A New Hope - January 12, 2019

Geonosis Arena (via Hoth)

Happy New Year, everybody!

It's hard to believe but we're already over half way through the Dueling "season" with our first Duel of 2019.  If that's confusing, just think of our season coinciding with the academic year.  There are five official "Duels" left in the season, including A New Hope.

The smiles wouldn't last long...

Rookie Dueler Joe got the honor to sit in the #1 Chair and he picked the Geonosis Arena.  Ryan brought all three of his 3D boards so we got to enjoy the wintry confines of Hoth once again.  It's really quite beautiful...especially the way the blood splatters on the snow!

The faces you make when two Jedi defect...

 After the characters got divvied up Grant, operating Mace Windu, got to roll first.  He promptly defected to the dark side, which isn't uncommon on Geonosis.  The light side thought it could handle the defection...until Alex's Obi-Wan Kenobi left town too!  And he hit Joe's Yoda on his way out.  He also used a Force Control to better position the dark side. It looked bleak for the good guys.

Ryan, playing with Anakin Skywalker, decided "no guts, no glory," and started taking out minor characters on the dark side, including Greedo.  That allowed Rob's Chewbacca to move forward and Wookie Toss Zam to open a lane for a startled Boba Fett, being controlled by Ben.  And as it so happened...Chewy had the Bowcaster!  And Boba only had a one point defense!  Ouch!  ROOOWWWWRRRR!!!!

That moral victory didn't last long, because for the first time in 39 Duels, Ryan finally finished in last place.  He took multiple shots but it was Kaleb's Darth Vader that Wrathed him to his demise.  You have to hand it to Ryan, that was a heck of a never-last place streak!  If I'm not mistaken only Grant's is longer. 

Victims of the Earle massacre

Joe's Yoda was dead next, a victim of Courtney's Zam Wessell.  Poor Joe, he was playing in his first Duel but the two Jedi defecting left him hanging in the wind.  Let's hope he comes back for a second chance!

At that point Rob's Han and Scott's Luke and Leia were huddled in the corner behind the giant snow bank.  Rob, as he's prone to do, started running his mouth incessantly, looking for any crack he could.  Mostly, he was trying to point to the horribly injured Boba Fett.  But as the dark side slowly converged it would be Kat's Emperor Palpatine who would be the first one ejected from the dark side alliance!  Ben's Boba put in the final hit with a Deadly Aim.  And it didn't stop there!  Han and Luke were annoyingly inaccessible so the infighting started again, this time focused on poor Anna's Count Dooku.  She wandered into a secret kill box and her so-called alliance made her pay the price.  Geonosis is a bad board for Dooku, let's hope Anna plays again too!

It's hip to be square!

It looked like there might be a glimmer of hope for Rob and Scott.  Rob killed a Clone Trooper with Gambler's Luck, discarding an already short-carded Mace/Grant for Scott to attack with a Justice.  But instead...Scott attacked Rob's Han!  Rob couldn't believe it, or defend it, and died in eighth.  He still doesn't know how to feel about the loud applause during his demise.

Scott thought the back-stab might endear him to the remaining dark side but that was not the case.  Joel/Maul and Kaleb/Vader began immediate attacks.  Maul's Athletic Surge finished Scott, who was previously the top ranked amateur but not falls to second place in those standings.  That ain't bad for only ever playing Luke Skywalker!

That left six Duelers:  Kaleb/Vader, Alex/Obi, Ben/Boba, Grant/Mace, Courtney/Jango, and Joel/Maul.  Kaleb didn't like so many Fetts on the board and decided to attack Courtney's Jango.  Before the dice could get to her, she got attacked again...by her husband and fellow Fett!!!  We haven't seen a family dilemma like that since the infamous daddy/daughter feud at Fight Night.  The shock was palpable, and Grant's Mace decided he didn't care for that turn of events and laid a hit on Boba.  Courtney followed up with a Missle Launch, ending Ben's night in sixth and providing Courtney with a modicum of revenge.  Alex didn't let her enjoy the moment, though.  He killed her in fifth with a Force Control, which he also used to turn Hoth into a square dance.  Props to Courtney for another stellar finish, though.

Alex wanted everyone to do-si-do in the middle of the board but they all took two steps back instead.  What transpired was quite fascinating, since the remaining Duelers were all in relatively great health and loaded with cards.  There was a lot of open discussion but the opening salvos gravitated towards battles between Maul/Joel vs. Obi/Alex and Mace/Grant vs. Kaleb/Vader.

Grant was doing better than everyone else in that arrangement, which didn't go unnoticed by the others.  They whittled him down until Alex's Obi-Wan finally finished him.  That fourth place finish cemented Grant's stranglehold on first place in the rankings.  He's a beast! 

With three to go Joel and Kaleb started tagging each other, but their mutual fear of facing Obi-Wan at the end forced them to join forces against the best character in the game.  Alex put a ton of damage on Maul but not enough to survive the double-bladed Sith apprentice.  Alex's third place finish moved him up to third in the rankings - good job!

That left two!  It looked like Kaleb's Vader had the health advantage, and by quick math, a probable victory over Joel based on indefensible Special attacks.  But Kaleb ran into some bad luck on his redraws and Joel started chasing Vader around the board.  One funny sequence included Vader attacking with a Force Drain against a Blinding Surge, which was a zero sum gain for Vader's health and detrimental to Maul.  But Kaleb made a risky move by killing Maul's last Battledroid, allowing Joel to heal past the point of automatic death.  After a couple of solid dice rolls he moved in to attack.  After two Sith Speeds and a 5-1, he dropped the Athletic Surge for his fifth career victory - congrats Joel!!!  And well played, Kaleb!

The final order of finish:

12.  Ryan/Anakin
11.  Joe/Yoda
10.  Kat/Emperor
9.  Anna/Dooku
8.  Rob/Han
7.  Scott/Luke
6.  Ben/Boba
5.  Courtney/Jango
4.  Grant/Mace
3.  Alex/Obi
2.  Kaleb/Vader
1.  Joel/Maul

What a great way to start 2019!  Stay tuned for details on the February battle...the Valentine's Duel!