Who knew that trying to survive against hordes of zombies while being cooped up with complete strangers, many of them a bit insane, could be so much fun?
Die2Night, a new web-based, zombie survival game, lets you do just that. Thrown into a town with 39 other folks, your mission is to work together to survive the horrible, zombie-filled nights ahead for as long as possible.
The game is free to play, though of course, there are some options to pay for perks. What makes this game really interesting is the social dynamic. When you start, you join a new town of 40 citizens, each one another player. There will never be any new citizens. Only losses to the zombies and the mental anguish that comes with any post-apocalyptic horror.
Within the game you can go out and scavenge the wasteland for goods, or stay in town and try to build defenses against the oncoming hordes that descend each night. But within each decision lies a social dynamic. There are only a certain number of action points to go around each day. And if you don't have enough defenses, people die. So agreeing what to build and when to build it becomes crucial. And at some point, food and water start to become scarce (water is also used to kill the zombies, making it doubly precious), lending even more stress and conflicting motives to the situation.
But the game leaves everything wide open. You have very little control over your fellow citizens, and if they decide they want to build a ham radio while you're trying to nail together mattresses to survive the night, there is nothing you can do but complain! And believe me, someone will complain! Which leads to another facet of the game, personal politics! You can issue anonymous complaints against any or all of your fellow citizens. If anyone gets a total of eight complaints, they are 'banished', allowed to live in the town, but unable to take from the common stashes. Apparently the banished players get some special abilities that upstanding citizens don't, including the ability to start a coup, but I haven't yet been banished myself, so I don't know for sure. I'll have to work on that...
The varying interactions within each town are varied and fluid, and an endless source of both amusement and frustration. Giving players their own tools to deal with internal social issues is brilliant, and an area that I hope gets fleshed out more in the future. It certainly is something that is missing from most online games. Generally the best option you have is 'mute'!
I've just scratched the surface of the game, having only survived for 4 days in my best outing. But each town has been a different experience. And the developer promises more new content in the future to keep your days as a survivor varied and interesting.
This game manages to fill two niches - free web-based game, and zombie apocalypse game, doing an excellent job on both counts. Definitely worth a look if this sort of thing interests you!
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Dawntide Beta: Various Thoughts
The Dawntide beta client has finally reached a point of stability for me where I can actually play the game! Below are a few thoughts cobbled together from notes I jotted down over the past few days (some I may have mentioned previously).
- You eat bread and water for some reason, though I see no visible change to my stats or messages telling me that I'm fatigued due to hunger/thirst
- Food is eaten automatically if you have some in your pack. Water is only consumed when you do it manually.
- You gain stats randomly as you use skills. Much like Ultima Online
- Inventory is weight-based rather than slot-based. You still have slots in your pack for organization, but if you start running out, extra slots appear as long as you can carry the load. Nice feature!
- There are issues selecting inventory slots when they overlap with the action bar at the bottom of the screen. Fortunately, you can move the windows around.
- You get no information at all about what a recipe requires or what exactly it makes (besides the name of the item) until the recipe is purchased and learned. Considering how expensive recipes can be, it would be nice to be able to get a little more info before I purchase it.
- The search feature doesn't work on the vendor menu.
- Crafting skills up very slowly
- Corpses have no visible indicator that they have been skinned. There should either be a visual clue, or when selected, the corpse should say something like (skinned) after the name if it has already been skinned. Doesn't make much sense that I couldn't tell just by looking at it.
- Cooking basic meat requires no tools or even a campfire. Apparently you just lay raw meat out in the sun for a while and call it a day.
- You use 'guts' to make bowstrings in-game. This is inaccurate. Sinew is used to make bowstrings. Guts are used to make sausage! Perhaps they were thinking of strings for musical instruments, which do use 'catgut' (not made from cats).
- Five minute spell buffs are a micro-management pain. The more skilled you are at the spell school for the buff, the longer it should last.
- There are no player-made campfires! This is a travesty! I'm starting a campfire petition!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Dawntide Open Beta Journal #1
Note: These experiences are from the weekend on July 2-5th, 2010.
For various reasons, it's been a while since I've checked in on the Dawntide beta. But now that the game has officially entered open beta, I thought it was time to pay it another visit.
After the expected patching and updating (which went very smoothly), I logged in to find my old characters had been deleted. No big deal. I quickly make a new character, choosing to start with skills in Lumberjacking, Carpentry and Fletching, as well as some basic combat experience.
I login to the familiar newbie town and immediately notice that every tree in town has been cut. Fair enough, I spy a few green-tops still standing across the bridge out of town, and head out to begin anew my career as an aspiring lumberjack.
As I wandered the landscape looking for more trees to harvest, I also took the time to practice my combat skills on the local rabbits and ducks.
Combat is the typical pick-target, push various attack buttons type. You do have the option of entering different stances (Balance, Force and something else). Each stance builds up specific stance points that can then be used to trigger other abilities. The combat animations seemed to be mostly nonexistent (they would occasionally fire off for special moves, but otherwise, combat was nothing to watch)
I tried harvesting a flower poking up from the ground, but after the casting timer wound down, the flower vanished and I received an error message telling me that my skill was insufficient to harvest this item. Would have been nice to get that message before the timer. It would also be nice to not deplete the resource.
Looking at the mini-map, I see a castle-type structure not far down the road. Perhaps it's another town? As it turns out, it was just an empty one-room keep, with a guard outside. But across the road was a camp full of vendors. Alas, none of them specialized in Fletching. I did however, find a general vendor who sold all sorts of random items and recipes at discounts. This vendor would also buy items!
Well, in theory anyway. As it turns out, everything I had was considered worthless. But the vendor did provide a couple of cheaper than normal recipes as well as an Icicle scroll. Magic! I had started the game with a single 5-minute buff spell, which I used every chance I could raising a couple of magic skills in tiny increments (and actually, you can just recast a spell over and over as long as you have mana, gaining skill the whole while, but that sort of mindless repetition bores me too quickly). But now I knew a real spell, one that would bring icy doom to my foes!
Heading back towards the main town, I scan the horizons, searching for something to practice my new Icicle spell on.
I do spy this monstrosity in the distance, but having a healthy respect for my newbie status and my general lack of knowledge about the game, I give the mushroom-headed beast a wide berth.
Continuing onwards, I see a small, wee bunny hopping in the grass nearby. Perfect! Target bunny, cast spell, and... er.. well, nothing. Did I miss? Did it not work? I have no idea as there was no animation or text report. Hmmm. Let's try that again. Still nothing. So I do things the old-fashioned way, beating the bunny to a pulp with my hatchet and left hook. So it wasn't a ghost bunny (another common bug with the game world), perhaps I was doing something wrong. In my next combat encounter, I try mashing the spell button during melee. It seems to cast the spell, and maybe my animal foe lost a larger chunk of health than normal, but it's difficult to tell without any sort of combat feedback (sometimes numbers will float up from the target, but this also seems to be inconsistent). I try again a few more times and surprisingly, during one encounter, I actually do see spikes of ice shoot up from the ground underneath my opponent! OK. So I guess it is working, again it was just the animation
Next objective: How to make money? In my previous foray into the world of Dawntide, I recalled making bows for money. But looking at the vendor prices this time around, I didn't have enough cash to purchase any bow recipes. Looking ta my options, the only one that seemed viable was selling lumber. So I started a new career as a Carpenter, cutting down trees and making them into boards to sell to the vendor. After doing this for a bit, I was able to purchase the hunting bow recipe and discovered I also needed to know how to craft a bowstring. Alas, that recipe was another 3 copper!
Luckily, the general vendor had some pre-crafted bowstrings for sale! Seeing that as a much quicker option (I had no idea what sort of materials might be requested of me in order to make a single bowstring on my own), I purchased 10 or so and set about to crafting. After a couple of sad failures I had success! A Hunting Bow of my very own! Using up all of the remaining bowstrings, I managed to create two extra bows to sell. Looks like I had finally reached a point of being profitable!
Having finally achieved one of my initial goals, I now needed some arrowheads to go with the many arrow shafts and feathers I had sitting in my pack. But on my way back to the vendor, I was suddenly disconnected from the server (an unfortunately common occurrence) and decided to save that journey for the next Journal.
I really haven't been keeping up with the development of this game, but from looking at their news page, they seem to be on a steady patching cycle, which is always a good sign. At the moment, the random disconnects and crashes are way too common for me to want to spend much time in-game. Hopefully these technical issues will be cleared up soon and I can venture back into the online world of Dawntide without the frustration of having to login again every 10 minutes.
Short Summary: Has potential, but still has many technical hurdles to overcome.
For various reasons, it's been a while since I've checked in on the Dawntide beta. But now that the game has officially entered open beta, I thought it was time to pay it another visit.
After the expected patching and updating (which went very smoothly), I logged in to find my old characters had been deleted. No big deal. I quickly make a new character, choosing to start with skills in Lumberjacking, Carpentry and Fletching, as well as some basic combat experience.
I login to the familiar newbie town and immediately notice that every tree in town has been cut. Fair enough, I spy a few green-tops still standing across the bridge out of town, and head out to begin anew my career as an aspiring lumberjack.
As I wandered the landscape looking for more trees to harvest, I also took the time to practice my combat skills on the local rabbits and ducks.
Combat is the typical pick-target, push various attack buttons type. You do have the option of entering different stances (Balance, Force and something else). Each stance builds up specific stance points that can then be used to trigger other abilities. The combat animations seemed to be mostly nonexistent (they would occasionally fire off for special moves, but otherwise, combat was nothing to watch)
I tried harvesting a flower poking up from the ground, but after the casting timer wound down, the flower vanished and I received an error message telling me that my skill was insufficient to harvest this item. Would have been nice to get that message before the timer. It would also be nice to not deplete the resource.
Looking at the mini-map, I see a castle-type structure not far down the road. Perhaps it's another town? As it turns out, it was just an empty one-room keep, with a guard outside. But across the road was a camp full of vendors. Alas, none of them specialized in Fletching. I did however, find a general vendor who sold all sorts of random items and recipes at discounts. This vendor would also buy items!
Well, in theory anyway. As it turns out, everything I had was considered worthless. But the vendor did provide a couple of cheaper than normal recipes as well as an Icicle scroll. Magic! I had started the game with a single 5-minute buff spell, which I used every chance I could raising a couple of magic skills in tiny increments (and actually, you can just recast a spell over and over as long as you have mana, gaining skill the whole while, but that sort of mindless repetition bores me too quickly). But now I knew a real spell, one that would bring icy doom to my foes!
Heading back towards the main town, I scan the horizons, searching for something to practice my new Icicle spell on.
I do spy this monstrosity in the distance, but having a healthy respect for my newbie status and my general lack of knowledge about the game, I give the mushroom-headed beast a wide berth.Continuing onwards, I see a small, wee bunny hopping in the grass nearby. Perfect! Target bunny, cast spell, and... er.. well, nothing. Did I miss? Did it not work? I have no idea as there was no animation or text report. Hmmm. Let's try that again. Still nothing. So I do things the old-fashioned way, beating the bunny to a pulp with my hatchet and left hook. So it wasn't a ghost bunny (another common bug with the game world), perhaps I was doing something wrong. In my next combat encounter, I try mashing the spell button during melee. It seems to cast the spell, and maybe my animal foe lost a larger chunk of health than normal, but it's difficult to tell without any sort of combat feedback (sometimes numbers will float up from the target, but this also seems to be inconsistent). I try again a few more times and surprisingly, during one encounter, I actually do see spikes of ice shoot up from the ground underneath my opponent! OK. So I guess it is working, again it was just the animation
Next objective: How to make money? In my previous foray into the world of Dawntide, I recalled making bows for money. But looking at the vendor prices this time around, I didn't have enough cash to purchase any bow recipes. Looking ta my options, the only one that seemed viable was selling lumber. So I started a new career as a Carpenter, cutting down trees and making them into boards to sell to the vendor. After doing this for a bit, I was able to purchase the hunting bow recipe and discovered I also needed to know how to craft a bowstring. Alas, that recipe was another 3 copper!
Luckily, the general vendor had some pre-crafted bowstrings for sale! Seeing that as a much quicker option (I had no idea what sort of materials might be requested of me in order to make a single bowstring on my own), I purchased 10 or so and set about to crafting. After a couple of sad failures I had success! A Hunting Bow of my very own! Using up all of the remaining bowstrings, I managed to create two extra bows to sell. Looks like I had finally reached a point of being profitable!
Having finally achieved one of my initial goals, I now needed some arrowheads to go with the many arrow shafts and feathers I had sitting in my pack. But on my way back to the vendor, I was suddenly disconnected from the server (an unfortunately common occurrence) and decided to save that journey for the next Journal.
I really haven't been keeping up with the development of this game, but from looking at their news page, they seem to be on a steady patching cycle, which is always a good sign. At the moment, the random disconnects and crashes are way too common for me to want to spend much time in-game. Hopefully these technical issues will be cleared up soon and I can venture back into the online world of Dawntide without the frustration of having to login again every 10 minutes.
Short Summary: Has potential, but still has many technical hurdles to overcome.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
SWTOR: WoW with Lightsabers?
So new info about the upcoming Bioware MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic has surfaced from E3.
Based on this interview with Rich Vogel and this preview from Massively, let's see what sort of info they're giving us...
Unfortunately, it seems to me that they're heading in a direction that will make this game World of Warcraft with Lightsabers, which I find very disappointing.
Based on this interview with Rich Vogel and this preview from Massively, let's see what sort of info they're giving us...
- Player ships that don't actually fly anywhere. Instead they are glorified apartments and transportation hubs (kind of like a personal flight master)
- War Zones = Battlegrounds
- Crafting will be similar to WoW
- There will be Raids
- There will be Gear Progression
Unfortunately, it seems to me that they're heading in a direction that will make this game World of Warcraft with Lightsabers, which I find very disappointing.
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Dawntide Beta: Day One - I'm a Lumberjack...
After two frustrating weeks of not being able to login successfully, they finally patch the servers with a fix that works! For the first time ever, I am able to interact with the game world and do stuff!
My first goal in this game was to check out the crafting side of things and see if I could manage to craft a set of bow and arrows for myself!
So I created a new character and gave them as many crafting skills as I could. Ready to harvest, I began hacking at the nearest tree. Harvesting is done by simply right-clicking on the resource. Then you get a 5-second action timer while your character performs the animation. Moving or otherwise interrupting the timer will cause it to stop without any resources being gathered. And yes, this does get tedious pretty quickly. Though interestingly enough, I saw some comments from the developers recently asking players to identify what sort of actions they would be likely to macro in-game so that the devs can work on trying to make them less tedious! They'll have to walk a careful tightrope when balancing that sort of thing, but it's good to hear that they understand the root concept of why players macro in the first place and are interested in trying to fix it.
Anyway, I chopped some more trees, and then chopped them again. You can get several harvests from each tree, but once a tree is depleted, the model is replaced with a stump. After a while the trees will regenerate, but it is definitely possible to clearcut an area. The stumps in the screenshot below were all created by myself. I imagine several players trying to harvest at the same time would wreak havoc on the natural shade in the area! Different trees not only provide different types of wood, but they can also be harder to cut. For example, there was an oak tree nearby that I hacked at maybe two dozen times, never once successful. However, all of the other nearby juniper trees fell before my mighty ax with little trouble. A nice touch to the game world. I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of role the type of wood will play in crafting.
Now that I had an ample supply of wood, it was time to get crafting. I open up my crafting window and proceed to churn out hundreds of arrow shafts. I noticed while making arrow shafts that my skill in Fletching was steadily increasing, as was the displayed success rate for making the shafts. But my success rate for bows wasn't changing at all. So as an experiment, I attempted to craft a few bows. Sure enough, this increased my Fletching skill as well as the chance I had for success at crafting that particular bow. Very interesting. This takes crafting specialization to a new level.
Checking an offline, player-made map, I saw that there was a cave nearby where copper could be acquired. So I jogged over there, found some colored lumps in the back of the cave and clicked on them to harvest copper ore.
Bags full, I jogged back to town, found the local forge and turned all of my copper ore into beautiful, shiny ingots. Now I just had to figure out how to turn those ingots into sharp, pointy arrowheads! I checked all the vendors, I asked in chat, I checked the boards, but everyone said it was available from the blacksmith. I looked at the blacksmith list half a dozen times and couldn't find the arrowhead recipe. Finally I saw it, buried deep in the extensive list of items on the blacksmith vendor. For some strange reason I had just assumed that the simpler recipes would be near the top.
So now I have arrow shafts, and I have arrow heads, but I'm still missing one component... feathers. I guess it's time to go hunting...
A couple of random interesting notes:
To Be Continued...
My first goal in this game was to check out the crafting side of things and see if I could manage to craft a set of bow and arrows for myself!
So I created a new character and gave them as many crafting skills as I could. Ready to harvest, I began hacking at the nearest tree. Harvesting is done by simply right-clicking on the resource. Then you get a 5-second action timer while your character performs the animation. Moving or otherwise interrupting the timer will cause it to stop without any resources being gathered. And yes, this does get tedious pretty quickly. Though interestingly enough, I saw some comments from the developers recently asking players to identify what sort of actions they would be likely to macro in-game so that the devs can work on trying to make them less tedious! They'll have to walk a careful tightrope when balancing that sort of thing, but it's good to hear that they understand the root concept of why players macro in the first place and are interested in trying to fix it.
Anyway, I chopped some more trees, and then chopped them again. You can get several harvests from each tree, but once a tree is depleted, the model is replaced with a stump. After a while the trees will regenerate, but it is definitely possible to clearcut an area. The stumps in the screenshot below were all created by myself. I imagine several players trying to harvest at the same time would wreak havoc on the natural shade in the area! Different trees not only provide different types of wood, but they can also be harder to cut. For example, there was an oak tree nearby that I hacked at maybe two dozen times, never once successful. However, all of the other nearby juniper trees fell before my mighty ax with little trouble. A nice touch to the game world. I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of role the type of wood will play in crafting.
Now that I had an ample supply of wood, it was time to get crafting. I open up my crafting window and proceed to churn out hundreds of arrow shafts. I noticed while making arrow shafts that my skill in Fletching was steadily increasing, as was the displayed success rate for making the shafts. But my success rate for bows wasn't changing at all. So as an experiment, I attempted to craft a few bows. Sure enough, this increased my Fletching skill as well as the chance I had for success at crafting that particular bow. Very interesting. This takes crafting specialization to a new level.
Checking an offline, player-made map, I saw that there was a cave nearby where copper could be acquired. So I jogged over there, found some colored lumps in the back of the cave and clicked on them to harvest copper ore.
Bags full, I jogged back to town, found the local forge and turned all of my copper ore into beautiful, shiny ingots. Now I just had to figure out how to turn those ingots into sharp, pointy arrowheads! I checked all the vendors, I asked in chat, I checked the boards, but everyone said it was available from the blacksmith. I looked at the blacksmith list half a dozen times and couldn't find the arrowhead recipe. Finally I saw it, buried deep in the extensive list of items on the blacksmith vendor. For some strange reason I had just assumed that the simpler recipes would be near the top.
So now I have arrow shafts, and I have arrow heads, but I'm still missing one component... feathers. I guess it's time to go hunting...
A couple of random interesting notes:
- Characters have a Sanity rating
- Characters also have an appearance rating that changes as you equip and unequip items
To Be Continued...
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Dawntide Beta Failure - 16 days and counting...
Still have yet to successfully login to the Dawntide beta, despite numerous attempts with more than one character over the past two weeks.
Friday, February 05, 2010
Beta Failure: Mortal Online and Dawntide
Both games severely disappointed me yesterday.
First off, Mortal Online had a new patch on Wednesday, but alas, despite trying a good dozen times throughout the day on Thursday, I was unable to ever connect to the patch server. Actually a fairly typical beta experience (though it shouldn't be for a game that claims it will be releasing within two weeks), but still frustrating nonetheless.
Dawntide failed on a more profound level. A friend got into the beta and had a couple of extra beta invites to hand out. So he assigned one to me, but I never received any email. If I try to connect to the beta/account management section of their website, it won't let me and instead asks for another login (which apparently I don't have. And when I click on the sign-me-up link, it just takes me to the beta application page!) So I now have two confirmation emails about my registration for beta (one from many months ago, one from yesterday), and I have a forum account, but my post on the forum about this issue has received no responses.
Rule #1 of Beta Tests - Make sure your beta testers can actually get into the game.
Rule #2 of Beta Tests - Make sure your beta testers can actually get into the game.
First off, Mortal Online had a new patch on Wednesday, but alas, despite trying a good dozen times throughout the day on Thursday, I was unable to ever connect to the patch server. Actually a fairly typical beta experience (though it shouldn't be for a game that claims it will be releasing within two weeks), but still frustrating nonetheless.
Dawntide failed on a more profound level. A friend got into the beta and had a couple of extra beta invites to hand out. So he assigned one to me, but I never received any email. If I try to connect to the beta/account management section of their website, it won't let me and instead asks for another login (which apparently I don't have. And when I click on the sign-me-up link, it just takes me to the beta application page!) So I now have two confirmation emails about my registration for beta (one from many months ago, one from yesterday), and I have a forum account, but my post on the forum about this issue has received no responses.
Rule #1 of Beta Tests - Make sure your beta testers can actually get into the game.
Rule #2 of Beta Tests - Make sure your beta testers can actually get into the game.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Mortal Online Open Beta: Day Two
Day Two was a bit less exciting than Day One. Again I was only able to spend less than an hour in-game.
I logged into my character who was still standing by a tree near a respawn point. Initial load was extremely laggy, as before. With a plan in mind to craft a bow, I set about whacking at the tree. To chop a tree you have to be in combat mode with your axe in hand. Then, when you interact with the tree, a chopping animation plays and some wood may or may not be added to your pack. I found the animation a little unsettling. Due to the fact that you're locked into 1st person mode, I began to get a little motion-sick watching it. It's also kind of strange to not receive a system message letting you know whether or not your action was successful. Occasionally, I'll see a success message when harvesting, but that is a rare occurrence rather than the norm.
Anyway, I acquired 20 units of wood (which I hoped would be sufficient) and looked around for a town. I had read on the forums that crafting required a crafting table, which could be found in-town (and makes it impossible to bootstrap yourself up in the wilderness). Spying an impressive looking wall nearby, I headed off. However, once I got there, the doors were closed and I was unable to interact with them. I saw that the wall continued onwards, so I followed, hoping to find an open door. But the next entrance was the same, as was the one after that. I tried just running through the door and found I could make it partially in; far enough to see that the inside looked pretty barren. OK then. I guess I was trying to get into a point of interest that hadn't been completed yet. But since there was a road alongside the castle/town, surely it would lead somewhere. After a few minutes of running along the road I came to the end of the wall, which ran into a very tall and impressive-looking tower on the shore of an expansive lake. The tower was also closed.
This wasn't going how I had expected, but with that lush body of water beckoning to me, how could I resist. A quick jump from the cliff and I'll be swimm... er.. wait... I'm still falling.. straight through the water surface until I land on the floor of the lake. Hmmm. Can I swim up? No. Can I swim at all? Apparently not, as my avatar begins trekking on foot across the bottom of the lake. Behind me are sheer cliffs that I cant climb. Ahead I think I see a slope in the distance. So I start running. And running. And running some more. Hmmm. that slope doesn't seem any closer. I look behind and see the cliff I had recently jumped from. And though it's clearly in the distance, it's also astoundingly tall from my point of view. Clearly my target was much farther off than I thought it was. Time for a change of plan. Let's hit the suicide button. I wait the required 60 seconds and them I'm dead. And in ghost-form but still at the bottom of a lake! Crud. OK. However, now I have the option of a "Nearest Shrine" button. Another 60 seconds and I respawn. This time in a town! Hooray!
However, my wood was now lying on the bottom of some nameless fake lake in some unknown location. A quick trip to the edge of town and I harvest some more wood. After an extended run about town I finally find a place with a bow crafting bench (most of the buildings have no distinguishing marks of any kind). Excellent! I open up the interface, select a bow type, drop some wood in the slot and presto! I have a bow (though again no messages about success, skill gain, etc). Yay me! So I equip my new bow and draw on the string, which creates a circular reticule that narrows the longer I hold it (allowing for more precise shots I would assume), but alas, I have no arrows. I return to the crafting bench, and all the ones near it, but none give any options for arrow-making. I check my skill list. No help there. I ask aloud if anyone knows how to make arrows There are 3 other players in the vicinity, but none of them respond.
At this point it was approaching 1am my time, so I logged out on the rooftop, ready to continue my search for ammunition next time around.
I logged into my character who was still standing by a tree near a respawn point. Initial load was extremely laggy, as before. With a plan in mind to craft a bow, I set about whacking at the tree. To chop a tree you have to be in combat mode with your axe in hand. Then, when you interact with the tree, a chopping animation plays and some wood may or may not be added to your pack. I found the animation a little unsettling. Due to the fact that you're locked into 1st person mode, I began to get a little motion-sick watching it. It's also kind of strange to not receive a system message letting you know whether or not your action was successful. Occasionally, I'll see a success message when harvesting, but that is a rare occurrence rather than the norm.
Anyway, I acquired 20 units of wood (which I hoped would be sufficient) and looked around for a town. I had read on the forums that crafting required a crafting table, which could be found in-town (and makes it impossible to bootstrap yourself up in the wilderness). Spying an impressive looking wall nearby, I headed off. However, once I got there, the doors were closed and I was unable to interact with them. I saw that the wall continued onwards, so I followed, hoping to find an open door. But the next entrance was the same, as was the one after that. I tried just running through the door and found I could make it partially in; far enough to see that the inside looked pretty barren. OK then. I guess I was trying to get into a point of interest that hadn't been completed yet. But since there was a road alongside the castle/town, surely it would lead somewhere. After a few minutes of running along the road I came to the end of the wall, which ran into a very tall and impressive-looking tower on the shore of an expansive lake. The tower was also closed.
This wasn't going how I had expected, but with that lush body of water beckoning to me, how could I resist. A quick jump from the cliff and I'll be swimm... er.. wait... I'm still falling.. straight through the water surface until I land on the floor of the lake. Hmmm. Can I swim up? No. Can I swim at all? Apparently not, as my avatar begins trekking on foot across the bottom of the lake. Behind me are sheer cliffs that I cant climb. Ahead I think I see a slope in the distance. So I start running. And running. And running some more. Hmmm. that slope doesn't seem any closer. I look behind and see the cliff I had recently jumped from. And though it's clearly in the distance, it's also astoundingly tall from my point of view. Clearly my target was much farther off than I thought it was. Time for a change of plan. Let's hit the suicide button. I wait the required 60 seconds and them I'm dead. And in ghost-form but still at the bottom of a lake! Crud. OK. However, now I have the option of a "Nearest Shrine" button. Another 60 seconds and I respawn. This time in a town! Hooray!
However, my wood was now lying on the bottom of some nameless fake lake in some unknown location. A quick trip to the edge of town and I harvest some more wood. After an extended run about town I finally find a place with a bow crafting bench (most of the buildings have no distinguishing marks of any kind). Excellent! I open up the interface, select a bow type, drop some wood in the slot and presto! I have a bow (though again no messages about success, skill gain, etc). Yay me! So I equip my new bow and draw on the string, which creates a circular reticule that narrows the longer I hold it (allowing for more precise shots I would assume), but alas, I have no arrows. I return to the crafting bench, and all the ones near it, but none give any options for arrow-making. I check my skill list. No help there. I ask aloud if anyone knows how to make arrows There are 3 other players in the vicinity, but none of them respond.
At this point it was approaching 1am my time, so I logged out on the rooftop, ready to continue my search for ammunition next time around.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Dragon Age: Origins - Impressions
This writeup was originally titled First Impressions, but I've ended up playing much longer than I had planned on before posting this, so First Impressions no longer applies. I would call it a Review, but I feel like that term would be a disservice unless I had finished the game or played through a significant portion as well as experienced the content with different starting characters. But, I've done neither, instead spending my time as a Dwarven Warrior, stumbling around the countryside, looking for trouble.
VOICE ACTING AND CHARACTERIZATION
Once you start playing the game, it quickly becomes obvious that this game is driven by it's story and voice acting. Every single conversation you have is completely voice-acted (though oddly enough, your character never utters a word aloud during these talks, making him/her seem like a semi-creepy mute). On top of the main storyline voices, when back at your camp, you can choose to engage any of your party members (you can gather various party members in your travels, each with their own unique personality and interests) in a personal dialogue. These can vary based on previous actions, how the party member currently feels about you, and even items in your inventory! There have been a number of times throughout the game where I felt like I was watching a movie as a certain portion of dialogue played out.
It is not unusual for your party to have conversations amongst themselves while you're wandering around. And oftentimes, one or more of your party members will chime in during a dialog scene, giving their own comments and opinions on the matter. This is really well done and helps sell the world. The characters come to life at every turn, even without your direct input.
COMBAT
Getting used to the combat system took me a while. It is a fairly typical setup, with an overhead view and an action bar full of ability icons, but this game adds a few wrinkles. At any given point you can pause the action and issue new orders to your teammates. You can also give them predefined actions based on certain criteria via a tactics system. For example, If being attacked by melee -> use block skill.
It's a very interesting system. And once you dig into it, you can actually set up some fairly complex AI for your party members. Unfortunately, the limited number of tactic slots really hurts. I often found that I was barely able to give them some basic orders and tell them to try and use a healing potion when near death. It would be nice to have a couple of extra base tactics slots for each character, especially given the number of abilities and stances that are available. Even purchasing extra slots at every opportunity, it still was never enough.
Feeling fairly confident in my brain vs computer abilities, I decided to play the game on the Hard difficulty setting. I do feel challenged quite often, and some Boss fights can be particularly rough, but once I clued in to the healer necessity (see below), things got a lot easier, though it's still no pushover.
I do have to say that I am pretty unhappy with the over-reliance on healing in Dragon Age. Healing potions barely cover it and are an easy way to go bankrupt. Even my dedicated tank character, using all of his stamina-draining defensive stances, gets easily mauled. It's virtually required that you either pick up the healing-oriented party member early on, or you spec one of your other characters into the healing tree. Even if you make maximum use of your stuns and such, there is still way too much damage being slung about for any party to survive the onslaught.
Dying during battle has no long-term effect. Instead (assuming that your party wins), all characters that were depleted completely of HP during the battle get back up, though each will now have an injury that reduces their effectiveness in some way. However, injuries can be instantly removed with application of an injury kit. So this effect never really plays a part in the game unless you forget to use your kits. I found that I was much more likely to either win the battle outright, or fail completely, forcing a reload.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS
Travel between sites is done in a simulated manner, with the player choosing where to go from a world map, and then watching a little blood-stained trail plod across the map, occasionally stopping for a random or scripted encounter. Once you reach a designated stopping point, there are usually a couple of zones there, one with friendly NPCs who serve as merchants and quest-givers, the rest for the local storyline events and for some random monster-bashing. The zones are pretty rigid, though they all have side quests and points of interest to be found if you go poking around enough.
I loved being able to complete the 'go kill these guys' quests without being required to have the quest beforehand (something that was promised in one of the infamous Warhammer Online promotional videos from Paul Barnett, but which was never delivered in-game).
I wish the talent trees were actually trees, giving you more branching choices rather than a bunch of linear ones.
When shopping with a vendor NPC, a handy-dandy popup window shows up when you mouseover an equipment item, allowing you to compare its stats to what you are currently wearing. Unfortunately, you are unable to compare items to anything any of my party members are using, which makes it a bit difficult to efficiently shop for your party members.
I found that there wasn't enough hotbar space to include all of a character's abilities.
I've had few instances of terrain trouble where a character would get stuck and not move unless I took control of them manually, and I've also had enemies hop up on benches where one or two members of my party would refuse to attack them
Sometimes story choices vanish for no apparent reason; sometimes you're offered dialogue choices that don't actually reflect what has happened previously (for example, one conversation choice I had at one point was 'So only one person can go through', but before this choice popped up, I had no idea that my progress in this particular quest would be limited to one person. That was revealed in another dialog tidbit that I hadn't yet accessed!)
FUTURE
It looks as if DLC will be a big part of this game, with no less than four downloadable options available right from the start (based on your purchase), plus several more available for completing certain parts of their browser-based game, Dragon Age Journeys. And on top of that, even though the game has been out for only two months, they've already released their next purchasable content for the game and have another expansion coming right behind it! They obviously plan on milking this for as much as they can. But if you're one of those players who gets a new game and rapidly burns through all the content, this might be good news!
And as with most games of this time, you can always turn to the mod community to find new and/or altered game content.
OVERVIEW
To be honest, Dragon Age: Origin was a little different from what I had envisioned. I was expecting a more open world like the Morrowind series. But Dragon Age is much more of a rail-driven game. Sure you can choose what order you visit the cities in, but visit them you will. And you will also solve many of their problems, one way or another. You can't really just go off an do whatever you want to for extended periods of time.
But despite my complaints and nit-pick, the story, characters and just plain 'fun-factor' are excellent. Overall, a very entertaining game.
VOICE ACTING AND CHARACTERIZATION
Once you start playing the game, it quickly becomes obvious that this game is driven by it's story and voice acting. Every single conversation you have is completely voice-acted (though oddly enough, your character never utters a word aloud during these talks, making him/her seem like a semi-creepy mute). On top of the main storyline voices, when back at your camp, you can choose to engage any of your party members (you can gather various party members in your travels, each with their own unique personality and interests) in a personal dialogue. These can vary based on previous actions, how the party member currently feels about you, and even items in your inventory! There have been a number of times throughout the game where I felt like I was watching a movie as a certain portion of dialogue played out.
It is not unusual for your party to have conversations amongst themselves while you're wandering around. And oftentimes, one or more of your party members will chime in during a dialog scene, giving their own comments and opinions on the matter. This is really well done and helps sell the world. The characters come to life at every turn, even without your direct input.
COMBAT
Getting used to the combat system took me a while. It is a fairly typical setup, with an overhead view and an action bar full of ability icons, but this game adds a few wrinkles. At any given point you can pause the action and issue new orders to your teammates. You can also give them predefined actions based on certain criteria via a tactics system. For example, If being attacked by melee -> use block skill.
It's a very interesting system. And once you dig into it, you can actually set up some fairly complex AI for your party members. Unfortunately, the limited number of tactic slots really hurts. I often found that I was barely able to give them some basic orders and tell them to try and use a healing potion when near death. It would be nice to have a couple of extra base tactics slots for each character, especially given the number of abilities and stances that are available. Even purchasing extra slots at every opportunity, it still was never enough.
Feeling fairly confident in my brain vs computer abilities, I decided to play the game on the Hard difficulty setting. I do feel challenged quite often, and some Boss fights can be particularly rough, but once I clued in to the healer necessity (see below), things got a lot easier, though it's still no pushover.
I do have to say that I am pretty unhappy with the over-reliance on healing in Dragon Age. Healing potions barely cover it and are an easy way to go bankrupt. Even my dedicated tank character, using all of his stamina-draining defensive stances, gets easily mauled. It's virtually required that you either pick up the healing-oriented party member early on, or you spec one of your other characters into the healing tree. Even if you make maximum use of your stuns and such, there is still way too much damage being slung about for any party to survive the onslaught.
Dying during battle has no long-term effect. Instead (assuming that your party wins), all characters that were depleted completely of HP during the battle get back up, though each will now have an injury that reduces their effectiveness in some way. However, injuries can be instantly removed with application of an injury kit. So this effect never really plays a part in the game unless you forget to use your kits. I found that I was much more likely to either win the battle outright, or fail completely, forcing a reload.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS
Travel between sites is done in a simulated manner, with the player choosing where to go from a world map, and then watching a little blood-stained trail plod across the map, occasionally stopping for a random or scripted encounter. Once you reach a designated stopping point, there are usually a couple of zones there, one with friendly NPCs who serve as merchants and quest-givers, the rest for the local storyline events and for some random monster-bashing. The zones are pretty rigid, though they all have side quests and points of interest to be found if you go poking around enough.
I loved being able to complete the 'go kill these guys' quests without being required to have the quest beforehand (something that was promised in one of the infamous Warhammer Online promotional videos from Paul Barnett, but which was never delivered in-game).
I wish the talent trees were actually trees, giving you more branching choices rather than a bunch of linear ones.
When shopping with a vendor NPC, a handy-dandy popup window shows up when you mouseover an equipment item, allowing you to compare its stats to what you are currently wearing. Unfortunately, you are unable to compare items to anything any of my party members are using, which makes it a bit difficult to efficiently shop for your party members.
I found that there wasn't enough hotbar space to include all of a character's abilities.
I've had few instances of terrain trouble where a character would get stuck and not move unless I took control of them manually, and I've also had enemies hop up on benches where one or two members of my party would refuse to attack them
Sometimes story choices vanish for no apparent reason; sometimes you're offered dialogue choices that don't actually reflect what has happened previously (for example, one conversation choice I had at one point was 'So only one person can go through', but before this choice popped up, I had no idea that my progress in this particular quest would be limited to one person. That was revealed in another dialog tidbit that I hadn't yet accessed!)
FUTURE
It looks as if DLC will be a big part of this game, with no less than four downloadable options available right from the start (based on your purchase), plus several more available for completing certain parts of their browser-based game, Dragon Age Journeys. And on top of that, even though the game has been out for only two months, they've already released their next purchasable content for the game and have another expansion coming right behind it! They obviously plan on milking this for as much as they can. But if you're one of those players who gets a new game and rapidly burns through all the content, this might be good news!
And as with most games of this time, you can always turn to the mod community to find new and/or altered game content.
OVERVIEW
To be honest, Dragon Age: Origin was a little different from what I had envisioned. I was expecting a more open world like the Morrowind series. But Dragon Age is much more of a rail-driven game. Sure you can choose what order you visit the cities in, but visit them you will. And you will also solve many of their problems, one way or another. You can't really just go off an do whatever you want to for extended periods of time.
But despite my complaints and nit-pick, the story, characters and just plain 'fun-factor' are excellent. Overall, a very entertaining game.
Mortal Online Open Beta: Day One
So the Open Beta for Mortal Online began yesterday. The client was available via torrent, but it seems today they simply have a direct download link.
Anyway, I had no technical issues with my setup. The download worked fine the first time around, installation was simply extracting the files from the zip, the updater ran, showed me the most recent patch notes and downloaded everything successfully (though there was a significant pause before the download actually started).
When I first tried to login at about 11pm PST last night, the servers were down. I checked back about an hour later and they were up, so I tried again, go in, and was soon making my first character.
The rough edges were immediately apparent. There were no mouseovers telling me what all the stats I could edit were for, there was no info about what differences there were between the races. I ended up just kind of speeding through the process, eager to see the world first-hand.
Waking up in the game world proved to be a laggy affair. My hard drive was given a thorough beating as the scenery and textures slowly popped into place. So the first thing I did was go and turn all the graphics options to the lowest settings. Some took effect immediately (such as turning off shadows), but something else I did (not sure what) said a client restart was required. But I was impatient, and once the trees had finished loading, the client seemed much more responsive.
There I was, in front of a nondescript wall in a forest with a bunch of other similar looking players, all with our starter axes. Of course, it was only moments before one of them came at me with murderous intentions. Luckily, being in combat stance causes you to move slower, so I was able to get some distance and give myself time to figure out how to wield my own axe! Once that was done, it was back into the fray! A few awkward blows were swung (combat feels very clunky), a few hits made, but no deaths that I saw. Quickly tiring of this, I instead turned my axe on some nearby trees, acquiring some wood. I noticed a small deer grazing nearby, so I decided to try my axe-wielding skills on the local fauna. But as I approached, the deer ran! It stopped a short distance off, so I tried again, and the same thing happened (though I did manage to get in one swing first)! It was a very cool moment to realize that this creature had some sense of self-preservation, and that I would probably need a bow to kill it.
Giving up on the slaughter for the moment, I scrolled through the very strange and confusing skill tree interface, trying to figure out if I had any crafting skills and how to use them. Alas, that quest was unsuccessful, but I did discover a Snooping skill! So off I went towards the nearest player who wasn't swinging their axe at me. Success! I could see in his pack, and it looked just like mine, empty except for a bit of lumber. Obviously this player either got some warning message about my actions (or he was just paranoid from all the axe-wielding maniacs in the vicinity), because he spun around and took a swing at my head. Departing the area quickly, I decided to just snoop as I was passing others, rather than standing around waiting for them to get angry. It was a mixed bag of failure and success, but it was interesting to notice how cautious everyone was. Noone attempted to run through you if they saw you coming and most people seemed to give other players a wide berth!
A short run down a nearby road and I found myself in a town. It had a number of buildings and seemed to be a decent size, but it felt oddly empty. The buildings were just lifeless husks, and all of the NPCs seemed to be gathered in a central market area, standing about in random spots (at least I saw no pattern in their placement). I checked a few of them, and all of the ones I saw seemed to be selling raw materials. Seeing some other players around, I again tried my hand at Snooping. Unfortunately, one of the players called for the guards, and I was quickly slain.
Now this was something new (in an old-school sort of way). Rather than being transported somewhere after death, I instead became a ghost. I couldn't see the nearby players or NPCs any longer, and the scenery gained a sort of washed out and smeared effect. I checked the in-game help to see how I could return to a more fleshy state, and found that I was supposed to look for the 'white lines' which would tell me where the priests were. I looked around and saw a number of white pillars of light extending into the sky. The brightness was supposed to tell you how close they were, but with the Death effect making everything blurry, it was difficult to get a good read on the markers. I made a brief stab and tracking what I thought was the brightest one, but when I climbed up to a second story and it appeared to be beyond a line of hills, I gave up and used the beta suicide option, which transported me to the closest priest. I expect that experience will help in the future when trying to locate a priest for resurrection, but they really should try and make it a bit clearer.
Once I was back in the land of the living, I made sure that I still had my newbie axe, and went to sleep next to a nearby tree. I was going to try and create another character before calling it a night, but the game crashed when I logged out.
====
In this short adventure, I could tell that the game is very unpolished and unfriendly to new players. There seems to be a severe lack of feedback given. A number of times I would try chopping a tree and receive no message about success or failure. My Snooping attempts never told me that I was being flagged as a criminal (which I assume is why I was guard-whacked in town). When first starting the game you're given a list of starting areas to choose from, but no information at all about what the differences between them might be. Melee combat is extremely crude. Supposedly they have a major combat patch on the way, but until it's implemented, I can only comment on what's actually in-game.
Despite all of this, I did feel engaged and I'm eager for another chance to dive into Mortal Online. Hopefully I'll be able to allot some more playtime this week and get a better idea of how the game works and what it's all about.
My next goals are to craft something and to learn a new skill! Oh, and maybe kill someone!
Anyway, I had no technical issues with my setup. The download worked fine the first time around, installation was simply extracting the files from the zip, the updater ran, showed me the most recent patch notes and downloaded everything successfully (though there was a significant pause before the download actually started).
When I first tried to login at about 11pm PST last night, the servers were down. I checked back about an hour later and they were up, so I tried again, go in, and was soon making my first character.
The rough edges were immediately apparent. There were no mouseovers telling me what all the stats I could edit were for, there was no info about what differences there were between the races. I ended up just kind of speeding through the process, eager to see the world first-hand.
Waking up in the game world proved to be a laggy affair. My hard drive was given a thorough beating as the scenery and textures slowly popped into place. So the first thing I did was go and turn all the graphics options to the lowest settings. Some took effect immediately (such as turning off shadows), but something else I did (not sure what) said a client restart was required. But I was impatient, and once the trees had finished loading, the client seemed much more responsive.
There I was, in front of a nondescript wall in a forest with a bunch of other similar looking players, all with our starter axes. Of course, it was only moments before one of them came at me with murderous intentions. Luckily, being in combat stance causes you to move slower, so I was able to get some distance and give myself time to figure out how to wield my own axe! Once that was done, it was back into the fray! A few awkward blows were swung (combat feels very clunky), a few hits made, but no deaths that I saw. Quickly tiring of this, I instead turned my axe on some nearby trees, acquiring some wood. I noticed a small deer grazing nearby, so I decided to try my axe-wielding skills on the local fauna. But as I approached, the deer ran! It stopped a short distance off, so I tried again, and the same thing happened (though I did manage to get in one swing first)! It was a very cool moment to realize that this creature had some sense of self-preservation, and that I would probably need a bow to kill it.
Giving up on the slaughter for the moment, I scrolled through the very strange and confusing skill tree interface, trying to figure out if I had any crafting skills and how to use them. Alas, that quest was unsuccessful, but I did discover a Snooping skill! So off I went towards the nearest player who wasn't swinging their axe at me. Success! I could see in his pack, and it looked just like mine, empty except for a bit of lumber. Obviously this player either got some warning message about my actions (or he was just paranoid from all the axe-wielding maniacs in the vicinity), because he spun around and took a swing at my head. Departing the area quickly, I decided to just snoop as I was passing others, rather than standing around waiting for them to get angry. It was a mixed bag of failure and success, but it was interesting to notice how cautious everyone was. Noone attempted to run through you if they saw you coming and most people seemed to give other players a wide berth!
A short run down a nearby road and I found myself in a town. It had a number of buildings and seemed to be a decent size, but it felt oddly empty. The buildings were just lifeless husks, and all of the NPCs seemed to be gathered in a central market area, standing about in random spots (at least I saw no pattern in their placement). I checked a few of them, and all of the ones I saw seemed to be selling raw materials. Seeing some other players around, I again tried my hand at Snooping. Unfortunately, one of the players called for the guards, and I was quickly slain.
Now this was something new (in an old-school sort of way). Rather than being transported somewhere after death, I instead became a ghost. I couldn't see the nearby players or NPCs any longer, and the scenery gained a sort of washed out and smeared effect. I checked the in-game help to see how I could return to a more fleshy state, and found that I was supposed to look for the 'white lines' which would tell me where the priests were. I looked around and saw a number of white pillars of light extending into the sky. The brightness was supposed to tell you how close they were, but with the Death effect making everything blurry, it was difficult to get a good read on the markers. I made a brief stab and tracking what I thought was the brightest one, but when I climbed up to a second story and it appeared to be beyond a line of hills, I gave up and used the beta suicide option, which transported me to the closest priest. I expect that experience will help in the future when trying to locate a priest for resurrection, but they really should try and make it a bit clearer.
Once I was back in the land of the living, I made sure that I still had my newbie axe, and went to sleep next to a nearby tree. I was going to try and create another character before calling it a night, but the game crashed when I logged out.
====
In this short adventure, I could tell that the game is very unpolished and unfriendly to new players. There seems to be a severe lack of feedback given. A number of times I would try chopping a tree and receive no message about success or failure. My Snooping attempts never told me that I was being flagged as a criminal (which I assume is why I was guard-whacked in town). When first starting the game you're given a list of starting areas to choose from, but no information at all about what the differences between them might be. Melee combat is extremely crude. Supposedly they have a major combat patch on the way, but until it's implemented, I can only comment on what's actually in-game.
Despite all of this, I did feel engaged and I'm eager for another chance to dive into Mortal Online. Hopefully I'll be able to allot some more playtime this week and get a better idea of how the game works and what it's all about.
My next goals are to craft something and to learn a new skill! Oh, and maybe kill someone!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Clomp! League : Season Three, Day One
After what seemed an overly long hiatus (to bloodthirsty orcs anyway), Season Three of the Clomp! Cup was organized and ready to rumble. The Greenskins of Azh's Bashas gnashed their teeth in anticipation of the first day's match against the opposing Orc team, the Zerkr'z.
A bit worried about facing off against the veteran Bashas team, the Zerkr'z opted to hire a Star Player by the name of Varag Goul-Chewer for this match. His presence would be notable in the game, but perhaps not as expected.
First Half:
The Bashas receive the opening kickoff deep in their own half of the field. Gugfak, Thrower for the Bashas team, rolls to the right with excellent protection. The two front lines of the Greenskin teams collide. Goul-Chewer grabs hold of Galnak on the Bashas team, but the wily Black Orc is no rookie, and with a decisive move, hurls Varag to the ground. With Goul-Chewer down, and another Zerkr'z Black Orc KOed, Gugfak has plenty of room to step forward and deliver a short pass to Badhag, who streaks down the field, scoring the opening touchdown of the game!
On the ensuing kickoff, Earguff KOs another Zerkr'z Black Orc, opening the way for Badhag, with the assistance of the little Goblin Itsham, to fly into the backfield, delivering a punishing blow to the Zerkr'z Thrower that removes him from the game. With the ball on the ground and the Zerkr'z players out of position, it's an easy scoop and score for Marfak, another Bashas Blitzer.
As the ball again sails through the air on a kickoff, one enraged Zerkr'z fan hurls a large, pointy rock at Varag Goul-Chewer, catching the mercenary in the side of the head. Stunned, Varag falls to the ground, his noggin colliding with the turf in unison with the squigskin. Bereft of their only Thrower, The Zerkr'z try to draft their Blizter Galth into action as a passer. But his skills in that area prove to be inept, and the pass flies errant, landing amidst the Bashas team, lacking only the pretty bow that would clearly mark it as a gift! Gugfak grabs the ball, and in a play reminiscent of the first score of the game, makes a short pass to Badhag who rumbles down the right sideline unopposed. Finally recovering from his head injury, Varag Goul-Chewer hops up from the ground and makes a desperate dash across the field. But Badhag nimbly dodges, keeping his feet inbounds along the edge of the field as he dashes into the endzone for his second score of the game, taking the Basahs into halftime with a 3-0 lead!
Second Half:
The Zerkr'z receive the ball to start the second half. Varag, embarrassed by his performance in the first half, takes his anger out on Itsham, stunning the gobo with a heavy blow. Galth, still trying to fill in as the Zerkr'z Thrower, muffs the pickup, allowing the Bashas to break the lines before the play had even really begun. But the Zerkr'z recover quickly, and in a surprise trick play, Galth sprints past the ball, leaving it on the turf for Lineman Moklor to pick up who then makes a toss to Galth who had continued running upfield. Galth handoffs to Marfak (on the Zerkr'z team. Greenskins aren't known for being especially original with names), who sprints for the endzone. But Itsham latches on to one leg, slowing the ball-carrier down just enough for Gorfang to move up and lay the Zerkr'z Blitzer out. The Goblin grabs the ball, carrying it in the other direction with several teammates providing a defensive screen. Gugfak retreats from the line of scrimmage and takes the ball from the Itsham before running to the far side of the field and scanning downfield for a potential receiver. Meanwhile, far away from the rest of the action, Varag Goug'Liver, a Black Orc on the Bashas team known for being especially vicious, delivers a bone-crunching elbow to the face of Moklor, sending the Zerkr'z Lineman to the locker room with a broken jaw. Gugfak continues moving, crossing midfield before Galth (on the Bashas team) breaks free from the pack. Another quick, accurate pass lands in the receiver's hands, and Galth sprints down the field, angling away from both teams and trotting into the endzone as the playclock expires.
Final Score: Azh's Bashas 4, Zerkr'z 0
A bit worried about facing off against the veteran Bashas team, the Zerkr'z opted to hire a Star Player by the name of Varag Goul-Chewer for this match. His presence would be notable in the game, but perhaps not as expected.
First Half:
The Bashas receive the opening kickoff deep in their own half of the field. Gugfak, Thrower for the Bashas team, rolls to the right with excellent protection. The two front lines of the Greenskin teams collide. Goul-Chewer grabs hold of Galnak on the Bashas team, but the wily Black Orc is no rookie, and with a decisive move, hurls Varag to the ground. With Goul-Chewer down, and another Zerkr'z Black Orc KOed, Gugfak has plenty of room to step forward and deliver a short pass to Badhag, who streaks down the field, scoring the opening touchdown of the game!
On the ensuing kickoff, Earguff KOs another Zerkr'z Black Orc, opening the way for Badhag, with the assistance of the little Goblin Itsham, to fly into the backfield, delivering a punishing blow to the Zerkr'z Thrower that removes him from the game. With the ball on the ground and the Zerkr'z players out of position, it's an easy scoop and score for Marfak, another Bashas Blitzer.
As the ball again sails through the air on a kickoff, one enraged Zerkr'z fan hurls a large, pointy rock at Varag Goul-Chewer, catching the mercenary in the side of the head. Stunned, Varag falls to the ground, his noggin colliding with the turf in unison with the squigskin. Bereft of their only Thrower, The Zerkr'z try to draft their Blizter Galth into action as a passer. But his skills in that area prove to be inept, and the pass flies errant, landing amidst the Bashas team, lacking only the pretty bow that would clearly mark it as a gift! Gugfak grabs the ball, and in a play reminiscent of the first score of the game, makes a short pass to Badhag who rumbles down the right sideline unopposed. Finally recovering from his head injury, Varag Goul-Chewer hops up from the ground and makes a desperate dash across the field. But Badhag nimbly dodges, keeping his feet inbounds along the edge of the field as he dashes into the endzone for his second score of the game, taking the Basahs into halftime with a 3-0 lead!
Second Half:
The Zerkr'z receive the ball to start the second half. Varag, embarrassed by his performance in the first half, takes his anger out on Itsham, stunning the gobo with a heavy blow. Galth, still trying to fill in as the Zerkr'z Thrower, muffs the pickup, allowing the Bashas to break the lines before the play had even really begun. But the Zerkr'z recover quickly, and in a surprise trick play, Galth sprints past the ball, leaving it on the turf for Lineman Moklor to pick up who then makes a toss to Galth who had continued running upfield. Galth handoffs to Marfak (on the Zerkr'z team. Greenskins aren't known for being especially original with names), who sprints for the endzone. But Itsham latches on to one leg, slowing the ball-carrier down just enough for Gorfang to move up and lay the Zerkr'z Blitzer out. The Goblin grabs the ball, carrying it in the other direction with several teammates providing a defensive screen. Gugfak retreats from the line of scrimmage and takes the ball from the Itsham before running to the far side of the field and scanning downfield for a potential receiver. Meanwhile, far away from the rest of the action, Varag Goug'Liver, a Black Orc on the Bashas team known for being especially vicious, delivers a bone-crunching elbow to the face of Moklor, sending the Zerkr'z Lineman to the locker room with a broken jaw. Gugfak continues moving, crossing midfield before Galth (on the Bashas team) breaks free from the pack. Another quick, accurate pass lands in the receiver's hands, and Galth sprints down the field, angling away from both teams and trotting into the endzone as the playclock expires.
Final Score: Azh's Bashas 4, Zerkr'z 0
Clomp! League: Season Three, Intro
And Season Three of the Clomp! Cup is off and running! After the trouble encountered last season where a number of teams went MIA, it was decided that Season Three would be limited to veteran coaches who had already proven their reliability. This season will also be the first to use the newly implemented playoff feature for multiplayer tournaments.
Many teams from Season Two returned for another shot at the title, but there are also several new contestants, including the first Dark Elf team to accept the challenge of competing in the Clomp! Cup. Total number of teams competing: 14.
Returning Teams:
The Dance of Death (Chaos) (Champions of Season Two)
Blood Fang Boyz (Orc) (Champions of Season One)
Azh's Bashas (Orc)
The Altdorf Avengers (Human)
Bufo Draconis (Lizardmen)
Tree Rats (Wood Elf)
Zerkr'z (Orc)
Nurgle's Pathogens (Chaos)
New Teams:
Khornate Kilers (Chaos)
East Eden Sins (Lizardmen)
Ithrond Ironstars (Dark Elf)
Odin's Hammer (Dwarf)
Plaguerunnaz (Skaven)
Chaos 101 (Chaos)
Read the full post to see links to the individual match summaries for Azh's Bashas.
Full details about this season (so far) can be found on the Shadowclan wiki.
Links to recaps of completed matches for Azh's Bashas will be added here as they occur.
Day One - Zerkr'z
Many teams from Season Two returned for another shot at the title, but there are also several new contestants, including the first Dark Elf team to accept the challenge of competing in the Clomp! Cup. Total number of teams competing: 14.
Returning Teams:
The Dance of Death (Chaos) (Champions of Season Two)
Blood Fang Boyz (Orc) (Champions of Season One)
Azh's Bashas (Orc)
The Altdorf Avengers (Human)
Bufo Draconis (Lizardmen)
Tree Rats (Wood Elf)
Zerkr'z (Orc)
Nurgle's Pathogens (Chaos)
New Teams:
Khornate Kilers (Chaos)
East Eden Sins (Lizardmen)
Ithrond Ironstars (Dark Elf)
Odin's Hammer (Dwarf)
Plaguerunnaz (Skaven)
Chaos 101 (Chaos)
Read the full post to see links to the individual match summaries for Azh's Bashas.
Full details about this season (so far) can be found on the Shadowclan wiki.
Links to recaps of completed matches for Azh's Bashas will be added here as they occur.
Day One - Zerkr'z
Friday, January 08, 2010
Clomp! League : Season Two, Day Nine
The Day 8 match against the Dwarven team, Ground Round, was resolved 1-0 in favor of Azh's Bashas due to a no-show by the Dwarves.
On the final day of the second season of he Clomp! Cup Tournament, Azh's Bashas, in the running for one of the top two spots in the division, square off against the equally tough Altdorf Avengers and one of the most violent players in the league, Borgrut Lucky.
First Half:
The Avengers receive a short kick that drops just over the midfield line on the left side of offense. Dunkel Huppert, lone man in the backfield, easily trots over and picks it up, making a short forward shuffle pass to receiver Arne Filibert who cuts back across the field and streaks up the right sideline. But Marfak, one of the Bashas Blizters, is in the area and knocks the ball loose. A series of blocks from his teammates sends most of the nearby Avengers to the ground, but Marfak fails to pickup the ball, watching in shoot out of bounds where the fans throw it back to the middle of the field near the Bashas goal. Both teams break from the scrum on the sidelines to form a new one around the ball. Riknast takes the ball, but Filibert and Dieter Geet, the two muscle-bound Catchers for the Avengers, slip their blocks and harass the Blitzer, tripping him up as he tries to push past and move downfield. A timely strike by Borgrut, the Avengers star Ogre, sends one of the Black Orcs out of the game with a broken jaw, clearing room in the middle of the field for extra support to stream in. Marfak briefly emerges from the melee, squigskin in hand, But Borgrut meets him head on, sending both the Blitzer and the ball to the turf. Earguff delivers a retaliatory blow to the Ogre, but despite the ferocity of the attack, the beast's Thick Skull turns what would have been a damaging attack into nothing more than a bad headache for the brute. Bloodlust gets the better of both teams, and half ends with several more brutal knockdowns and a 0-0 tie score.
Second Half:
The opening of the second half sees the first appearance in the game of Gugfak, Bashas Thrower, and Itsham the Goblin. Dodging a heavy blitz from the Avengers, Gugfak tosses the ball to Galth near the midfield line. Marfak, running interference along the same sideline, smashes the collarbone of the lone defender, clearing a wide open path for Galth who rumbles into the endzone for the first score of the game!
Dunkel Hupert receives the kickoff, moving up in the pocket behind his line while the two star Catchers streak downfield. The Bashas converge on both knocking Dieter Geet to the ground. But Arne Filibert slips away from a tackler and catches a perfectly thrown strike in the endzone to tie up the game.
On the ensuing possession change, Gugfak, again avoiding an Avenger blitz, makes a short pass to Itsham at midfield. Itsham slips to the right side, moving up between two orcs for protection. But along the way, he lashes out with a quick boot to the head of a prone Arne Filibert, giving the receiver a concussion and sending him off the field. But the Avengers are not caught as out of position as before. Borgrut KOs Gramnast Jr, making room for another Avenger to pound the little Goblin into the ground. Both teams struggle for possession of the ball, but amidst the flailing limbs and spiked armor, controlling the squigskin proves to be a difficult task, and neither side comes close to scoring again as time winds down, ending the game in a tie, with one score apiece!
Final Score: Azh's Bashas 1, The Altdorf Avengers 1
Final Results: Azh's Bashas finished 3rd in their division, and did not earn a berth in the Divisional Championship game. Season Two of the Clomp! Cup was won by a Chaos team from Division One, The Dance of Death.
On the final day of the second season of he Clomp! Cup Tournament, Azh's Bashas, in the running for one of the top two spots in the division, square off against the equally tough Altdorf Avengers and one of the most violent players in the league, Borgrut Lucky.
First Half:
The Avengers receive a short kick that drops just over the midfield line on the left side of offense. Dunkel Huppert, lone man in the backfield, easily trots over and picks it up, making a short forward shuffle pass to receiver Arne Filibert who cuts back across the field and streaks up the right sideline. But Marfak, one of the Bashas Blizters, is in the area and knocks the ball loose. A series of blocks from his teammates sends most of the nearby Avengers to the ground, but Marfak fails to pickup the ball, watching in shoot out of bounds where the fans throw it back to the middle of the field near the Bashas goal. Both teams break from the scrum on the sidelines to form a new one around the ball. Riknast takes the ball, but Filibert and Dieter Geet, the two muscle-bound Catchers for the Avengers, slip their blocks and harass the Blitzer, tripping him up as he tries to push past and move downfield. A timely strike by Borgrut, the Avengers star Ogre, sends one of the Black Orcs out of the game with a broken jaw, clearing room in the middle of the field for extra support to stream in. Marfak briefly emerges from the melee, squigskin in hand, But Borgrut meets him head on, sending both the Blitzer and the ball to the turf. Earguff delivers a retaliatory blow to the Ogre, but despite the ferocity of the attack, the beast's Thick Skull turns what would have been a damaging attack into nothing more than a bad headache for the brute. Bloodlust gets the better of both teams, and half ends with several more brutal knockdowns and a 0-0 tie score.
Second Half:
The opening of the second half sees the first appearance in the game of Gugfak, Bashas Thrower, and Itsham the Goblin. Dodging a heavy blitz from the Avengers, Gugfak tosses the ball to Galth near the midfield line. Marfak, running interference along the same sideline, smashes the collarbone of the lone defender, clearing a wide open path for Galth who rumbles into the endzone for the first score of the game!
Dunkel Hupert receives the kickoff, moving up in the pocket behind his line while the two star Catchers streak downfield. The Bashas converge on both knocking Dieter Geet to the ground. But Arne Filibert slips away from a tackler and catches a perfectly thrown strike in the endzone to tie up the game.
On the ensuing possession change, Gugfak, again avoiding an Avenger blitz, makes a short pass to Itsham at midfield. Itsham slips to the right side, moving up between two orcs for protection. But along the way, he lashes out with a quick boot to the head of a prone Arne Filibert, giving the receiver a concussion and sending him off the field. But the Avengers are not caught as out of position as before. Borgrut KOs Gramnast Jr, making room for another Avenger to pound the little Goblin into the ground. Both teams struggle for possession of the ball, but amidst the flailing limbs and spiked armor, controlling the squigskin proves to be a difficult task, and neither side comes close to scoring again as time winds down, ending the game in a tie, with one score apiece!
Final Score: Azh's Bashas 1, The Altdorf Avengers 1
Final Results: Azh's Bashas finished 3rd in their division, and did not earn a berth in the Divisional Championship game. Season Two of the Clomp! Cup was won by a Chaos team from Division One, The Dance of Death.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Clomp! League : Season Two, Day Seven
As evening closed in on day seven of season two of the Clomp! tournament, crowds gathered in the stadium for what had been dubbed 'The Greenskin Bowl', as the two mighty orc teams of Division Two, Azh's Bashas and the Blood Fang Boyz, squared off for what was expected to be a brutal, dirty game. In other words, a perfect Blood Bowl match!
First Half:
Start of the game saw the opening kickoff going to the Blood Fang Boyz, but as the ball hits the ground, Spinesnapper from the Boyz, and Earguff from the Bashas meet in a tangle of gangly limbs and tusks. Both Trolls hit the ground, Spinesnapper landing face-first and breaking his jaw. But the Boyz Apothecary quickly applies a crude splint, getting the Troll ready to return to the game as soon as possible.
Grimskar, star Thrower for the Boyz fields the ball and advances up left side of field. Amid grunts and the dull thuds of green flesh colliding, the two teams slam together at midfield. Badhag jars the ball loose from Grimskar, Gazgul knocks down Badhag. ball slips from his hands. Blitzers from both teams scramble and fight for the squigskin, bodies fly backwards from the pile, but Greenskins are known for their resilience, and gets back into fight.
Gazgul emerges from the scrum with the ball, cutting over to right side of field. Marfak lurches out of the pile after him, but is horse-collared by one of the Boyz Black Orcs and nearly suffers a fatal neck injury. But the Bashas Apothecary scrambles onto the field, administering a foul-smelling potion and a few magic words before helping Marfak walk off the field, seemingly none the worse for the wear.
Despite a mostly open sideline, Gazgul doubles back in a surpise move, sprinting over to the left side of the field and handing the ball to the rookie Blitzer Vulg who dashes upfield, closely followed by Grimskar. Riknast, playing a deep defense, slows down the advancing Blizter. But after losing his momentum, Vulg plants both feet and lowers his shoulder into the defender, sending Riknast to the turf and opening a wide path to the endzone.
Heedless of the action downfield, most of the player from both teams remain engaged in a bloody brawl at the center. Ulgrot KOs Galnast while Gazgul forces his way into the battle. Morgul, veteran Black Orc for the Boyz, knocks down both Earguff and Varag. As a frenzy of blocks from the Blood Fang team leaves nine of the ten remaining Bashas players on the ground Vulg casually walks in unopposed for the first score of the game!
The ensuing kickoff comes at the very end of the half, with too little time for any meaningful action. But Earguff makes a quick revenge strike on Morgul, knocking the Black Orc out cold!
Second Half:
During halftime, Gugfak, thrower for the Bashas, and his Black Orc teammate Varag, get into a squabble about who gets the last squig bit. By the time Coach Azhog had bashed enough heads to get things sorted out, the young and eager linemen, Sorruk and Gramnast Jr. (in his debut game) had snuck onto the field. The ref, seeing that both teams had a full complement of players, blew the whistle to start the second half, leaving the two veteran orc players on the sidelines!
Planning a strong initial push, the Bashas send most of the team up to the line, leaving only Itsham and Sorruk in back to receive. But the plan backfires when the cheating Blood Fangs jump the kick, swarming the line to clog up any potential lanes. Meanwhile, on the right sideline, Gazgul slams into Riknast driving the Bashas blitzer backwards and pushing him off the field of play entirely!
The ball lands deep, right in front of Itsham the goblin, who picks it up and peels back to the left side of the field, away from the approaching Boyz Blitzers. Meanwhile, at midfield, the battle in the trenches continues from the first half. Morgul, having shaken off his earlier knockout, returns to again square off with Earguff. Determined to end this battle once and for all, Earguff summons all of his strength and speed to pick up the massive orc up over his head and slam him to the ground where he bounces twice before coming to a stop. The mighty Morgul twitches, then stops moving entirely; his career, and life, ended in one fell blow.
The Bashas roar in appreciation and drive into the left side of the Boyz line, opening a hole for Itsham. The little goblin scampers forward. But Vorag swoops around a blocker, filling the hole and barreling into the much smaller Greenskin. Itsham flies backwards, losing both the ball and conciousness and has to be pulled off the field. Badhag and Galth fend the Blood Fang Boyz away from the ball, allowing Sorruk to pick it up. But the lineman makes a crucial mistake, and attempts to hand the ball to Marfak on the sideline. But the Bashas blitzer wasn't expecting the ball, and it slides past him, landing near the sidelines.
Skabrak, rookie lineman for the Boyz, deviously foots the ball out of bounds, hoping that a fan manages to throw it back to his team. His plan works. Though instead of throwing it to a player, the fans chunk the ball halfway down the field, again putting it on the turf near the Bashas goal line!
Galth, the closest Bashas player swoops in to cover the ball but clumsily misses the pickup. Vorag and Gazbak charge in, but Galth stiffarms Vorag, and Marfak flies over to take down Gazbak, leaving the ball open on the field. But the accursed squigskin proves elusive, again popping away from Galth's grip. Gazbak from the Boyz crawls over and covers the ball as Vorag and Vulg try to provide some cover, knocking Galth to the ground. With steely determination, Galth pulls himself off the ground and KOs Gazbak with one punch. Unfortunately for the Bashas, Galth's ability to make a timely knockout does not translate into ball-handling skills.
The Boyz Blitzers, Gazgul and Vorag again clear space around the loose squigskin. But, in a comedy of errors and colliding Greenskins, first Vulg fails in his attempt to secure the ball. Galth has another chance, but he too misses, leaving it open for Gazgul, who also sees the ball slip through his hands. As Galth scrambles over and falls on the seemingly uncatchable object, it pops straight up in the air where Vulg has one final shot, but he too is unable to reel it in as the whistle blows to end the game.
Final Score: Azh's Bashas 0, Blood Fang Boyz 1
First Half:
Start of the game saw the opening kickoff going to the Blood Fang Boyz, but as the ball hits the ground, Spinesnapper from the Boyz, and Earguff from the Bashas meet in a tangle of gangly limbs and tusks. Both Trolls hit the ground, Spinesnapper landing face-first and breaking his jaw. But the Boyz Apothecary quickly applies a crude splint, getting the Troll ready to return to the game as soon as possible.
Grimskar, star Thrower for the Boyz fields the ball and advances up left side of field. Amid grunts and the dull thuds of green flesh colliding, the two teams slam together at midfield. Badhag jars the ball loose from Grimskar, Gazgul knocks down Badhag. ball slips from his hands. Blitzers from both teams scramble and fight for the squigskin, bodies fly backwards from the pile, but Greenskins are known for their resilience, and gets back into fight.
Gazgul emerges from the scrum with the ball, cutting over to right side of field. Marfak lurches out of the pile after him, but is horse-collared by one of the Boyz Black Orcs and nearly suffers a fatal neck injury. But the Bashas Apothecary scrambles onto the field, administering a foul-smelling potion and a few magic words before helping Marfak walk off the field, seemingly none the worse for the wear.
Despite a mostly open sideline, Gazgul doubles back in a surpise move, sprinting over to the left side of the field and handing the ball to the rookie Blitzer Vulg who dashes upfield, closely followed by Grimskar. Riknast, playing a deep defense, slows down the advancing Blizter. But after losing his momentum, Vulg plants both feet and lowers his shoulder into the defender, sending Riknast to the turf and opening a wide path to the endzone.
Heedless of the action downfield, most of the player from both teams remain engaged in a bloody brawl at the center. Ulgrot KOs Galnast while Gazgul forces his way into the battle. Morgul, veteran Black Orc for the Boyz, knocks down both Earguff and Varag. As a frenzy of blocks from the Blood Fang team leaves nine of the ten remaining Bashas players on the ground Vulg casually walks in unopposed for the first score of the game!
The ensuing kickoff comes at the very end of the half, with too little time for any meaningful action. But Earguff makes a quick revenge strike on Morgul, knocking the Black Orc out cold!
Second Half:
During halftime, Gugfak, thrower for the Bashas, and his Black Orc teammate Varag, get into a squabble about who gets the last squig bit. By the time Coach Azhog had bashed enough heads to get things sorted out, the young and eager linemen, Sorruk and Gramnast Jr. (in his debut game) had snuck onto the field. The ref, seeing that both teams had a full complement of players, blew the whistle to start the second half, leaving the two veteran orc players on the sidelines!
Planning a strong initial push, the Bashas send most of the team up to the line, leaving only Itsham and Sorruk in back to receive. But the plan backfires when the cheating Blood Fangs jump the kick, swarming the line to clog up any potential lanes. Meanwhile, on the right sideline, Gazgul slams into Riknast driving the Bashas blitzer backwards and pushing him off the field of play entirely!
The ball lands deep, right in front of Itsham the goblin, who picks it up and peels back to the left side of the field, away from the approaching Boyz Blitzers. Meanwhile, at midfield, the battle in the trenches continues from the first half. Morgul, having shaken off his earlier knockout, returns to again square off with Earguff. Determined to end this battle once and for all, Earguff summons all of his strength and speed to pick up the massive orc up over his head and slam him to the ground where he bounces twice before coming to a stop. The mighty Morgul twitches, then stops moving entirely; his career, and life, ended in one fell blow.
The Bashas roar in appreciation and drive into the left side of the Boyz line, opening a hole for Itsham. The little goblin scampers forward. But Vorag swoops around a blocker, filling the hole and barreling into the much smaller Greenskin. Itsham flies backwards, losing both the ball and conciousness and has to be pulled off the field. Badhag and Galth fend the Blood Fang Boyz away from the ball, allowing Sorruk to pick it up. But the lineman makes a crucial mistake, and attempts to hand the ball to Marfak on the sideline. But the Bashas blitzer wasn't expecting the ball, and it slides past him, landing near the sidelines.
Skabrak, rookie lineman for the Boyz, deviously foots the ball out of bounds, hoping that a fan manages to throw it back to his team. His plan works. Though instead of throwing it to a player, the fans chunk the ball halfway down the field, again putting it on the turf near the Bashas goal line!
Galth, the closest Bashas player swoops in to cover the ball but clumsily misses the pickup. Vorag and Gazbak charge in, but Galth stiffarms Vorag, and Marfak flies over to take down Gazbak, leaving the ball open on the field. But the accursed squigskin proves elusive, again popping away from Galth's grip. Gazbak from the Boyz crawls over and covers the ball as Vorag and Vulg try to provide some cover, knocking Galth to the ground. With steely determination, Galth pulls himself off the ground and KOs Gazbak with one punch. Unfortunately for the Bashas, Galth's ability to make a timely knockout does not translate into ball-handling skills.
The Boyz Blitzers, Gazgul and Vorag again clear space around the loose squigskin. But, in a comedy of errors and colliding Greenskins, first Vulg fails in his attempt to secure the ball. Galth has another chance, but he too misses, leaving it open for Gazgul, who also sees the ball slip through his hands. As Galth scrambles over and falls on the seemingly uncatchable object, it pops straight up in the air where Vulg has one final shot, but he too is unable to reel it in as the whistle blows to end the game.
Final Score: Azh's Bashas 0, Blood Fang Boyz 1
Monday, November 23, 2009
Clomp! League : Season Two, Day Six
Coming off their first and only loss, Azh's Bashas were looking to recover their place at the top of the division when they faced off against the potent offense of the Plaguebringaz, league leaders in pass attempts, catches, passing yards, rushing yards, touchdowns, and surprisingly, knockouts!
Embarrassed by the ease with which Orion the Titans had routed his team last week, Azh decided that he had better find out more about the Plaguebringaz roster before the game started. To this end he dispatched a couple of sneaky gobbos and they returned with three names, each accompanied by a crude drawing. The first name was Skreeluz, and below it stood an outline of a ratman with an extra arm sticking out from its side. The second name was Skreetz, and this figure bulged with distorted muscles. Finally there was the the name of Snutz, this one in a running pose with several horizontal lines trailing behind it. Scratching his head, Azh turned, showed the parchment to his Blizters and said:
"See deze rats?! Youz luuk fer dem an bash dem duwn. Ib dem git back up, youz bash dem agin!!"
The assembled Greenskins let out a resounding Hoowaaagh! for the brilliance of the tactical decisions made by their coach and charged out onto the field, ready to scrap with their opponent.
First Half:
Bashas receive the opening kickoff. Flying downfield before the ball even reaches the field, Galth sees the distinctive rat with the grotesque extra arm clearly visible. He slams into Skreezulz at full speed, grabbing the hapless rodent by two of its arms, swinging it over his head and slamming the Gutter Runner into the turf with spine-snapping thud. The Plaguebringaz sent their apothecary on the field, as the crowd erupts into frenzied cheering at the first sight of blood, but there was nothing he could do to save the unfortunate player.
Meanwhile, on the far end of the field, Gugfak cradles the ball, moving up the right side of the field behind a solid shield of black orcs and lineman. Skreetz, the second star Gutter Runner for the Plaguebringaz, enraged by the death of his litter mate, sprints past the line and tries to get a quick hit on Gugfak, but the attempt only results in the Orc Thrower falling back a step. The center of the rat defense is crushed and pushed to the right side of the field in front of the advancing orc offense. Chirkit the Kitteneater is badly hurt by Galnak during this push, putting the Plaguebringaz down by two players before the game has hardly begun.
Coming off the push on Gugfak, Skreetz bolts for the Bashas endzone. But Riknast remembers the words of his coach and chases the veteran Gutter Runner down from behind, snapping the rat's neck in a surprisingly brutal tackle, marking the second death for the Plaguebringaz in the game! Skreetz's mighty rat-strength proved to be no match for an enraged Orc Blitzer.
The Bashas methodically move up the right sidelines, driving the remaining rats before them. The Plaguebringaz fight tooth and claw, pushing back on the front line, but never able to break through. Badhag and Galth are pummeled by Snyykz the Gnawer as they try to find room downfield. With both Blitzters on the ground, one of them stunned, Snkyykz charges into the cage, trying to break a hole for his teammates. But as he pushes Varag backwards, Frenzy takes over and he follows the Black Orc into a crowd of Bashas players. Varag snarls and lunges back, causing a head-to-head collision that sends both players to the ground, leaving Snkyykz momentarily stunned. With noone downfield to throw to, Gugfak keeps the ball himself, stepping over the prone Rat Ogre and pushing ahead of his blockers. Badhag rockets off the ground, throwing Kriik One-paw backwards and sprinting for the endzone. But the rats are quick, and a young linerat named Kreeyz puts forth a heroic effort and makes a desperation tackle of Gugfak, freeing the ball. Waffyl the Lethal tries to step up and grab it, but he slips on the ball, falling to the ground. Varag, Galnak and Earguff clear space around the loose squigskin as Marfak slides in to pick it up, then swiftly hands it off to Itsham the Goblin, who dashes into the endzone for a touchdown!
Plaguebringaz receive the ensuing kickoff and strike hard on the right side of the field. Snyykz the Gnawer leading the charge as Snutz the Slippery, fastest player in the league, streaks down the sideline. The Basha Blizters, downfield as safeties, move to cutoff the open lane, pounding the Stormvermin Crytt, lead blocker for the Plaguebringaz offensive push, and putting pressure on Snutz.
Meanwhile, back in the middle of the field, another tragedy befalls the rats, as Whutuk the linerat, has his career prematurely ended by a mighty blow to the head from Earguff the troll, making him the third casualty of the night! The Plaguebringaz are unable to advance the ball further as first half ends.
Second half:
Plaguebringaz get the kickoff to start the second half, again pushing hard on the right side behind the broad, hairy back of their powerful Rat Ogre, who sallies forth and delivers a killing blow to Gramnast, up and coming lineman for the Bashas. The orc apothecary starts to run out onto the field, but before he can get there, Snyykz has dismembered the helpless orc, making any attempts at resuscitation a pointless endeavor.
Kutz the Sneek, second string receiver for the Plaguebringaz, fields the ball and makes short pass to put it in the hand of Kriik One Paw, primary Thrower for the rat team. The back blitzers for the Bashas again rumble over to stop the advance, throwing Waffyl into the path of the ultra-speedy Gutter runner. Undaunted, One Paw slides over to the sideline, launching a perfect strike to Snutz, who easily catches the ball. He turns upfield and tries to duck between the defending Blitzers, but the orcs slam the fragile Runner between them, sending him off the field for the rest of the game and completing their primary job of removing the three star Gutter Runners from the game.
Riknast knocks Waffyl the Lethal away from the ball, breaking his collarbone in the process. Spinning around, Riknast then picks up the ball, moving back to the middle of the field, inside the protection of the Bashas line. Snyykz tries to blitz in and recover the ball, but Marfak trips him up, giving Riknast time to run past midfield, following the hulking form of Varag, who delivers a crippling block on Lhykk the Claw, backup thrower for the Plaguebringaz, sending yet another rat off he field for the remainder of the match.
Kniim the Quick slips past the powerful grasp of Varag, lowers his horns and drives into the midriff of Riknast. But the Blizter holds strong, giving up a step but maintaining his footing and possession of the ball.
Galnast shoulders Kreeyz to the ground, inflaming a previous injury and crowding the Plaguebringaz injury box with an additional unconscious rat. Kniim again makes a play for the ball, but Badhag intercepts him, driving the rat to the ground and knocking him out cold. Riknast is able to walk into the endzone unopposed, the closest Plaguebringaz player over 40 yards away.
The rats can only field six for final kickoff. And just to rub salt in the wound, the Bashas get an early jump on the kick, allowing the Bashas to surround the ball as it lands. Kniim the Quick, again taking a chance to try and make something happen for his team, slams into Galth unexpectedly, knocking the Blitzer out of bounds where over-excited fans stun him. One Paw slides in past Sorruk, claiming the ball for his team. But as he tries to dodge away from the orcs, he slips on the blood of one of his teammates, falling hard and inadvertently launching the ball of the field. The fans eagerly throw it back, sending it downfield and just a few yards away from the Plaguebringaz goal line. Kniim the Quick dashes over but fumbles the pickup attempt. Thundering downfield, Galnast knocks him out making room for Badhag to recover ball and walk in for the third and final score as the whistle blows to end the game.
Final Score: Bashas 3, Plaguebringaz 0
Embarrassed by the ease with which Orion the Titans had routed his team last week, Azh decided that he had better find out more about the Plaguebringaz roster before the game started. To this end he dispatched a couple of sneaky gobbos and they returned with three names, each accompanied by a crude drawing. The first name was Skreeluz, and below it stood an outline of a ratman with an extra arm sticking out from its side. The second name was Skreetz, and this figure bulged with distorted muscles. Finally there was the the name of Snutz, this one in a running pose with several horizontal lines trailing behind it. Scratching his head, Azh turned, showed the parchment to his Blizters and said:
"See deze rats?! Youz luuk fer dem an bash dem duwn. Ib dem git back up, youz bash dem agin!!"
The assembled Greenskins let out a resounding Hoowaaagh! for the brilliance of the tactical decisions made by their coach and charged out onto the field, ready to scrap with their opponent.
First Half:
Bashas receive the opening kickoff. Flying downfield before the ball even reaches the field, Galth sees the distinctive rat with the grotesque extra arm clearly visible. He slams into Skreezulz at full speed, grabbing the hapless rodent by two of its arms, swinging it over his head and slamming the Gutter Runner into the turf with spine-snapping thud. The Plaguebringaz sent their apothecary on the field, as the crowd erupts into frenzied cheering at the first sight of blood, but there was nothing he could do to save the unfortunate player.
Meanwhile, on the far end of the field, Gugfak cradles the ball, moving up the right side of the field behind a solid shield of black orcs and lineman. Skreetz, the second star Gutter Runner for the Plaguebringaz, enraged by the death of his litter mate, sprints past the line and tries to get a quick hit on Gugfak, but the attempt only results in the Orc Thrower falling back a step. The center of the rat defense is crushed and pushed to the right side of the field in front of the advancing orc offense. Chirkit the Kitteneater is badly hurt by Galnak during this push, putting the Plaguebringaz down by two players before the game has hardly begun.
Coming off the push on Gugfak, Skreetz bolts for the Bashas endzone. But Riknast remembers the words of his coach and chases the veteran Gutter Runner down from behind, snapping the rat's neck in a surprisingly brutal tackle, marking the second death for the Plaguebringaz in the game! Skreetz's mighty rat-strength proved to be no match for an enraged Orc Blitzer.
The Bashas methodically move up the right sidelines, driving the remaining rats before them. The Plaguebringaz fight tooth and claw, pushing back on the front line, but never able to break through. Badhag and Galth are pummeled by Snyykz the Gnawer as they try to find room downfield. With both Blitzters on the ground, one of them stunned, Snkyykz charges into the cage, trying to break a hole for his teammates. But as he pushes Varag backwards, Frenzy takes over and he follows the Black Orc into a crowd of Bashas players. Varag snarls and lunges back, causing a head-to-head collision that sends both players to the ground, leaving Snkyykz momentarily stunned. With noone downfield to throw to, Gugfak keeps the ball himself, stepping over the prone Rat Ogre and pushing ahead of his blockers. Badhag rockets off the ground, throwing Kriik One-paw backwards and sprinting for the endzone. But the rats are quick, and a young linerat named Kreeyz puts forth a heroic effort and makes a desperation tackle of Gugfak, freeing the ball. Waffyl the Lethal tries to step up and grab it, but he slips on the ball, falling to the ground. Varag, Galnak and Earguff clear space around the loose squigskin as Marfak slides in to pick it up, then swiftly hands it off to Itsham the Goblin, who dashes into the endzone for a touchdown!
Plaguebringaz receive the ensuing kickoff and strike hard on the right side of the field. Snyykz the Gnawer leading the charge as Snutz the Slippery, fastest player in the league, streaks down the sideline. The Basha Blizters, downfield as safeties, move to cutoff the open lane, pounding the Stormvermin Crytt, lead blocker for the Plaguebringaz offensive push, and putting pressure on Snutz.
Meanwhile, back in the middle of the field, another tragedy befalls the rats, as Whutuk the linerat, has his career prematurely ended by a mighty blow to the head from Earguff the troll, making him the third casualty of the night! The Plaguebringaz are unable to advance the ball further as first half ends.
Second half:
Plaguebringaz get the kickoff to start the second half, again pushing hard on the right side behind the broad, hairy back of their powerful Rat Ogre, who sallies forth and delivers a killing blow to Gramnast, up and coming lineman for the Bashas. The orc apothecary starts to run out onto the field, but before he can get there, Snyykz has dismembered the helpless orc, making any attempts at resuscitation a pointless endeavor.
Kutz the Sneek, second string receiver for the Plaguebringaz, fields the ball and makes short pass to put it in the hand of Kriik One Paw, primary Thrower for the rat team. The back blitzers for the Bashas again rumble over to stop the advance, throwing Waffyl into the path of the ultra-speedy Gutter runner. Undaunted, One Paw slides over to the sideline, launching a perfect strike to Snutz, who easily catches the ball. He turns upfield and tries to duck between the defending Blitzers, but the orcs slam the fragile Runner between them, sending him off the field for the rest of the game and completing their primary job of removing the three star Gutter Runners from the game.
Riknast knocks Waffyl the Lethal away from the ball, breaking his collarbone in the process. Spinning around, Riknast then picks up the ball, moving back to the middle of the field, inside the protection of the Bashas line. Snyykz tries to blitz in and recover the ball, but Marfak trips him up, giving Riknast time to run past midfield, following the hulking form of Varag, who delivers a crippling block on Lhykk the Claw, backup thrower for the Plaguebringaz, sending yet another rat off he field for the remainder of the match.
Kniim the Quick slips past the powerful grasp of Varag, lowers his horns and drives into the midriff of Riknast. But the Blizter holds strong, giving up a step but maintaining his footing and possession of the ball.
Galnast shoulders Kreeyz to the ground, inflaming a previous injury and crowding the Plaguebringaz injury box with an additional unconscious rat. Kniim again makes a play for the ball, but Badhag intercepts him, driving the rat to the ground and knocking him out cold. Riknast is able to walk into the endzone unopposed, the closest Plaguebringaz player over 40 yards away.
The rats can only field six for final kickoff. And just to rub salt in the wound, the Bashas get an early jump on the kick, allowing the Bashas to surround the ball as it lands. Kniim the Quick, again taking a chance to try and make something happen for his team, slams into Galth unexpectedly, knocking the Blitzer out of bounds where over-excited fans stun him. One Paw slides in past Sorruk, claiming the ball for his team. But as he tries to dodge away from the orcs, he slips on the blood of one of his teammates, falling hard and inadvertently launching the ball of the field. The fans eagerly throw it back, sending it downfield and just a few yards away from the Plaguebringaz goal line. Kniim the Quick dashes over but fumbles the pickup attempt. Thundering downfield, Galnast knocks him out making room for Badhag to recover ball and walk in for the third and final score as the whistle blows to end the game.
Final Score: Bashas 3, Plaguebringaz 0
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Clomp! League : Season Two, Day Five
Day Five dawned and Azh's Bashas were feeling cocky. Their next opponent was the human team of the Waterdeep Warriors, and the Bashas had always had success when playing humans in the past. Little did they know that the ominous signs in the shaman's mushroom tea that morning were not something to be ignored.
The teams faced off for the coin flip. Across from the Bashas stood one human in particular that they would know well by the end of the game. Orion the Titan, he of the Leo's Loincloths and Bloodweiser Light Ale advertisements. Heartthrob for every woman, young and old, this side of the Grey Mountains. With his broad shoulders, flowing hair and blindingly white smile, Orion dazzled the ladies while also serving as the heart and soul of the Warriors team, leading the team's stat sheet in scoring, running, and only second in passing by a few yards.
In an early sign that something might be wrong this day, the Bashas lose the toss and the Waterdeep Warriors elect to receive the opening kickoff.
First Half:
As the ball sails through the air, the Warriors hit the center, driving the entire Bashas front line backwards and opening a lane for Orion the Titan and Tresdon Lofthouse, rookie Catcher, to advance down the field on the lefthand side. Johnny Nebraska, star thrower for the Warriors, fields the ball deep and also shifts to the left side of the field, waiting for a clear throwing line. The Bashas move to cover, but fail to put enough pressure on the human Thrower. And as Orion dodges away from double coverage, finding his way to the corner of the Bashas endzone, Johnny Nebraska hits him with a perfect pass. The Titan juggles the ball momentarily, but manages to keep control, scoring a quick touchdown for the Warriors and stunning the home crowd!
The ensuing kickoff lands at the feet of Gugfak, Thrower for Azh's Bashas. He takes the ball and moves downfield as the rest of the team pounds on the Warrior line. But in an incredible display of athleticism, Orion the Titan slips between two black orcs, sprints as hard as he can upfield and delivers a swift and decisive knockout punch to Gugfak, sending the astonished Thrower to the sidelines for the rest of the game! The orcs respond as best they know how, knocking out one lineman, injuring another and stunning Tresdon. Sorruk manages to cover the loose ball for the Bashas, but the Waterdeep Warriors are not to be denied. Sir Conrad Draco shakes off his blocker and knocks Sorruk to the turf, freeing the ball so that Orion can make another magnificent play, dodging around Riknast, fielding the ball, slipping away from a tackle and prancing into the endzone for his second score of the game!
With Gugfak out, Riknast takes over kickoff receiving duty. Riknast brings the ball back up the middle, where the Black Orcs are making short work of the Human line. But again Orion makes a play. Pulling himself up off the ground, dodging a tackle and hitting Riknast as he stands surrounded by his teammates on all sides. Unsurprisingly, the ploy works, but an ever alert Gramnast tucks the ball away for the Bashas before the Titan can get his hands on it. Sorruk throws Titan down, as Gramnast tries to give the ball to Marfak. But a botched handoff sees the squigskin hit the turf once again. Both teams converge, and in the scrum Sorruk is injured and out for the rest of the game. Badhag scoops ball as Riknast streaks downfield. Badhag breaks free and attempts a pass, but as it slips from his hand, everyone realizes why his career as a Thrower never went anywhere. Embrassingly, that is the final play of the first half, and the Bashas try and regroup on the sidelines, down 2-0.
Second Half:
Bashas get kickoff to start the second half, though this time Badhag received the kick. In the manner of battles everywhere, the two teams collide. As the fighting rages in middle and left of the field. Badhag cuts back across his blockers, taking it up the right side to the midway point. With a screen of defenders, Badhag continues charging downfield, lowering a shoulder as he runs through pretty-boy Orion (who unfortunately, was uninjured on the play). Undaunted, the Titan quickly hops off the ground and tries to return the favor, but Badhag throws him down again. As Badhag trots in for a Bashas score, vicious blocks send both Baron Bedlam and Tresdon to the benches, though the human doctors manage to get both back in the game on the next series.
Emboldened by their score, the Bashas get away with an early jump on the kickoff. Moving quickly, Varag clears way for Galth to sneak downfield and be in position to catch his own team's kickoff! But as he does, Orion the Titan flies over from midfield and hits Galth hard. Amazingly, Galth stays on his feet, stiff-arming the Titan and holding his ground! Varag runs up and pushes Orion down, but the delay was enough for several other Warriors players to converge, gang-tackling Galth as he tries to break away from the pack. Sir Conrad Draco takes care of Varag, allowing Johnny Nebraska room to dash in and grab the ball. He falls back into pocket of blockers and hands it off to Tresdon who bolts downfield, into Bashas territory. Baron Bedlam is again Knocked Out at midfield as Itsham the Goblin jumps onto Tresdon's back while Badhag lunges from the ground, sending Tresdon flying backwards. The ball pops up and lands right in the paws of Itsham, but this was not a game to remember for the little Greenskin, as he drops his second catch of the day!
This event sent Coach Azhog into such a fit of rage, that he blacked out. When he awoke, the game was over, the score unchanged, and the Bashas had been handed their first loss ever!
Final Score: Azh's Bashas 1, Waterdeep Warriors 2
The teams faced off for the coin flip. Across from the Bashas stood one human in particular that they would know well by the end of the game. Orion the Titan, he of the Leo's Loincloths and Bloodweiser Light Ale advertisements. Heartthrob for every woman, young and old, this side of the Grey Mountains. With his broad shoulders, flowing hair and blindingly white smile, Orion dazzled the ladies while also serving as the heart and soul of the Warriors team, leading the team's stat sheet in scoring, running, and only second in passing by a few yards.
In an early sign that something might be wrong this day, the Bashas lose the toss and the Waterdeep Warriors elect to receive the opening kickoff.
First Half:
As the ball sails through the air, the Warriors hit the center, driving the entire Bashas front line backwards and opening a lane for Orion the Titan and Tresdon Lofthouse, rookie Catcher, to advance down the field on the lefthand side. Johnny Nebraska, star thrower for the Warriors, fields the ball deep and also shifts to the left side of the field, waiting for a clear throwing line. The Bashas move to cover, but fail to put enough pressure on the human Thrower. And as Orion dodges away from double coverage, finding his way to the corner of the Bashas endzone, Johnny Nebraska hits him with a perfect pass. The Titan juggles the ball momentarily, but manages to keep control, scoring a quick touchdown for the Warriors and stunning the home crowd!
The ensuing kickoff lands at the feet of Gugfak, Thrower for Azh's Bashas. He takes the ball and moves downfield as the rest of the team pounds on the Warrior line. But in an incredible display of athleticism, Orion the Titan slips between two black orcs, sprints as hard as he can upfield and delivers a swift and decisive knockout punch to Gugfak, sending the astonished Thrower to the sidelines for the rest of the game! The orcs respond as best they know how, knocking out one lineman, injuring another and stunning Tresdon. Sorruk manages to cover the loose ball for the Bashas, but the Waterdeep Warriors are not to be denied. Sir Conrad Draco shakes off his blocker and knocks Sorruk to the turf, freeing the ball so that Orion can make another magnificent play, dodging around Riknast, fielding the ball, slipping away from a tackle and prancing into the endzone for his second score of the game!
With Gugfak out, Riknast takes over kickoff receiving duty. Riknast brings the ball back up the middle, where the Black Orcs are making short work of the Human line. But again Orion makes a play. Pulling himself up off the ground, dodging a tackle and hitting Riknast as he stands surrounded by his teammates on all sides. Unsurprisingly, the ploy works, but an ever alert Gramnast tucks the ball away for the Bashas before the Titan can get his hands on it. Sorruk throws Titan down, as Gramnast tries to give the ball to Marfak. But a botched handoff sees the squigskin hit the turf once again. Both teams converge, and in the scrum Sorruk is injured and out for the rest of the game. Badhag scoops ball as Riknast streaks downfield. Badhag breaks free and attempts a pass, but as it slips from his hand, everyone realizes why his career as a Thrower never went anywhere. Embrassingly, that is the final play of the first half, and the Bashas try and regroup on the sidelines, down 2-0.
Second Half:
Bashas get kickoff to start the second half, though this time Badhag received the kick. In the manner of battles everywhere, the two teams collide. As the fighting rages in middle and left of the field. Badhag cuts back across his blockers, taking it up the right side to the midway point. With a screen of defenders, Badhag continues charging downfield, lowering a shoulder as he runs through pretty-boy Orion (who unfortunately, was uninjured on the play). Undaunted, the Titan quickly hops off the ground and tries to return the favor, but Badhag throws him down again. As Badhag trots in for a Bashas score, vicious blocks send both Baron Bedlam and Tresdon to the benches, though the human doctors manage to get both back in the game on the next series.
Emboldened by their score, the Bashas get away with an early jump on the kickoff. Moving quickly, Varag clears way for Galth to sneak downfield and be in position to catch his own team's kickoff! But as he does, Orion the Titan flies over from midfield and hits Galth hard. Amazingly, Galth stays on his feet, stiff-arming the Titan and holding his ground! Varag runs up and pushes Orion down, but the delay was enough for several other Warriors players to converge, gang-tackling Galth as he tries to break away from the pack. Sir Conrad Draco takes care of Varag, allowing Johnny Nebraska room to dash in and grab the ball. He falls back into pocket of blockers and hands it off to Tresdon who bolts downfield, into Bashas territory. Baron Bedlam is again Knocked Out at midfield as Itsham the Goblin jumps onto Tresdon's back while Badhag lunges from the ground, sending Tresdon flying backwards. The ball pops up and lands right in the paws of Itsham, but this was not a game to remember for the little Greenskin, as he drops his second catch of the day!
This event sent Coach Azhog into such a fit of rage, that he blacked out. When he awoke, the game was over, the score unchanged, and the Bashas had been handed their first loss ever!
Final Score: Azh's Bashas 1, Waterdeep Warriors 2
Clomp! League : Season Two, Day Four
In the closing hours of Day Four of Season Two of the Clomp! Cup, the proud Orcs of Azh's Bashas meet up with the Skaven team, SneakyVermin, one of the offensive powerhouses in Division Two.
First Half:
Opening kickoff sails out of bounds. SneakyVermin chooses to give the ball to Kriik, the veteran thrower for the Skaven team.
Quyuthc the Stormvermin, blitzes the left side, pushing back an Orc Blizter to make room for Knetform Cutter, the two-headed Gutter Runner to slip past. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the field, the other Runner, Lhire the Lethal, dodges past Marfak and finds open space deep in the Bashas backfield. The Bashas lay out Lhire the Lethal, throwing him to the ground in a daze while two defenders try and cover Knetform. The font line of the Bashas pound the linerats into the turf, but in doing so, they leave a wide gap in the front defenses. Kriik tries to take advantage of the hole, moving over to make a handoff to the rookie Runner Lhylk, who fumbles the ball! Varag Goug'liver rumbles downfield, knocking the rookie out and looming over the squigskin. The Bashas hurl most of the still-standing rats to the ground, but undaunted, Kriik slips past Varag and Earguff the Troll, snagging the ball with one hand as he moves up past midfield and makes a perfect throw into double coverage to his star receiver, Knetform. While the second head spits curses at the nearby orcs, Knetform easily spins away from his defenders and scrambles into the endzone for a quick touchdown and the first score of the game!
The following kickoff is deep, nearly to the Bashas goal line and perilously close to the sideline. Gugfak retrieves it as the Black Orcs again demolish the front line of the SneakyVermin. Two linerats pentrate the Bashas backfield, but Gugfak finds an open lane and passes to midfield where the Gobline Itsham, in his debut series of the game, makes a beautiful catch and dashes straight through the middle, hopping over the unconcious Rat Ogre. Earguff the Troll and Riknast the Blitzer follow the Goblin as support, but the ever quick Skaven respond rapidly, blocking access to the endzone and nearly tackling the goblin. But Itsham proves to be as wily as the rats, side-stepping one tackle, dodging from another and racing into the endzone to tie up the game!
With only a few minutes left in the half, the SneakyVermin need a quick strike to try and regain the lead. They load up the right-hand side of the field, forming a cage of squirming rodent bodies. Things take a turn in the wrong direction for the Bashas when Earguff tangles with Breakbang, the SneakyVermin Rat Ogre, and knocks himself out! The rats take advantage, pushing back the orc blockers as Lhire the Lethal carries the ball down the sideline and past midfield. Galnak Break'Zom nearly kills one of the linerats, but a hunched, hooded figure rushes from the sidelines, emits a guttering squeal in the strange Skaven tongue while waving the most foul-smelling incense over the immobile corpse. Amazingly, the injured lineman suddenly shakes his head groggily, stands up, and trots off to the sideline, no worse for the wear!
But the gap left in the defending cage by his departure is enough. Riknast dodges away from his coverage, stunning Lhire and sending the ball flying into the hairy paws of Pwyer, another one of the linerats (these beasts seem to be everywhere) and kickoff specialist for the SneakyVermin team. With the rat cage effectively bottled up and the clock winding down, Pwyer attempts a desperation heave to a wide-open Whutuk. But Badhag, coming in on a pressure blitz, jumps up and pulls the ball down, catching his second interception of the season to end the first half!
Second Half:
Still dazed and confused, Earguff remains on the sideline at the start of the second half as the Bashas receive the ball. And, as it turns out, he would never get a chance to return to the game. Enraged fans, unhappy that their favorite Troll isn't on the field, rush the pitch on the opening kickoff, stunning several players from both teams.
The Bashas try a repeat of their first half score, but the normally sure-handed Itsham misses the catch, dropping the ball onto the back of one of the rats and watching it bounce into the open field. The rats waste no time, as the Stormvermin Rhituk picks up the squigskin and advances downfield. Gugfak, with the help of a distraught Itsham, levels Rhituk, putting the ball back onto the turf. Riknast breaks away from double coverage on the far side of the field and sprints over to try and assist in retrieving the ball.
But Knetform the two-headed makes a brilliant play, dodging away from one orc, sliding in to recover the ball, and then spinning, twisting, diving and dodging to find his way through the Bashas defense, avoiding no less than three additional tackles! Riknast shrugs off his blocker, running downfield to make a touchdown-saving tackle on the elusive Gutter Runner. But one of the spikes on his boots catches the ball as as he tries to retrieve it, sending it skittering away from his grasp. Knetform again shows off his skills, dodging one tackle as he picks himself up off the ground and recovers the ball, but despite a heroic effort, the second head doesn't save him this time as Riknast grabs him by the extra neck and hurls the rat to the ground. Riknast makes up for his skills in brutality with a distinct lack of grace, colliding with the ball again, as it rolls to the very edge of the Bashas goal line! But the third time proves to be the charm, as Riknast finally recovers the squigskin and moves it back upfield, away from goal. Several teammates run over to provide assistance and it looks like the Bashas might have a chance to move the length of the field for the winning score.
But noone ever called the Skaven slow, and the rats swarm over the orcs while Breakbang slams into the cage, disrupting it enough to prevent any meaningful advancement. Resigned to a tie game, the Bashas decide to simply break a few heads. But, despite knocking out Knetform, no real injuries are sustained, and the game ends.
Final Score: Bashas 1, SneakyVermin 1
First Half:
Opening kickoff sails out of bounds. SneakyVermin chooses to give the ball to Kriik, the veteran thrower for the Skaven team.
Quyuthc the Stormvermin, blitzes the left side, pushing back an Orc Blizter to make room for Knetform Cutter, the two-headed Gutter Runner to slip past. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the field, the other Runner, Lhire the Lethal, dodges past Marfak and finds open space deep in the Bashas backfield. The Bashas lay out Lhire the Lethal, throwing him to the ground in a daze while two defenders try and cover Knetform. The font line of the Bashas pound the linerats into the turf, but in doing so, they leave a wide gap in the front defenses. Kriik tries to take advantage of the hole, moving over to make a handoff to the rookie Runner Lhylk, who fumbles the ball! Varag Goug'liver rumbles downfield, knocking the rookie out and looming over the squigskin. The Bashas hurl most of the still-standing rats to the ground, but undaunted, Kriik slips past Varag and Earguff the Troll, snagging the ball with one hand as he moves up past midfield and makes a perfect throw into double coverage to his star receiver, Knetform. While the second head spits curses at the nearby orcs, Knetform easily spins away from his defenders and scrambles into the endzone for a quick touchdown and the first score of the game!
The following kickoff is deep, nearly to the Bashas goal line and perilously close to the sideline. Gugfak retrieves it as the Black Orcs again demolish the front line of the SneakyVermin. Two linerats pentrate the Bashas backfield, but Gugfak finds an open lane and passes to midfield where the Gobline Itsham, in his debut series of the game, makes a beautiful catch and dashes straight through the middle, hopping over the unconcious Rat Ogre. Earguff the Troll and Riknast the Blitzer follow the Goblin as support, but the ever quick Skaven respond rapidly, blocking access to the endzone and nearly tackling the goblin. But Itsham proves to be as wily as the rats, side-stepping one tackle, dodging from another and racing into the endzone to tie up the game!
With only a few minutes left in the half, the SneakyVermin need a quick strike to try and regain the lead. They load up the right-hand side of the field, forming a cage of squirming rodent bodies. Things take a turn in the wrong direction for the Bashas when Earguff tangles with Breakbang, the SneakyVermin Rat Ogre, and knocks himself out! The rats take advantage, pushing back the orc blockers as Lhire the Lethal carries the ball down the sideline and past midfield. Galnak Break'Zom nearly kills one of the linerats, but a hunched, hooded figure rushes from the sidelines, emits a guttering squeal in the strange Skaven tongue while waving the most foul-smelling incense over the immobile corpse. Amazingly, the injured lineman suddenly shakes his head groggily, stands up, and trots off to the sideline, no worse for the wear!
But the gap left in the defending cage by his departure is enough. Riknast dodges away from his coverage, stunning Lhire and sending the ball flying into the hairy paws of Pwyer, another one of the linerats (these beasts seem to be everywhere) and kickoff specialist for the SneakyVermin team. With the rat cage effectively bottled up and the clock winding down, Pwyer attempts a desperation heave to a wide-open Whutuk. But Badhag, coming in on a pressure blitz, jumps up and pulls the ball down, catching his second interception of the season to end the first half!
Second Half:
Still dazed and confused, Earguff remains on the sideline at the start of the second half as the Bashas receive the ball. And, as it turns out, he would never get a chance to return to the game. Enraged fans, unhappy that their favorite Troll isn't on the field, rush the pitch on the opening kickoff, stunning several players from both teams.
The Bashas try a repeat of their first half score, but the normally sure-handed Itsham misses the catch, dropping the ball onto the back of one of the rats and watching it bounce into the open field. The rats waste no time, as the Stormvermin Rhituk picks up the squigskin and advances downfield. Gugfak, with the help of a distraught Itsham, levels Rhituk, putting the ball back onto the turf. Riknast breaks away from double coverage on the far side of the field and sprints over to try and assist in retrieving the ball.
But Knetform the two-headed makes a brilliant play, dodging away from one orc, sliding in to recover the ball, and then spinning, twisting, diving and dodging to find his way through the Bashas defense, avoiding no less than three additional tackles! Riknast shrugs off his blocker, running downfield to make a touchdown-saving tackle on the elusive Gutter Runner. But one of the spikes on his boots catches the ball as as he tries to retrieve it, sending it skittering away from his grasp. Knetform again shows off his skills, dodging one tackle as he picks himself up off the ground and recovers the ball, but despite a heroic effort, the second head doesn't save him this time as Riknast grabs him by the extra neck and hurls the rat to the ground. Riknast makes up for his skills in brutality with a distinct lack of grace, colliding with the ball again, as it rolls to the very edge of the Bashas goal line! But the third time proves to be the charm, as Riknast finally recovers the squigskin and moves it back upfield, away from goal. Several teammates run over to provide assistance and it looks like the Bashas might have a chance to move the length of the field for the winning score.
But noone ever called the Skaven slow, and the rats swarm over the orcs while Breakbang slams into the cage, disrupting it enough to prevent any meaningful advancement. Resigned to a tie game, the Bashas decide to simply break a few heads. But, despite knocking out Knetform, no real injuries are sustained, and the game ends.
Final Score: Bashas 1, SneakyVermin 1
Friday, November 13, 2009
Clomp! League : Season Two, Day Three
On Day Three, the Bashas face off against the Wood Elves of the Tree Rats team, who oddly enough, are 'coached' by a frothing orc they keep in a cage! A bit confused by the situation, but eager to bash in some elf heads, Azh's Bashas crack their knuckles in anticipation of the upcoming carnage.
First Half:
Bashas get the kickoff. The ball sails deep, landing a few feet from the endzone. The violence starts early as Galnak strikes one of the Tree Rat Lineman in the neck, pinching a nerve and sending him off for an extended apothecary visit. But the great Treany Mightbud responds, delivering a knockout blow to one of the Black Orcs. Meanwhile Gugfak, Thrower for the Bashas team, grabs the ball as elven attackers begin to sprint for the backfield. Seeing a clear opening to the Goblin Itsham, he throws a perfect spiral which the goblin fails to catch. Muttering something about a new trophy for his belt, Gugfak quickly runs over and recovers the ball himself, only to be hit in the back with a jarring blow from the Wardancer Mahtalyth, knocking the ball loose. Thatalyth swoops in, grabbing the ball and dropping back before launching a pass over the heads of the defending orcs. But Badhag, star Blizter for the Bashas, makes an astounding leap, latching onto the ball with one grubby paw and ambling for the left sideline, away from the mass of elven players. And though elvish speed proves enough to threaten the Blitzer, they are unable to make a tackle, and he dodges his way into the endzone for the first score of the game.
The Rats receive the ball, loading the right-side of the field for their attack. The ball falls short and the elvish team makes a strong push up the right side, clearing the way for no less than three of their players to slip past the orc line and form a tight wedge. With a mighty scramble and perfectly placed pass, Elvananfel send the ball to the Wardancer Mahtalyth who finds herself with the ball and empty grass ahead. An easy score in the waiting. But the orcs move almost as quickly, swinging around in front of the elf while further upfield Marfak breaks the neck of their star Catcher, Heven. Undeterred, Mahtalyth nimbly dodges through the arms of two orcs and trots in for the tying score.
Second Half:
First possession of the second half goes to the Tree Rats who try a repeat of their previously successful offense. Things start off well as Mightybud sends another Black Orc to the sidelines, but a poor block by one of the elven lineman allows Marfak and Badhag to streak into the backfield and sack the ballcarrier. The squigskin lands in Marfak's hands and he scores without breaking a sweat.
At this point the Tree Rats seemed to become demoralized, cowering in the backfield, leaving only the Treant to bear the brunt of the Bashas defense. Expecting some sort of elvish trickery, the Bashas move tentatively forward. Badhag and Marfak lead the vanguard while Earguff and the Black Orcs swarm Mightybeard, pulling him to the ground and tearing off a few branches. Finally one elf steps forward to pick up the ball and makes a half-hearted throw towards the sideline, but the ball falls from the back of his hand. The Blizter's eyes light up at this sign of life from their opponent, and they rush forward, throwing the elf to the ground as Badhag gathers the ball and bolts right through the middle of the elven parade line for his second score of the day.
But when again the elves simply fall back after the kickoff, the orcs get confused. They seem uncertain as to whether the game had even restarted, and as they mill about in confusion the referee blows the whistle, signaling the end of the match.
Final Score: Bashas 3, Tree Rats 1
First Half:
Bashas get the kickoff. The ball sails deep, landing a few feet from the endzone. The violence starts early as Galnak strikes one of the Tree Rat Lineman in the neck, pinching a nerve and sending him off for an extended apothecary visit. But the great Treany Mightbud responds, delivering a knockout blow to one of the Black Orcs. Meanwhile Gugfak, Thrower for the Bashas team, grabs the ball as elven attackers begin to sprint for the backfield. Seeing a clear opening to the Goblin Itsham, he throws a perfect spiral which the goblin fails to catch. Muttering something about a new trophy for his belt, Gugfak quickly runs over and recovers the ball himself, only to be hit in the back with a jarring blow from the Wardancer Mahtalyth, knocking the ball loose. Thatalyth swoops in, grabbing the ball and dropping back before launching a pass over the heads of the defending orcs. But Badhag, star Blizter for the Bashas, makes an astounding leap, latching onto the ball with one grubby paw and ambling for the left sideline, away from the mass of elven players. And though elvish speed proves enough to threaten the Blitzer, they are unable to make a tackle, and he dodges his way into the endzone for the first score of the game.
The Rats receive the ball, loading the right-side of the field for their attack. The ball falls short and the elvish team makes a strong push up the right side, clearing the way for no less than three of their players to slip past the orc line and form a tight wedge. With a mighty scramble and perfectly placed pass, Elvananfel send the ball to the Wardancer Mahtalyth who finds herself with the ball and empty grass ahead. An easy score in the waiting. But the orcs move almost as quickly, swinging around in front of the elf while further upfield Marfak breaks the neck of their star Catcher, Heven. Undeterred, Mahtalyth nimbly dodges through the arms of two orcs and trots in for the tying score.
Second Half:
First possession of the second half goes to the Tree Rats who try a repeat of their previously successful offense. Things start off well as Mightybud sends another Black Orc to the sidelines, but a poor block by one of the elven lineman allows Marfak and Badhag to streak into the backfield and sack the ballcarrier. The squigskin lands in Marfak's hands and he scores without breaking a sweat.
At this point the Tree Rats seemed to become demoralized, cowering in the backfield, leaving only the Treant to bear the brunt of the Bashas defense. Expecting some sort of elvish trickery, the Bashas move tentatively forward. Badhag and Marfak lead the vanguard while Earguff and the Black Orcs swarm Mightybeard, pulling him to the ground and tearing off a few branches. Finally one elf steps forward to pick up the ball and makes a half-hearted throw towards the sideline, but the ball falls from the back of his hand. The Blizter's eyes light up at this sign of life from their opponent, and they rush forward, throwing the elf to the ground as Badhag gathers the ball and bolts right through the middle of the elven parade line for his second score of the day.
But when again the elves simply fall back after the kickoff, the orcs get confused. They seem uncertain as to whether the game had even restarted, and as they mill about in confusion the referee blows the whistle, signaling the end of the match.
Final Score: Bashas 3, Tree Rats 1
Clomp! League : Season Two, Day Two
The reformed Chaos team, Malal'z Marauders, marched into the Basha stadium, eager to meet their foe in an epic clash of strength. And speaking of strength, one Beastman bulged suspiciously with muscle. So much so that Azhog was convinced that some secret chaos mojo had been used to grant him extra power. But nonetheless, the orcs of Azh's Bashas were undaunted and ready for battle themselves.
First Half:
The Bashas win the coin toss and choose to receive. Gugfak fields the ball and pushes straight up the middle with a loose cage of orcs around him. Galnak the Black Orc breaks a hole in the Marauders line, but the Chaos team swiftly responds, hammering the orc defense and pressuring Gugfak. But with a few key blocks, Gugfak breaks free and hands off to Itsham who dodges away from the swinging arms of a snarling Beastman and runs as fast as his little gobo legs will go to reach the endzone, scoring the first (and what would turn out to be the last) touchdown of the game.
With that quick score, the Bashas feel confident as they kick deep. The ball is caught by Thor'nogors the Many-Armed as the front line of the Marauders pushes the orcs back and the hulking Minotaur seriously injures Earguff the Troll. A huge hole is opened in the line with the departure of the Troll, but the Marauders miss their chance to take advantage of it as the Orc Blizters rush over to fill the gaps. Seeing this, the ball carrier bounces out to the right sideline with a solid screen of blockers. But the Black Orcs again respond, slamming into the defending screen and jarring the ball loose. The fighting is fierce. Sorruk the Orc Lineman is KOed. A Beastman by the name of Mashky Pelt is killed by Varag, but a Marauder Shaman quickly runs onto the field and sews the injured player's head back on, though it ends up a being little crooked. The Marauders manage to recover the ball but a fumbled pass and subsequent KO of Crazy Hide by Varag prevents the score as the first half ends.
Second Half:
The second half kickoff begins much like the last. Earguff returns after a hefty dose of smelling salts and immediately gets into a wrestling match with Marauders Minotaur. But the Chaos team tries something different this time. Spikey Pelt catches the ball deep, his hooves on his own endzone. He quickly darts upfield, passing it to Thor'nogors in the middle of the field. Varag again earns his keep, making a key tackle on the ball carrier, but as luck would have it, the squigskin flies up and into the arms of an unsuspecting Bash'gors. The surprised Beastman, wanting nothing to do with the ball, quickly hands it off to Brother Ezekiel, the Chaos Warrior. By this time every player still standing from both teams is involved in the battle for the middle of the field. As the orcs hammer the outside blockers, bodies get thrown around, jostling Brother Ezekiel until he suddenly finds himself shoved from the pack and face to face with the grinning Black Orc line. As the Warrior goes down, the ball slips through the hands of another orc and the battle moves to follow as it rolls towards the sideline.
The Bashas have a chance to advance the ball, but Gugfak makes an ill-advised tackle, resulting in an injury that will keep him out of the rest of the game. Riknast the Orc Blizter picks up the ball, is knocked down, and then proceeds to jump right back up, delivering a game-ending blow to the gut to Bash'gors, sending the unfortunate beast off the field. But as Riknast turns to grab the ball, it slips through his fingers, leaving him vulnerable along the sideline. The Marauders quickly retaliate, sending both Riknast and Gramnast to the bench with injuries and recovering the ball. But in a repeat of the first half ending, Varag Goug'Liver again knocks down the ball carrier and then also breaks the jaw of a second Beastman by the name of Spikey Pelt who was making a desperate, last-ditch effort to gather the ball and attempt a score.
Final Score: Bashas 1, Marauders 0
First Half:
The Bashas win the coin toss and choose to receive. Gugfak fields the ball and pushes straight up the middle with a loose cage of orcs around him. Galnak the Black Orc breaks a hole in the Marauders line, but the Chaos team swiftly responds, hammering the orc defense and pressuring Gugfak. But with a few key blocks, Gugfak breaks free and hands off to Itsham who dodges away from the swinging arms of a snarling Beastman and runs as fast as his little gobo legs will go to reach the endzone, scoring the first (and what would turn out to be the last) touchdown of the game.
With that quick score, the Bashas feel confident as they kick deep. The ball is caught by Thor'nogors the Many-Armed as the front line of the Marauders pushes the orcs back and the hulking Minotaur seriously injures Earguff the Troll. A huge hole is opened in the line with the departure of the Troll, but the Marauders miss their chance to take advantage of it as the Orc Blizters rush over to fill the gaps. Seeing this, the ball carrier bounces out to the right sideline with a solid screen of blockers. But the Black Orcs again respond, slamming into the defending screen and jarring the ball loose. The fighting is fierce. Sorruk the Orc Lineman is KOed. A Beastman by the name of Mashky Pelt is killed by Varag, but a Marauder Shaman quickly runs onto the field and sews the injured player's head back on, though it ends up a being little crooked. The Marauders manage to recover the ball but a fumbled pass and subsequent KO of Crazy Hide by Varag prevents the score as the first half ends.
Second Half:
The second half kickoff begins much like the last. Earguff returns after a hefty dose of smelling salts and immediately gets into a wrestling match with Marauders Minotaur. But the Chaos team tries something different this time. Spikey Pelt catches the ball deep, his hooves on his own endzone. He quickly darts upfield, passing it to Thor'nogors in the middle of the field. Varag again earns his keep, making a key tackle on the ball carrier, but as luck would have it, the squigskin flies up and into the arms of an unsuspecting Bash'gors. The surprised Beastman, wanting nothing to do with the ball, quickly hands it off to Brother Ezekiel, the Chaos Warrior. By this time every player still standing from both teams is involved in the battle for the middle of the field. As the orcs hammer the outside blockers, bodies get thrown around, jostling Brother Ezekiel until he suddenly finds himself shoved from the pack and face to face with the grinning Black Orc line. As the Warrior goes down, the ball slips through the hands of another orc and the battle moves to follow as it rolls towards the sideline.
The Bashas have a chance to advance the ball, but Gugfak makes an ill-advised tackle, resulting in an injury that will keep him out of the rest of the game. Riknast the Orc Blizter picks up the ball, is knocked down, and then proceeds to jump right back up, delivering a game-ending blow to the gut to Bash'gors, sending the unfortunate beast off the field. But as Riknast turns to grab the ball, it slips through his fingers, leaving him vulnerable along the sideline. The Marauders quickly retaliate, sending both Riknast and Gramnast to the bench with injuries and recovering the ball. But in a repeat of the first half ending, Varag Goug'Liver again knocks down the ball carrier and then also breaks the jaw of a second Beastman by the name of Spikey Pelt who was making a desperate, last-ditch effort to gather the ball and attempt a score.
Final Score: Bashas 1, Marauders 0
Friday, October 09, 2009
Clomp! League : Season Two, Day One
The crowds roared for the opening day of Season Two of the Clomp! league. This would be one of the featured matchups of the day, pitting the Lizard team of Bufo Draconis against the Orcs of Azh's Bashas. The two teams had met in Season One, and both teams were eager to prove themselves in the rematch.
First Half:
The Bashas win the coin toss and choose to receive the ball, placing it in the hands of their veteran thrower, Gugfak, who moves upfield as as screen of orcs provide a loose buffer while also attempting to put some hurt on the cold-blooded killers they face. Things start off well when one of the Saurus on the line is knocked out just as the game begins. However, Gugfak underestimates the speed and power of the Saurus, as one of the scaly brutes slides in past a well-timed block and lays Gugfak out, spilling the ball onto the field. An awkward scrum ensues as the Bashas retrieve the ball and continue to advance it in short spurts as the lizards quickly pound Gugfak everytime he gets up. Finally, Ishtam the goblin sneaks into the pile, emerging with ball in hand as he spins away from a tackle. He swiftly cuts back across the field and hands the ball to the Riknast the Blitzer who easily trots in for the first score of the game, and the first of his career.
A riot breaks out in the stands before kickoff, forcing the refs to reset the clock back a few minutes, giving the Draconis team a little extra breathing room before the half ends. And they do their best to take advantage of it, pushing hard along the right side of the field, barely missing the tying score as a last-minute pass falls through the hands of the Skink waiting in the endzone, who ends up being pushed off the field as a result of his mistake and is badly injured by the visibly upset fans.
Second Half:
The second half began with the Bashas kicking off to Bufo Draconis. The Saurus again pile heavily onto the right-hand side of the field, blowing out the Orc Blizters and quickly passing the ball from Skink to Skink, pushing it perilously close to the Bashas goal line in a matter of seconds! The alarmed orcs run over to provide blocking and support as the Blitzer Galth breaks away from the cluthes of the lizards, knocks down the Skink carrier and picks up the ball himself. But the support proved to be too fragile as the Draconis team easily knocks Galth to the turf. The dimunitive Skink Itzi swoops in to grab it, and then cuts back around his blockers before making a short toss to a wide open Xlatilt in the endzone, tying the game at one score apiece in the early stages of the second half.
On the ensuing kickoff, Gugfak again fields the ball and moves up towards the center while the two Blitzers on the right, sprint downfield, rolling over a Skink along the way. Again the Saurus show their speed, though they are unable to get a block on the Gugfak, who nimbly dodges upfield, handing the ball off to Badhag, the leading scorer for the Basha. Badhag races for the left sideline, hoping to put some room between himself and the lizards. But the ever-speedy Skink respond, swarming to the ball like a pack of radbid pirhanas, knocking Badhag down and threatening to take the ball before Orcish reinforcements arrive and push them back. Badhag springs up from the turf and picks up the ball again, falling back behind a screen of orcs. But the Draconis team is short-handed at this point, and with all their heavy-hitters tied up in center field, a single punishing block along the sideline allows Badhag to slip through the gap and into the endzone, bringing the score to 2-1 in the Bashas favor.
As the game begins to wind down, the Draconis return to their tried and true formula, but an unexpected fumble slows them down just enough for the Bashas to respond, blocking that side of the field and forcing the lizards into a melee that they have trouble winning. Marfak puts the finishing touches on the game as he forces a fumble and then trips up another Skink who tries to recover it. A few uneventful fistfights break out as the whistle blows to end the game.
Final Score: Bashas 2, Draconis 1
First Half:
The Bashas win the coin toss and choose to receive the ball, placing it in the hands of their veteran thrower, Gugfak, who moves upfield as as screen of orcs provide a loose buffer while also attempting to put some hurt on the cold-blooded killers they face. Things start off well when one of the Saurus on the line is knocked out just as the game begins. However, Gugfak underestimates the speed and power of the Saurus, as one of the scaly brutes slides in past a well-timed block and lays Gugfak out, spilling the ball onto the field. An awkward scrum ensues as the Bashas retrieve the ball and continue to advance it in short spurts as the lizards quickly pound Gugfak everytime he gets up. Finally, Ishtam the goblin sneaks into the pile, emerging with ball in hand as he spins away from a tackle. He swiftly cuts back across the field and hands the ball to the Riknast the Blitzer who easily trots in for the first score of the game, and the first of his career.
A riot breaks out in the stands before kickoff, forcing the refs to reset the clock back a few minutes, giving the Draconis team a little extra breathing room before the half ends. And they do their best to take advantage of it, pushing hard along the right side of the field, barely missing the tying score as a last-minute pass falls through the hands of the Skink waiting in the endzone, who ends up being pushed off the field as a result of his mistake and is badly injured by the visibly upset fans.
Second Half:
The second half began with the Bashas kicking off to Bufo Draconis. The Saurus again pile heavily onto the right-hand side of the field, blowing out the Orc Blizters and quickly passing the ball from Skink to Skink, pushing it perilously close to the Bashas goal line in a matter of seconds! The alarmed orcs run over to provide blocking and support as the Blitzer Galth breaks away from the cluthes of the lizards, knocks down the Skink carrier and picks up the ball himself. But the support proved to be too fragile as the Draconis team easily knocks Galth to the turf. The dimunitive Skink Itzi swoops in to grab it, and then cuts back around his blockers before making a short toss to a wide open Xlatilt in the endzone, tying the game at one score apiece in the early stages of the second half.
On the ensuing kickoff, Gugfak again fields the ball and moves up towards the center while the two Blitzers on the right, sprint downfield, rolling over a Skink along the way. Again the Saurus show their speed, though they are unable to get a block on the Gugfak, who nimbly dodges upfield, handing the ball off to Badhag, the leading scorer for the Basha. Badhag races for the left sideline, hoping to put some room between himself and the lizards. But the ever-speedy Skink respond, swarming to the ball like a pack of radbid pirhanas, knocking Badhag down and threatening to take the ball before Orcish reinforcements arrive and push them back. Badhag springs up from the turf and picks up the ball again, falling back behind a screen of orcs. But the Draconis team is short-handed at this point, and with all their heavy-hitters tied up in center field, a single punishing block along the sideline allows Badhag to slip through the gap and into the endzone, bringing the score to 2-1 in the Bashas favor.
As the game begins to wind down, the Draconis return to their tried and true formula, but an unexpected fumble slows them down just enough for the Bashas to respond, blocking that side of the field and forcing the lizards into a melee that they have trouble winning. Marfak puts the finishing touches on the game as he forces a fumble and then trips up another Skink who tries to recover it. A few uneventful fistfights break out as the whistle blows to end the game.
Final Score: Bashas 2, Draconis 1
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