Brighton Bash 2013 Event Report

Brighton Bash 2013 Event Report held 7 - 8 January 2013. The 2013 Brighton Bash took place last weekend; the second to be held by the Brighton Warlord’s in their home venue of the King and Queen Pub, Brighton.  With thirty six players, some travelling from Belgium, Ireland and even as far as New Zealand and Australia, the hall was packed to capacity for a weekend of hard fought battles. Left: The second round underway.

The Brighton Bash splits the players into Axis and Allied sides throughout the weekend so there is no Blue on Blue engagements.   Players took part in five games, having to play the usual Flames Of War missions (No Retreat, Breakthrough, Fighting Withdrawal, Counter-Attack and Dust Up) over diverse landscapes including tight French hedgerows, Dutch Polder, V1 launch sites in Belgium and the snow cover landscape of the Ardennes and Eastern Europe. Right: The V1 Facility, kit bashed from polystyrene, old spures and two Open Fire V1 Kits.

The standard of player was excellent and left myself and fellow organisers plenty of time to wander the hall and digest the new Market Garden books. More than a few players could not decide who to give their most sporting to and ticked all five boxes. Similarly, the standard of painting was very good and made the judges lives exceptionally difficult in producing a shortlist of three for players to vote on; so much so we added a fourth! Left: A.J.’s US Armour advances in the face of Panzer Lehr in the Dutch Polder.

The final results were: Best Allied General Steve Charlton 1st Airborne Parachute Company (A Bridge Too Far). Best Axis General David Payne Panzer Lehr Panzerkompanie (Earth and Steel). Best Presented Army Peter Entwistle Panzer Lehr Panzergrenadierkompanie (Earth and Steel) with ten player votes. Steve Charlton (9 votes), Sam Steet (8 votes) and Graham Klaka (7 votes) were also shortlisted. Right: Sam Street's Panzer Lehr in action somewhere in Normandy.

	Best Sporting Robert Pearce Kampfgruppe Bake (Grey Wolf), with three of his opponents ranking him as most sporting.  Gav Duck, Ben Davey, Jon “Skip” Skipper, Tim Harris and Ulick O’Sullivan all received two votes. Many thanks to Battlefront for prize sponsorship. Left: The war sweeps through a small Italian town in the valleys.
The Final Standings

Axis Name Total David Payne 59 Matt Booth 55 Craig Cameron 54 Sam Street 53 Tony Bellew 48 Phil Chappell 46 Alan Huyton 45 Ulick O'Sullivan 43 Simon Oakley 42 Dave Madigan 40 Robert Pearce 40 Mike Klaka 38 Tom Warburton 38 Peter Entwistle 37 Rhandolph Stearman 35 Graham Klaka 33 Will Burns 22 Stuart Knox 20

Allied Name Total Steve Charlton 94 Paul Frith 82 Robin Spence 81 Tim Harris 78 Polish Tom 74 Ben Davy 73 Paul Austen 69 Graham Willmott 64 Roger Comber 60 Joe Connolly 56 Adam Cox 55 Charlie Culver 54 Jay Mercer 46 Greg Marshall 46 Jon Skipper 38 Brain McKenzie 37 Gav Duck 34 A.J. Antilles 2

Below: Robin and Peter clash in the Ardennes.	Below: The last game of Day One: Fighting Withdrawal to the bar!