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!

Doubleheader #2 - September 1, 2024

Trash Compactor

Thank the maker, the first half of the Doubleheader ended on time, allowing for game 2 to start on time too!  We had a few folks cycle out from the matinee and new blood to replace them in the nightcap.  The Trash Compactor was the board for this one, so wall deaths and dianoga chaos was on the menu!

The Teal guys before the sugar hit their bloodstream...

The Trash Compactor is a densely populated board, and the bevy of newer Duelers weren't concerned about a traditional light vs. dark approach.  That was aided in part by Riley, playing the debut of double minor characters Chirut and Baze from Rogue One.  She moved to the middle of the board to attack Kiera's Lobot, but became a target on both sides of the board.  Kiera, playing her first Duel, made a huge move by sending Lobot to the middle of the board and using Disarmed, which dumped cards from a lot of folks, including 4(!) for Ian's The Stranger.  

Not long after, there was a coup on the dark side.  Elliot/Reva and Alex G./Darth Maul turned on James' Emperor Palpatine!  James took major damage but paid Elliot back by using You Will Die on him!  That sent Elliot scurrying to a far corner to hide.  Unfortunately for James, though, that left the Emperor exposed to light side attacks, and it would be Jonah's Mandalorian who did the final damage.  James was first out.

Why so serious??

Riley's shenanigan's with the fallen heroes of Rogue One became the next point of focus.  She couldn't find a safe space on the board.  Connor, the first Dueler to ever use Sol from The Acolyte, dropped a Noble Intentions on Riley and she was a goner.  But in other news, she was cast in her school play, so it was still a good day!

The erratic play and energy of the board continued as, with just one death away from the closing of the walls in the trash compactor, a new victim needed to be named.  Atticus, turning pro after playing five games last year, was having fun with Paz and The Armorer, but he was surprised to find himself in a kill box.  Ian/The Stranger and Michael/Morgan Elsbeth were the ringleaders, and it would be an attack from Morgan that sent the new professional home in tenth!

Connor in the lab, working on sick beats...

Atticus' death meant the walls of the trash compactor moved forward...but Kiera's Lando Calrissian was stuck on the back row!  She was one turn away from being able to move to safety, but the surprise offing of The Armorer meant the board ousted in her ninth!  It's a brutal way to go, but Kiera showed a lot of promise in her first Duel, we'll look for her to rebound next time!

There was a lot less room in the trash compactor after that, and the dianoga, the vicious creature that looks to do two points of damage each round of play, was starting to rack up the hit points too.  Jonah's Mandalorian was caught low carded and was soon surrounded.  This time it would be Connor's minor character, the padawan Jecki, who used Loyal Pupil to bump Mando into eighth.

Why is the dianoga so mean??

Once again, the Duelers were one major character death away from the walls closing a second time.  Elliot/Reva and Ian/The Stranger were nervous because they were in danger of getting crushed.  Rob/General Grievous made room for Ian, and Connor's Sol started taking hits from the dark side.  He couldn't last forever, and Michael's Morgan claimed his second kill of the night.  Connor was seventh.

That triggered the walls...where Elliot's Reva was still standing!!  Poor Elliot never fully recovered from the You Will Die, forcing him to hide.  That ultimately left him in the wrong spot as the trash compactor claimed him in sixth place.

The Ian/Michael alliance in full effect.

Suddenly we were down to the final five:  Rob/Grievous, Ian/Stranger, Michael/Morgan, Sam/Luke, and Alex/Maul.  All Duelers not named Rob managed to land their major character in the final protected row of the trash compactor.  It was still going to take two more deaths to close the walls a final time, though.  Ian took charge and put the target on Rob, seeming to confirm he and Michael/Morgan were a tight alliance.  Alex/Maul had maintained good connection with both Rob and Sam, though.  I'll save you all the haggling, but in the end, Ian started taking attacks, and Sam's Luke Skywalker crushed the Acolyte villain with Justice.  Ian was out in fifth.

Alex subtly taking the driver's seat with Darth Maul

Rob's Grievous was still on the outside looking in because Michael resurrected his Night Troopers, and those freaky zombies are hard to kill!  I'll fast forward an hour or so...but after grueling, back and forth trench warfare, Rob's Grievous finally made his way to the inner four squares.  Nobody was going to move off the center with the walls about to close.  In the end, it would be Sam's Luke that eliminated.  He was fourth and the walls closed to the final four squares!  Sam also turned pro thanks to the Doubleheader - congrats Sam!

Grievous was caught in between Alex/Maul and Michael/Morgan.  Rob was low carded fighting his way into the final four squares, but after taking a couple of hits, he used Spider Crawl to move past Michael/Morgan, letting Alex attack Morgan too.  But that vicious dianoga attacked Rob twice, and with those hit points, Michael used his Beskar Spear to pierce Rob into third.  Not a bad day of Dueling for Rob...but there would be no trophies.

No room left!

And then there were two!  Michael was running a clinic on how to use Morgan, while Alex's social game and threat of a Darth Maul whooping to any who opposed him left a compelling final battle.  Alex had an early advantage on attacks, but then Michael resurrected those darn Night Troopers again!  Maul had to methodically chop them down, all while Michael was carding up.  By the time Alex did they tangled again.  Even though Maul got Morgan down to two health points, Michael's hand was still loaded and Alex looked like he was in trouble...until it was time to roll for the dianoga!  In one of the most crushing second place finishes in league history, the DIANOGA dragged Michael's Morgan Elsbeth to a water grave!!!  Alex won his second game in just his third career Duel!!!  Are you kidding?!?  Poor Michael - just a brutal end to a fantastic night of play.  Well done to both Duelers!!

Final order of finish:

12.  James/Emperor

11.  Riley E./Chirut & Baze

10.  Atticus/Armorer

9.  Kiera/Lando

8.  Jonah/Mandalorian

7.  Connor/Sol

6.  Elliot/Reva

5.  Ian/Stranger

4.  Sam/Luke

3.  Rob/Grievous

2.  Michael/Morgan

1.  Alex G./Darth freakin' Maul!

That was a great day of Dueling, people!  Our next Duel is the Fall Brawl, which we're tentatively scheduling for Saturday, September 21st.  Rob will send out more info soon on that one.  Until then...pew pew!!

CL Training Duel - August 12, 2024

Emperor's Throne Room (via Mustafar) 

Here we go again!!!  Season 11 of our 12-Way Star Wars Epic Duels league launched this week at our annual CL Training Duel.  This is an important Duel for us because we introduce padawans to the game for the first time, in hopes of raising them up into professional Duelers.  This year's match didn't disappoint - we had EIGHT brand new Duelers play for the first time with many more joining the mailing list.  The future looks bright!

Nobody has any clue how late they're about to stay up...

With so many newbies it took a minute to teach the game and pass out the seats and characters, but our new friends figured it out quickly.  Folks explored alliances and the bounds of their characters.  The first big move of the game was definitely Caden and his Obi-Wan Kenobi.  He became an early target and, just as folks were reaching their 10-card hand limit...he played Force Balance, dumping everyone's hands and resetting the action!  He didn't win over any new friends that way, as even light side characters joined the dark in knocking him out.  Justin's Han Solo put in the kill shot and Caden became the proud owner of the Golden Jar Jar trophy.

Josiah, Caden, and Jordyn - welcome rookies!

With Obi gone it looked like the dark side alliance, which included Jonah's Mace Windu, would roll through the light.  But Jonah couldn't resist the siren call to backstab, and Mace Whirlwinded Rob's Dark Troopers!  The first time Dueler locked horns with the Godfather of the league!  I gotta tell you, I like his moxie.  The dark side didn't let that pass without punishment.  Spencer's Supreme Leader Snoke used Tied to a String to yank Mace into a dark side kill box.  Liam annihilated him in eleventh with Kylo's I Know What I Have to Do (12 point attack!!!).  Ouch!

There was a lot of buzzing around the table after that, and the new Duelers weren't afraid to leave their seats to whisper into others' ears.  Normally that would put a huge target on yourself...and that's kind of what happened to poor Jordyn!  She wanted to move in against Jordann's Darth Vader and said as much to Rob/Moff Gideon and Elliot/Qui-Gon Jinn.  But when Elliot's name came up as the next target, he spilled the beans on Jordyn and her Captain Phasma was quickly surrounded and attacked.  Liam's Kylo once again offered the death blow with double Force Chokes from Kylo.

Was there, or was there not, a Teal alliance?  We may never know...

That left 9 Duelers at the table and we were well into the wee hours of night at that point.  Josiah's Fennec Shand took early damage, especially after losing Black Krrsantan.  But he slipped off the radar and instead a new Wookie became the target - Han and Chewbacca!  Justin had done a good job keeping the pair out of trouble, but the attention soon fell to them.  Elliot's Qui-Gon absolutely unloaded on Chewey, leaving Han exposed for a final shot from Connor's Jyn Erso, who was playing a similar game of hiding in the corner and keeping his head down.

The dark side alliance cracked after that.  After some nervous haggling at the table, Spencer's Supreme Leader Snoke found himself short on partners.  In a cruel twist, his Snoke was caught without defense and Jordann used her Vader's All Too Easy to administer 20 points of auto-kill on Spencer.  Spencer was one of just four Duelers at the table with playing experience.  The newbies were out for blood!!

Happy or delirious?  It's hard to tell...

And then there were seven!  In many ways, Liam's Kylo Ren had been the backbone of the dark side alliance.  But folks were getting nervous and the alliance started to disintegrate.  The center couldn't hold and the fear of Kylo making a deep run took root.  He became the new enemy and was pounced on when he was low carded.  The final blow came from Jordann's Throw Debris.  Liam played Kylo quite well, though!

That board is gorgeous.

That left two sabers (Jordann/Vader and Elliot/Qui-Gon) and four shooters (Rob/Moff Gideon, Connor/Jyn Erson, Josiah/Fennec, and Alex/Cad Bane).  Rob didn't like how healthy Vader was or how easy it would be for Jordann to do auto-distance damage.  Elliot, meanwhile, wanted Connor's Jyn gone and his alliance with Rob splintered.  There was some side-switching going for the next couple of rounds, but eventually, the shooters formed a final four agreement.  Elliot's Qui-Gon couldn't hang on longer than Jordann's Vader, and he was sent to bed after Connor's Looks Like a Killer was delivered by Cassian.

It took a long time to eliminate Jordann's Darth Vader, thanks in large part to a Storm Trooper who was jacked on steroids, but she couldn't hold out forever.  She left some parting damage on Alex's Cad Bane before settling for fifth place.  Alex picked up the Vader trophy with a 3-point attack.

Rob being told it was past 3AM.

The four remaining shooters were quite pleased to make it to the final four together, as they had stuck with each other.  Connor/Jyn and Josiah/Fennec survived being early targets, while Rob/Moff Gideon and Alex/Cad Bane had stayed loyal throughout.  But someone had to go next, and the pleasantries evaporated when the three rookies named Rob as the next target.  It would be hard to describe the next bits if you weren't there, but let's just say Rob used some verbal jujitsu to move the target off himself and onto Connor's Jyn Erso.  Connor proved early in the game he had good instincts for Dueling, but Rob managed to rally the others and go after Jyn.  Josiah's Fennec played a 4-point attack to finally eliminate Jyn, but kudos to Connor with an amazing fourth place finish in his first Duel.

Residential Colleges at their finest.

Rob put a LOT of pressure on Alex and Josiah since they were dead set on making sure a newbie walked out of this Duel with the CL Training trophy.  He wielded cold, hard Dueling logic while dealing hit points, cycling defense cards, and sowing seeds of doubt.  His last move was to try and strong arm Josiah into an alliance by making him weaker than Connor, but Alex was loyal to Connor and Rob was out in third!  A first time Dueler was going to win!!

It looked like Josiah's Fennec Shand would be an easy target since he was badly damaged, but Josiah was deft in combatting Alex's Cad Bane.  In the end, though, he couldn't gain an advantage and Alex used There's No Shame In It to knock out Josiah.  Alex G. and Cad Bane were the victors!!!  Alex becomes the third Dueler in league history to win their debut Duel - that's rare air!!  This also makes it three career wins for Cad Bane, which is quite impressive given how new to the league he is.  A big spotlight should be put on Josiah too.  How he survived the early light side demise to make it to the final two is incredible.  Well done everyone!!!

Dueling skills > 9 square in the air skills

Final order of finish:

12.  Caden/Obi-Wan Kenobi

11.  Jonah/Mace Windu

10.  Jordyn/Captain Phasma

9.  Justin/Han Solo

8.  Spencer/Supreme Leader Snoke

7.  Liam/Kylo Ren

6.  Elliot/Qui-Gon Jinn

5.  Jordann/Darth Vader

4.  Connor/Jyn Erso

3.  Rob/Moff Gideon

2.  Josiah/Fennec Shand

1.  Alex G./Cad Bane

What a great way to start off the year!!!  Our next Duel is The Doubleheader - that's right, we're playing two Duels in one day!  Rob will send out an official RSVP for that in a couple of weeks, but we're targeting the Sunday of Labor Day weekend (September 1st) at 2PM and 7PM out at Rob's house.  More info soon!!!