this game). Still, pressure was applied, and the Dorf runner carrying the ball had to make a quick escape downfield. My elves followed in close pursuit, and soon after succeeded in divesting the runner of the ball, if only temporarily. It bounced every which way, defying all attempts from my catchers to secure it, finally coming to rest in a complicated position for both teams.

What followed was a 4 turn scrum where Elves, Humans and Dorfs would swarm around the ball, pushing each other onto it and occasionally briefly securing it before being tackled to the ground. Despite my elves' best attempts, they could not get a secure hold on the ball, and eventually the OWA team managed to break through and form a cage next to the end zone. A last-ditch attempt to stop the score was cut short by a snake-eyed dodge, and OWA scored the 0-1 on their 8th turn.

Second half, and what had previously looked like an easy win was now going to be a tricky draw. The Onions deployed their traditional offensive stall, holding the ball back for a few turns before swinging around the side of the now rooted Treeman to form a defensive screen between their opponents and the End Zone, the ball securely held by a Catcher. The execution was good, and though he came unbelievably close (3+,5+,2+,2+ blitz fails at the last hurdle!) Popeye did not manage to stop the carrier. With no Halfling remaining (courtesy of the Ref), he had no TTM option so the game ended in a hard fought 1-1.

I was so deep into this match with this OWA team that could (and how - Popeye ended up taking home the prize for Best OWA Coach!) that I did not notice something magical happen: GooseKnight managed to win his first game of the tournament by administering a dicing for the ages to a hapless Norse coach. That plus Outkast's win and another draw from Manny meant we had managed to not lose the round for the first time so far! With 0-0-9 no longer on the cards, we could rest a bit easier and enjoy our lunch.

Round 5: Irregulars Plan B

The organisers had learnt from the problems on day 1, and this time the draw was announced in good time. Conveniently, we remained on the very same table, and had only to wait for our opponents (the second Catalan squad of the day) to make their way to us. While we waited, I checked out my opponent's roster - Necro again, only this time the 11 player & 3 reroll variety. Not good, especially with my severely disrupted sleep, but we'd beaten them once before, right? Right.

THE MATCHUPS:

Coach	Team	Coach	Team
Outkast	Underworld Denizens	Pauadelantado	Shambling Undead
Torquemada	Elven Union	Catapulta	Necromantic Horror
Manuuelesantoro	Necromantic Horror	Kowalsky07	Human
Tadhgy	Dwarf	Pingüibo	Lizardmen
GooseKnight	Snotling	Rekissone	Underworld
Mefspores	Wood Elf	mevuelvo	Orc

The game started very well for the Onions. The Necros received the ball, and immediately the pressure was piled on so high that my opponent had no choice but to run the ball in turn 2, risking a dodge and a GFI to do so. This left 8 turns for my elves to equalise, and then do their thing in the second half. However, the supremely annoying pitch control abilities of the Necromantic team proved a challenge as my elves simply could not break through their line. Elf after elf attempted to blitz, leap or dodge through the flesh golems without success, until I finally managed to establish a safe position on the far end of the pitch in turn 7. After that, it was just a simple matter of getting the ball up there and scoring. 1-1 and my offensive drive to go - game was looking good! Even better, as we kicked off the second half, Nuffle saw fit to gift the Onions a Pitch Invasion, bringing down one of the Zombies on the line and leaving a clear blitzing line to the Necro side's most dangerous piece: a wrestle wolf. The wolf went down, and since we'd been given a bribe by the previous kick-off event, the elves swarmed around the fallen lycanthrope and let him have a taste of boot. When the dust settled, the wolf was carried away to the KO box, and no bribe was used. Success!

This did have the unfortunate side effect of leaving me somewhat out of position, but the ball was safe. The Necros closed around my assembled players, CASing one and leaving the rest in a tight box they would struggle to get out of. Finally, he blitzed his remaining wolf around, failing to achieve a knockdown and ending up on its own and next to one of my Blitzers. You can probably see where this is going...

Emboldened by my previous foul, I immediately threw the block on the wolf, blitzed myself an opening from the previous box and brought all the elves to bear on their next victim, dreaming of a wolf-less opponent. But this time, the foul never happened - the fouler needed a single GFI to get there, which he failed. Only now realising just how badly this greed play had compromised my position, I felt compelled to reroll. Reroll failed. Oops.

Once again, the Necro coach surrounded my players, only this time there was no easy escape, and he had a direct threat on my ball carrier. I had no choice but to surge forwards, using Nerves of Steel to receive the ball, then chainpush my catcher out and potato him as far as he would go. Having wasted my rerolls on the fouls, I no longer had enough to easily dodge players out to cover, and Blodge proved an inadequate protection as the remaining wolf took him down. Sure Hands ghoul easily recovered the ball and launched downfield. My elves attempted to pursue but Nuffle had their number, dodges snaking as the Ghoul ran it in unopposed. No attempt was made at a 1TTD, and the game ended in a painful 1-2 loss for the Onions.

Things weren't going much better on the other tables. Goose had come up against Morgworld, Tadhgy's Dorfs could not repeat their earlier thrashing against these new Lizards and even with a win from Outkast and a draw from Mefspores we lost the round handily. The worst came from Manny's table, though, whose opponent appeared to have serious problems with his play and called the referee repeatedly. The game culminated in a heated argument whose cause I never quite managed to suss out, but that put a real sour note on an already tough day.

Round 6 - The Chanclas

With our slim hopes from the morning's draw having been swiftly crushed by our resounding defeat, and the unpleasantness of the drama from the previous round still hanging in the air, this was probably the lowest point for the GooseBumps in the whole tournament. We needed something, anything, to get us through this third game and into a healthy frame of mind ready for Sunday's finale. And we would get it, though it didn't feel like it when I saw the draw:

Coach	Team	Coach	Team
Outkast	Underworld Denizens	Flik	Norse
Torquemada	Elven Union	Varitu	Chaos Dwarf
Manuuelesantoro	Necromantic Horror	Wonka	Human
Tadhgy	Dwarf	Alberich	Orc
GooseKnight	Snotling	Pelukaspukas	Dwarf
Mefspores	Wood Elf	donpimpom	Halfling

Chorfs! Tackle for days, and enough movement in the Bulls to keep up with my elves and ruin my day. Faaantastic. However, looking at the rest of the draw, there was reason for excitement. Our first stunty opponent of the weekend and favourable matchups for mostly everyone else. Better still, as we made our dejected way towards our new table, we caught a glimpse of our opponents rocking matching Hawaiian shirts and looking like they were having the time of their lives. Easy or hard, this round would at least be fun!

Off we went. Chorfs chose to receive. Kick went out, ball was given to a Bull Centaur, and the Chorfs immediately set about dismantling my team. I attempted to put in some pressure, and had some early successes, but soon enough my team was so battered that I could not afford to throw more elves into the meatgrinder and effected a tactical retreat, sniping at the Hobbos while he set up camp near the end zone. Then, in turn 6, I saw the tiniest sliver of an opening: 4+ dodge, for a 2d uphill blitz on the carrier. Figuring that this was the best I was going to get, I took it, and my catcher flew across the pitch, weaving through hobbos and coming crashing into the Bull Centaur. Dice went in the cup, cup came down, then up: Double Push. With a smile, I pushed the BC over the line, forcing the score and leaving the Onions with 2 turns to equalise.

Of course, Nuffle giveth, and Nuffle taketh away, and the Elves rolled 3 consecutive ones trying to pick up the damn ball, scuppering any hopes of a half-time draw. But we still had our offensive drive, so the Onions set up to receive as the weather changed over the pitch. Rain! Helpful. I threw some elves around the left flank, expecting to effectively sacrifice a catcher to the Minotaur to draw him to the side and allowing a push up the opposite side. Much to my surprise, 6 dice did not suffice, and the feint became an actual push as my Catcher ended in a perfect position to advance. This time, the ball makes it to the catcher, who sprints away and ends up right next to the end zone, but in my exhaustion I fail to properly count the squares, leaving him just in range of the Mino. Nuffle is still smiling on me, though, and the Mino fails to roll the pow, instead pushing the catcher into the end zone for the 1-1.

4 turns to go, and things are looking dicey. What is left of my team lines up in an aggressive defence, which is very nearly rewarded as the ball ends up neatly nestled up against the sideline, just short of the LOS, well in range of a recovery in the event of a failed pickup (made far likelier by the rain). Sadly, no such luck, and the Hobbo picks up the ball without so much as a reroll. At this point, every elf remaining on the pitch throws themselves at the Chorfs to slow down the score. The pressure forces the Chorfs to form a sidecage 7 away from the end zone on turn 7. The elves swarm around it, tagging all possible assists, and the lone remaining Blitzer jumps in, deftly dodging into the bottom of the cage for the 1d... Push. This makes the hobbo have to rush once more, and forces the Chorfs to deal with the blitzer. But this is not enough, and a reroll must be used. Skull. Game over. Loss number 3 for the Onions, and at this point I have a negative record. But still, this game had been the most exciting so far - up against tricky odds, the Onions had used every trick in the book to stop the Chorf juggernaut, and though they ultimately came up short they got closer than they had any right to. And better still - a look around the table showed that the rest of the squad had fared brilliantly, with wins all around (except for the poor Snotlings, who had been pasted by the opposing Dorfs). Team GooseBumps had their first win of the weekend! And with 3 games to go and the squad on the rise, the prospect of going home on a 4-1-4 seemed achievable. Tonight we would eat, drink, and rest our minds and bodies, ready to give it our all in the last 3 games.