As most of you will know by now, I have decided that Season 12 is to be the last one for the FOG2 Digital League. I feel that I have done as much as I possibly can with the tournament and I am definitely running out of steam. So it really is time for me to bring the curtain down for the final time. Season 12 had plenty of excitement though.
In Classical Antiquity ericdoman1 successfully defended the championship that he won in Season 11, this time finishing ahead of tyronec with klayeckles some way back in third place. He was using a Seleucid army and they haven’t been among the most successful armies in Classical Antiquity. At the other end of Division A, it was a bit of a shock to see fellow-organiser hidde finish in the relegation place. There is no truth in the rumour that I have been persuaded to close the FOG2DL so that he could avoid relegation! Captainwaltersavage continued his steady rise up the divisions by winning Division B with the Hannibal in Italy army. It was by the narrowest of margins as batesmotel was denied a win in the very last match when it finished at 48-24. Another percentage point on the battlefield would have seen batesmotel finish in top place instead of third. IMC tailed off badly this time to be relegated. Newcomer Dreddradish blasted his way to promotion in Division C with the increasingly popular Kyrenean Greek army, finishing ahead of the returning DanZanzibar. The relegation battle was very tight. Despite suffering only 4 defeats, it was devoncop who eventually finished in tenth place with only 1 win to his name. MarcoCato75 and his powerful Roman army was dominant in Division D with 8 wins, finishing comfortably ahead of a chasing group consisting of Bodhran, Kroche and DocVanNostrand. ggarynorman found the going too hot this time and was relegated. Division E was very competitive and in the end Holien prevailed with the Hannibal in Africa army ahead of markleslie, sivispacem and deeter, while Bluefin was relegated. In Division F, Rosedelio also used the Kyrenean Greeks and he completed a fabulous clean sweep maximum to finish 10 points ahead of the field. Meroka37 finished in the wooden spoon position with the Achaemenid Persian army.
Division A of Late Antiquity saw a 2-horse race as Nosy_Rat and Questar17 pulled right away from everyone else. Nosy_Rat and his rarely chosen Lombard army eventually prevailed by just 1 point, but rapidly improving Questar17 finished 14 points ahead of the third-placed player, dim30, who was playing in the top flight for the first time and only as a late reserve due to an earlier withdrawal. It is always very encouraging to see new players making their mark in the top divisions. Morbio trailed off this time and was relegated. The “whirlwind” that is sometimes also known as joggy smashed everyone in Division B with his Germanic Horse Tribe army to register a magnificent 36 point maximum. He finished 6 points ahead of lydianed, who also had a terrific season with 8 wins. As so often is the case when a couple of players pull away from the rest of a division, the relegation battle is very tight and only 6 points covered the bottom 6 players at the end, with Najanaja being the unlucky player to drop down a division. Giacofa93 and his Pictish army produced another powerful performance in Division C to finish ahead of Warg1 and kraff, while ulysisgrunt languished at the bottom this time. sivispacem was the winner in Division D, dropping only 1 point all season with his Scots-Irish army, despite having a disrupted season due to illness. FireknightBarcelona somehow finished second after I had almost given up on him as AWOL and Aeneas Stator finished bottom after failing to complete his matches. Not a good advert for the FOG2DL this particular division, but unfortunately I could do very little about it. Division E was very tight with Lynx57 and his Roman army narrowly prevailing over a chasing group consisting of Badger73, Bluefin, Darkwater247 and rpadilla1988. olddog52 was relegated, despite having the same number of points as GeneralKostas, because he had achieved one win less in the season. shane30 and his Palmyrans eventually came out on top in Division F after a long struggle with Hari72 and Meroka37 added to his collection of wooden spoons this season after a fruitless campaign with the Dacians.
Nosy_Rat regained the championship in Early Middle Ages with an Irish-Viking army, but the top of Division A was extremely tight this time with XLegione and tyronec finishing only just behind the eventual winner. Somewhat surprisingly it was mr cholo who was relegated after finishing 2 points behind the late reserve MorkinTheFree. Questar17 almost inevitably won promotion in Division B with the very useful British army, finishing 7 points ahead of desertedfox. I think Questar17’s transformation into a solid A division player is completed now. Nijis was surprisingly relegated. There were 11 drawn matches in this division, which is probably a record, but I cannot be certain. Nothing quite illustrates the “changing of the guard” better than the outcomes in Divisions C and D though. Giacofa93, with the Irish Vikings, and Rosedelio, with the first ever use of the Croatian army, were utterly dominant and won promotion from C and D respectively, while paulmcneil and devoncop were relegated, both having started their FOG2DL “careers” as B division players. Rosedelio only came in as a late reserve to Division D after I had realised that he had already finished his matches in the F divisions and he then proceeded to reel off 9 straight wins to achieve a clean sweep maximum at the first time of asking. There was a very good contest in Division E where Tratmot and his Andalusians just got the better of Zawzgrzyt by 1 point even though Tratmot had completed his first ever clean sweep of 9 victories. Doyley50 had a tough time and was relegated. shane30 and Hari72 went head to head again in Division F, and frederic02 also got involved in the promotion race, but again it was shane30, this time with an Arab Conquest army, who prevailed. Meroka37 completed his hat-trick of wooden spoons for the season, using the Arab Umayyadds. I think we can safely say that Barrold713 has been totally eclipsed now as a collector of wooden spoons.
The Biblical section, which always attracts the fewest players, used the Silk Road armies for a change this time and the 5 historical match-ups produced some interesting contests. pantherboy cantered to the championship again in Division A remaining unbeaten throughout and Snugglebunnies finished second, while lydianed was relegated despite registering 2 late wins. BobGanoush prevailed in a very tight Division B, finishing 1 point ahead of Warg1 and Captainwaltersavage. At one point of the competition I thought all 6 players might finish on the same number of points, but in the end it was ray552 who was relegated. Dreddradish was the clear winner in Division C and IMC suffered yet another relegation. Division D was close with Kroche eventually triumphing ahead of Badger73 and LunarFoxx was relegated after a late recovery by Tratmot. The most remarkable performance of the entire season though occurred in Division E where oldog52 won all 10 matches to record a 40 point clean sweep maximum. He is only the second player to achieve this after pompeytheflatulent. DirtyMark narrowly finished in the wooden spoon position this time.
tyronec is the new champion of High Middle Ages after dominating this campaign with his Aragonese army. He finished 9 points ahead of CyberHetman and a re-vitalised CheAhn in Division A. desertedfox tailed off badly and was relegated. Captainwaltersavage secured his second promotion to the top flight after narrowly getting the better of TaBai with his Portuguese army. The relegation battle was incredibly tight with up to 6 players involved mid-season, but in the end it was paulmcneil who suffered another relegation. In Division C, Marvin_the_Arvn eventually managed to prevail, using yet another army from the Iberian peninsula, this time the Castilians. Garokan was relegated after only managing to register 1 win all season. Kerait was the clear winner in Division D, registering 8 wins with his Ghurid army to finish 8 points clear of the chasing pack. Tratmot found things too hard and was relegated. A fantastic battle in Division E saw Quivis and his German army narrowly prevail over Rosedelio, with both players finishing on 33 points. Lannes finished in the wooden spoon position.
There were strong fields in both pools of the Themed Event. In Pool A, there were surprises in Group 1 where Aetius39 finished ahead of hidde and in Group 2 where Triarii prevailed over tyronec. harveylh and LuciusSulla won Groups 3 and 4 respectively, as might have been expected. Then, in the semi-final, Aetius39 produced another surprise to beat harveylh, while LuciusSulla just had a bit too much for Triarii. However, in the final Aetius39 found LuciusSulla too resolute to be able to pull off yet another upset.
Pool B was a much closer affair at the outset and there were no easy qualifying matches. The winners of the group stage were kronenblatt, Blagrot, Kroche and Zawzgrzyt and I felt that any of these 4 players was capable of winning the Pool. In the end it was Zawzgrzyt who triumphed over kronenblatt in the final on the tie-breaker after having beaten Blagrot comfortably in the semi-final.
So that is it. The FOG2DL has had 12 very good seasons, but its course is now run. I am sure something just as good will take its place in 2022.
