LoEHS go International!

Tournament Report by Stephen Hunt (Rasten) ... with additional humorous comments by Crimson Duck



And now it's the INTERNATIONAL League of Extraordinary Hockey Shirts. For the Shirt of Steve went on tour, taking in this Unrestricted event in Sacramento, California, with a 300pt BPRD team neatly packed in his luggage (now that REALLY is sad - CD). Hellboy unique, Lobster Johnson rookie and Rasputin rookie were left looking rather surprised, however, when they discovered on arriving at the venue that it was a 500pt battle, with each player preparing two teams, one heroic, one villainous. Ah. Throwing himself upon the mercy of the Americans (fortunately not the hosts ; ) - CD), Rasten quickly retooled to put together a 500pt team of Indy heroes. Villains? The shirt wouldn't allow it. Out went the rookie Lobster and the rookie Rasputin. Instead, the team consisted of: unique Hellboy, veteran Lobster, veteran Magdalena, rookie Kabuki, veteran Ashleigh, experienced Natalia Kassle, veteran Darkness and veteran Arwyn.

First battle was against a chap by the name of Adam, who loaded up his end of the table with a selection of the Goblin Queen, Mr Sinister, Nastirrh, the Marauders and a U-Man to fill out the points. The game also had a twist - teleportation devices were scattered around the board, looking remarkably like a D6. You enter the teleporter, and roll a D6 to see where you come out. It would even be possible to charge or running shot through a portal. Nice twist, though we wound up not using it overly as the portals, placed by players, weren't hugely useful in their positioning the way the game boiled out.

Adam's game plan was simple enough. The Goblin Queen used her TK to throw the rest of the team into the fray. First up, she did this to hurl Harpoon forward for a running shot, which mildly pincushioned the Darkness (soon to emerge as the tournament's most useless figure). Harpoon paid the penalty though, being rapidly dispatched by the rest of the stealthy Indy team. Arclight was next to tumble, although a TK-propelled Nastirrh soon saw to what was left of Darkness. Taking the initiative, Hellboy and Arwyn rumbled forward on the map to within attacking range (hang on run this by me gain ... you moved forwards? - CD), picking off Vertigo and using blocking cover to wait until the moment was right (ahhh, that sounds more like it! - CD). Natalia Kassle pushed to advance forward, only to discover that Stealth vanished from her dial, making her easy pickings for the TK'd Nastirrh. As time ticked down, Hellboy and Arwyn launched their assault, charging into the group of figures huddled at the far end of the table and taking on a Mr Sinister slightly weakened by sniping from Magdalena. Lobster did what he could with his outwit, but Sinister was screened from view when his all-important Impervious roll succeeded. However, the opposition couldn't do enough damage to Hellboy in the time that remained to see him off, and the game ended with Rasten earning a narrow victory on points thanks to polishing off the REV Marauders on offer. Adam killed 91pts of Rasten's team, Rasten killing 186pts worth. Just for fun, we played out one more turn to see if Hellboy would have survived. He wouldn't have. Close call.

Next battle saw Rasten face a lad called Anthony, who boasted a splendid Hellfire Club team (one of two which saw action that night). Black King, Black Queen, White Queen and a whole bunch of Hellfire Club guards was the basis of the team, and again, TK was the basis of the tactics. While the Indy team opened up by murdering some of the hapless Hellfire guards, Anthony rolled his big pieces into useful positions, with White Queen getting a psychic blast in at Hellboy. This, however, left the White Queen exposed and Arwyn's running shot, plus Magdalena, Lobster and Natalia Kassle firing from stealth sent her dial spinning downwards. All the same, it allowed the Black King to get into position, leading to a toe-to-toe fight between him and Hellboy as Hellfire guards toppled all around. Both the big figs took their lumps, with the Black King unfortunate to be foiled in his plan to smack Hellboy with a heavy object by the rule that you have to move to pick up an object and can't just pick it up during the battle. As Black Queen moved up to join the fray, both Black King and Hellboy were left weakened, and it was surprisingly Black King that broke away from the fight, running to attack the nearby Arwyn. Lobster, having lost his outwit after foolishly pushing (a recurring theme it would seem ... D'oh! - CD), was also taking a battering, succumbing to his wounds in the final turn. Speaking of foolishly pushing, Rasten lost the game in the final turn, pushing Hellboy to run away only to discover precisely where the big red guy's dial ran out (I rest my case M'Lord - CD). Ah. Had it not been for that, Rasten would have won, having killed off 312pts of his opponent's team. The 188pt loss of Hellboy pushed Anthony's total to 373, and won him that round. Another close call, though.

Next round saw me squaring off against a chap by the name of Ben, who went on to win the Fellowship award. Having taken a pasting in his previous rounds, he opted for his Icons villain team of unique Brainiac, unique Lex Luthor, and a superman enemy medic. Sadly, things weren't to pay off for Ben, as his running shot-based team struggled to find targets among the array of stealthy opponents. Brainiac pulse-waved to do a click of damage to both Hellboy and Natalia Kassle, but this left him vulnerable to a Hellboy charge with an object after Lobster outwitted his defensive powers. More, Hellboy scored knockback which sent Brainiac smacking into the edge of the map. It was time for him to scurry home to the medic. Hellboy was left in the open after this attack, but the Darkness finally made a positive contribution, leaping forward to base Lex Luthor and stop him from sniping the boss. This also left the medic based, unable to heal Brainiac, but Luthor soon finished off the Darkness. This had bought time, though, for Arwyn to circle round and running shot the medic. Boom, no more healing and suddenly Luthor was the target, mobbed by Indy heroes. Magdalena snuck forward and used her 10 attack to score a blades attack on Luthor for 5 damage with defensive powers outwitted. A follow-up attack from Hellboy was enough to remove Luthor from the board. Brainiac toppled next, leaving a medic, already on its last click, to be sniped from cover by Lobster Johnson (that's a cheap trick, but why am I surprised? - CD). Ben picked up 91pts in total, having also killed off Natalia Kassle in the duration, while Rasten picked up 499pts.

There was no final to be played, with placings awarded on the strength of the totals from the three rounds. The winner was a chap called Vinnie, whose hero team featuring Superman (* WARNING! Cheese Alert ) and the Flash (### Supporting Fromage ALERT ###) featured in one battle, but whose villainous Nimrod and the Sentinels earned him big points in his second round, scoring double points for captures to earn a grand total of 1500pts of kills in his two wins and one defeat (and also saving him from the Cheese Award I assume - CD). Second was Adam, who rallied from his first round defeat against Rasten to wipe out Ben in the second round and then smash Vinnie's team in the third, to end with a total of 1081pts (do I smell a Yankie stitch up as they all beat each other heavilly to stop the Brit winning? Bah! - CD*).

Rasten did not leave the League of Extraordinary Hockey Shirts shamed, however, clocking up third with a total of 997pts in kills (Third you say? Then Seppuku must be an option - CD). A smashing series of games in a splendid venue (three parts to the store, one selling games, one comics, and one area for gaming), and with some nice twists, such as the lists of thematically-linked characters which players had to choose their characters from. No Thunderbolts card to use the Mystics team ability here! (Best of all, this is where my NEW SPORTSCLIX collection began. Behold the might of Major League Baseball Clix!!! Perhaps I should see a doctor now? Maybe I could become the first Sportclix Coach in the UK? Anup, Anup Hello, ANUP ARE YOU LISTENING ia anybody listening? - CD)

We've laughed at Loughborough (but mostly on the return journey - at YOU! - CD). We've buggered Bognor (speak for yourself my friend, I most certainly did not! - CD). We've sacked Sacramento (you can have that ... at a push - CD). Where will the International League strike next? (Where indeed - who the hell will have us? Answers on a postcard please - CD).

Back to the Uncanny Palatial Nexus Of Remarkable True Heroes the home of the "League of Extraordinary Hockey Shirts*".

'The League of Extraodinary Hockey Shirts' are:*