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Action from the 2009 Late-war NZGT Have Army, Will Travel
Flames Of War Gaming On The Other Side Of The Planet

by Bill Wilcox and Jon Cleaves

At the conclusion of the 2008 Late-war New Zealand Grand Tournament, it was announced that an American contingent will be arriving the following year to show the Kiwis how to play the game. Granted, much of the online talk was hyped by the Battlefront crew, but the fact remained that Jon Cleaves and Bill Wilcox (and their ever-patient wives) would be making the trip from the USA for the GT. While they were here, we had them write a bit about their experience at the bottom of the world. Over to them.

Left: Action from the 2009 Late-war New Zealand Grand Tournament.

Find out who came in where at the 2009 Late-war New Zealand Grand Tournament here...
Bill Wilcox

My wife, Maria, and I have wanted to vacation in New Zealand for years, and about 18 months ago, I was reading the forum and saw results posted for the New Zealand Nationals. Perfect, I thought, a good vacation combined with a tournament in New Zealand would be amazing. Maria thought that it was a great idea as well, so we started to plan.

Jon Cleaves and I were talking at a tournament in the States, and I mentioned this idea to him. He had also been thinking along the same lines, so each of us started posting on the forum, asking when the best time to come to New Zealand would be that also coincided with a tournament.


Right: Bill Wilcox shakes hands with John-Paul after taking 1st Overall at the tournament.
Bill Wilcox shakes hands with John-Paul after taking 1st Overall
We never did get a straight answer. Not understanding New Zealand weather patterns, we couldn’t understand why no one could say that a particular month was the perfect time of the year to come. After three weeks here, I now understand. We haven’t had two days in a row of constant weather, and in some cases, no two hours in a row; every season in a day! I’m currently writing this in Glenorchy (near Queenstown, think Isengard in the Lord of the Rings movies). It was beautiful this afternoon, shorts and T-shirt weather; it is currently raining cats and dogs, and snow 50 meters higher up the mountains.

Jon and I decided that October/November would work best for us given vacation schedules, potential good weather (of course they just said that this was the coldest October/November on record on South Island since World War II), and the fact that the Battlefront Late War Grand Tournament was going to take place in late October. With this information in hand, Maria and I wiped out our frequent flyer miles account and booked tickets for the trip, eleven months in advance. Talk about delayed gratification!
Bill's infantry
We arrived in Auckland a few days before the event so we cold recover from jet lag, see the city, and hang out with the Battlefront staff. On Thursday, John-Paul graciously invited Jon and I to the Battlefront offices to give us a tour, introduce us to the team, and talk about some of the cool things that they have planned for Flames Of War.

All-in-all, we had a very cool day. On Friday, Pete graciously hosted us at his restaurant, Kermadec, on the quay across from the office. I highly recommend the place if anyone is planning on a visit to Auckland. We had a fabulous dinner, awesome food, and great company. As good as the food was, my favourite part was sitting next to Evan and talking shop.

The tournament was six-rounds on Saturday and Sunday. I had six amazing games, each and every game was a blast.

I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Everyone here has been incredibly friendly and helpful. The best part of the tournament was getting to meet everyone here, putting faces to some of the forum rats (and have a chance to play a few of them).
An example of one of Bill's Cromwell tanks Thanks to everyone for all of the great advice on what to see and do while in New Zealand, not one bad suggestion. I’d also like to give a special thank you to Rob Shirley for having Maria and I over for lunch on the way to Waitomo.

Lastly, thanks to everyone at Battlefront New Zealand for showing us such a good time, and hopefully we’ll be back sometime soon once again!

~ Bill.
Bill Wilcox's British Armoured Squadron

Bill’s army is extensively modelled and contains some great conversion work. One of the fantastic modelling aspects of it is the scenic display bases for each of the tanks in his force. The tanks are magnetised to each base so when game time comes he just pops off each tank and is ready to go.

An example of one of Bill's Armoured platoons
Some more of Bill's Cromwells
Bill's unique objectives
Bill's Stuart platoon
Bill's outstanding infantry base Bill's outstanding infantry base
Bill's M10C 17pdr SP Another of Bill's M10C 17pdr SP
Another example of one of Bill's Armoured platoons
Bill's complete army
Key parts of Jon's army
Jon Cleaves

I have always felt a strange sort of affinity for New Zealand. My association with Flames Of War and its fine owner, staff and players has been strengthening this affinity for years and so this year I resolved to finally do something about it. Indeed, given the combination of getting to play in a different country, getting to play in the country of origin of the game, playing with friends already made in person and meeting in person those known through the internet, visiting Battlefront HQ, and going on vacation in a new and superb locale, it had never been a matter of if, but when.
If memory serves, the real planning for my trip to NZ began at a ‘victory dinner’ following the gaming at HISTORICON 2008. My group of gaming friends has a long tradition of a sojourn for seafood at the end of big tourneys and while gathered around the dinner table, several of us agreed to try to get to the land of the long white cloud in 2009.

We chose the New Zealand Grand Tournament (NZGT) for several reasons. The NZGT combined key things we were looking for. Enjoying New Zealand’s spring, and being in Auckland would make a visit to Battlefront a must.

Auckland is also a great place from which to set out on other journeys as part of our vacations. Being at the NZGT meant we’d get to see how the company ran a tourney and we’d be participating in one of the larger and more prestigious of the country’s events. Turns out, we made a great decision!
My army for the event is one I have had in the back of my mind for a while. During my research into the various Kampfgruppe (KG) trying to stave off Operation Bagration I became fascinated by the one known as Panzergruppe Hoppe. What I find interesting about this KG is the fact that it is built around a Nashorn tank destroyer unit.
An example of one of Jon's Nashorns
Pionierkompanie Official Briefing

As yet, one cannot make a force in Flames of War centered on a Nashorn company, so I had the choice of either a StuG Batterie or a Pionier Kompanie with Nashorns in support. I am working on a new StuG Batterie and am not overly happy with the old paint job of my StuGs. Yet I am pleased with how my Pioneers look, so I went with them using the Pionierkompanie intelligence briefing found on the Battlefront website.

Learn how to build your own Pionierkompanie here...

The force included Pionier platoons with HQ mortars, two pioneer platoons, some artillery, and, of course, four Nashorns. Major Hoppe had StuG assault guns in support, so I chose the four best of my old paint-jobs and added them as well. I also took some Hs129 aircraft to terrorize the enemy.

The tourney itself was a who’s who of internet personalities that I had been dying to meet. It was absolutely wonderful to place faces to so many names I have talked with over the years. If there was any problem at all, it was that there were only two days to meet and spend time talking to so many great gamers! Some of Jon's Pioniers
We played six games, three each day on Saturday and Sunday. The tourney began for me with a very enjoyable, yet extremely hard fought draw with Simon McBeth and his Free French. Then, I was then fortunate to pull off four straight wins, seeing along the way enough Crocodiles to fill a swamp and the entire inventory of Soviet SU-76s!

The Battlefront staff has a cool tradition of giving away bounties to players who beat them. These bounties are a blister of one of the troop types in the staffer’s army. I won’t say from whom, but I was able to claim an SU-76 and a T-34/85!


I ended game five tied near the top, but the win was not to be. The ogre in the doorway was the estimable and capable Steve Chambers armed with his T-34/85s of doom! Steve played exceedingly well and I was lucky to make it a 3-4 loss!
Jon's army on the table Six games, six supurb opponents, and many more than six new friends. Add to that a day touring the Battlefront studio and talking with the staff, as well as two weeks in one of the world’s most beautiful countries. If there is such a thing as a perfect vacation, I can draw you a diagram of it! A very heartfelt thanks to all from myself and my wife, Theresa, for making our visit such a memorable and enjoyable one!

~ Jon.
Jon's complete army


Last Updated On Friday, June 11, 2010 by Blake at Battlefront