Vipers Beat Paste

Last night the Tlaxlan Vipers defeated the Wood Elves of Perk's Elf Paste 3-2 in a hard fought and close game!

The Vipers, missing their Kroxigor Ixtli-Atl, had a fair bit inducement money to play with and, after considerable thought (Burn Them All - take a Wizard!) elected to inflict some Bad Habits on the Wood Elves and purchased a couple of agility potions for the Skinks. However, while Mextlu was positively humming after imbibing his potion, Eztli remained unaffected (perhaps an ominous early sign that the talented skink's old concussion injury giving him problems?)

Electing to receive, the Lizards fielded the ball deep in their own half as most of the Perk's players flooded down field. Tlazohtlaloni's newly developed skill at tackling came in very handy throughout the match, and no more so than now, as he knocked down a Wardancer, opening hole that allowed Eztli to scoot past the elves and across the half way line. The woodies were soon wishing they had some tackling know-how of their own as a Blitz failed to bring down Eztli - but the swiftness of the Elves allowed them to seemingly pin him against the sideline. But Achcauhtla came crashing in to the rescue with a ferocious block that killed Hot and Spicy II (the Perk's Apothecary failed to revive him - so presumably he is now in a jar of fine elven paste somewhere) Eztli then dashed along the sideline, past several elves - a journey that took him through four tackle zones - and into the clear!! He survived another Blitz and ran in the opening TD.

Despite having one Thrower dead and the other (with his valuable Leader skill) suffering from a prolonged KO - the Wood Elves struck back quickly. An initial move down right hand side of field succeeded in drawing in most of the Lizard defenders - before the Perk's executed a sudden break to the left. Squishy dashed across the field and handed the ball off to Soft - who dodged away to score the equaliser! Not to be out done, the Vipers were just as quick with a reply. Eztli grabbed the ball, staying on his feet after yet another Blitz (and his sure hands defying the attempt to strip the ball from his grasp), and handed it off to Mextlu - who raced down field to put the Lizards in the lead.

Unusually for a Vipers game, the most of the first half was played in fine weather - but that surely couldn't last!?! And, just before the next kick-off, it started to rain - and kept raining for the remainder of the match. Meanwhile, the elves had just started get their players into position for another assault on the Lizard's line, when their Treeman, Hornbeamforect, KO'd himself in a very poor attempt at a Block, ending the half.

The wet conditions resulted in the woodies fumbling their attempt to pick up the ball at the restart - allowing a flood of Skinks and Saurus to rush forward - resulting in the development a enormous brawl around the ball that eventually involved most of the players from both teams. During the course of this melée, Eztli was killed ( ...sob... ) and the Perk's line-elf, Chicken, was serious injured as the ball bounced around like a bar of wet soap. Eventually it popped clear and the drug-assisted agility of Mextlu (and a Re-Roll) enabled him to finally pick it up and sprint away for a TD. With time running out, unless there was a string of Riots, the woodies now couldn't win - but they could still demonstrate their mastery of the passing game -and that's exactly what they did. Sweet and Sour, back on the field after his overly long rest, flipped a pass to Squishy - who acted as though the defenders surrounding him simply weren't there. He then dashed away, dodging past several defenders, and sprinted into the End Zone for a TD!!

Thanks to Phil for the game. Always a challenge to play against the fast and agile woodies who can score from almost anywhere! A highly enjoyable game - well, except for the death of one of my best-est Skinks :(

Dave

(aka Axebreaker)