The Fall Brawl - September 15, 2018

Emperor's Throne Room

The game started with a sense of gloom after our football team got spanked at home earlier in the day.  More than one Dueler bore unmistakable sunburns for their loyal fandom.  You can't teach heart!

It got even worse when Rob didn't bring the right secret envelopes for the board pick and we ended up on the Emperor's Throne Room for the third time in four Duels.  There was nearly a mutiny but Rob quelled the uprising and the Duelers took their seats.

The Usual Suspects

The Fall Brawl featured two rookie debuts, Owen and Jonathan.  They come from Martin, on the Outer Rim.  Playing in your first 12-Way Duel is hard enough, but they got stuck with Luke Skywalker and Count Dooku, respectively.  Those are two tough starting positions in the Throne Room.  Chris W. landed Obi-Wan for the second time on this board and he nearly started hyperventilating.  That was the same for JD, who once again got Mace Windu and aged three years from the immediate stress.

Out of the gate the dark side stayed loyal and the light side started creeping forward.  A big battle was certainly going to take place.  Rob, playing with Darth Maul, kept trying to get Chris and Obi to switch to the dark side but he wasn't biting.  Then, out of nowhere, Ben H. and his Han (yes, Ben picked Han AGAIN) flipped!  His Chewbacca blasted Owen's Luke with the Bowcaster after his Wookie Instincts card.

Many Bothans died using this Force Control.

It looked like the dark side was going to be home free in the advantage department, but JD assumed the role of field general and encouraged Chris' Obi-Wan to use a Force Control to re-balance the board and look for the high ground.  Chris obliged, and after an eternity of consulting on the light side, reconfigured the players in the Throne Room.  In the midst of that shuffling Ben's Han Solo flipped again to avoid dying first or second.  Rob couldn't believe Ben betrayed his welcoming handshake from just a few minutes earlier!

The real victim in the swap was poor Jonathan and his Count Dooku.  Chris had pushed all the dark side major characters to the back two rows while pulling Dooku forward for free hits from all the light side characters.  Jonathan defended as best as he could, but the outcome was inevitable.  The rookie died in 12th place.  He deserved better!

During the Force Control chaos Joel made overtures to join the light side too, but the dark side wasn't too keen on that.  They knocked a few health points off his Boba Fett to get him in line and Courtney moved her Royal Guard in front of him, half to protect him, half to keep him from running off.  Joel found his nerve again and unleashed a brutal Thermal Detonator on Owen's Luke that also hit Obi-Wan and Han Solo.  Then Boba hit him with the Kyber Dart and Owen was gone in eleventh!  Why is Boba so mean???

Ben P.'s face says it all...

The dark side started giggling because their batch of minor characters were not only protecting all of their major characters, but were also in perfect position to start blasting the light side characters who were suddenly exposed and vulnerable.  Chris W.'s Obi-Wan, still smoking from the Thermal, got pot-shots repeatedly, knocking his health to a dangerously low level.  That's when Joel's Greedo played the Desperate Shot card.  Obi died, Greedo lived, and Chris backed away from the table in tenth.

Rob had been half joking with JD the entire game that his Mace Windu should flip to the dark side when, out of the blue, that's what he did!  The victim?  An unsuspecting Alex and Anakin Skywalker.  He dropped two major attacks to announce to the board that his alliances were realigned.  Alex would have been mad...except he later revealed he was planning on doing the same to JD!  Ian's Jango eventually finished Alex's night in ninth place.

JD and Rob in happier times.

Kaleb, insulated with Yoda's Clone Troopers, unleashed a constant monologue of epic proportions for roughly the next 45 minutes.  He begged and implored the dark side alliance to reexamine their loyalties and dream differently moving forward.  He proposed that he, Ben P./Vader, Courtney/Emperor, Joel/Boba, and Ben H./Han could take out Ian/Jango, Rob/Maul, and JD/Mace.  Initially, nobody was swayed, but the relentless verbal barrage started working with Ben P., who wondered if maybe Kaleb had a point.  That sowed some seeds of distrust with his current alliance.

While that was going down Ben H.'s Han tried to mosey over to the dominant alliance and make friends but Rob wasn't having hit.  Fully loaded with Maul attacks, he quickly dispatched the smuggler in eight place on a final Athletic Surge.  Ben, you have an unhealthy relationship with Han.  It would be best if you started seeing other characters now...

With five characters dead, Kaleb was the last one standing from the original light side alliance.  He began his retreat to run around the drawbridges of the Throne Room, all the while running his mouth.  Through painstaking coordination, the dark side alliance minor characters whittled Yoda down to nothing, with Greedo once again landing a kill shot.

Joel has so many dead bodies he's opening a morgue!

And then there were six!  Ian wasn't impressed with Ben P.'s wavering during the Kaleb filibuster, so he announced his intentions to go after Darth Vader.  The other members of the alliance more or less followed suit.  Even Courtney, whose Emperor looked loyal to Ben, agreed to participate.  Ben couldn't defend himself from five different characters at once and was forced to take a knee in sixth.  He's slowly improved with each of his three Duels, though, good job Ben!

At this point there were five characters remaining: Ian/Jango, Courtney/Emperor, Joel/Boba, JD/Mace, and Rob/Maul.  Joel publicly asked who was next and JD suggested Ian's Jango.  Ian suggested Rob's Maul.  Rob said he was going to go down and take on the Emperor.  Basically, it turned into a big mess.  When Joel eventually took a shot at Ian's Jango, Rob suggested to Courtney and Ian that they team up against Boba and Mace.  All Rob had to do was not roll a "2 all" to take out Boba.  Rob promptly rolled a "2 all" and the plan was wrecked!  Courtney and Ian stayed true to Rob's Maul, more or less, but Ian was wrecked by shots from Joel and JD, both of who were trying to convince Courtney to hop back over to their side.  Boba finally killed Ian in fifth.  He made quite the final stand.

At that point Rob and JD made a quick pact with each other to start working together.  For the second time on the night, out of nowhere, JD attacked an unsuspecting victim - he unleashed the double Whirlwind on Boba, knocking him down to just one point of life!  Rob's Maul started moving into attack position on the Emperor, but in what can only be described as a colossal brain fart, he decided to attack JD instead.  Because he was afraid of the eight points of automatic damage from the Whirlwinds.  The Whirlwinds JD just played.  It wasn't until after his first Sith Speed that Rob suddenly remembered he was safe from those attacks - getting old sucks, people!  Rob finished his volley on JD and he and Mace exited in fourth place.

And just like that, Courtney was in perfect position to win the Duel.  She had yet to play her You Will Die card (because it was the last card in her deck!), Joel was one point from dying, and Rob was starting to card up.  Rob desperately chased Boba around the board, hoping to secure his own second place finish, but Greedo was still alive and Joel continually blocked Maul's path.  When Courtney finally pulled You Will Die she played it on Rob, dumping his beautifully constructed hand.  That gave free shots on Rob from Boba, and before he knew it, Maul was within one point of dying too.  From there it was a race to see who could kill each other first.  A Force Lightning from Courtney dumped Rob's last Athletic Surge, and Boba shot and killed Maul, giving Rob third place.  By then, Courtney had redrawn her You Will Die card.  She didn't need to play it, but for humorous effect, she did with her first action before killing Joel with a Force Lightning with her second action!!!

This is nothing short of a monumental win for Courtney!  The Fall Brawl was just her fourth Duel, meaning the second ranked amateur becomes the first amateur to win a Duel since the first year of the league!  Furthermore, she now tops the all-time list in career win percentage at 25%.  And if that accolade isn't enough...she just became the first female Dueler to win a match in league history!!!  Congrats Courtney!!!  You performance was...EPIC.

Here's the final order of finish:

12.  Count Dooku - Jonathan B.
11.  Luke Skywalker - Owen
10.  Obi-Wan Kenobi - Chris W.
9.  Anakin Skywalker - Alex C.
8.  Han Solo - Ben H.
7.  Yoda - Kaleb
6.  Darth Vader - Ben P.
5.  Jango Fett - Ian
4.  Mace Windu - JD
3.  Darth Maul - Rob
2.  Boba Fett - Joel
1.  Emperor Palpatine - Courtney

What a night!  Stay tuned for our October Duel...FIGHT NIGHT!  More details to come...