Blood Bowl: Princess Owayanna Tournament Match Report- Finals: Chaos vs Skaven

Lord Summervale: It all comes down to this! Welcome one and all to Cabalvision IV's coverage of the Princess Owayanna Bottled Healing SpringWater Tournament! Teams across the Deep North League- Southern Regional Conference gathered to battle for the illustrious Princess Owayanna Cup and a season long supply of her bottled healing spring waters.

We started with 8 teams coming into this competition, but now we are down to the final two competitors. Today, our match will be between the Skaven Rat Packers and the Chaos Goat Herders.

Mad Johan: Both of these teams had to battle through some fierce rivals to get here today! Da Rat Packers bested the Ork Skulsmash Reeverz in a game that came down to the wire, and then defeated the Nottingham Nobles. The Chaos Goat Herders took on and crushed the Skaven Cheez-Ballers and then rocked the Dwarf Rock-N-Rollers to pave their way to the path to glory here at the tournament.

Lord Summervale: By Nuffle, this is going to be one heck of a match. The speed of the three Gutter-runner offense versus the brutality of the 4 Chosen chaos line. Johan, what do you think the keys to the game are?

Mad Johan: Both teams are going to have to focus on what they excel at and try to force the other team to try and play by their terms. You know the Rat Packers are going to try to dodge through the Chaos lines and get their play-makers into the back field, meanwhile the Goat Herders are going to simply try to grind the opposing team into dust. You know what I always say, it is hard to win a match when half you team is in the dug-out.

Lord Summervale: Both teams have injured players returning to the line-up. The Goat Herders have their Team Captain Asquith Kneecapper return after a mysterious injury during the game against the Rock-N-Rollers.

Mad Johan: Yeah, I'm still not entirely sure what happened? One minute he was there holding off two Dwarf blockers and the next minute he was being dragged off to the Dug-out.

Lord Summervale: The Rat Packers have their one and only blitzer, Bashy; returning.

Mad Johan: The Rat Packers like to have Bashy to clear the key lane for the Gutter-runners to get to the back field. They were successful without him last game with the Nobles, but you can bet that Team Captain Favre the Cheese-monger is glad to have Bashy back.

Lord Summervale: The fans are all ready warmed up to a fever pitch here at the beautiful Citadel Arena, which is normally home to the Nottingham Nobles. However, Nottingham won the bid for the Tournament Cup event from Freeboota Field and Khaz-a-Killid. That has only fueled the rivalry between the three teams and their fans.

Mad Johan: I think the committee made a good choice for the Cup-event to be held here. This new venue is amazing and Nottigham has been a great place to stay. I am a big fan of Bugman's Brewery.

Lord Summervale: You and apparently 90% of the fans here today! This looks like it could get rowdy early.

Both Team Captains have gone to the center of the Pitch. Kneecapper looks to have his normal, aggressive stride back. The two shake hands as Nuffle demands prior to the coin toss. Da Rat Packers win the toss.

Mad Johan: In the last two games, they elected to get the ball first. Will they continue with that strategy?

Lord Summervale: Yes, that is exactly what they do. Favre the Cheesemonger decides his team will receive to start the game! Both side start to line-up for the opening drive.

The beastman Hack has been practicing his kicking, and he is going to boot it for the Goat Herders. Boom! The kick is up!

It is a short kick that drops just behind the secondary of the Skaven line. Squaeky runs up and picks up the ball. The rest of the Skaven push on the near side and make a gap in the line. The Goat Herders were playing back from the line, and a pair of Beastmen quickly move to close the gap.

Mad Johan: Brisbane Skullthumper starts the game off with a bang and punishes the skaven linerat Pincher with a powerful hit.

Lord Summervale: Seeing the gap close, the Skaven use their speed and shift the point of attack to the far side of the field. A good block by Nipper springs the corner, and Pokey gets deep into the back field alone.

Mad Johan: Now is the time for the Goat Herders to hit him hard....

Lord Summervale: The Chaos team seems to take your advice as three beastmen converge on Pokey and knock him down.

Mad Johan: They then start kicking him while he is down! That's how you play Blood Bowl!

Lord Summervale: The refs are too busy watching where the action is and miss the fouls. However, Pokey looks stunned from Grafitti's hooves.

Another block by Nipper breaks Squeaky and Sneaky loose! They dart down the field. Squeaky tries to dump it to Sneaky, who bobbling catches it and runs to the corner, right at the end zone.

 However, the Beastman Payne manages to rush over and knock him out of bounds before he can score.

Mad Johan: The crowd of frenzied Chaos fans sends Sneaky to the Dug-out. The Chaos coach must be giving a prayer to the gods!

Lord Summervale: The Beastman Dance party sends Pokey to the Dug-out as well. Graffitti and Payne seem to have taken your advice Johan.

Mad Johan: The ball is still loose in the end zone after the crowd tossed it in. Todd Organgrinder and Murder drop back to cover Squeaky, but the Skaven may still steal a touch down out of this yet if the Chaos Goat Herders are not careful.

Lord Summervale: Squeaky tries to sneak in behind Payne, and manages to avoid him, but he fails to pick-up the ball.

Mad Johan: The pressure got to the little guy as he normal has very sure hands.

Lord Summervale: Payne easily knocks him into the crowd and takes the last Gutter Runner off the field.

Mad Johan: Finally! Someone knows how to play against this offense! It is a bit away from the play but Brisbane Skullthumper has lived up to his reputation and stunned two Skaven linerats. He is doing More than his part to take the Skaven out of the game!

Lord Summervale: Seeing their plan to score early fall apart, the Skaven try to dodge away from their opponents and set up a defense in depth to stop the Goat Herders from scoring this half.

Murder picks up the ball in his own end zone and starts the long journey back to score. A cage quickly forms around him while some of his fellow beastmen that are free head for the end zone.

Mad Johan: The Skaven linerats are doing their part and start to try to break the cage open. A powerful hit by Fodder stuns his foe.

Lord Summervale: The cage holds and the Beastman manage to block the line-rats away and let Murder rush past the Skaven defenses.

Mad Johan: Over on the near side, Violence tries to block Bashy, but misses his footing and goes to the dug-out!

Lord Summervale: Squish-squish breaks loose from his defender and manages to lay a hand on Murder. However, the Beastman manages to stiff arm him away and stay on his feet..... er hooves.

Mad Johan: This Chaos team has done a good job keeping the dodgy Skaven pinned. More times than not, the Skaven have not been able to dodge away as another linerat goes down to a tackle zone.

Lord Summervale: Bashy manages to come across field using that Skaven speed and pummel Murder to the ground. The ball goes loose and Favre final evades Asquith Kneecapper. He scoops up the ball and launches it back to mid-field with a completion to Nipper.

Mad Johan: Bashy and Favre just saved their team from going down by 1.

Lord Summervale: There is some jostling and shoving, but the half winds to a close with neither team scoring.

Mad Johan: The Chaos Goat Herders should be pretty proud of themselves. They manged to stop this Rat packer offense from getting points on the board, and threatened scoring themselves. I said the team that is going to win today will need to force their opponent to play their way. This Chaos team did that to the Rat Packers and did something no team has done yet this tournament, kept the Rat Packers from scoring.

Lord Summervale: You are indeed a fine Blood Bowl mind Johan. With the half, we will send you back to to the Cabalvision studios for highlights from around the Olde World and a word from our sponsors. Bloodweiser would like to remind you that with a Bloodweiser it is always an Oh-Positive experience. Johan and I; Lord Summervale; will return with continuing coverage of the Princess Owayanna Healing Spring Bottled Water Tournament Finals between the Chaos Goat Herders and the Skaven Rat packers. See you back here soon!

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Lord Summervale: Welcome back to Cabalvision IV's coverage of the Princess Owayanna Healing Spring Bottled Water Tournament finals between the Chaos Goat Herders and the Skaven Rat Packers. The score is currently tied at 0 a piece after a surprising first half.

Mad Johan: Yeah, the surprise was that the Rat Packers got the ball first and did not score!

Lord Summervale: Indeed. The Goat Herders seemed to take your advice Johan and sent all the Gutter Runners off the field by fouling or sideline pushes. In fact, Sneaky; arguably the Rat packers star Gutter Runner is still in the dug-out.

Mad Johan: Well, the Chaos team is going to receive so it makes sense that the Gutter Runners stay in the dug-out and the extra linerats come out.

Lord Summervale: Since the Goat Herders are getting the ball first this half, what do you think will be the keys to the game?

Mad Johan: Well, if I am the Goat Herders I am going to play ball control. I am in no rush to get down the field and score. Ideally, I should be walking it into the end zone right when the buzzer for the second half rings. The Rat Packers best weapon is their offense, so I do not want them putting their offense back on the field. Instead, I want to use this second half to grind their team down because the Skaven need to get the ball from me.

Lord Summervale: What if you are the Rat Packers?

Mad Johan: You need to minimize where and who they can hit you with. Then, you need to time your blitz right to knock the ball loose and use your speed to recover and score. You can not let them grind your team into pulp, or eat up all the clock. Of the two teams, the Rat Packers have the harder job now. They really needed to score first and early.

Lord Summervale: With that, let's get back to the game. The Chaos Goat Herders are set to receive the kick. And ….. BOOM! It is up.

It is a very short kick and barely makes it past the line of scrimmage! Gore slides over and retrieves the ball. His fellow team mates quickly form up an extra thick cage around him.

Mad Johan: Ker-runch! Todd Organgrinder finishes his block strong and sends Pincher to the box. So far, the Chaos team is executing on the right plan.

Lord Summervale: Pokey and Bashy team up on Brisbane Skullthumper and push him back. This allows Kil-kil a chance to start breaking open the chaos cage. However, the Chaos team made it extra thick.

Mad Johan: The Chaos Chosen are doing their job and grinding the Skaven linerats up. Asquith Kneecapper takes Bucktooth to the dug-out, while Brisbane Skullthumper stuns Nipper. However, Winston Azhander runs into a tougher nut as Bashy and him square off in the center of the Chaos cage.

Lord Summervale: I bet the Rat Packers are glad to have him back!

The Skaven line puts on a clinic on how to break into a cage and push their way into the ball carriers face, despite the extra protection the Goat Herders tried to put on him.

Mad Johan: Bashy is leading the way again. He is trying to make up for lost time and be an MVP this game!

Lord Summervale: However, the Chaos team excels at grinding the ball forward, and here we see them keep pressing forward, very slowly.

Mad Johan: That's how you handle Gutter-Runners. Hack managed to break loose from the scrum and lay horns on Pokey. He sent him to the dug-out right quick!

Lord Summervale: The Goat Herders look like they may have broken through the Skaven line. Gore tries to dump the ball to Malice, but the other Beastman drops the pass. This could be the Skaven's chance to stop the Chaos push.

Mad Johan: The Rat Packers will miss their Gutter-runners now.

Lord Summervale: Favre dodges away from Todd Organgrinder and scrambles for the ball. He manages to scoop it up. He pivots while Nipper dodges away from a defender on the far side. Favre da Cheesemonger hits him with lightning bolt strike and the little linerat scampers away at full skaven speed into an open back field.

Mad Johan: Wow, you don't get to see it much but even linerats can accelerate quickly.

Lord Summervale: Inspired, Pak takes out Payne and sends him to the dug-out.

Arson drops back and tries to stop the nimble linerat, but he can't keep up and gets tripped up and falls. He gets ups and chases the winded linerat again, but the Beastman again tumbles to the ground.

Mad Johan: It looks like Arson is going to be the goat for this game.

Lord Summervale: Really..... With very little time left in the game, Nipper runs in for the touch down. The skaven fans go crazy!

Mad Johan: That was exactly what the Skaven needed to do this half. What makes it worse for the Chaos Goat Herders is that the turn-over was an unforced error. I don;t know who is more likely to be sacrificed to the media and the Chaos gods tomorrow.... Malice or Arson?

Lord Summervale: Maybe both!

The two teams line up for the kick, but it would take a miracle for the Chaos team to score. Murder retrieves the kick.

Mad Johan: Asquith Kneecapper seems like he wants to make and example out of someone and smashes Fodder to the ground, stunned.

Lord Summervale: Violence gets into the back field and Murder hits him at long range, but the beastman drops the ball.

Mad Johan: You really need to catch those in this league.

Lord Summervale: Favre scrambles forward and scoops up the ball. At this point the game is essentially over even though there is time on the clock.

However, Favre dumps it back to Bashy who catches it. He then steam rolls forward and blasts Grafitti... sending him to the dug-out. With that the game ends.

Mad Johan: What a bunch of unnecessary showing off and violence at the end of the half.... Nuffle would be pleased.

Lord Summervale: With that, we have a new Princess Owayanna Healing Spring Bottled Water Tournament Champion! Congratulations to the Skaven Rat Packers led by team captain Favre Da' Cheesemonger! They win 1 to 0 over the Chaos Goat Herders.

Mad Johan: This is one of the few teams remaining from the old Deep North- Southern Regional Conference and their veteran nature really helped them overcome some adversity this tournament. They barely squeaked out a win against the Ork Skulsmash Reeverz and then lost their only Blitzer to injury. Despite that, their offense managed to overcome these drawbacks.

Lord Suumervale: Indeed, now Favre and his team can add this Chamionship trophy to their locker room, a season long supply of Princess Owayanna Healing Spring Bottled Water, and the tournament prize money.

Looking back at the game, who do you think were the MVPs of this championship game?

Mad Johan: Well, let's look at the Chaos Goat Herders first. No one really stands out as they had a really strong team effort. It is easier to point out who will be reviled by fans, press, and the gods tomorrow. However, I think Brisbane Skullthumper did his job very well, Grafitti took out one of those Gutter Runners early by leading a stomping party, and Payne's goal line stand all stick out in my mind. I think the MVP for the Chaos Goat Herders is going to be.... Payne.

Lord Summervale: Sounds like the key, positive plays for the Chaos team came in the first half. How about MVPs for the Rat Packers.

Mad Johan: This is easier to choose. The Gutter-runners went out early in this game, and that left space for other players to step it up. You have to include Nipper for his last minute touchdown drive miracle, Favre Da Cheesemonger for his scrambling and passing, and Bashy came back with a vengeance this game to stiffen the Skaven line and really lead the team.

I have a feeling Favre and Bashy will get their chance to be MVPs int eh future, but how often does a lowly linerat get to be the MVP instead of a casualty? I'm going with Nipper.

Lord Summervale: With the inaugural Tournament complete, what do you expect to see develop in the Deep North- Southern Regional Conference now?

Mad Johan: This conference has a great fan base and a diverse population. Therefore, I expect it to keep growing with more teams and more great games of Blood Bowl. I mean, after this Tournament you have to think the Chaos Goat Herders and the Rat Packers are in a position to lead the Conference to the Championship. However, The Dark Elf Black Guards and the latest addition to the League the Elf Supremes will change things up as we go forward.

Overall, I expect more big hits, more incredible scoring drives, and great Blood Bowl action.

Lord Summervale: With that, let's rejoin our Cabalvision IV studios. Thanks for joining us for the final championship game of the Princess Owayanna Healing Spring Bottled Water Tournament. Thanks to our other sponsors as well; Bloodweiser and Gullotine Razors. Until next time, this is Mad Johan and Lord Summervale signing off!