Tonight saw the second event of the Boroclix Heroclix 2006 Season. This time round the team building rules were a little relaxed as the only stipulation on your 300 point team was that it must all come from a single universe. Despite Ste Hunt, currently in second place, not being able to come to challenge for top spot we still had a large field as fourteen players took up the challenge and Judge Crimson Duck went back into the hot seat to allow Ste Date to get some points on the board. A further surprise was awaiting the players as they were to once again battle on the new Collateral Damage Map, but at the completion of the tournament each player would get one to take home and keep too.

Another brand new tournament player this week, welcome Peter Davies to the joy of Approved Play. As we had so many players, a record equaling show in fact, we needed a bit of impromptu furniture rearranging before we began, to make sure we had space for everyone. It is really nice to see so many people taking part in the Heroclix games and having fun whilst they do it. Mind you, two Fantastic Four teams with two Human Torches each as well as two Batman teams each with a double helping of Batman seems to tell me that the gloves are off and people are wanting those league points. Will Martin be able to hold on to his top spot?

Read on to find out ...

A big attendance for tonight's Boroclix League Tournament as 14 players went head to head to see who could come out on top. The big numbers really made it a great event

Craig Woolnough, like a waking tortoise had returned from his World of Warcraft and Salute Savings hibernation to challenge for some extra league points. His balanced "Boom Headshot!!!" team boasted Veteran Clayface, Speedy and Dr. Mid-Night with Experienced Cheetah and Blackfire adding close and ranged combat support to the mix. Craig was drawn against James Phoenix's "Xish" X-Men type array made up of Karma, Wolverine, Rogue, Jean Grey and Psylocke for his first game (no dupes here JP, good to see a nice zero dupe theme team). Craig showed he had woken up this week, perhaps he hadn't actually been to sleep again, as he set about making JP's team look more of the familiar Ex-Men that we have come to know and love at this venue.

David 'Golden Clix' Hansell, the new guy who just can't stop winning, again went with the established strength of Rookie War Machine to lead his "Fire, Metal, Magic" team tonight and Rhodesy was ably supported by Aurora, Sunfire, Shocker (gotta love 'im) and the ever popular Scarlet Hag (with nanobots ... a first for the red rose of fortune as I can remember). David was paired against Paul Crosby for round one and so faced the awesome might of "The Flaming Four", one of the afore mentioned double Human Torch F4 abominations modelling the obligatory alternate Fantastic Four Feat. David showed his stonking Heroclix ability yet again as he took the win from Paul on points without having any of his clix hit KO on their dials.

James Pattison was using a two Batman combo one Rookie and one Experienced with added Azrael and Katana, both Veterans who came together as the myseriously named "Heralds of Christine" (who's Christine?). Facing across from the Dark Knights and Co. was Dale de Andrade and his "Loo! I Told U" boasting Starfire, Speedy, Barbara Ann Minerva, Hive Trooper, Talia and Owlman. Dale, the newer player of the two stormed to a convincing win as he KO'ed all of James' force and only lost Barbara Ann to a KO for a good solid early score.

Current league leader, Martin Teece had selected Songbird, Black Kinght, Destiny, Atlas and Sabretooth under the name "Big Black and a Tooth To Spare" to try and maintain his lead at the top. He started the event in storming style with a big win against the potential banana skin of a first round game against Ste Date's "If I Could Get Up I'd Kick Your Arse!". Ste's team was lead from the back by Prof X and his pogtastic sacrificial lambs. Martin scored a whitewash on the poor disabled Professor and was in bouyant mood at the end of the round as he had already added 597 points to his league tally and was looking strong.

Parry was the only Cooke taking part tonight, so his brother was a bit gutted when he discovered there was a CD Map going to all participants. Parry's team was another multiple Batman monstrocity with the Caped Crusaders this time flanked by Robin and Katana. Facing this obscenity was James Cook and his "Alpha Flight" lead by Captain USA himself with some other Avengers friends. Parry won this one very comfortably as James only managed to take out Robin and saw his whole team disappear before his eyes. I'll have to do something about these Batman teams next time I play, they are becoming too prolific for my liking.

The seventh game of this round was taking place between Simon Swinbank's "Ich Die Power Haben!" utilizing only three figures in Deathstroke and Blue Devil, both Experienced and the Unique Orion and Paul Brown's appropriately titled "Cheese Team" sporting The Fantastic Five of the usual four plus an extra LE Human Torch and of course our beloved alternate Fantastic Four TA Feat. Simon took down the pesky five bar the Invisible Girl for a well deserved victory and a steady 457 points on his league scorecard.

Early in the game Martin certainly doesn't look confident of the whitewash he is about to inflict on Ste Date. He cheers up later, just for a while though before gloom sets in

Parry and his multiple Batmen home in on James Cook. Poor James went on to face another two Batman teams this event and wasnt' the happiest of bunnies tonight

New guy Peter Davies sees Alec's relaxed style of play in round one!

Just one of the many teams using dupes of well known characters (boo hisssss)

The second table witnessed Dale taking on Craig with both players having fairly siomilar looking teams. Craig's greater experience was the telling factor as he used his Speedy to lure Dale's team into combat and then retailiated with a charging Cheetah and the ranged antics of Blackfire. The game was close until an all or nothing, who dares wins running shot from Blackfire took out her arch enemy Starfire (double points in the bag) and left Craig in a very strong position. Only Cheetah was lost to Craig's team and whilst he didn't manage a total wipe out of Dale's squad the double points for the Arch Enemy KO would come in handy tonight and for the league table and helped him to a comfortable second win.

On table three Simon Swinbank's power trio took on Alec's Quicksilver quartet. No BFC's were used, which was lucky for Alec as I am surprised he didn't see an Intertial Interference Field played against him in all three rounds to counter the hypersonic threat. Belying his lesser tournament experience, though in fairness not lesser by a much, Simon used his small squad to good effect and outfoxed his faster opponent to also move to two wins and be in with a chance of a first final appearance if the third round went in his favour. Alec had to settle for adding 171 points to tonight's total and hope for better luck in the next round as his final chances were now blown away. The only problem with having a big tournout is you know instantly you need three wins to reach the final, but at least with league points still on the line the players had an excuse to stay focussed.

Table four's warzone was populated by David Hansell's "Fire, Metal, Magic" looking to score big points to get him into the upper echelons of the league and Paul Brown, who had already discovered that whilst the Fantastic Four may have great defence, alone they can leave something to be desired on offence. David's first taste of the alternative Fantastic Four Team Ability wasn't too pretty as he realised how huge a task hitting anything would be. However thanks to the Probability Control of Scarlet Witch causing a couple of critical hits and even causing his opponent to critically miss, David came through this game which was probably the closest game of the night as it was a mere 314 points that took the win.

Lower down the order, the players without a win, who already knew they would not reach the final fought for valuable league points and better league placings. Table five hosted Paul Crosby and his "Flaming Four" battling Peter Davies' Marauders. Paul improved on his first round result and points total by scoring the win, but cosigned Peter to a second defeat. Peter only KO'ed a Human Torch ... to leave the Fantastic Four to collect the win.

Just avoiding playing on the bottom table, even though they couldn't quite muster a combined score of 100 points from round one were James Cook and James Pattison proving there is no escape from a 'Battle of the Steves/Pauls/Davids/James' (delete as appropriate) in most tournaments these days. Top James on this evening was Patto as he recovered well from his first round loss by gaining a whitewash on James Cook. Interestingly we would now see Martin vs Patto in round three after both players had seen an opposite reversal in fortunes between rounds one and two.

Not seen on the bottom table too often (did the Mole Man even play this low?) Ste Date seemed out of place as he took on James Phoenix for the round two scraps and leftovers. The Professor seemed to have too much in his strategy for JP though and aided by the Ordinary Day that it was the mutants won whilst the mutants lost. Err, I mean the X-Men won leaving the X-Men to face defeat. Lets just leave it at Ste won and JP didn't eh?

Dale merrily clicks through his dial as he shows a lot of enjoyment of his clix games. Here he ls seen beating Patto to keep smiling on into round two

Simon Swinbank's enjoying getting into the swing of this Heroclix event as he wins his first two games and looks a happy chappy tonight

I thought I'd take a few Crosby stills n Nash tonight. Sorry that was awful and 99.99% of you won't even get the joke. Oh well it amused me briefly

Ste Dates X-Men (and friends/enemies) looking to improve on their first round result

The second final place would be decided on table two where relative newcomers Simon and David Hansell faced each other's might and grappled for the bragging rights. Simon's power trio had worked well up until now thanks to the might of Orion, the guile of Deathstroke and the horns (? struggling a bit here) of Blue Devil, but David's War Machine wasn't to be denied a place in tonight's final as he came off the blocks fighting. Simon was a little disappointed at the lack of fight put up by his clix and his dice when the reward of the final dangled so close to him, but it simply wasn't to be as David easily took the glory and the final seat with a whitewash to finish on a very grand total of 1317 points.

Martin Teece, aware he had missed out on the final, still had a good chance to retain his top spot in the league table if he could put in a strong performance against James Pattison's Bat squad in his last game. Martin's meteroic fall from glory continued though as, after a first round whitewash against his opponent, he now suffered a second consecutive reverse whitewash meaning he got got zero points in the last two rounds. Not an impressive showing there from the ex league leader. Patto though bolstered his score nicely with this big win and it moved him well up the rankings as he leapfrogged Simon to an ultimate third place finish. I believe this is his best showing to date and he did it at the right time as he takes a healthy score in his first league event.

Moving in the opposite direction were Alec's Quicksilver four as, after a good first round win, they also found the going got a little too tough and Dale's mixed selection got the better of him. Moving to 2 - 1, with his only loss coming against one of the finalists, Dale can certainly be proud of this performance as it was strong and impressive and he also leapfrogged Simon, due to Simon's round three disaster, to finish a very credible fourth with well over 1000 points. Some good points there and I am sure the league table will prove an interesting read when its updated with these results.

As we move further down the room we spot Ste Date taking on Paul Crosby's "Flaming Four". The four had gone of the boil a little and cooled down for this game and they just didn't have the numbers or quality to trouble Ste's mustered mutant mix. Paul only managed to show Wolverine the error of his ways with a KO blow whilst they lost a Human Torch and Mr. Fantastic to lose out on points and finish with a 1 - 2 record, and thus below Ste. However with marginally more league points than Ste bagged up to take back to their Baxter Building they shouldn't be too downhearted about it.

Languishing very low down the order were Paul Brown, proving the Fantastic Four can be anything but that if they don't have some support along for the ride, and James Phoenix with his ex men layabouts. With neither player having a win so far something had to give this round, but who would take the initiative? The high defence of the the Fantastic Four proved a big barrier to JP and he struggled to get in any hits. This proved his undoing as he didn't manage any KO's all game and Paul Brown collected a win to guarantee a mid-table finish thanks to the 486 points gained this match. A pretty good points tally of 881 for just the one win should see a decent league placing after Event Two too (isn't that a skirt).

On the last table a dispondant James Cook could not believe his terrible luck as, after two defeats to Batman teams, he came up against yet another Batman incarnation in round three which he needed to win to avoid the wooden spoon placing. My advice to you James, having looked around tonight would be to find yourself a Thunderbolts Feat Card, a Bright Lights Battle Field Condition and a Disbanded too. Batman Team Ability seems to be the prolific choice of players and I don't see them all disappearing any time soon as they can be very effective. Like all teams they have their weaknesses and the Feat and BFC's above can help you to plot their downfall much easier. As for the game, James' head had dropped early so it was no surprise to see his pal Peter take the win that was his first in Approved Play. A decent effort Peter and a well built team for a first go, keep it up and you'll be challenging the big boys soon enough.

The top two tables are distanced from the crowed and you can feel the tension in the air, or is it just my elbow playing up again?

Simon tries to point the way forward but David keeps his cool and ponders the best way to retaliate, ultimately claiming victory to make the final for a second time

James and friend Peter play out round three to avoid the wooden spoon placing, but here James already looks resigned to his fate. Chin up James!

Parry stumbles, flops and falls under the pressure to reach another final . Oh to be young again eh, you did better than your brother gain though ... wait he didn't play!

The final went pretty badly for David and he never really got going as Blackfire used her strong range attacks to pick holes in David's formation and meanwhile any damage done to Craig's characters by War Machine were able to be healed by Dr. Mid-Night. Craig soon moved into a commanding position that even he couldn't throw away, come to think about it I don't even remember a ridiculous tactic from Craig tonight, that must be a first.

So Craig indeed went on to win the final with a relatively comfortable game by his standards as he only lost Speedy and Cheetah to KO's. By my reckoning that makes the final score Speedy KOs' three and Cheetah KO's two with these two figures the only ones to be removed from the game for Craig all tournament. David was unlucky to be a runner-up once again, but has showed such potential in his first three events I feel its only a matter of time and perhaps a traded figure or two before he joins the roll call of Heroclix Champions at Middlesbrough Gamers Club.

A tough call for Fellowship went to Simon Swinbank and pleased as he was he allowed the Blockbuster LE, Roland Desmond to find its way to Martin 'I actually played that big pile of rubbish how many times' Teece favouring a Barbara Ann Minerva LE for his own collection. Thanks Simon and that just shows that the award was deserved.

Thanks to everyone for the great attendance tonight, especially those who didn't do so good but kept their chins up and played on until the end. It can be tough to play on when you are having a 'mare as I know only to well. But it's a good show of character when you can take a bad defeat with the same smile and shake of your opponents hand at the end of the round as you do when you have thrashed them. More Boroclix League action next month, but before that I am off to Salute and then we have next weeks game to think about. See you soon and I hope you are all pleased with your free Limited Edition CD Maps.

Craig clinched victory to deny plucky David a first tournament victory, shame

Action from the final as Clayface pounds Aurora with his girder and Blackfire shows Sunfire who is the monarch of the flames in Middlesbrough tonight

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