Final Reign (FR)		Mackay | Krunch Bubba
		versus
		Ancient Warriors (AW)		Pepaa | Babiluba Loser

Final Reign took eight soulless this game, and headed north (after a few false starts due to communication problems). The Ancient Warriors took more soulless and did the same, but their flank was significantly larger. Seeing this, FR sent more forces north until a large confrontation built up at the N ford. A large, chaotic fight broke out; lightning, cocktails and wight blasts tearing at both armies. Good dwarf usage by Bubba let FR win this battle convincingly.

Meanwhile, Krunch's trow walked right past AW's soulless-covered hill and was destroyed. A lack of commitment from Mackay in the center let Bubba's remnants get isolated and destroyed in the NW, but Final Reign were able to grab all six flags for an instant, to win 5-1 (after SD ended).

Final Reign swapped two soulless for wights this game, and sent a N flank again (this time not as strong as AW's huge one). Krunch wasn't watching and let his dwarves on the northern bluff get taken out, which opened the floodgates to let AW sweep through. A large battle was won comfortably by AW, communications problems meaning that FR's northern wight was unused during the battle.

FR advanced their soulless to the water and were taken out by AW's fetch, AW advancing from the north and west on the remains of FR's army. Bubba disobeyed orders and didn't take the northeast flag, and FR failed to guard their home flag. This let AW waltz in and grab it to force an early sudden death to win.

Note: the Dire Marsh games were played before the Trow games by Final Reign's request.

Final Reign started in the southwest, and took four dwarven heroes, sacrificing their thrall and myrmidons to do so. The Ancient Warriors started in the northwest, and after he had completed unit trading their captain, Pepaa, was disconnected from the game. Both armies were quick to grab balls; Final Reign had a good chance to steal the west ball but communications problems meant this chance was lost. They came back in force a few minutes later and took it, but lost quite a few zerks doing so.

Meanwhile, spiders were having a field day on the rest of the map. After a few minutes, the situation was: two balls at AW's northwest base, two balls at FR's southwest base, two balls in the river at the south end, one ball in the center and one ball in the southeast. Loser's spider accidentally pushed a ball up against the northern edge of the map, until it fell off the mesh; this ball was declared out of play.

As the end of the game approached, AW sent an attack force to the FR base, and ran around inside archer range, taking arrow damage. They failed to contest the southwest balls in time, but took the center and southeast balls to make the ball tally four each. Since FR had held 6 balls prior to the endgame, they were judged the winner of this match for the additional +3 points.

After a few center starts, the second game was played; both armies started in the same positions as the previous game. They took even less myrmidons this game, more spiders instead. AW stole the west ball this game with a spider, who was chased down by FR's trow. The trow then grabbed the ball and ran with it to the edge of the map; AW's spider was able to retrieve it from its nearly-inaccessible position, though.

Meanwhile, Mackay's myrmidons were told to kick a ball in the southeast, heading west. They ran all the way across the map to the southwest, hit a hill and were diverted south. They then hit the edge of the map and proceeded to kick the ball all the way along the south edge of the map until it hit the southeast corner and bounced a few metres back northwest. This ball was still visible (just) and accessible by units, so it was judged in play.

The Ancient Warriors' trow and zerks attacked the FR base and were killed by archers and myrmidons, but this bought AW enough time to split up and take six balls for the win.

Final Reign selected no dwarves, and healed three wights for pus. The Ancient Warriors healed one wight for pus. FR sent a massive army of thrall and warriors through the center to the enemy flag, and demolished the smaller army that was waiting for them. Meanwhile, AW had flanked with about fifteen warriors and reached the FR home flag. They sent most of these warriors off chasing archers, leaving only 3 to attack FR's thrall. The thrall quickly killed the contesting warriors, causing the game to end. AW must be kicking themselves for not taking the flag and worrying about archers later!

Final Reign started this match with only two of their expected five players, and the first few games show it! They rallied reasonably well, but a blunder in game four nearly lost it for them. Only a heroic effort in the final game and a crucial mistake on AW's part were able to let them claw their way back from the abyss. The final score for this match: 29 - 28. Extremely tense!

- Butcher