Match Report - The Fiery Fowlers (Halflings) vs Nurgle

Hello!

Merry Christmas everyone! (Or alternative holiday greeting if you prefer.) Now that it is officially Christmas (Noddy said so), it's time for a festive treat. And what could embody the spirit of Christmas more than a game of Blood Bowl?

Yes, that's right, Halfling heroes The Fiery Fowlers have been back in action, working up a bit of an appetite for the end of season feast. Hot off a narrow defeat to Goblins (back in October), the Fowlers were looking for their first win against a Nurgle team coached by George, formerly of the Injection Molded Marauders. George assured me that one day he would have a painted Bloodbowl team, however today was not that day. We had a brief and non-conclusive discussion about a team name for the new boys, but I think I will call them the Pallid Pugilists.

Before the game however, it was time to get into character...

That that out of the way, it was time to play some Bloodbowl! We played to 1000 TV, George's team were taking to the field with no skills, while I had just the one, Break Tackle on Treeman Rowan Greenleaf to make up the TV a bit. We rolled up all the pre-game stuff, it turns out the Halfling fans didn't want to travel because they were outnumbered more than two-to-one by the Chaos crowd. The weather result justified that, a very seasonal blizzard. Finally, the Pallid Pugilists got to receive the ball first.

Kick off with the Fiery Fowlers spreading out across their half, and the Nurgle players lining up to stomp forward. The ball was recovered easily by one of the Pestigor and the offence began...

The two tress started doing some damage, but the Pugilists pushed up the flank with the ball. The Fowlers dropped into a tentative screen to try and keep them at bay. Several Halflings fell as the Chaos players slowly pushed up. A touchdown looked inevitable... 

Time for some hero plays! Dodging left and right, Gilbert Smoothands and Randy Butternibs combined to get a spicy tackle on the ball carrier. In an unlikely turn of events (2 dice uphill) the goat fell and the ball bounced off the pitch and was thrown back in (apparently by one of the few Halfling fans) right in position for Sam Copperkettle to grab it and make his way back towards the Nurgle end zone!

Copperkettle proved much too slippery for the Nurgle players who managed to get back to block his path, though some of the other 'flings were less fortunate, finding themselves flattened under the bulk of the chaos warriors.

With time ticking down on the first half, the Fowlers ran in for an incredibly unlikely Touchdown! For the first time in history, the Fiery Fowlers were winning a game!

In the second half, the Halflings were receiving the ball. The Pallid Pugilists had kindly left some gaps for thrown 'flings to land in, but in the unusual situation of actually being ahead meant that might not be the best option.

The ball landed far on the flank, and the Fowlers quickly swarmed around it, followed shortly after by Nurgle players.

As it happened, the tree-powered touchdown plan went out the window pretty quick as the Nurgle team managed to chop down the Treemen and keep them on the floor for most of the half. Their focus on the big guys did let the little ones pick up the ball and put a lot of (admittedly very small) bodies between it and the opposition.

With time ticking away, the Halfings danced away from the slow moving, disturbingly smelly noose that was closing around them. They just needed to hold on a little longer...

Things started to get messy as the bloated warriors started to throw their considerable weight around. Having fowled one of the Trees off the pitch, the Pugilists were able to commit even more players to the squeeze onto the ball carrier. One of the rotters got himself into position to shamble in for the draw if the Halflings should drop the ball.

It got tighter and tighter, but the plucky Halflings were able to dodge and dive around the Nurgle tackles and as the ref was getting ready to blow his whistle, they found an opening to rush the ball back down the pitch to safety. The whistle blew and Piggy Beefteeth's men celebrated their first victory! The end of match feast never tasted so sweet!

An interesting game for sure. The lack of skills on the basic Nurgle players was really their downfall here, that and some good rolls for me. So many times George got two or three dice tackles and was unable to roll a defender down result, with dodge ignoring the stumbles and both down being an issue without block on the hard hitters. The ability to move through all the tackle zones with Stunties meant that George could not make a truly safe cage in the first half, opening him up for my insane hero play. This was probably about the best match up I could have hoped for with the 'flings, but it still did require some good luck to pull off that win. But I'll take it!