2016 Little Wars Junior Tournament

2016 Little Wars Junior Tournament With Josh Burick The Historical Miniature Gaming Society’s Little Wars convention took place from April 29 - May 1 at its new venue in Lombard at the Yorktown Center Westin Hotel. Among the numerous gaming events was a Flames Of War Junior Tournament for under-18 players.

The dawn of Sunday, May 1st was a cold and dreary day. Yet, despite the suboptimal temperatures in the Chicagoland area, 13 young warriors arose from their slumber to compete in the fifth annual Little Wars Flames Of War Junior Tournament. They had been waiting a year to compete in this 1910-point Late-War competition, and the day had finally come. After multiple meticulous list arrangements, feverish last-minute painting, and sporadic good-natured smack-talk, the hour had finally come for Pattonesque glory – for a few, at least.

After a brief rundown of the day and the clear threat of ejection from the tournament for any unsportsmanlike conduct, the event was off and running with the first game a spirited round of Free-For-All.

Caleb Laschinski, Graham Wall, Micah Pottebaum, and Conner Hansen quickly hopped atop the leaderboard with 6-1 victories over their vanquished opponents. However, in the second round of Hold the Line, Marshall Macaluso made a quick name for himself by posting his own 6-1 victory, while Wall continued his dominance with a second 6-1 victory and Pottebaum remained steady with a 5-2 victory. Hansen eked out a 4-3 victory to put himself in the top four for the final round.  Thus an epic stage was set. Who would win the final round of the illustrious Little Wars Junior Tournament?

It was a long battle, but unfortunately, Graham Wall fell short, losing 2-5 to Conner Hansen, while Macaluso surged forward, leaving no doubt of the final result with a 6-1 victory. After hours of consoling, Graham wiped the tears from his face and gave Marshall a big congratulatory Soviet-like bear hug. (Actually, Graham skipped the tears and went right to saying, “Good game.”)

Prizes and awards were distributed to the giddy players. Dylan Zanke won the Sportsmanship award, Caleb Laschinski won Best Painted Army, Daniel Dean won Best Painted Platoon, while Marshall Macaluso won 1st Place Finish.

First Place Winner Marshall Macaluso

Sportsmanship Award Winner Dylan Zanke

Best Painted Army Winner Caleb Laschinksi

Above: Daniel Dean's best-painted platoon.

All in all it was a fantastic day. All participants had a good time and good sportsmanship reigned supreme. Everyone is looking forward to next year’s Junior Tournament and even more participants! Thank you to all of the people that run the fabulous event of Little Wars and to Steve Dean, who always is there to help run the tournament! If you are at all interested in participating in a junior tournament in the Chicagoland area, feel free to email Josh Burick at [email protected]. ~ Josh.