Duel of the Fates - April 17, 2026

Trash Compactor

This month, for the first time in league history, we had to postpone a Duel date due to lack of available Duelers!!!  Fortunately, we had no problem filling the makeup date...you made me nervous, people!

Oodles of Odles at the table...

If you're familiar with the Trash Compactor board, you know it's a tense affair as folks try to avoid being smashed by the closing walls.  And when you add in the nonstop playing of "Duel of the Fates" for the whole night...let's just say we're glad there's 24 hour mental healthcare available to staff and students!

The early story of the game was the targeting of minor characters on the board.  These valuable shooters are pivotal for each side.  In one of the funniest moments in recent memory, Jonah's Rey played Jedi Mind Control on James' Greedo...forcing him to use Desperate Shot against his own Boba!  Greedo was instantly destroyed!!!  Nayshaun's Chewbacca found himself a target too, which is a bit unusual in league play as folks usually just go after Han directly.  But with just two points of health left, it would be the dianoga that pulled the wookie under water to his death!  BRUTAL.  Han didn't last much longer after that, with Caleb's Beckett using a Trust No One shot from across the board.  Poor Nayshaun!

Jonah doing Greedo dirty!

The rest of the night was a definite grind.  About two hours in we finally saw our next elimination.  Caleb's Beckett got caught too far forward and Jonah/Rey and Riley B./Yoda teamed up to take him down.  Rey got the kill shot and somewhere in the universe Ian was smiling about it...

You gotta hand it to Riley B., he's always going to play aggressively.  His Yoda was causing chaos throughout the night but he got caught low carded on defense.  After some dekes, he could no longer withstand the dark side peppering.  Grant's Droideka rollied Yoda off the board in tenth.

Duel of the Fates is a fire song...

Yoda falling definitely shifted the tide against the light side.  Though Sam's Kit Fisto had Pushed Rob's General Grievous With A Smile, Rob was able to Spider Crawl to safety, thanks in part to a friendly Flamethrower assist from Eric's Jango.  Not long after Kit Fisto was surrounded, and Curtis' Vader laid a five point attack to off Sam in ninth.

Miles, just a high school freshman, was piloting K-2SO but tried to flip a little too late to the dark side.  Rob's Grievous landed a couple of attacks but Miles took no damage, showing how formidable K-2 can be.  But he couldn't hold out forever, and Grant's last remaining Droideka, with just a point of health, decommissioned his clanker cousin in eighth place.  

Grant and Jonah accepting their fate.

This brought up a crucial moment, as the next kill would once again close the walls another row.  Mark, who was quite covert all night with Jyn and Cassian, marched Mr. Andor next to Grant's Droideka and played Spy Contact, killing Grant and closing the walls!  But poor Rey/Jonah were on the back line!!!  Jonah had just used Rise of Skywalker and ran away from his attempted kill box, only to be smashed by the Trash Compactor in sixth.  ROUGH!

There were only five Duelers left at this point, and Curtis/Vader, Eric/Jango, Mark/Jyn, and James/Boba, all felt character inferiority to Rob's Grievous, so the General was the next target.  Rob tried to sweettalk his way out of it, but a desperate Curtis used Wrath to send General Grievous packing.

Final four plotting and scheming.

The three remaining shooters wanted nothing to do with Curtis' Vader.  Mark pulled off a real nifty move, switching his main character to Cassian and then using Jyn's Jailbreak to push James into a corner, off the final four squares that would ensure safety on the next wall closure.  James managed to Rocket Retreat back to the main four squares, and then used a Thermal Detnoator to hit a few characters, including Vader's final health points.  Darth Curtis was out in fourth.

The walls closed, and Mark's Cassian found himself standing between James' Boba Fett and Eric's Jango.  James and Mark traded blows, but they finally decided it wasn't fair that Eric's Jango was missing out on the action.  James moved to the middle to try and take on his father Jango, but he got hit a couple of times by the dianoga.  With just two points of health left, Eric hit him with the Wrist Cable!  James was out in third, but he had a heck of a Duel, especially with how it started with Greedo at the start of the game.

Guaranteed new winner!

And then there were two!  And they were both Brooks Colleges staff!  Check out BroCo!!  And neither had won a Duel before, making it extra exciting.  It looked like Jango would have the edge, but Mark was pulling his Cassian cards at the right time and the dianoga clipped Eric a couple of times too.  After a few rounds...Cassian came out on top!!!  Congrats to Mark on his first win!!!  This also marks the first time in league history a minor character switched to a major and won.  Crazy!

Eric deserves a huge shoutout too.  He protected the dark side all night and landed his second 2nd place finish in a row.  Nice!

He has friends everywhere.

The final order of finish:

12.  Nayshaun/Han

11.  Caleb O./Beckett

10.  Riley B./Yoda

9.  Sam/Kit Fisto

8.  Miles O./K-2SO

7.  Grant/Droidekas

6.  Jonah/Rey

5.  Rob/Grievous

4.  Curtis/Vader

3.  James/Boba

2.  Eric/Jango

1.  Mark/Jyn Cassian

Nothing is quite as relaxing as pushing "stop" on an iphone that's been bumping "Duel of the Fates" for four hours!  Congrats again to Mark - well done!  

The final Duel of the school year is May the 4th Be With You - we'll try to schedule that the weekend before, stay tuned for details.

Also!  We're going to do a movie premiere Duel for The Mandalorian and Grogu, so info coming on that as well.

As always...PEW PEW!
 

Fight Night - October 8, 2022

Conveyex Train

This year's Fight Night Duel featured an all-shooters battle on the Conveyex Train (the aerial heist from the Han Solo movie).  While the Conveyex board is usually dependent on the tow cables for melee characters, little Wicket, the minor character of Princess Leia, was the only avatar without a gun (unless you count Whirling Rocks).  So we had two dozen shooters, no raised terrain, and generally low health for all major characters?  Sign me up!

All aboard the pain train!  CHOO CHOO!!!

Once chairs, characters, and starting order were established, Fight Night began.  The players at the table took a couple of rounds to beef up their respective hands.  The first attack of the night came from Penny, playing in her first Duel, as her Boba Fett took a shot at her dad/Rob/Jyn Erso!  No such thing as a family alliance at this table.  Especially after Riley's Wicket went after little sister CJ's Fennec Shand!

Parker joined in on attacking CJ with his Cad Bane, but he soon learned CJ is not somebody you mess with lightly.  She blocked two big attacks with Body Mods, and Parker was stunned when his turn ended with no damage done to Fennec.  CJ was all about the payback after that, which included BK's Electric Knuckles!  Others joined in on that action too, and before Parker could make heads or tails, his Cad Bane was out in last thanks to a 4-point attack from Rob's Jyn!

Though Penny's Boba was the first person to fire her weapon, she soon found herself low-carded and without much help.  She became the next target, and it would be Juan's Zam Wessell that used a Sniper Shot to end her first Duel in eleventh place.  Fett on Fett violence...say it ain't so!!!

Commence negotiations...

While this action was going on at one end of the board, things got heated on the other end as well.  Bella, another rookie Dueler, discovered one of the best cards in the game...BOWCASTER!  She used it at point-blank range against Grant H.'s Tobias Beckett!!  That sent Grant reeling, though he recovered some of the damage when he successfully attacked back with Improvise.  Bella tried to escape by traversing to the other end of the train, but her poor Han got caught in the crossfire.  One of Curtis' Death Troopers made the final hit to retire Bella in tenth.

Though CJ got the sweet justice she was looking for with Parker's ouster, she soon found herself isolated with multiple characters pointing their blasters at Fennec and BK.  It was Andrew's Mandalorian who no longer wished to see his Book of Boba Fett colleague on the board.  Cara Dune rang her bell in ninth.  She's just a kid!  A scary, vindictive kid...but still!!!

Rogue One, represent!

This Duel was moving along quickly, which as a total aside, is a nice development we'd love to see in the future, cough cough, hint hint.  With eight to go the loose alliance of remaining Duelers needed another target.  Evan made the bold move to play You Have Something I Want with The Moff against Grant's Beckett!  That was the signal the rest of the board needed.  Curtis' Death Troopers moved into position.  Grant almost argued his way out of it, but Curtis decided to attack.  Others joined, and Rob's Cassian got the final shot.  Grant was eliminated in eighth.

Once again the board was looking for a consensus kill.  Chatter started moving toward Riley's Princess Leia, but she swayed the board to consider Andrew's Mandalorian.  Some folks were still feeling the sting of his Whistling Birds from earlier in the evening, and that was enough for Mando to be next.  The entire board went in on it, and it would once again be Jyn Erso with the final crack.  Congrats to Andrew, though, because that seventh place finish was a personal best.  He's trending in the right direction!

Juan in the driver's seat.

And then there were six!  The remaining Duelers had made it into the top half of the finishers.  Juan's Jango and Kevin's Lando started to tussle.  Kevin was desperate for the rest of the board to side with him, but was crushed when those surrounding him pointed their weapons at him instead.  Lando is the best defensive shooter in the game, and others were leery about going deep with him on the board.  Juan, fittingly, got the kill-shot with Jango's Missile Launch.

The tension was palpatine palpable with just five to go!  Rob was wigging out, thinking Curtis and Evan were in an ironclad alliance.  But Curtis made it known he wanted to go final two with Rob instead.  Unfortunately, Curtis moved his Krennic towards Rob, believing he was safe.  That placement, essentially in the middle of the board and in the crosshairs of everyone left, gave Rob little choice but to put the target on Krennic instead.  Once Curtis said he was willing to go after anyone else instead, everyone followed suit.  It was a tough and sudden end for Curtis in fifth place after a Sniper Shot from Juan's Zam.

Locked in a death spiral...

Before Curtis was eliminated, he did manage to dump everyone's hand and force everyone to start with four new cards.  Rob sensed Evan's Moff Gideon was weak and exposed, while also still at full health with both Dark Troopers.  Rob stuck his neck out and suggested Evan be next.  Riley's Leia was all for it, but in what turned out to be the key moment of the game, Juan had to decide what to do next.  Rob risked his own standing by assuring Juan he'd stick with him to the final two, especially since their two characters were the weakest ones left.  Juan decided to accept that, and Evan found himself against three characters at once.  He did manage to use It Means More To Me on Riley's Leia before sinking in fourth place, though.

Riley thought Rob might side with her in the final two, but Rob's Cassian began shooting Leia, trying to draw out the auto-damage of Leia's ...I Know card.  That made it clear to Juan that Rob was honoring their deal.  But Riley moved in on Jango instead of Jyn, and seriously wounded Juan before Zam hit her THIRD Sniper Shot kill of the night.  Riley was done in third.

Epic Duel victories are built on hope!

Juan fought deftly and valiantly all night, but there was no surprise in how it would end after Riley's Leia wrecked his damage card.  Rob used Kyber Crystal Luck to land the elimination of Plush Poe's pick to win the Duel.  Rob/Jyn won!!!  This was the first career win for Jyn and Rob's double-dozenth personal victory in league history.  Juan's second place finish is a career-best finish too, great job Juan!!!  And most importantly...the Duel lasted just over three hours.  Hooray for speedy Duels!

Final order of finish:

12.  Parker/Cad Bane

11.  Penny/Boba Fett

10.  Bella/Han Solo

9.  CJ/Fennec Shand

8.  Grant H./Tobias Beckett

7.  Andrew/The Mandalorian

6.  Kevin/Lando Calrissian

5.  Curtis/Orson Krennic

4.  Evan/The Moff

3.  Riley/Princess Leia

2.  Juan/Jango Fett

1.  Rob/Jyn Erso

Thanks everyone for a great Fight Night, and especially Bella, CJ, and Penny for allowing us to play on what turned out to be a big vacation weekend.  It looks like our November Duel, Thanksdueling!, will be played on Saturday, November 5th.  That's not finalized yet, but go ahead and pencil it in.  More details to come.

And for one last time...PEW PEW!