The Fall Brawl - September 13, 2025

Narkina-5 Imperial Prison

We had an interesting rule adjustment for the dreaded Narkina prison board!  One of the characters playing was the Viper Probe Droid, the minor for the Wampa.  If you've ever watched Empire Strikes Back you realize...they don't walk - they hover!  And the scariest part of Narkina is the floor turning into an electric shock if the Duelers aren't on program.  So it was declared by the Jedi Council...the Viper Droid would be immune to the prison floor!  Would that prove to be important in this Duel???  Read on to find out!  #foreshadowing 

Smile if you love being "on program"!

It was fun to be back in the North Village Fine Arts Studio, our first Duel there since May.  The Fall Brawl had five characters that debuted this summer, and everyone scrambled to look at their decks before the game began.  It didn't take long for the fireworks to launch.  Josiah/Jod Na Nawood and Curtis/Krennic encouraged folks to concentrate on the table of Eric/Ahsoka, Rob/Mace, and Ian/Rey.  And that's what folks started to do!  But then Ian's Finn landed some cross-prison shots on Jod Na Nawood and the tides shifted.  The coup d'état was when Junior/Wampa turned on his own table, mauling Josiah/Jod in last place!!!  LET THE BIG WAMPA EAT!

Meanwhile, poor Michael, Dueling for the first time in months after welcoming a new padawan into the world, got stuck with Fennec Shand for the 147th time.  He played her aggressively, though, including using Black Krrsantan to rip off Finn's arm and kill him!  He thought they were putting Ahoska in a kill box, but the neighboring table decided to go after Fennec instead.  Nayshaun's KX Security Droid used an Arakyd Attack and Fennec was sacrificed to the Imperial Prison Complex in eleventh place.

Why are the Narkina tables so small???

Fennec dying was but a brief reprieve for poor Ahsoka.  Nayshaun was more than happy to explore all of the factory settings of his KX unit, including Crowd Control, which knocked Eric clear out of the game in tenth.  Ouch!!!  But the tables turned (literally?) after that, because Rob/Mace and others went off program while the KX droid was on the ground, and then Mace began attacking it.  Others followed suit, and it would be David's Galactic Marine who landed the final blow.  Nayshaun got short-circuited in ninth.

Curtis/Krennic could only look on in horror as his early rally to kill Ahoska/Rey/Mace had gradually turned everyone against him.  Without an alliance partner to count on, he played Peace and Security, just as Ian's Rey approached his work table.  Though everyone's hands got dumped, it wasn't long after that Rey got her sweet revenge, playing The Last Jedi to thwart Curtis in eighth place.

They call Mark's basketball shooting technique "off program."

David was giddy he had survived being first out, as this was just his second career Duel and that was his experience in his first.  His Ki-Adi-Mundi was unafraid to move attacks from one Dueler to the next, including James' Kit Fisto.  Ian's Rey migrated to David's table, though, and that's when the cone-headed Jedi was in trouble.  He couldn't withstand the multi-front attack, including a Flamethrower from Justin's Jango Fett.  Rey rang the final bell, and David was out in seventh.  That's much better than his first Duel, though!

A first-time Dueler finding his groove...

Rob's Mace was finally reloaded from that pesky Krennic Peace and Security, so he hopped over to the table with Mark's two Droidekas.  Mark didn't want to tangle with Mace, but Rob knew those two droids are super-hard to take down late in games.  An unblocked Battlemind/Whirlwind combo destroyed his full-health robot.  The second one moved over to the table hitting Ki-Adi-Mundi.  In a surprise move, motivated largely by rankings (!), Mark used his final volley of attacks against his teammate Justin/Jango!  That seriously crippled the senior Fett.  But Ian was on mop-up duty at that point, and Rey collected another trophy.  Congrats to Mark, who turned pro at the Fall Brawl and debuts in fourth place in the rankings!

Half of the final four!

Justin/Jango was on life support, so James/Kit Fisto put him out of his misery in fifth place with Form One.  That left four Duelers in the prison:  Ian/Rey, James/Kit, Rob/Mace, and Junior/Wampa.

It was Rob's turn, and he suggested Ian's Rey was the most powerful character left in the game.  He assumed the others would feel the same way, but Ian made his own arguments that Mace and his Battleminds and Whirlwinds were to be feared as well.  Junior had been playing Switzerland for most of the game, and decided to Viper shoot Kit Fisto.  Rob got the feeling James wouldn't turn against his table buddy Ian, so he launched an attack against Kit Fisto.  A Battlemind ended James' night in fourth as a result.  It was a nice rebound Duel for Kit Fisto, who debuted in last this past summer, and James continues his nice string of Duels of late.

How many times will you attack Rey on this turn?

Junior finally, begrudgingly, agreed to help dispatch Rey next.  The tension levels rose when both Junior and Rob realized Ian hadn't redrawn Rise of Skywalker, the 12 defense/8-point heal card yet.  It became a race - could they knock out Rey before she found it in her deck???  It helped that Rob used both Whirlwinds on Ian in the process.  When it was all said and done, Ian suffered bad deck luck and Mace struck Rey down in third!

Have we mentioned this was Junior's first official Duel yet!?!?!  And here he was, guaranteed a top-two finish!  Rob's Mace was banged up, especially getting caught on the electric floor a couple of times in the final four, but the Wampa couldn't heal since the floor-immune Viper Droid was still in the game.  Rob also knew the range of attacks the Wampa was capable of, so he played a tedious and patient game to slowly heal, chip away at the Wampa, and wait for the Whirlwinds to finally get back in his hands.  And that's just what happened - Junior/Wampa received the auto-4 damage for second place!  What a sensational first Duel though!!!  Congrats Junior - you played the Wampa like you grew up on the ice planet Hoth.

A lot of Mace up in your face!

This was career win #34 for Rob (obnoxious), his second win a row (gross), and he defended the Fall Brawl trophy to boot!  It also marked the tenth win for Mace Windu, who hadn't won since The Centurion, back in the Covid days of 2021.  

Final order of finish:

12.  Josiah/Jod Na Nawood

11.  Michael/Fennec Shand

10.  Eric/Ahsoka Tano

9.  Nayshaun/KX Security Droid

8.  Curtis/Orson Krennic

7.  David/Ki-Adi-Mundi

6,  Mark/Droidekas

5.  Justin/Jango Fett

4.  James/Kit Fisto

3.  Ian/Rey

2.  Junior/Wampa

1.  Rob/Mace Windu

Next month is the October Duel - FIGHT NIGHT - and we have 12 new treats with plenty of tricks in store for you!  The word on the street?  Twelve.  New.  Characters!  Have we lost our minds?!?!  YES.  And if you think we've already mined all of the possible characters in the Star Wars universe...I promise you, there will be some EPIC new combatants, drawing from the original trilogy, prequels, sequels, and beyond!!!  You won't want to miss it!  The tentative date is Friday, October 3, but Rob will send out more info on that as the date draws near...

PEW PEW!

The Centurion - March 27, 2021

 

Carbon Freezing Chamber

We did it.

We played a 100 Duels.

100!!!

In honor of the 100th Duel in league history, we gathered a dozen of the all-time greats to ring in the era of triple-digits.  We even had three Duelers from the first Duel - CL Training back in 2014 - playing in the game!  That's enough exposition, though...let's hear how it went down!

Look at that gallery of all-stars!

We were fittingly stuck in the Carbon Freezing Chamber for this bad boy, and as veterans know, Carbon comes down to what happens to Vader (Ian) and Luke (Ben H.) at the start of the game.  Grant's Count Dooku went first, though, and he wasted no time by laying an attack on Luke with his Super Battle Droid!

The game split dead even at the start, with the six light and six dark side characters staying loyal to each other.  Joel's minor character, Greedo, was the first character to bite the dust.  Soon after, Curtis' Mace Windu charged in with a Whirlwind and then a Wisdom to retreat backwards.  Just as it looked like Joel's Boba would be the first to die, he struck a deal with the light side, promising to flip!  Rob was next, and he and Ian tried to convince Joel to stay.  Rob was low-carded after Ben's banged-up Luke Skywalker played I Will Not Fight You on him, but his Emperor still had You Will Die.  Instead of using it on Joel, he dropped it on Kaleb's Han Solo, who had Chewbacca leading the light side charge with a possible Bowcaster in his hand.  In the end, it didn't matter...Joel betrayed his alliance!  He threw a Thermal and attacked Emperor with a Kyber Dart.  With Rob bleeding out, JD's Obi-Wan clone finished the league founder off in last place.

Rob played in 100 Duels and all 
he has to show for it is this lousy
Palpatine t-shirt.

The crazy thing about Joel attacking his own side was that he didn't use a Rocket Retreat to peace out.  Vengeance was dished cold when Ian's Vader and Stephen's Darth Maul eliminated him in eleventh place.

With ten Duelers left and only four dark side characters, it was open season for the light side.  Their minors started peppering the remaining bad guys with distance shots.  Stephen got tempted by the light side to betray his alliance to further himself in the game, so he reluctantly dropped hits on an understanding Grant/Dooku.  But it would be JD who made a really big splash.  His Obi-Wan pulled off a feat that hadn't been seen in quite a few Duels.  He killed two main characters in one turn!  First he used a Jedi Attack to kill Ian's boxed-in Vader, and the movement from that allowed him to rush Grant's Dooku, who succumbed to a four point death in ninth place!

Ian with nowhere to run.

There were just eight Duelers left, and Ryan's Jango, who had been flirting with Alex R.'s Anakin all game, made good on his promise to shake things up.  He used a Rocket Retreat to stand next to Ben's Luke, and then fired a Missile Launch at point-blank range.  That was more than Ben could handle, and he was dead in eighth.  Considering how badly he was hounded by the dark side at the start of the game, that was actually a great finish.

With seven to go, something happened that hadn't occurred since 2016.  I am speaking, of course, of Alex R. shaking things up in crazy and radical ways!  (And now that we mention it, I'm pretty sure Alex set a record for longest time between Duels, at just under five years!)  Alex R.'s Anakin called out Alex C.'s Yoda for being silent and hanging back, and tried to cause a lot of chaos while doing so.  What was even crazier was that it was Alex C.'s turn!  He hoped to rally folks against Yoda, but Alex R. was stunned when Curtis' Mace Windu attacked him instead of Yoda!  Alex R. was highly annoyed when others joined in, cursing the formulaic play.  Kaleb's Han got the final shot on Alex R., and the Dueling legend bowed out in seventh.

That left six folks vying for the title of the Centurion, and the board almost unanimously decided Ryan's Jango's services were no longer needed.  He was cranky, but Stephen chopped him up for a sixth place finish.  

You could cut the tension with a knife.

The final five began jockeying for position, and I'll be honest, there was a long boring streak in here I don't have a lot of memory of because I was texting with a lot of dead Duelers, but, here's what I remember.  Alex C.'s Yoda, who survived Alex R.'s uprising, made it known he wasn't too keen on Stephen's Maul sticking around.  In a bit of a surprise, JD agreed.  JD and Stephen had partnered, but that alliance was now at an end.  We should note Stephen was playing with us from ITALY, as in EUROPE, and had to message us most of the night because it was 4 in the morning there and he didn't want to wake up his wife.  But he turned his mic back on and made whisper pleas to no avail.  They ganged up on him and Kaleb reluctantly put him down in fifth with a Never Tell Me The Odds.

At the final four, everyone was still in strong health, but JD thought it was time to go after Alex's Yoda.  Alex responded by double-Force Pushing him for six points of damage!  It loosely turned into a doubles match, as Alex/Yoda and Kaleb/Han loosely worked with each other against Curtis/Mace and JD/Obi.  JD was starting to wrack up the damage, though.  Kaleb begged him to take a step back and see what was happening - three of them were getting weaker while Curtis' Mace was still in great shape.  JD was determined he and Curtis were faithful, and in a bit of a surprise, he ran down to Kaleb's end of the board and dispatched him with a Jedi Attack.  Kaleb was none-too-pleased.

Gotta get those arms loose for the WHIRLWINDS!

JD retreated down to Curtis' Mace, assuming they were still good.  But with only a couple of health points left, Curtis decided he no longer needed his fellow Jedi, and JD was disheartened to learn he would finish in third place instead of second.  Alex C. played nimbly with a banged-up Yoda, but because his Clone was still alive, he couldn't heal.  Curtis played patiently, and after a couple of charges, he finally ended the night by Whirlwinding Alex for the win!!!

For now on, we shall call Curtis by his new name:  THE CENTURION!!!

The Final Order of Finish:

12.  Rob/Emperor

11.  Joel/Boba

10.  Ian/Vader

9.  Grant/Dooku

8.  Ben H./Luke

7.  Alex R./Anakin

6.  Ryan/Jango

5.  Stephen/Maul

4.  Kaleb/Han

3. JD/Obi-Wan

2.  Alex C./Yoda

1.  Curtis/Mace

Just look at that list...84 of the leagues 100 wins are represented!!!  What a night.  We'll do it again at 200...

In April we're back to our normal Dueling schedule - Duel of the Fates will likely be on April 10th - stay tuned for more details!

The Fall Brawl - September 21st, 2019

Carbon Freezing Chamber (via Dagobah)

It took us all week to find our 12th Dueler, but Jordan bailed us out Saturday morning and we were ready to Duel!

The Fall Brawl marked the return of Ben H., who is newly hired back to the department, allowing for the Hall of Famer to resume his playing career.  It also marked the debut of Natalie, who caught the Dueling bug from Rylie.  We love rookie Duelers!  #ibelievethatrookiesarethefutureteachthemwellandletthemleadtheway

Tan table?

Kaleb drew the #1 chair and also Boba Fett.  He didn't care about Boba as much as his suction-cupped minor character, Greedo.  The bromance was reignited and it felt so right!  Christopher avoided one Fett but picked Jango for Rob.  His fingers having a homing beacon for bounty hunters!

Ryan won the right to go first and he was off and running.  Literally.  His Mace Windu scampered across the middle of the board as he defected to the dark side.  It was the "Cohenour Run 2.0"!

Ian, playing with Luke Skywalker, began to coordinate a defensive strategy but was stuck going second to last on the first turn.  That's extremely problematic if you're Luke starting in the middle of the board.  Kaleb, playing Boba Fett, used the shield of Mace's minor characters to step forward and land both the 9 and 7 point attacks on poor Ian!  Ian had held onto the Golden Jar Jar since the May the 4th Duel, and his symbiotic relationship with it would prove fatal as he finished in last after Mace cut him down for the final blow.

Lucas and Sam embrace reality while Ben and Kaleb laugh.

That was a tough start for the light side, as they were now down seven to four.  They hung tough, though, knocking out Greedo and Zam as they mounted a counter-attack.  In fact, it was Jordan's Anakin that killed Greedo with an Anger, but then he used his Calm to run over to the dark side in an attempt to join them!  The dark side was fairly gobsmacked by the move, and after Rob got the nod from Rylie/Maul, they launched their attack on the Padawan.  It was Ryan's Mace again that made the kill shot and Jordan was done in 11th, his second time playing Anakin in two career Duels.

Lucas, playing just his third career Duel, had Han Solo and came to the realization that he wasn't going to advance very far in this battle.  He was faced with the decision many of us have been confronted with before: go down with the ship or attack your own alliance.  He chose the noble route and kept fighting with his team but a four point attack from Jango ended Lucas' night in tenth.

Not looking good for Obi-Wan.

The next sequence would prove fateful for the rest of the match.  Sam, who had Obi-Wan, attacked his last teammate Christopher/Yoda.  It was so dirty!  But it helped out Sam because he Force Controlled Yoda into the dark side.  Ben's Emperor played You Will Die on Yoda and Rylie's Maul went in for the kill.  Poor Christopher was out in ninth place.

That opened the door for the first strong alliance back-stab.  Rob's Jango held two Wrist Cables, and he played them both on Ben's Emperor!  The rest of the alliance was down for the attack, and it was rookie Natalie's Vader who made the kill shot on Ben in eighth.  But welcome back Ben, glad you're with us again!

A second in-fight occurred when Ryan's Mace attacked Kaleb's Boba.  Kaleb returned fire and the rest of the alliance wasn't sure what to do as those two had scored significant damage on each other.
They called truce and he remaining alliance once again fixed their attention on Sam's Obi-Wan. 

The levee breaks.

Sam still had some tricks up his sleeve, as he used another Force Control to move everyone away from him, and then a Force Balance to dump everyone's hand.  That was rough for quite a few folks.  Sam proved how powerful Obi is, even when fighting six characters at once.  Stop me if you've heard this before, but Mace made yet another kill shot...and then there were six!

The remaining alliance just stared at each other, spread out across the board, and waited for the standoff to break.  It was more awkward than a middle school dance.  Rylie's Maul finally became the focus of attack, and she bowed out after a final shot from Kaleb's Boba Fett.

And then there were five!  Nobody knew how to proceed, so Rob threw out Alex's name.  That was met with the sound of crickets and a dirty look from Alex, so Rob used his Flamethrower on Boba to move Kaleb over to Alex/Dooku and Natalie/Vader, and then Rocket Retreated the heck out of there.  Ryan moved in and did a Whirlwind to send Kaleb to the rails in fifth.

Final two!

That left four Duelers, and Alex/Dooku and Ryan/Mace were happy to make Natalie the next victim of the game.  Her Vader couldn't withstand a two-front attack and so she peaced out in fourth.  But - that's a heck of a debut for the rookie Dueler!  Good job, Natalie!

With three to go Alex was hoping he and Ryan could partner up against Rob's Jango, but that's when he was in for the rude awakening that Ryan and Rob were already in a committed relationship.  At least that's what Rob thought.  Just as Alex was approaching them at their end of the board, Ryan used a Wisdom to get the heck out of Dodge, leaving Rob alone to face Alex.  Rob made a super dirty promise to join Alex against Ryan in order to avoid an attack, and then burned that promise by attacking Dooku and Firing Up the Jet Pack to get out of there.

Rob was loaded with Zam cards ever since the Obi-Wan Force Control was played, so he had very few options, but he and Ryan/Mace managed to whittle down Dooku to near death.  Alex made one last offer to partner against Ryan, but Rob figured they were both too damaged anyway and shot Alex to secure a second place finish for himself.  Sure enough, Ryan swooped in and finished Rob off in second place.  Congrats to Ryan, who won his fouth career Duel!  He also won the Mace trophy while playing with Mace!  It also means BB-8 made the right pick - whoa!!!

Final Order of Finish:

12.  Ian/Luke Skywalker
11.  Jordan/Anakin Skywalker
10.  Lucas/Han Solo
9.  Christopher/Yoda
8.  Ben H./Emperor Palpatine
7.  Sam/Obi-Wan Kenobi
6.  Rylie/Darth Maul
5.  Kaleb/Boba Fett
4.  Natalie/Darth Vader
3.  Alex C./Count Dooku
2.  Rob/Jango Fett
1.  Ryan/Mace Windu

That was a good Duel all the way around.  And, more importantly, we knocked it out in about three hours!  Stay tuned for details on next month's Duel - FIGHT NIGHT - it looks like we'll be playing on October 19th, so pencil it in now.

Thanks to everyone who played tonight!

Fight Night - October 12, 2018

Carbon Freezing Chamber

It was mentioned in the Preview post that it was hard to secure 12 Duelers for this match.  That's so depressing!  Hopefully that's just an anomaly and not an indication that the league is succumbing to the Dark Side...

...but we did have 12!  And they came to kick butt and chew bubblegum...and they were all out of bubblegum.  It was an interesting mixture of veterans (5 professional Duelers) and amateurs (seven Duelers who had fewer than three Duels under their belts).  It just about guaranteed a volatile outcome.

Rob, always serving the role of host before a game starts, was embarrassed to pull the #1 chair.  It makes his job of facilitating the board and character distribution all the more difficult.  And he couldn't turn to chair #2 to make the picks for him because that seat was occupied by his daughter, Riley!  So Rob fanned the envelopes to chair #12, Brandon, who picked the Carbon Freezing Chamber.  This would be the first time in Carbon since the Twin Sun Slam doubleheader back in June.

The "I'm with Riley" fan club.

Brandon was also kind enough to gift Rob with Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Riley picked next and got Yoda.  Right away it was a bad look - father and daughter with the two best Jedi, sitting next to each other, and starting next to each other as well.  And to top things off?  Rob got to go first!

The first major action of the game, though, came courtesy of Jonathan B.'s Darth Vader.  He wasn't about to start stuff with Katie's Luke Skywalker in the middle of the board.  So he flipped towards the light side.  Katie did the same, leaving Leia up front while Luke hung back.  Things only got worse for the dark side when Rob jokingly told Owen to use his Thermal Detonator and Rocket Retreat right out of the gate.  Sure enough...he did!!!  Joel/Maul, Coleman/Emperor, and Matthew/Dooku all got stung with four points of damage.

Joel's last stand.

With those three in major trouble and receiving excessive attacks, Riley's Clone Trooper decided to welcome Owen's Boba, who had landed next to her, with a surprise attack!  Brutal!  What kind of compassion is her father teaching her?  The light side alliance were wincing at Riley's ruthless decision but they all followed suit, most of them pledging loyalty by saying "I'm with Riley."  Poor Owen is still haunted by the words - Grant's Anakin dropped the final attack for the kill.

Things only got worse for the dark side.  Matthew B., playing in his very first Duel, began battling Maul and Emperor!  He felt liberated by his CL's death and decided to go crazy.  He Force Pushed Coleman's Emperor into a light side kill box.  Once again, Riley the Executioner was ready, Force Lifting and then killing poor Coleman in eleventh. 

From there it was a desperate, bloody battle for ninth place between Joel's Maul and Matt's Count Dooku.  Joel was enraged and determined to take out the saboteur as he ignored the gentle heckling from his nemesis, Riley.  He did indeed take down Dooku, ending Matt's first ever Duel in tenth place.  Sadly for Joel, as he looked across the board, all he saw were eight characters staring back at him, chomping at the bit.  Grant's Padme finally put him out of his misery.  Rarely are ninth place finishes so valiantly fought for...

Jonathan's Vader chooses a new path...

There was nobody left outside of the light side alliance (Brandon's Jango had joined earlier as well) so Rob's Obi-Wan thought Kaleb's Han and Chewy were ripe for elimination.  He dropped his first attack on Kaleb but, to Rob's astonishment, Riley was outraged!  She considered Kaleb to be a close ally and declared to the table she was going after Obi-Wan.  Controlled by Rob.  Her actual father in real life.  This is what we've sunk to, Dueling fanatics.  Family bonds are now secondary to alliance partnerships.  And most twisted of all, Rob actually admired the moxie his offspring was showing. 

But that wasn't going to stop him from rallying a new alliance against his own daughter.

He used Force Quickness to give himself some distance as Riley's minions began to probe ways to attack Obi-Wan.  On Rob's next turn he tried to make amends with his old comrades by creating a kill box around Brandon's Jango.  Strangely, nobody really attacked him.  It wasn't looking good for Rob, so he fired up a stump speech to point out how strong Riley's alliance was and how we needed to work against her now or fall to her later.  Jonathan/Vader saw the logic in it, and committed to the alternative alliance.  Katie's Luke Skywalker was suddenly down with it too and she eliminated Kaleb in eighth place.

Riley didn't quite realize it at first, but she was the next target.  The look of shock on her face when JD's Mace, her most trusted partner, went in for the kill...I don't know how JD can look at himself in the mirror.  Riley the rabble-rouser bowed out in seventh.

So...much...pleading...

It looked like JD's Mace was still in deep trouble, but Katie shocked the table by directing her attacks on Jonathan's Vader.  It was a stunning development.  Jonathan couldn't survive the treachery and he finished in sixth.  But that's a career best finish for the up and coming Dueler!

The final five were Rob/Obi, Grant/Anakin, JD/Mace, Katie/Luke, and Brandon/Jango.  Mace and Luke were clearly in league with each other, so Grant finally agreed to work with Rob and both assumed Brandon was down for the cause too.  But he decided to attack both sides on his next turn and the table collectively agreed it was time for the rookie to go night-night.  Still, that was a great debut for Brandon!

The final four took a lot of twists and turns but Katie's Luke and Rob's Obi-Wan were both damaged and weak carded.  That was partially because of the I Will Not Fight You Katie dropped on Obi.  Grant was most fearful of JD, who was vehemently arguing to kill Obi-Wan next.  Grant feared Katie and JD would stay united, though, and eventually eliminated Katie in fourth.  You can't say enough about her night, though.  It's clear the league has a new hot-shot Dueler who will use her knowledge of psychological development to her advantage.

I'm going to skip a lot of the details about the final three, because it was mostly 20 minutes of JD and Rob trying to convince Grant to kill the other.  He ultimately sided with Rob, but as they whittled JD down, Rob had a convenient change of heart and started attacking Grant instead. 

JD accepted the temporary reprieve but didn't trust Rob in the least.  Rob told JD to use his two Whirlwinds on Grant or he was going to use the Force Balance card to dump them anyway.  JD got one of them off on Rob before having to discard his full hand. 

On the redraw Rob's luck finally ran out as JD convinced Grant to finish him off.  But having to use two attacks on Obi proved to be fatal for Grant.  JD was reshuffling his draw pile and got a fortuitous sequence of cards and, despite being more damaged than Grant's Anakin, he quickly turned the tide and finished Grant off for the win!  It really seemed to come out of nowhere as all of the spectators assumed Grant would carry the day.  Congrats JD, who becomes the second Dueler in league history to complete his GECK (wins on Geonosis, Emperor's Throne Room, Carbon, and Kamino).  He also moved into a tie with Grant on the all-time win list (seven).

The final order of finish:

12.  Owen/Boba Fett
11.  Coleman/Emperor Palpatine
10.  Matthew B./Count Dooku
9.  Joel/Darth Maul
8.  Kaleb/Han Solo
7.  Riley/Yoda
6.  Jonathan B./Darth Vader
5.  Brandon/Jango Fett
4.  Katie/Luke Skywalker
3.  Rob/Obi-Wan Kenobi
2.  Grant/Anakin Skywalker
1.  JD/Mace Windu

It was a humorous and tense night - let's do it again next month!  Stay tuned for details on the fifth annual THANKSDUELING match in November!

May the 4th Be With You - May 4, 2018

The 2018 Hall of Fame Dueler Class

Emperor's Throne Room

The greatest day of the year for any Star Wars fan is May the 4th.  It also marks the end of our normal Dueling season.  As such, we use this date in Dueler history to honor those special Duelers who are graduating, leaving Waco, moving on, heading out, etc.  And by special we mean those who have left a lasting impact on the league and in our hearts.  Our smoldering, light saber-stabbed hearts.  Before the May the 4th Be With You Duel we inducted three new members into the Dueler Hall of Fame:

Kaleb Loomis - Kaleb graduates from Truett this month and leaves this Duels league as one of the top ranked Duelers of all time.  In fact, he debuted as a professional at the top of the rankings!  He's a winner of two Duels and has never finished below eighth place, which is sick!

Nathan Gibbs - Nathan graduates from Baylor this month with four career victories.  One of those includes the 2015 Championship.  He was also the second Dueler to ever win back to back Duels.  He was the consummate smooth operator on the board.

Stephen Buley - Stephen also graduates this month, and he takes with him a distinguished honor.  No student played more games than Stephen.  He also has two career victories.  And let's not forget Stephen was the first, and only one of two Duelers, to have ever won with Emperor Palpatine.

It was a rainy afternoon in Duels land...

It's always sad to see Duelers depart, especially distinguished warriors like these three.  Let's hope they find their way back to the Duels table at some point in the future!

As for the game itself, we had two new Duelers as well as a Dueler going pro!  Madelynn, aka Mad Dog, and Scott debuted in their first ever game.  And Kat was playing her sixth Duel, so she's a professional now.  Congrats Kat!!!

Mad Dog picked the number one chair and chose the Emperor's Throne Room for the battlefield.  She also picked Boba Fett, much to the relief of others.  Grant got Jango Fett again!  The preview jinx worked!  Joel also picked up Darth Vader for the second straight match, and he had to be happy to have the character he won with at the Birthday Surprise.

I'm in your chair, Palpatine!!!

At the start of the game the dark side began to attack Stephen's Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Grant's Jango landed a wicked Missle Launch to put Stephen in danger of going out first in his last ever Duel.  But Obi wasn't going out like that.  He found his Force Control and totally disrupted the dark side, all while retreating behind the safety of Chewbacca.  Stephen moved characters up to three spaces each, and managed to pull Kat's Count Dooku down to the light side.  After suffering numerous attacks, it was Daniel's Chewey who marched over and Wookie Tossed Kat into last place!  Poor Kat, that wasn't the way she wanted to reach the professional ranks.

Stephen's Obi was still in trouble.  As it looked like the dark side would soon swarm him and Daniel's Han Solo, a defection occurred!  Mad Dog felt the urge to defect, so she tossed a Thermal Detonator into the heart of the dark side shooter's nest.  But instead of Rocket Retreating, she Kyber Darted Grant's Zam, killing the minor character.  The dark side was outraged and focused on the defector.  Alex C.'s Darth Maul rolled in and dropped many a "does not count as an action" attacks and Mad Dog got sent to the pound in eleventh place.

That's a Bowcaster smile if I've ever seen one.

It looked like the light side would crush the dark at that point, but the bad guys weren't going down without a fight.  Joel's Darth Vader Trew Debris at Obi to end Stephen's game, and probably career, in tenth.  It wasn't the ending he was looking for, but he was scrappy and fought hard until the end.  After Alex's attack on Boba he was low carded, and the light side shooters took advantage.  They kept peppering him with shots until Daniel's Chewbacca dropped the scariest attack card in the game - the Bowcaster!  Alex finished in ninth with a gaping hole in his chest.  With Chewey in position to smoke Maul it left Han exposed to more attacks.  The remaining dark side characters made him pay.  Once he was two points of health away from dying, Joel's Vader used Wrath to kill him in eighth.  Yolo Solo.

Nothing amateur about their play.

The light side shooters started moving into the dark side territory, and Rob's Mace, Scott's Luke, and Luke's Anakin followed in behind them.  They started racking up hits on Grant/Jango and Joel/Vader.  Eventually Joel broke from the pressure as Leia's 2-point attack ended his bid to win back to back games with Lord Vader.

Ian's Yoda was down on the dark side of the board now too, while Luke/Anakin and Scott/Luke hung back in case Grant's Jango Fett Rocket Retreated away.  As it turned out, Grant was stuck with a bunch of useless Zam cards and wasn't able to defend when Yoda cracked him with a Force Strike.  Grant was gone in sixth and left wondering why he keeps getting stuck with shooters.  That left a final five of Luke/Anakin, Rob/Mace, Curtis/Emperor, Scott/Luke, and Ian/Yoda.

Final two selfie

Curtis was left as the last dark side member standing, and desperately tried to align himself with any willing partner.  But the remaining light side stayed true to their alliance and commenced attacks on the Emperor.  It was Scott's Princess Leia who hit him with two Latent Force Abilities to send Curtis into fifth place.

And then there were four.  The decision on what to do next wasn't so clear.  Scott and Luke wanted to attack Ian's Yoda, while Rob was more interested in Luke's Anakain Skywalker, especially because Padme was still alive and he feared Luke had been stockpiling shooter cards.  Scott and Rob seemed to be good with each other as Rob went after Luke and Scott went after Ian.  Ian ended up assisting Rob in eliminating Anakin.  In fact, it was Yoda's last remaining clone that put the final nail in the coffin.  Luke was out in fourth, but it was a great showing for the amateur Dueler!

Rob assumed he was solid with Ian's Yoda, but Ian was open to working with Scott's Luke Skywalker.  That was mostly because Yoda's health points were low enough for a double Whirlwind from Mace to kill him.  So Rob offered to spend one of the Whirlwinds on Scott to solidify their standing with each other.  Ian still wasn't a 100% on board but Scott was damaged enough to end his first career Duel in third place.  Congrats Scott - that's quite the debut!

Trophy #4

It looked like, based on health points, Rob's Mace would be able to dominate Ian's Yoda quite quickly, but Yoda proved his mettle by using a Force Lift and a Force Push to start depleting Mace's hand and forced Rob to move Windu away from Ian.   In fact, Rob moved to the further most point away Yoda and his remaining Clone, and it created a stalemate while the Clone prevented Mace from moving but Yoda couldn't move in to attack for fear of dying from the remaining Whirlwind.  This cat and mouse game continued for a good 30 minutes before Yoda retreated far enough away for Rob/Mace to kill the last Clone.  From there they chased each other around the bridges of the Throne Room before Mace finally rolled a four and could move in to use his last Whirlwind and end Ian's afternoon in second place.  Ian put up a heck of a fight with the little green Jedi!  This marked Rob's 12th career victory and his second with Mace Windu, who as a character has now won six times himself.

The final order of finish:

12.  Kat/Count Dooku
11.  Madelynn/Boba Fett
10.  Stephen/Obi-Wan Kenobi
9.  Alex C./Darth Maul
8.  Daniel/Han Solo
7.  Joel/Darth Vader
6.  Grant/Jango Fett
5.  Curtis/Emperor Palpatine
4.  Luke/Anakin Skywalker
3.  Scott/Luke Skywalker
2.  Ian/Yoda
1.  Rob/Mace Windu

Thanks to everyone who played in the 2017-18 season of Epic Duels!  We're going to try and tack on one more Duel the afternoon of May 24th before the movie debut of Han Solo - we're calling it "Let the Wookie Win."  More details to come on that, so stay tuned!  Also, check out the Hall of Fame tab to see the new inductees!

Birthday Surprise - October 5, 2017

Carbon Freezing Chamber

We did it!

Ian turned the big 3-0...THIRTY!  And we dropped a surprise Duel right on top of his old, decaying body.  AARP sponsored the match.  We told those pesky kids to get off his lawn.  It was great.

Diagonal shots are always the worst. 

We had two brand spanking new Duelers play for the first time, just to make Ian feel that much older.  Lydia, one of Ian's residents in Heritage, and Ben G., a Martin CL.  And speaking of Martin...that's where we played!  Our normal room in North Village was booked so we made coming over to Martin part of the birthday surprise ruse.  Poor Ian, he never saw it coming.

JD picked the number one chair and he got first crack at the board and characters.  He chose the dreaded Carbon Freezing Chamber.  He also grabbed Boba!  That was nice of him, to take a shooter out of the pick pile right out of the gate.  Everyone else grabbed their characters, introductions were made, and the Dueling commenced.

The first big action of the night was Curtis' Darth Vader dropping two Chokes on Jonathan's Padme.  Brutal!  Jonathan Wrathed Greedo with his Anakin in return, and Chris' Leia advanced and started shooting the dark side but it looked like the light side alliance was in early trouble...until Rob's Jango flipped!  Worried that Ian would die early on his birthday Duel, just like Curtis did on his (#neverforgetwhatryandid), Rob was determined to change the tide.  He used his Rocket Retreat and Assassination cards on Daniel's Count Dooku and relocated to the other end of the board.

Kerri's Yoda next played an Insight card on Lydia's Emperor and dumped her You Will Die Card!  But that wasn't enough to stop the dark side of the board from converging on an exposed Anakin.  Ben G. got his first career kill when his Maul took out Jonathan for 12th place.  Rob forgot to bring the Jar Jar trophy and Jonathan was glad that he did.

Classic Kerri and JD faces.

Chris' Leia died soon after that but he moved his Luke Skywalker towards the dark side nonetheless.  He took some damage but dropped two Justice cards on Ben G.'s Darth Maul!  The dark side was stunned, the light side laughed, and Ben took it all in stride.  Alex's Han Solo dropped a long distance attack to put Ben out in eleventh.  It was a tough break for a rookie Dueler, but hopefully Ben will be back again in the future!

Rob continued to ride Daniel's Count Dooku like a donkey, using Rocket Retreat, Wrist Cables, and Fire Up The Jet Pack against him.  He even took a moment in the middle of all that to publicly call for his son, Boba/JD, to defect with him.  But it was a sniper shot from Zam that finally ended Daniel's night in tenth.  With nine left to go Chris' Luke stunned the board by playing an I Will Not Fight You on Toby's Obi-Wan!  Though Toby was loyal to the light side his alliance partners felt like he needed to be doing more to pull his weight.  The light side agreed to go after Toby/Obi (that rhymes!) and Toby was stuck with his back against the wall.  That's when he dropped a Force Control and rearranged the board, a dangerous thing to do in the Carbon Freezing Chamber.

Han/Alex picked up another kill after Ian's Mace helped whittle down Toby in ninth.  But the rearranged board proved to be dire for Rob's Jango.  No longer hidden behind Chewbacca and Yoda, Curtis' Vader and Lydia's Emperor moved in on the Fett and killed him in eighth.  That was Jango's first finish out of the top five in almost a year, which is insane.

You can see the new gray hairs sprouting on Ian's head...

Curtis begged for his life to no avail, and he knew the writing was on the wall.  Ian's Mace clobbered him for seventh.  The rest of the board then turned their attention to Lydia's Emperor Palpatine.  Lydia hung tough, even Meditating twice, but she eventually succumbed to her wounds in sixth place.  That was a heck of a debut for Lydia, though.  Well done!

With the Emperor out we were left with five Duelers:  Kerri/Yoda, Chris/Luke, Ian/Mace, JD/Boba, and Alex/Han.  JD's Boba had spent his big attacks on the Emperor and Ian saw an opportunity to get rid of the bounty hunter.  It was then that JD's dark secret was revealed - of the eight cards he was holding...they were all Greedo!  And Greedo had been dead a long time!!  Mace took quick care of him after that.

Down to four, Chris made another unorthodox play by dropping I Will Not Fight You on Alex's Han...but Han didn't have any attack cards above 1!  He didn't drop anything!  Baby Skywalker was doomed and suffered the indignity of dying at the hands of Kerri's Clone Trooper.  Still, not a bad first appearance since last spring for Chris!

Ian can't read Alex's poker face.

And then there were three...  It became clear that Kerri's Yoda was the target.  Ian slyly carded up as he danced around the Chamber, trying to get into position to double whirlwind both Yoda and Han.  Alex stayed out of reach, though, and despite Yoda Force Lifting Mace Windu twice, Ian finally burned a Whirlwind to end Kerri's night in third.  That's the second game in a row for Kerri with a third place finish with Yoda!  She's moved into second place on the amateur rankings list.

Alex's Han and Chewbacca began their dance with Ian's Mace.  Their pot shots rained down while Mace slowly advanced, careful to stay high carded.  Alex managed to launch his second Bowcaster of the night, which definitely impacted Mace's health points.  He fought valiantly but Ian's expertise and strength of character were just too much.  As they both were on the bottom row of their health points Ian was able to drop a final attack on Alex, killing Han for the victory!  The birthday boy won!!!  Congrats to Ian, who picked up his fourth career victory.  That also marks Mace's fifth win, which ties him for second place on the character rankings.  And a big shout out to Alex too!  His second place finish with a shooter on the scariest board in the game was masterful.

Here's your final order of finish:

12.  Jonathan/Anakin Skywalker
11.  Ben G./Darth Maul
10.  Daniel/Count Dooku
9.  Toby/Obi-Wan Kenobi
8.  Rob/Jango Fett
7.  Curtis/Darth Vader
6.  Lydia/Emperor Palpatine
5.  JD/Boba Fett
4.  Chris/Luke Skywalker
3.  Kerri/Yoda
2.  Alex C./Han Solo
1.  Ian/Mace Windu

And tomorrow we do it all again!  Fight Night - Saturday, 8PM.  Come on by and watch!!!

A New Hope - January 14, 2017

Carbon Freezing Chamber

The first Duel of 2017 started off on a somber note as the dozen combatants dedicated the night's battle to the memory of Carrie Fisher, the late actress who so expertly portrayed Princess Leia on the big screen for generations of Star Wars fans.

But there were things to celebrate, too.  Donald sat down for his sixth Duel, meaning he has now reached professional status.  And this was the first Duel in league history that featured laminated playing cards.  That's right - Rob finally bit the bullet and upgraded his game to better protect it in the future.  A big thanks to Chris for his help in that effort, as he met with Rob over Christmas break to walk him through the process.

Grant wastes no time!

Liz drew the first chair and picked Carbon Freezing Chamber.  For the first time in almost a year we were back on the scariest board there is.  It's essentially a giant kill box - nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.  And Grant proved that right out of the gate!  In only the fourth turn of the match, Obi swooped in to attack Jonathan's Jango and he used the attack that enables him to move the entire board around.  He promptly made frightening kill boxes around Kaleb's Emperor and JD's Darth Vader.  It looked like it was going to be a quick night for the both of them...but that wasn't to be!  Kaleb was actually working with Grant and Curtis/Yoda, while JD convinced his light side oppressors that his Darth Vader was coming over all along.  Suddenly, Rob's Dooku, Stevie's Maul, and Ryan's Boba Fett were endangered species!

Kaleb, exposed and vulnerable.

Sure enough, that's what started to transpire.  The mega-light side alliance were raining down shots on Dooku, but Rob had managed to pull most of Dooku's defense in the early going to hang in there.  Meanwhile, Ryan's Boba sent a thermal at Grant/Obi and Curtis/Yoda in an attempt to shake up the too-big alliance.  But it would be Rob's incessant chatter with Stephen, his neighbor at the table, that would cause the first kill.  Stephen was playing Anakin but his light side brothers feared he was flipping, so out of nowhere, they killed him first with JD/Vader delivering the final blow!  During that same stretch Boba gave Liz's Han Solo a beat-down, knocking him down to two health points.  Rob then force pushed his alliance partner, Stevie/Maul, to Obi-Wan in one last attempt to shake up the light side.

It didn't ultimately work.  Rob was bleeding out and Liz used her Bowcaster to kill Dooku, leaving the board a lot quieter without his psychological warfare.  They got Ryan's Boba next, ending his night in tenth.  Stevie, still stuck in the middle of the light side but without the Sith Speed's Rob assumed he had, did knock out Liz in ninth.  But Jonathan's Jango punched Maul's ticket to leave Stevie falling short in eighth.

Rain Man dropping card knowledge.

With the have-nots out of the game, the large alliance had to start looking inward.  Grant/Obi was clearly linked with Kaleb/Emperor, while Nathan/Mace and JD/Vader started making silent overtures to Donald/Luke and Jonathan/Jango.  Meanwhile, Curtis/Yoda was stuck uncomfortably between the two factions, with loyalties to both.  Grant tried to focus the group against Mace and Vader, but he quickly realized it was going to be he and Emperor against the other five.  So he went to work!  Not only did he move everyone around the board again, but he also dropped a "Force Balance," meaning everyone had to discard their hands and draw three.  It.  Was.  HILARIOUS!  You have to hand it to Grant, even against stiff odds he knows how to maximize the talents of his character.

While the committee of five deliberated (that's my kind way of saying took FOREVER to do anything), Grant and Kaleb went to work.  They caught Donald napping and loaded with special cards, meaning Luke had no defense.  Kaleb ejected him in seventh.  It wasn't quite the finish Ducky was looking for, but he is indeed a professional Dueler know.  Congrats Donald!  With Luke dead the remaining four in the alliance started zeroing in on Emperor.  You wouldn't have known it by his bluffing skills, but Kaleb was rocking it in his rookie Duel.  He finally ran out of cards and finished in fifth, but not before playing "You Will Die" on Curtis/Yoda and knocking his health points down.  Keep your eye out for Kaleb in the future, he's got the right stuff.

The Final Showdown

That left five to go:  Curtis/Yoda, JD/Vader, Nathan/Mace, Jonathan/Jango, and Grant/Obi-Wan.  Everybody agreed Grant should die next, but nobody was going out of their way to get the dirty work done.  It was obvious all four Duelers were trying to stay strong handed for the final run to first place.  Grant took advantage of the malaise by getting some shots in where he could, but Jonathan pulled off a massive deception by feigning a low attack against Grant.  Grant chose not to defend, but it was really the "Missile Launch!"  Grant was finally done in fifth.  Ironically, he had a perfect 5.00 average heading into the Duel, and his fifth place finish kept the whole number.  Nobody made a bigger impact in this Duel than Grant, that's for sure.

With four to go, the mortally wounded Yoda had to face three attackers at once.  Though Curtis fought valiantly, Jango Wrist Cable-ed him to death in fourth.  That was the second game in a row with Yoda for Curtis.

There were only three left.  Mace/Nathan and Vader/JD were pretty much full health, but Jonathan/Jango was still carrying his initial damage from the start of the game, and with Zam still alive, he wasn't able to heal.  Jonathan and JD made the agreement to work together against Nathan's Mace Windu.  At that point, it looked like JD would be the likely victor but he got caught being too close to Mace with too many special cards and not enough defense.  Nathan ripped off a couple of Battleminds and the audience was stunned as poor JD had to go home in third.  That left Jango and Zam against Mace.  Jonathan decided to go down in a blaze of glory.  It looked like an impossible task: he had less than half of his health left and Mace barely had a scratch.  But Nathan ran through a bad streak with cards that Jango took advantage of.  As Mace chased Jonathan around the board his health was rapidly declining, and before you knew it, both characters only had two health points left!  But Nathan's persistence paid off.  On his last turn he drew a card for his first action.  It was a Whirlwind!  He used that for his second move and Jonathan/Jango was dead!  Jonathan, a newly minted professional, finished in second for a career-best effort.  And you have to hand it to him, he was the first one damaged in the game yet he took out four main characters and was the last one to exit.  And a big round of applause goes out to Nathan!  This was his third career victory and the fourth for Mace (and the second Mace win in the last three games).

Nathan and his New Hope loot.

Final order of finish:

12.  Stephen/Anakin
11.  Rob/Dooku
10.  Ryan/Boba
9.  Liz/Han
8.  Stevie/Maul
7.  Donald/Luke
6.  Kaleb/Emperor
5.  Grant/Obi
4.  Curtis/Yoda
3.  JD/Vader
2.  Jonathan/Jango
1.  Nathan/Mace

Thanks to all the Duelers who played in A New Hope!  And thanks to Ian who reserved the room and table for us!  And thanks to JD for another kick-butt trophy!  And thanks to all of you reading this!  And thanks to - what?  I should shut up now?  Ok...

February's Valentine's Duel will be the next battle - stay tuned for the details, they'll be coming soon enough!