2011 New Zealand Flames Of War Masters Report Text by Steve Chambers; Photos by Nick Garden. When I was given the nod to run the Flames of War competition for the New Zealand Masters this year I knew what I wanted to do as far as the format was concerned.  After the success of the format used at this year's US Masters and lobbying with the players, we settled on a six game escalation format with random army sizes (1000, 1250 and 1500 points) and missions (chosen from Free-For-All (x2), Dust-Up, No Retreat, Breakthrough, Fighting Withdrawal, and Witch’s Cauldron). Learn more about the 2011 US Masters here...

This year’s event would also be Mid-war after last year’s event was Late-war. Battlefront New Zealand provided excellent support; confirming availability of their beautiful terrain and we were set for a great weekend of wargaming.  Our cut-off for selection was quite late, 1 November for the event in December. However, thanks to some foresight by Rob Shirley who administers the RHQ submissions from the New Zealand tournament organisers, we were able to identify our key players early and provide enough notice to allow bookings of flights, accommodation etc.

With that, everything was in place for the Masters on Auckland’s North Shore on 10-11 December 2011; the overall organiser was Phil Wu from Auckland’s City Guards. I’d first like to thank everyone who helped make this happen, including the players, some of whom travelled the length of the North Island to attend. With fourteen of New Zealand’s top twenty players assembled to duke it out at all costs, sportsmanship not withstanding of course!

After collecting the terrain on Friday evening with a few helpers from the Immortals club in Hamilton who had come up that day, we had the terrain in place and ready to go before any of the other competition was even half set up. The first round started on time that Saturday morning thanks to all players arriving on time. The random mission selected was No Retreat at 1250 points followed by Breakthrough at 1500 points. With the tall poppies emerging and some unexpected players dropping games, including last year’s champ who continued to hug the bottom ranks after round two.

Already it was apparent that the random points and mission format was making some players second guessing themselves, but for other the qualities needed to become the master of Flames Of War in New Zealand were beginning to emerge. Round three comprised of Fighting Withdrawal at 1250 points and it was quickly becoming apparent that Steve Hill was the man to beat with a perfect score thus far, closely followed by Mike Haycock who trailed by only a couple of points. By this point in the competition, everyone else had dropped a game, but was still within reach of the players at the top of the leader board. In the next round, Mike defeated Steve in Free-For-All at 1000 points and that left only one man unbeaten at the conclusion of day one. We retired for dinner and looked forward to day two and the outcome of the tournament.

The points table was interesting poised at the start of day two, Mike was well ahead but still had two opponents with the potential of overtaking him.  The competition was still very wide open at the start of round five (Dust-Up at 1500 points). Mike’s Italians needed to stop the emerging Dan Maguire’s Pioneerkompanie but in a hard fought match, Dan dispatched the relatively passive defence by Mike’s Italians leaving these gentlemen equal on points with a small group nipping at their kneels.

Round six was Witch’s Cauldron at 1000 points, a combination to test the mettle of any would-be contender for the title of Master.  Mike faced Nick’s Grenadierkompanie in a match that hinged on Mike’s canny contesting of the objective, finally blocking Nick’s bold thrust on the objective with a wall of Italians. Dan took the objectives from Steve Hill’s Pioneers before his Brummbärs could intervene, and so the points table was finally determined (technical count-back in Dan’s favour plus sporting score).

Coming up like a proverbial Phoenix from the ashes, Rob Sadler wrestled third place on the strength of his gutsy performance in the last round, on top of a solid point’s total during play on day one.  All up a most enjoyable competition to run, and a great crowd of players.  Also meritorious was Isaac’s Best Sporting award, he received five votes for favourite game/opponent over the two days.

On reflection I think the format was excellent for top level competition, with the uncertainty of match-ups showing up flaws in army design and play alike.  I would recommend this style of competition for hardcore veteran players, which is what the Masters is all about.  Another thing we did was award a bonus Victory Point for a win, this encouraged playing for the win and as a result there were only two draws in the entire weekend of play. Left: Steve and Phil address the players.

I’d especially like to acknowledge all the help I had, especially Battlefront who supplied terrain that made the other competition green with envy , as well as a copy of Red Bear and Grey Wolf for the winners.  The Masters Tournament was organised by Phil Wu of Auckland City Guards club, take note their next event is Equinox 2012 which includes a Flames Of War Mid-war competition. Thanks also to all the players, some of whom travelled a long way to compete.  Thanks to all, see you next year over some dice. ~ Steve.

2011 New Zealand Flames Of War Masters Winners

2011 New Zealand Flames Of War Master Dan Maguire (with last year's winner Paul Mounsey) German Pionierkompanie

Second Overall Mike Haycock (with Steve Chambers) Italian Battaglione Fucilieri

Third Overall Rob Sadler (with Steve Chambers) German DAK Schützenkompanie

Best Sporting Isaac Henderson (with Steve Chambers) Soviet Tankovy Batalon

Final Results & Standings

Name Army Victory Points Sporting Total Placing Awards Dan Maguire German Pionierkompanie 34 6.8 40.8 1 Master Mike Haycock Italian Battaglione Fucilieri 34 5.6 39.6 2 Second Rob Sadler German DAK Schützenkompanie 30 6.8 36.8 3 Third Tony Vodanovich Soviet Tankovy Batalon 26 6.8 32.8 4   Kit Goldsbury German Grenadierkompanie 26 6.8 32.8 4   Rob Shirley German Pionierkompanie 25 7.4 32.4 6   Nick Garden German Grenadierkompanie 26 6 32 7   Steve Hill German Pionierkompanie 25 6.8 31.8 8   Paul Mounsey Soviet Strelkovy Batalon 21 9.2 30.2 9   Isaac Henderson Soviet Tankovy Batalon 19 10 29 10 Best Sport Lance Knighton British Light Armoured Squadron 19 8.4 27.4 11   Phil Porter British Heavy Armoured Squadron 19 8.4 27.4 11   Dominic Wilshier British Light Armoured Squadron 15 7.4 22.4 13   Bob Pearce German Grenadierkompanie 12 7.4 19.4 14 Dunkirk