FlamesCon! Last weekend was FlamesCon, Battlefront’s big gaming event in New Zealand. This year we not only had our traditional Late-war tournament, we also had one-day Early War and Mid War tournaments, an Open Fire introductory tournament, a Spartacus boardgame tournament, demos, and more. FlamesCon 2013 has been our largest yet, and we are already thinking about new things to do next year!

The Tournaments The late war event had 32 players on day one, and 28 on day two. Four players opted to go for one day so they could participate in other events or spend the day soaking in the Labour Day weekend. There was a lot of action in the Late War area, and it was good to see so many familiar faces and meet several new ones! The Mid and Early War tournaments were also quite popular, with three games each. Players enjoyed being able to pick and choose the events they wanted to play in, so we will make sure this is offered in future events. See the Tournament Results here...

Spartacus A new instalment in the FlamesCon tournament scene was the Spartacus tournament. Players ran three complete games, with a scoring system in place to rank the players. There were shouts and cheers coming from the main stage as the dice rolled in the bloody arena! See Phil Petry’s Spartacus Tournament report here…

Open Fire We also ran an Open Fire tournament for new players to become acquainted with the game. We had eight players in the end and we ran three rounds using the forces available in the Open Fire introduction box. We ended with a battle royale with all players fighting for hidden prizes on the table. I was pleased to meet these new players and I hope to see them at future events.

The Events We also had several small events, demonstrations, and participation games. Phil ran an excellent Flames in the Sky campaign, based on a WWII dogfighting game he has been working on for some time. In the evening, the players engaged in several missions, shooting down enemy bombers and becoming aces (or perhaps the opposite!). Sean ran the arcade this year, called Flames Of Tanks. It’s a simple game developed from our World of Flames last year. This time, each player controls an individual tank and team up with some comrades to complete a scenario. Kills gave you the chance to earn upgrades, which you could give to your tank. Saturday evening ended with a big multiplayer event, with as many as 10 tanks running amuck in and around a tank factory. Download the Flames Of Tank rules here... Andrew ran a small role-playing game called Embers of War, based loosely on Flames of War and a few RPG games he has played in the past. The players had to work closely together to infiltrate and knock out a German strongpoint.

Spartacus Tournament Report with Phil Petry We had five entrants for the tournament: Phil Petry Dean Webb Rob Sadler Tu Tamasese Ray O’Connor We were joined by Robbie for the third round. For the Spartacus Tournament we played three games over three rounds – each one starting at a lower influence, so the games started at influence 7, 4, and 1 respectively. Points were awarded for each place based on the position you were in when someone won the game, so it introduced a very different dynamic to Spartacus where you would make a play for 2nd or 3rd place rather than the win if it was out of reach. Rob won the first round convincingly and sailed in to the overall lead; the first game was over in a flash with no opportunity to gain bonus points by decapitating an opponent in the Arena. The second game was predictably more brutal and strategic, with multiple Primus being called and blood spilling thickly on to the sands of the Arena. There were several big swings in influence, with players going up and down 3-4 influence in a single round with regularity. Consistency won out in the end with Rob claiming another win, however Dean and Tu both picked up multiple decapitations and stayed in touch with the top of the leaderboard. The third round saw the introduction of an “X” factor in the form of another player being added – although Robbie couldn’t participate in the tournament points he certainly caused havoc with Rob’s carefully laid plans by winning the game after a marathon three-hour epic. Every facet of the game came in to play, but good-natured deals dried up as we fought to the death for those final places on the ladder. Dean snuck in at the last second and won the final game with Robbie’s points not counting, and with his bloodthirsty tendencies being rewarded when his decapitations took him to the overall tournament win. Great fun had by all and we will certainly be running a couple more of these in 2014 along with some Firefly events! Name Round 1 Points Round 2 Points Round 3 Points Bonus Points TOTAL Dean Webb 1 2 5 2 10 Rob Sadler 3 4 1 1 9 Tu Tamasese 2 3 3 1 9 Ray O'Conner 1 1 4 0 6 Phil Petry 1 2 1 0 4