Tournament 11th September 2005

A decent turnout today gives Judge Crimson Duck real hope that a) The first Swiss Round won't throw up yet another battle of the Ste's and b) Someone new will contest the final.

A random shuffle and the first round draw is made ... Ste Hunt comes out first and the Duck is worried ... Ste Date. Nooooooooooooooooo! (drops to his knees and screams in a similar vein to Anakin on the discovery of Padme's death). Three for three on this pairing being first out of the hat at Game STUFF tournaments and so far it has also ended up being a preview of the final. Surely not again?

Not wanting to even comtemplate this possibility, Crimson Duck hurriedly distributes the Batman Promo figure participation prizes that were kindly supplied by Drew at Gencon UK earlier this month.

"I don't believe it!" Battle of the Ste's take 3 in Round one!

Jez begins plotting his own downfall, but takes it all in his stride!

Meanwhile, another first round pairing sees Jez playing Craig. Neither player has yet registered a tournament victory at Game STUFF so something has to give here. Craig did manage to pick up a win at the Armor Wars© Pre-Release in Loughborough and has picked the game up quickly since joining the venue as a complete novice. Jez fields a strong line up including Batman™, Green Arrow™ and Cheshire™ under the title of the A***-Kickers. However a little inexperience shows and the team demonstrate how to get A***-kicked rather than kick-A***. Craig registers his first win using the lead of Wonder Woman™ with support from Big Barda™ (WHAT?), Aquaman™ and a D.E.O. Agent, not forgetting the less than lethal Lian Harper pog of course.

Dave has this time discarded the Batman™ villain team in favour of an interesting combination named "The Other Guys". The other guys' kingpin was Prometheus™ but he was ably assisted by Deadshot™, Jinx™, Ravager™ (we like Ravager™ as she wears orange) and Cheetah™. Not the luckiest bunch ever seen, "The Other Guys" suffered a first round 'no kill wipeout' but recovered well in their other games.

As the event continues, the competition hots up. Ste Hunt is looking strong and good for a hat-trick of event wins (obviously the threat of physical violence wasn't taken seriously). The pack behind is very tight and potential finalists are too close to call after two Swiss rounds with both Ste H and Craig on 2 - 0 and Matt, Ste D. and Stuart on 1 - 1.

What??? You seem to be taking this game very seriously!

Too many long nights on the PC take their toll on Craig as he appears to completely lose the plot as the final is beckoning. D'OH!

Ste H. versus Craig guarantees the winner a place in the final and the sniff of a lovely Icons© Limited Edition figure. After looking to take an early grip on the game Craig decides it is prudent to push Wonder Woman™ to smash a wall (WHAT?). He not only leaves her wide open but also knocks off her Impervious ability. On the plus side it does enable him to take revenge for the death of Lian Harper by slaughtering Impulse™. A good trade off? I think not!

Another table sees Matt take on his buddy Stuart in another tight affair. With both players on 1 - 1 and with decent point totals this table could well yield the second finalist depending on the outcome of the top table. Matt's "School For Cats" with an interesting and previously under-rated Veteran HDC Trooper struggles to get to grips with the might of Stuart's "Odd Mix" sporting the running shot of Blackfire™ coupled with the outwitting of Deathstroke™ and Batman™. In a very tight game, not well reflected in the scoring, Stuart takes a 412 points to 183 points victory. Thanks to a catastrophic collapse by Craig, this sees him through to a final showdown with Ste Hunt's "Extraordinary JLA" sporting the newly acquired Mailbox Plastic Man™.

Battle of the Big Barda™'s in a game to guarantee a place in the final.

As the Swiss Rounds draw to a conclusion the results are just too close to call.

Once again those who did not qualify for the final (trying not to use the word losers here) play out a Multi-player Mahem battle. Dave takes the honours with a couple of kills and picks up another LE. If he's not careful his Heroclix® collection will move into double figures before too long.

Craig decides to change his team for the Multiplayer Mayhem Side Event and selects two Quicksilver™'s and a Professor Zoom™. We figure he has the Taskmaster™'s ability to copy what he has seen after tasting a sound thrashing from the Quicksilver™ twins at the Armor Wars© Pre-Release and in an earlier game at the hands of Impulse™. Mr Date decides to teach him a lesson in the Hypersonic attack with the monstrous Flash™ from Icons©. Suffice to say Craig's fingers were kept busy this game.

At the other end of the table Jez was just too late to make a real difference in a relatively straightforward battle between Dave and Matt. As both Cheetah™'s were slaughtered, Dave's accumulated points were enough to win him the multi-player event prize. I am running out of extra LE's at a pace now.

Jez was awarded the Fellowship prize for the fine and sporting manner in which he took his defeats. He even made a round of teas afterwards and I don't even think he spat in them (I didn't have one just to be on the safe side though LOL!). He managed to cause me a minor heart murmour as once again he ripped the LE Box open from the top - and I mean he RIPPED IT OPEN!

So the final at least had one different player this event. Could Stuart prevent Ste Hunt from an unblemmished Hat Trick of tournament wins and NO DEFEATS in the process yet again?

Indead he could. GOOD MAN! Thanks to the mighty outwitters, some great running shots and some very good dice rolling at one end of the table, Ste Hunt tasted defeat at this venue for the first time. It was a sweet flavour for some, with a slightly spicey aftertaste. It wasn't just a defeat, it was something of a hammering with a 'no kill wipeout' and a well deserved victory in the bag for Stuart.

Stuart selected the Blackfire LE, which was very appropriate as she was the one of the main characters to have got him the victory. He was also awarded an Armor Wars© map that was kindly donated by a certain Judge at Gencon UK (cheers Daz!). That left Jez to take home the LE Beast Boy and put a great big grin on at least two faces on a cold November Sunday.

Thanks to all the participants, to Sam G. for the use of the venue again and supplying tea and buscuits and as ever to Wizkids® games for the fantastic Approved Play Programme they support. Tune in next month for a 400 point no-figs barred unrestricted open universe event! It will soon be Christmas.

CHAMPION! Stuart and his prize Blackfire LE (looking somewhat embarrassed).