DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER

Date   : 09/30/2016    Duedate: 10/13/2016

NOBLISH ISLAND ARENA

DM-93    TURN-462

This Weeks Top Honors

THE DUELMASTER IS

ONE
NUMBER (1705)
(93-9944) [4-1-0,49]

Chartered Recognition Leader   Unchartered Recognition Leader

POSITION IS EMPTY              ONE
                               NUMBER (1705)
                               (93-9944) [4-1-0,49]

Popularity Leader              This Weeks Favorite

ONE                            SYTHINI
NUMBER (1705)                  THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)
(93-9944) [4-1-0,49]           (93-9949) [2-1-0,17]

THE CURRENT TOP TEAM

NUMBER (1705)

          TEAMS ON THE MOVE            TOP CAREER HONORS
Team Name                  Point Gain  Chartered Team
1. BASH BROS MATCHUPS (1708)   48
2. COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)      46      THE NEST (286)
3. NUMBER (1705)               40      Unchartered Team
4. THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)      30
5. THE MANTICORES (1704)        9       (-1)

The Top Teams

Career Win-Loss Record           W   L  K    %  Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns    W  L K
 1/ 0*BASH BROS MATCHUP (1708)   4   1  0 80.0   1/ 2*NUMBER (1705)             9  6 1
 2/ 0*COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)     4   1  0 80.0   2/ 4*CRUEL LORDS (1707)        6  4 1
 3/ 4*NUMBER (1705)             16   9  2 64.0   3/ 0*THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)    6  7 0
 4- 5*ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)       9   6  1 60.0   4/ 0*BASH BROS MATCHUP (1708)  4  1 0
 5/ 1*CRUEL LORDS (1707)         6   4  1 60.0   5/ 0*COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)    4  1 0
 6- 6*COYOTES (1701)            17  18  1 48.6   6/ 6*THE MANTICORES (1704)     2  3 2
 7/ 7*THE MANTICORES (1704)      5   7  4 41.7   7- 8*ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)      1  0 0
 8/ 0*THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)     9  18  0 33.3   8/ 0*OLD MAN GAMERS (1706)     0 10 0
 9/ 0*OLD MAN GAMERS (1706)      0  10  0  0.0   9- 5*COYOTES (1701)            0  1 0

    '*'   Unchartered team                       '-'  Team did not fight this turn
   (###)  Avoid teams by their Team Id          ##/## This turn's/Last turn's rank

                                    TEAM SPOTLIGHT

                              WARRIOR & NEW TEAM DESIGN
                              HOW ONE DM/D2 VET DOES IT

     The purpose of this spotlight is to provide newer/inexperienced D2 managers with 
warrior and team design concepts and to assist newbies in observing the details of a 
real-time team who will be competing against them in their Noblish Island arena. I 
will discuss the following:

1.  An experienced manager's general design principles (over 100,000 warriors 
    designed)
2.  Some thoughts on team balance
3.  The real five-warrior design (original team roll-up) just starting to compete on 
    Noblish Island
4.  Summary and comments relevant to those designs

     First you might ask, "Who is writing this?"  And I answer that I am Cheerleader, 
manager of COLLEGE MASCOTS, a member of The Consortium who is a long, long time (30+ 
year) paying competitor in Duelmasters/D2. I will be overseeing this new team and will 
be offering you advice each round on Noblish Island. Feel free to ask me questions in 
the personal ads. You will get answers; often, very interesting answers.
     There is no one-and-only perfect design for any warrior. You will often find that 
when asking for experienced design advice, varying opinions and concepts are offered. 
However, there are some guidelines that each manager uses. The Consortium general 
design principles are:

1.  Design to strengths/excesses, generally making high roll numbers higher.
2.  WT is the first factor examined, followed by WL, which then determines the design 
    and style direction.
3.  Offensive oriented warriors need higher WT to last.  Design to 15, 17, 21 for 
    skill breaks.
4.  21 WT, 21DF, and 21 WL are coveted.  The 21DF makes an aimed-blow almost 
    inevitable.  Most managers automatically think Aimed-Blow when they can get 21 
    deftness.  Not always, but usually.
5.  All warriors except AB must have normal damage and really need good.  Make certain 
    that ST/SZ allow that, and have high enough WL to bump stats if not.
6.  9 WL is the acceptable low for offensives.  Some warriors can do well with 7 or 8. 
    Maybe.
7.  Do not add to CN for pure offensives.
8.  Defensive style warriors need solid WL and CN.
9.  Physicals never hurt any warrior.  Warriors can win early with lesser skill, but 
    good physicals.
10. If all else fails, make the design a TP.  They can win under almost any 
    circumstance.  However, they need a higher combination (total) of CN, WL, and ST 
    (especially WL).
11. If the warrior is to be long-term (meaning a godling or really, really nice roll), 
    do not design a burner.  (A burner is one where the manager intends to raise stats 
    and physicals as an intended strategy to enhanced winning.  Burners require high 
    WL as stat raises are dependent on WL.)
12. However, there is not a thing wrong with making a burner.
13. Have variation in styles in arenas.  This allows for better challenging, avoiding, 
    and matchups.  (Adding also fun and learning through variety.)
14. Design to the numbers, then choose style, rather than predetermine style, then 
    design.
15. PRIMARY PRINCIPLE: Design each warrior with the idea of winning 60%+ of its 
    fights.  Period.

     Pretty simple, it would seem.  Well, we will see how I applied these principals 
to the COLLEGE MASCOTS Team.  But first some comments on team design.
     A variety of styles is important.  Why? 

  (a) The more differing styles you experiment with, the more you learn. 
  (b) It is more fun to run differing types. 
  (c) Certain styles are susceptible to other styles and having a variety allows you 
      to take advantage (or avoid) some of those susceptibilities. 
  (d) Testing multiple styles allows you to more quickly find the style/s that you 
      enjoy most or are best with. 

I believe a manager, especially a new manager, should have at least these two warriors 
on his team:  an especially fast/quick, decent damage offensive (striker, basher, or 
maybe slasher) and a scummy warrior with lots of physicals and who wins by wearing 
down foes while parrying or sucking up hit points (total parry or maybe wall-of-steel 
or parry strike).  It is important to learn how to win with both types, and the ST 
(striker) and TP (total parry) are excellent designs to do both:  teach and win.  This 
combination is invaluable because each tends to challenge and avoid different styles, 
and most importantly, they are both easy to work with.  The other warriors on the team 
can/should be different, but I least recommend these more difficult styles for rookie 
managers. AB (aimed blow), PR (parry riposte), PS (parry strike), PL (parry lunge), 
and WS (wall of steel).

     Now on to a real life example. Below are listed the starting statistics (from the 
roll-up sheet) and the design statistics (filled out and sent in by me, Cheerleader) 
of this COLLEGE MASCOTS team just started on Noblish Island.

10-6-9-5-17-12-11 to 12-6-9-5-21-16-15 BA (basher) Design to strengths (concept #1), 
which means I add four each to WL and SP and DF. The remaining two points, I add to ST 
taking it to 12, realizing this warrior can use no weapons unimpaired, but I will 
change that with an early stat raise of ST to 13 for the mace and warhammer. Note that 
strategies 5, 6, 7, 9, and 12 are considered. I make this a basher because that style 
seems to work best (other than scum TPs) with low wit.

4-10-5-5-20-9-17 to 5-16-5-7-21-9-21 AB (aimed blow). Looking at the rollup, I see WL, 
and DF are the highest stats, so if I employ concept #1, maxing them to 21 with one 
and four points added respectively. Refer also to concept #4. The next highest is CN, 
where I add six points; my aimer may be dumb, but he is going to have some hit points! 
I add the last three points to ST at 5 and WT at 7, both being good skill points. (2 
and 5 respectively; check out the C.I.C. for confirmation.) Note that concepts 2, 8, 
and 9 were employed.

12-15-6-9-12-6-10 to 16-19-6-9-18-6-10 TP (total parry; scum). Adding to the highest 
stats (concept #1) would mean con, will, and strength, so I place all fourteen points 
there. Concept two caused me to add the six to will, leaving four each for ST and CN. 
This design was destined to be a TP. Concepts 10 and 12 also come into play.

13-6-6-9-21-10-5 to 17-6-6-15-21-12-7 SL (slasher) Per concept #1 I would be adding to 
ST, SP,WT (WL is already maxed.) and I do. I start with 6 to WT, (Check concepts 2, 3, 
and 4.) then 4 to ST and 2 to SP. Instead of adding the other two to ST or SP, I add 
them to DF, which gets me some nice workable weapons. I will make this a slasher or 
basher, but since I already have a basher, slasher it is.

12-15-15-8-8-9-3 to 13-21-15-9-14-9-3 BA (basher). First I added 6 points to CN, the 
highest stat.(Concept one.) This will be a scummy warrior. Concept two led me to 
adding 6 to WL, giving me some options to try raising stats later. One of the final 2 
points was added to ST (Back to concept 1.) And the final point was added to wit for 
the 3 skills that I will attain at 9 wit. I did not want another BA on the team, 
(concept 13) but the design simply fits a BA (basher) best. Picture a tank-basher, 
which is different than the first warrior, who is a speed-basher. They ARE different.

      Good luck competing against COLLEGE MASCOT warriors.  I suspect this team will 
readily meet the 60% objective and each warrior will do its part.  They will be a 
competitive team and they will both challenge and avoid.
     Now let's take a look at the overall design tendencies for this team in this 
situation.  We had 70 points to add to the designs.  Totaled, they look like this:

     ST = 12  (Looks about right. About 1/6 of the points.)
     CN = 16  (Very high, but looks reasonable, with a scum and a scum basher made.)
     SZ = 0   (Cannot add to size.)
     WT = 9   (1 of 2 most valuable stats.  But the average starting RUs were only 
               seven; hence lower than usual .)
     WL = 17  (Understandably high as Will was the highest average stat for this team, 
               and I did concept 1 well.)
     SP = 6   (SP and CN are usually least added stats.)
     DF = 10  (DF additions are often quite variable and this amount looks reasonable 
               for this group.)

     The tendencies look solid to me, as WT and WL are prime stats, ST and DF are 
probably next, and CN/SP are usually least added.  (Well, except for SZ!)
     So there you have it: a new team; insight to warrior and team design; useful 
tidbits from an ancient veteran.  May your stay in D2 be long and prosperous, and, 
most of all, fun.  (As mine has been.)

                                          -- Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry
                                             Consortium affiliated

***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***

                                  Bash Bros Matchups

Yes, here they are.  The worst Matchups in all the land.  Well maybe not the absolute 
worst, but I certainly don't look forward to them, because I end up on the short end 
more often than I'd like.

First up, we have the Consortium Scum.  The Consortium runs teams here alongside 
myself.  We are here to help you, so take advantage of our experience before you are 
literally thrown to the wolves in the rest of Alastari.  Before my specialized 
training, he came in as 11-12-11-10-13-9-4.  He has little in the way of strengths, 
but he does have a glaring weakness (deftness).  Lots of ways to go, but to show you 
how the Consortium abuses us all, I take from his playbook and add 6 each to con and 
will, and the last two points to strength and deftness.  12-18-11-10-19-9-5 TP.

Next up, my slow arena nemesis, Crip.  He, like the Consortium, runs most everything 
he gets.  And he turns too many of those bad setups into strikers.  And they win (and 
kill).  This one came in for me at 3-5-14-10-13-14-11.  Again, his weaknesses shine 
through very clearly.  Low strength & constitution.  I could have gone with a dagger 
aimed blow, but I have another guy that is becoming an aimed blow, so striker it is.  
The 'obvious' points to me are 1 to wit, 6 to strength, 4 to will to hit all the big 
breakpoints and max strength.  That leaves 3 points.  I typically boost attack skills 
before decise skills, and wit is a better overall stats.  So 2 more to wit and the 
last point go con. That gives me a 9-6-14-13-17-14-11 Striker.

Another manager I share arenas with a lot is Dr. Feelgood and his warriors kill.  So 
we have the Feelgood Killer.  This one came in 6-13-13-7-12-12-7.  Normally, I'd go 
11-13-13-7-17-12-11 Lunger (Dr. Feelgood runs quite the lunger army), but you'll find 
out that I love the odd and unique guys.  This one can be made into a sextuplet.  6-
13-13-13-13-13-13.  That is a pretty bad setup, so going with a 'stronger' style is 
advised.  Lunger!

The last two warriors you never want to face are typically only seen in tourneys.  
First up is the Manager Snotling.  This one came in as 14-12-9-12-5-9-9.  Ok, I'm 
leaving the simulation a bit, because the Snotlings are all Aimed Blows.  But this guy 
is somewhat reminiscient of them, with high physicals (though low will) and wit.  But 
of course the snotlings are 21 deftness with a different style.  But you take what you 
can get.  I went 16-12-9-17-9-10-11 Basher.

Finally, I hope you never meet a TMM Prize Freak.  These guys have been modified with 
tourney prizes and pretty much don't lose when it counts.  My guy is anything but one 
of these, coming in 4-10-10-10-9-14-13.  Argh, another low strength guy.  This time I 
will take the Aimed Blow design.  There are multiple ways to build this guy that I 
like, with the two AB designs being a speed design (something like 7-10-10-15-9-16-17 
or even 5 strength/18 speed) and the well suited to SC design 9-10-10-15-9-14-17.  I 
chose the SC design this time.

                                          -- Assur (Bash Bros Matchups)

                                      SPY REPORT

     If you were disturbed from your beauty rest only to have to watch a bunch of 
NOBLISH ISLAND brutes like you, you'd be grouchy, too.  Later days, BB TALK RADIO, 
since NUMBER took top team from you this turn, you guys are old news.  If this keeps 
up, COYOTES, you'll have to shine swords instead of use them.  A drop of 4 in the 
rankings?  Now let's all watch NUMBER's heads swell from their 4-1-1 this turn.  Haa 
ha ha ha!  Big shots, big talk, big deal.  I can just hear all the boasts coming in 
BASH BROS MATCHUPS' next personal ads.  Their first turn they went 4-1-0.  NOBLISH 
ISLAND saw the first turn for COLLEGE MASCOTS, a 4-1-0, and some teams are scared, 
others are too arrogant to notice.  Take note friends, take note.  Of course, we're 
all terribly impressed to see TMM PRIZE FREAK win a fight and gain 16 points, 
terribly.  Tsk, tsk, FIVE beat LORD PAIN and LORD PAIN lost 9 points.  You're 
breakin' my heart.  And it's out with the old, in with the new, as ONE takes the 
Title and last week's bar tab from the old Duelmaster.  Heh, heh.  Kickbacks and 
bribes, kickbacks and bribes, how else do you think some of these guys win their 
fights?  Skill?  Ha!   
     He who fights and runs away will live to fight another day, the coward.  What's 
the big D?  COYOTES was the most avoided team?  Bunch of lily livered... grumble... 
mumble... curse...  And it looks like NUMBER avoided them the most this turn.  What a 
pack of would be losers, if you ask me.  Hmph.  Ooh, I'm frightfully impressed, 
TAKKARI was this turn's most challenged warrior.  Watch that ego swell, sports fans.  
     Ah, now we come to my favorite part, where we see all the guys who are dead and 
gone, and get to see if their team cared.  We're all going to die in the end, so why 
worry if the fate catches up with you sooner that later?   
     What does the NOBLISH ISLAND arena have in common with the inns?  It's just as 
comfortable to sleep in either place.  Ha ha ha ha!  Well, I've had enough of this 
drivel, and I'm sure you have too.  Off like a dirty shirt of padded leather.  Glad 
to see the back of this place-- Snide Clemens  

DUELMASTER                     W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
 ONE 9944                      4   1  0    49       NUMBER (1705)

ADEPTS                         W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
-COURSER 9937                  3   3  0    42       COYOTES (1701)

CHALLENGER INITIATES           W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
 TWO 9945                      4   1  0    32       NUMBER (1705)
 FIVE 9948                     4   1  0    28       NUMBER (1705)
 FOUR 9947                     3   2  2    26       NUMBER (1705)

INITIATES                      W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
-DOGMEAT 9924                  4   3  0    21       COYOTES (1701)
-IMMURE 9936                   4   3  0    21       COYOTES (1701)
-RAZURE 9923                   3   3  0    21       COYOTES (1701)
-LONGSTER 9856                 2   1  0    21       ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)
 MORFAUS 9956                  2   0  0    21       THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)
 LIGHTNING 9941                2   2  2    20       THE MANTICORES (1704)
-CRESHENDO 9922                3   4  1    18       COYOTES (1701)
-M. ALLEN 9855                 3   1  0    17       ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)
 SYTHINI 9949                  2   1  0    17       THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)
 TMM PRIZE FREAK 9964          1   0  0    16       BASH BROS MATCHUPS (1708)
 LORD RICE-LANDS 9960          2   0  0    15       CRUEL LORDS (1707)
 SHOCKER 9970                  1   0  0    15       COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)
 CRIP'S STRIKER ARMY 9962      1   0  0    14       BASH BROS MATCHUPS (1708)
 TAKKARI 9934                  1   5  0    13       THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)

INITIATES                      W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
 HORNED FROG 9971              1   0  0    13       COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)
-AUTUMNBE 9643                 3   2  0    12       CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657)
-MONGOOSE 9940                 1   0  0    12       THE MANTICORES (1704)
 MANAGER SNOTLING 9963         1   0  0    11       BASH BROS MATCHUPS (1708)
 DEMON DEACON 9967             1   0  0    11       COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)
 SOCK 9933                     2   4  0    10       THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)
 KRATH 9932                    1   5  0    10       THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)
-LOTT R 9852                   2   1  1     9       ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)
-STABLER 9854                  2   1  0     8       ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)
 THREE 9946                    1   4  0     7       NUMBER (1705)
-DRAXXUS 9644                  1   4  0     7       CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657)
-GOBLIN BREATH 9939            1   1  1     6       THE MANTICORES (1704)
 SAPHIRE 9943                  1   2  1     6       THE MANTICORES (1704)
 RAMBLIN' WRECK 9969           1   0  0     6       COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)
 FEELGOOD KILLER 9965          1   0  0     6       BASH BROS MATCHUPS (1708)
 LORD BRYON 9961               1   1  1     5       CRUEL LORDS (1707)
 LORD HAMMER 9959              1   1  0     4       CRUEL LORDS (1707)
 LORD PAIN 9957                1   1  0     4       CRUEL LORDS (1707)
-SEARRUS 9645                  0   4  0     4       CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657)
-PERSEPHONE 9642               0   4  0     4       CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657)
-AGRISEL 9646                  0   4  0     4       CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657)
 DANGBAR 9952                  0   2  0     2       OLD MAN GAMERS (1706)
-OX 9942                       0   2  0     2       THE MANTICORES (1704)
 CHRIS 9953                    0   2  0     2       OLD MAN GAMERS (1706)
 HECTOR 9951                   0   2  0     2       OLD MAN GAMERS (1706)
 CONSORTIUM SCUM 9966          0   1  0     1       BASH BROS MATCHUPS (1708)
 WULF 9972                     0   1  0     1       OLD MAN GAMERS (1706)
-ALZADER 9894                  0   1  0     1       ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)
 RAINBOW WARRIOR 9968          0   1  0     1       COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)

'-' denotes a warrior who did not fight this turn.

THE DEAD                W  L K TEAM NAME            SLAIN BY              TURN Revenge?
LORD WHIP 9958          1  1 0 CRUEL LORDS 1707     FOUR 9947             462   
SEAN 9950               0  2 0 OLD MAN GAMERS 1706  LIGHTNING 9941        462   
TONY 9954               0  1 0 OLD MAN GAMERS 1706  LIGHTNING 9941        461   
VENDISS 9935            1  2 0 THE GALLOWGLASS 1703 SAPHIRE 9943          459   

                                     PERSONAL ADS

Good-bye all.  It has been fun Managing my River Rats.  I now turn the reigns over to 
Cheerleader, the new Consortium rep, with his College Mascot team. -- Commodore Perry

Hi. (Does a back flip.)  I am Cheerleader.  Please read my Team
Spotlight above as I reveal all. -- Cheerleader, College Mascots -- Consortium 
Affiliated
P.S. ASK ME QUESTIONS ABOUT D2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Health. Humility. Honor. -- Cheerleader

Consortium -- Bring back one of those 'easy' guys to manage your next team here! -- 
Assur
P.S. Good job on beating me in the final standings yet again!

One note on my design article.  When I said I prefer attack skills over decise skills, 
I was talking specifically about strikers.  For the 3 mostly pure offensive styles, I 
typically maximize attack skills on strikers and decise skills on bashers and 
slashers. -- Assur

                                  LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS

SEAN was butchered by LIGHTNING in a 1 minute gruesome mismatched Bloodfeud fight.
THREE was narrowly defeated by TAKKARI in a exciting 3 minute gory Challenge melee.
FIVE vanquished LORD PAIN in a 2 minute mismatched Challenge brawl.
FOUR savagely slew LORD WHIP in a crowd pleasing 1 minute novice's Challenge fight.
ONE vanquished AMBITIOUS GUARD in a exciting 1 minute bloody mismatched Title fight.
TWO handily defeated OSKSI NOBLE in a 1 minute uneven fight.
KRATH viciously subdued DANGBAR in a 2 minute gruesome duel.
SOCK lost to LORD RICE-LANDS in a 1 minute fight.
SAPHIRE was vanquished by CRIP'S STRIKER ARMY in a 1 minute gory one-sided duel.
SYTHINI savagely defeated RAINBOW WARRIOR in a popular 7 minute brutal novice's melee.
LORD BRYON was demolished by TMM PRIZE FREAK in a 1 minute mismatched competition.
HECTOR was devastated by MANAGER SNOTLING in a 1 minute one-sided battle.
CHRIS was devastated by DEMON DEACON in a 1 minute mismatched bout.
MORFAUS handily defeated LORD HAMMER in a 1 minute uneven fight.
FEELGOOD KILLER defeated WULF in a 1 minute gruesome beginner's struggle.
CONSORTIUM SCUM was savagely defeated by RAMBLIN' WRECK in a 2 minute amateur's brawl.
SHOCKER defeated EMBEZZLING SCRIBE in a 2 minute novice's bout.
HORNED FROG overpowered CONVICTED THIEF in a 1 minute one-sided bout.

                                    BATTLE REPORT

             MOST POPULAR                        RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS     
|FIGHTING STYLE               FIGHTS        FIGHTING STYLE     W -   L -  K   PERCENT|
|BASHING ATTACK                   7         BASHING ATTACK    40 -  21 -  0      66  |
|AIMED BLOW                       5         AIMED BLOW        20 -  13 -  0      61  |
|SLASHING ATTACK                  4         LUNGING ATTACK    12 -   8 -  0      60  |
|STRIKING ATTACK                  3         TOTAL PARRY        4 -   3 -  0      57  |
|PARRY-LUNGE                      3         STRIKING ATTACK   20 -  18 -  5      53  |
|TOTAL PARRY                      3         SLASHING ATTACK   14 -  16 -  3      47  |
|LUNGING ATTACK                   2         WALL OF STEEL     11 -  13 -  1      46  |
|PARRY-STRIKE                     2         PARRY-RIPOSTE      2 -   3 -  1      40  |
|WALL OF STEEL                    2         PARRY-LUNGE        4 -   8 -  1      33  |
|PARRY-RIPOSTE                    1         PARRY-STRIKE       3 -   9 -  0      25  |

Turn 462 was great if you     Not so great if you used      The fighting styles of the
used the fighting styles:     the fighting styles:          top eleven warriors are:

LUNGING ATTACK     2 -  0     TOTAL PARRY        1 -  2         3  BASHING ATTACK 
STRIKING ATTACK    3 -  0     PARRY-STRIKE       0 -  2         2  STRIKING ATTACK
AIMED BLOW         4 -  1     PARRY-RIPOSTE      0 -  1         2  SLASHING ATTACK
PARRY-LUNGE        2 -  1     WALL OF STEEL      0 -  2         1  LUNGING ATTACK 
BASHING ATTACK     4 -  3                                       1  TOTAL PARRY    
SLASHING ATTACK    2 -  2                                       1  WALL OF STEEL  
                                                                1  AIMED BLOW     

                               TOP WARRIOR OF EACH STYLE

FIGHTING STYLE   WARRIOR                     W   L  K PNTS TEAM NAME                  
LUNGING ATTACK   ONE 9944                    4   1  0   49 NUMBER (1705)
Note: Warriors have a winning record and are an Adept or Above.

The overall popularity leader is ONE 9944.  The most popular warrior this turn was 
SYTHINI 9949.  The ten other most popular fighters were THREE 9946, TAKKARI 9934, ONE 
9944, RAMBLIN' WRECK 9969, FOUR 9947, KRATH 9932, LORD RICE-LANDS 9960, CRIP'S 
STRIKER ARMY 9962, FEELGOOD KILLER 9965, and TMM PRIZE FREAK 9964.

The least popular fighter this week was RAINBOW WARRIOR 9968.  The other ten least 
popular fighters were LORD PAIN 9957, WULF 9972, CHRIS 9953, HECTOR 9951, LORD BRYON 
9961, SAPHIRE 9943, SOCK 9933, DANGBAR 9952, FIVE 9948, and SEAN 9950.

                                CHALLENGES AND AVOIDS

To clarify:  You issue Challenges to warriors, but Avoid teams.  
To Challenge, write that warrior's name and ID# in the space provided. 
To Avoid, write the team's name and Team ID in that space. 
Make sure you include the ID!

                 FACE-TO-FACE TOURNEY LVII

APPRENTICES TOURNEY                    W  L  K         TEAM NAME            
DOGMEAT 9924 (2-2-0)                   2  3  0         COYOTES              
RAZURE 9923 (2-2-0)                    2  3  0         COYOTES              
CRESHENDO 9922 (2-2-1)                 1  3  0         COYOTES              
COURSER 9937 (1-2-0)                   0  3  0         COYOTES              
IMMURE 9936 (2-1-0)                    0  3  0         COYOTES              

                             * * * * *   MEMO  * * * * *

From:       The Office of Accurate Census Reporting, Gladiatorial Commission
To:         All Managers

In the interest of preserving our natural resources and preventing managerial writer's 
cramp, the census form has been eliminated, effective immediately.  Managers may 
register their warriors' races and/or favorite sayings by simply writing them on a 
separate piece of paper and submitting them to the Commission.  Each warrior may have 
up to 15 favorite sayings.  Each saying must be categorized Jeer, Gloat, Boredom, Ouch, 
Victory and may be up to 70 characters long.  For any questions, please contact the 
Gladiatorial Commission. 

                                   FAXING IN TURNS

     If you fax in your Duelmasters turns, realize that most fax machines have a 
border on the right and left side of the paper where no image is transmitted or 
printed.  When you put your strategy sheet in the fax machine, make sure you allow 
extra room on the right side, especially if you are challenging that turn.  When the 
ID# of the warrior you are challenging is cut off, we are unable to enter the 
challenges.  There are four possible solutions to this problem:  

    1)  Load the strategies farther to the left, so the Duelmasters dude is cut off, 
        rather than your challenges, 
    2)  Write the ID# of the warrior you're challenging in the space for the name, 
    3)  Load the strategies long-wise (but then you have to be careful about 
        overlapping the sheets, which can also cut off the ID#s), or 
    4)  Face the fact that you won't get all of your challenges through.  

We'd prefer solutions 1-3, but it's your choice. 
     Also, please be careful that your fax machine isn't transmitting too darkly or
lightly.  If you write your turn in pencil, some fax machines will transmit the 
pencil so lightly we can't read it when it gets here.  If your fax machine can make
copies, it's a good idea to try making a copy first to make sure it's readable, adjust
the darkness if you need to, and then fax it to us.  Be especially wary of the 
Advanced Duelmasters Strategy Sheets, because if your fax machine sends the grey 
shading too darkly, we won't be able to read those lines at all.
     Good luck!

                                          -- Green Eyes

                                 TRICKS OF THE TRADE

     Here are a few tricks of the trade I've found out.
     15, 17, and 21.  Those are the magic numbers for stats; any fighter who starts 
with a stat (except Con and Size) at any of those numbers will have more beginning 
skills than normal.
     Stats:  The stats in order of importance with regard to skills, most to least, 
are wit