Rabble Forces (RF)		Leonidas | Umbra | Guerro Dminor | Renwood | Balic
		versus
		Clan Plaid Dwarves (#CP#D)		Blackbeard | Crazy Ike | Cavos Waywardone | YSD

Note: due to OOS considerations, the order that these games were played in was Creep Territories, Creep CTF, Trow Captures, Desert Territories. This differs from the order shown here, so though it looks like the match didn't come down to the wire, believe me, it did. Going into the last game (the somewhat anti-climactic Desert Territories) the score was 30-28 to #CP#D!)

First up, a brisk dash around the searing ground of "The Desert Between Your Ears" to get the final off to a fast start. Rabble Forces chose to spurn the fir'Bolg and took a full load of infantry, wights and journeymen instead. The Dwarves chose less thrall and journeymen, taking six archers and a dwarf in their place. After a few small rules questions, the starting bell sounded and the match was underway!

Ike: Butch, is there any way to get style points with thrall?

The Dwarves sent ghols out to steal Rabble Forces' lunch money, but finding none they settled for killing their two south wights, this scouting allowing them to tag the two north wights with thrall. However, they completely missed the two far north wights, which would come back to bite them later.

Crazy Ike blockaded the bridge with his warriors for as long as he could, but he was forced to retreat when faced with massive ghol and warrior forces. The long sprint north was a painful one, as Ike ran to the remainder of the #CP#D forces (presently at the north ford), sending occasional warriors back to stem the tide of ghols.

The Dwarves brought their six wights into play then, using three for pus and forcing the RF warriors to back off (saving Ike's bacon). They used another to wight some unattended RF thrall in the north, and sank two in the far north pool to act as fuses for a cunning satchel bomb in the ford.

RF's main force was now in the mid-west, while #CP#D were largely in the NW. The Dwarves' thrall engaged the wighted RF thrall underwater, and easily killed the dazed RF troops... at a price.

Ike: they have wights N?
Blackbeard: no, I killed them both
Boom!
Blackbeard: then again...

#CP#D retreated their warriors and dwarf through the ford into the northeast, leaving their archers as bait for the satchel trap. The RF warriors didn't buy it and headed back south, leaving a few ghols to tidy up the archers. As a last resort, Blackbeard blew his wight, turning the archers and attacking ghols into chunky fir'Bolg salsa (with extra cleavers).

RF sent a small group of warriors southwest, and another southeast. However, they still had the thrall numbers to outgun Ike's warriors in the mid-east. Blackbeard's dwarf tried a commando act in the northeast but failed, and the situation looked bleak for #CP#D, down 2-4. As a last resort, Blackbeard charged his one remaining wight at the RF journeyman guarding the NW flag, who... turned and fled! This brought the flag count down to 3-3 in the final seconds of the game, allowing the Dwarves to salvage a bit of pride at least.

RF took the same troop setup this time, #CP#D ditching their wights and Jmen for more dwarves and archers. As soon as the Dwarves' thrall reached the center, they charged their entire army across the bridge in three waves; ghols first, then warriors and dwarves, then thrall and archers. Alas, Ike's warriors didn't stick quite close enough to YSD's dwarves, and a few ghols slipped in to attack them. Ike closed in around the dwarves to kill the ghols, but, as Seven Dancing Purple Elephant later put it...

Brave defenders close in to protect.
Cleaver cuts through small dwarf torso.
Satchels spill from fallen pack.
Cocktail slips from lifeless hands.
Fragile glass shatters easily.
Expanding shock wave flings armor to stratosphere.

It was only by performing a head-count on the eleven survivors that the MWC analysts were able to determine the number of stalwart warriors that lost their lives in the cataclysm. A total of sixteen lives snuffed out in an instant.

Blackbeard: that's game
Cavos: good night nurse

Leonidas (to his team): get flags you morons, stop celebrating :)

The battle moved to the pleasant green fields of "Creep on the Borderlands", and Rabble Forces stuck with their (proven) formula of maximum infantry, wights and journeymen. #CP#D took maximum infantry as well, but traded their wights (and some thrall) away for a journeyman, a dwarf, and twelve archers.

#CP#D sent their ghols in a long, roving flank north, their warriors to blockade the center and the remainder of their army in a mass east. Meanwhile, Rabble Forces healed two wights for pus and sent their entire army to the center. The #CP#D ghol pack easily neutralised RF's pus, while RF's horde crossed the river, and pushed the Dwarves' warriors away to the west.

Meanwhile, #CP#D crossed the east ford with their main army, leading with their archers. This unorthodox move caught the RF wight herders off guard, and their three submerged, ideally-placed wights belatedly emerged from the water, only managing to catch three archers and a dwarf. It could have gone a lot worse for #CP#.

RF split up to take the western flags, while the #CP# warriors crossed to the NW and headed back to the center, linking up with their main army. A confrontation ensued around the center, RF peeling off a group of warriors to attack the virtually unguarded southeast flag. In a long sudden death, flags were contested left, right and center. At the end of sudden death, both armies owned three flags, with RF having the edge due to timing.

Ghol Of The Match: Blackbeard's 'Lamer', who (while mortally wounded) used pus to kill three almost-unhurt veteran warriors, with the help of a wounded thrall.

#CP#D took almost the same units this time, trading their dwarf for two archers. RF got rid of three surplus journeymen for dwarves, and prepared a satchel / pus ghol bomb.

Seeing this bomb prepared, #CP# sent their entire ghol pack out with one mission: to hunt and kill the RF bomb. They also sent their warriors to the middle, with the remainder of their army flanking west (save for a thrall regiment submerged in the mid-east). Blackbeard's ghols found their target, and eliminated the RF bomb (taking heavy casualties in the process).

Meanwhile, RF had split into three-equal-sized armies. The #CP# two-pronged attack bottled up two of them in the mid-west, while the third romped unmolested through #CP#'s home flags. A large battle started in the west, which distracted #CP# from the task at hand: flags. With only a little bit more coordination, RF could have easily taken 6 flags, however #CP# held the southwest flag uncontested... with a single ghol.

In the large western battle, slow commitment by YSD's archers and thrall (quite likely due to fear of wights) let to a few unnecessary warrior losses, but the battle was largely won by #CP#.

#CP# then realised that they had to take some flags, and split up to attack the western flags while their thrall 'sleepers' attacked the eastern flags. After a short flurry of sudden death, #CP# stopped contesting, erroneously believing that they had the better side of the 3-3 win. However RF had been up to 5 flags recently, which gave them the edge. #CP# were kicking themselves, especially since they had a battalion of warriors within striking distance of the enemy SW flag (if Crazy Ike had been awake / unlagged).

Trow Captures is a game of defend and assault, almost like CTF but with the additional complications introduced by the opening (and ball-pushing). Rabble Forces took a full complement of soulless, telegraphing their intention to set up a formidable fortification. They paid for this by trading away all their fetch and almost all their dwarves, which let them take a large complement of melee troops as well. On the other side of the river, #CP#D took less soulless and more fetch + dwarves.

The opening was characterised by myrmidon blunders on both sides, with balls being pushed northeast, southeast, southwest, every which way but where they were supposed to go. #CP# failed to capitalise on their opponent's straying balls, but when Waywardone's myrmidon pushed one of their balls a little too far from the hill, a RF trow was there to snatch it and take its prize back to the other side of the map. Blackbeard tried to reclaim it with a trow, but was surrounded and killed.

#CP#D formed up and made an attack. Unfortunately, 3 dwarves and 2 fetch aren't a match for 24 soulless, especially when a dwarf and a fetch are kicked by enemy trow, and another fetch is killed by a stray berserker. The #CP# attack petered out long before it even got close to taking the RF hill.

At this point, RF were up 4-2 and leading 45% - 15% in troop percentages. They started to mount an attack, but Renwood's strident clamouring convinced them to just sit on their hill (?!) for the remaining several minutes. The resulting boredom reduced them to using their trow for target practice, and gave #CP# another badly-needed two points.

Both teams took similar setups to last time, Crazy Ike leading a full-speed charge across the northern ford with all of #CP#'s melee and all of their trow. Faced with such a huge attack, RF did a quick backpedal and engaged the onslaught near their fortified hill. Meanwhile, RF's trow were bullying Cavos' troops in the southeast, taunting them and finally taking away their ball.

Dminor lagged out, and this prompted Leonidas (the RF captain) to try controlling troops in two parts of the map at once. This divided attention resulted in a mis-targeting of the RF soulless, who all floated off their hill into the middle of the melee. Before Leonidas could work out what was going on, the #CP# myrmidons had fallen upon them like a horde of fifth-graders upon a chocolate eclair buffet. Only seven tattered soulless made it out of the fray back onto their hill.

The remnants of Ike's melee slunk away to the west, where RF's myrmidons had (again) accidentally pushed a ball in the wrong direction. They claimed this ball, bringing the tally back to 3-3; however, RF's troops were severely depleted. All they had left was a very sick trow, seven soulless and a few ragtag melee units.

#CP#D mounted a large attack, their three dwarves, fetch and ten soulless easily cutting through the five soulless and trow that RF had left on defense. Game over, the Dwarves claiming all six balls for a maximum-points win.

Rabble Forces took maximum infantry, two dwarves and four journeymen for this game, healing their two wights for pus and preparing a satchel / pus ghol bomb. Clan Plaid took no journeymen, wights or dwarves, opting instead for seventeen archers.

The #CP# warriors tried to flank around one side, but when RF charged the middle with virtually their entire army, they were forced to return to help defend. Renwood tried to use his satchel / pus bomb against the #CP# warriors, but was neutralised by the #CP# ghol pack.

After a few skirmishes, #CP# brought most of their defense force out to fight in the mid-west, among the trees. RF weren't coordinated and split off into small fights (Dminor being totally annihilated in the west), allowing #CP# to take their army to pieces incrementally.

After tidying up, #CP# went on an attack and just as time was running out, Crazy Ike's veteran warriors overcame the last RF thrall defenses to capture their flag. Since RF's attack force never actually got within ten warrior-heights of the #CP# flag (I judged their nearest approach to be about twelve), they get three points for their attack.

Well, the grand final! What can I say? A riveting series of games. While we were playing these games, the lead swapped back and forth... first RF, then #CP# took the lead, then RF, then #CP# leading by 2 points, going into the final game! A very tense set of games, and I am profoundly relieved that none of the competitors died of adrenaline shock after the final game (although we never did find out what happened to Ike...) :)

Everyone involved had a great time playing these games, and I certainly enjoyed watching them... at least, those that I didn't lag out of. Well done to Rabble Forces, who faced their toughest opponents yet and remain the undefeated champions of the Myth World Cup '98! Kudos also to the Clan Plaid Dwarves, who proved that they're no walkover on anyone's terms. Nearly half the games ended in a 3-3 tie for flags... now that has to be a close match.

- Butcher