Rallypoint 34 by Rob Shirley Rallypoint 34 was the Hamilton Immortals Annual Historical Tournament. It was held at Melville High School and for the sixth consecutive year we ran the largest Early War Flames of War event in New Zealand. The local game store, Mark I, provided sponsorship for the event. Chris, the owner, provided $750 worth of store vouchers to give away as prizes and offered a Sunday afternoon 15% discount on his product. Our club supplied free sleeping bag accommodation on mattresses on the school Marae (NZ Maori word for a communal sleeping area) and breakfast. The entry fee was $30, which seemed to be fine for most players. Last year we awarded the overall winner, the Rallypoint Medal, which is a WW2 era coin hung on a Waikato-coloured ribbon. If the player wears it the following year they get a $10 discount on their entry fee. Club members receive a $10 discount off the entrance fee as well. All players also received a store voucher of at least $20 this year.

The Flames Of War event had 22 players this year. The biggest group was from the Immortals but there were people from all over the North Island including Hutt Valley, Wellington, Wanganui, New Plymouth, Napier, Gisborne, Tauranga, Tokoroa and Auckland. Our umpire was Tony Davys who did a good job answeing questions and keeping us in line. We played four matches on Saturday and two on Sunday, as the Hutt Valley guys did have a six and a half hour drive afterwards! We played six different missions; Roadblock, No Retreat, Fighting Withdrawal, Breakthrough, Encounter and Free for All. It was pleasing to see that four of the players were 17 years old or younger. Issac lead the youngster’s field finishing the tournament at 8th overall. They enjoyed themselves and all of the kids are planning to be at ValleyCon in January—our club trip in 2009.

Rallypoint 34—The Flames Of War Tournament.

My own tournament experience went pretty well, despite an absolute drubbing in the first round. Andrew Shepherd, from Hutt Valley, and I have been playing grudge matches in a lot of first round matches in tournaments for the past couple of years. We play for a T-Shirt that I bought when I was playing in Leviathan (Sydney) in 2006. So we played Road Block and he played with a Mark II German Army, as did I, except he was Confident Trained and I was Confident Veteran. In the end, he got to keep the T-Shirt (mumble, mumble) as a 1-6 is pretty decisive. I recovered with a 5-2 victory against young Michael and then two 6-1 results against both Jono and Nick to end day one. Left: Last round Mark Stanton versus Andrew Shepherd, Strek versus CT Mark II’s

Day two saw me facing off with the tournament leader, clubmate Paul (he who was 2nd in the BF MWGT and who won Taranaki Wars). After a very close game, he won 4-3. In my last match I played Alastair in Free For All against his endless Strelkovy, and managed to get a 5-2 win.

Meanwhile, Shep got a 6-1 to tie for the top-spot with Paul. Both scored the maximum for sports. So it was decided that they dice-off for the win, low roll wins. The first attempt was 4 and 4, and then slippery Paul rolled a miserable 2 to Shep’s 3. We had a winner! I had a lot of fun and the feedback indicates that we can expect to see the mob back next year. Mark 1 has confirmed they wish to continue sponsoring us. Not surprising, as by the time I managed to get in the queue, I still ended up 9th to buy more toys! A couple of StuG boxes are always handy! It was great to see the variety of forces, and next year I have hopes of playing a German Cavalry list at Rallypoint 35 on 14-15 November 2009. Right: Round 5. Paul is saving his 25 pdr (again). The church objective and the remains of my tanks can also be seen.

Meanwhile, Shep got a 6-1 to tie for the top-spot with Paul. Both scored the maximum for sports. So it was decided that they dice-off for the win, low roll wins.The first attempt was 4 and 4, and then slippery Paul rolled a miserable 2 to Shep’s 3. We had a winner! I had a lot of fun and the feedback indicates that we can expect to see the mob back next year. Mark 1 has confirmed they wish to continue sponsoring us. Not surprising, as by the time I managed to get in the queue, I still ended up 9th to buy more toys! A couple of StuG boxes are always handy! It was great to see the variety of forces, and next year I have hopes of playing a German Cavalry list at Rallypoint 35 on 14-15 November 2009. Left: Alastair Mundell playing Andrew Stanton in Round 5.

Results Place Name  General  Sport Total  1 Paul Mounsey 27 30 57  2 Andrew Shepherd 27 30 57   3 Mark Stanton 26 30 56   3 Rob Shirley 26 30 56   5 Ian Rawley 25 29  54   5 Jonothan Seal 24 30 54   7 Andrew Stanton 22 30 52   8 Isaac Henderson 22 29  51   8 Rowan Coker 22 29  51   8 Philip Porter 21 30 51   11 Alistair Mundell 20 30 50   11 James Mundell 20 30 50   13 Marlin Fisher 20 29  49   13 Nick Booth 19 30 49   13 Lance Knighton 19 30 49   16 Kris Hastings 22 26  48   17 Daniel Maguire 20 27  47   17 Simon Taylor 17 30 47   19 Alan Bainbridge 16 30 46   20 Micheal Hamilton 16 29  45   21 Ian Cameron 14 30 44   22 Ashley Reid 12 30 42