DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER

Date   : 10/14/2016    Duedate: 10/27/2016

NOBLISH ISLAND ARENA

DM-93    TURN-463

This Weeks Top Honors

THE DUELMASTER IS

ONE
NUMBER (1705)
(93-9944) [5-1-0,66]

Chartered Recognition Leader   Unchartered Recognition Leader

POSITION IS EMPTY              ONE
                               NUMBER (1705)
                               (93-9944) [5-1-0,66]

Popularity Leader              This Weeks Favorite

ONE                            MONGOOSE
NUMBER (1705)                  THE MANTICORES (1704)
(93-9944) [5-1-0,66]           (93-9940) [1-1-0,12]

THE CURRENT TOP TEAM

NUMBER (1705)

          TEAMS ON THE MOVE            TOP CAREER HONORS
Team Name                  Point Gain  Chartered Team
1. COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)      43
2. NUMBER (1705)               19      AVENGERS (287)
3. BASH BROS MATCHUPS (1708)   15      Unchartered Team
4. THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)       0
5. ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)         0      COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)

The Top Teams

Career Win-Loss Record           W   L  K    %  Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns    W  L K
 1/ 2*COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)     8   2  1 80.0   1/ 1*NUMBER (1705)             9  6 1
 2/ 1*BASH BROS MATCHUP (1708)   7   3  0 70.0   2/ 5*COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)    8  2 1
 3/ 3*NUMBER (1705)             20  10  2 66.7   3/ 4*BASH BROS MATCHUP (1708)  7  3 0
 4- 4*ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)       9   6  1 60.0   4- 3*THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)    6  4 0
 5/ 5*CRUEL LORDS (1707)         6   9  1 40.0   5/ 2*CRUEL LORDS (1707)        6  9 1
 6/ 7*THE MANTICORES (1704)      5   8  4 38.5   6/ 6*THE MANTICORES (1704)     2  2 2
 7- 8*THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)     9  18  0 33.3   7- 7*ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)      1  0 0
 8- 9*OLD MAN GAMERS (1706)      0  10  0  0.0   8- 8*OLD MAN GAMERS (1706)     0 10 0

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

                                      SPY REPORT

     Hail NOBLISH ISLAND!  Warriors of the arena, prepare to be praised and blamed 
for your deeds.  COLLEGE MASCOTS stable has parlayed this turn's 4-1-1 into a 3 space 
move up the rankings.  This brings them up to 2nd place.  Good work, guys!  And let's 
see, HORNED FROG fought FIVE and gained 16 points and contributed to COLLEGE MASCOTS' 
4-1-1.  FIVE has lost to HORNED FROG, falling 13 points, while helping make NUMBER a 
4-1-0 turn.  The attempts to dethrone the Duelmaster have failed, and ONE remains 
NOBLISH ISLAND's top warrior for another turn.  Can someone confirm a rumor for me?  
I hear the top team makes their losing fighters do dishes at The Welcome Wench until 
they win.  Maybe?   
     Oriental wise man once say, 'Hiding behind shields prevents proper sun tanning.' 
Inscrutable, but true.  I also notice that the ROSS' RAIDERS stable was the most 
avoided team this turn.  Come on NOBLISH ISLAND, what are you afraid of?  And 
avoiding ROSS' RAIDERS more than any other team we find COLLEGE MASCOTS.  NOBLISH 
ISLAND, are we going to accept, or respect this sort of thing?  Well, sports fans, 
take notice that FOUR from NUMBER was NOBLISH ISLAND's most challenged warrior this 
turn.  Building dreams on hope, LORD PAIN challenged up 28 points this turn to take 
on TWO from NUMBER stable.  Well, LORD PAIN was defeated by TWO, but LORD PAIN gained 
1 in recognition for his efforts.  Thank goodness for small favors.   
     We only live a short time in this world, so why not take a sharp blade, and 
shave it close?  Is it really true that NOBLISH ISLAND has more dishwashers per 
capita that fighters?  Just thought I'd ask...   
     I like this place, NOBLISH ISLAND, the taverns have old wine, and young serving 
girls.  Who could ask for more?  Well, I'm burning daylight here in NOBLISH ISLAND 
and I've a long road ahead of me.  Happy Trails.  Until you see my quill in NOBLISH 
ISLAND again, farewell-- Alarond the Scribe  

DUELMASTER                     W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
 ONE 9944                      5   1  0    66       NUMBER (1705)

ADEPTS                         W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
 TWO 9945                      5   1  0    36       NUMBER (1705)

CHALLENGER INITIATES           W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
 FOUR 9947                     4   2  2    32       NUMBER (1705)
 HORNED FROG 9971              2   0  0    29       COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)

INITIATES                      W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
 TMM PRIZE FREAK 9964          2   0  0    22       BASH BROS MATCHUPS (1708)
-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)
 CRIP'S STRIKER ARMY 9962      2   0  0    20       BASH BROS MATCHUPS (1708)
 SHOCKER 9970                  2   0  0    20       COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)
-M. ALLEN 9855                 3   1  0    17       ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)
 RAMBLIN' WRECK 9969           2   0  1    17       COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)
-SYTHINI 9949                  2   1  0    17       THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)
 FIVE 9948                     4   2  0    15       NUMBER (1705)
 RAINBOW WARRIOR 9968          1   1  0    15       COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)
-TAKKARI 9934                  1   5  0    13       THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)
 CONSORTIUM SCUM 9966          1   1  0    13       BASH BROS MATCHUPS (1708)
-AUTUMNBE 9643                 3   2  0    12       CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657)
 THREE 9946                    2   4  0    12       NUMBER (1705)
 MONGOOSE 9940                 1   1  0    12       THE MANTICORES (1704)
-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)
 DEMON DEACON 9967             1   1  0     8       COLLEGE MASCOTS (1709)
 LORD RICE-LANDS 9960          2   1  0     7       CRUEL LORDS (1707)
-DRAXXUS 9644                  1   4  0     7       CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657)
-GOBLIN BREATH 9939            1   1  1     6       THE MANTICORES (1704)
 LORD BRYON 9961               1   2  1     6       CRUEL LORDS (1707)
-SAPHIRE 9943                  1   2  1     6       THE MANTICORES (1704)
 LORD HAMMER 9959              1   2  0     5       CRUEL LORDS (1707)
 LORD PAIN 9957                1   2  0     5       CRUEL LORDS (1707)
 FEELGOOD KILLER 9965          1   1  0     4       BASH BROS MATCHUPS (1708)

INITIATES                      W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
-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)
 CRUEL HAMMER 9978             0   1  0     1       CRUEL LORDS (1707)
-WULF 9972                     0   1  0     1       OLD MAN GAMERS (1706)
-ALZADER 9894                  0   1  0     1       ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)

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

THE DEAD                W  L K TEAM NAME            SLAIN BY              TURN Revenge?
MANAGER SNOTLING 9963   1  1 0 BASH BROS MATCH 1708 RAMBLIN' WRECK 9969   463   
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  NOT REVENGED

                                     PERSONAL ADS

Hector -- Recommend using SC, BS, or QS (I much prefer the first two) with what I know 
about your stats.  For sure you can use the 2nd well suited.  Bashing weapons in 
general are not as good as slashing (or lunging) weapons.  Slashing weapons tend to be 
the best overall, though. -- Manager Snotling

Sapphire -- Welcome to one of the worst matchups in the game.  Your style is one of 
the harder ones and you do not want to see my style most of the time.  SC and LO are 
usually the go to weapons for your style, but feel free to experiment with the others. 
-- Crip's Striker Army

Cruel Lords -- I would recommend just DAing Lord Bryon.  With the big of a size, 
choosing a hybrid style is going to make it very hard to succeed.  When I get the big 
guys, I'm usually looking at Basher, Striker, or Slasher first.  If those don't work, 
I will look at Lunger, Wall of Steel, Total Parry, or maybe Aimed Blow.  But I fear 
you will only learn that Lord Bryon's design doesn't work well (and the first kill 
against a Mordant Deserter should mostly be ignored as a data point of 'working') -- 
Assur

Wulf -- Try HA against light armor (it's pretty fast) and I like each of BS, SC, and 
BA against heavier armors. -- Assur

Ramblin' Wreck -- You should follow my example and come out in APA/F LG/LG.  You'll 
provide entertainment for days in that get up! -- Consortium Scum
P.S. I was supposed to give your manager losses

Rah, rah to ONE, The Duelmaster of Noblish Isle. -- Cheerleader, College Mascots (and 
Consortium affiliated)

What!!?? Those Bash Bros Matchup cretins edged us out for point gain.  Assur and his 
muscles are soooooo MEAN! -- Cheerleader (dropping her megaphone)

Old Man Gamers, glad to have you here.  A little trivia for you.  There are three 
active managers in D2 who are 70+! Surprise, eh? They may be the original Old Man 
gamers. -- Cheerleader (leading a cheer for the old men)

And welcome to all the other teams in DM93.  It is a true pleasure to chat, teach, 
answer, and compete with Y'all.  YES! -- Cheerleader
P.S. We ARE here to help and answer questions.  You have two long-time players here to 
help YOU.  (Assur and Cheerleader.)

The list: Number, Coyotes, Ross' Raiders, The Gallowglass, Caveat Emptor, The 
Manticores, Cruel Lords, Old Man Gamers.

Two bits
Fours bits
Six bits
A dollar
All for New Managers
Stand up and holler!
-- Cheerleader

Chris, you old man, I may have been lucky, but I can hit quite hard. -- Demon Deacon 
(Wake Forest)

Synthini, you were the better warrior and the better style and I salute you. -- 
Rainbow Warrior (Hawaii)

Consortium Scum, oh what a pleasure it was to lay a loss on you and Assur!  Oh, yeah! 
-- Ramblin' Wreck (Georgia Tech)

Convicted Thief and Embezzling Scribe, thanks for being there to help us work up a 
sweat.  We love you RSI NPC's.  We do. -- Horned Frog ((TCU) and Shocker (Wichita 
State)

Health. Humility. Honor. -- Cheerleader (The Consortium motto)

                                  LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS

LORD BRYON was devastated by FOUR in a 1 minute mismatched Bloodfeud fight.
RAINBOW WARRIOR handily defeated FEELGOOD KILLER in a 4 minute Challenge match.
HORNED FROG viciously subdued FIVE in a 6 minute bloody Challenge brawl.
DEMON DEACON was defeated by TMM PRIZE FREAK in a 1 minute novice's Challenge fight.
LORD HAMMER was bested by THREE in a 2 minute Challenge duel.
LORD PAIN was overpowered by TWO in a 1 minute one-sided Challenge struggle.
ONE handily defeated M. CHARDINEE in a 2 minute uneven Title fight.
MONGOOSE was unbelievably bested by SHOCKER in a 7 minute beginner's duel.
LORD RICE-LANDS was unbelievably bested by CONSORTIUM SCUM in a 5 minute duel.
CRIP'S STRIKER ARMY overpowered CRUEL HAMMER in a 1 minute uneven match.
MANAGER SNOTLING was savagely slain by RAMBLIN' WRECK in a 2 minute novice's fight.

                                    BATTLE REPORT

             MOST POPULAR                        RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS     
|FIGHTING STYLE               FIGHTS        FIGHTING STYLE     W -   L -  K   PERCENT|
|BASHING ATTACK                   5         AIMED BLOW        21 -  11 -  0      66  |
|AIMED BLOW                       3         BASHING ATTACK    38 -  22 -  1      63  |
|TOTAL PARRY                      3         LUNGING ATTACK    11 -   7 -  0      61  |
|STRIKING ATTACK                  2         TOTAL PARRY        6 -   4 -  0      60  |
|PARRY-STRIKE                     2         STRIKING ATTACK   19 -  18 -  3      51  |
|LUNGING ATTACK                   2         SLASHING ATTACK   13 -  16 -  3      45  |
|PARRY-RIPOSTE                    2         WALL OF STEEL      9 -  13 -  0      41  |
|PARRY-LUNGE                      1         PARRY-RIPOSTE      2 -   3 -  1      40  |
|SLASHING ATTACK                  1         PARRY-STRIKE       4 -   8 -  0      33  |
|WALL OF STEEL                    0         PARRY-LUNGE        4 -   9 -  1      31  |

Turn 463 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:

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

                               TOP WARRIOR OF EACH STYLE

FIGHTING STYLE   WARRIOR                     W   L  K PNTS TEAM NAME                  
LUNGING ATTACK   ONE 9944                    5   1  0   66 NUMBER (1705)
BASHING ATTACK   TWO 9945                    5   1  0   36 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 
MONGOOSE 9940.  The ten other most popular fighters were FOUR 9947, THREE 9946, 
FEELGOOD KILLER 9965, HORNED FROG 9971, TMM PRIZE FREAK 9964, LORD HAMMER 9959, LORD 
RICE-LANDS 9960, RAMBLIN' WRECK 9969, TWO 9945, and ONE 9944.

The least popular fighter this week was FIVE 9948.  The other ten least popular 
fighters were CONSORTIUM SCUM 9966, MANAGER SNOTLING 9963, CRUEL HAMMER 9978, SHOCKER 
9970, DEMON DEACON 9967, RAINBOW WARRIOR 9968, LORD BRYON 9961, LORD PAIN 9957, 
CRIP'S STRIKER ARMY 9962, and ONE 9944.

                 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              

               NEW GRADUATES--FROM ALL ARENAS (INCLUDING CLOSED ARENAS)

For those of you who keep track of such things, several additional warriors 
graduated from regular DM arenas (including closed arenas) since the last tournament. 

                     SONNY TERRY (30-3912) of DELTA BLUES (374) 
                 BLOOD RED SKIES (32-5430) of CALL THE PRIEST (344) 
                         DINO ORTALANI (69-9537) of OZ (944) 
                   TUESDAY WELD (73-6047) of CALENDAR GIRLS (453) 
                ELEPHANTTRANQUILIZER (82-855) of HARD LIQUOR 3 (140) 
                    FLOYD 101 (82-53144) of ROOKIE PINK 61 (8965) 
                      DOWRY WRAITH (82-50172) of 072507J (8439) 
                       CRIKEY! (82-45396) of SURPRISE! (7631) 
                  COCKROACH (82-47295) of THIRSTY THUGS 705 (7946) 
                  URETHRA FRANKLIN (82-16581) of R-E-S-P-E-E (2518) 
                  SACRED DOOM (82-10660) of HAUNTED CASTLE 3 (1569) 
                      HELPER HAND (84-4344) of DOODS III (848) 
                    QUICKSILVER (84-7055) of MORE Q STUFF (1335) 
                         CRUTCH (84-15431) of OLD ONE (2726) 
              THONG RENAISSANCE (84-14786) of THE ORLANDO MOB 17 (2602) 
                    THE CREATOR (84-32899) of LOITER SQUAD (5769) 
                 THE WHITE WHALE (84-47164) of GOTTA SERVE 2 (5903) 
                     PIMPLED NINNY (84-28547) of 012112H (5057) 
                   SFC 10 (84-23902) of MEDAL OF HONOR 101 (4237) 
                    FLATLINER (84-45870) of BAD NEWS BEERS (7928) 

Congrats to the grads. -- Green Eyes

                                 Article for Newbies

     This here is an article aimed mostly at you new managers to the game out there.  
This chart is a consensus of managers on the internet about how they felt each style 
fairs against all other styles at the beginning levels of the game.  Of course, once 
you get ten or so fights under your belt the whole scenario changes and you can throw 
this right out the window.  But in the  meantime, use this chart to help you get a 
feel for the game, how the  different styles interact with each other and to hopefully 
dispel those 5-25 starts that can make you drop the game.  Hope this helps you some.

                         KEY FOR ODDS OF WINNING:

              1 - ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE     6 - BETTER THAN EVEN
              2 - HARDLY LIKELY         7 - GOOD CHANCE
              3 - NOT MUCH              8 - HIGHLY PROBABLE
              4 - SLIGHT CHANCE         9 - MOST DEFINATELY
              5 - 50/50                10 - ALMOST GUARANTEED

                   Reminder:  Left Row vs Top Column

          BA    ST    LU    SL    AB    TP    PS    PL    PR    WS  
    BA     5     2     6     6     8     9     7     6     5     6
    ST     8     5     8     9     9     6     7     5     6     4
    LU     4     4     5     6    10     5     7     7     9     6
    SL     4     1     5     5     8     6     8     7     8     9
    AB     2     2     2     4     5    10     6     6     6     7
    TP     3     4     6     4     1     5     7     8     6     5
    PS     3     3     3     4     5     4     5     4     5     4
    PL     5     4     3     3     6     2     7     5     7     6
    PR     7     5     2     2     4     5     6     3     5     4
    WS     5     8     6     2     4     6     7     5     6     5

    There you have it folks.  I would personally like to thank all the managers on the 
internet who made a contribution to this effort.  You know who you are.  Also a big 
nod of appreciation goes out to the mighty PUG (Ben Hitz) who organizes and runs the 
roundtable and without whose effort little projects like this would prove quite 
difficult.

                              David Gottwald - Magic Man

                              The Crew - Monuntial (34)
                           Rocky's Heroes - North Fork (47)
                       Tragedy Strikes - Andor (57) (inactive)
                              Natural Born - Illis (59)
                               Slow & Easy - Aradi (60)
                           Omega Squadron - Dragonhead (72)

                          MAKING YOUR CHALLENGES GO THROUGH

     First, you need to be sure you are making your challenges correctly.
     1.  Are you writing down the warrior I.D. number of the warrior you want to 
challenge?
     2.  Is your handwriting clear?
     3.  Is the warrior you are challenging within range of your warrior?  Warriors 
can challenge within their own class and the next higher class, plus the "Challenger" 
classes can also challenge the next lower class.  So, an Adept can challenge Adepts 
and Challenger Adepts.  A Challenger Adept can challenge Adepts, Challenger Adepts, 
and Champions.  (Try not to challenge down, though.  Besides being unsportsmanlike and 
making everyone mad, it isn't advantageous to your warriors.  They need to fight more 
experienced warriors so they will learn.)
     4.  Are your warriors eligible to make challenges?  If they didn't fight within 
the last two turns, then they can't challenge.
     5.  Are the warriors they want to fight eligible to receive challenges?  If they 
didn't fight within the last two turns, then they can't be challenged.

     Next, adjust your choices for the maximum likelihood of getting your challenges.  
There are several things that will help:
     1.  Have each of your warriors challenge two different opponents from two 
different teams.  That way, if the first opponent's team doesn't fight that turn, you 
still might get your second challenge.
     2.  Use your avoids.  Have each warrior avoid the teams of whoever you think 
might be likely to challenge him.  If you can get out of being challenged, that 
increases your chance of getting your own challenge through.
     3.  Don't challenge warriors who didn't fight last turn.  The odds are higher 
that they won't be fighting this turn.
     4.  Don't challenge warriors who might be involved in a bloodfeud (either as the 
killers, or the avengers).  A bloodfeud challenge has priority over all other 
challenges.
     5.  Don't challenge Tournament Victors.  A TV challenge has priority over all 
other challenges except bloodfeuds.  You'll need to do a little research in back 
issues of the newsletter to find out who the TVs are.
     6.  Don't challenge warriors who you know are going to challenge someone else, or 
are going to get challenged by someone else.  Your challenge has a better chance of 
getting through if it is the only challenge to that particular warrior.
     7.  Don't challenge the "easy pickings."  That is, warriors above you who have 
way too few fights or very bad records for where they are ranked.  They will tend to 
get challenged a lot.
     8.  Don't challenge warriors who are likely to be avoiding your team.  This 
includes any warrior your team fought within the last two turns.
     Well, it sounds like I've eliminated just about everybody, doesn't it?  Of course 
you can challenge opponents who fit into one or more of those categories; just try to 
find ones who don't.  Your idea candidate for a challenge is:  A warrior ranked 
somewhat above your warrior in the same class, or in the next higher class, with a few 
more fights than your warrior, and a winning record, who isn't a TV and isn't 
currently at war with anyone.
     I hope this will be of some help to you.

                                                  The Rogue She-Puppy

          MAXIMIZING THE DUELMASTERS EXPERIENCE: WHAT THE RULES DIDN'T SAY

     When you get your turn results in the mail it is very important that you squeeze 
as much enjoyment as possible out of that envelope!  I recommend (and also use!) the 
following procedures.
     First, open the envelope lengthwise with a letter opener.  Remove the blue-sheet 
BUT DON'T LOOK AT IT!  It may tell you that you are broke and owe RSI a lot of money.  
Flip it over instead!  The blue-sheet will be used as a "hider" when you read the 
fight results line by line, so you don't see the end of the fight by mistake and ruin 
the excitement.
     Remove the rest of the sheets in one smooth maneuver and place the flipped-over 
blue-sheet on top of the pile, without looking at anything.  You don't want to 
accidentally uncover an unexpected replacement rollup.  This is a traumatic experience 
that should be avoided at all costs, as it indicates that one of your battles didn't 
go exactly as planned.
     Now you must prepare your room, or whever you are, for the battles.  If you are 
suicidal, or a lousy manager, or a suicidally lousy manager, remove all sharp objects 
from the area.  If you happen to manage an entire team of scummy warriors it is okay 
to leave a loaded musket nearby.
     The next step is to put on music.  It definitely adds to the experience to have 
your favorite tunes playing in the background, preferably AS LOUD AS YOU CAN GET AWAY 
WITH!  I christen each new warrior with a song that is his and his alone, and play 
that song whenever it is his turn upon the sands.  It is a personal choice but I 
recommend Judas Priest, Manowar or Metallica.  Avoid Abba and Barry Manilow (like I 
had to say it).  It is also important to match the song length with the expected 
length of the fight.  Don't choose "The Immigrant Song" for your 21-con Ultra-Scum.  
Likewise, don't choose "Stairway to Heaven" for your quick lunger.  Finally, sometimes 
it is nice to choose an exceptionally violent alternate selection for those 
Bloodfeuds.
     Now you are almost ready!  The final preparatory step (optional) is to prepare a 
pot of coffee.  Beer also works well, especially on Fridays, but I understand that 
some managers are not Well-Suited to that particular beverage.  I've heard the Duke 
Malibu in Solven drinks goat blood, but mind you this is only a rumor.  For the final 
touch, try putting on any handy armor you have.  Or a loin-cloth.  I put on most of my 
hockey gear.
     The fights are on!  The music is loud!  The coffee is good!  Read the fights 
slowly, line by line using your blue-sheet as a guide.  Don't go too fast, now.  Yell, 
"Yeah!" if your warrior scores an especially gruesome hit.  Cringe if your warrior 
feels the joys of a great axe connecting with his face (that means you, Marilith).  
Raise your fist in the air when that total parry realizes that his last shield has 
broken!  And cry when your favorite gladiator is gravely injured and then takes ten 
consecutive war hammer shots to the head...
     When the end of the fight comes you will be emotionally drained, so yell out, 
"Huzzah!!!" or "Damnnn!!!" or whatever, to take the edge off.  When the fighting is 
ended take a breather before preparing for the next cycle's fights.  Reflect on what 
has transpired and make a few notes.  You'll be a better person (and manager) for it!  
Isn't Duelmasters great?

Brought to you by ICE (the deranged): DM-49 (Vithicar) Rotting Livers (205)
                                      DM-10 (Kolact) Beermacht
                                      DM-22 (Solven) Steel Warriors
                                      DM-24 (Zorpunt) No Escape

                           Winning With the Average Warrior

     Hi!  The Master of Anime here...  Yeah, yeah, I know, you're all doing a 
collective, "Who the Hell is this character?"  Well, my claim to fame, if you can call 
it that, is that I run Eve, one of the more popular, if not completely unspectacular, 
warriors to fight in Alastari.  I am a micro-manager (you've heard of mega-managers?  
Well, think in reverse) who has been mainly running only one team during my 8+ years 
of Duelmasters.  This little write-up is aimed towards the less experienced managers, 
the ones that can be brainwashed from some of the "How to build the perfect 
warrior..." spotlights that tend to appear from time to time.
     Many of the "How to build..." spotlights tend to deal with roll-ups that are 
quite ideal, but in reality, rarely come out of RSI's number crunching machine, 
commonly referred to as "the Roll-Up Gods".  There have been a few good articles on 
how to design skillful warriors from 'average' roll-ups.  Those articles, in my 
opinion, are the most helpful to new managers for the simple fact that you will almost 
always get an 'average' roll-up.  Occasionally, that 'average' roll-up might turn out 
to be something special, and that is what I would like to key in on.
     I know a lot of managers who will continually DA their warriors until they get 
something that is as close to perfect as possible.  You know, the warrior with three 
or four 17s or the warrior with a couple of 21s or that size 3 or 4 warrior, etc...  
If you are a relatively new manager and you are also doing this, I think you are 
missing out on one of the more intriguing aspects of this game and that is warrior 
development.
     Being a micro-manager, I do not have an army of warriors like the mega-managers 
do, but I'd like to think that I can hold my own against them (hey, if you're gonna 
dream, dream big).  Anyway, back to the point.  One of my 'average' warriors seems to 
have achieved a form of notoriety in Advanced Duelmasters to the extent that even the 
ever quiet Mirage (manager of Donatello) has had something to say (it was at the last 
Tempe FTF and my warrior, at the end of the 6th or 7th round, was listed as the top 
Primus warrior on the tourney list.)  Mirage pointed at my warrior on the list and 
said, "That, is embarrassing..."  I took it as a compliment.  In case you're 
wondering, my warrior is Akira (the reason I'm writing this article is that I've been 
approached many times of late by managers who wanted to see Akira's numbers, thinking 
he had some sort of godlike roll-up.  I set them straight).
     I'm not going to print Akira's numbers in this article for the main reason that I 
don't have them with me at this time (it'll probably tick-off a lot of managers whose 
warriors Akira has beaten anyway), but I do know this... he has about 30 attribute 
increases and only one attribute is in the 20's, that one being WL (he even got gypped 
by not getting some skills that you normally think he'd get by raising WL up the 
20's).  He won't be getting another attribute above 20 for a long, long time.  (I 
think his next highest attribute is 17... note that this is after the 30 or so 
increases...)  You should have a pretty good idea how generic this roll-up is... a 
roll-up that would probably be DA'd by most managers looking for a good roll-up... a 
roll-up that I even said, "I'll run him for kicks, but will probably retire him once 
he gets to AD."... a roll-up that entered AD with a less-than-stellar 14-10 record... 
a roll-up currently on a 20 fight win streak... a roll-up with three consecutive 
Primus TVs.
     So, before you give up on that average warrior, think again about giving him a 
chance to flourish... he might suprise you as Akira has surprised me.  Good luck in 
the arena!

M.A., a proud member of GAPPDA
P.S.  If you want to know Akira's original roll-up, diplo Anime Legends (Arena 102, 
104).
P.P.S.  Swift -- We GAPPDA members are NOT slugs!!!  At least, I don't think we are...

                                     TWELVE TIPS

     A rookie manager asked me a question recently which prompted my "teaching juices" 
to flow.  I quote: "Just give me a dozen hints, and I'll leave you alone!"  Obviously, 
his challenge prompted me to organize my thought creating my Twelve Tips.  
     "Now wait a minute!" I hear you asking.  "Why should I read on?"  Simply put:
-- If you're an experience manager, you'll want to "clue me in" on other valuable tips 
I missed.
-- If you're a "newbie," these tips will enhance your W-L record and compound your 
fun.
     "But, are they GOOD tips?" you ask.  Believe me, fellow opponents, after 5000+ 
fights, dozens of "tutored pupils," many A.D. warriors, and a rather lofty W-L record, 
they're GOOD tips.  So here we go, in no particular order.
(I)  ASK FOR HELP--Ask RSI about the Sponsor Program.  Diplo "good" managers in your 
arena.  Proclaim your willingness to learn in a personal ad.  You'll get some 
conversation.
(II) OFFENSIVES FIRST--This is not an easy game, and the basher, lunger, striker can 
be readily designed and more easily "mastered." (Whatever that means.)  Avoid the most 
difficult finessives, such as aimers (AB), rippers (PR), and probably wastes (WS).  
Get some confidence first!  Most of us old-timers yet struggle with a good aimed-blow.
(III) SKILLS, SKILLS, SKILLS--One of the most prevalent rookie errors is training too 
many stats.  Skills win fights, and in the long run, you will regret certain stat 
raises.
(IV) COLLECT DATA--The more you know about your own warrior (And even with the same 
stats, warriors differ) and the more you know about your opponents, the more likely 
you can cause something "good" to happen.  In the military/political world, we call 
this "intelligence." (Clue: ask about a D.M. handbook filled with info.)
(V) PERSONAL ADS--Don't be a jerk!  But write some every time.  Let me assure you that 
an unliked rookie cannot succeed in an arena against the local "Powers-in-control."  
You want to create friendly opponents. (When you know what you're doing--then you can 
try the jerk routine!)
(VI) TURN SHEET--Accuracy counts.  Fill it out perfectly (and legibly) pal!  Know what 
each section is for. (Reread the instructions.)  Many have been the surprised and 
frustrated manager who caused his or her own problem! (Even us "megas" blow it now and 
then!) 
(VII) NO CON--Don't ever (well maybe 1% of the time) add points to constitution on an 
offensive rollup.  Other attributes may add skills; con won't.  (Just wait until you 
hear someone shout never add to con--ever.  I didn't say that.)
(VIII) ONE WEAPON--For offensives.  When you get to finesse styles, you'll understand 
why you may want one in your off-hand also.  But, almost always carry a backup. (Hands 
can be hurt both striking and defending.)
(IX) CHALLENGE/AVOID--Always!  A manager's prime purpose is to optimize his warrior's 
chances.  Challenge those you'll have a good shot at beating and avoid teams who can 
cause you the most difficulties. (Challenge warriors--avoid teams.)
(X) ENTER TOURNAMENTS--What a way to acquire skills and experience without impacting 
your arena W-L record.  Actually, you will create a positive impact in that those 
"tournament earnings" are "hidden" from other arena warriors.  Plus, tournaments are a 
real "rush!"
(XI) FIND A FRIEND--In every arena find at least one "friendly" foe.  Share opponent 
info.  With two, or more, of you sharing, look how much more "intelligence" you'll 
have.
(XII) STAY COOL--Don't let any problem (loss, death, personal ad, error, etc.) anger 
you. (This is fun, right?)  The cool head wins more matches than the emotional one.
     So good luck, rookie!  We were all in your shoes once. (And for some of us that 
was a long, long time ago.)

                              THE CONSORTIUM
                              DM 8  Smithsonian (Curator)
                              DM 11 Bulldogs (Kennelworth)
                              DM 20 Animal Farm (Mino)
                              DM 46 Fandils (Fandil the Wise)
                              (and many, many more)

                                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!

                                      A REMINDER

     On behalf of the mailroom slaves, please, please, put your arena number on 
everything, including your personals and diplos!  
     All diplos must show the recipient's name, team name, and arena number.  
     Sometimes stuff gets misfiled, delayed, not printed, or not delivered because we 
don't know where it belongs.  Thank you.
                                          -- A lowly mailroom slave

                             * * * * *   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, will, deftness, speed, and strength, with con giving you no skills, just hit 
points and endurance.  The higher you can start any of these, especially the first 
three, the more skilled your fighter will be.  Logically, therefore, what you really 
want is a fighter who has wit, will, and deftness at 21.  This will be a GOD!  And 
probably go out and get killed immediately due to low con...
     Raising stats:  Care must be taken in doing this.  All fighters start out with 
the ability to learn 20 skills in the categories of  Defense, Parry, Riposte, Attack, 
Decisiveness, and Inititive.  When you learn all 120 skills, you've maxed out.  You 
can get skills though normal learns, or by raising stats; however, if you raise stats 
BEFORE you max out (except for Con), anything gained will count as one of the 20.  
This is called "burning" skills.  If, on the other hand, you wait until you've maxed 
out, then raising stats will add those skills to the ones you've learned, enabling you 
to exceed your limits.  But raising stats will give an immediate boost to your 
abilities.  It's a question of short term vs. long term gain, you see.
     And aiming at vital areas - head, chest, and abdomen - will increase your chances 
of getting kills.  And being bloodfeuded, and maybe getting your fighter killed in 
return.  Keep in mind that what you send forth will come back to you.  Sometimes 
redoubled.

					  Roku

                              STRENGTH AND WEAPON DAMAGE

                                      by Pagan

     Weapon damage is equated to Strength + damage class.  Damage Class is 
categorized by Size.  So damage seems to be done like this:
     1.  Armor weight + 12 + any bonus it has vs weapon type is a negative to the 
damage done.  
     2.  Damage done is strength + damage class variable + weapon variable.
     3.  Slashing, Bashing, & Lunging  increase the damage done.
     4.  When the damage done equals 1 or less then there is a weapon bounce 
statement.  The minimum damage a blow can do, if it does not bounce, is 1 point of 
damage.  The program knows there's a hit before it knows damage, so it can't reverse 
a hit, you merely take one point of damage because the weapon bounced off the armor.
     5.  The lower your strength, the more bounces you will see.  The lower your 
damage class, the more bounces you will see.  The lighter weight a weapon is vs the 
armor it's hitting, the more bounces you will see.
     6.  In reverse to #5, all of those secondary-damage statements (often referred 
to as extra-damage statements), such as "it was a devastating blow"... "what a 
massive blow" -- these merely show that you hit your opponent with enough damage to 
exceed the computer secondary-damage statement threshold.  Your warrior caused enough 
damage to exceed a programmed set number (whatever that number may be) and the fight 
is only showing that you exceeded that number.  The programmed number for the 
secondary-damage threshold is a hard number: it is constant within the program and is 
used for all fights and all warriors.  It is not random, simply because it cannot be 
random and keep any consistency with the Damage-Classes.  It has nothing to do with 
how much damage you did in relation to your opponent's hit-points, either.  If you 
exceed that hard number in damage, you get a printed statement showing that to be the 
case.  There is no such thing as Extra Damage.

Pagan

                        TEAM AND CHARACTER MAINTENANCE SERVICE

     As a service to all managers, we offer team and character maintenance.  This 
option allows you to make sure your team or selected warriors will never miss a turn!

     Team Maintenance:  This will cause all warriors on that team to fight every 
     turn; if it's an AD arena, any new warriors who arrive on that team will 
     fight the turn they arrive.  In A.D. or in transfer arenas where you have 
     multiple teams, each team will need to separately be on Team Maintenance.  
     (The only exception is new warriors; they will not fight until they have had 
     their initial strategy input.)  

     Character Maintenance:  This will cause only that warrior to fight every 
     turn.  If the character graduates or changes arenas, he/she/it will stay on 
     Character Maintenance.

     In either case, you may submit strategy sheets for your warriors each turn, if 
you wish.  The Team/Character Maintenance will make sure your warriors fight each 
turn, and they will always use their most recently entered strategy.
     Remember that challenges, avoids, and challenge/if challenged strategies will not 
carry through from turn to turn.  These sections are only used on the turn they are 
entered.  In order to continually challenge or avoid you will need to submit a 
strategy sheet each time. 
     One other thing to remember about maintenance:  Maintenance is not something 
that you write on your turnsheet (like in demo tourneys).  In order to add or remove 
maintenance for a team or warrior, you must send a note to Customer Service.  If you 
just write things like this on your strategy sheet, they may or may not get done.  
Likewise, don't write it on your personal ads.  Please, please, please put it on a 
separate piece of paper with "Customer Service" written on the top.  If you don't, 
well, you can imagine.
     Thanks for your time.  Good luck in Duelmasters! -- Green Eyes