West Coast Nationals 2025 at the USS Hornet Museum

West Coast Nationals 2025 at the USS Hornet Museum By Russell Moore This year Flames Of War players from across the globe were able to really put the coast in “West Coast Nationals”.  After a nearly decade long run of Nationals at the Las Vegas Open it was time for something new. The USS Hornet CV-12 Museum located in Alameda California provided Nationals players an opportunity to roll dice in anger in the same hangar space that once housed over 100 airplanes. Post World War II the Hornet was active for the Cold and Vietnam wars and was the recovery for the astronauts from Apollo 11 and 12.

This year’s West Coast Nationals was a 105 point, Mid War event over the course of two days. With the recent launch of the 2025 Mid War dynamic points some themes in list building became clear when looking at the decisions players made while constructing their forces. The age of lists composed mainly of armored cars and light vehicles appears to be over. Generally speaking players broke off into two main camps of thought. Medium tank lists with vehicles like the American Lee or German Panzer III were as common as defensive minded lists with infantry and anti tank gun platoons like British 6 pounders or the Pak40.

While the weather outside was what I would call frigid at times, players layered up and largely seemed to enjoy the fierce competition and unique venue. Tournament leaders changed round by round and it was really anyone’s event to take. First place was separated from 8th by only 5 points. The last round top table saw Jacob Mayer’s Soviet Infantry and SU76’s face off with Eric Eckles' Vampire themed Romanian Infantry. Their hard fought game ended in a 3-3 draw. Jacob was able to hold onto his lead and came home with First place. Second place was NorCal’s Richard Barnes just 1 point behind the winner. His German Fallschirmjäger backed by heavy guns and a Ferdinand gave tank lists some serious headaches. Third place with a strength of schedule tiebreaker was Richard Gagliasso’s Romanian cavalry list. It was an absolute pleasure to watch his well painted mounted horsemen boldly charge across the tabletop into enemy positions.

Best painted is quickly becoming a category that requires months of effort to be able to compete in. The amount of well painted armies has increased year after year and many people should be proud of their efforts. Patric Weiss all the way from Switzerland took home the award with a beautiful German Infantry and captured T-34 tank list. Had they been real, it would be a shame to see the tanks get dust, mud and scratches on that perfect paint job. Justin Rodriguez was our 2025 Sportsman. He has always been a great embodiment of what this hobby is all about where fun is always first.

Best Painted by Patric Weiss (Click image to enlarge)

Thank you to everyone who came and helped make this event a massive success. The event would not have been possible without the help and support of Russell Moore, Chief Experience Officer of the USS Hornet Museum. I also wanted to give a special thank you to Battlefront and   Ben Bostedor. When objectives landed in the country literally dozens of hours before the event, Ben overnighted the package to my hotel in Alameda without hesitation. The players appreciated the effort and let me just say this objective is an absolute winner. I highly recommend any player reading this make their way to a Nationals event this year!

Jacob Mayer’s defenders proved to be too much to get through, however, and he prevailed 6-3, making him unbeaten for the tournament. Vince and Tim won their games, putting themselves in the top three.