I had also brought my Sinister Pre-release acquisitions along to show off, including a booster box, sad man that I am. I think this could be a popular set in Middlesbrough. As you will see below tonight could have been subtitled The Night of The Pauls, as 25% of the players had the name Paul. Roll on the Marquee and getting to use the spiffy Prison Map that we used at Loughborough last weekend ... its great for getting everyone to have a big fistfest.

Who's finger is this? Hmmm could I have invented a new side event here maybe?

Ste Date kindly partnered Peter Davies to try and teach him a few new tricks and Ste's X-Men plus Peter's Titans became "X-Titans". Their first challenge came in the form of Simon Swinbank and Alec Barrett's "The Soon To Be Crowned Winners of This Here Tournament", now there is a confident name for you, I wonder if they can live up to it? Alec and Simon had doubled up on Destiny's for Probabilty Control and had Positron, Johnny Alpha and Blackfire amongst others to lead the attack. A lack of knowledge of their characters ("I didn't know Positron got Running Shot on his second click" classic quote from Alec) lead to Simon and Alec suffering a narrow loss in this one and living up to their name seemed a long way away. Incidentally 131 points of KO's from Ste and Peter was the record for Round One.

Martin Teece and Paul Brown had amalgamated (not really, just in terms of their Heroclix force) into "Take a Trip On The Wild Side" with Martin once again using mostly Batman Enemies whilst Paul B. chipped in with Shadowlass, Red Tornado and Manticore. First up for this assortment was a couple of new guys to the Heroclix Approved Play scene here (yes more newbs and it isn't New Guy Night until next week) Daniel Pearson and Dominic Dodds as "667" (I think). As is becoming something of a habit for Martin and Paul the game was a slow tactical affair with only an Experienced Sabretooth being KO'ed all match. As the Sabretooth in question belonged to Dan and Dom they unfortunately began their AP career with a narrow loss. To be fair, most of us started that way too.

As Liam and Parry are twins you may have expected them to team up together, you would be very, very wrong. Parry in fact joined forces with Paul Spencelayh. Paul S. had created a Fantastic Two team with Ben Grimm and Sue Storm supported by a Checkmate Medic and Eddie Fyers, whilst Parry used an Experienced Flash, a Unique Flash and a Green Flame. Together they created "Double Trouble!". Their opposition was the combined might of Paul Atherton (how many Paul's tonight?) and Anthony Prior with their "BBS Almost Evil" team up. The combination of youth and experience (and I am NOT saying who possessed which qualities or in what quantity) worked well for Paul and Parry and the Alternate Fantastic Four didn't hurt either, however they failed to clock up a win due to getting zero KO's. Paul A. and Anthony also managed a KO'less effort, but won on a dice off. The thrill of the game eh? NOT! Still a win is a win I suppose.

Liam teamed up with Paul Crosby (another one for goodness sake) and infected him with the no team name disease. They were drawn against James Pattison and Carl Sidgwick's "Li - Koriz" for their first encounter. JP and Carl certainly had a better name (by virtue of actually having one) but I have no idea what it was all about. Paul C.'s team had the sensational Norman Osborne with Silver Sable and Ghost Widow and this trio was supplimented with some Sinister villains in the form of Kingpin, Venom (Darkness Within ... more like Outer Darkness with the symbiote suit), Doc Ock and Calypso with a couple of pogs to round out the points. Patto and Carl had a combination of X-Men with Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Grey and Shadowcat with some random looking additons from Carl's collection including Dr. Light, Whirlwind, Dr. Mid-Nite, Green Flame and Scourge. Once more the greater experience won out as Liam and Paul C. managed 93 points of KO's to their opponents 83 ... now that was a proper tight game, it even had KO's. That's what we like to see.

With the 2v2 format tonight I managed to squeeze all the players into one row even though the standard sized maps were making a rare Thursday night appearance. Great for photos, not so great for comfort

Two of the Paul's are on opposite sides of the table as Paul Spencelayh and Parry take on Paul Atherton and Anthony Prior in Round One. Paul Atherton and Anthony eventually triumph

Two new players, Dom and Dan are as we see somewhat unlucky with their first ever Swiss pairing

Table two saw Liam/Paul's nameless crew take on Paul Atherton and Anthony's "BBS Almost Evil" as Baron Mordo and Trigon's Daughter looked to claim a second sucessive victory with the support of Captain Atom and other guests. Despite thinking that Baron Mordo comes from the Universe© set, Paul and Anthony used their their characters to good effect once more as they set about their Sinister looking opponents (and that's before the Sinister© set even releases). The Baron and Co. did manage some KO's this round as they had settled into their powers and abilities a little better than in Round One and they managed a staggering 140 KO points (a mere 140 more than last round). This was just too much for their opponents as they could only achieve 118 and the game belonged to the team with a name. Let this be a lesson to you Liam ... give the team a name!

Paul S. and Parry had an appointment with Patto and Carl on table three for their second round clash, with both teams knowing a win would put them back in with a good shout of reaching the final, whilst a loss would shatter their fragile dreams. With Paul S. and Carl on opposite sides one thing was guaranteed, Hartlepool would claim a victory (but also a defeat) from the game. With this in mind, Paul and Parry were spurred on to create some havok as they charged headlong into Patto and Carl's team ... more to the point, Patto and Carl really struggled to hit Ben Grimm thanks to him sharing Sue Storm's defence and lots of KO's followed. "Double Trouble" proved to be just that as Patto and Carl were pummelled by Ben Grimm and friends and Paul and Parry won to have a chance of reaqching the pinnacle, if they could win again in Round Three.

The bottom table for Round Two saw Simon and Alec's "The Soon To Be Crowned Winners of This Here Tournament" still holding a faint hope of living up to their name if they could see of the challenge of the two new guys Daniel and Dominic. The hapless newcomers were struggling to make an impression again as Simon and Alec needed the points and charged into them for a mighty 330 points of KO's with none in return ... a record single round points total for the night! Dominic and Daniel were fininding that taking things easy and giving the opponents a chance isn't something that happens to often in an Approved Play events here, come to think of it it doesn't happen too often in so called 'friendly' games either you heartless cut-throat b******s. Hope the newcomers still want to come back for more!

Ste Date feels the need to stand to keep him self awake and it also helps him to rise above his opponents in the is Round Two match up. Another final coming up for Ste gain then?

Hartlepool is represented on both sides of the table as Paul S. and Parry take on Patto and Carl so stay in the running for a spot in the two player team final ... Paul and Parry win this time round

Table two was most likely to yield the second finalist as it was a fairly foregone conclusion that whoever faced Ste would be massacred remorselessly. Added to this was the the fact that both this table's teams already had a decent haul of points and a fair lead on their opponents on the lower tables, it was almost inevitable then that the winners here would face Ste and Peter in the final. The "Double Trouble" of Paul S. and Parry took on Simon and Alec and just lost out as "The Soon To Be Crowned Winners of This Here Tournament" (and this was now becoming a possibility) took the win with 459 points. Moreover they inflicted some hot Running Shot death on several of their opponents to march firmly into the final ... the dual Probability Controlling Destiny's helped again too. I feel a no non generic dupes rule coming on.

Table three (or bed three as it could easily have been) saw Martin and Paul Brown take their " ... Wildside" to play with Liam and Paul Crosby's nameless masses. In another cagey affair that makes me think a Superhero Detecting Crime Solving Game would suit some of you better than a Game of Superhero Combat, Paul and Parry just about came out on top thanks to the four points less they built their team with. Yup no KO's here again. Are you guys inventing a new game here or what? Is there really a market for Sleepyclix in Middlesbrough? Ironically with a big win either of these teams could have reached the final, but in cancelling each other out they really just rolled over and made the way clear for Simon and Alec.

Attempting to avoid the wooden spoon of last place Patto and Carl's "Li - Koriz" took on Dom and Dan's "667". Patto and Carl found their level here as they prevented DD (now that would have been a better name) from gaining a single KO during the match and therefore the tournament. You have to shed a tear for new guys who are treated like lambs to the slaughter, or it may just make a Judge think about a new way to structure events. Seeded pool and unseeded pool anyone? So Carl and Patto picked up their first win and due to the faffing about on the table next to them managed to jump above Martin and Paul with their points total. What a strange event. I think that if I run this style of tournamnet again I will do it on a weekend so we can have full 50 minute rounds. Experiencial learning in action, see I did learn something in my three years in Durham (the University not the Prison, contrary to popular opinion and several of my recent haircuts).

Peter and Ste storm into the final with a 3 - 0 record as they take out Paul and Anthony's team with consumate ease.

Carl and Patto battle to victory against newcomers Dom and Dan to ensure they don't finish in the dreaded wooden spoon spot of last place

Thanks to all for competing and JP for not as is helped the event numbers on the night. See you next week for New Guy Night so you can get your spanking new Spider-Man in he Spidey Armour. Remember that the event next week is Tuesday because NGN is on Thursday.

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