Eravana Cargo Hold
It was supposed to be mentioned in the preview blog, but the 2024 Fall Brawl was a historic 12-way Duel for the league because it was our 150th battle! You have to love big round numbers like that. Here we are in season 11, still surpassing milestones. I'm not crying...you're crying!
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| Smile if you're thinking about releasing the rathtars... |
It was nice to be back in our old Dueling headquarters of the North Village Fine Arts Studio. The room wasn't available to us last year, but setting up was just like slipping into a comfortable set of Mandalorian armor again. It was much less comfortable playing the Eravana Cargo Hold board, and for two reasons: RC and CJ - AKA - the two rathtars locked in storage, just waiting for a Dueler to release them into the wild!
Guess how long that took...
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| Run!!! |
...it took no time at all. Never change, you cutthroat Duelers!!
A lot of positioning for control of the center four squares of the board - the only four squares immune from the path of the rathtars - started just as the rathtars were released. Connor/Death Trooper #1, Joe/Paz, and Kiera/Mace's Clonetrooper all made it to the middle. Joe couldn't help it and let out RC, who immediately terrorized the light side of the board...which was Joe's side! Some Duelers just want to see the world burn.
A secondary door opening by Kiera inadvertently left Alex G.'s Obi-Wan Kenobi open to multiple attacks. He soon found himself tussling with numerous dark side operatives. Alex lost a lot of momentum when he attacked James' The Stranger, only to lose an action to Kortosis Armor. Grant/Tobias Beckett got the kill shot though with a brutal undefended Trust No One. Alex wanted a third trophy for his collection...but not the Golden Jar Jar!
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| Duel Arm Rests |
Joe's Armorer continued swinging and throwing her hammer and tongs, and there was no rhyme or reason to the violence. This turned the light side of the board volatile. It reached a fever pitch when Joe tangled on the board with his real life wife, Michaela/Bo-Katan! In-fighting had left Bo-Katan weak, but it was quite the shock when Joe knocked out Michaela in eleventh. We're looking for confirmation Joe spent the night on the couch...
Joe was pretty banged up, but he earned as many admirers as he did enemies with his loosey-goosey style of play. In the end, though, James retired The Armorer in tenth with The Stranger's Force Blast, which all things considered, is a pretty cool way to go out.
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| What's behind door number two? |
Curtis' Cad Bane was taking shots with his Pyke troopers, but he left the safety of the middle four squares to try and collect his bounty on Jonah's Fennec Shand. Jonah had already lost Black Krrsantan, but he was able to put some surprise damage back on Curtis. There was fresh blood in the water and Curtis' alliance started chomping at the bit. Rob/General Grievous made a pact with James/The Stranger and they worked together on Cad. Curtis was NOT happy about that betrayal. James' minor character Mae used Deadly Daggers to send Curtis home in ninth. Rob will try to make nice with him at lunch on Monday...if Curtis will sit with him. To be continued...
Give credit to Jonah - he was an early target in the game and ignored his moral compass by betraying his light side alliance to push himself deeper into the night. But when Grant/Beckett popped some shots, Fennec was damaged. Kiera, whose Mace Windu had to navigate the light side collapse, exacted sweet revenge with a Whirlwind Attack. Jonah was dust in the...whirlwind.
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| Bloody nose incoming... |
With seven Duelers to go we were dealing with some chaos above the board. First, poor Connor got a spontaneous bloody nose that was quite severe - Jillian had swung by to check on her dad Grant and played a couple of rounds for Connor while he went into the bacta tank. Then, rookie Dueler Noah/Rey nervously broke the base of one of the eliminated MagnaGuards!
But Rob finally called a pause to the game because something happened that had never been considered before when playing in the Eravana Cargo Hold. By pure coincidence, Jordann's Darth Maul landed on the starting space of one of the rathtars and then was joined on that square by the CJ rathtar. It was Rob's turn, and he realized, for his two actions, he could close both doors and trap Jordann/Maul with the rathtar!!! How would that even work?? Would it be a four point attack on Darth Maul each round until a door was open? Or two points of auto-damage!?! We had to break out the Jedi Council on the spot to discuss the implications and render a ruling. As you could imagine, Jordann was NOT happy that her game might be in jeopardy. We ended with this decision: Jordann would not have reasonably stayed in that square, with the rathtar approaching, if she knew she could be locked there with a rathtar. So Rob said he wouldn't close the doors but that, moving forward, if it happens again a character CAN be locked in with a rathtar and the rathtar would attack four on their turn until a door is open again or the character is eliminated!
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| Connor won his own personal Krennic deck. Game used. |
Once that ruling was administered, it was back to Dueling. Kiera had done a heck of a job to survive the light side implosion, but despite trying to put the target on Rob/Grievous, she found no allies. James added to his trophy collection with a Trakata Attack. Kiera took out her homework to be productive while cheering on fellow BRC-er Jordann.
The lone light side character left at that point was Noah, who was playing his first-ever Duel and flying by the seat of his pants trying to avoid rathtars. One ended up eating his minor character Finn! Connor decided to spill somebody else's blood instead of his own and blasted Rey with Hero of the Empire. Noah - you played great! A top-six finish in your first Duel, on the most complex board in the league - well done!
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| CJ headed straight for Darth Maul |
With five to go, the melee characters had a softly spoken understanding they weren't too keen on working with the shooters (Grant/Beckett and Connor/Krennic) any longer. That was tough for Connor, who had worked very closely with James/The Stranger all night. Before the board could eliminate Krennic, though, Connor managed to play Peace and Security, which dumped everyone's hands. James stayed aggressive, though, and used a four point attack to finally let Connor go to an urgent care.
Rob/Grievous was moving to engage Grant/Beckett when out of nowhere, his alliance partner Jordann/Maul stabbed him in the back with an attack! Rob was equally miffed and impressed by the blind side. That basically turned the table into two teams: Rob and James vs. Grant and Jordann. But Grant was well protected by closed doors and the repeating loops of the rathtars, forcing Jordann to fight on two fronts. She couldn't sustain that and James once again used Trakata Attack for the kill. Jordann has a nice run of high finishes going right now!
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| It takes two to make a thing go right. |
After many hours of Dueling Rob finally needed a bathroom break, knowing good and well Grant would try and persuade James to team with him against Rob. Rob did a lot of the heavy lifting against Grant since James had done a lot against Maul. Grant was on his last points of health, pleading with James to let him weaken Rob, but James stuck to his alliance and delivered the kill shot. Grant was out in third, and we had a Sith-tacular final two of The Stranger vs. General Grievous!
Rob had agreed to card up a round before attacking James when James agreed to off Grant. With that stipulation, Grievous retreated to the middle four squares on the board just in time to play Reinforcements! Grievous' minor characters had been a nuisance for many throughout the night, and now The Stranger was going to have to cut through them to get to Rob. This cat and mouse game lasted a long time, but Rob was able to slowly weaken The Stranger. James fought valiantly, and even surprised Rob with a Kortosis Armor, but the prequel villain finally laid down a five point attack to win the night! James is still just an amateur Dueler, but that second place finish was awesome, as was his kill count on the night. But in the 150th Duel in league history, it would be Rob's night, marking his 30th career win. That's gross!
Final order of finish:
12. Alex G./Obi
11. Michaela/Bo-Katan
10. Joe H./The Armorer
9. Curtis/Cad Bane
8. Jonah/Fennec
7. Kiera/Mace
6. Noah C./Rey
5. Connor A./Krennic
4. Jordann/Maul
3. Grant D./Beckett
2. James/The Stranger
1. Rob/General Grievous
Next month is extremely busy, but it looks like we can squeeze in the October Duel - FIGHT NIGHT - on Friday, October 4th, at 7PM. Rob will send out official invites soon. Until then...here's to the next 150 12-way Duels! PEW PEW!
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