Doubleheader #2 - August 29, 2026

Death Star

We were starting the second Duel almost three hours late (poor Michael showed up on time, too!), and the grousing about the unusual layout of the Death Star of course started immediately.  Suck it up, Duelers!  Warfare isn't always symmetrical!!!  

They're doomed.

The map was a bit odd in that there were only three narrow passages running the length of the board.  With that kind of congestion, the light side decided to turn on one of their own.  Poor Eric/Yord was the target as he was in a friendly kill box.  Scratch that, no such thing...  Anyway, folks were fully carded and Yord needed to put his clothes on.  Multiple people contributed but CJ's Clone Commando made the final shot.  In a way Eric was the real winner, because he got to go home before midnight...

Miles/Mother Koril, playing his second creepy Night Sister of the evening and turning pro in his sixth career Duel, Possessed one of CJ's Commandos.  CJ didn't like that and moved to try and shoot Koril.  But the light side wasn't too keen on an Order 66, so they all attacked the Commandos!  CJ was gone after James/Jar Jar threw an Oopsa Bomb Bad on the last Commando and Rob's Saesee Tiin.  Ouch!

Curtis loves sitting on the corner spot.

There was mythical talk about starting in one of the four corners of the board, but that fairytale ended quickly when Rob's Saesee (he's bringing Saeseeeeee back ((yeah)) took more shots.  A stalemate had formed so, to mix things up at some prompting by Rob, Mason's KX Security Droid Crowd Dispersed Sam's IG-88 into a mini kill box!  But Sam got ruthless and played Security Protocols - self-destructing and killing Rob in tenth in the process!

Curtis also sacrificed his main character for the sake of his minor when he played Force Ghost, making young Luke Skywalker the main.  Mason's actions won him no favors (guys - it was just his third game - relax!) and they took KX down in ninth.  Mason has played just three times but has already played KX and K2 - weird!

 

James on a Jar Jar murder spree

Though Sam was still on the board with danger Dengar, his options were limited.  James, who was having the time of his life as everyone's least favorite Gungan, used Accident Prone to auto-damage Sam out in eighth!!  Talk about your low blows!!!  Sam took a Dr. Pepper and made the long drive back to Dallas...

Riley/General Grievous was fairly spry in the middle of the board, but Jonah's Grand Inquisitor finally got loose and jacked up the first year Brooks student.  Riley couldn't survive, especially with Ian's Phasma New Recruiting one of her minors.  The game one winner would have to settle for seventh this time.

Half done, half to go...

That left just six Duelers at the table.  Ian/Captain Phasma and Curtis/Old Ben had been beefing all game long, especially after Ian killed R2-D2.  But with just young Luke left Curtis' hand was half Old Ben.  Phasma used On My Command and Luke couldn't defend.  That just seems wrong!  Curtis rested in sixth.

And then there were five!  Despite being booted into a kill box earlier in the game, and having Kelnacca destroyed before he could do real damage, Miles had hung in there with Mother Koril.  But once again the rest of the Duelers had the heebie jeebies about the Night Sisters.  Jonah used a Ringed Lightsaber to off Miles in fifth.  Congrats on turning pro, Miles!

How is Ian still alive?

There were just four Duelers left:  James/Qui-Gon & Jar Jar, Ian/Phasma, Michael/Commander Cody, and Jonah/Grand Inquisitor.  Michael had laid low through a lot of the game after taking spalsh damage from Jar Jar.  But he was healing up and starting to shoot folks.  Ian was really banged up with Phasma and couldn't heal.  So James/Qui-Gon and Jonah/Inquisitor locked horns.  But Jonah played Ready To Die, which lowers numerical defense values by two.  It just so happened James' only had two point defenses in his hand!!!  Jonah sliced through him like butter and Jar Jar, I mean Qui-Gon, was finally out in fourth.  That was a great day of Dueling for James!

Ian was down to his last two health points, while Michael was fully healthy again.  Somehow Ian convinced Jonah not to off him!  It would prove to be Jonah's undoing, as the shooters combined to blast the Grand Inquisitor off the board in third place.  

Slow motion car wreck in 3...2...1...

With just two Duelers left it was Michael with the fully healthy but not particularly great character Commander Cody up against Ian and his two points from dying Captain Phasma.  The only thing that could change the tide would be an undefended, 8-point Make Them Suffer bluff by Ian AND OH MY GOD THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED!!!  Cody took eight points of damage and was suddenly on tilt!!!  Ian pulled his last Backup Pistol for two more points too!!  It was absolutely sickening to watch as poor Michael went from a near win to a second place finish!!!  Ian pulled it out!!!  Poor Michael!!!

This marks Ian's twentieth career victory!  He's just the second Dueler in league history to reach that milestone.  It's also Captain Phasma's first win too.  

Here's the final order of finish:

12.  Eric/Yord

11.  CJ/Clone Commandos

10.  Rob/Saesee

9.  Mason/KX

8.  Sam/Degnar (IG-88)

7.  Riley E/Grievous

6.  Curtis/Luke (Old Ben)

5.  Miles/Mother K.

4.  James/Qui-Gon

3.  Jonah/Grand Inq.

2.  Michael/Cody

1.  Ian/Phasma

Here's something cool - we haven't had a repeat winner in 2026!  That means nine Duelers have already secured a spot in the finals with three Duels remaining before the Championship!

Congrats again, Ian!  12th place in game one to 1st place in game two is a special kind of torture...

 

12x12-Way Duel Weekend Episode X: Book of No Regrets (4PM)

 Ewok Village

This was easily the most sentimental Duel of the weekend - Episode X was the "knows how to play them" Duel, where each Dueler was paired with a character their known for over the years.  And we saved one of the very best boards for it too - Ewok Village!

This game got started very late because of the last one, but it also marked the most exciting finish of the weekend.  Both Riley/Vader and Ian/Maul got down to their last point of health, but Ian pulled it off for his SIXTH WIN WITH DARTH MAUL WHICH IS SOOOO GROSS!!!

Episode 10 - "knows how to play them" Duel.

12x12-Way Weekend Episode II: Attack on our Tailbones - June 19, 2025 (4PM)

Arvala-7

This was a long Duel as Arvala-7 often is.  The light and dark basically held true and by the end of the match Ian was triumphant!  He finished second and first in his first two Duels of the weekend!!!

Episode 2 - randomized characters and starting positions.

 

Duel of the Fates - April 4, 2025

Kamino Platform

Have you ever listened to "Duel of the Fates", on repeat, for five-plus hours?  If so, did it melt your brain?  Were your nerves shot?  Or did you fall into a sort of Stockholm-syndrome scenario and decide you're going to keep listening to it the next day, like Sam said he would do last night?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, there is a good chance you have played in a DUEL OF THE FATES match before!

Rob hadn't pushed play yet on Duel of the Fates

Things got feisty right out of the gate when Rob's Boba Fett decided to attack Ian/Darth Maul's Battle Droid and Rocket Retreat to flip to the light side!  But the dark side countered by accepting Eric/Ahoska into their midst!  Unfortunately, the dark side didn't close up their ranks well, and that left Eric exposed to multiple diagonal shots.  Grant's Fennec Shand moved in to make the final kill shot, and poor Eric, who had the worst starting spot on Kamino, was quickly out in last.

Grant's bravery was rewarded with evil justice by the dark side.  James/Moff Gideon kidnapped Fennec into a dark side kill box!  Grant nearly survived in time to use a movement card to escape, especially with some well-timed Body Mods, but Curtis moved in his Kelnacca (Possessed) to deliver a five-point death blow.  That wasn't the evening Grant had planned, that's for sure.

Put respect on Jar Jar's name!

It's been a minute since we've had two Duelers offed in under an hour!  But that also meant it was still a 5v5 scenario.  A lot of minor characters were eliminated by both sides, but things ground to a halt when the dark side made sure they weren't bunched for a potential Thermal Detonator from Rob's Boba Fett.  Without a lot of options, Rob tried a high-risk move in the league - the double flip!  He Thermaled a cluster of light side characters in his alliance, and then Rocket Retreated back to the dark side!

In the ensuing chaos, Sam/Mace aligned with Ian's Maul and began attacking the light side too.  Josiah's Anakin took the brunt of that betrayal, and his Anakin was soon eliminated in tenth, but not before he Wrathed over to put a final shot on Rob's Boba!

The only living being in the room unaffected
by the "Duel of the Fates" on repeat...

Michael's Qui-Gon Jinn and Jonah's Bo-Katan were now essentially free agents.  Jonah managed to escape to the back of the board but Qui-Gon got surrounded.  He held on for a couple of rounds, but he eventually got down to his last health point, and was unceremoniously dumped in ninth by a one-point blaster attack from Sam's Clone Trooper.  Gross!

Rob tried to play the prodigal's son when he jumped back to the dark side, but Curtis' MOTHER Koril was uninterested in that reunion, despite Rob's pleas.  He led the charge against Boba, though it was Rob's arch-nemesis Jordann/General Grievous who made the final attack.  Rob was gone in eighth.

Who's next?

Folks assumed Jonah's Bo-Katan would be the next target, but he was on the far end of the board.  Ian/Maul and Sam/Mace started making their way down there, but Ian got nervous about what happened next.  He demanded a secondary target be the focus of the other Duelers on the board, and he surprisingly named James' Moff Gideon!  The dark side alliance was now fractured, but the others obliged.  Curtis/Koril tried to eliminate him with The Thread, but in a super cool move, James used Light Armor to deflect the damage to his minor!  Alas, the next attack landed, and Moff Gideon was eliminated in seventh.

Star Wars sportswear 

Jonah made strong pitches to go against other, stronger characters still on the board, but his reasoning fell on deaf ears.  That might have been because everyone's ears were bleeding from Duel of the Fates on repeat.  Regardless, Bo-Katan chose to go down swinging!  She stabbed Ian's Maul with the Vibroblade, doing six points of damage, but Maul used Blinding Surge to rebound points of damage back to Jonah, ending his night in sixth.  Sam swore those cards were just made-up words.

Tell me if you've heard this before...Curtis became the target with five Duelers left!  People were pretty freaked out by Koril's Vanishing powers, and both of Curtis' characters were at full health.  Though he did manage to disappear for a round, he couldn't escape his fate.  Ian/Maul used a run of Maul attacks and Curtis donned his fifth place title once again.

Final Four weekend?

And then there were four!  Ian/Maul was definitely calling the shots, with Sam/Mace more or less riding shotgun.  Jordann/Grievous grew concerned about Maul, but even Caden/Beckett was worried about General Grievous.  Though it seemed the three Duelers who had never won before could have eliminated Ian, the odd person out became Jordann!  The number one Dueler in the league played strong all night, but nobody can withstand a three-person attack.  Sam used a big Battlemind to knock Grievous out in fourth.

Things got even more frenzied with three left.  There were a lot of proposals for 2 against 1, multiple handshakes, Double Blasters, and so forth.  When the dust settled, Ian gave his (final) word to Caden, and chopped Sam/Mace down in third!  That's right, Sam was betrayed by his favorite Dueler.  He has the text chain to prove it.

Oh Caden...

When Caden had used an Improvise a couple of actions earlier, it was all but guaranteed Tobias Beckett was going to win back to back Duels.  Caden was full health while Ian was near death.  In fact, Caden got Maul down to his last two points of health.  All he needed was a final attack card to finish him off.  There were 13 cards left in his deck.  No problem, right Caden?

Caden?  Why are you still drawing cards?  Caden, no seriously, stop drawing cards and finish off Ian.  What is happening Caden???

In what can only be described as the worst deck luck in the history of the league, 12 of the final 13 cards in Caden's deck were Val cards - his destroyed minor character!!!  Ian was even rolling terribly, giving Caden extra time to find ANY card to finish Maul off.  BUT THEY WEREN'T THERE!!!  BRUTAL!!!!  Ian finally reached Tobias Beckett and played two Athletic Surges - all Caden had were 10 Val cards to defend!  IAN WON WITH DARTH MAUL IN THE ZANIEST COME FROM BEHIND WIN in recent memory.  My goodness!!!  That win also marked Ian's FIFTH victory with Darth Maul!!!  That's the most wins ever for a Dueler with a single character in this league!  

They kinda look like twins...?

Final order of finish:

12.  Eric/Ahsoka

11.  Grant/Fennec

10.  Josiah/Anakin

9.  Michael/Qui-Gon

8.  Rob/Boba Fett

7.  James/Moff Gideon

6.  Jonah/Bo-Katan

5.  Curtis/Mother Koril

4.  Jordann/Grievous

3.  Sam/Mace

2.  Caden/Beckett

1.  Ian/Darth freakin' Maul!  FIVE TIMES!

I still can't get over how crazy that ending was!  Congrats to Ian - truly remarkable.

Our last Duel of the academic year (!!!) will likely go down on Sunday afternoon at 2PM...on May 4th!  That's right - we always try our best to play the MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU Duel on the actual day.  If you know this will be your last Duel in the league because you're graduating, etc., let me know now and I'll save you a seat!

Thanksdueling! - November 9, 2024

Geonosis Arena (via the Hoth 3D board)

Ok folks, before we jump into the Thanksdueling! recap, we have a couple of important public service announcements for our Epic Duels league.

First - you're taking too long on your turn.  We all our.  Let's speed it up, people!  Think of your move ahead of time, etc.  There will of course be crucial moments in the game where prolonged discussion is appropriate and even encouraged.  But if you're moving one space and drawing two cards...that should go quickly.  Thank you for your help.

Second - you don't have to hit "reply all" when RSVPing for a Duel.  Just reply to Rob - you'll be ok!  Unless you like driving Curtis crazy.  Then, by all means, hit "reply all" or at least "cc" him.  Thank you for your help.

We now return to our normal blog recap schedule... 

11 turkeys about to get basted...

Our 12 Duelers donned their parkas for the Geonosis via Hoth board.  If you're new to the league, the Hoth board is the exact same layout as the Geonosis map that came with the original game.  In other words, it's a classic!

This game was a real slobber-knocker in that the light and dark sides, at least initially, would not flip on each other.  The board got even more gummed up when Justin's Torbin took the Barash Vow, blocking the side lane from the dark side advance.  This turned the action to the middle, where the light side was quickly eliminating dark side minor characters, including Rob's Han Solo using a Bowcaster on his first turn to destroy one of James' Super Battle Droids.  A couple of hours later Rob was rewarded by being Tied To A String by Curtis' Supreme Leader Snoke.  Han had no chance in the dark side kill box, and the Godfather won the Golden Jar Jar for the second month in a row!

It looked like the light side might be in trouble, but Kiera's Yoda decided to be the true leader of the alliance by charging into the dark side to try and help Ian's Anakin.  She Force Pushed James' Count Dooku into the light side corner and tormented others, allowing Ian to retreat and Riley E.'s Mandalorian to fire Disintegration at Jonah's Maul!  Jonah couldn't block it and he was shockingly gone in eleventh.

Kiera quietly plotting while the dark side debated.

Despite Kiera's heroics, she quickly became the target and poor Yoda was down to his last two points of health.  Sam proved how sneaky Cad Bane could be, and used Flame Gauntlet to destroy Kiera's night in tenth.  It was one of the most selfless moves in recent league history though, Kiera!

Sam/Cad and Jordyn/Jango joined forces with James' Dooku, who despite saying he was joining the light side, flipped once again and had Justin's Indara pinned against the still sleeping Torbin.  But Justin was able to use Jedi Prowess to extend his life.  Meanwhile, Caden was using the double-minor character combo of Chirut and Baze.  Before Baze died he unleashed two Staccato Lightnings to eliminate three dark side minors.  A couple of rounds later Chirut used double Blind Lightbows to finish off Cad Bane.  Sam checked out in ninth!

You can't see, but James was wearing flip-flops under the table.

With eight Duelers left in the game, the light and dark sides were still locked against each other and dead even.  James flipped YET AGAIN and sweet talked himself back into the good graces of the light side, but before the ink had even dried on the new contract his Dooku Force Pushed Justin/Indara to an eighth place death!  And Torbin had just woken up and changed his galactic diaper, too!

This became a key turning point in the game, because instead of the dark side now having the distinct advantage, James/Dooku and Alex G./Grievous started acting as independent contractors.  The long term effect was they left Curtis/Snoke out to dry and open to shots when they wouldn't make room for him behind the snow drifts.  Curtis was justifiably cranky.  He inflicted some damage on his way out the door, but Ian's Padme laid down the final hit.

The Thanksdueling! trophy looming in the background...

Things were still chaotic and unsettled.  Alex/Grievous and James/Dooku looked to be in a solid alliance, but Jordyn/Jango was starting to waffle on them and was having sidebars with Riley/Mando.  Riley and Ian/Anakin looked tight with Caden/Chirut along for the ride.  Give Caden credit, navigating double minor characters on that treacherous of a board was daunting, but James/Dooku moved in and punched Chirut's card in sixth.  

Alex had a Magnaguard protecting Dooku, but moved him on his term (on purpuse?), leaving James exposed to The Mandalorian.  Riley had already reshuffled and, for the second time that night, laid wasted to a dark side character with Disintegration!  James flipped more times in a single night than I can ever recall in a game - hat tip to him for making it work all the way to fifth place!

The Mandalorian Armor Twins

That left four Duelers, and Riley made a shocking declaration by suggesting the three of them focus on Ian's Anakin and Padme, who were both in good shape.  That's how it played out for several rounds, but Ian/Anakin proved to be elusive as they darted around the snow drifts and Riley and Jordyn didn't want to commit their shooting characters to up-close attacks on Anakin.  That forced Alex/Grievous to do a lot of the heavy lifting, and he eventually grew tired of that and instead offed Jordyn/Jango in fourth.  Well done, Jordyn!  That was just her second career Duel.

Riley and Ian patched up their differences at that point and agreed to go in on Grievous.  Alex was fully healthy and had just reinstalled his Magnaguards.  Riley was drawing nothing but deceased Cara cards at that point, though, so Ian was having to do most of the work.  Alex bluffed it well, but he couldn't draw a Grievous card to save his life.  His luck finally ran out when Padme (still alive!) used a Precise Shot.  The 2024 unofficial rookie of the year was finally out in third.

GULP!

It was past 2AM for the final two, and it looked like it was going to be an epic showdown.  Anakin was banged up but still had Padme.  The Mandalorian was healing up while Ian was tracking down Grievous.  Riley came out firing with This Is The Way, which she had held back to use against Ian, and then miraculously top-decked it on the DRAW A CARD when she had to reshuffle her deck!  But Ian used a Counterattack...and then another a couple of rounds later when Riley played her third Disintegration!  Riley hit a terrible run of luck as her hand was soon almost entirely made up of Cara cards.  Ian stayed persistent and finally used an Anger to end Riley/Mando in second place...denying Riley a chair in the Championship match!  Congrats to Ian - who added to his career win total (16!), still good for second place all-time in league history.  Kudos to Riley too, who had a heck of a night with the Mandalorian.

Ani and Padme winning on Geonosis - how appropriate!

FINAL ORDER OF FINISH:

12.  Rob/Han

11.  Jonah/Maul

10.  Kiera/Yoda

9.  Sam/Cad

8.  Justin/Indara

7.  Curtis/Snoke

6.  Caden/Chirut & Baze

5.  James/Dooku

4.  Jordyn/Jango

3.  Alex G./Grievous

2.  Riley E./Mando

1.  Ian/Anakin

This win gives Ian three for 2024 - which means he'll occupy the #1 chair for the Championship next month!  More details are coming on that one.  Have a blessed Thanksgiving holiday everyone!

 

May the 4th Be With You - May 4, 2024

Arvala-7

I hope you don't have a sweet tooth, because this game was SALTY!  So much fear which led to anger, anger which led to hate, hate which led to...YOU KNOW THE REST!  Let's recap the shooter's Duel, PEW PEW!

May the 4th Be With Them

This post is a couple of days late, so apologies if not all of the details are remembered.  The author of this post was on a lot of cold medicine, which his fellow Duelers learned means he can't keep his inside thoughts from becoming outside thoughts!

The front of this Duel was tediously slow as the dark and light wanted to remain united, and just as the action was picking up, Ian/Krennic played Peace and Security, dumping everyone's hands and leading to even more card drawing.  The first blood in the water was Isaiah's Jango Fett.  He was roughed up when Josh S.'s Lobot and Riley B.'s Jyn Erso came barging in.  Rob's Boba Fett chose to defect to the light side with a Rocket Retreat, though he refused to use it on Isaiah, since it was his last Duel.  That didn't stop Riley B., though!  Jyn took down Jango, and poor Isaiah was gone in last!!!  The league will miss him for sure - it's hard to think of a Dueler more well-loved than Isaiah.

Riley B./Jyn's bloodlust led him into the dark side territory, but he was woefully unprepared to defend himself once Jango was dead.  Ian/Krennic, Riley E./Moff Gideon, and Grant D./Cad Bane concentrated their efforts on the Rogue One hero.  A brutal There's No Shame In It 7-point attack from Cad Bane smoked Riley B./Jyn into eleventh.  Riley graduates this week too, but he took a job locally so I'm sure we'll see him at the table again in the future.

Mando and Lando in trouble.

The light side still had the numbers advantage, thanks in part to Bekah/Beckett defecting to their side after Ian/Krennic's opening Grenade earlier, but Rob/Boba decided to go for the rare double-defection.  Hopped up on Benadryl, he told the rest of the board they should focus on the three strongest characters in the game:  Elliot/Princess Leia, Jordann/The Mandalorian, and Josh/Land Calrissian.  He put his money where his mouth is when he used a combo Deadly Aim and Rocket Retreat to end Jordann's night early in tenth!

You could see the smoke coming out of Elliot's ears after the momentum shifted.  He made many compelling arguments but folks weren't eager to see Leia go deep.  Spencer/Bo-Katan used Aerial Assault to make the finishing shot - Elliot was out in ninth.  There were early rumblings about a chaplain alliance, but they ended up being the first four gone!!!

Alex A. lending a hand?

Josh, playing in his first Duel, found himself as the last standing shooter Rob had called out earlier.  He made some nifty moves, but couldn't withstand the coalition working against him.  Riley E.'s Moff Gideon was near death, and was twice about to be eliminated by Spencer's Bo-Katan before pledging to weaken others on the board if her life was spared.  Instead, Spencer's Night Owl offed Lando.  Not a bad first Duel, Josh!

Sweet 16 Eve

There were only six Duelers left, and Alex had been staying under the radar quite nicely with Han and Chewy.  He used the It's Not Wise Wookie toss to finally put Riley E. out of her misery in seventh.  The birthday girl was gone (Cinco de Riley!), and that's when Ian put the target on Han.  Krennic finished what he started with a 4-point shot.  It was the end of the road for Alex, but that sixth place finish marked a personal best!

With only five to go, Rob's Boba Fett was loaded, and spent an attack on Grant's Cad Bane.  He thought Grant and Ian/Krennic were a solid alliance, so he proposed a trio of himself, Spencer/Bo-Katan, and Bekah/Beckett work together.  But Bekah wouldn't even look Rob in the eye and Spencer kept trying to court Ian instead, who steadfastly refused to commit to anything past Boba biting the dust.  Rob kinda lost his mind since the Benadryl was wearing off, and the rest of the Duelers zapped him in fifth.

"I think Rob might have been right..."

Spencer's Quixotic attempt to court Ian came to a crashing thud once Boba was gone.  The three remaining Duelers all turned against his Bo-Katan.  Grant's Cad Bane got the last shot.  Spencer drowned his sorrows in Cane's, which is a tasty way to die.

The final three saw Bekah/Beckett and Grant/Cad Bane join forces against Ian's Orson Krennic.  Ian played his movements masterfully, though, running around the large rock structure in the center of the board.  That, combined with Bekah's atrocious dice luck, left Grant dueling Ian by himself.  Ian used another Peace and Security to weaken them both and used a deadly Hero of the Empire to stop Grant in third.  He was so close to being the first Dueler to ever win three Duels in a row!!!

This board is so pretty!!!

Bekah's Tobias Beckett was fully loaded, but Ian was in a beautiful rhythm with Krennic.  They danced around the board but Bekah was quickly on the ropes.  After a short chase Krennic fired off a winning shot - Ian won the game!!!  This is his second win of 2024.  Amazingly, Krennic defended his May the 4th Be With You title too, as he won last year!  I can't remember the last time a character repeated...

"Oh, it's beautiful!"

Final order of finish:

12.  Isaiah/Jango Fett

11.  Riley B./Jyn Erso

10.  Jordann/The Mandalorian

9.  Elliot/Princess Leia

8.  Josh S./Lando Calrissian

7.  Riley E./Moff Gideon

6.  Alex A./Han Solo

5.  Rob/Boba Fett

4.  Spencer/Bo-Katan Kryze

3.  Grant D/Cad Bane

2.  Bekah/Tobias Beckett

1.  Ian/Orson Krennic

Congrats again to Ian.  That concludes our 23-24 season of Epic Dueling!!!  Rob will host the Twin Sun Slam doubleheader sometime in June, he'll pick a date once the fog of sickness has cleared his head.  Isaiah and Riley B. - we love you!  Thanks for all the memories!!!

May the Force be with you.  Always.

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!!!