US Masters 2011: Winners and Results by Joe Krone The 2011 Masters Tournament is over and what a spectacular weekend for everyone involved. The Embassy Suites provided a great atmosphere for some truly excellent games of Flames Of War. The top ranked players in the United States and Canada converged near the Philadelphia airport and were provided an endless supply of soft drinks and some really nice catered meals. The hotel also boasts a two hour open bar each evening which I didn't hear a single complaint from any of the players. Left: The players enjoy a lighter moment at the conclusion of the tournament.

The players arrived Thursday evening and the tournament began the first of the six rounds on Friday morning. The Masters came to its conclusion on Saturday evening after a fantastic meal and a very pleasant awards ceremony. In the end only one person could be crowned the Grand Master for 2011 but I think I speak for everyone when I say that the weekend was truly an amazing event. We are really excited to present to you future Masters Events and plans to keep the players on their toes are already in progress. 2011 US Masters Player Profiles...

John Matthews and I were heavily involved in the design process for the Masters and it began earlier in the year with understanding the concept of the event and its mission statement. The Masters is an excellent way of recognising the top players in North America and giving them a weekend of enjoyment and entertainment. Many of these players are ambassadors for Flames Of War in their local community as well as players to follow on a national or global level. They exhibit hobby knowledge, cunning tactics, and gentlemanly sportsmanship. The Masters is our way of giving thanks and paying our respects to players who have helped grow the Flames Of War hobby. Yes, we enjoy handing out a few awards and the title of Grand Master is truly earned so the term Masters has a double meaning for us here at Battlefront Miniatures.

2011 US Masters Tournament Winners

First Overall Bill Willcox 7th Armour Division	Second Overall Jon Cleeves 51st Highland Division
Having a clear understanding of what the Masters meant to us we needed to search for the right location. After several phone calls, we narrowed down our search and visited the remaining hotels to determine if they had the amenities to satisfy our needs. The Embassy Suites at the Philadelphia airport met our expectations. Now that the need for the venue, sleeping rooms, food, drinks, and proximity to the airport had been met we could concentrate on the gaming aspects of the event.

Third Overall (Three Way Tie) Mark Bayne: Guards Cossacks James Rush: 138th Soviet Rifle Divison Phillip Messier: Onkentes Puskas Szazad	Best Sportsman James Huff Airlanding Company

The 2011 events calendar was quite demanding and we were unable to focus our energy on table design until early October. John and I spent some time each designing six table layouts and once we were done we compared notes, offered constructive feedback, and edited our designs. These tables proved to be challenging because the Masters had random missions and points values selected for each round. We had to accommodate the layouts of the tables for all the different types of deployment zones because we wanted the scenery to play a part in the flow of the game but not dictate the outcome.

The Combatants

The Final Standings

Name Army Nation Total Score Bill Wilcox 7th Armoured Division British 31.75 Jon Cleaves 51st Highland Division British 30.75 Mark Bayne Guards Cossacks Soviet 29 James Rush 138th Rifle Division Soviet 29 Phillip Messier Önkéntes Puskás Század Hungarian 29 Mike McMann Pioneerkompanie German 28.625 John Desch Panzer Lehr Panzergrenadierkompanie German 27.625 Tony Davis Panzerpioneerkompanie German 27.5 Eric Riha Gvardeyskiy Tankovy Soviet 27.25 Ed Leland Gvardeyskiy Tankovy Soviet 26.125 Charles Clay Tankovy Batalon Soviet 25.375 Shawn Morris Panzer Lehr Panzergrenadierkompanie German 24.125 Tom Burgess 6th Fallschirmjagerkompanie German 23.875 James Huff Airlanding Company British 23.75 Chris Jackson Batalion Puscasi Romanian 22.625 David Vigor Feldherrnhalle German 21.625 Erin Macheski-Preston 715th Pioneerkompanie German 19.75 Tim Frisbee Jääkärikomppania Finnish 19.625 Eric Warren Panzer Lehr Panzergrenadierkompanie German 19.625 Joe Moore Panzer Lehr Panzergrenadierkompanie German 19.125 Doug Rosson Jääkärikomppania Finnish 16 Shaun Webster Panzerkompanie German 15.5

Action From The Tables

The next step of the process was to cut the rough shapes of the scenery elements that would be added to each table and lay them out. This would give us a physical representation of our drawings allowing us to look for potential problems and design flaws. Keeping the tables fair and balanced was a vital component to the design but we also wanted the scenery to tell a story.

Without much effort we wanted the players to be able to look at the table and know exactly which theater of operation they represented. With the shapes laid out and taking into consideration, we made adjustments to the designs in accordance to the missions we planned to use. Once we were happy with the layout we began to cut, sand, glue, and paint the scenery to complete each table. We typically worked on two to three tables at once which allowed us to work on one table while the glue or paint from another table was drying.

The final stage of the table design was to lay out all of the completed scenery and study the scenery for any large gaps, oddities, or obvious play imbalances. We would make the necessary corrections without interrupting the flow of the table and the final step was to create maps and label all the scenery so we could easily replicate the layout. We created a numbering system for each table as well as each piece of scenery so we could draw an accurate map for future tournaments.

The concept of this design process was to unveil the new tables at the Masters and then introduce these gaming tables into the Tournament Circuit for 2012. Since the Masters will become an integral part of each season we intend on continuing the trend and design new tables each year until we have a huge amount of scenery and tables to draw from. ~ Joe.