As is the usual format, players were each given three sealed boosters and had to create a 300 point team for the figures they pulled. Ste Hunt was on his hat trick of Marquee wins (would be three from three here if he pulls it off) but there were many players intent on stopping that from happening. To make it a full day event I added a semi-final round for the top four, this also meant you could get away with losing a game and still qualify for the knock out stage with two good wins. Anyhoo, on to the match reports.

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Craig pulled a tough nut out of the hat when he was paired with Stephen Hunt for his first round match. Craig's imaginatively titled "Hot Wolverine Death!" was lead by ... you guessed it Wolverine. He was also wielding two Swordsman, Jack O'Lantern, Mach-I, Multiple Man and MJ Watson-Parker. In opposition fighting for the forces of "Big Gay Bloke Seeking Tiger" (do you edit the personal ads at the Northern Echo?) were Ka-Zar (and I was thinking it was Kraven, weren't you?) Fixer, Wizard, Bullseye, S.H.I.E.L.D. Sniper and Multiple Man and for added effect it was a Back Alley Brawl. Craig started his event in fine form and the Wolverine did indeed turn out to be a one man killing machine and he destroyed the reigning champ totally losing only 69 points as Swordsman and another of his low point contenders fell. It didn't look good for Hunt's hat trick at this point in the day and we hadn't even reached lunchtime yet!

Alec Barrett's team had a sharp title ... "Sword". The obvious candidate you may think was included wasn't even in there as the team was comprised of Wizard, Techno, Nighthawk and Spider-Man (Vendetta). Looking to blunt the "Sword" were Dale de Andrade's nameless cohort consisting of Spider-Man (Knockdown), Arkon, S.H.I.E.L.D. Sniper, Beetle, HYDRA Technician and Bullseye (Heightened Reflexes). Dale ran out a fairly comfortable winner in this one as Alec only managed to KO 41 points of characters. On the plus side he did take it to the time limit and beyond as Spider-Man hung on for dear life and managed to survive until time was called.

Paul Wastell had made a welcome return to Heroclix for today's event having not been seen for quite some time. His "Who Knows?" team saw Baron Strucker team up with Mach-1, Meggan, Fixer, Wingless Wizard and Lockheed in one almighty unholy alliance. Tackling the prodigal son of Heroclix first today was James Pattison who was feeling ruthless and looking for points. Patto's "The X Spider" saw Spider-Man working with Valkyrie, Forge, Meggan (Pummel) and Lockheed very effectively. Patto scored a big win with the character his team was named after was the only victim of Paul's dice and attacks.

Martin's "One Of Each In A Box" had Charcoal and Pummel (literally) attached to him (with blue tac) alongside Bullseye, Techno and Wingless Wizard, he forst opponent was Paul Crosby. Paul was once again teamed up with Black Bolt and along with Shadowcat, S.H.I.E.L.D. Sniper and Captain Marvel they made "Lets see If He Can Do Better This Time". The short answer to that was NO! Another zero points for Paul Crosby and he must be getting sick of seeing the Black Bolt explosion by now.

Last but not least Paul Spencelayh had Nick Fury, Valkyrie, Mach-3, Daredevil Swordsman and a HYDRA Footsoldier as "The Big Three". His opponent, James Phoenix was too busy utilising his blended Meggan, Mockingbird, Wizard, Swordsman and Ka-zar (Heightened Reflexes) combo into "Another £15 Wasted. Ok Possible Not If I Pull Black Bolt". Alas he didn't pull him (until the Battle Royale later) but still managed to collect a win thanks in no small part to a rather unfortunate error from Paul. I won't tell you exactly what the mistake was as it would be quite embarassing for Paul, all I will say is look at his team name. Thanks to the sporting nature of the players it was sorted out though and we were back on track.

The crowd at Middlesbrough's Sinister© Marquee tuck in and start to open their boosters and build their teams. It's warm already, but it's just gonna get hotter!

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What did you get then? Not Telling! Look What I got!!!

Paul Crosby and Simon Swinbank both managed to get the same Unique they pulled in the Pre-Release (Black Bolt and Scarlet Spider respectively) ... what are the chances of that. Paul obviously wasn't too disappointed, but Simon would have preferred to have got something different, he'll have no bother trading it on the plus side though

Note also that here lies a picture of Paul Wastell ... rarer and seen less frequently these days than the mythical Bigfoot. Heroclix brings them out in force!

Patto's "The X Spider" faced Craig's "Hot Wolverine Death!" on table two, with Craig fresh from a rare win against Meestair Hunt. Patto's very nasty Veteran Valkyrie showed its awesome nature ... made worse with a nice Wildcard Team Ability thrown in and this wasn't much of a contest. After his very promising start, Craig was already tailing off as he scored nil points and took a reet good pummeling from Meggan and her friends. Patto was flying and pretty much assured of a last four spot already.

The other winners from round one were JP and his "Another £15 Wasted. Ok Possible Not If I Pull Black Bolt" taking on Dale's team without a name. Phoenix was on fire again (oh dear that was a bad one wasn't it) and he pulled of a second successive victory, thought it was another tight win and his two combined scores only totalled 702. Still two wins is much better than two losses. Dale was hoping for an extremely good win in round three to stand any hope of progression to the knock out matches of the semi-finals.

Paul Spencelayh's "The Big Three", now having a wholely inappropriate name took on Alec for their second bit at the cherry. Having resolved their earlier issue they came out guns blazing and inflicted heavy casualties on Alec's "Sword" whilst minismising risk to their own. Paul ran out with a convincing win, though he didn't quite manage to KO all the opposition, but he did manage to avoid taking any himself for added pointy goodness. Alec was already looking down and out with only 195 points to add to his 0 - 2 scorecard.

Stephen Hunt' early loss is now something I take in my stride as 9 times out of ten he loses game one but then storms back to reach the final. His "Big Gay Bloke Seeking Tiger" faced Paul Wastell as reward for their first round loss and Paul doesn't have a great record against the Huntmeister. Running according to the form book "Who Knows?" struggled against the sound military tactics and spawny dice of Monsieur Hunt and as predicted Ste came back into the running with his crushing victory. Poor Paul only managed to scrape up 17 points from his destruction of a Rookie Multiple Man (if only he had KO'ed about 15 of them).

Something was going to give on the last table as neither Paul nor Simon had scored a point in their earlier games.My money was on Black Bolt to finally kick into action and he and the rest of "Lets see If He Can Do Better This Time" didn't disappoint (ok they may well have disappointed Simon on second thoughts). Simon managed a score consistent with his earlier form by picking up another zero, whilst Black Bolt finally burst into life and scored a big fat 600 points. How's that for a turnaround? Can he do it again next round?

The action is intense as the players vie for success and the chance to make the knock out stages. Who will be proclaimed Champion and earn the right to wield the Limited Edition Daredevil ... "The Kingpin of Hell's Kitchen?

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A rare loss for the Huntmeister against Craig. Ahhh but its an all too familiar pattern of losing early and then coming back to reach the final or even win. No Ste, I am not suggesting you do it on purpose to secure easier games in rounds two and three. That would be far too devious for your mind, now if it were Craig .... !

Jim and Martin were next in line as JP had also accrued two wins and Martin had clocked up good points. A win for JP would have guaranteed a semi-final spot but Martin's pummeling Charcoal and the excellent ranged combat of Bullseye proved to much for him and his flames were finally extinguished (oh no, there I go again). Martin's 2 - 1 record with 1162 points was the target for the other tables to try to beat for qualification.

The likelihood was that another final spot would go to either Dale or Paul Spencelayh as these two were opposing each other with the two next best records. Unfortunately though the closeness of this game tempered the chances of either player staying with the pace as Dale took the win and ended on 1091 points. Paul was out of it now, but there was still opportunity to sneak in from the lower table if someone could pull of a stonking big win.

"Sneak in from a lower table with a big win did I hear you say?" was the cry of Ste Hunt, not for the first time and poor Paul Crosby and the rejuvenated Black Bolt were on the end of a fine thrashing. A big win it was and Black Bolt was back to his old losing ways, though this time he at least got a win and some points. The Huntmeister was looking to record his hat-trick Marquee win, but was looking less than invincible today.

Making up the numbers at the end as it happened Craig's annhiliation of Alec, causing athird straigh defeat wasn't quite enough to see him qualify as one of the top four. So the hard effort was in vain, but did give him a good finishing placing. Well top half at least.

Paul Wastell's impromptu disappearing act had been the final straw for a disappointed Simon and he took the bye that was offered due to the player not being at the game as it started. This was diappointing to see, but was his right but did mean an early bath for Paul. Mind you, with the heat today he probably got a good deal by leaving early to soak up some rays.

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The games continue ... I take the smiles on most people's faces to mean that they are enjoying themselves. Despite the heat, people are still having fun.

We have developed a very strong Heroclix community in Middlesbrough very quickly, but we are always happy to encourage new or novice players (old or young) to come and join in so don't be afraid to ask for a demonstration game or join in. New Guy Nights are a great way to get started and there is another every time a new set is released

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Ste Hunt played against Patto and didn't do too well in his semi-final. His scorecard from this match reads 'kicked my ass with nothing but a pog', I think thats kind of says a lot. So the hat trick dream was over and Middlesbrough was guaranteed a new Marquee winner at last.

The second semi-final saw David Hansell beat Martin Teece by a pretty comfortable margin with his "Coallition of Heroes and Villains". Martin only managed to KO the Rookie Falcon and saw his whole team wiped out before the 50 minutes were up. Still a top 4 finish in a Marquee isn't to be sniffed at.

The final was therefore played out between David Hansell and Patto with Patto taking the win to secure a fantastic Marquee victory and win the coveted Kingpin of Hell's Kitchen LE. A fantastic performance from Patto and one that showed just how deadly the Veteran Valkyrie can be with some Wildcard support ... ouch!

Whilst the semis and final were taking place the other players took part in a Battle Royal and I even joined in too to make it a nice round eight players (Paul Wastell had left earlier). JP pulled a Black Bolt and was a happy man before he even rolled a die, though he did nearly swap boosters with Paul Crosby (which would have given him a third Black Bolt!). All in all a great day of gaming with lots of prizes tossed around thanks to Wizkids great Approved Play support. So as ever its a big thanks to Wizkids for the great Prize Support and particularly to the wonderful and most generous Anup for the extra prize support he supplied lately due to the large regular attendances we are getting. Big thanks and kudos also to Sam at Newport for hosting the Marquee once again.

The casual nature of the venue shows as some of the games end early and the other players mill about looking at other games and chatting about things clixy

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Random extra picture of people playing heroclix to fill space! : )