Three Wolf Moon - CCKUP Cup Season 4

[SirShadowcat]

Gratz to the draw!!

That would teach those pesky Delfs
Any improvement on the team???

[GuppyShark]

Sure Hands on a lineman who picked up MVP.

I now have a ton of gold in the bank and I'm looking to expand my roster, but I was honestly expecting to have suffered some player attrition by now.

I have 12 on the roster at the moment - 2 Werewolves, 1 Blitzer, 1 Thrower, 2 Runners, 6 Lineys. I don't want to recruit a second Blitzer because I don't feel 40k of TV (the difference between a Blitzer and a Lineman) is worth Frenzy and Jump Up until I can skill the first up.

Which means I'm planning to pick up the Troll. Disturbing Presence means he will not be useless against agility teams who can dodge away from him.

EDIT:

I made two mistakes in my last game that potentially cost me victory.

1) I think I screwed up the Frenzy/Go For It interaction resulting in my induced Tackle Blitzer hitting the ground in a key turn in the first half.
2) I forgot to roll for an interception during the Dark Lords long-bomb throw. 1/6 chance of saving the drive there. I had a player right in front of his thrower.

[GuppyShark]

An Offering of Tears

Outside, the fans are still cheering. The 2-2 showdown against veteran Dark Elf team the Dark Lords was a crowd-pleaser from start to end. Both teams fans had plenty to be happy about - Three Wolf Moon fans excited that the rookie team had proven itself a match for the most popular team in the Duke's Division, Dark Lords fans happy that even with half their players off the pitch the remaining players had been more than capable of holding off the entire valkyrie team.

Inside the Three Wolf Moon locker room, the mood is much more somber. Several of the valkyries are openly weeping at the result. In battle, there is no draw. There is only victory or defeat. They had fought hard but had failed to secure the win. They were no closer to their goal.

Karn Mithralia, offensive team captain, steps into the centre of the locker room and demands their attention. He is not shapeshifted into his animal form. In the form of a mortal man, he moves carefully and with dignity. He speaks slowly, and chooses his words carefully.

"Warriors. Today we taste defeat. We have been tested. We are not yet ready for the challenges ahead. We must become stronger. We must become smarter. We must come together as warriors. And we must go beyond even this. Our quest has just begun."

He picks up an empty bowl and empties it. The Hatorade splashes onto the raw wooden bench and drips onto the stone floor.

He approaches one of the weeping valkyries and presses the bowl to her cheek. Her tears run into the bowl and collect in its centre.

"We come for our people."

He moves around the room, collecting the fresh tears of each of the valkyries.

"We come for our people."

Eventually the bowl is filled. Lord Makk, the teams' other werewolf, watches this display with contempt.

"You cannot be so desperate as to call on him."

The two werewolves glare at each other. Neither flinches. They continue to stare into each other's eyes for several moments.

"The decision is made," Karn says eventually, acknowledging his teammates' statement. "We will call on the great troll. Our quest demands it."

Bowl in hand, Karn leaves the locker room. Lord Makk growls and storms off after him. The valkyries remain behind.



It is a long flight to the cold isles of Norsca, even by pegasus.

Karn has much time to think and reflect on this journey, as Lord Makk refuses to speak. The decision, though made, still gnaws at him. They have already secured the aid of a troll once on this mission. Now they are seeking to add one to their warband on a permanent basis.

The snow trolls are ravenous, difficult to control, and unruly. It will be a poor fit for the otherwise tightly-nit, disciplined team of valkyr warriors.

Beyond the practical concerns were the spiritual ones. Were they admitting defeat by declaring themselves incapable of fulfilling their charge? Would it tarnish their eventual goal, if the gods were so graceful as to permit it?

By the time he has reached his destination, he still does not have an answer.

They dismounts and the pegasi rear back into the sky. They have been delivered straight to the troll's cave. Before he enters it, he pauses for a moment to savour the crisp, biting air. He loves the cold of the Norselands. So much more invigorating to the body and spirit than the bright, merciless sun of his desert homeland.

The cave is dark, lit only by the light behind him. He is certain he is silhouetted against the cave opening and easy prey. Nonetheless, he moves forward.

"Stop, ulfwerener."

The words are... surprising. Snow trolls are not often capable of intelligible speech. They stop.

"Do I smell... fresh tears?" it asks.

Karn cannot see the troll, but he can smell its matted fur and other, less pleasant odours. They can hear its bulk shifting in the cave. If need be, he can unleash the wolf within and launch himself at the beast, but he does not relish the contest, even with Lord Makk at his side.

Karn reaches to his waist and unwraps the bowl, which has been sealed in ice and cloth. Kneeling, he extends the bowl to the snow troll.

The bowl is snatched from his hands. He hears the ice crack and the troll guzzles the tears.

"I summon you to the Three Wolf Moon pack, by the ancient treaties and oaths of our peoples," Karn intones. He speaks ritual words he does not understand, and the Troll repeats them.

"I am Karn Mithralia, of Three Wolf Moon."
"I am Lord Makk, of Three Wolf Moon."
"I am Smörhund, of Three Wolf Moon."

Karn shifts to werewolf form. The troll, Smörhund, roars, and the werewolves join in, adding their own lupine howl. The two sounds, so utterly different, are yet united in common purpose.

The echoes richochet off the cave walls and Karn begins to wonder if the cave will collapse under the deluge of sound. They leave the cave and howl under the open sky.

Three Wolves.
And a Moon.

[SirShadowcat]

Great writeup!

I just wonder were did you get the name for the troll?
The name does not really suit him if you read it in swedish

[GuppyShark]

I should have seen that coming.

I spent a bit of time trying to find some historical Nordic mythology names for a troll and came up blank.

So I took the name of a forum troll, translated his username into Swedish via Google, so that it would look authentic to the casual observer, and used that.

[SirShadowcat]

I guessed that you had done something like that!

I would suggest names lika
Isnäve
Ishammaren
or
Snöstorm

But as i guess that you have noone who understands swedish in tour BB league then he can still have the name smörhund

[JaM]

Nice writeup.

Snore hound ?

j/k, hope he makes a great addition to the team. And I REALLY like the fluff here.

[GuppyShark]

1-1 tie vs Slann

I opted to receive, got a touchback, gave it to Lord Makk (Ulfwerener #1) because I want to get him some SPP. He advances, the Star Player Skink Hemlock dodges into contact with him.

I move up a cage. Lord Makk attempts to swat Hemlock. He sidesteps out of the cage. Frenzy, he follows up. Side Step - pulls me further out of the cage. Lord Makk, having frenzied out of the cage chasing a damned skink, gets taken down and the Slann try to throw the ball downfield.

Smörhund gets the interception.

Game was categorised by the complete ineptness of every player on the pitch. The Slann were falling over everywhere, and the Snow Troll and Lord Makk managed to roll more both downs than I'd seen in all previous games combined. For my part, I seemed to have the players I needed in exactly the wrong spots.

The Norse are so reliable that the Snow Troll really sticks out. The combination of Wild Animal making it difficult to get him on his feet and the lack of starting Block mean I never really want to use him. But he got an interception so I will see how he goes. If he gets double on his first skill all is forgiven.

Lucky #13 got the touchdown after the Slann Catcher she had marked failed to leap over her. That put her over the line for her first skill. While her fluff is pointing her towards Dirty Player I went with Tackle because Tackle is great and there's plenty of Dodge action in the league. It'll certainly help deal with the Block/Dodge/Side Step pieces I am having trouble with.

[GuppyShark]

Game 6 - Swiftwind Strikers, High Elves

A great game and one that challenged me to improve my skills.

I've long had a weakness against the fast teams. The tactics you use against other teams don't work at all against elves.

While I feel confident in saying I can handle the more upfront teams, it's the maneuverable ones that cause me trouble. They achieve local superiority with movement and keep me under pressure. I am used to being the fast team, and exploiting that speed to win.

This match really rubbed that in. Not only did I have a player who would only activate half the time thanks to Wild Animal manning the line, but I also had to deal with players who could not be marked.

I am used to running players up forcing the dodge or the block attempt, and getting the free block. Elves, funnily enough, will dodge away and assist their friends.

But enough about my thoughts here. What about the game?

A great game against a great coach. We did have one minor disagreement in the first half about the definition of a cocked die - I let him have it so had a drive ended when the ballcarrier got taken down. He later apologised for not understanding my POV until he'd had time to think about it. Class act.

It was a great game. I might not have gotten the W but I learned a great deal, albeit the hard way .

I also killed two elves. From the same unskilled lineman in two consecutive one-die blocks. She must really hate elves.

My Tackle player was a constant threat but one that had little effect, her hits were clean and the elves who dodged away from her did so without needing a reroll, except for one in the first half which was team rerolled. That made up the TV of Tackle right there!

There was one hilarious moment in the second half. I declare a move action with Smörhund, pass the Wild Animal, then realise he is 10 squares away from the loose ball. Move five, go for it, go for it, count the squares. Opponent goes "What's the range on Disturbing Presence?"

Three.

I then discover it doesn't affect pickups, but simply running my snow troll to get the ball in his zone of -1 to passing/catching was something I was quite happy with myself about.

I lost 0-2.

[Ullis]

Snore hound ?

Butterhound. I really like the name Smörhund, especially as it sounds kind of grim and dark until you know what it means in some other language.

[voyagers_uk]

loving your write-ups, keep it going.

[GuppyShark]

Thanks, without feedback I don't know if I'm just posting at myself. I would do it anyway because I enjoy it, so commentary is a bonus.

I have repainted the bases on my beasties and will be taking fresh photos soon. I hope to have individual model portraits, in the meantime I've used historical valkyrie images for the player profiles on the first page.

EDIT: Voyagers, you may have noticed where I got the inspiration for the team colour scheme. Have you ever tried using the ATL home colours on a model? The shoulder pattern has been giving me trouble, I am having to use photos as a reference, I gave up on it for now.

[voyagers_uk]

Pro Elves, but I am so bad at painting I had someone else do them for me...

[SirShadowcat]

Great reports!

Is there a link to your team for checking your process?

[GuppyShark]

http://www.gamequest.net.au/site/Events ... start.html

Click on "Duke's Division Stats" for the league spreadsheet. It's not updated regularly however.