2013 Late-war Canadian Open Nationals Results

2013 Late-war Canadian Open Nationals Report with Bruce Nemet; Photos by Liza Stretton. This was our very first, and long overdue, Flames Of War Nationals event for our gaming friends in Canada!  It was hosted at The Sentry Box in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on 3 – 4 August 2103. Left: The Sentry Box, location for the 2013 Canadian Nationals.

Although a small showing with only eighteen players, the players’ enthusiasm seemed to make up for it. Thirty-plus players were originally expected but due to the Flood of 2013, Calgary’s worst natural disaster in history, having occurred only five weeks prior to the tournament attendance had dropped significantly and unexpectedly.

Below: Evidence of the Flood of 2013.
But the show must go on and Calgary’s Sentry Box was Ground Zero – fortunately for our tournament, not the flood!  At over 13,000 square feet and playing host to over 46,000 different stock items, Sentry Box is the world’s largest game store.

It has a central two-story atrium of popular games for sale along with other specialty rooms for wargaming, fantasy, cards, and books. Above the central atrium is a unique mezzanine that serves as Sentry Box’s game and tournament area. I have to admit it was the coolest arrangement for a tournament I’ve probably ever been to! In addition to the players and the staff at Sentry Box, I would especially like to thank my host, Gord Johansen, for putting me up at his place throughout the weekend. And although we kept discussing plans on playing a little Flames Of War each evening after the day’s work, exhaustion would eventually hit us like sledgehammers and we would be out for the count. Right: The shop floor at the Sentry Box.

The missions we played were: Round One: Free-For-All Many of the players in the western provinces of Canada had heard of each other from tournament and club play but had never had the opportunity to play one another. This is a typical MO for most tournament first rounds and I make no exception to it at the Nationals. By providing each player with a first-time opponent and thus going in completely unaware of a preconceived style of gameplay, it forces the player to rely solely on basic tactics and instincts. Left: The gaming gets underway.

Those who have a solid foundation in basic military tactics and strategy will should (….dice!) quickly gain the initiative in the tournament. (It also provides the TO an opportunity to meet all the players in action as the politics and rivalry haven’t kicked in yet. Besides, I knew none of these guys!)

Round Two: Hasty Attack This is a tough mission to play in a tournament but I believe a good one. Although not a completely balanced mission it is a fair albeit tough test for any list. I especially like how games played using this mission can force an attacker into a defensive position in a single turn!   After round two our leaders, Brad Stretton and Bryan Koches, were tied at the top.  Brad Stretton is a core player for the local Flames Of War gaming club, The Cavalry REGIMENT, and is regarded as one of the best in the Calgary area. (His wonderful wife, Liza, took the photographs for this article by the way and is expecting their first child around 6 – 7 December.  We would find out later that Brad never told Liza that if he should win the National that he would also receive an automatic invite to the North American Masters tournament held in Philadelphia on – you guessed it – 6 – 7 December!) Bryan Koches, incidentally, was the only American player to play in the National.  He was there partially to win a unique plaque that we reserve to our players who attend all the year’s National tournaments and partially to bug me on rules questions. (I now believe that that is Bryan’s official role in the Nationals - although in person he denied the charge and said that he was there to do something like win the tournament.) Right: Some last minute strategising.

Round Three: Fighting Withdrawal By the third round of the first day niceties were over and rivalry was on.  I don’t normally post a turn-by-turn after action account of a single game unless I’ve played it myself (and even then John Matthews would have to make me) but the game between our two leaders this round probably deserved special regard.  Brad would win it 4-3. Left: Racing up the enemy's flank.

Here is Brad’s account of the game: “My third game was possibly the toughest game I played against Bryan’s 2nd American Armored Infantry. He wonderfully pushed the flank, using his reconnaissance forces to push my ambush further from his main thrust and into the center forest with only a narrow lane of sight to his advance. However, Bryan failed to kill an observer and the ambush having the same PaK40 and howitzer combo, who shone so well in game one, was back. The bombardment from the Hummels claimed only a single tank and two half-tracks of the two recce, six half-tracks and two tanks that were hit. However, the trio of PaK40 and howitzers took out three more half-tracks, bring the infantry platoon down to half strength. Things on the left flank were looking secure. Unfortunately after several rounds of minimal damage from both sides, Bryan’s Hellcats found their targets and obliterated the Wesps who had been holding the right flank along with some Scout MG teams. This allowed his second infantry platoon to advance over the open field nearly unopposed which forced the Hummels to perform a daring assault across the vineyard to take out a single infantry stand coming in and another in the assault before being killed off, save the staff team who withdrew next turn as my mandatory platoon withdrawal. However, before this they caused just enough to force a moral check which made the American infantry ditch out and retreat leaving the almost captured objective safely in no one’s hands. That trio of destruction (PaK40 and two 7.5cm howitzer half-tracks killed off the three remaining Hellcats and a Recce Greyhound to force a moral check which Bryan failed since his CinC and 2iC were already gone. Closest game I have played in a long time and very fun.” Does this match your account Bryan?

Round Four: Counterattack We had two Hungarian armour companies in this tournament; one was a ten Zrínyi Assault Gun Battery with an Allied Panther platoon and the other was a more traditional Turan/Toldi company with Tigers to boot.  As most already know, I am a huge fan of Hungarian Flames Of War and followed these two forces with great admiration. And I simply couldn’t resist the temptation to pair the two together in a Hungarian Civil War!  Brandon Golby would win this battle 6-1 against Devon Balas with his skillfully played Zrínyi battery. Right: The competition begins to heat up.

Round Five: No Retreat This round would pit the leader, Brad by himself now as Bryan’s dice had already left the building so to speak, against Glen Tarbet. Although these two have played against one another numerous times in prior tournaments Brad had never defeated Glen. So this game was sure to produce some drama. Ultimately, Brad would lose (yet again to Glen) due primarily to a bunch of drunk losers on motorcycles that would, in Brad’s own words, run like scared little girls! This, and some mishit artillery rounds against Glen’s two King Tigers, would prove the demise of Brad’s lead. But, as penned by Brad below, Glen wouldn’t take the trophy home either! Left: The gaming reaches a crossroads.

“You may have noticed the on the previous highlight against the game with Glen. Well, we gave each other such a thrashing that we actually allowed Brandon and his Hungarian armoured forces that had a flawless game against my Dad’s 4th American Armoured to snipe the victory of the tourney after nipping at the heels of the top leaders the whole tournament. He had a well deserved victory after hanging just off the radar until the final hurrah!” So it would be Brandon Golby, playing a Hungarian Zrinyi company, who would snatch the trophy in the last round after a flawless 6-1 victory against Brad’s own father – Al Stretton! Right: Fighting it out till the last.

Brandon Golby’s record throughout the tournament by the way was almost flawless; 5-2, 2-5, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1. The 2-5 was against Bryan Koches! The following are our winners for the first Canadian Nationals:

Overall Champion Brandon Golby	Second Overall Bradford Stretton	Third Overall Bojan Zimonja

Best General Glen Tarbet	Best Sportsman Glen Tarbet	Best Painted Glen Tarbet

Best Axis Player Lance Matthew	Best Allied Player Robert Duchesne	Most Inspired Army Doug Amelia

A couple of notes regarding our awards:

■ Glen Tarbet won not two but three awards at this tournament!  His Best General award goes without saying but his Best Painted award was certainly well deserved.  His two King Tigers were absolutely stunning and I do believe his Hetzers were the only Hetzers I’ve ever seen that didn’t make me cringe. They were exquisitely detailed! But I think Glen’s most noteworthy award would have to be Best Sportsman. Winning this in a tournament comprised almost entirely of Canadians is no small feat!  Ever hear a Canadian beat another player?  “I’m sorry.  I think I just won.” Left: An example of Glen's painting.

■ Doug Amelia probably had the most unusual army I have ever seen!  He wanted to try a split company comprised of nothing but MGs and FlaK platoons – thirteen platoons in all!  He did, at least, win the last round with this list. My hat’s off to Doug who hung in there every turn. He still likes his list but now wants to make it a bit more mobile. I enjoyed hosting our first Canadian Flames of War Nationals Tournament.  For those that couldn’t make it don’t miss it again next year!  It’s worth coming to! ~ Bruce.

Final Standings Overall Name Nationality Awards 1. Brandon Golby Hungarian Overall Champion. 2. Glen Tarbet German Best General; Best Sportsman; Best Painted Army. 3. Bradford Stretton German Second Overall. 4. Bojan Zimonja Finnish Third Overall. 5. Robert Duchesne American Best Allied Player. 6. Bryan Koches American   6. Lance Mathew German Best Axis Player. 8. Dan Heikkinen American   9. Al Stretton American   9. Geoff Cameron British   11. Dana Madsen American   12. Patrick Kyle German   13. Devon Balas Hungarian   14. Kip Kyle British   15. David Hyttenrauch Canadian   16. Doug Amelia German Most Inspired Army. 17. Darcy Paulin German   17. Adam Stephens German