Ten players tonight meant a nice tidy sized event with no byes and a look through the teams showed a lot of variety to compete for the Ralph Dibney LE on offer. The big boys were back tonight as previous champions Ste date, Ste Hunt and Dave Smith all showed up tonight looking to prove their mettle in the "Rookie Rumble". Still no Craig though as he was saving his pennies for Salute next week.

As usual, although after a very prolongued period of trying to get in the team sheets, the sheets were shuffled and random pairings were selected for the first Swiss Round. David Smith faced Paul Crosby in game one, Dave with his "Calculators Against Machavellian Players Intending Naughty Games" (or C.A.M.P.I.N.G. for short, though not actually that short), boasting Emerald Empress, Persuader, Blackfire, Jinx and a Mandroid, did instant damage to Paul's hopes of success tonight. Paul's humourously titled "The Unfantastic 6" used Mr. Fantastic, two Invisible Women, Human Torch, Rogue (not Rouge as listed on the team sheet ... that's a colour : ) ) and Jade.. The two Invisible Women survived 'till the end but the rest were fodder for C.A.M.P.I.N.G. as it rampaged around the dark junk yard. Score a win for Dave and a Loss for Paul.

David Hansell, who had performed exceptionally well in his first ever event two days ago, faced a somewhat different challenge today when he took on the venues most regular champion Ste Hunt in the first round. Ste's "Rooke Titans Go Wild" wasn't the most menacing looking team he has ever built, but we have seen people fall foul of his 'weaker' teams before and pay the price so nothing was taken for granted. David's "Hot Sky" team was lead by War Machine and supported by Wildfire, Scarlet Witch, Sunfire and Magdelena and it certain looked worthy of a win on paper. David showed that his fine prefromance earlier in the week was no fluke as he again performed well to take a convincing win from the wily master.

The other resident regular champion faired rather better in his opening gambit. Ste Date fielded a "Force of Nature" team against relative newcomer Simon Swinbank's nicely named "Begged and Borrowed Cannonfodder Mk 2". Ste's extensive experience in team building and tactics clearly showed through as he stormed to victory with 540 points, leaving Simon to lick his wounds and curse his first round draw as it was easilly one of the worst he could have pulled.

James Phoenix sat accross from Paul Atherton in their opening game with his "Mulrats R Us" team showing off a Quicksilver amongst other mostly Armor Wars characters. Paul's unlikely alliance of "Aphrodite Heroes (ed.)" included NOT ONE SPYMASTER. Thankfully Paul has moved on, no ... wait a moment, he only uses the Experienced ones anyway so we will most likley see him/them back again next week. I suggest everyone uses a pulse waver then! The lack of Spymaster's didn't prove to be much of a hinderance today as he took the first round win despite only KO'ing 79 points (Rogue) due to JP only taking out 60 (Enchantress). Close JP, close but no cigar.

The remaining first round game was between Martin "Mad-dog" Teece's "When Poision is Back in Town" and Dale de Andrade's "FKN RUKIES" (not that impressed with your team tonight and you haven't even played a game yet Dale!). Dale is another one of the newer players having only played one event before, but he handed Martin a thrashing in this game. Well a beating at least, if not a thrashing. What happened to Martin's ruthless killer streak tonight? Did it stay at home to watch the TV?

Simon couldn't have got a much worse first round draw as he played the man who owns EVERY non LE figure in Heroclix, Ste Date

Dave as a Postie is Impervious to all weather and heat conditions so despite the heat tonight wears a leather jacket throughout

JP and Paul Atherton ponder the terrain on the new Collateral Damage Map (dark on here isnn't it)

The second table also saw old meet new (sorry Dave, I do mean 'old' as in 'experienced' and not 'past it') when Dave Smith took on David Hansell in the very first 'Battle of the Daves'! Dave S. was very impressed with Dave H.'s teambuilding skills for such a newcomer proclaiming "It's got exactly the same things as my team ... but better". Dave was buzzing during tonight's matches and it wasn't because his hearing aid battery was running out, he really enjoyed the games he played and thought the new guys played the game of Heroclix well and in a great spirit. New guy Dave H. won this battle but I am sure Dave S. will be back to challenge again, no doubt after a lengthy session on Battle Planner 5. David Hansell meanwhile homes in on a second successive final, could it be he reaches the final of his first two events?

Paul Atherton faced Paul Crosby on table three in 'Battle of the Pauls' ... I am going to stop this now as it is becoming tedious, why can't we get more players with obscure names here? Atherton's "Aphrodite Heroes (ed.)" who seemed to have lost Aphrodite IX and then decided to reinstate her in the team selection earlier (according to the team sheet), scored exactly the same number of KO's as they did in the first round with a measilly 79 for KO'ing Rogue. Hmmmmm, do I detect a theme here. Paul A. was the clear winner here though as Paul C.'s "Unfantastic 6" proved to be so and KO'ed nothing (zip, nil, nada, ziltch, nowt). What were you doing Mr. Cosby, throwing water bombs?

Stephen Hunt, lounging further down the tables than is usually seen, took on James Phoenix to see if another Rogue could go splat. The simple answer was YES and she showed the way for the rest of JP's team as Hunt was back in the running by wiping out JP yet again. You wonder why you don't get Fellowship Awards? Try taking it easy on this guy just once, let him have a Jeremiah Arkham survive or something for God's sake. Are you working next week, if not I'll have to get my voodoo doll out and stick pins in it's head again and see if we can't get that irritating headache to reappear. Just kidding. ; )

The last game this round and the bottom table was Simon Swinbank, struggling a bit tonight with his "Begged and Borrowed Cannon Fodder MK2". It's pretty tough to pick up a new game well your in a tournament environment but Simon's giving it a go and doing ok. I am hoping you can pull out a great performance next week and grab some valuable league points that might get you a lovely jubbly prize come the end of the season (December). Simon's opponent here was Martin Teece and having suffered at the hands of Ste Date in round one Martin was looking to resurrect his team's chances in round two. Simon didn't actually do too bad in this round as he collected 198 KO points, but unfortunately he lost his whole team getting these KO's so lost the match. Come on Simon I am rooting for you next week!

The "Battle of the Davids" and David Hansell proves the last tournament and tonight's first round results were more than fluke as he wins yet again

Undisputed master of the silly face Martin Teece gives us another one and this time it's for free. You have a very large repetoir

These two teams gather together and look as though they are re-enacting a gangbang scene from the 'Warriors' movie (or maybe the 'Wanderers')

Table two had what should have been a heated battle for second place between Ste Hunt's "Rookie Titan's Go Wild" and Paul Atherton's Aphrodite and friends. However, even given that this was a shorter round as time constraints were proving an issue I would still of expected at least one hero or villain to have been KO'ed, but they weren't as another snoozyclix game ensued. Ste H. definately tried to get stuck in and do some damage but Paul Ath was playing 'defensively' (to put it nicely) and slowed down towards the end of the game much to the displeasure of those around. It wasn't blatent stalling, but it was close and I will be watching out for this sort of thing from now on, but if any player has concern over the duration of their opponents turn please call over the Judge. The stalling, err sorry the 'defensive' style of play worked as no KO's were seen and Paul won the game due to his lower build points total (Booo hisss). Had Ste had just one more action he would have got a KO and won the game (as a 'what if' scenario played out) but it was all hypothetical in the end. Just to make matters worse, the win got Paul into the final as well! Still I am sure Ste D. won't let him forget how he got there in a hurry.

David Smith played out the last round of his tournament against Dale. It was a tight game and Dale held up well against the more experienced player but was ultimately beaten 375 points to 268. Persuader did manage to flop again though despite his glowing red axe and must be a nomination for the MUC (Most Useless Clix) Award after his critical miss (on a reroll) in the round before as well. Still Dave was enjoying himself and thats' what its all about. Its not the winning that's important, it's the stopping people called Ste winning it the taking part and enjoying yourself.

Martin Teece, for once of late battling to move up the minor placings, faced Paul Crosby in his last game. "When Poison is Back In Town" may have been the name but Paul appeared to be carrying the antidote as he beat Martin's team in a sleepy war of attrition. I bet Martin was "saving himself for the league game" next week? As it was only Poion Ivy was KO'ed in the whole game, how ironic when you consider the team name and so Paul took a narrow win to pick up his first W of the event and ensure he didn't finish rock bottom last. To be fair though someone always has to finish last so its not that awful when it happns to you. I have to say that after finishing LAST out of about 35 players at the previous Celebration Event in Loughborough. I still blame the dice (and always will).

The battle to avoid the wooden spoon this week saw Simon's Cannon Fodder take on JP's Mulrats with neither player having a win under their belts so far. Something had to give and it did. Had I had a win under my belt it would probably have been that that 'gave' after another burger and onion rings (mmmmmmmm). JP's experience and knowledge helped him to take the win off Simon by just KO'ing a Starfire (not much destruction in this round apart from on the top table at all). Nothing else saw stars so JP clinched the win and ensured he stayed above Simon on the table. Simon picked up a respectable 276 points, but being consigned to a third successive defeat was left out alone at the bottom of the Swiss Round placings. Better luck next time ... which is a Boroclix League match.

JP and Simon battle it out to avoid finishing last ... JP takes the win

The old master was back tonight and looking to make the final again, however his challenge 'stalled' as he came up against Paul Atherton

Mid-table match-up as Dave Smith takes on Dale de Andrade and sneaks a win to finish with a respectable 2-1 scorecard

As usually I want to say a big thank you to all the players for making this a superb event that everyone enjoyed so much. Special thanks to the newer players who made a real fight of taking on the old guard. See you next week you brave and hardy souls.

The winning team replendent in its yellow ring glory, seen in action

It's not pretty for Paul as Superman Blue and supporting crew (yes, that was meant to rhyme) get a reet good kicking at the hands of Ste's boys

The final placings after the Swiss Rounds were ...

gap