2013 New Zealand Masters Report

2013 New Zealand Masters Report 2013 New Zealand Masters Report
with Rob Shirley

I played host for the 2013 Masters at the Hamilton (NZ) Immortals usual venue of the Fraser High School Hall over the weekend of 7 - 8 December.  This New Zealand event is unique in that the three most popular New Zealand wargaming genres of are represented at the same venue.  In New Zealand, this is the sixth edition of the Masters with Flames Of War being the late joiner; joining on the fourth year. It is not hosted by a shop nor commercial organisation nor club, but by an individual. 2013 was the second time it has not been held in Wellington.
I used Fraser High School as a base, with the hall, the free accommodation (bring a stretcher) and the BBQ all being located on the campus. The twelve invitations in each genre are given on the basis of positions in the ranking systems we use (all NZ Based) as at 31 October 2013. If any of the twelve people in the top 20 don’t accept an invitation then that genre’s field is reduced. There are two places reserved for South Islanders in the twelve; as it was, no South islander accepted an invitation this year. This year all competitions had 12 players; including all three previous Masters winners in the Flames Of War event. 2013 New Zealand Masters Report
2013 New Zealand Masters Report The Flames Of War tournament itself was made up of six 1500 point Early-war games of two and half hours in length. For the first round the draw was done on 1 vs. 12, 2 vs. 11, 3 vs. 10, etc on the basis of the finishing order in the ranking year that ended on 31 October 2013. Thereafter it was Swiss Chess. The standard 7 point Battlefront Scoring System was used. The only soft score that was used was Sportsmanship, and happily all players were awarded 30 out of 30 by their opponents.
All army lists were in a standardised format and they were all submitted to all players about a week before the event.  The missions that were played (in order) were: Free-For-All, Pincer, Surrounded, Breakthrough, Cauldron and Fighting Withdrawal.

The Masters have been Late-war (Wellington 2010), Mid-war (Auckland 2011), Late-war (Wellington 2012) and this year Early-war (Hamilton 2013). The mix of armies included six Infantry, four Tank and two Mechanised with all of the Early-war intelligence hand books represented as well as nations. I insisted on a standard format for the army lists, and these were all distributed to all of the players in late November. It included the references to the relevant special rules in the main rulebook and hand books.
2013 New Zealand Masters Report
2013 New Zealand Masters Report I am a stickler for historical based tables, and after personally coming last at two of the first three Masters, not having people play on the same table more than once. At my first Masters I played on the same table for four of the six rounds. So we had eleven tables available for the six games per round. I was after at least one table from each of the physical locations the Early-war books presently cover, and when offered the three best ranked tables from the Early-war tournament I ran in April this year, I accepted them all.

So we ended up with:
1. Steve Hill, Manchuria.

2. Kevin King, Crossing of the River Meuse, Sedan, France, 13 May 1940.

3. Steve Chambers,  Halfya Pass, Libya.

4. Steve Chambers, Crossing of the River Meuse, Sedan, France, 13 May 1940.

5. Sean Cullen-Wright, Battle of Jezzine, Operation Exporter, Lebanon, 13 June 1941.

6. Alaistair Mundell, Mount Olympus/Pinios Gorge, Greece, 14 April 1941.
2013 New Zealand Masters Report
2013 New Zealand Masters Report 7. Rob Shirley, Battle of Tomaszow, SW of Warsaw, Poland, 17 September 1939.

8. Rob Shirley, Maleme Airfield, Crete, 20 May 1941.

9. Rob Shirley, Emile-Saint-Vanne, Ardennes, France, 11 May 1940.

10. Rob Shirley, Fort Capuzzo, Libya, Operation Battleaxe, 17 June 1941.

11. Rob Shirley, Taipale, Finland  6 December, 1939.
Round one saw a 6-1 win to Mike, Bob had a 5-2; there were two 4-3s and two draws.Round two; Mike was on a roll with his second of his eventual five 6-1 victories (including myself in the last round). After Day One the scores went: 18, 13, 12, 11, 10 (four players), 9, 8, 7 and 4. After round four had Mike a 7 point gap on Isaac and Paul, with three of us ten behind Mike.
By the fifth round the gap had opened up to eight points.

Overall the second and third place getters were decided by count back. The final rankings can be seen below:
2013 New Zealand Masters Report
Final Placing
Name
Force
Victory Points
Final Score
1.
Mike Haycock
Polish Cavalry
34
64
2.
Paul Mounsey
British Infantry
23
53
3.
Isaac Henderson
Japanese Tanks
23
53
4.
Bob Pearce
German Paratroopers
22
52
5.
Rob Shirley
Soviet Infantry
21
51
5.
Robert Torrance
Soviet Tanks
21
51
5.
Steve Hill
Japanese Infantry
21
51
5.
Steve Chambers
German Tanks
21
51
9.
Daniel Maguire
Italian Tanks
18
48
10.
Lance Knighton
New Zealand Divisonal Cavalry
17
47
11.
Philip Porter
Free French Foreign Legion
16
46
12
Michael Galbraith
New Zealand Infantry
13
43
2013 New Zealand Masters Report
Thanks to Mark One (our local shop) for the sponsorship, and Battlefront for the Tournament Objectives for the Flames Of War players. Thanks to the Immortals Club members; Dory Fisher (Finance), John McLeish (Warmahordes), Marlin Fisher (Vietnam), Carl Templeton (Fantasy Umpire), Philip Porter (Terrain and Transport), Sean Cullen-Wright (Terrain), Kevin King (Terrain), Al Mundell (Terrain), Steve Chambers (Terrain and Babysitting me),  Lance Knighton (Babysitting me), Paul Mounsey (Transport), Daniel Conlon (Warmahordes),
All the players who set up and pulled the hall down. And Karen Barber (40K Umpire and Desert Maker), Steve Hill (Terrain), Daryl Smith(Caretaker) and Sue Ford (Teen Parent Unit).

The 2014 event will be in Wellington, usually it is held on the first or second weekend of December.

~ Rob, Tournament Organiser and Flames Of War umpire / player.
2013 New Zealand Masters Report
2013 New Zealand Masters Report
2013 New Zealand Masters Report
2013 New Zealand Masters Report


Last Updated On Thursday, December 12, 2013 by Blake at Battlefront