DM 093 Newsletter

Total warriors from this arena = 1911

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DM 093 Newsletter

DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER

Date : 05/01/2026 Duedate: 05/14/2026

NOBLISH ISLAND ARENA

DM 93 TURN 712

This Week's Top Honors

THE DUELMASTER IS

KIT FOX
GHOST BEARS! (1970)
(93-11549) [5-2-0,52]

Chartered Recognition Leader Unchartered Recognition Leader

POSITION IS EMPTY KIT FOX
GHOST BEARS! (1970)
(93-11549) [5-2-0,52]

Popularity Leader This Week's Favorite

ADDER ADDER
GHOST BEARS! (1970) GHOST BEARS! (1970)
(93-11548) [5-2-1,50] (93-11548) [5-2-1,50]

THE CURRENT TOP TEAM

GHOST BEARS! (1970)

TEAMS ON THE MOVE TOP CAREER HONORS
Team Name Point Gain Chartered Team
1. DON'T AVOID US (1972) 46
2. GHOST BEARS! (1970) 36 IRON DRAGON (495)
3. BASH BROS SUPPER (1971) 11 Unchartered Team

DON'T AVOID US (1972)

The Top Teams

Career Win-Loss Record W L K % Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns W L K
1/ 0*DON'T AVOID US (1972) 4 1 1 80.0 1/ 1*GHOST BEARS! (1970) 12 2 0
2/ 1*GHOST BEARS! (1970) 25 9 1 73.5 2/ 0*DON'T AVOID US (1972) 4 1 1
3- 2*BRASS BAND (1968) 27 13 0 67.5 3- 2*BRASS BAND (1968) 4 6 0
4/ 0*BASH BROS SUPPER (1971) 1 4 0 20.0 4/ 0*BASH BROS SUPPER (1971) 1 4 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 And An Example
An Actual Scenario For A Former Noblish Isle Warrior

SUMMER FACE-TO-FACE IN CHARLOTTE!

We hope you will join us at our summer FTF in Charlotte, NC July 17-19,
2026! It will be held at the DoubleTree Suites Charlotte - SouthPark at
6300 Carnegie Blvd, Charlotte NC 28211 (704-364-2400). Room rates are
$169.00 per night, 1-2 occupancy. There's free wifi, a restaurant and
lounge, fitness center, business center, outdoor pool, and free parking.

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/near Tempe, AZ, (The RSI Home Site) while the summer
event is held in varying cities east of the Mississippi. (Past ones were in New
Orleans, DC, Orlando, KC, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, etc.) 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 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 get lots of
fights in a very short period -- minimum three fights, usually;
(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) Meeting and intermingling with other managers and the RSI staff is a great
experience. Many have become good friends. Often, the face-to-face, is a fine
way to learn from other managers;
(4) 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.

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 quite 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 and learned 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, but
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 basher was 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. It was a great experience.

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: Agent, and modified by Whitey, then FDR, then
Tank, now Tank, all Consortium affiliates. (April 2026)

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

BASH BROS SUPPER

Once again, I'm going to make a team with a specific set of styles to attempt to
fulfill a long term goal I have. The team I got worked all right to do that, so the
styles I'm choosing are: Lunger, Wall of Steel, Striker, Basher, and Parry Riposte.

I'll start with the PR. 14-10-4-17-4-9-12 are the stats as they came to me.
This is a classic PR (or AB) setup with low will. For the AB, you add 5 to
deftness. But for my purposes, I'm going with a lower deftness version of the
Parry Riposte, pumping up wit and physicals. 17-13-4-21-7-9-13 PR. Meets my
requirements for a PR, Good damage and 'enough' Parry/Carry/Hit Points.

The next one that is 'easier' to design is an 11-5-13-8-13-10-10. With the lowish
wit, you're probably looking at a hybrid type warrior. Lunger is perfect. 11-9-13-13-
17-10-11 almost meets all my design goals for Lungers. I'd much prefer 21 will, but I
can't get there, so 17 it is. Everything else looks great.

Next up is a very flexible warrior, 12-12-9-11-11-9-6. A 7 deftness Slasher/Basher or
defensive/hybrid is what it looks like to me. This will be my Wall of Steel. Once
adding to deftness, the points kind of fall into place for me. 15-12-9-11-17-9-11.
There are lots of designs available on this one, but this is the kind of Wall of Steel
I like, so...

Next I have two pretty mediocre setups. 5-10-14-10-10-6-15 and 13-10-15-10-10-6-6.
It is obvious which becomes the striker and which becomes the basher. For the
striker, I added points to get to 10-10-14-15-10-10-15. Not fantastic, but should win
some fights and get some learns. The Basher gets similar treatment to become 14-10-
15-11-15-12-7. This is the weakest guy on the team...

Now, the important part. I've chosen supper as my 'theme.' What irks me about
supper... In order that I put the designs, "COLD" supper is yuck. When your supper is
"BURNED", you have to figure out a backup plan. Going out can be "EXPENSIVE." And
then too often, I find myself "ALONE" for supper. Finally, fitting for the worst
warrior on the team, "MUSHY" supper is absolutely disgusting.

-- Assur

DUELMASTER'S COLUMN
Notes from the arena champ.

My first pick of best cornet players and probably the most famous is Louis "Satchmo"
Armstrong. Louis took up the trumpet and cornet early in life, allegedly buying one
himself for $5 at the age of seven!

While Louis developed embouchure problems (apparently pressing the instrument too hard
on the face) that may have slightly impeded his technical abilities, he certainly
never let this get in the way of his musicianship. In fact, although during his early
career he was most famous as a cornet and trumpet player, he became more famous as an
instrumentalist and singer/songwriter.

During the course of his career, Louis had 19 top ten hits, and even knocked the
Beatles off the top spot in their heyday by releasing "Hello Dolly" in 1964! There's
certainly no cornet player with a greater legacy, as he changed jazz by popularising
not only trumpet solos but scat singing (improvised syllables and melodies).

I wanna be a Satchmo!

-- Cornet, three time Duelmaster

SPY REPORT

Like the magnificent Sun, rising upon the Dawn and exiling the Night for a Day,
I, Novgorodny Vir, return once again! Like a new team fighting for the first time
and entering the official rankings, DON'T AVOID US got 4-1-1 to come in 2nd.
Practice pays for KIT FOX, who pummelled DANGEROUS CRIMINAL, to pocket 19 points.
STORMCROW certainly had a baffled expression on his face, after losing to THE USEROUS
MERCHANT and losing 6 points in the process! Can you believe it? CORNET apparently
has better things to do as NOBLISH ISLAND's Duelmaster than show up and fight! Now I
can't insult KIT FOX, as he has gloriously dueled to the top. Oh great new
Duelmaster!!! (Stop me if I lay it on too thick) Word has it one team in NOBLISH
ISLAND is taking speech lessons to try to bore their opponent to death. I'll bet it
works.
And how sociable are NOBLISH ISLAND's warriors? Come, let us see. Like a horde
of jackals fleeing from the lion, so did the "warriors" in NOBLISH ISLAND avoid BRASS
BAND. As a woman of good breeding scorns the "warriors" of DON'T AVOID US, so did
that sorry team shy from BRASS BAND
The moving sword slashes, and having slashed, moves on... Questions are being
raised about the disposing of severed body parts in the arena. A certain tavern in
NOBLISH ISLAND would I avoid!
Leave me now, you base fools! As the seasons change, and the creatures of the
wild change also, so do I feel a yearning to leave this place. Can anything compare
to the pleasure of writing Spyreports for NOBLISH ISLAND? On that giddy note I take
my leave-- Novgorodny Vir

DUELMASTER W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
KIT FOX 11549 ST 5 2 0 52 GHOST BEARS! (1970)

CHAMPIONS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
-CORNET 11538 BA 7 1 0 90 BRASS BAND (1968)

ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
ADDER 11548 SL 5 2 1 50 GHOST BEARS! (1970)
-BUGLE 11536 SL 7 1 0 48 BRASS BAND (1968)
STORMCROW 11551 PL 5 2 0 40 GHOST BEARS! (1970)
WARDEN 11558 TP 4 0 0 40 GHOST BEARS! (1970)

CHALLENGER INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
-FRENCH HORN 11535 BA 4 4 0 32 BRASS BAND (1968)
JENNER JENNY 11552 WS 3 1 0 25 GHOST BEARS! (1970)

INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
-TUBA 11537 TP 6 2 0 20 BRASS BAND (1968)
-TROMBONE 11534 ST 3 5 0 14 BRASS BAND (1968)
SLEEP 11560 1 0 1 11 DON'T AVOID US (1972) [LU-ST]
HOMEWORK 11561 ST 1 0 0 11 DON'T AVOID US (1972) *
INCOME TAXES 11562 1 0 0 11 DON'T AVOID US (1972) [BA-PR-TP]
HUGS 11559 0 1 0 7 DON'T AVOID US (1972) [BA-LU-PL-ST-WS]
ROOT CANAL 11563 1 0 0 6 DON'T AVOID US (1972) [BA-PR-TP]
COLD 11557 1 0 0 5 BASH BROS SUPPER (1971) [BA-PR-TP]
BURNED 11554 0 1 0 3 BASH BROS SUPPER (1971) [BA-LU-PL-ST-WS]
MUSHY 11555 0 1 0 1 BASH BROS SUPPER (1971) [BA-LU-PL-ST-WS]
EXPENSIVE 11556 0 1 0 1 BASH BROS SUPPER (1971) [BA-LU-PL-ST-WS]

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

THE DEAD W L K TEAM NAME SLAIN BY TURN Revenge?
ALONE 11553 0 1 0 BASH BROS SUPPE 1971 SLEEP 11560 712

PERSONAL ADS

Good luck to the mighty Ghost Bears. -- Music Man

Trouble, oh we got trouble,
Right here in River City!
With a capital "T"
That rhymes with "P"
And that stands for Pool,
That stands for pool.
-- Music Man
P.S. Our "pool" of competitors is pathetic.

LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS

ADDER viciously subdued DANGEROUS CRIMINAL in a 1 minute bloody fight.
STORMCROW lost to THE USEROUS MERCHANT in a 6 minute gruesome battle.
WARDEN outlasted CAPTURED ORC in a crowd pleasing 7 minute beginner's fight.
KIT FOX devastated DANGEROUS CRIMINAL in a 1 minute one-sided Title fight.
JENNER JENNY subdued BURNED in a 3 minute gruesome amateur's competition.
SLEEP assassinated ALONE in a 1 minute one-sided struggle.
HUGS was bested by COLD in a 2 minute novice's competition.
INCOME TAXES overcame MORDANT DESERTER in a 2 minute beginner's melee.
EXPENSIVE was vanquished by HOMEWORK in a 1 minute one-sided duel.
MUSHY lost to ROOT CANAL in a popular 1 minute novice's duel.

BATTLE REPORT

MOST POPULAR RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS
|FIGHTING STYLE FIGHTS FIGHTING STYLE W - L - K PERCENT|
|STRIKING ATTACK 3 TOTAL PARRY 13 - 3 - 0 81 |
|PARRY-RIPOSTE 2 SLASHING ATTACK 13 - 3 - 1 81 |
|TOTAL PARRY 2 WALL OF STEEL 12 - 5 - 0 71 |
|BASHING ATTACK 2 AIMED BLOW 11 - 5 - 0 69 |
|WALL OF STEEL 2 BASHING ATTACK 17 - 9 - 3 65 |
|PARRY-LUNGE 2 STRIKING ATTACK 13 - 10 - 0 57 |
|SLASHING ATTACK 1 PARRY-LUNGE 6 - 5 - 0 55 |
|LUNGING ATTACK 1 PARRY-RIPOSTE 2 - 2 - 0 50 |
|AIMED BLOW 0 PARRY-STRIKE 6 - 8 - 0 43 |
|PARRY-STRIKE 0 LUNGING ATTACK 2 - 9 - 0 18 |

Turn 712 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:

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

TOP WARRIOR OF EACH STYLE

FIGHTING STYLE WARRIOR W L K PNTS TEAM NAME
STRIKING ATTACK KIT FOX 11549 5 2 0 52 GHOST BEARS! (1970)
SLASHING ATTACK ADDER 11548 5 2 1 50 GHOST BEARS! (1970)
PARRY-LUNGE STORMCROW 11551 5 2 0 40 GHOST BEARS! (1970)
TOTAL PARRY WARDEN 11558 4 0 0 40 GHOST BEARS! (1970)
Note: Warriors have a winning record and are an Adept or Above.

The overall popularity leader is ADDER 11548. The most popular warrior this turn was
ADDER 11548. The ten other most popular fighters were BURNED 11554, HOMEWORK 11561,
ROOT CANAL 11563, STORMCROW 11551, KIT FOX 11549, JENNER JENNY 11552, MUSHY 11555,
SLEEP 11560, ALONE 11553, and HUGS 11559.

The least popular fighter this week was WARDEN 11558. The other ten least popular
fighters were EXPENSIVE 11556, INCOME TAXES 11562, COLD 11557, HUGS 11559, ALONE
11553, SLEEP 11560, MUSHY 11555, JENNER JENNY 11552, KIT FOX 11549, and STORMCROW
11551.