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Tournament 12th January 2006 - Middlesbrough Gamers Club
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| Crimson Duck decided to risk something a little bit different to kick-off "Thursday Night Heroclix©" at Middlesbrough Gamers Club. 200 points (yes, thats 200 points) per team of Unrestricted Open Heroclix fun on a 1/4 sized 12 by 12 square map. The two main reasons for testing out this new style format was a) the number of new players b) the tighter time scale for an evening event. Feedback from the players was very positive, so this is definately a format I will use again, in fact it may even rear its ugly head in two weeks for the event following New Guy Night demos. Turnout for tonights game was a very respectable nine players, this was very nearly an even ten but for a last minute drop-out. | "Lets split up, Dynamo you get Wolverine, Spymaster you get Wolverine, Echo you get Wolverine and we'll work together to get Wolverine" |
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| Having fallen upon a
method of randomising players that prevented a first
round pairing of Ste D and Ste S the same method was used
again, with similar success. Ste Date was still first to
be drawn, but tonight he was to face Parry Cooke. Ste had
gone all out to win this event by using the unbeatable
"Moloid Horde" consisting of Veteran Mole
Man™ (with Fortitude) and Val-Or™ (LE
Moloid™) with a pack of Moloid™ backup. Parry
used a pretty well rounded team named "Hide"
that consisted of HoM Wolverine™, R and E
Spymaster™, R Lobster Johnson™ and Veteran
Green Arrow. Going exactly to plan the Moloids™
swarmed the unassuming opponents. Less expectedly the
"Hide" team struggled to take out the little
fellas and as time was called the Rolly Moloid™s
had won on points. Spymaster™ in particular took a
serious kicking from the little grey Moloid™s. It's
funny beccause it's true! How it happened, no-one seems
to know. Stephen Hunt began tonight where he left off
(apart from the two early critical misses including his
first roll of course) on Sunday by using his "Lest
Ye Be Judged" all Judge team to take out Paul
Wastell's "Poggin Hell" City of Villains with
Bystander support based team. Paul was only just getting
used to the figures powers at this point and they
definitely improved as they went along. Craig Woolnough began the event with a very close and hard fought win against Liam Cooke's particularly versitile and diverse "X-Men™" team consiting of FOUR Experienced Wolverines™ and a Tony Stark LMD pog. The Wolverine™ clones fought hard but in the end were not strong enough to take down "Dude Where's My Pog" led ably by Exp Crimson Dynamo™ and supported by Spymaster™, Echo™, Killer Shrike™ and a pog posse. The game of the first round ended 256 to 139 in Craig's favour. Paul Atherton, fresh from his final loss and Fellowship Award of the weekend, used his "Ahh, quick Hide" to bruise his way to a victory over James Phoenix's "Fire Bird". Titanium Man™ saw another outing and was a monster backed up by Mysterio™, Elektra™ and the professor pog with a few feats. The combination proved a little too much for James's crew to handle despite the valiant efforts of Spider-Man™ and Mr. Fantastic™. To be honest Paul seems to be a natural at this game and given access to an unlimited supply of figures would be producing hideously monstrous teams already and he has only been playing a couple of weeks. I think we might have groom him up to take with us to the Nationals and Gencon as a partner for Mr. Hunt! Venue Challenge is it? Anthony Prior was the unfortunate player whose scorecard didn't get paired so he had to settle the two hundred points and Win provided by a first round bye. |
"I am the Law" ... Hold it right there you Drokking City of Villains scum
"Moley moley" was the cry of the moloid hoard becoming their victory chant |
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| The second Swiss Round saw
Paul Atherton face off against Ste Hunt on the top table.
The formidable combination of Perplex, Outwit and Psychic
Blast provided by Judge Dredd™ and Judge
Anderson™ aided Ste in securing a second win of the
night. Ste's experience and use of power combination was
a little too much for the 'Cheese Meister in training' in
this battle. Due to the unexpected Moloid™ menace
in the first round, Craig found himself facing the mighty
Mole Man™ in round two. Reality kicked in for the
subteranean overlord this time and he rapidly ran out of
Moloids™ to Mastermind damage onto as Crimson
Dynamo™ and the other surface dwellers cut swathes
through the little grey gadgies. Highlight of the round
goes to Craig for the excessive violence shown by Misty
Knight using a heavy object to squash a Moloid™ who
was giving her the eye. Trash talk indeed for poor rolly
moley. A very close second though goes to the
Moloid™ who thought it would be funny to grab Lian
Harper and run off with her. Leave the baby alone, you
bad Moloid™. It appears the Moloid™s were
actually attempting to kidnap a ready-made family unit as
another Moloid™ tried to grab and run off with
Misty Knight. What happened to wining and dining the
ladies you squinty slime? Having sat out the first round, Anthony jumped into round two with his "665" team made up of just Vet Crimson Dynamo™, E Joker and E Wasp for a round 200 points to take on Parry's well constructed "Hide". Thanks to another glut of outwit, which I can only assume is Parry's favourite power now, Parry managed to take down the hapless Dynamo™ condeming Anthony to his only defeat of the evening. Anthony managed 63 points of kills, but lost his entire team so didn't manage to improve that much on his first round bye points total. The last second round pairing matched Liam and Paul Wastell head-to-head, leaving James Phoenix to take the bye. The Wolverine™ quadruplets proved a blade/claw/fang too many for the computer game escapees and their new found pog companions and Liam came out victorious 261 points to 139. It was during this match that Tony Stark LMD proclaimed himself the hunter of Wolverine™s and made the KO blow on at least two of his feral foes, although Ghost Widow™ had done the majority of the work on them. |
Parry plots the downfall of the Crimson Dynamo, outwitting his cunning plan
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| Due to the speedy end of most games it was agreed by all that a forth Swiss Round would take place before the final to give everyone (well mostly) a chance for an extra game. The third round saw Craig take on Ste H in the battle of the undeafted on the top table. Against the favoured betting, dark horse Craig pulled out a very impressive victory over the Judges losing only 16 points whilst elimating Ste's entire force. Well done Craig, that's most impressive! Alas Jarvis and Misty Knight didn't survive to enjoy the celebrations. Parry and Liam played each other in what now seems the obligatory Cooke Houshold face off. The more versatile team of Parry's showed its strength condeming Liam to his second defeat of the evening. The phrase "I'll outwit your blades/claws/fangs" was heard once or twice during this game I can tell you. Master of the outwit Parry put himself into a very strong position amassing another 375 point against his brother. Paul Wastell, now establishing sound tactics for his team after seeing what powers they had across their dials, took on JP in a game neither could really afford to lose if they were to stand a chance of progression. JP felt the wrath of the new found knowledge and was beaten down by the superior numbers (and powers ... and dice rolls). The last table saw the quickest game of the night as Anthony's "665" took less than 20 minutes to create a Moloid™ omlette across the floor of an oriental garden. I think Anth must be quite good at "Whack-A-Mole" when he goes to the arcades judging by this display. The Mole Man™ quickly disappeared into a hole, not to be seen again until the fourth round. It was the turn of Paul Atherton to take a bye this time round, so he took the opportunity to observe the events of the top table ... he is very keen to learn and that seemed to be the best place to pick up tips. |
JP and Paul's game is so intense they even lure in a spectator, or future participant as I prefer to call them, Mwhaaaaaaaa!!! |
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| As Swiss Round Four kicked
off there were really only four players with a realistic
chance of reaching the final ... Anthony would need a
very big win against James and hope results elsewhere
went his way, likewise Stephen Hunt, whilst Parry and
Craig were in strong first and second positions
respectively and could only really throw their final
places away. Craig tried his best to do so performing
abysmally against Paul W's Lord Recluse™ and Co.
who finished strongly with two straight wins. Parry made
no such mistake hammering Paul A's team who were not
quite quick enough at hiding and got zonked totally
without Parry losing a bean (or Heroclix for that
matter). A well balanced team build from Parry thanks to
the Veteran Green Arrow (note to self, get Parry to open
all my boosters from now onwards, or alternatively buy
good clix from Ste Hunt). Ste Date gave 'The Hunt' a
fighting chance at reaching the final by turning up and
playing in round four. The Moloid™s were now worn
down by attrition and realism and didnt fair too well
against the law. Having said that the Judges did use the
dirt, stinking trick of perplexing up their attacks -
they have 13 defence for goodness sake! Moloid™
song of the round ... "I fought the Law and the Law
Won" (convincingly). Ste recorded a 399 to 0 win to
go 3 and 1 and be left waiting on other points totals to
see if he was final bound yet again. Little did he know
that the Judge had a secret trick up his sleave. It was
noticed after commencement of the event that though
claiming an Experience Judge Dredd™ on his score
card Ste had infact used the promo version. Surely this
would be grounds for disqualification if he was in the
top two yet again? Liam had volunteered to take the fourth round bye and the pairing that was left saw the Phoenix staying in the ashes this time as JP went down all guns blazing against Anth's squad. Anth finished the night with a very respectable 3 - 1 record but his points weren't high enough to challenge for the top placings. JP meanwhile was continuing to experiement with Barriers so as to exploit Shaman's powers to the fullest. Nice one JP, you're coming along well. As the final scores were totted up no disqualification was required as Craig's Brave Sir Dynamo had 'bravely ran away and fled' saving his blushes by saving 75 points to see him scrape through to the final by a narrow margin. Would the Duck have been so harsh as to have disqualified his good fiend and best man? You bet he would - we needed to see fresh meat in the final. |
 Paul Atherton is the latest in a long line to be "outwitted" by Parry's team
It was a long time coming tonight, but inevitably it eventually did '... The Battle of the Stes - Part 408'. The molemen were judged accordingly |
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| So it was that the final
was played out between two players who had yet to grace
the last hurdle to Winners LEdom. Or to put it another
way, the two players in the final had not been there
before. Who would fall under the inevitable pressure and
watchful eyes of the admiring and envious crowd? Craig's
nerves held fast and despite Parry collecting the most
points in the Swiss Rounds he defeated Parry by a score
that no-one remembered to record in all the excitement.
Craig - I am going to have to ask for that LE to be
returned as their is no evidence of you actually winning
the final on the scorecards! That'll teach you to keep
Lian Harper up after her bedtime. Having seen the Mole Man™ satisfied with a critical hit on Judge Hershey (not for a KO), observing a Moloid™ criticaling a Wolverine for a KO and creating a tally of KOs without ever really challenging the opposition (apart from those that couldn't decide which flank to attack from that is) I decided to award the Fellowship Prize to Ste Date proving that playing just for fun has its rewards too. |
Craig ... finished his burgers, then finished off Parry! |
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| It was an enjoyable event
and started the wacky world of Crimson Duck experimenting
with Heroclix formats. Watch this site for news of future
travesties of Heroclix and poking fun at those who win
too often. Speaking of winning, it is customary for me to
get as many jibes as possible in at the winner in my now
legendary (in my head) event write ups. But to be honest,
I can't really knock Craig. It was a good balanced team
and he played it well and in good spirit. You deserve
your LE, so you can keep it despite no evidence of your
win in the final. Enjoy your trophy and your moment of
glory, bask in light of victory and soak up the rays of
success. The next event is but round the corner and the
Ste's will be chomping at the bit for your title. The
chances of you not getting a slating should you win again
after tasting your first victory are also somewhat slim.
Well done to Parry on coming so close, your time will
come. Thanks to everyone as ever for taking part, it
makes all the effort worthwhile. Same time next week everyone? Final placings ...
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Craig won his worst Heroclix event tonight ... Well done sir!
Truly deserving of the Fellowship Award, no not Ste Date, the real winners were the Moloids™. Thank goodness they chose to come up to the surface for the evening ... shame Moleman™ had to leave without a wife yet again! |
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