Today's Mega Day event was created to throw in a much larger random factor than normal and thus create an opportunity for any player to beat their opponent and also to allow the tide of battle to swing during each match. I did this by creating 'Items of Power' tokens which I distributed throughout each map in locations that gave both players opportunities to pick them up. Most items granted extra Super Powers to the hero who collected them or some other bonus, some provided a one shot effect and others had a continuous effect and could be retained for future matches after the completion of the one in which it was picked up. The items varied in power level and they were shuffled and distributed randomly so they could assist, or hinder any player on any map. Why was the event titled "From My Cold Dead Hands" I hear you ask? Well that's easy, once you picked up an item you could not pass it on or drop it, but if you were KO'ed it was dropped in the square you were in and thus it could be taken 'from your cold dead hands'.

Also experimental today was a system of 'seeding' players into pools for the first two Swiss Rounds. The purpose of this is two fold, firstly the newer players actually get a chance to win a game or two as they are guaranteed to avoid the top seeds for the first two rounds and secondly the winner of each seeding pool was awarded an LE thanks to the extras that Anup generously sent us this month. With Ste, Parry and Craig playing Mech Warrior in and around doing demo games there were only three players in the seeded pool, so one played an unseeded player in each round.

Stephen Hunt got underway drawn against the newly proclaimed Lord of Cheese and his Kingdom Come Green Lantern and Protected Combo (with Destiny for added cheesey annoyance factor). Ste's "Sheriff Fatman and the Famous Four" saw the debut outing of Mr. Flabtastic (an excellent Steve Lidgett mod of Mr. Fantastic) won by Ste as part of his Nationals triumph rewards. The fat one was supported by Johnny Storm, Medusa, Crystal and Spidey (all with the Alt F4 Feat). Ironically today the player with the F4 had the lower defence and lets face it stood about a snowball in hell's chance of winning this game. The highlight for Ste, other than actually getting to use the flabby one of course, was KO'ing a pog that was added during the game as the effect of the "Adoring Fan" item card. Eight points wasn't a fantastic start to the day though (fantastic ... get it? Am I good or what?).

The lucky player from the seeded pot to miss out on a seeded opponent this round was David Hansell, so given an open draw of the rest he found himself drawn to play Alec Barrett. Alec's "The D.E. (Devouring Earth)" was an very impressive looking HIVE hoard made up of Experienced Queen Bee and a squad of Hive Troopers and was certainly nice to look at if nothing else. David's "Old Team, New Recruit" pretty much said it all as a S.W.A.T. Specialist was added to the team used last week. The Hive just didn't have enough sting to win out in this one and the buzzed off with a loss and 157 points and David swatted Alec's early hopes.

Simon Swinbank's "Shake, Rattle and Reroll" was another team awash with Probability Control and was lead by the Experienced Wonder Man. His first challenge came in the shape of James Phoenix and his "Here Goes Another Defeat But What The Hell!!" JP's team had a pessimistic ring to its name, but half way through the round it could be seen as fairly appropriate. Mostly needing to hit with three or four sucessive rolls is about as much fun as needing to hit a 20 defence twice and happens probably less often. JP's KO'ing of Wolverine was the only bright spot for his X-Men themed team during this game. He obviously had to teach the treatcherous wretch a lesson for deserting the X-Men in their time of great need. Simon scored a hefty win and obviously acclimatised well to the bigger play area provided by a full sized map.

Paul Crosby's team saw the return of Magneto after the upstart Black Bolt had been dropped to the bench (being as he's not tournament legal for another two weeks) and as his name proclaimed "This Time He Has Brought His Son" (and two paramedics and Destiny). Paul's team seemed to lack a little offensive depth but certainly had the ability to hit hard and trying his arm against the master of magnetism first was James Pattison and "Holy Avengers" (do they get a +5?). In a result more befitting an unholy lack of vengeance, Veteran Icons Superman (Gah it's the event of cheese today I swear) with In Contact With Oracle (I rest my case M'Lord) was joined by Magdalena also in contact (using a cross network tariff with unlimited off-peak calls obviously) Batman and Ted Knight were hammered. Sympathy here ... NONE! On to other matters, Mwhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa!

Liam's nameless, no my goodness miracle never cease, Liam's "The Super Friends" (hardly original, innovative or thought provoking but hell it beats an empty space) took on the venues newest and youngest player Chris Larkman and "The Blue Blood" (he is NEW, he is YOUNG and he still comes up with a much better name than you Liam ... hang your head in shame!). Liam allowed his ruthless streak to surface again today, given the rare opportunity and he destroyed poor Chris's team without mercy in double quick time. Zero points to Chris meant Liam had a great start, but if he says anything just reming him that he is the ONLY player ever to score zero points after three full rounds Chris, that should shut him up swiftly! Highlight of this match? Has to be seeing Krypto with a "Rocket Launcher", but he missed as he just couldn't get his paws on the trigger well enough to aim it accurately!

Dale cheese it up with his KC GL, medic and Destiny ... the most fun team to play against EVER! Meanwhile Mr. Hunt appears to have no neck and has become the antithesis of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial!

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James having a staring competition with Ralph Dibney by the looks of things ... don't mess with the Elongated Man, he'll tie you up in knots

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Liam the Merciless (doesn't have the same ring so maybe we should just start calling him Ming) disposes of Chris in Round One with ease. He seems to really like writing zero on his scorecard one way or another!ak

Having lost his first match, seeded Ste Hunt was paired up with James Pattison and the menace of Veteran Superman for his second game, just what you need after a heavy defeat ... although he is the arch rival of the Big Blue Boy Scout in more ways than one these days. Alas without his well thought out and tested anti-Superman outfit of National success he didn't have quite the same options and the outcome was also somewhat different. As Ted Knight and Batman were targets and indeed victims of the Flabtastic Four Ste did manage a better points score than in his earlier round but the result was the same and surprisingly he went 0 - 2 as Big Blue snatched a win from Lex Luther Junior.

Liam and Paul's big wins in the first round saw them come head to head for their second games with Liam's Debris being cancelled out by an Ordinary Day. Magneto & Son Inc. made very short work of Liam's themed duo as he wasn't happy enough bludgeoning Superman and decided to also kick the dog. The two paramedics didn't make it to the end of the game, but their combined KO total of 22 points wasn't really a big help on the day of cheesy challengers. Rookie Superman and Krypto were used though so Liam had a themed team and might stand a chance of fellowship ... if only he had called his team "One Man and His Dog" or "One Kryptonian and His Dog" or something equally amusing he may have been a banker.

Alec's Hive theme had been wiped out by David Hansell and were looking to strike back as they took on Simon's "Shake, Rattle & Reroll" for Round Two. Queen Bee and her loyal troopers must have been taking honey between rounds as they came out with a real sting in the tail for this match. Only Wonder Man manged to avoid being taken down by the swarm of Hive Troopers and with Simon managing only 114 points of KO's Alec took the win. Hoorah for the Hive and long live The Queen!

The fifth and final second round battle took place between James Phoenix and his themetastic X-Men (its nice to see some people stick with a theme they like rather than just looking for killer pieces) against Chris Larkman's all Experienced squad "The Blue Blood". A slog of a battle ensued and plenty of low dice rolls were seen as this match finished in a points decision as time was called. Super Woman's survival meant the difference between winning and losing as Chris snuck the victory in this close one, despite the benefit of the X-Men being Assembled for this bout. They must have assembled enough.

Chris Larkman collects his first ever AP win as he takes down JP's X-Men

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The HIVE swarm in against Simon's "Shake, Rattle and Reroll" and score a win

With no other players having two wins due to the seeding element, the second table saw Dale's cheesy KC GL outfit take on Simon Swinbank's "Shake, Rattle & Reroll" for what was most likely to decide the second final spot. Simon's rerollability helped him overcome the Green Lantern's obscene defence and after seeing off some of his support GL was doomed. Finishing with a 1 - 2 record, hopefully GL will disappear back into his hole and think of some tactics before he resurfaces to annoy everyone again. Simon's win was fairly convincing as he only dropped Wonder Man during the battle so he was looking very likely to take the second final spot and after his defeat of the Lantern, who could deny it would be well deserved?

The next best records were held by Liam and Alec so they faced each other on table three with a slim outside chance of reaching the final with a big win (and probably a disqualification or two needed to players above them to be honest). The Hive once again resplendant in Black and Yellow (though not quite as snazzy as the orange and green sporting clan Kobra) moved to attack in swarm formation and with one win already under their belts had a real buzz of anticipation for another positive result. The man/dog partnership of Liam may have had all the power of Krypton on their side, but they were vastly outnumbered and with the lack of available actions proving a double hinderance against the swarming Hive masses numerical advantage soon began to tell. Before time was called on the round Superman and his faithful hound were both beaten into submission and the Hive had claimed their second victory. They didn't get a points haul big enough to reach the final ... but surely finishing above the Green Cheese was enough of a reward and proved a moral victory for the forces of theme against it's arch enemy the lord of cheese.

Laungishing lower down the order than is usually the case, Hunt's use of the Flabtastic one obviously hadn't done a lot for his chances of winning. His last opponent today was JP and his equally unsuccessful "Here Goes Another Defeat But What The Hell!!". JP had given his poor mutant travesty of a team a very appropriate name and here was a game that really could be played just for fun (yeah like Mr. Hunt knows how to do that ... just kidding). JP managed to take down Crystal this game, but his third successive defeat was sealed as the Huntmeister pressed hard with his wall of pure fat and fanciful friends. Mr. Flabtastic managed to claim his first ever win, but will this be his last outing or will we see him again? If he is to make another appearance the Flab has put in a special request to join with him!

The only remaining game of the Swiss Rounds was fought between Chris Larkman, with his first win now achieved looking to grab another and James Pattison trying to finish the event with a 2 - 1 record. Chris's good luck and fine form didn't continue into this round though and the phrase 'death by cheesy Icons Veteran Superman with In Contact With Oracle' springs to mind. It's not a nice team to face and there is less shame in losing to it than there is in playing it so never mind and better luck next time. Patto's big win pulled him right up the rankings but he was still some way short of the required points, mainly because of his first round drubbing at the hands of Magneto. Good old Magneto eh? Mind you, it was "Cheese Factor 10 Mr. Sulu" today, so I am thinking more stringest team construction restrictions will be applied regularly from now onwards.

Liam studies his special object hoping to understand it's arcane mysteries

The Huntmeister prepares Mr. Flabtastic by rubbing baby oil on his rotund body ... hang on this isn't that photo at all ... maybe I just imagined it?

Magneto tastes defeat and thus fails to make the final with his sone and heir!

Speaking of JP, he was the well deserving winner of the Fellowship Award today, not for the first time and I am sure it wont be the last either. Well done to everyone whether you picked up a prize or not, there will be plenty more on offer in the coming weeks and I am working on more hair-brained schemes to ensure they get distributed around rather than going to the same two or three players.

David Hansell managed to pick up another Champions trophey to add to his collection and proved he can certainly hold his own with the local Heroclix talent. Some future events will have two entirely separate pools of players to keep the better players away from the newer ones and the novices, keep your eyes on this or the Wizkids website for details!

Simon sporting an England shirt achieved a place in the final ... more than the useless football twerps could achieve thanks to their inability to break down the opposition

Get your Lockjaws ready folks and look out for the all new phenomonon of LOCKJAW RACING coming to this Heroclix venue very soon. It will be a cross between greyhound racing and old roman chariot races with a superhero and power up slant. Sound like fun? Well make sure you get your Lockjaws and jockeys in training now. There will also be prize/s for the best modded Lockjaw Racer and Jockey as well as the usual Winner and Fellowship Awards, stay tuned for more details very soon.

Is that Martin with a smile on his face whilt playing Heroclix?

Players were designated to two pools identified by the colours on the table Green (Seeded) and Blue (Unseeded).

The final placings after the Three Swiss Rounds were ...