A New Hope - January 26, 2026

Eravana Cargo Hold

Welcome to 2026!!!  After a restful holiday break, we're back at it!  And for the new year, we brought along four new characters - Jabba the Hutt, Dr. Evazan, Captain Rex, and Luminara Unduli!

Smile if you plan on releasing the rathtars!

As is often the case with the Eravana Cargo Hold board, things went...slowly.  There were a lot of attacks flying but not a lot of characters dying.  For every Homing Missile Rob/Luminara sent to the dark side, Jordyn/AG Pryde healed her team with The Old Wars.  

But the first opportunity for a flip happened when Rob closed a door that trapped Justin's Jabba the Hutt on the light side.  Rather than join a new alliance, he tried to go it alone against Riley/Yord and other light side friends.  Though he lasted several hours, Justin did end up in last with a recently restored Jar Jar trophy (thanks Caden!!!).

Meanwhile, Michael/Anakin and Ian/Luthen were holding the center four squares of the board.  Both of Ian's characters were banged up, though.  Seemingly out of nowhere the dark side decided to eat one of their own:  Jordyn/Allegiant General Pryde!  That was RUTHLESS considering Jordyn had healed her team twice, keeping them strong.  Poor Jordyn!!!  James' Darth Maul made the kill shot.

Ian and Michael hold center court...

Though the dark side was now down two characters, Alex's Orson Krennic had kinda joined them.  That was enough for Michael to make a bold decision - he Wrathed over to Eric's Chirrut & Baze!  David/Rex, Rob/Luminara, and Eric didn't appreciate that.  They took the next six actions to attack Michael, and Eric finished him off with a little Staccato Lightning!

Mark/Dr. Evazan were running around the board all night, in constant danger but also hard to finish off.  Rob/Luminara became obsessed with eliminating them, spending wayyyy too many cards to do so.  "Oatmeal Face," as Rob rudely began referring to the doctor, finally ran out of cards and Riley/Yord sent him back to Brooks in ninth.

Whose side will they take in Ian vs. Rob???

Rob was bothered all night that Michael and Ian had moved so quickly into the center squares, releasing the rathtars but safe from their damaging pathways.  The top two ranked Duelers in the league officially locked horns, and they threw everything they had at each other, all while trying to convince everyone else to help them.  They both got down to their last few health points, thanks in large part to Luthen's Exit Strategy exploding on Luminara.  The Andor spy won the day, sending the newly created Jedi Luminara and Rob to the showers in eighth.

Ian won the battle but lost the war.  David's 501st Clone Trooper Made His Own Decision by shooting Ian into seventh place.  David was bopping around everywhere, trying to find a new port in the storm.

Cold Storage!!!

That left us with six Duelers to go...and well past midnight.  Rough!  It looked like Alex/Krennic, Grant/Wampa, and James/Maul were going to stick together.  Riley made one final attack run on Maul, and surprisingly for the ill-fated Acolyte Jedi, she did some real damage.  But James looked like a killing machine, determined to spend all of his attacks before reshuffling his deck.  Two Athletic Surges later, Yord had his proverbial neck snapped in sixth.

Somehow Eric and his double-minor duo of Chirrut and Baze were still in the game.  Credit Eric for deftly moving a less-than-desirable deck into the top five.  But as his last character was nearly dead, he chose death by rathtar instead of a fellow Dueler, crawling in front of a closed gate until CJ gobbled him up in fifth.

The alliance that stuck together.

The last remaining new character in the game was David's Captain Rex.  David was doing well, especially considering this was only his third career Duel.  But no matter how many For The Republics he played, it wasn't enough to save Rex from Maul.  It was good night early morning for David.

We should take a moment of pause and admire Grant, who was playing the Wampa for the second time of the Wampa's three career games.  Though he was bummed to pick him, the experience was clearly paying off.  And it was his Viper Droid who shot Maul at third place.  James had a great night, though!

The last few beings left in the Eravana...

And then there were two!  It looked like Grant/Wampa had the health advantage over Alex/Krennic, but Krennic was able to start healing since both of his minors were destroyed.  Grant still had his Viper Droid.  It took nearly an hour of slow but intentional chess play, but turn by turn Alex made Krennic stronger while whittling down the Wampa.  Grant made one last charge with his snow beast, but Alex won the day (seriously, it was almost daytime...) with Hero of the Empire!!!

Congrats to Alex, who won his third career Duel and his first since September of 2024.  But this victory was even crazier for Orson Krennic.  Krennic now has five total victories...tying him with Luke Skywalker for twelfth all-time.  This is a big deal because the first few years of the league we only played with the original 12 characters.  Now one of the new decks has caught up to a veteran character!!!

Happy New Year!

Final order of finish:

12.  Justin/Jabba the Hutt

11.  Jordyn/Allegiant General Pryde

10.  Michael/Anakin Skywalker

9.  Mark/Dr. Evazan

8.  Rob/Luminara Unduli

7.  Ian/Luthen Rael

6.  Riley/Yord Fandar

5.  Eric/Chirrut & Baze

4.  David/Captain Rex

3.  James/Darth Maul

2.  Grant/Wampa

1.  Alex/Orson Krennic

Next month is the Valentine's Duel!  We'll be debuting the newest board in the league - the Death Star!  This thing is GORGOUS!  You won't want to miss it.  It looks like we'll throw down on Friday, February 6th for that one.  Stay tuned for the official invite.

Congrats again, Alex!  That's more hardware for the Teal trophy case!

PEW PEW!

Preview: A New Hope - January 16,2026

 

We are back at it, folks!  I can't believe it's 2026...where does the time go?  This month it will go into the ravenous mouths of our rathtars!  That's right - we're playing the Eravana Cargo Hold board, made famous in Episode VII, when Rey and Finn met Han and Chewie for the first time.  This is the most complex game board we use, so it's quite a challenging way to start the new year!

The other big news, of course, is that we're debuting four new characters!!!  Jabba the Hutt, Captain Rex, Luminara Unduli, and Dr. Evazan will make their first-ever appearances, and each of them bring some new tricks up their sleeves we  haven't seen before.  If you want to check out their decks in advance, head to the "new character" tab above!  (Just a heads up - that page struggles to load on phones, you might need to use a PC/laptop to see them all...)

HISTORY OF A NEW HOPE DUEL:

2025 - Rob won with Darth Vader on Arvala-7

2024 - Ian won with Darth Maul in the Trash Compactor

2023 - Michael won with General Grievous in Ewok Village

2022 - Duncan won with Emperor Palpatine in the Geonosis Arena

2021 - Rob won with Lando Calrissian on Arvala-7

2020 - Curtis won with Darth Maul in the Emperor's Throne Room

2019 - Joel won with Darth Maul in the Geonosis Arena

2018 - Ethan won with Anakin Skywalker on the Kamino Platform

2017 - Nathan won with Mace Windu in the Carbon Freezing Chamber

2016 - JD won with Anakin Skywalker in the Geonosis Arena

2015 - Rob won with Mace Windu in the Emperor's Throne Room

MEET THE DUELERS:

Here are the lovely Duelers throwing down in the A New Hope Duel, and they were kind enough to share their new year's resolutions with us to boot!

Alex G. - Alex's resolution is to get back in the winner's circle!  2025 was a tougher year for him, but he's easily capable of taking home a trophy or two in 2026.

David M. - David's resolution is to turn professional in 2026.  A New Hope is just David's third career Duel.  He's committed to locking in and playing more!

Eric - Eric's promise for 2026...?  His first career win!  He's certainly come close on more than one occasion.  Will January mark win #1??

Grant - Grant's resolution is...playing more Han Solo! staying out of last place!  He still has zero career 12th place finishes, the most impressive streak in league history!

Ian - Ian's resolution is being a better father than Darth Vader!  His first child debuts this March, and don't be surprised if his son is overflowing with midichlorians.

James - James' resolution for 2026 is to keep collecting that hardware!  It's hard to argue he's not the best student Dueler in the league right now.

Jordyn - Jordyn's resolution for this year is to take over the Teal Mafia and add her first trophy to their showcase.  The punniest Dueler in league history is up to the task!

Justin - Justin's resolution is to make sure the HRC wins more trophies this year than any other residential college!  The competition will be fierce...

Mark - You may not realize it, but Mark is currently ranked 4th in the league!  His resume sure could use his first win, though, so that is definitely his resolution for 2026.

Michael - Michael barely qualified for the 2025 Championship, having only played twice last year, but he showed little rust when he finished fourth.  His resolution this year is to log more games!

Riley - Riley became the first woman and first minor to win a league Championship last month!!!  Her resolution is to make the jump to the college rankings this fall - welcome to BU, Riley!

Rob - Rob has just about seen and done it all in this league...except win the singles tournament!  His resolution is to win that this July, with a rumored 64 characters playing in it!!!

MEET THE CHARACTERS

You already know four of the new characters playing, but here's the whole crew trying to avoid rathtars on Friday night:

There you have it everyone!  We play Friday night in the Fine Arts Studio.  All are welcome to come and check it out.  We're starting at 8PM - see you then!  PEW PEW!!!

A New Hope - January 18, 2025

 

Arvala-7

Hope springs eternal in the hearts of all Duelers!  So what better way to start a new year with...A New Hope!  That's right, our annual January Duel went down in the twisty canyons of Arvala-7.  We had a big wait list for this one - Duelers were trying to complete their New Year's resolutions to win all the 12-Way Duels in 2025!  But only one would pull it off...and who was that?  Read the recap below to find out!

Happy New Year's!

There were a lot of folks at the table who hadn't played the Arvala-7 board before, and they immediately noticed how segregated the light and dark sides were from each other.  That being said, nobody wanted to defect to the other side, so each team began plotting on how to gain the upper hand.  Recent birthday boy Austin, playing for the first time since the last A New Hope, got bold and moved his Han to the side to attack and kill Sam's New Order Trooper.  But his rust showed when he didn't retreat afterwards.  The dark side pounced, and by the time Austin could escape he was down to four points of health.  That so happens to be the exact damage a DarthVader Throw Debris delivers...and Rob killed Austin in last!    Woof!

The light side stayed strong, though Han and Chewie were some of the precious few shooters their team had.  The dark side continued picking off other minors.  This next portion of the game took a looooooong time to play.  Like, several hours, but there was a lot of action.  The dark side was determined to kill James' Torbin before he used Barash Vow to plug a main passageway.  It turned comical as Torbin stayed alive while desperately searching for the card.  The dark side finally got him, though, and Indara fell soon after thanks to Curtis' General Grievous making a bold attack.  If there was a silver lining it was James turning pro - congrats James!

A Teal divided cannot stand...

Alex G. had pulled off a couple of slick attacks with Ahsoka, but Rob made sure the rest of his team knew it appeared Alex was hurting for defense cards.  The dark side smelled the blood in the water and combined their efforts on him.  A Vader Wrath was the last blow as the unofficial rookie of the year in 2024 was gone in tenth place.

The light side was collapsing and that's when the defections commenced.  Jordyn/Luke turned first, attacking Elliot's Qui-Gon, who got messed over by Curtis' General Grievous earlier in the game.  But Elliot and Josiah/Sol had tangled with Mark/Dooku and Eric/Boba to positive effect.  It looked like one of those dark side characters would be next, but a shocking Force Push of Sol from Dooku put Josiah in a kill box and he was cooked after that.  It was ninth place for Josiah, but it was fun having him back for the first time since CL Training!

The Torbin Terminators

The 2024 Champion Elliot was bobbing and weaving throughout the night with his Qui-Gon and Jar Jar.  His main arch nemesis was Mark/Dooku.  Mark was on the ropes when Sam, using Captain Phasma, relieved Mark of his last Super Battle Droid with a New Recruit special.  Mark was crestfallen and finally fell to a Prophecy from Elliot.  Mark finished in eighth, but his shiny BRC water bottle was a welcome upgrade at the table!

Sam used Phasma's brand new Super Battle Droid to lay a one point death shot on Qui-Gon, which is always a little frustrating when you go out like that.  But Elliot took it in stride...a sign of a recent champion for sure!  

The end of the light side alliance.

The final six standing were the dark side alliance, which included Jordyn's Luke by that point.  Though there were several hours of play with no deaths, the dam broke quickly from eleventh place to seventh.  Nobody was sure how to proceed.  Caden excused himself from the table for a moment, and that's when the rest of the group put the target on him.  He's not the first person to fall victim to the call of nature, and he won't be the last!  His Beckett, who was terrorized by Qui-Gon for most of the game, was stuck in an unintentional kill box.  Rob's Vader landed the final two blows.  Caden played well with a short card hand all night, this kid has a future in the league!

Eric's Boba Fett rode shotgun most of the night with Mark's Count Dooku, but as a result, he was fairly banged up.  He was loyal to the alliance through and through, but as the weakest character left he was the next target.  Jordyn/Luke handed him his walking papers in fifth.  Eric has played twice and finished fifth twice.  Those are very good performances!

The ethics sub-committee of the Jedi Council will be 
meeting this week to discuss the new trend of desecrating
destroyed characters...

Rob/Vader and Curtis/Grievous had a secret agreement to eliminate the shooters from the board, and their plan was working with Beckett and Boba gone.  But Curtis was hiding in a corner behind his double-resurrected Magna Guards when Sam/Captain Phasma made mention that he didn't think anybody but Grievous wins if Curtis made it to the top three.  Sam had a point - General Grievous was the most powerful character still in the game and Curtis is an expert Dueler.  Rob made the painful decision to side with Jordyn and Sam against Curtis.  He used Your Skills Are Not Complete and a Choke to expose Grievous and Sam and Jordyn took it from there.  The kill shot was a Justice from Luke Skywalker.  Curtis played outstanding.

And then there were three!  Rob/Vader and Sam/Captain Phasma were both full health and each had a minor character left...until Captain Phasma took Rob's Storm Trooper with another New Recruit!  In an ironic twist of fate, Vader was forced to kill his former Trooper for his own protection.  Curse you, Phasma!

Jordyn committing Dueling blasphemy.

Sam and Rob were both lobbying hard for Jordyn to join them against the other.  She waffled for a couple of rounds before boldly moving in against Rob's Vader.  She was low carded, though, and so Rob countered with two attacks.  The second card was All Too Easy...and Jordyn couldn't defend!  Luke Skywalker was killed instantly!  Still, kudos to Jordyn who is proving to be a formidable amateur. 

That left a Captain Phasma vs. Darth Vader finale.  Arvala is a shooter's board, and Sam was loaded with Phasma's best cards.  Rob, meanwhile, was pulling a lot of Storm Trooper cards after his redeal.  Rob did have the luck advantage with dice rolls, though.  He was able to stay away from Phasma as his rolls were big while Sam's were small.  They kept running in circles and Vader was able to start healing and using Wraths and Throw Debris (deb-riss).  After a few rounds Vader was definitely wounded but found his last two Throw Debris on consecutive turns to pull out the win!!!  The winningest character in league history combined with the winningest Dueler in league history to take down the trophy!  It was nearly ten years (Valentine's Duel, 2015) since Rob last won with Vader, but once a decade is still nice!

Congrats to Sam too, who played a heck of a game and just ran into some bad luck.  Let's hope his second place doesn't negatively impact his relational pursuits...

The final order of finish:

12.  Austin/Han

11.  James/Indara

10.  Alex G./Ahsoka

9.  Josiah/Sol

8.  Mark/Dooku

7.  Elliot/Qui-Gon

6.  Caden/Beckett  

5.  Eric/Boba

4.  Curtis/Grievous

3.  Jordyn/Luke

2.  Sam/Phasma

1.  Rob/Vader

That was a long Duel but expertly played by all!  Folks better bring their "A" game in 2025 - it's tough sledding in the league this year.  Save the date for our February match - Valentine's Duel - which we think we'll play on Friday, February 7th at 7PM.

Until then...PEW PEW!

A New Hope - January 12, 2024

 

Trash Compactor

Remember how the Trash Compactor is supposed to be a fast Duel...?  Well, we broke it.  We broke the compactor.  The Duelers were too good.  The dianoga was too bad at his job of sucking characters into dirty garbage water.  It was three hours before the walls started closing!

Happy New Year!

We're getting ahead of ourselves!  Let's start with the good news.  It's 2024 and the league is still alive and thriving.  We had several younger Duelers at the table, including Spencer, who was making his Dueling debut.  What a way to start the year!

Once we got the characters assigned and the Dueler order established, we were off and running.  Two very funny and unique things happened at the start of the game.  First, Alex A.'s Wicket was the target of early attacks from the dark side shooters.  With just two health points left on his Ewok, Alex decided to use Whirling Rocks against Ian's Darth Maul...except Alex rolled a "2-all", killing Wicket!!!  I'd like to say we didn't laugh and instead silently mourned our forest friend...but we were definitely laughing.

Second, Jackson pulled off a rare flip/reflip maneuver.  The light side was taking damage and Jackson/Mace thought that would be a good time to join the dark side in the middle of the board.  But a Spencer/Vader - Jordann/Dooku - Bekah/Morgan alliance repelled the advance and the light side took Jackson back!

Is Spencer having fun or is he completely terrified?

A whole lot of Dueling happened before our first death of the night, easily two and a half hours.  But Jordann used Dooku's Force Push to send poor Alex's Leia into a dark side kill box!  Alex did nothing wrong, but still died in last thanks to an Athletic Surge from Ian's Maul.  Alex has had some rough luck at the start of his Dueling career - please come back, Alex!  It gets better!!!

With the dark side having a numbers advantage, they got a bit overconfident.  Spencer was feeling it with Darth Vader, and he plunged forward to attack the light side.  Unfortunately, he left himself a bit exposed and with very little defense in his hand.  A combination of light side hits culminated in Isaiah's Rey using a 4-point attack to oust Spencer in his rookie debut.  11th doesn't sound exciting, but he did great at the table!

Jordann's Dooku moved forward too, determined to damage Isaiah/Rey.  But she got a little too cute with her attack order, using a 1-point attack in her first action only to have her Taunt completely blocked with the second action.  The light side pounced and Jordann was done in tenth after Riley B.'s Cassian shot her.  The walls finally activated too, but nobody was caught underneath them.

Surprise surprise!

Rob/General Grievous slowly realized the Grant D./Lando - Isaiah/Rey combo on the light side was going to be awfully powerful in the end game.  He convinced his remaining dark side allies to focus their hits on Rey.  Rob managed 11 points of damage on Isaiah, including an unblocked A Fine Addition.  Morgan (#witchlady), piloted by Bekah, delivered the final blow and Isaiah was parked in ninth.

Up to this point Riley B./Jyn were having an under the radar game, and Riley had made some pretty sweet moves to set up chaos for the dark side.  But his luck ran out when his damaged Jyn couldn't switch her main character status over to a fully healthy Cassian.  Once again the #Witchlady took out the trash with an enhanced 4-point attack.

I survived Order 66 and all I got was this lousy hat.

Austin E./Bo-Katan was playing a duck-and-move game, trying to stay out of enemy fire after taking some attacks early in the game.  Rob/Grievous and Ian/Maul had a plan to eliminate Austin and then have the walls crush Grant's Lando, but Grant was playing fantastically with the mayor of Cloud City and switched his spot with Rob's Grievous!  This put Grant in the safety of the four middle squares on the board while Rob was now in danger of being crushed by walls, as was Jackson's Mace Windu!

The second biggest play of the night was Ian whittling down Austin's Bo-Katan to her last seven points of health, with only one card left in his hand.  An undefended Athletic Surge would kill three Duelers...and that's what happened!  Austin was gutted in seventh while Rob and Jackson were run over by the walls in a tie for fifth!!

The diabolical Ian devising his plan...

Just like that we were down to four Duelers:  Grant/Lando, Ian/Maul, Bekah/#witchlady, and Elliot/Jango.  With just one more Dueler needing to die to close the walls for a final time, nobody was willing to move off the center four squares.  This was to Grant's advantage, as the other three were working together against him, but he only had to defend himself against Bekah's heavily damaged Morgan.  Ian was stuck in the back of that row, and though he had the ability to use an Athletic Surge to move back to a safe square before the walls closed a final time, he somehow convinced Bekah and Elliot to move off the center squares so his Maul could advance on Grant's Lando.

And they agreed to the move!!!

The dianoga, asleep for practically the whole game, finally woke up and did two points of damage on Bekah's Morgan.  Elliot was initially devastated, thinking Morgan had died and his Jango would be caught in the moving walls.  Then he was relieved - Morgan was still alive!!!  Then he went back to devastated when he realized what Ian was going to do...attack Bekah to kill her, causing the walls to crush his fully healthy Jango!!!  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

And that's what happened.  The biggest move of the game, executed perfectly.  Emphasis on EXECUTED.

There's no mercy in Ian's dojo.

I can't say enough about how well both Grant and Ian were playing.  As they were down to the final two Maul had a bit of an advantage, but the dianoga started snacking on Maul, levelling the playing field.  Despite Grant's best efforts, he was losing health points.  Ian was still holding a Blinding Surge, but playing it might mean they both died, leaving no winner for the Duel!  The dianoga then hit Lando twice, leaving him down to his last health point.  Ian used one last attack and won the game!!!

This was career victor #14 for Ian, and it also moved Darth Maul into sole possession of second most career wins among the game characters.  Who knew we could go five hours in the trash compactor???

Final order of finish:

12.  Alex A./Princess Leia

11.  Spencer/Darth Vader

10.  Jordann/Count Dooku

9.  Isaiah/Rey

8.  Riley B./Jyn Erso

7.  Austin E./Bo-Katan Kryze

T5.  Rob/General Grievous

T5.  Jackson/Mace Windu

4.  Bekah/Morgan Elsbeth #witchlady

3.  Elliot/Jango Fett

2.  Grant D./Lando Calrissian

1.  Ian/Darth Maul

Is there a more terrifying player/character combo than Ian and Maul???

We got some good feedback on playing Friday nights, so we'll try that again for our February match, the Valentine's Duel!  Pencil in February 9th, 7PM, until Rob sends out the official invite in a couple of weeks.

Thanks to all who played - what a fun way to kickoff 2024!!!

Preview: A New Hope - January 12, 2024

It's hard to believe, but we are now in the year 2024!  AND THE DUELING MUST CONTINUE.  After the hoopla of the December Championship, we could really use a palate cleanser.  How about a nice, fast Duel?  Well, the best way to guarantee a quick game is to crush Duelers with the closing walls of the TRASH COMPACTOR.  There's no time to mess around in 2024!

HISTORY OF THE A NEW HOPE DUEL

2023 - Michael won with General Grievous in Ewok Village

2022 - Duncan won with Emperor Palpatine in the Geonosis Arena

2021 - Rob won with Lando Calrissian on Arvala-7

2020 - Curtis won with Darth Maul in the Emperor's Throne Room

2019 - Joel won with Darth Maul in the Geonosis Arena

2018 - Ethan won with Anakin Skywalker on the Kamino Platform

2017 - Nathan won with Mace Windu in the Carbon Freezing Chamber

2016 - JD won with Anakin Skywalker in the Geonosis Arena

2015 - Rob won with Mace Windu in the Emperor's Throne Room

MEET THE DUELERS

We've got a good mix of veterans and newer Duelers for this one!  We love to see it!!!  We'll highlight each Dueler's "New Year's Resolution" below...

Alex A. - we're pumped to have Alex back at the table after he played at CL Training and the Doubleheader.  Alex's resolution is to turn professional in 2024!

Austin - he hasn't played since CL Training, but we're excited to see Austin return to the Dueling world.  His resolution for 2024 is to secure a top five finish.

Bekah - she had a personal best finish of fifth place at Thanksdueling! this past November.  Bekah's resolution is to crack the top three in 2024!

Elliot - always the bridesmaid, never the bride...until 2024!  The pundits are calling it now - Elliot will win his first career Duel this year!!!

Grant D. - still one of the all-time win leaders in league history, it has been a few years since Grant landed in the victory circle.  His resolution for '24 is to secure a trophy.

Jackson - the A New Hope Duel will bring Jackson to within a Duel of turning professional (six games played).  His resolution is to land a top-four finish this Spring.

Jordann - shoutout to Jordann, who spent part of her Christmas break repairing the Jar Jar trophy.  Her resolution for 2024 is to never win it again.

Ian - our recently engaged (!!!) Dueler Ian is still Dueling with us despite wedding planning to attend to.  His resolution for 2024?  Let his fiancé play with us!

Isaiah - he turned professional at the '23 Championship, and made an outstanding debut at second place in the rankings.  His 2024 resolution is to take over the top spot!

Riley B. - the league's most dedicated fanatic is still searching for his first win.  His resolution this year is to secure a win before he graduates!

Rob - good governor, Rob won the '23 Championship and hasn't been afraid to remind folks about it.  His 2024 resolution is to try and defend it this December.

Spencer - rookie Dueler alert!!!  We love first time Duelers at the table!!!  Spencer will make his debut at A New Hope.  The league's resolution for 2024 is to make sure he has such a good time he comes back and plays with us again.

There you have it, folks!  The fighting starts at 7PM this Friday in the North Village classroom.  The dianoga is ready to pull unsuspecting characters into the murky depths of the Trash Compactor.  One thing's for sure...we're all going to be a lot thinner!

PEW PEW!

A New Hope - January 14, 2023

 

Ewok Village

Here we are again.  A new year is upon and still...WE DUEL.  The league is relentless.  Like camouflaged Ewoks protecting their moon from a battalion of Storm Troopers.  And in the worst segue in this blog's history, we happened to be playing the A New Hope Duel on the Ewok Village board!  Yub nub!

Happy pew-pew year!

Julia secured the #1 chair and the roll to go first.  The tension was tight right out of the gate.  The big bridge is always congested at the start of a game in Ewok Village, but this time there were two Wookies guarding the light side!  Riley B.'s Chewbacca and Julia's Black Krrsantan!  That intimidated the dark side for sure.  Riley B. was interested in moving his Han deeper into the light side of the board, but Curtis, piloting Luke Skywalker, kept pushing for him to stay on the bridge to allow for the other light side characters to maneuver into better positions.  Rob's Beckett and Ian's Cad Bane immediately cleared a path and sent overtures for Riley to flip to the dark side...which he did!  And he did it in spectacular fashion - his Chewbacca Bowcastered Curtis' Luke!!!

Guess which Duelers are grumpy on the bridge...

Things seemed tough for the light side, but they immediately rallied and began focusing their ranged shots on Parker's Darth Vader, who was stuck without cover on the hut side of the board.  The dark side repaid the light in kind when Kevin's Boba Fett chucked BOTH Thermal Detonators on the same turn!  In the end, it wasn't enough to save Parker, who came in a shocking last place.  That is only the third time in 111 Duels that Vader has come in last, and the first time since 2016!

Part of the Thermal Detonator damage included a dead Leia, which meant Curtis was free to use Justice.  He just so happened to have both in his hand, and he used them both on his arch nemesis Chewbacca!  Chewey was down to his last two health points, and he fittingly Wookie tossed Luke and Curtis to an eleventh place finish.

Marital strife!

Things only got spicier from there.  With the light side in chaos, JD M. made a personally uncharacteristic decision to forgo his current alliance and make a pact with the dark side.  That included his Yoda Force Lifting and Pushing Julia's Fennec to a dark side kill box which included...her real life husband Michael B./General Grievous.  Let's just say she was not impressed when Michael did indeed begin the attack on her.

Meanwhile, Philip's Mandalorian was under fire and running out of friends.  That's when he decided to go rogue and inflict as much damage as he could on one turn.  That included Rising Phoenix, Heavy Weapon, and Whistling Birds!  Philip was in his first Duel, and eventually got eliminated by a fellow noobie, Michael T., who used Emperor's Force Lightning to zap Philip in tenth place.  Julia was gone right after that, as JD's Clone Trooper landed a long distance shot on Fennec for ninth.

Thumbs up for blindsides!

With eight to go, Ian/Cad and Rob/Beckett were feeling real good.  Their dark side alliance was kicking butt and taking names.  But you can never feel too comfortable in a Duel...because the two most experienced Duelers at the table got schooled by the newer generation!  The table pulled a vicious blindside that included poor Ian in a kill box on the bridge and Kevin's Boba Fett betraying Rob's Beckett.  Rob's Beckett was in a better spot on the board to try and survive, but there was no hope for escape with Ian, and his Cad Bane died in a shocking eighth place.

Rob began plotting and scheming, trying to find a weak link in the new alliance.  He thought he could convince Evan's Qui-Gon Jinn to join him, who had somehow largely remained a free agent throughout the game.  But despite playing every trick up Beckett's sleeves, Rob could only last so long and finally died at the hands of Michael T.'s Emperor.  

JD deserves a lot of credit as the leader and architect of that move...but what happened next was painful to watch.  The final six had no idea what to do next.  Here, I took a great picture of it:

I'm not kidding, it took them 20+ minutes to come to any kind of a decision.  It was all so polite and awkward.  It was like watching a den full of bears who had no idea how to kill a baby bunny.  The tension finally gravitated between JD's Yoda and Evan's Qui-Gon Jinn.  JD was convinced they were super-solid but Evan felt like Yoda was a barrier to victory, and poor JD became the target.  He went from Ceaser to dead in sixth.  Et tu, Qui-Gon?

With JD's elimination, Michael B. put the target on Riley's Han Solo who, true to character, had weaseled and wormed his way out of trouble countless times during the Duel but finally faced a reckoning.  He could not move the target off himself, and Kevin used a massive over-kill with a Kyber Dart to end Riley's night in fifth.  That wasn't too shabby considering the risk of his early flip.

Final three on a glorious board.

And then there were four!  You could feel Evan's excitement slowly building, as he had his sights set on a back to back victory after his 2022 Championship performance.  But the rest of the board finally wised up to how hard Qui-Gon can be in the end game.  Evan made them work for it, but once he finally got weak enough Michael T. used another Force Lightning for the kill.  Evan continues to move up the Dueler rankings, though!

It was a little fuzzy on who would team with who with three to go, and initially it was leaning towards a Michael T./Emperor and Kevin/Boba alliance, but at the last second, Michael B.'s Grievous made a pact with Kevin's Boba to unite against Palpatine.  Michael T. was playing in his first official 12-way, but you never would have known it based on his performance.  And he decided to use every last card in his hand against Kevin's Boba on his way out.  That included a You Will Die and Meditation to dump Boba's hand and keep it empty.  Michael B. hated to move against the Emperor, but it was the only logical move after Boba became cardless.  Michael T. finally died after a Make Them Suffer, but tip your caps to the new Dueler on the block!

A flannel final two.

Michael B. had the clear advantage after the Emperor jacked up Boba's cards, but Kevin managed to evade elimination with a Rocket Retreat to the other side of the village.  But Michael took the extra time to resurrect his minor characters and heal with spare parts.  It was all over but the stabbin', and Boba was gone in second.  Michael B. won his first Duel!!!  Congrats Michael!!  That also marked General Grievous' second win.  Kevin played a great game too, tying a career best finish.

Final order of finish:

12.  Parker/Darth Vader

11.  Curtis/Luke Skywalker

10.  Philip/The Mandalorian

9.  Julia/Fennec Shand

8.  Ian/Cad Bane

7.  Rob/Tobias Beckett

6.  JD/Yoda

5.  Riley B./Han Solo

4.  Evan/Qui-Gon Jinn

3.  Michael T./Emperor Palpatine

2.  Kevin/Boba Fett

1.  Michael B./General Grievous

This was a great Duel to start the year!  Next month is February, so that means it's the Valentine's Duel!  We're tentatively planning for Saturday, February 4th.  Save that on your calendars, official invites will go out the weekend before.  See you then!

Preview: A New Hope - January 13, 2023

 

It's incredible to think the league officially started in the Fall of 2014...and now we're in the year 2023!  Good gravy that's a long time of Dueling in a galaxy far, far away!

The January Duel is appropriately titled "A New Hope," because it's that time of year to make resolutions to win trophies, chuck Thermal Detonators, and ask all your friends...are we good?

HISTORY OF A NEW HOPE:

2022 - Duncan won with Emperor Palpatine in the Geonosis Arena

2021 - Rob won with Lando Calrissian on Arvala-7

2020 - Curtis won with Darth Maul in the Emperor's Throne Room

2019 - Joel won with Darth Maul in the Geonosis Arena
2018 - Ethan won with Anakin Skywalker on the Kamino Platform
2017 - Nathan won with Mace Windu in the Carbon Freezing Chamber
2016 - JD won with Anakin Skywalker in the Geonosis Arena
2015 - Rob won with Mace Windu in the Emperor's Throne Room

MEET THE DUELERS:

It's not uncommon for the blog to suggest New Year's resolutions for the January Duelers.  Here we go!

Andrew R. - his resolution is...to turn pro!  And he will tomorrow!  That's right, A New Hope will be Andrew's sixth Duel.  He has officially reached professional status in the league!

Curtis - his resolution is...win a Duel.  Curtis is a legend in the league, and after a scorching 2021 he went all of 2022 without a check in the win column.

Evan - his resolution is...bask in the glory of the 2022 Championship!  Evan put on a clinic with Count Dooku last month, winning his first ever Duel in spectacular fashion.

Ian - his resolution is...balance the trophy distribution in the central office.  Poor Ian had to listen to Rob talk a lot about his trophy shelf last year - he hopes to add to his by subtracting from Rob's.

JD M. - his resolution is...a return to glory.  JD would love to recapture the magic of his Fall 2021 debut by stringing together a win or two in addition to some top five finishes.

Julia - her resolution is...win a Duel before her husband!  Julia is an old school, pre-league Dueler who would love nothing more than to have chief Dueler status in her household.

Michael B - his resolution is...win a Duel before his wife!  He came awfully close at last year's Doubleheader.  The pressure is on to secure a win.

Michael T - his resolution is...play his first Duel!  There's rumors coming in from the outer rim that a rogue Dueling league has formed in South Russell.  Michael T can neither confirm nor deny those rumors...

Parker - his resolution is...more top half finishes.  Parker has a couple of Duels to go before turning pro, and he'd love to get a top half finish like he did in the Fall Brawl.

Philip - his resolution is...play his first Duel too!  He is another scoundrel checking into the game from the South Russell underground.

Riley B - his resolution is...character detox.  Riley has a fever, and the only prescription is more Duel decks!  He has printed off dozens of decks from across the interwebs.  

Rob - his resolution is...create a new board!  For a couple of years now the league has had 11 boards for 12 official Duels.  He has a nifty idea in play which will be revealed in May and bring balance to the Dueling Force!

PLUSH POE PREDICTS THE WINNER:

Was I lazy just now and searched for a previously used picture instead of creating a new photo shoot for Poe?

Yes.

Yes I was.  Poe is picking Boba.

We play A New Hope tomorrow - Friday, January 13th, at 7PM in the North Village Fine Arts Studio!  If you aren't playing feel free to come on and cheer on the madness!  We're playing the Ewok Village board, which is probably the prettiest one we use.  See you then!

A New Hope - January 15, 2022

 

Geonosis Arena (Hoth board)

Well it felt a bit weird to be Dueling in person with our COVID masks on, especially when face to face Dueling usually means whispering or mouthing secret communication across the table.  However, Dueling with masks on and keeping ourselves safe is better than not Dueling at all!  So we started 2022 with A New Hope...for more Duels, an end to COVID, and an appreciation of what the league provides each and every one of us!

Can you tell which Dueler is sticking their tongue out?

I'll just say it up front - the 2022 A New Hope Duel will not be remembered as the most logical, standard, rational match in league history.  It will more likely be remembered as one of the most chaotic, head-scratching, and goofy battles we've ever played!

Out of the gate Duncan's Emperor defected to the light side of the board, but Miguel's Lando responded by flipping to the dark!  Not be out done, JD's Kylo Ren headed to the light side too.  It was all quite dizzying.  Despite the dark side being down on numbers, occupying the open end of the board with a number of shooters gave them some tactical advantages.  They started attacking minors, and Ian's Jar Jar was the first to fall.  That exposed his Qui-Gon, who started in the inner elbow of the columns/snow drift.  Thanks to some crafty defending by Miguel's Lando, they were eventually able to move Qui-Gon into a kill box.  But just as Kevin's Darth Maul was about to send home Ian first...he flipped too!  He attacked Rob's Snoke!  

That was a back-breaker because the very next Dueler, Corona, was jumping from the light side with his Mandalorian!  Instead of killing Ian first, Ian was now accepted on the dark side and they in turn went after Kevin's Maul.  It looked like Kevin might escape, but Rob used one of his last two cards on him...it was Force Lightning!  It would have been a very different night had Maul stayed on the dark side, that's for sure...

Nobody in this pic knew what the heck was going on.

Rob self-sacrificed taking Maul out, because it left him exposed to Curtis' Light Them Up from Cassian.  The 2021 Championship winner was gone in eleventh.  The new alliances continued attacking each other, with the dark side holding out hope that they could overcome the light side logjam of major characters on the other end of the board.  However, it would be a brutal and undefended shot from Jyn Erso that left Corona's Mandalorian in critical condition.  Duncan's Emperor killed him in tenth with a Force Lightning.

Right around this point of the game Ian's Qui-Gon quietly moved away from the dark side alliance, and Riley's Jango Fett was recruited to flip sides.  The writing was on the wall for Karson's Beckett and Miguel's Lando.  Despite both playing well and trying to keep their side together, hope was gone once Riley's Jango turned on them too.  It would be Ian's Qui-Gon, trying to curry favor with the light side again, who cut down Karson in ninth with a 7 point Prophecy.  Then Elliot's Mace Whilwinded Miguel to his doom in eighth place.

Ian watches JD's foot enter his mouth.

That left seven Duelers, and the most crucial moments of the night.  Ian's Qui-Gon appeared to be the odd Dueler out, but he pointed out it sure seemed like JD/Kylo, Elliot/Mace, and Riley/Jango looked like a tight final three alliance.  JD basically confirmed that when he said Elliot was his #1 and Riley his #2.  Despite that verbal confirmation, Duncan still wanted a piece of Qui-Gon.  The board cleared for those two to go head to head, but a couple of shots from Riley's Jango angered Ian and he went after the tiny titan of terror instead.  Ian got beat up fast, though, cashing in his chips in seventh when Mace chopped him down.

JD and Elliot tried to make their move in the final six.  But the rest of the board started to realize they were in danger.  Duncan finally played You Will Die, and directed it at Elliot's Mace Windu.  Poor Elliot - he had his cards dumped multiple times during the game, first by Qui-Gon's There's Always a Bigger Fish and then the Emperor.  Unable to defend, he was gone soon after, with the Emperor landing the final shot.

JD, now without his buddy, swooped in on an unsuspecting Kat/Luke, which was the opposite of what happened at the Championship last month.  Kat was none too pleased when she was unable to defend Kylo's Vader's Bloodline.  It seems like she's been stuck with Luke ten times in the last five Duels!  She was dunzo in fifth.

Well past midnight at this point...

It was pretty clear at this point Curtis and Duncan were trying to simultaneously work together and card up to defeat the other in the final two.  They had no interest in taking JD's Kylo any further, and talked Riley into joining them against JD.  He had little chance against three at once, and it was a kill shot from Riley's Jango that parked JD in fourth.  Still, that's a career-best finish for Kylo, who is still the last ranked character in the league.

Curtis put the target on a healthy Jango next.  Duncan feigned agreement, but once Jyn roughed up Riley a bit, Duncan was suddenly willing to partner with Jango.  Curtis used a nifty defense card against Riley, preventing her from Rocket Retreating and staying within attack range of Jyn.  Riley was in danger the whole game, but managed a nifty third place finish for her troubles.

That left two Duelers!  Jyn was a bit banged up, and as the Emperor began chasing her around the columns/snow, it looked like Duncan's Emperor was going to be able to slowly whittle Curtis' Jyn down...and that's just what happened!  It took a bit of time, but Duncan was patient and eliminated Curtis in second.  Congrats to Duncan and the Emperor!!!  This marked Duncan's third career victory, and his first in over a year.

Let's see that final order of finish one more time:

12.  Kevin/Darth Maul

11.  Rob/Supreme Leader Snoke

10.  Corona/The Mandalorian

9.  Karson/Tobias Beckett

8.  Miguel/Lando Calrissian

7.  Ian/Qui-Gon Jinn

6.  Elliot/Mace Windu

5.  Kat/Luke Skywalker

4.  JD/Kylo Ren

3.  Riley/Jango Fett

2.  Curtis/Jyn Erso

1.  Duncan/Emperor Palpatine

Duncan has the best win percentage of active Duelers now - not too shabby, Duncan!  It looks like we'll play our February match - The Valentine's Duel - on the 5th.  And it will feature the return of the craziest board in the league...stay tuned for details!