Twelve players in all took up the challenge posed by this auction event (one of whom was bidding by proxy as he didn't turn up until later in the day). So at around 10.45 twelve assorted boosters were opened, some LEs from the Prize Pot added (thanks yet again to Jules generosity earlier in the year) and some of my personal collection of spare REV and Unique figures made the assortment of auction lots complete. Most figures were started at their shown points costs (to the nearest 5) but some I rated as 'less effective' started lower and several finished lower due to a dearth of bidding.

There were some nice tasty rare figures in the early lots that included a Veteran OMAC, Veteran Green Lantern, Veteran Geoforce and some great LEs and Uniques. Not surprisingly the most expensive purchase of the day was Veteran Green Lantern who went for $330 CC, he would have been a little over $200 CC if the twins Parry and Liam hadn't kept outbidding each other though, brotherly love eh? Hector Hall went for $275 CC which was pretty surprising as the second biggest sale of the day and Veteran Geoforce weighed in at $200 CC to take the third spot. There were a few unexpected highs and lows during the bidding middle stages as the tactical heads came into play and it was a big shock to see the Experienced OMAC only go for a 'cheap as chips' $160 CC. Everyone seemed to get at least a figure or two that made them happy, which was one of the main drives behind using this format rather than a pure sealed booster event (that and the fun of the auction of course) and the excitment rose to fever pitch as the list of available lots dwindled. A couple of the buyers had perhaps been a little over shrewd with their bidding as the sale item pile became smaller and the last six or so lots started to fetch 'silly money'. First we saw a Rookie Brit Cit Judge go to Mr. Hunt for $150 which was a full $120 CC more than he had paid for the Veteran that bid on and won as he wanted it for his 'collection set'. We then saw Sue Dibney go for $25 CC twice as the plastic was gone and only cardboard remained to be sold. James Phoenix picked up a Flashbang ($20 CC) and Kinetic Absorber ($30 CC) before we saw Craig Woolnough blow his last $140 CC on the Debris BFC. He was pleased with his purchase (see picture for evidence)! The whole auction had gone a treat with the colourful Clix Cash notes adding to the feel of the auction (and for those intellectually minded amongst you they specifically made to maintain the attention of the more kinesthetic players involved in the game) and the trial format appearing to be a big success before a die was even rolled. This is one event where I really envied the players, but thus is the role of the Heroclix Judge!

The auction took around 45 minutes to an hour, but I lost track of time a little as we were having so much fun with the whole 'what do I hear' and 'going, going, gone' shananigans and then the players were given 20 minutes to build teams from the stuff they had won. For some this was easy as they just used everything (and some were still a little way of 400 points), whilst others had to make some hard decisions and alas poor Unique Hypertime Parasite was benched. I think that was probably the right choice to be fair. The teams were gathered in and the twelve sheets shuffled for a random first round draw ... time to play some Heroclix!

Bidding is well under way and the gathered crowd plot their tactics for building the ultimate auction team as Ste H helps with admin and Craig hands out the change. Now what do I hear bid for the wonderful Veteran Geoforce?

Ste Hunt is the first to congratulate Craig on his fantastically bargainous win of the Debris BFC for a meagre $140 Clix Cash, only $20 less than the Exp OMAC, as he hands over the goods and takes the Clix Cash. Fun all round!

Martin Teece's "Blackfire Bodyguard" lead by Princess Komand'r and backed up by Joker, Darkseid and Snapper Carr took on Alec's nameless ones for his first clix fix today. Alex's squad was pretty ominous looking to his opponents today as it consisted of Etrigan and Hector Hall with Mystics Team Ability and two Tricksters (and E and a V) with Wildcard TAs. Johnny Alpha's Telekinesis ability made this a formidable force. Martin wasn't overwhelmed by Alec's force by any means and he got stuck in with his materstroke of Joker Poison, thus not taking any Mystic feedback damage. The tactic foiled Alec's cunning plan and threw him all to pot, the outcome being that Martin won 404 points to 286.

David Hansell, still recovering from his shock 0 - 3 performance on Sunday obviously took the game in very serious fashion with his "I took A Pog Over A Model AHHHHHHHH!" showing Abbey Chase, Captain Cold, Kara Zor-El, Cannonball and Sue Dibney for 389 points total. David's first hurdle today was a rampant Craig Woolynose with his "Whoomp! There It Is". Woolynose lined up with Johnny Alpha, Witchblade, Death Demon, two Magdalenas (R & V), Shaman and Dr. Mid-Night and looked a very well constructed outfit. Indeed Whoomp proved to be very effective in this game as as Craig took the win on points in a hard fought tactical skrmish. He really has improved since that hair cut.

Stephen Hunt's "Indy Chums" contained both the Rookie and the Veteran Judge Fire, yes TWO Judge Fires. What the heck was he thinking? The flaming brothers of evil were ably supporting by a Brit Cit Judge, Lobster Johnson, Ashleigh, Metamorpho, Tomoe and Psylocke, token DC and Marvel characters there to make up the numbers? Trying to spoil the Indy (and friends) party for round one was Dale de Andrade and his "I Don't Know" (oh come on Dale I expect better than this from you). Dale's team looked impressive on paper with a good blend of Red Tornado, Robin, Ice Maiden, Witchblade, Wonder Woman (she's a Wonder, Wonder Woman) and Yellowjacket making up his roster. Dale couldn't weeve his magic against the venue's dark master here though and Huntmeister did what he does best and claimed an early win, though by a fairly tight margin this time round. Subplot Hunt later discovered that he owned Rookie and Veteran Judge Fire already and was in fact missing the Experienced one ... you have to laugh.

Paul Crosby named his team "$395" which was in fact the points total of his team, did he also pay $395 Clix Cash for it? Alas no, by my reconing it was $365, shame though. Anyhoo his time was made up of the beautiful Judge Hershey, Johnny 'I got everywhere today' Alpha, Diablo, Rasputin, Tomoe, Avalanche and Typhoid 'cheap B/C/F 'R' US' Mary. Paul's first round opponent was James Pattison, who was a liitle late returning from the Spring Offensive in Stockton so, as there were no objections, I took his team to start of the round. He, or rather, I was kitted up with Rookie Green Lantern, Arashi, Mirage, Experienced OMAC, Fire and Changeling, a nice little team having dropped Aquaman and Parasite (Martin's build, not mine). As Patto turned up I had already taken out Judge Hershey and done serious damage to Avalanche and Tomoe whilst only Mirage had taken a hit, so it was a relatively straightforward job for Patto to go on and collect the win here.

After their very competitive bidding against each other in the auction, particularly for the Green Lantern, Parry and Liam Cooke were paired against each other and had a chance to show who had made the right call. Parry's play on a (now tiresome) theme was "Hit Me If You Can" with the Key (WHAT????), Veteran OMAC (that's better), Rookie and Veteran Clayface and Black Mask. Liam meanwhile fielded Veterans of Green Lantern, Fire (a very nice piece for her points) and Madame Masque with Jean-Paul Beaubier and Ice as his "Mixed" team (hmmm another thrilling name, you really need to practice these team-naming skills guys). It was Liam that won this family battle once more as Green Lantern cut through his brother's force and almost single-handedly won him the game as he was the only survivor. Guess that justifies his $330 CC price tag already then eh?

Paul Crosby concentrates on how to take out Patto's team, as played by me. Meanwhile Dave Hansell does his pointing finger thing again and Meestair Hunt can be seen carrying a huge cooked breakfast, damn my diet today!

By the looks on the faces of these two, this could quite possible have been the most interesting game of Heroclix ever seen (sarcasm warning)

Keeping a close eye on the clix!

Table two brought about something of a first for Boro as far as I can remember. James Pattison played Craig Woolnough as both players had an identical points total of 454 after Swiss Round One. Craig's combination of the TK'ing Johnny Alpha and a swarm of cheap B/C/F'ers would have you almost believe he knew what he was bidding for at the auction! The mix was pretty effective and with a charge lead by Magdalena (one of Craig's favourites) "Whoomp! Their It Is!" had beaten their nameless opponents by a country mile. Pattto, Patto, Patto, perhaps if you had got stcuk in traffic I could have taken Craig's 'sharps' wielding squad out for you.

The other two round one winners were obviously paired together, so we saw a rematch of a couple of recent finals as Martin's Blackfire LE and supporting cast attempted to displace Ste Hunt from his place as unofficial undisputed champion of Middlesbrough. Ste's mad auction purchases were oddly dominated by INDY figures and here I was thinking he hadn't liked Indy. I must be confusing you with Mr. Date, who I know hates Indy with a passion (though he does have a complete set). I was very surpirsed that the Huntmeister managed to win his first game with two Judge Fires, but the second game went closer to form and Martin took the win. Ste did manage to cause some GBH to Darkseid and Snapper Carr though so picked up a few consolation points for his wierd wannabe team.

The two highest pointed losers from game one were Dale's "I Don't Know" with Red Tornado and Robin (if you splice their DNA would you get a Red Robin?) Ice Maiden and the others and Alec's nameless (race?) Mystic and Wildcard crew. It was actually a surprise that Martin had beaten Alec, but Poison had prevailed over the Mystic feedback to leave Alec at a loss. This time round however, Alec was more ruthless and Dale had little in the way of an answer to the Mystic feedback thus suffering both when hit and when hitting. Without a medic and taking a pounding Dale found himself disappointed to move onto 0 - 2 having had two very tough matches.

Paul Crosby and David Hansell played each other in Round Two for the unofficial 'definately had the best team name' game. With "$395" facing off against "I've Taken A Pog Over A Model AHHHHHHHHH!". If pushed I would give Dale best name and Paul what I would class as the runner up in this department and interestingly that was the way the game went too. David had suffered at the last event having had a phenominal early winning run. As this was 'something a bit different' all bets were off but his impressive skill and growing knowledge of the rules helped him to overcome Paul's challenge, but not before the demise of poor Sue Dibney ... always destined to be deader than a dead thing on dead tablets on death day. Dave's first win for a few games ... he's showing us some bouncebackability now, I wonder if Sue will in the DC Universe? (if you don't understand the use of this word then you don't watch Soccer AM and you really, really should).

Last but not least this round Parry, having been defeated by his brother first in the auction to buy Veteran Green Lantern and then to add insult to injury being humiliated by the very same figure, tried to regain some dignity against JP who was a little disappointed by the offerings of a Marvel nature thrown out for the auction (sorry JP - I will remember this next time mate). JP was having a bit of a nightmarish week with his Clixing (but I have a strong feeling his tenacity will repay him) and his luck didn't change in this match up. He deserves a prize just for bidding on Flashbang to put on Shadow Lass, but unfortunately no prizes for that category today. Parry showed great resolve to beat JP on points and move back up the table with his 1 - 1 record.

Two Judge Fires? Don't see that very often (and we know why don't we). ICEMADIEN (sic) tries her best to put the flames out here

Martin has a run out in the park and wonders if he can get fellowship just for following the path ... that would be a NO then Martin!

Having seen of Huntmeister in round two, Martin throws away his chance to reach the final by losing to Parry in round three and leaves the back door open for Alec

The only other player with an 2 - 0 record was Martin Teece, so if he could overcome Parry on table two he would join Mr. Date in the final. If you had only watched this match, you may wonder how Martin managed to win his first two games. From the off Parry was up and at him like a bulldog and the un-hittable OMAC, supported by his beautiful Clayface'd assistants masterminded the downfall of Darkseid and his allies. Only the Key was lost to Parry (I bet you can live without him) during the skirmish whilst Martin was well and truly hammered before the time was up. So close, but ultimately no cigar for "Blackfire Bodyguard" as "Hit Me If You Can" (Nooooooooo, stop calling them that) finished well ahead of Martin on 1383 points.

Thanks to Parry's win over Martin, Alec Barrett and David Hansell on table three both became in with a chance of a final place with a good win. The clever money was on David to score a big point win and make a fourth final as his opponent had yet to make the last two in any of the events in which he's played. However, Alec was a new man today and showed that the Auction format suited him down to ground as he had built a formidable force ... an outstanding outfit ... the quintessential quintet? (I think perhaps I should stop now). David suffered at the hands of the Mystic feedback from most of Alec's team. Maybe some incapacitate from Captain Cold would have helped but with chipping away at Alec's 'no name' nuisance Dave also hurt his own team. David managed to do for Etrigan and a Trickster (exactly as Martin had in round one), but it was never going to be enough to secure a win. To make matters worse, Alec took apart David's team to drop him right down the rankings. So close to a final but in the end a very disappointing 9th place for David. Will he get back to a winning record next week?

Stephen Hunt is often seen surging from below mid-table to achieve a place in the final with his cunning ploys of deft defence and adroit attacks, would we see a fimilar occurence today? His final swiss round opponent was James Pattison looking to recover from his loss last game. One player would finish 2 and 1 and the other 1 and 2 ... but which would do what and who is where and what is then there and what the hell am I wittering on about again? Well it wasn't Meestair Hunt's day today with Patto using the OMAC and Green Lantern to good effect again to spell his demise. Hunt managed to get 250 points of KO's first so he at least achieved a total to keep him out of the bottom two, but only just. Still he enjoyed the day and that's what it's all about - you really can't win them all! Meanwhile Patto's win and splendid points tally earned him a very respectable fourth place finish.

Liam and his Veteran Green Lantern had gone nowhere but downhill since seeing off his brother in the first round. His last game was against Paul Crosby who after two defeats had still managed to amass a greater points total than Liam with his 1 - 1 record. Liam didn't fair too well in this game either as Paul's Marvel/Indy hybrid came up trumps by a huge margin to ensure he didn't finish the day without a win. The 740 points he collected against Liam was more than he had collected with his combined round one and two scores, but adding up the grand total for Liam he ended the round on one point less than Paul started it on. Not his best tournament ever. So Paul leapfrogged Liam and a couple of other players with the win to jump well away from the dreaded bottom spot. He actually did pretty good today considering from what I saw he had some hideous dice rolls.

Languishing on the bottom table for the last game of round three were Dale deAndrade having a bad day and JP experiencing a particularly wretched sequence of game results. Fair play to JP he stuck to the task and fought on until the last ... unfortunately though the last was his and this helped Dale to a climb to a mighty eighth place but leave JP with a less than auspicious bottom spot. Good things come to those who stick at it JP ... just remember the little train "I think I can, I think I can" and he could!

I prove once again that I am wasted as a Heroclix Judge and should in fact be a photographer as I manage to capture the exact moment that Stephen Hunt's head exploded ... too much fatty food you see, should have stuck with fruit and water

Dale, having a bad day with clix seems to be consoling himself with burgers here

Alec deep in thought, but Ste's experience and tactical know how wins through in the final allowing him to collect another winners trophey

Alec, seemed to have become a little overconfident after his two sucessive victories as without hesitation he rushed Etrigan headlong into 'the alley of death' a double rooftop trap set by Ste's positioning. It wasn't long before Etrigan was looking like orange flavoured dog food with no fashion sense and the shape of the game was beginning to be set. Watching the game, I lost count of the number of times Hector Hall and the Tricksters were Incapacitated, but it was a very sucessful strategy to prevent Mystic feedback damage and to force Alec to push to attack. In truth Alec's first final appearance was something of a lesson in Heroclix tactics, but even to reach the final in such a strong field was a great achievement and a feat that Alec must now try to recapture and maybe even go one further on.

A vote for Fellowship allowed Liam Cooke to be rerwarded once again as he accrued more votes than any other player and thus finished the day very happy in spite of his eleventh place finish. It just goes to prove that sometime "it aint what ya do, it's the way that ya do it" that counts in Heroclix.

Thanks to everyone for playing and making this test events a huge success. My only disappointment was that I didn't get to play, but I didn't want to make uneven numbers and force someone to have a bye each round, I'll get to play soon enough. Thanks also to Big Jules in Loughborough as without his generosity in providing me with a big batch of his spare LEs we would not have had so many cool figures for the auction. See you all again real soon.

Winner Ste Date (left) counts his poker chips, while Fellowship award winner Liam shows off his shiny new LE with a cheesy grin ... ahhh the game we all love!

"That alleyway looks like it could be a trap ... lets send Etrigan in to find out if it is". Poor Etrigan charges headlong into the opposition crossfire and suffers badly

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