DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER

Date   : 07/02/2021    Duedate: 07/15/2021

NOBLISH ISLAND ARENA

DM 93    TURN 586

This Week's Top Honors

THE DUELMASTER IS

GREED
BB CBA NEGOT. (1814)
(93-10621) [4-1-0,44]

Chartered Recognition Leader   Unchartered Recognition Leader

POSITION IS EMPTY              GREED
                               BB CBA NEGOT. (1814)
                               (93-10621) [4-1-0,44]

Popularity Leader              This Week's Favorite

BAD FAITH                      GREAT WHITE SHARK
BB CBA NEGOT. (1814)           VICIOUS FISH 2021 (1818)
(93-10622) [3-2-0,35]          (93-10648) [2-0-0,20]

THE CURRENT TOP TEAM

FLOWERS! (1816)

          TEAMS ON THE MOVE            TOP CAREER HONORS
Team Name                  Point Gain  Chartered Team
1. BB CBA NEGOT. (1814)          34 
2. VICIOUS FISH 2021 (1818)      19    RAGE (388)
3. THIRD HIGHWAY 3 (1815)        15    Unchartered Team
4. FLOWERS! (1816)               5  
5. SHAKN-NOT-STIRD (1820)        3     PHOENIX FORCE (1811)

The Top Teams

Career Win-Loss Record           W   L  K    %  Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns    W  L K
 1/ 1*PHOENIX FORCE (1811)       6   3  0 66.7   1/ 1*FLOWERS! (1816)          10  5 0
 2/ 2*BB CBA NEGOT. (1814)      15  10  0 60.0   2/ 2*BB CBA NEGOT. (1814)      8  7 0
 3/ 3*FLOWERS! (1816)           12   8  0 60.0   3/ 5*VICIOUS FISH 2021 (1818)  6  4 0
 4/ 4*VICIOUS FISH 2021 (1818)   6   4  0 60.0   4/ 4*PHOENIX FORCE (1811)      4  2 0
 5/ 5*THIRD HIGHWAY 3 (1815)    12  18  0 40.0   5/ 3*THIRD HIGHWAY 3 (1815)    4 11 0
 6- 7*DOMINION (1817)            0   4  0  0.0   6- 7*DOMINION (1817)           0  4 0
 7/ 0*SHAKN-NOT-STIRD (1820)     0   3  0  0.0   7/ 0*SHAKN-NOT-STIRD (1820)    0  3 0

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

                                    TEAM SPOTLIGHT

                               All About D2 Tournaments
               A Face-To-Face Is Imminent (July 16 2021) in Cincinnati.
                                 Here's How It Works.
               (An Actual Scenario For A Previous Noblish Isle Warrior)

     The purpose of this spotlight is to give newcomers to D2 a sense or feeling or 
information about tournaments, in this case a recent past Face-To-Face tournament, 
held in Tempe near the RSI offices. Hence, Billiken of College Mascots from Noblish 
Isle was selected as the guinea-pig. Rah, rah, Billiken!

     So, a tournament. Four times a year RSI holds tournaments. Winter and Summer are 
Face-To-Face Tournaments where managers from all arenas compete on-site against each 
other face-to-face and can change strategies each and every fight if they wish. The 
Winter Face Site has always been in Tempe, AZ, (the RSI Home Site) while the summer 
event in held in varying cities east of the Mississippi. (Some of the last ones  were 
in New Orleans, LA, Kansas City, MO, the Washington, DC area and, Tampa, FL.) The 
Mail-In Tournaments are done completely via mail and managers submit predetermined 
strategies for their entered warriors. (Each warrior is allowed a primary strategy and 
also a secondary strategy which will be employed against selected styles.)

     Both events cost $7.00 per warrior and are truly great fun. Warriors compete in 
classes, thereby allowing similarly experienced warriors from all arenas to be fairly 
matched with each other. In tournaments, a warrior's chance to learn skills or earn 
stat increases is half that in normal arenas. Supposedly, the chances of dying are 
also halved.

     Why might I want to do this? I had four real reasons. 

     (1) Tournaments are fun; a real rush, as the warrior and manager gets lots of 
fights in a very short period. -- minimum three fights 

     (2) Seeing one's warrior compete against warriors from many other arenas is 
fulfilling and a good judge of the skill and status of one's own warrior and one's own 
management style. 

     (3) The warrior acquires fights plus skills and/or stat raises that are "hidden", 
meaning that those fights and resultant learnings cannot be seen in the arena status 
listing of the warrior. For example, Billiken was 3-0-1 on the Noblish Island 
newsletter prior to the tournament, and despite fighting several fights in the 
tournament, will be listed at 3-0-1 after the tournament. 

     (4) At Face-To-Face events, one gets to meet, and often befriend, other Managers 
of the game. (The knowledge transfer can be quite significant.)

     I entered Billiken from Noblish Island in The 2017 Winter FTF. Prior to fighting 
him in The FTF, I wanted to give him the best possibility to succeed. I prepared to 
fight him in the Apprentices class. Classes are segregated by FE -- Fight Equivalents. 
What is a fight equivalent? Each arena fight counts as one fight and any tournament 
fights count as a half fight. The Apprentices Class is for warriors with 1-4 FE. 
Having no tournament fights prior, I wanted to try to "max" Billiken for Apprentices. 
By "max" I wanted him to fight with the maximum FE possible in that class. By doing 
so, I would optimize his chances to have as many skills as possible and to succeed. 
Alas, I was unable to do so, only getting Billiken three fights prior to the Face; 
hence, he was one fight "light", but that wasn't too bad.

     Pre-Tournament, Billiken looked like this: 11-13-5-15-21-8-11, a Lunger who was 
right-handed, intelligent, incredibly quick and elusive, did normal damage, had good 
endurance, and had an expert in attack on the roll. He earned expert defense after one 
learn in the arena, so I also knew he was +2 to 4 attack skills and +4 defense. Nice, 
but not a godling.

     Billiken did o.k. in the tournament, finishing 3-3 (1 a grudge match) against the 
best Apprentices in the land, even though he was only 75% maxed. He also learned/ 
trained well, earning 1 stat (CN, moving endurance to great) and 7 skills. (mostly 
initiative) Perhaps a general fight-by-fight summary would prove of value?

     First, let me list for you the one strategy I chose:

                        8-9-9-7-7- 4- 4       ASM/S
                       10-9-6-3-3- 1-10       0-13 = SS  
                        6-6-6-7-7-10- 4       14+  = LO 
                        N-L-N-N-N- L- N       b/u  = DA
                        D-N-N-N-N- N- D

     Strategies, armor, weapons, backups, tactics, training, etc, etc. are all 
variable, and explaining MY choices or normal Consortium choices would require a much, 
much longer spotlight. Perhaps another day. 

     As to Billikens's tournament action:

Fight one against a sz13 scum TP -- Billiken swung 26 times with the LO, 1 crit, but 
with his only normal damage could not take the scum down and lost in six rounds, 
earning an init and attack skill.

Fight two, a sz8 aimer (ale/l sc/-) with a lot of dodging and back and forthing, the 
aimer was a winner; Billiken was 0/10/0 with the SS earning a riposte and init skill.

Fight three, which Billiken has to win or he is out! (3 losses and done) another 
aimer, also sz8, who was ale/l and using fist. The fight was nearly identical to the 
previous fight except Billiken won, going 0/9/0 with the SS and earning one init 
skill.

Fight four, a striker at sz11, naked, and with a scimitar. Billiken dodged his 
advances in the first round, traded strokes with him in the second, finally getting 
his best crit of the tourney, knocking him down, and finishing the win in three 
rounds. He was 1/10/0 with the SS. (one init skill)

Fight five, another scum, sz8, and Billiken did not know he was fighting a scum.  
(APM/F SH/ME) Had he known, in the FTF, he could and would have changed his strategy  
to slow down and hopefully take out the scum.  But instead, although Billiken 
performed well with the LO, going 4/20/0, he lost in 4 rounds. He finished at 2-3, 
earning another init. BUT.......

A final special grudge match is allowed at FTFs, so Billiken brokered a match up with 
a basher. A sz 11, naked, HL wielding basher. Scary. For the grudge Billiken wanted to 
test a strategy. Since he was pretty defensive skilled and not so much of a damaging 
hitter, 6-6-2 dodge,with ale/l sh/- (low armor, and LO high armor). He learned the 
basherwas going 10-10-7 decise in the first round. Amazingly, Billiken dodged the 
first two swings of the massive halberd, then jabbed him twice for the win and a 
decent 3-3 record. He was training for a CON stat and got it, not only adding to hit 
points, but giving him great endurance.

Billiken says he was glad to get out of the FTF alive! Such is Billiken's Face-To-Face 
tournament saga. He was an OK 3-3. He earned 7 skills, and a stat increase which 
enhanced his hit points and endurance.

Key things you might have learned from this article:

     1. 4 tournaments held plus their type and timing
     2. FE = Fight Equivalents
     3. Tournament Prep
     4. Some basic Consortium lunger strategies
     5. The value of tournaments to your warriors (and you)
     6. Stat raising and burning skills

                            -- Written by: A DM93 Consortium Manager (updated 6-23-21)

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

THE ALLIGATOR GAR

I have graduated 3 Aimers out of a total of 30 graduates for a 10 per cent success 
rate of graduating Aimers among the total of my graduates from years-gone-by.

I have graduated a Fist favorite, a Scimitar favorite and an Epee favorite Aimed Blow.

Over the years, I have lost track of how many of my Aimers have died along the way, 
including one last year that was climbing the Champions ranks in Arena 8, shortly 
after being reactivated.

Although it is challenging to create a competitive Aimer, especially one that will 
find a way to climb the Basic Arena recognition ranks and graduate, creating such an 
Aimer is ultimately rewarding.

The Alligator Gar has begun his journey towards becoming a successful graduate as a 9-
8-12-17-9-8-21 Aimer. Right out-of-the-gate he will be forced to face his opponents 
with a 9 ST and an 8 CN that he will not try to improve upon, mainly because he only 
has a 9 WL and wasting turns trying to raise either of those stats would be unfruitful 
at best.

This is mainly due to the fact that he possesses a 17 WT and his 10 turns of training 
in DM 93 would be better served training skills to improve his prowess upon the battle 
arena sands!

However, his first win against a 2-2-0, 14 opponent was a bit of a disappointment, 
mainly because he only trained one skill for his efforts!

Although he has very little endurance and cannot take a lot of punishment, this Aimer 
is blessed, because he rolled up with 15 Attack skills and arrived in the arena with 
an Expert in Attack, so time will tell how blessed he is with Attack skills!

Note to New Players: Expert rating is 16 skills and Advanced Expert rating is 20 
skills, so however many skill-learns it will take The Alligator Gar to get 20 Attack 
skills will determine how blessed he truly is! He is at least +1 and hopefully more!

An interesting observation: when I ran my Fist favorite Aimer in DM 101, I was arming 
him with an off-handed SH and later with an off-handed SC when he trained his ST to 9 
to be well-suited to the SC. He made attacks with his off-handed weapon and rarely 
attacked with his Fist favorite!

On occasion, he would usually attack with his Fist after his opponent was worn down by 
attacks with his off-handed weapon; so, I sent The Alligator Gar into his first Basic 
Arena battle in DM 93 to fight using his Fist with an off-handed Scimitar!

I chose to dress him in armor to help protect him, because he cannot take a lot of 
punishment, so I sent him out onto the DM 93 battle sands wearing Ringmail and a Helm 
to help preserve his life!

The Alligator Gar opened his first fight by timing a devilish cunning attack, Scimitar 
leaping with deadly force! His opponent was struck on the right leg!

The Alligator Gar then made a brilliant twisting thrust with his Scimitar! His 
opponent took a lower body hit that was a tremendous blow! That tremendous blow sent 
his opponent desperate!

The Alligator Gar then struck his opponent with his off-handed Scimitar that sorely 
wounded him on the right thigh, causing him to crumple to his knees!

As you can see, there was no attack by The Alligator Gar with his Fist as a primary 
weapon!

However, he did make two critical hits with his off-handed Scimitar!

The jury is still out as to whether-or-not the Scimitar is his favorite weapon, but it 
did prove to be effective against his first opponent on the DM 93 battle sands!

I have already decided which arena that my Vicious Fish 2021 stable will 
transfer/graduate to after 10 turns of sand battles here at Noblish Island DM 93; 
where The Alligator Gar can either graduate from or die there, as long as he survives 
here!
               
                              -- Hammer, Duel 2 Sponsor, mgr of Vicious Fish 2021

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

                               How to make a loser win

One of the most common problems new (and even old) managers face is what to do when 
their young promising warrior keeps losing.  Understanding how to turn a warrior 
around is a skill that once acquired, will be invaluable.

One of the first things to understand is that warriors improve their abilities by 
learning skills and training stats.  This means your opponents are improving, too.  A 
warrior with lower wit is at an inherent disadvantage. Once you leave Noblish Island, 
21 wit is a lot more common than you'd care to think about.  That said, not every 
warrior has 21 wit, but the way things have progressed, most managers are highly 
focused on tourney success and in basic, that usually means 21 wit.  So if you are a 
lower wit warrior (say 13 or less), your opponent likely has been learning faster than 
you have.  But wit and skills are not the only thing that you need to win.  Plenty of 
warriors with low wit are very successful.  Even offensives can do very well with 11 
wit (maybe even lower, but I don't recommend it).

Use your challenges and use your avoids.  That alone will do much to improve your 
record.  Looking at how you have won and lost will give you clear clues. Especially 
how you've won.  These are the fights you want to replicate and avoid.  Your warrior's 
strengths and weaknesses determine who you want to challenge and avoid.

Next, what you've been doing isn't working.  Start to change things up.  Even some 
offensives fight better when you start to lower the numbers.  And hybrids and 
defensives can dramatically change their careers by altering the numbers just 
slightly, especially offensive effort.  As to whether you want to increase or decrease 
numbers, there is no hard and fast rule.  I will say that very low activity level is 
usually the first thing you want to remove on most warriors.  Those super low activity 
levels aren't the best unless you are a scum or are facing a scum (scum being a total 
parry that tries only to wear you out).  I've had numerous warrior magically start to 
fight better when I run on certain numbers, though.

Weapon selection is another key item.  Weapons have different attributes. Changing 
weapons can help your warrior.  Almost every weapon has circumstances where I'll use 
it.  The only weapon I'll never use is the MS (but the bashing weapons in general are 
worse than the slashing and lunging weapons).  Learn what weapons are good for what 
circumstances.

The last thing I'll mention in this article is optimizing a warrior.  This is key for 
your losers.  I started this article by hinting that all warriors are not equal.  This 
is the only way you can make a truly inferior warrior win. Optimize him for a single 
way to win.  Ignore all other fights and hope he faces someone that he can beat in his 
way to win.  There will always be someone who can beat you, but if you try to make a 
loser win all his fights, you won't succeed.  We publish many articles on what makes a 
good 'this type of warrior articles in these newsletters.  Choose the type that best 
matches your warrior's strengths and optimize your strategy for that -- then look for 
warriors that can lose to your strategy.  And if all else fails, look for other losers 
to beat up!

This article assumes that you actually WANT to try and make your loser win. There is 
another, perfectly acceptable solution.  The Dark Arena is your friend!

                                 DUELMASTER'S COLUMN
                             Notes from the arena champ.

Well look at that.  Another Assur warrior on the throne.  Unfortunately, my confidence 
in Greed staying here is low.  Unlike Pets, he does not have what it takes to 
consistently beat champion level NPC's.

But whether it ends this turn or next turn, I'll enjoy the top while I've got it.

Perhaps Omni can take over next turn!  Let's just keep the flowers in the ground!

                                          -- Assur

                                      SPY REPORT

     Greetings warriors!  It is I, Zontani Sharp Eyes, here to bring report of the 
clash and bustle of the weekly NOBLISH ISLAND games.  BRUTAL BARRACUDA caught the eye 
of many in the gladiatorial commission as he skillfully bested DAISY and was awarded 
12 points in recognition.  In one of the week's more notable duels, UGLY put down THE 
ALLIGATOR GAR, causing him to lose 8 points of recognition in the process.  Our 
Duelmaster has lost, folks, lost to KHALHUMS DWARF, BUT GREED is still the Duelmaster 
because he has the most recognition points!  Informants "close" to the city champion 
have told me that he never fights without pantyhose on beneath his armor.  Watch out! 
     I have been in deep conclave with my spies who watched all that has recently 
transpired.  Indeed there is much I would report.  NOBLISH ISLAND, city of 
gladiators!  Mighty among the names of thy guilds is FLOWERS!, a guild shunned and 
avoided by many in the weekly duels.  Apparently the stalwarts of BB CBA NEGOT. are 
catching the bulk of jests down at the challenging board for their large share of the 
avoids.  Mighty fighters cannot but expect competition from those below.  DAISY take 
warning!  You have more than a few enemies in NOBLISH ISLAND.  I can not but mention 
with disdain the name of GREAT WHITE SHARK who this week posted a challenge to a 
warrior a full 8 points below in the rankings.  I thought GREAT WHITE SHARK showed 
great skill and promise when he defeated LOCKOUT.  All right, so I slept through it!  
Big deal!   
     What warrior does not hone his years, impatiently waiting for the moment of his 
foe's mortality?  Fate is a fickle mistress.  She showers the miserable with fortune 
but sets enemies against the victorious.  Remember this!   
     The girls are as pretty in NOBLISH ISLAND as ever I remembered them....and the 
fighters as ugly!  Don't let your reputation slip!  More than a sharp eye must I 
keep, indeed a stout pair of legs must I keep as well!  The endless paths of Alastari 
await me!  Till next we meet remember:  a fool flies into a rage quickly and often.  
The wise are angered by the same thing only once.  Zontani Sharp Eyes  

DUELMASTER                     W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
 GREED 10621                   4   1  0  44         BB CBA NEGOT. (1814)      

ADEPTS                         W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
 BAD FAITH 10622               3   2  0  35         BB CBA NEGOT. (1814)      

CHALLENGER INITIATES           W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
 OMNI 10596                    4   0  0  33         PHOENIX FORCE (1811)      

CHALLENGER INITIATES           W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
 UGLY 10639                    3   1  0  30         BB CBA NEGOT. (1814)      
 POPPY 10633                   4   0  0  29         FLOWERS! (1816)           
 IRIS 10635                    3   1  0  25         FLOWERS! (1816)           

INITIATES                      W   L  K POINTS      TEAM NAME                  
 EDGAR DETOUR 10630            3   3  0  20         THIRD HIGHWAY 3 (1815)    
 GREAT WHITE SHARK 10648       2   0  0  20         VICIOUS FISH 2021 (1818)  
 LILY 10632                    3   1  0  17         FLOWERS! (1816)           
 STRIKE 10623                  4   1  0  16         BB CBA NEGOT. (1814)      
 CHUCK BYWAY 10628             3   3  0  13         THIRD HIGHWAY 3 (1815)    
 BRUTAL BARRACUDA 10650        1   1  0  13         VICIOUS FISH 2021 (1818)  
 PERILOUS PIRANHA 10647        1   1  0  11         VICIOUS FISH 2021 (1818)  
 DON CRESCENT 10629            2   4  0  10         THIRD HIGHWAY 3 (1815)    
 FAREN END 10631               2   4  0  10         THIRD HIGHWAY 3 (1815)    
 CASEY BOONE 10638             2   3  0   9         THIRD HIGHWAY 3 (1815)    
 THE ALLIGATOR GAR 10649       1   1  0   9         VICIOUS FISH 2021 (1818)  
 THUNDERHAMMER 10597           2   2  0   8         PHOENIX FORCE (1811)      
 LOCKOUT 10625                 1   4  0   7         BB CBA NEGOT. (1814)      
 CROCUS 10634                  1   3  0   7         FLOWERS! (1816)           
 DAISY 10636                   1   3  0   6         FLOWERS! (1816)           
 PUFFER FISH PERIL 10646       1   1  0   4         VICIOUS FISH 2021 (1818)  
 PIERCE BROSNAN 10658          0   1  0   1         SHAKN-NOT-STIRD (1820)    
 SEAN CONNERY 10656            0   1  0   1         SHAKN-NOT-STIRD (1820)    
-JUNA THE HAWK 10645           0   1  0   1         DOMINION (1817)           
 TIMOTHY DALTON 10660          0   1  0   1         SHAKN-NOT-STIRD (1820)    
-SYRUN NEL 10641               0   1  0   1         DOMINION (1817)           
-GRYMGAR 10642                 0   1  0   1         DOMINION (1817)           
-GILDED ALOINE 10644           0   1  0   1         DOMINION (1817)           

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

THE DEAD                W  L K TEAM NAME            SLAIN BY              TURN Revenge?
WEAPON DELTA 10593      0  1 0 PHOENIX FORCE 1811   HUGH LATIMER 10558    583   

                                     PERSONAL ADS

What?! Strike's on top? I hope they do strike. Buncha high paid rumdums! And ugly, 
too. Flowers are pretty! -- Rose Of Sharon

Great start for your fish, Hammer! Kudos. -- Rose Of Sharon
P.S. Fine DM Column, too.
P.P.S. Will Assur write a good one?

Buffer Fish Peril, you took all the water and I wilted. -- Daisy

Hah, Daisy, but I got me a fish. A mean ole barracuda! -- Crocus

Omni, well done. Are you a sandbagger? -- Lily

We dusted off the Highways! -- Poppy and Iris

In this beautiful world of ours, there is nothing prettier than the Flowers. -- Rose 
Of Sharon

All -- Fellow warriors, be on notice.  I have authorized my agents to infiltrate 
Noblish Island and eliminate all S.P.E.C.T.E.R. sympathizers. Please excuse the mess 
they make. -- MI6, mry of Shakn-Not-Stird (SNS)

All -- Thank you for the confidence M, I'll do my best for you. -- Timothy Dalton

All -- Happy to serve, ma'am.  As the original 007, I'll try to set a good example for 
the younger ones. -- Sean Connery

     The original is Barry Nelson (1954), 1 film only. -- NAIEI

Greed -- Your throne looks quite comfortable.  Don't mind if I do.  I shall sit on it 
very soon. -- Pierce Brosnan

Lily -- You are a generous and worthy opponent. -- Omni

Rose of Sharon -- Great article regarding Bashers! -- Hammer
P.S. Your stable did get a taste of both victory and defeat from my vicious delicious 
stable!

Don Crescent -- Wild Card Joker is gone and now you must deal with me! Victory to me 
on our first sand battle! Salute! -- The Alligator Gar

Jorja -- Interesting take on Aimers! Discouragement comes from many avenues of the 
learning process for new players! Aimers are especially heart-breaking at all levels 
of the Basic Arena rankings! Hopefully, we all continue growing and learning! -- 
Hammer, Duel 2 Sponsor, mgr of Vicious Fish 2021

New Players -- Pay attention to warrior creation articles! Do not be afraid to roll up 
an Aimer, especially if you get a 21 DF opportunity! Concentrate on warriors that you 
think will be fun to run early in your managerial career! -- Hammer, Duel 2 Sponsor, 
mgr of Vicious Fish 2021

Edgar de Tour -- Queen Of Clubs is no longer an avoiding choice! However, you do have 
some vicious considerations for avoids in the immediate future! -- Hammer, mgr of 
Vicious Fish 2021

Faren End -- Your gladness to no longer see Queen Of Hearts may be short-lived should 
you encounter my vicious stable! -- Hammer, mgr of Vicious Fish 2021

Lockout -- My victory came from the luck-of-the-draw! Salute! -- Great White Shark

Strike -- Your victory wore me down! Salute! -- Perilous Piranha

Crocus -- Brutal sand battle, but I survived the Infirmary! Salute! -- Brutal 
Barracuda

Daisy -- You wilted from the lengthy heat of our battle! Salute! -- Puffer Fish Peril

New Players -- Be sure to pay attention to what the Consortium wrote about Bashers in 
the T-585 newsletter! Do not be shy to ask questions! Enjoy the game! Win or lose! -- 
Hammer, Duel 2 Sponsor, mgr of Vicious Fish 2021

Bashers can and should be bashed.
Can they win?!?  Yes.
Can they TC?!?  Yes.
Are they the 9th worst style overall?!?  Yes.
Are they below average at all levels of the game?!?  Yes. -- Assur
P.S. Are they my favorite style in spite of this?!?  Yes.

Hammer -- Hoping to see your next team on the sands soon! -- Assur

Jorja speaks some wisdom.  It is very true that AB's are NOT dominant UNTIL they get 
to ADM.  They are very good at the very beginning of their careers, but do not 
'usually' stay that way.  My four most recent AB's in DM 93 were:
     Pets: 9-1 (mostly against Champion level NPC's -- a good matchup)
     Deliveries: 8-2 (A near perfect Rookie type AB, using a prototype that is 
     fantastic early in its career)
     Indoors: 6-4 (A nice looking AB, .500 record)
     Lockout: 1-3 (An AB type that I like to run, but I see very mixed results with)
Taking away Pets and Deliveries (luckily took and kept the throne and stats that are 
perfect early in its career), my recent AB's are 7-7.  I know what I'm doing. Both of 
these AB's are decent designs.  Yet I'm .500 with them here where Consortium and I 
typically have very good records.

Scanning the spotlights, it occurs to me that a definition of "sandbagger" might be 
useful. -- Jorja, who was born a basher in Lin Tirian (dm 78)
P.S.  I got curious and looked her up:  started 13-9-13-15-17-10-7, trained up speed 
and deftness, graduated with four kills, hasn't run in a long time.  Favors QS, 
high/low, bash tactic.

Whoever asked -- Nobody does well with a strength below six, but some survive if they 
wear armor. -- Jorja

Poppy -- You're too bright.  I don't know what I did last night, but my head aches too 
much to look at you. -- Chuck Byway

Thunderhammer -- I shoulda taken a detour on my way to the arena today. Ouch. -- Edgar 
de Tour

Alligator Gar -- I'm writing this on the one hundred seventy-eighth anniversary of an 
alligator falling out of the sky in Charleston, South Carolina.  Amazing what you can 
find in the almanac.  I'd like to throw you out of the sky. -- Don Crescent

Ugly -- You've been taking ugly pills, haven't you?  Mean pills, too. -- Faren End

Iris -- Do you know anyone who LIKES hospitals? -- Casey Boone

                                  LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS

THUNDERHAMMER was devastated by BAD FAITH in a 1 minute mismatched Challenge fight.
GREAT WHITE SHARK won victory over LOCKOUT in a 3 minute beginner's Challenge battle.
STRIKE defeated CROCUS in a 2 minute amateur's Challenge duel.
BRUTAL BARRACUDA devastated DAISY in a 1 minute one-sided Challenge fight.
GREED was subdued by KHALHUMS DWARF in a 2 minute Title competition.
OMNI devastated FAREN END in a 1 minute mismatched match.
POPPY viciously subdued CHUCK BYWAY in a 2 minute gruesome fight.
EDGAR DETOUR vanquished PUFFER FISH PERIL in a 2 minute uneven duel.
DON CRESCENT lost to IRIS in a action packed 1 minute fight.
LILY viciously subdued SEAN CONNERY in a 2 minute brutal novice's fight.
CASEY BOONE overcame PIERCE BROSNAN in a 2 minute novice's bout.
UGLY demolished THE ALLIGATOR GAR in a crowd pleasing 1 minute mismatched match.
PERILOUS PIRANHA devastated TIMOTHY DALTON in a 1 minute one-sided battle.

                                    BATTLE REPORT

             MOST POPULAR                        RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS     
|FIGHTING STYLE               FIGHTS        FIGHTING STYLE     W -   L -  K   PERCENT|
|STRIKING ATTACK                  6         SLASHING ATTACK   13 -   7 -  1      65  |
|BASHING ATTACK                   5         BASHING ATTACK    29 -  21 -  0      58  |
|LUNGING ATTACK                   4         TOTAL PARRY       17 -  14 -  0      55  |
|TOTAL PARRY                      4         AIMED BLOW        26 -  22 -  2      54  |
|AIMED BLOW                       3         LUNGING ATTACK    21 -  18 -  0      54  |
|SLASHING ATTACK                  2         STRIKING ATTACK   26 -  27 -  1      49  |
|WALL OF STEEL                    1         WALL OF STEEL     10 -  12 -  1      45  |
|PARRY-LUNGE                      0         PARRY-RIPOSTE      5 -  13 -  0      28  |
|PARRY-STRIKE                     0         PARRY-STRIKE       0 -   0 -  0       0  |
|PARRY-RIPOSTE                    0         PARRY-LUNGE        0 -   2 -  0       0  |

Turn 586 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     3 -  1     AIMED BLOW         1 -  2         4  STRIKING ATTACK
BASHING ATTACK     3 -  2     TOTAL PARRY        1 -  3         3  LUNGING ATTACK 
SLASHING ATTACK    1 -  1     PARRY-LUNGE        0 -  0         2  BASHING ATTACK 
STRIKING ATTACK    3 -  3     PARRY-STRIKE       0 -  0         1  AIMED BLOW     
                              PARRY-RIPOSTE      0 -  0         1  TOTAL PARRY    
                              WALL OF STEEL      0 -  1     

                               TOP WARRIOR OF EACH STYLE

FIGHTING STYLE   WARRIOR                     W   L  K PNTS TEAM NAME                  
STRIKING ATTACK  GREED 10621                 4   1  0   44 BB CBA NEGOT. (1814)
Note: Warriors have a winning record and are an Adept or Above.

The overall popularity leader is BAD FAITH 10622.  The most popular warrior this turn 
was GREAT WHITE SHARK 10648.  The ten other most popular fighters were POPPY 10633, 
LOCKOUT 10625, CROCUS 10634, GREED 10621, EDGAR DETOUR 10630, LILY 10632, BAD FAITH 
10622, IRIS 10635, UGLY 10639, and STRIKE 10623.

The least popular fighter this week was TIMOTHY DALTON 10660.  The other ten least 
popular fighters were PUFFER FISH PERIL 10646, CHUCK BYWAY 10628, DAISY 10636, 
THUNDERHAMMER 10597, THE ALLIGATOR GAR 10649, PIERCE BROSNAN 10658, SEAN CONNERY 
10656, DON CRESCENT 10629, FAREN END 10631, and OMNI 10596.