Thanksdueling! - November 11, 2017

Kamino Platform

The first victims of our Duel were out before the game even started!  Kat came down sick on Saturday and then Ryan had to bow out with a kid who was under the weather too.  (I'll spare you the details, but kids who get sick in the back seats of cars...it's just so gross...the poor thing!)  Even Rob was loaded up on cold medicine to keep his Duels streak alive at 47 games.  Fortunately, Jonathan and Jacob could jump in at the last minute to keep the game intact. 

Stephen brought the Vader helmet but
Jonathan refused to wear it.

Jonathan got seat one so he drew the Kamino Platform.  This was the first game on Kamino since Doubleheader #1 back in August.  Everyone else gathered around the table and all three shooters were grabbed within the first five picks, much to the relief of the back half of the table.  However, it would be a shooter alliance that helped determine the outcome of this game!  #foreshadowing

Introductions were made and we were off.  Chris' Obi-Wan Kenobi, stuck in the middle of the board, very covertly moved next to JD's Dooku and somehow the light side didn't perceive this as a flip.  Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Andrew's Darth Maul attacked Rob's Boba Fett!  Despite having the numbers advantage and a spot nicely protected on the board, he decided to defect to the light side.  Rob was lucky to escape with only six points of damage as Maul didn't use his Sith Speeds. 

If you look closely you can see the smoke
coming out of Austin's ears...

But the flipping wasn't done!  Ben, stuck playing with Han Solo for the second game in a row, decided the grass was greener on the other side.  Jacob's Yoda had already received a Thermal Detonator and Force Lightning among other attacks, so, sensing weakness, Ben pulled out the Bowcaster and dropped Jacob in last place!  Ouch!

At that point chaos erupted on the light side.  When Maul had defected he essentially created a bottleneck, trapping Luke, Anakin, and Mace.  Grant's Luke read the tea leaves before the others and chose to attack Andrew's Maul as he peaced out to join JD and Chris.  This led to several turns of infighting, especially as Maul started attacking his own alliance!  Austin/Anakin finally had enough and eliminated Andrew in eleventh place.  Joel's Mace was caught up in a lot of the infighting and was nursing wounds, especially as the dark side alliance shooters had moved in and were potshotting him.  Austin decided to put him down too with Anger.  That was tenth place for Joel.

Chris pleads his case.

The rest of the board was in agreement that Austin's Anakin needed to be next, as he was the last remaining player on the board who wasn't part of the original alliance.  Ninth place wasn't what he wanted, but it was actually not a bad finish considering what went down on his end of the platform.

At this point the remaining eight players were just staring at each other.  Nobody knew what to do next.  JD suggested to Stephen's Emperor that Jonathan's Darth Vader should be next.  Jonathan was none too pleased about that.  But in a bold move, Stephen rallied the shooters to join he and Jonathan against Chirs/Obi, Grant/Luke, and JD/Dooku.  The shooters agreed and the fight was on. 

Dooku, Luke, and Obi had the advantage of being hidden behind Jango's ship, but the minor characters of the opposition moved into position to start whittling down their defenses.  That's when Chris made an aggressive move.  He used Force Control to rearrange the board.  It allowed shots on Jonathan's Darth Vader as well as JD Force Pushing Ben's Han into a kill box.  Han got some shots on Grant's Luke but it was Chris' Obi-Wan who finally killed Ben in eighth.

Yes.  We have fans who like to dress up
for the big games.

Before Ben got pushed into the kill box Grant played "I Will Not Fight You" on him.  But that left Luke exposed too.  Rob's Boba was afraid of that card being played again on him so he moved in for the kill with a Kyber Dart.  Luke was done in seventh place and he still remains the only character to never have won a 12-Way Duel.

JD's Dooku was still tussling with Jonathan's Darth Vader but he was getting banged up.  Low-carded, it looked like Jonathan might use the dreaded All Too Easy card to finish him.  It turned out that he didn't need it, as two normal attacks destroyed Pez Vader's pick to click.

With JD off the board there were five remaining:  Chris/Obi, Rob/Boba, Kaleb/Jango, Stephen/Emperor, and Jonathan/Vader.  Obi-Wan looked like the most powerful character left so the other four turned their attention on him.  Chris still had some tricks up his sleeve, though.  He dropped his Force Balance, meaning everyone had to discard their entire hands and draw three new cards.  That was a big blow for a couple of the remaining players, especially Stephen and Rob.  It took some effort, but Obi-Wan was finally eliminated in fifth place when Vader Threw Debris at him.   

A quick selfie before they attacked each other.

That left four Duelers.  Stephen proposed that he/Emperor, Rob/Boba, and Jonathan/Vader go after Kaleb's Jango.  Stephen reasoned that the number one ranked Dueler and Character were a dangerous combination.  But Rob was hesitant to lose his shooting partner against a dangerous character like the Emperor.  Furthermore, he was afraid of Vader's distance attacks.  Since Jonathan only had four health points left, Boba decided to Rocket Retreat and Wristcable him, finishing Vader in fourth place.

Stephen/Emperor and Kaleb/Jango didn't realize it, but after the Obi-Wan Force Balance Rob's Boba Fett was loaded with Greedo cards.  They were useless because Greedo died many rounds ago.  Faced with such a weak hand, Rob had no idea who to align with.  Naturally, he started flipping from one side to the other!  At different points he attacked Emperor and then Jango, but Emperor and Jango weren't willing to align with each other as they were both worried about that being a bad match-up in the final two.  Boba was slowly able to heal up during the chaos and, when he finally found a Thermal Detonator, promptly used it on Stephen's Emperor, ending his night in third place.  You have to give it to Stephen, though.  The turning point of the game was his rallying the shooters to stick with Jonathan.

*pew pew!*

That left an all-Fett final two!  Boba/Rob had the advantage as he had healed up and was starting to pull his big attack cards again.  Kaleb/Jango started running around his ship but Boba finally rolled a five and dropped his third Thermal Detonator of the game and then ended it on a Deadly Aim.  Jango was out in second, but Kaleb played a heck of a game, always staying one step ahead of the danger.  He also improved his league-leading Dueling average to 4.0, which is crazy good.  Rob's win extends his league record to ten career victories and his first with Boba Fett.  It was Boba's fourth career win.

The final order of finish:

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

Thanks to everyone who came out and played!  Our next Duel is the 2017 CHAMPIONSHIP!  It's the World Series/Superbowl/All-Star game all rolled into one.  The top 12 ranked Duelers have a spot at the table and one will be crowned the champion.  That will take place on December 2nd.  I can't wait!

Also, we plan to do a Duel for the new movie, which we're going to call "The Last Jedi Standing."  Tentative plans are for that to take place on the afternoon of December 14th.  Afterwards, we'll all go see the movie premiere. 

Thanks again for reading the blog!