Operation Saltire II - Scottish Nationals Event Report

Operation Saltire II - Scottish Nationals Event Report By Frank Keast Operation Saltire II welcomed 28 players from Scotland, Wales, England and Europe to battle it out for the top spot in the Flames Of War Scottish Nationals. The venue was Knightly Gaming in Bathgate and by some miracle, the sky was clear and the sun shining all weekend. Whilst some of the travelling players made a long weekend of their trip to visit historic Scottish sites, most chose to remain indoors, at the gaming table and maintained their pallid gamer complexions.

Five games were played over two days and players were allowed to bring an alternative list to reduce the likelihood of Blue on Blue match ups. The period was Mid War and the points set at 95. There was a fantastic variety of lists in play. Italians were very well represented and there were Hungarians and Romanians along with the more well known, major nations.

Not only was the gaming going to be closely fought, the painting competition had attracted some of the best painters in the European scene. I was the judge and used a points based scoring system with player voting taken into account for any ties. After Day One and three games, the title was still anyone’s to win. With 28 players, the top tables were being fed with fresh faces at each round meaning points were being shared right across the board with no one player standing out as the favourite. So, there was everything to play for on Day Two and it went right down to the final round. But before that, we had the painting competition. Armies on Parade was great showcase for the hobby with fantastic looking armies and a great effort by all. Six armies made it through to final judging. Third place went to Hawkeye Pierce’s army of Finns and German armour. Second place went to Peter McCarroll with his Hungarians. First place went to Soren Petersen for his mixed force of Gebirgsjaeger and Romanians. It was pleasing to see that the Players’ choices matched the judge scoring.

Many players supported the event by providing a table or two of terrain. Ray Young brought along his spectacular Stalingrad table. It is an inspiring sight and gets used in Stalingrad and Berlin themed events. Here, it was an optional table for any players who might have a match up against other infantry forces.

The final result of the tournament was in the balance until the last dice had been rolled. In 3rd place with 28 points (after a tiebreak with Mark Goddard) was Richard Hardy. In 2nd place with 29 points was Rex King. In 1st place with 31 points was Hawkeye Pierce. This was Hawkeye’s first ever tournament win so well done to him and to all the players.

When we decided to run a two day National Tournament aimed to develop the Scottish Flames Of War community. We aimed to build bridges with groups in other countries and encourage our home based players to become engaged with the wider Flames Of War community. With half of the players at this year’s event travelling from outside of Scotland we are hopefully on the way to achieving our goals. We are already looking forward to next year’s event and local players are discussing events elsewhere that they could attend.

If you are in Scotland and are looking for a game of Flames of War and Team Yankee, you can find our regular gaming groups based in Knightly Gaming in Bathgate and the Games Hub in Edinburgh. We hope to see you soon. ~ Frank