[Matt Helm]

The first annual HelmAverse Scapesgiving happened this year and it was a blast. Normally when the Helm family plays, we play either 2, 3 or 4 players on a reasonably sized map depending on that number. With other people now interested, I prepared for the after dinner festivities by setting up three different worlds designed for 2 player games. The boys were shocked that we weren't going with a free for all but I thought it would be better for player engagement if I had three matches going simultaneously right next to each other. And boy I was right.

So we had six players to start (Matt Helm had to sit out the first match because my niece was sick of her boyfriend's begging and wanted to try it out herself). The maps included a lava flowing volcanic atoll with waterfront, a narrow snowy mountain path, and a heavy vegetation filled swamp. We had a draft lottery for 1000 point armies with each player not knowing which map they were playing on or which opponent they were facing. after drafting, I drew placements randomly.

Surprise rule right before the first games began... any figure that is destroyed cannot be played again by any player. Only surviving figures can make it to the next fight.

GAME 1
Map 1: Volcano Island - Helm Jr. v. Lil'Helm (brother v. brother)
Map 2: Mountain Pass - J-Strikes v. Boyfriend (of niece)
Map 3: Bushy Swamp - Nephew v. Niece (brother v. sister, long time veteran v. first timer)

Map 1 saw one of the best battles of the night.
Helm Jr. - Dr. Strange, Venom, TNMT, Black Lightning, Nightcrawler
Lil' Helm - Moon Knight, Professor Zoom, Flash, Hellboy
Flash went down real early. Moon Knight and Hellboy picked off the Turtles. Figures fell for both sides until ultimately it was Dr. Strange facing off against Moon Knight. M.K. was wounded enough to die but his Pain Tolerance kept him alive long enough to drop Dr. Strange down to 2 life left. One more hit could have done it but Strange landed a pretty good one on Moon Knight and on the next turn he had too many markers on his card to successfully roll to live. Moon Knight dropped and Dr. strange was the only figure making it to round 2.

Map 2 - J-Strikes mopped the floor with Boyfriend. I cannot even remember who was battling there but the dice rolls heavily favored J-Strikes and it was a massacre. I know Boyfriend's last figures were Super Skull and a few Skull Warriors but they went down like the rest.

Map 3 was unfair from the start. I tried to help my niece but with my Nephew's team building and play experience combined with an unfair amount of dice luck, this one was ugly to watch.
Nephew - Thanos, Captain America, Green Lantern, Falcon
Niece - Ultron, Dr. Doom, Scarlet Witch, Merlyn
It was an unfair match up. GL had no Special Attacks to mimic but that also meant that my niece had no weapons that could penetrate the Emerald Shield. She had chosen the team hoping to end up on the lava map but instead she got beaten down in the swamp. She did successfully steal Cap with Ultron but didn't get to use him because Thanos crushed Ultron returning cap to my nephew. Dr. Doom Mind Exchanged Cap several more times in the game but every time his attacks on his allies failed with bad rolls. It didn't take too long for my nephew to crush his sister leading to her forfeit from the tournament. We offered her seat to my other niece's boyfriend but he was just content watching the battles.