On the positive side, the good attendance continued with eleven Heroclixers playing tonight. This means we have had 34 players in three events so far this month and with 3 events still to be played out, if we include the GameStuff Sunday match, we are almost certain to get a new record this month. Huzzah, the records just keep falling in Middlesbrough. Dare I mention another away goals victory in the city of Rome as well? Roll on the quarter-finals.

I love these little dinky maps. I think a 200 point game on these maps may become the new Thursday evening standard. Nowhere to run and nowhere to hide!

Parry's Experienced Superman was hanging on the 'theme team' tag as he had paired up with a Veteran Elongated Man for the evening to provide some JLA action. The deadly duo proved way too hot to handle for our seafairing icon 'Captain' James Cook as he was sunk without a trace of points. Just as well he hadn't bothered to give his team a name ... we shall call them "James' Jetsam" for want of anything better. James had built a lively looking team with plenty of variety, but unfortunately no real damage specialists and tonight to do well you WOULD need a damage specialist.

The third Superman offering was of the Blue variety, being the Rookie from Collateral Damage fielded by Alec, and was by far the weakest of the four in a straight face off. This allowed him some decent support figures though and although this one wasn't even nearly a whitewash Alec did beat Martin "I won a game last week" Teece's "Yami's Disciples" keeping up the Big Blue Boy Scouts GPA for the evening.

As this was Dave Smith's first Thursday evening encounter it was inevitable that he would be paired with Ste D for round one, and so it was written. Ste's "World's Finest" freindly theme team consisted of NGN Superman's 211 point hide supported by a Batman and a Robin. Dave had themed around Teen Titans "Titan's with a Twist" and banked on superior numbers and medium hitting to do the business. The business was done, but by Superman and Chums as 'The Crisis of Infinate Supermans' took a straight and thorough 4 - 0 for round one. Just for the record if we delve a little deeper it was 2345 points to 252 points in these four games. I don't think we need to say to much more on the effectiveness of Mr. Kent do we? Superman certainly offers a great opportunity for the hard of thinking. Dave may had faired a little better without all the critical misses though ... you have to love dice games. Once again Mr Smith ... welcome to my world!

The rounds last pairing was without a Supercheese so I tip my cap to Craig Woolnough and Paul Brown who both fielded Red Tornado (though of different levels) rather than Clark. It was a snoozy losey game for Sniper Brown as Prometheus slowly lost in a game lasting five times the evening's average length (or so it felt). Craig eventually crowned a triumphunt win with a ten minutes sleep to recover from the strength-sapping under-exertion of this game.

Liam seemed more than happy to have achieved a win through the bye route. Perhaps he had been given a premonition of what was to come later? The rounds random BFC was the little seen Infiltration. It didn't have much impact on most games, but it did see the Batman Enemies of Martin start real close to the opposition.

Isn't it ironic how you always seem to get paired with the person you play most regularly?

"They call me the ponderer, yeah the ponderer, I ponder on and on and on and on and on!"

Only one roof ... and I'm on it. What ya gonna do now?

It is now becoming less unusual to see Parry hovering on or abouts the top table (almost as much as he hangs about the boxes with other peoples Heroclix in) and he wasn't too far away again as his "Superhard" faced off with Craig's "Pure Pwnage!!!". It would seem that too much time on World of Warcraft has finally rotted Craig's last few remaining brain cells and he is now only capably or Geet (as in Git) Speak in the written word. The only smile at the end of this game was on Parry's face though as Craig took a geet heavy pounding and went down slobbering in a 596 - 0 defeat. I'll just say that again, Parry hammered Craig!

On another alternate Earth, in round two, Alec was showing that his first round win was no fluke as his "Iffits" washed over Liam's "Hide & Seek" to clean up on points. Superman Blue, Blackfire, Robin, Plastic Man, Huntress and Cheetah were looking pretty effective. They were certainly a far cry from the last placed newb fodder in the Marquee only a couple of weeks ago on the night when Alec parted company with his Fellowship Prize OMAC in a trade. Hope you got a sweet smelling deal.

In losers corner Martin Teece doubled his total ever Heroclix wins by picking up another 'W' against Paul Brown, also condemning Paul to a 0 - 2 record despite having avoided all the Supermen. Paul was using the very nice Oberon pog (that I dont have ... weep, weep) as well as an Experienced OMAC, but things just were not going his way. Just as well you didn't have to fight the Supermen really.

Dave, still licking his wounds from his friendly Superman/Critical Miss encounter vented some of his frustration in a round victory over James Cook. Stripped of the Avengers as it was a DC event, James elected to play a fairly random mix of figures, the biggest of which was an Experienced Emerald Empress. Unfortunately EE and Co. proved to be green and lost, but they did pick up their first points of the night as they collected 238 consolation points.

The new master of the bye, Lux Luther-Hunt was unlucky to be the player out of the bottom three who was randomly selected to not play. This time it certainly wouldn't help him to get to the final though. The random BFC this round was Internal Conflict and it had no impact at all on any of the games.

Martin winning? Look closely is it him or an evil doppelganger?

Orange rings and orange dice and Kobra nowhere to be seen? What a travesty of justice!

The second chair for the final was pretty much a straightforward contest between Alec's Superman Blue and the monstrously cheese flavoured Veteran Icon of James Pattison. Due to the obscene points collected in round 1 from KO'ing Luthor, Patto was well ahead of his rivals on points, but as he had suffered defeat at the hands of the Bat Crew, a win for Alec would guarantee a first final place with a 3 - 0 record, rendering points totals irrelevant. Either way their would be a first time finalist facing accross from Ste for the Tony Stark LE. It was a closer (and slower) battle than I would have expected that just saw James come through. Had the game ended a round earlier Alec would have scraped the win by three points having taken out Vet Katana and lost only Exp Cheetah, alas the extra turn saw the demise of Blackfire and Alec's hopes for a first final. Good effort though, and with the least powerful 'diet-cheese Superman' too.

In the battles for the minor placings Craig Woolnough was poisoned by Martin's Batman Bad Guys, not literally obviously ... just in the game. Who said "shame" there? Craig's tournament ended with just a single win, showing once again what a naff result you can achieve when you throw together a team at the last minute. Hang on, does that mean Martin finished 2 - 1 with over 100 points, that can't be right surely. Nice effort Martin ... have an LE!

Dave Smith's night was made complete by a getting to play 'Meestair Hunt' in his third and final game. I didn't get to see any of this game, but judging by the final score it must have been a thrill-a-minute affair as Dave KO'ed 88 points but was left with only a measily 65 as Luthor and his mini me went on a rooftop rampage once more. Dave ended on 1 - 2 with 507 points and got his first taste of the juicy Thursday night atmos. Unfortunately Dave probably picked the worst Thursday event in history to turn up as we saw the Superman clones make their appearances. Hmmm, I feel some tournament rules tweaks coming on.

The other third round pairing saw Paul Brown's "Pick-Mix Team" secure its first and only win of the evening by stomping on Liam's "Hide & Seek". I guess Liam's team will be IT next week after tonights showing? In fairness Liam did at least make good use of the rounds random BFC, Proximity Mines, as on more than one occasion he stood next to one to watch the pretty colours as it exploded! Even NGN Superman on the top table couldn't resist the lure of the Proximity Mines and had to set one off. Nice! James Cook took the bye ensuring that noone ended the tournament with zero wins, a most unusual occurence in these parts. Spooky thing, look at Paul "Number of the Beast" Brown's final points total! Also notoice how last weeks winner places dead last this week, the cycle is complete.

Toe to toe, laser vision to laser vision, heavy object to heavy object. We'll meet again!

Martin wins again ... its definately an evil doppelganger (thats good at Heroclix)

Despite his earlier win over this team, Ste D still considered his opponent to be favourite, or so I guess as 'a monkey could win with that figure'. Much would depend on the outcome of the roll to go first and this went with James reducing the odds still further. Learning from his earlier mistake (?) this time he didn't leave Superman exposed to Batman's Outwit and he managed to get in the first strike. At this point it is probably worth mentioning that the BFC selected for the final by Judge Duck was ... Madness. This is worth mentioning as Superman's initial roll to hit was a double one. The faces on the players were a picture as with in a second or two horror turned to joy and joy turned to horror as both players realised this was a critical hit. Who says madness isnt the best BFC in the game eh?

As you can imagine, a critical hit from Veteran Superman didn't make Ste D's life any easier, although the Psychic Blast he gained did cause James a moment or two of annoyance. The final was soon over and once again it was a new name to add to the tournament winners board ... James Pattison. After a plethora of critical misses (unfortunatly with out the Madness BFC) Dave Smith got a couple of nominations for Fellowship and was duly awarded the second copy of Tony Stark. As a special bonus Martin was also given an LE for his great results and his perceverence with the Batman enemies. No cheesy VIS (Veteran Icons Superman) for Martin so well done sir. I raise my hat to you, well I would if I had one.

I just about manage to get a photo of the game before it starts ... and then ends. Quick final!

gap

Ste Hunt and Dave Smith prove that its not just Paul Brown that likes to take to the rooftops

Thank you, thanks you and thank you for the support you have given to Heroclix over the last couple of months. We now have one of the most vibrant and well attended clubs in the UK and can look forward to a good scope of events to come over the summer months, including a Spectre scenario once someone manages to snag one. Look forward to something different and a little bit special at the next Mega Day event now as the "Man of Steel" game is cancelled as I am sick of the sight of him now and Judge Ste Date is planning something a mite tasty. See you next week! If you bring a Superman, I shall burn it, so be warned.

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Winner, James Patison (left) and Fellowship chap Dave Smith