Fight Night - October 10, 2015

Emperor's Throne Room

This past Saturday night twelve noble warriors once again descended upon the North Village Community Center to do battle in this game we call Epic Duels.  Nate and JD had to cancel, so in their place Chris and Alex stepped in.

Before this recap goes any further, I wanted to take a moment to discuss the history of 12-Way Duels.  The very first 12-Way occurred back in 2002.  It was my birthday, and I got Yoda.  And I won.  I won the first 12-Way Duel ever.  It was quite exciting and insanely fun.  Hence the reason I've kept holding 12-Way Duels.  I don't think there's a more exciting feeling when winning a board game than taking home a victory in Epic Duels.  This Fight Night was the 45th 12-Way I have stats for (I've played a couple of others but didn't save the results).  I've had leagues in Muncie, IN, Knoxville, TN, Grand Rapids, MI, and here in Waco.  And in the 44 duels before Fight Night, I had never finished last.  I had a couple of scares in eleventh place, but never last.

These eleven did what no others had before.

Until Fight Night.

That's right folks - my streak of non-last place finishes is over.  The dark side betrayed my Darth Maul, even though Chris' Obi-Wan was nearly dead and it was a clear light vs. dark dynamic on the board.  I have to hand it to them, they did me dirty.  Jerks.

Chris was indeed next to go, falling at the hands of Ian's Count Dooku.  The mathematician who can figure out how Ian keeps drawing Dooku and Tommy keeps picking Boba will surely win the Nobel Prize.

Let's just say the next segment of the game took a long time.  I mean, a loooooong time.  Like, at least an hour and a half.  The chatter and strategery was incessant.   The action was random and constant.  Minor characters were whittled down.  Alliance strengths were tested.  Eventually, Curtis' Chewbacca wandered towards the dark side while he played the search for the Bowcaster card.  Strangely, he used that as his second action, meaning nine Duelers had a chance to kill Chewie before he cranked those eleven attack points.  Some folks took advantage of that opportunity, and soon Chewie was down to three health points left.  But Ian, who had the proximity and capability to finish him, didn't!  That permitted Curtis too shoot Alex's Emperor Palpatine.

This is Alex's cranky face.

There were other strange plays besides that.  Tommy had a communication breakdown with Ian and used his Boba Fett to throw a thermal detonator on their dark side alliance, further crippling them.  Ian, Tommy, and Alex ended up being the next three to go.  That wasn't a coincidence!

That left seven duelers still in the hunt.  It was around this time Daniel's Mace decided to pay a visit to Stevie's Yoda, who was still sitting in the back corner of the Throne Room.  Stevie was able to block most of Mace's attacks, but he left himself exposed to a long distance attack position by Curtis' Han Solo,  Sure enough, the smuggler hit him with multiple blaster shots, sending Stevie packing in seventh place.  Stevie has played twice and finished seventh twice.  #consistency

...and JUSTICE for all!

Stephen's Darth Vader had managed to lay low while the dark side crumbled, but his back line mate, Ryan/Jango, put the finishing attack on him with assistance from others, including Grant's Anakin and the Wookie.  That left five folks in the game:  David/Luke, Grant/Anakin, Ryna/Jango, Grant/Anakin, and Daniel/Mace.  It had been eleven months since David had played last, but he was making very strong moves.  One of the most exciting moments of the night occurred when Daniel moved in against him just after Leia had been killed.  Experienced duelers know what that means - Luke's "Justice" cards increase in attack value from four to ten.  After Mace attacked, David dropped BOTH Justice cards, dealing Daniel a successful twelve points of combined damage.  And David made another strong play.  Facing an attack by Curtis, David wisely mentioned that he should use one of his "I will not fight you" cards on Grant, since Anakin was in full health and best position to win.  But Curtis disagreed with that strategy and attacked Luke anyway, placing him within one point of his life!  David did use the special card on Grant, dumping most of his hand with the notable exception of two "Counter Attack" defense cards.

The four players not named Grant decided it was time to end Anakin's reign of leadership within the alliance, but Curtis' Wookie toss inadvertently sent Grant away from the remaining shooters, including Ryan's Jango and both of Daniel's clone troopers.  As the attacks came at Grant, some infighting broke out among the gang of four, resulting in Mace finishing off Luke in fifth place and then Daniel being flame throwered by Ryan/Jango for fourth.

Never tell Curtis the odds.

Grant withstood a ton of punishment, but his number was finally up when Curtis moved Han into position to play the "Never tell me the odds" card on both Jango and Anakin.  Grant bowed out in third for the second game in a row...with Anakin both times.  That left a shooting match between Curtis and Ryan.  Little did Curtis know, but Ryan was frustratingly holding mostly Zam cards.  Zam was the first character dead in the game, courtesy of Chris' Obi-Wan.  To add to Jango's misery, Han had pulled many of his four point attack cards.  It wasn't long before Jango ran out of defense and Curtis navigated Han to victory in one of the screwiest 12-Way Duels I've ever seen.  Congrats to Curtis, who becomes the third Dueler to reach three career victories, tying him with Grant for second place on the career victory list.  And lets make sure Han freakin' Solo gets some credit too.  That's win #2 for him, which is two more than Anakin, Emperor, Dooku, and Luke combined.  #makesnosense

November will be the annual Thanksdueling match - stay tuned!  Thanksdueling will also be the last qualifying match before December's 2015 Championship.  The Championship game is reserved for the top twelve ranked Duelers.  More details to come as we look towards the end of our calendar Dueling year...

Final order of finish:

12.  Rob - Darth Maul
11.  Chris - Obi-Wan Kenobi
10.  Ian - Count Dooku
9.  Tommy - Boba Fett
8.  Alex - Emperor Palpatine
7.  Stevie - Yoda
6.  Stephen - Darth Vader
5.  David - Luke Skywalker
4.  Daniel - Mace Windu
3.  Grant - Anakin Skywalker
2.  Ryan - Jango Fett
1.  Curtis - Han Solo