Las Vegas Open 2020 Recap

Las Vegas Open 2020 Recap with Chad McElhinney, Battlefront US This past weekend thousands of excited miniature gamers descended on Sin City for the largest miniatures convention in the western United States. The team at Frontline Gaming have returned again to Bally’s Hotel for yet another 3 days of gaming fun in the desert. Flames Of War began with 3 participants the first Las Vegas Open, and this year we were capped at 48, limited only by table space.

Friday saw a 28-player WWIII tournament with familiar faces from Abel Kompany, Screaming Eagles, Lost Angeles Gaming, as well as new game clubs and plenty of individuals. Both familiar faces and newcomers alike battled it out over 3 rounds while Christian Sorrensen had to resort to scoring manually due to so many spectators trying to log into BCP (Best Coast Pairings) that the entire app crashed. In the end Chris Jackson emerged victorious, with Vincent Arroyo runner up. Remember that name as we’ll see it later.

Then Saturday began the 2-day main event, West Coast Nationals! This year was Late War at 100 points. Starting off in their respective corners 48 players ‘Got ready to Ruuuuuuummmmble!’, and with BCP back up and running Igor Torgenson and Chad McElhiney managed the results. Round One saw 13 games score 8-1, three more go 7-2, and four others score 6-3. Twenty of twenty-four games were wins, leaving only 4 as draws. After Round two we were down to 3 undefeated at 16 points with an additional seven players only 2 points behind at 14. As the rounds continued players began to fall. Dropping to 46 players by the end of day one, and entering the final round with only 44 remaining.

Round 5, top table saw the last two undefeated Vincent Arroyo with 32 points face off against Frank Yuan who had 28, and Joe Lewis tied with James Best Jr at 25 points were the next table. Vincent and Frank battled it out for four turns with a deadly assault over the objective to end it.

In the end it was Vincent Arroyo undefeated, and a five-time 8-1 victor who claimed the championship. James Best Jr second, and Jacob Mayer in third. Robert Bomkamp’s exquisitely painted USMC themed American force featured multiple custom creations and scored Best Painted William Prescott edged out the nomination for Best Sportsman

Overall, everyone had a great time, hanging out for dinner together after the events, spending time together, bantering back and forth. The social interactions between the players contributing highly to the multiple nominations for sportsmanship spread amongst more players than previously. Also each club asking for the points of their members vs other clubs to see which club came out on top, and possibly creating a new award prize category next year. This year featured John Cedarberg winning the Darwin Award for consuming 28 different species at Saturday evenings dinner. Next stop is Mid War, and Mid-West Nationals at Adepticon in Late March. See you there. ~Chad