Season 4 was a tough act to follow given that we had recruited around 20 new players at the start of it. We were not able to reproduce a similar number for Season 5 and eventually 60 players registered, which was 10 down on the previous season, and we had to lose a division in the Biblical section as a consequence of the lower numbers entering. The Early Middle Ages section was delayed for a week so that a new DLC could be released which included the new "Allies" feature.
Classical Antiquity
It ended up with the same two players at the top of Division A again where dkalenda and klayeckles both achieved eight wins from their nine matches, so that the tie-breaker eventually decided who would be the champion - dkalenda successfully retained his title because he defeated klayeckles in their match together. harveylh was third with seven wins and is showing signs of getting closer to the very top players. Unfortunately, Ulysisgrunt could not reproduce the heroics of the previous season and he was relegated, but his presence in the “A” division over the past two seasons is really what the FOG2DL is all about.
His place will be taken by deve next season, who narrowly pipped rexhurley to the automatic promotion spot in Division B. Trogilus came a very creditable fourth for the second season in a row. It was fairly tight at the bottom and eventually it was nyczar who ended up in the relegation place. This is something of a surprise as nyczar has retained his “A” status in two other sections this season.
The line-up in Division C was very strong this season and most of the players are capable of playing at a higher level. In the end, MorkinTheFree continued his rise through the divisions, finishing narrowly ahead of the unbeaten Geffalrus. Former “A” players Breogan and DzonVejn found the division tough going but not as tough as cromlechi who was relegated without troubling the scorers.
In Division D there was a great tussle between phoyle3290, one of the new players from Season 4, and Tresantes, which was won by phoyle3290 by one point. Both players can expect to be playing at a higher level next season. General Kostas was our wooden-spoonist this season, finishing just one point behind Ki-Fi.
Late Antiquity
Division A witnessed a blistering performance from ruskicanuk who won all his nine matches to finish an astonishing eleven points ahead of second-placed Snugglebunnies. I am not sure if this is a record-winning margin in a FOG2DL division, but it must be very close. I will check when I update the tournament records. It was CheAhn’s first season in the FOG2DL, after having been a regular in the FOG1DL, and he did enough to retain his “A” status for another season. Unfortunately, NikiforosFokas was struggling against the clock for most of the time and ended up being relegated after losing his last match on adjudication to fellow struggler klayeckles.
Triarii eventually emerged as the top player in Division B in what was probably the tightest promotion struggle of the season. Five players managed five wins and another two players managed four wins and only five points separated the top five players at the end. In what was a difficult season for him, DzonVejn was relegated.
Again the standard in Division C was very high and it was sunnyboy who excelled with eight wins from his nine matches. cromlechi did very well to finish second and paulmcneil showed signs of recovering from a very tough time in Season 4 to finish third. Poor old Barrold713 (“c for curtains”) was relegated.
Another fabulous performance in Division D saw General Shapur win all nine matches to finish top ahead of lydianed, who also breached the thirty point barrier. Both players will be playing at a higher level next season. Uneducated ended up as our wooden-spoonist this time, but recent results in other sections suggest that this is not likely to happen again.
Early Middle Ages
ruskicanuk completed a very impressive double by also finishing as champion of Early Middle Ages Division A. The winning margin this time was much narrower, a single point in front of Nosy_Rat. Both players had eight wins and both were over ten points ahead of third-placed Snugglebunnies. GDod found the pace far too tough to handle and was relegated.
Sennacherib stormed away from the rest in Division B on his return to the FOG2DL, finishing ten points ahead of MorkinTheFree in second place. The rest of the division was fairly close and, unexpectedly, it was sunnyboy who ended up in the relegation place.
In Division C deve finished narrowly ahead of Karvon in a keenly contested division with batesmotel further back in third. Ki-Fi found things very difficult and was the wooden-spoonist for this section.
Biblical
Division A was another very tight affair with fellow adjudicator ianiow narrowly prevailing ahead of pantherboy, harveylh and Cunningcairn to win this section for the second season running. Despite winning his first two matches, it was Morbio who ended up in the relegation place.
There was a great tussle in Division B where desertedfox narrowly finished ahead of deve to win his first promotion to the “A” tier. Both players won eight matches and hopefully there will be room for both of them in the top flight next season. Uneducated collected his second wooden spoon of the season although he finished only four points behind the player in sixth place.
Themed Event
Geffalrus was the surprise winner of the Themed Event defeating Snugglebunnies in the final. Last season’s winner dkalenda was knocked out in a very close adjudication at the quarter-final stage to open up the event. rexhurley was the other beaten semi-finalist. The format for the Themed Event will be changing for Season 6 in an effort to reduce the number of adjudications required.
Last word
This was another excellent season where every match, bar one, was played and there were very few issues for me to deal with. Perhaps ruskicanuk was the most impressive performer this time, with dkalenda, harveylh, ianiow, klayeckles, Nosy_Rat and Snugglebunnies all putting in very strong performances. One name not included here is pantherboy, who had a more challenging season, but I am fully expecting a “backlash” from him at some point, so you are all forewarned! There were breakthrough seasons for desertedfox, deve and Geffalrus with MorkinTheFree not too far behind them. Further down the league General Shapur, Karvon, lydianed, phoyle3290 and Tresantes all did very well and it will interesting to see if they can maintain that progress at a higher level next season.
Thanks everyone for participating and I hope to see you all again in October.
