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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Joined: 12/30/2015
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I am a High School teacher and I teach Star Wars Boardgaming. No joke. Every two weeks, I have one day full of teaching a class of kids how to play - and be good at - Star Wars Boardgaming. So far its a heap of SWM and a little X-wing. Armada is not far away, but I'm not sure if we'll get time. Anyhoo. My students turn up during other lunch times and sometimes just grab Epic characters and have these little 3-way battles. Fun, but limited. So, I devised something which has just taken off into a world of its own... I give you The Great Beatstick Knockout Tournament of Awesome!
It's simple. We have taken the 64 best beatsticks in the SWM game with no Epics and no double-ups of Unique characters in-faction (we have a coupl'a Lukes, but only 1 Rebel, 1 NR etc.). We then do a draft, picking our "team" and then we draw them out of a hat all random-like and each pairing goes up against each other 1-on-1 in the Geonosis Arena (with all the other minis conveniently lined up around the edge to watch the carnage). If the piece wins, it goes through to the next round. If not, elimination!
Now, I left the choices up to my students, so as you look at some of the options, you may think we chose the wrong pieces or not. (We'd love to get your feedback on that!) We also tried to stick with 9 pieces per faction (Mando's had almost none!), plus I threw in the Nightsister Rancor because someone said "I bet they wouldn't last long against a Rancor!"
The draft. We drew numbers and then everyone got to pick the piece they couldn't live without. In this first pick, I was prepared to undergo any negotiations, just so everyone had someone that uber loved. In the end, their were no negotiations needed: everyone got the one piece they wanted. From there, we went around in order, picking the pieces we wanted out of what was left. This process in itself was totally fun-as. "Ooo - I was gonna pick him!", "Yuss! No one grabbed so-and-so", "Crap - I didn't see him there!" and so on.
There are six of us hard-core players in the class that took part (it was the end of the day, and everyone else was kinda full so I gave them other activities). I chose 100pt Luke as my can't-live-without piece, Brody took 72pt Vader, Jamie 66pt Galen Marek, Hone (pronounced Hon-ay) couldn't live without 60pt Corran Horn Jedi Bad-ass, Kade took 100pt Dooku, and Jacob couldn't live without Master Thon.
Here's how the teams looked, in order of the player choices.
Jamie:
Galen Marek
71pt Nihilus
100 Revan
Sandwich Press (Savage Opress)
Mara Jade Skywalker JM
Maulee DWOverlord
Ventress Strike Leader
Saesee Tiin JM
Vader's Apprentice Redeemed (we let this double-up go through, cos' we missed it during the pick)
Vua Rapuung
Shedao Shai
Brody got second pick:
72pt Vader
100pt Yoda
83pt Palps!
Maulee on Swoop (I know - right?!)
Malgus
Luke HOE
Kyp Durron JM
Inquisitor
Sora Bulq
Belth Allusis
Carnor Jax
Then me:
100pt Luke
Greivous HoH
Cin Drallig
Shimrra
69pt Exar
Kavar
63pt Lah
Vandar
Silri
Nas Choka
31pt Barriss
Kade:
100pt Dooku
54pt Caedus
69pt Sidious
PROXY (I know!)
Obi-Kin
100pt Ben
GOWK
Hethrir
50pt Kota
Dray
Lord Hoth
Hone:
60pt Corran Horn, Jedi Bad-Ass
THE Mace (LotLS)
60pt Qui-Gon
Lord Krayt
Kyle Katarn JBM
56pt Jaina
Desann
Kriea
44pt Yoda
Sha'kel (O'neill)
Last was Jacob:
Thon
57pt Roan Fel
Bane Sith'ari
Nightsister on Rancor
Saba
60pt Nomi
57pt Lucien
Urai Fen
Commander Tsalok
Guri, BSEnforcer
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Joined: 12/30/2015
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64 pieces makes for 32 matchups. In the two-and-a-half hours we played (including the awesome draft!), we got through 62.5% of the first Round, or 5 sets of 8 characters. Here's the results for that first set of matchups, Group 1:
VAR (Jamie) beat Vua (Jamie)
Obi-Kin (Kade) beat Jaina (Hone)
Shimrra (me!) beat Shakel (Hone)
Corran (Hone) beat Mara Jade (Jamie)
So, they were all fairly one-sided. The losers all put up a fight, but couldn't best their opponents. The first match up was, as you can see, where we drew a pairing with the same team-owner. We made up a rule on the spot that the owner would choose the piece they wanted to use and the rest of us would collectively play the other piece. Jamie chose VAR so we did the best we could with Vua who did not disgrace himself. It was probably the closest of all the matchups.
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Joined: 12/30/2015
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Group 2:
Luke (me) beat Vandar (me!)
Inquisitor (Brody) beat Asajj (Jamie)
Luke HOE (Brody) beat 100pt Dooku (Kade)
Exar (me) beat Bane (Jacob)
Wow. This was (so far) the Group of the Tournament and probably solely responsible for making everyone psycho about the tournament. First, in my double-pairing, I chose Vandar because I figuring he'd get smoked by Luke so I might as well run him once. It turns out, he's really good - his Force Suppression nearly won me the game! - and I played Vandar pretty well! Only just lost it... which would have meant that I would have knocked out my own can't-live-without-piece. Speaking of key pieces being knocked out, Kade lost his 100pt Dooku to Luke HOE. And it wasn't even close. Luke Overwhelming'd everything and Kade just flat out played Dooku wrong. He misread abilities everywhere and it wasn't pretty. Funny though! Then, we finished with Exar edging out Bane on a final roll where the two had been trading blows backward and forward... turned out, Exar could win with a final hit - which he made - and Bane could kill him back with a successful Djem So roll - which he made! - but he missed the final attack. 10HP Exar wins!
We finished another three Groups - I'll write them up soon as. Oh, and I'm gonna highlight all the really, really close games... I'm not trying to highlight the ones that I win, awesome as they are.
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Group 3:
Tsalok (Jacob) beat Tsavong Lah (me)
Rancor (Jacob) beat 44pt Yoda (Hone)
Vader (Brody) beat Lucien (Jacob)
83pt Palps (Brody) beat GOWK (Kade)
A round with nothing too close. After the epic Exar-Bane match preceeding it, Jacob' Tsalok flattened Lah in short order. Everyone was keen to see the Rancor in action (especially since they didn't know I had the mini, so when I brought it out, they were stunned!) and the size difference between that and Yoda was laughable. Hone didn't play it the best either. Vader eased past Lucien, hardly getting a sweat up, and GOWK had no real response to Palps. That set up an Jacob v Jacob and Brody v Brody next round for this group!
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Joined: 12/30/2015
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Group 4:
Qui-Gon (Hone) beat Sora (Brody)
Belth (Brody) beat Dray (Kade)
Caedus (Kade) beat Saba (Jacob)
Nas Choka (me) beat Hethrir (Jacob)
Wow - this was a stunning way to finish the top half of the draw. The Qui-Gon-Sora match was a monster, Sora almost Djem So-ing his way to victory. A coupl'a failed rolls by Sora was the only difference in that matchup! Belth eased past Dray, but then the Caedus-Saba fight was brutal! Well, Brutal Strike, more to the point. Saba nearly ran right through Caedus, until she ran out of Force Points. She had a last attack with Caedus on 10HP, which unfortunately meant he had a defence of 30 and Saba needing a 17 to kill him... she failed the roll and Caedus got her on the next attack. Wowser. Come from behind victory of the ages! Nas Choka and Hethrir just sat there rolling dice... it took forever, Choka taking it without too much drama.
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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We had time so we decided to start the bottom half of the draw. We'll keep this going throughout lunchtimes at school this next week and see how we go!
Group 5:
Maulee DWO (Jamie) beat Old Ben (Kade)
Saesee Tinn (Jamie) beat Nomi (Jacob)
Mace (Hone) beat Galen (Jamie)
[/b]Roan Fel (Jacob) beat Carnor Jax (Brody)[/b]
A great start to the bottom half. The Maul win gave Jamie his first win since the very first matchup, although Old Ben made him work for it! In the end, Teras Kasi was the difference. Jamie then won again with Tiin, before Mace finished Galen IN ONE ROUND. I think we all knew that he'd do that at some point, but his lightsaber has BFM written on it. The last matchup of the day was me standing in for Jacob as everyone had to run for buses. Jacob's inexperience may have lost him this matchup, but since I played it, I was able to get the order of things right to knock over Carnor in the epic Opportunist vs Cunning battle. It was bloody close though, Fel winning on a final roll with only 10HP left!
That's it for now. You can probably see who is still to be drawn, and that'll be done next week as we continue the battle. Each Group will eventually be brought down to 1 player and that will be our eight Quarter Finalists. So, I ask you:
Of the five groups so far, who do you think will take it?
Who's looking the best of the Top half of the draw?
Would you do this any differently?
If you had to take one beatstick that you couldn't live without, who would it be?
If you had to pick a team of ten beatsticks, who would you hope to pick?
I tell you, this was unbelievable fun!
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Rank: Vornskr
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Joined: 3/16/2016
Posts: 27
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Without a doubt, this beatstick tournament is one of the most fun SWM events i've done so far. It's quick, brutal, and thrilling, and it's a bit of fun placing bets on who's going to come out on top! It's also good for a laugh when you draw one of your last picks against somebody's first second or third! Can't wait for the second round to start... Here comes Darth Brody!
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Joined: 4/22/2011
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My $ is o Mace LotLS? His GMA with trip and easy critical should be cleaning house.
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Rank: Vornskr
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Joined: 3/16/2016
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The two biggest pieces so far seem to be 100pt Luke, who should be obviously and is doing pretty well at cleaning up all opposition fairly easily and with barely a scratch and 100pt yoda, who has demolished every opponent before they got to make an attack at all. Mace is performing quite similarly, and he's going to make it far, but my (metaphorical) money is on Luke and Yoda being the finalists, then it'll be amazingly close.
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Rank: Junk Golem
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Joined: 5/31/2010
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Not sure if Vader Scourge is on the list but he would have been a good pickup.
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Sid mastermind should be kicking butt as well. He wins init every round and can activate you with his lightning. Parry and Evade with MotF 2. I played it out and Sid takes Luke with 3 lightnings and getting activated nulls lukes renew.
Yoda is kind of dirty because in 1 on 1 there is no other option but to have exactly 1 enemy within 6 so he basically has twin triple. I didn't play with reserves either. His triple twin with leaping and momentum is a killer. Since Yoda has renew 3 like Sid, lightning doesn't help as it gets canceled. Yoda didn't even bother to force defense Sith rage. He just took the hits and twin riposted Sid.
I played yoda vs Luke and found that Luke kicks his butt. Yoda's triple twin is deadly, but Super Djem So is to much for a melee only to take on.
Luke and Yoda went like this once based.
----LUKE WINS INIT AND GOES FIRST----
Luke ATTACK 1
*********
TWIN 1
Luke Hits Yoda for 30
Luke Hits Yoda for 30
Luke ATTACK 2
*********
TWIN 2
Luke Hits Yoda for 30
Yoda Blocks
Luke Cancels
Luke Hits Yoda for 30
Yoda Blocks
---Score-----
90 damage to Yoda
Yoda 50 HP
Luke 120 HP
---YODA ACTIVATION------------
Yoda uses leap.
Yoda ATTACK 1
*******
Twin 1
Yoda hits luke for 30
.Djem save fail
.Djem reroll pass
..Luke twin
...hits yoda for 30
...yoda riposte
....Yoda riposte twin
....attack 1 Yoda hits for 30
....Luke Djem save pass
.....Luke twin Djem attack
.....attack 1 Luke hits for 30 and kills Yoda
It's an interesting rock/paper/scissors
Sid > Luke
Luke > Yoda
Yoda > Sid
Can't even blame dice as they all have attack 20+
Can't wait to hear how it all ends in your tournament!!!
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Rank: Moderator
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Joined: 5/26/2009
Posts: 8,428
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That's epic!
I mean... um... that's Bounty Hunter Challenge.
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Location: Kokomo, IN
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I wouldn't count out Bane Sithari either, as long as he can make a decent percentage of his djemso saves he is not to be overlooked but could run out of fp quickly and that may be his big weakness!
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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@kezzamachineII
What's the update. How are things going in your beatstick beatdown?
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Joined: 12/30/2015
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Its been some time since I last posted. We've done stacks of games, so its time to bring it back!
Group 6:
Cin Drallig (me!) beat Master Thon (Jacob)
100pt Revan (Jamie) beat Urai Fenn (Jacob)
Sidious (Kade) beat Barriss (me)
Krayt (Hone) beat Shedao (Jamie)
Some fun matchups here. Drallig smashed up Thon, before we got to see Revan really flex his melee muscle. The real fun, however, was seeing Sidious in action. He mowed over Barriss, with his massive lightning. Awesome! Shedao had a lot of potential, but Krayt was far too big.
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Group 7:
100pt Yoda (Brody) beat Opress (Jamie)
Kota (Kade) beat Silri (me)
Kyp (Brody) beat Lord Hoth (Kade)
Malgus (Brody) beat PROXY (Kade)
Sandwich Press (Savage Opress) is a pretty mean beatstick in his own right, but he didn't even get to turn on his lightsaber in the scariest opening round of the whole tournament. Enter Yoda. It wasn't even fair. Everyone became very scared in an instant of the one round kill by Yoda. In other news, Kota proved too good for Silri, although Silri fought fairly hard. Hoth wasn't a match for Kyp, and then Malgus knocked over PROXY, who didn't really have a show against the 72pt giant.
But, Yoda... *shudder*
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Group 8:
Desaan (Hone) beat Guri (Jacob)
Nihilus (Jacob) beat Kavar (me)
Grievous (me) beat Kreia (Hone)
Maul, no longer on a Swoop, but in fact the 57pt one (Brody) beat Kyle JBM (Hone)
We're bringing it home in the final grouping of the first round. Desann proved too good for Guri in a low-level matchup, before Nihilus created a mammoth wound in the force by beating Kavar. Nihilus presented an interesting challenge for us rules-wise. He nearly lost which would have meant that Force Detonate would come into play... in that case, if the opponent was killed with the Detonate, who would win? Same probably with Djem So's... it didn't come up, but it gave us some thought, which we didn't adequately answer. Greivous is awesome and Kreia didn't stand a chance. The final matchup of the whole first round was Maul-Kyle. When the students first chose Maul, they took the Swoop Bike because they thought that they could swoop in (see what I did there?) and swap out for another Maul. I then explained that that wasn't happening, so we made the change for the regular Maul. Kyle was pretty good, but Maul was pretty better.
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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And with that, the first round is done! 32 down, 32 to go! We started with 7 in each faction (except 6 for Rebel, 9 for Fringe and no Mandos) and we finished with this:
OR: 1 left
Sith 6 left
Republic: 6 left
Seps: 3 left
Rebels: 3 left
Imperials: 5 left
NR: 3 left
Fringe: 2 left
Vong: 3 left
The big winners were Sith and Republic, hardly loosing anyone. OR got smashed - 7 down to 1! although Fringe dropped from 9 down to 2. In terms of us players, we all started with 11 except for Hone and Jacob with 10 each. Here's where we finished after Round 1:
Hone: 5 left
Jacob: 3 left
Kade: 4 left
Brody: 9 left
Jamie: 5 left
Me: 6 left
Brody - what a great first round on losing 2! Jacob and Kade had pretty tough first rounds. Otherwise, still a lot to go!
Next up is Round 2. We've already done it, so I'll write up as soon as. Peace.
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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I have a feeling your tourney will come down to 100pt Sid Yoda and Luke. It will all depend on the bracketing from there as to who wins.
Sid can kill most anything in a few rounds because the opponent doesn't get to play.
Yoda with his default A-mastery engaged is kind of broken for your tournament but triple twin at 19 attack and being able to kill of an enemy force power plays itself. If you leave his reinforcements in, he can't be stopped with wise use of FP. Except by Luke...
Luke is a beatstick that just crushes everything he comes in contact with. Djem So Mastery with twin, and throw2 with twin is a no win situation for almost any melee piece.
I have to admit, I didn't think I would be this interested in your tournament, but it really is awesome.
At this point and after research if I have to bet, My money is on Yoda. Out of my three suggested favorites, He is the easiest, most "plays itself" piece of the bunch. Sid has to govern his FP just right to get off lightning enough to eat up the other two's FP for defense and Luke can run out of FP if he goes too crazy with throw. Yoda gets 3 FP a round so there is no way he should ever fall victim to sid's lightning and with luke being outmatched in the Force Renewal war with Yoda, Yoda should be able to keep the pressure on beat Luke down if he fails a few Djem so saves
It's really 33% chance IMO for any of them.
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kezzamachineII wrote:Nihilus presented an interesting challenge for us rules-wise. From the floor rules: Quote:Victory is achieved if one player eliminates his opponent's entire
squad (including Reinforcements) at the end of a round while having at least one piece of his
own remaining. If this has not occurred at the end of a round, if at least one player has scored
points equal to or in excess of the format point limit (100, 150 or 200 points), the player with
the most victory points wins. You're making up your own format here, so you can rule whatever you like. But to be most consistent with the floor rules, nobody eliminates the entire squad while having at least one piece remaining at the end of the round. So the player with the most victory points wins. In other words, the *lower-cost* character wins.
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