Foundation (*F*)		Hadrian | Ralph | Gil-Estel Mims | Chameleon | Cantrip
		versus
		Altus Praeses (ap)		Wintermute | Butcher Mundrid

Note: At the start of the match, Foundation objected to the suddenness of the rules change which I made about six hours before the match. They requested that we play with the old rules (which did not include three points for a win on the dual-team maps). In the spirit of fairness, I agreed to this. Since then, I have realised that this was a mistake, and that the scoring system was too broken to be used. However, I have to honour my earlier decision, even if it did make a mockery of the game balance.

- Butcher

Ananab Tilps reviewed (and adjudicated) this match. His comments:

With only three players in a dual-team game, things look grim for AP right from the start. But both AP teams start in the west, and neither home base is attacked until the end of the game.

The focal points are the middle ball, which AP manages to reach before F does, and the northeast ball, whose defending army is whittled down by spiders and myrmidons until only a handful of soulless remain.

F dispatches a trow/spider horde to take the middle ball away from AP just as AP sends an army and a half northeast to do away with the handful of soulless. An F ground attack that meets with watery failure in the southwest finds success in the north as it rampages through some helpless land-bound soulless and fetch.

But time runs out before F's other army can tag the newly acquired ball, and they settle for an 8-7 loss.

This game, the start positions are exactly reversed, and AP spideys the middle ball back to the southeast pit, where it remains snug and warm the rest of the game.

F elects to bring the northwest ball down where the southwest one is floating on a pool of water, and, leaving one team's defense to guard them, goes on offense on both fronts.

Both AP armies focus solely on defense in the face of such a giant F offensive. Unfortunately for F, they fight on two fronts at once, and each defending army administers mass quantities of fetch zaps into F's attackers. In the north, Mundrid makes the play of the game as he sneaks some spiders along a cliffside into the middle of the F soulless.

AP tries to add to their 6-4 lead, but time has run out. As one of F's players put it:

Mims: thank God for the no bonus

F, led by Ralph, selects an army big on melee and short on trickery. AP, by contrast, sinks a big chunk of capital into six wights and four journeymen, prompting one of their players to comment.

Mundrid: I don't want any of those fat freaks

In an interesting twist on the AP ghol bomb tradition, Butcher sows the north crossing with ghol-carried satchels, then posts a wight underwater like a fuse. No one ever bites.

All this chicanery comes at a price: while the three AP players attempt to control units all over the board, F's five players move their armies around in big easy-to-watch blobs. F's ghol/warrior flanks distract AP, and when AP attacks across the middle, they charge into a semicircle of thrall, warriors and archers.

The battle is pitched, but near the end, AP's warriors are sent chasing archers, leaving the thrall to die. Hadrian and Ralph bring their flanks up to the center and F mops up the survivors.

This game, F's northern flank meets no resistance at all, and circles behind AP. The flank freezes AP's southern flank in place, where it remains for the rest of the game.

While the F offensive oozes across the middle, AP sends detachments of melee to their rear in the attempt to remove the distraction. Sending them in little bite-size pieces, Ralph's flank eats them with a contented belch.

Finally, F so clearly outnumbers AP in the middle that they camp out on the middle hill and lob arrows and warrior detachments in all directions. AP tries to salvage a flag or two, but end up shooting themselves in the foot: during sudden death, F snarfs up each AP flag one by one.

Having won the match, most of F stumbles off to sleep. The three F players that remain are outgunned by the AP soulless, and AP suddenly tags all the balls for the win.

Excerpt from an AP pre-tourney strategy letter: "Hey guys, I got a cool idea! Let's get all the way to the Quarterfinals, then no one show up!"

Overcoming the odds to win both RIP games, the three lone AP members get handed their heads on Keep by solid Foundation strategy and communication. The big F's move on to face Rabble Forces in the semis!

- Ananab Tilps