The Imperial March - March 17, 2018

Carbon Freezing Chamber

Just before the Duelers gathered for the fourth annual Imperial March, a monsoon descended on the Baylor campus.  It was an ominous start to the evening ahead.  It also guaranteed JD would have really wet feet, because he wore sandals to show off his Star Wars socks.

Curtis drew the #1 chair and promptly picked the Carbon Freezing Chamber.  Everyone's blood turned cold, and not just because they were soaked from the walk over.  Very few prefer the "intimacy" provided by the closed quarters of the Carbon board.  Ian ended up grabbing the Emperor for the second game in a row, while Kerri improbably got Yoda for her third straight time playing.  Rob has played in all 52 Duels and only picked Yoda once, yet Kerri has had him three of her four Duels!  Rob got stuck with Luke, which nobody wants on Carbon due to his starting point on the literal hole you fall down to be transformed into carbonite.  JD, likewise, got stuck with Vader right in the middle of the board.

"Smile if you're excited for a 4 1/2 hour game!!!"

Kaleb won the dice roll to go first and we were off.  Jonathan had Count Dooku and immediately used Gain Power to load up on cards faster than the rest of his table mates.  But when the turn landed on Rob, he turned down the dark side overtures and moved his Luke deep into the light side alliance.  But he also fired of Leia's Latent Force Abilities card at Ben's Boba Fett instead of JD's Darth Vader, hoping his dad would flip to their side.  For his second turn, Rob dropped an I Will Not Fight You on Dooku to devastating effect.  Jonathan dumped most of his cards, including two Tauntings.

Ian's long arm of death and destruction

Despite that setback the dark side still had an opening established for Darth Vader to slide back for better protection from the light side shooters.  JD had a weak dice roll, nearly guaranteeing his allegiance...but he moved to the light side anyway!  The first defection was in the books but the dark side did not take to that kindly.  They immediately rained down shots and distance attacks on Vader and JD was soon on the second to last row of his damage indicator card.  He begged Kerri's Yoda to allow him to use a Dark Side Drain on one of her clone troopers to help him heal up.  She reluctantly agreed.  It's hard to say no to somebody playing in wet socks.

This next stretch of the game was looooooong.  Too long really.  Andrew's Jango and Ben's Boba were retreating for cover instead of dropping shots on the light side shooters.  Joel's Darth Maul was stuck on the back row and having a hard time advancing due to the congestion.  Jonathan's Dooku was trying to card back up and Ian's Emperor was trying to hold his alliance together.  It wasn't going well.

All that glitters ain't always gold...

Ben could see the writing on the Carbon Freezing Chamber's walls and, just as Daniel's Padme was about to shoot Boba, he announced his intention to flip.  He dropped a Thermal Detonator on Jango, Maul, and Emperor and flew to his new light side alliance.

You could practically see the smoke billowing out of Ian's ears as his side of the board crumbled.  Instead of advancing to attack with eight cards, Joel's Darth Maul decided to take one more round to card up.  Rob's Luke figured that was the perfect time to drop his second I Will Not Fight You on the horned Sith, and Maul lost just about everything, including two Athletic Surges.

At the same time Dooku was withering away and Jonathan got stuck with the Golden Jar Jar when Greedo used the Desperate Shot.  It was a disappointing finish for Jonathan.  After that Kaleb's Obi-Wan Kenobi used a Force Control to create a kill box for Ian's Emperor and Joel's Darth Maul.  Neither would go down without a fight.  Ian played You Will Die on Curtis' Mace Windu and got some Force Lightning in on JD's Vader, but Leia's second Latent Force Abilities attack killed Ian for eleventh place.

Joel was harder to eliminate.  He was low carded thanks to Rob's Luke but he also held Blinding Surge, which promised damage to whoever tried to finish him off.  Andrew's Jango was also still on the far end of the board, and he was landing blasts against JD's Vader.  Even though both were slowly dying, the light side alliance of eight would soon have to turn on one of their own.  Rob feared Kaleb's Obi-Wan was the strongest character, so he played his THIRD I Will Not Fight you of the night on Kaleb.  Kaleb was none too pleased and used another Force Control to help defend himself.

Grant's Chewbacca used Wookie Instincts to procure the Bowcaster and he immediately took aim at Joel, sending him to the rails for a tenth place finish.  That left Andrew's Jango and Kaleb's Obi as the active targets.  As half the alliance pursued Obi-Wan the other half stalked Jango.  Andrew offered many partnership opportunities but couldn't find any takers, so he bowed out in ninth after an attack from Ben's Boba Fett.  Vader was down to two points of health but Kaleb was dug in like a tic in one corner of the board, so Grant didn't waste the opportunity to tighten the belt of the alliance.  Chewey gave Vader a Wookie Toss and JD was free to change into dryer footwear.

Daniel's Anakin dropped the final hammer on Kaleb's Obi-Wan, and that left six Duelers on the board.  It was well past the three hour mark and Kerri was slowly going insane by the inaction, so she Force Lifted Curtis' Mace to begin the next round of carnage.  Nobody had any problem with that strategy and Curtis, playing Mace for the second game in a row, was dead in sixth place.  That left a final five of Rob/Luke, Kerri/Yoda, Ben/Boba, Grant/Han, and Daniel/Anakin.

Nobody was quite sure what to do next, as this core five had worked quite well together.  Yoda's name was floated as an idea and Kerri was resigned to her fate, though she didn't go down without a fight.  She Force Pushed Boba and Force Lifted Chewbacca while daring the rest of the characters on the board to finish the job.  As she slowly started to lose health points Rob saw an opportunity to start attacking Boba, who was now wounded.  Daniel saw the logic in that too and his Anakin finished off Boba for fourth.  That's quite a run for Boba, who has now movevd up another spot in the character rankings and another fine finish for the newly professional Ben.

With four to go Yoda only had two points of health left.  That happens to be the exact damage Never Tell Me The Odds delivers, and Han took advantage by finishing off Kerri.  That's her third top four finish with Yoda in her amateur career, which is outstanding.  She's just two Duels from turning pro and she'll debut near the top of the charts if she can maintain her current 4.75 average finish.

And then there were three.  Daniel thought he and Rob/Luke were in a tight final alliance but Rob had secretly pledged his ultimate loyalty to Grant's Han Solo.  All three Duelers still had their minor characters so it made for quite the dance on the Carbon Freezing floor.  Eventually, Anakin finished off Leia, freeing up Luke's Justice cards.  Grant had reshuffled and found his second Wookie Instincts.  He used it to grab the Bowcaster.  Many wondered if he would save it for his final showdown with Rob or to finish off Daniel.  He chose the latter.  It was a heck of a night for Daniel, though, who deftly navigated the board with Anakin and Padme.

That left Rob's Luke versus Han and Chewey.  Luke needed to close the distance and Grant took advantage by firing some shots off, one of which allowed him to reshuffle his deck, adding his discard pile back into play.  Surely he wouldn't get the Bowcaster again...right?  WRONG!  He got it again!!!  Rob had to absorb eight points of damage, but it wasn't enough to kill him.  He had kept his two Justice cards for this exact situation, and despite the new hole in his chest from the Bowcaster, he delivered 20 attack points on poor Han to win the game.  That marks Rob's 11th career victory and the second ever win for Luke after December's Last Jedi Standing.  Grant displayed again why nobody plays Han Solo better than he does - he is the ultimate smuggler.

The final order of finish:

12.  Jonathan/Count Dooku
11.  Ian/Emperor Palpatine
10.  Joel/Darth Maul
9.  Andrew/Jango Fett
8.  JD/Darth Vader
7.  Kaleb/Obi-Wan Kenobi
6.  Curtis/Mace Windu
5.  Ben H./Boba Fett
4.  Kerri/Yoda
3.  Daniel/Anakin Skywalker
2.  Grant/Han Solo
1.  Rob/Luke Skywalker

Thanks to everyone who came out and played!  Next month's Duel is Duel of the Fates - stay tuned for details and dates on that.  We're nearing the end of the semester, which means we're nearing the end of our fourth Dueling season.  I can't even emotionally handle that right now...