European Grand Tournament 2012 held 22-23 September at Eye of the Storm. 2012 saw the second European Grand Tournament. 74 players from the UK and Europe descended on the excellent gaming venue ‘Eye of the Storm’ in Mansfield. On the afternoon of Friday the 21st went spent a few hours setting up the gaming tables, this year we focused on adding more the Flames Of War terrain releases and some much needed rolling hills. Our focus was to try and theme the tables in rows, and I think in most cases we achieved this. Left: This year's winner, Steve Charlton. View the full results table of final standings for the European Grand Tournament here...

So from the dense city of Stalingrad moving into the sparse rolling hills of the Russian steppes and then into the more rural country side of France, we pretty much had most landscapes that you might see travelling through Europe. At this point I have make a huge thank you to Chris, Tony and Lawrie of the GCN who without many hours of sawing, gluing, painting and flocking this would not have been possible. Also thanks go out to Nobby, Peter and the Reluctant Conscripts for providing tables. Right: Team England.

Of the 74 players we had some of the top players in the UK and Europe which for us was a great turn out especially as the European Team Championships had only been held 4 weeks prior in Poland. Players from Slovina, Finland, Sweden, Spain, Italy and the USA joined players from all over the UK. Left: A fine example of the terrain on display at the tournament.

This year we changed the format of how the games where drawn. So instead of pre-publishing the missions as we felt this allowed players to tailor their armies to the missions prior to the tournament. Out came the spoons! 9 wooden spoons where labelled with the mission and type, then players were called at random to select the mission. There were groans and cheers to be heard when the missions where drawn. Over the course of the weekend 5 hard fought games where played. Right: Action at the tables.

Some of my personal highlights were in round one Matt Haywood one of the 2 players bringing German trains was drawn on one of the city fight tables Matt was quoted as saying on many occasions ‘Bleeding City tables.’ In the later rounds it was Dave Payne fielding a Hermon Goering army said me ‘The new US Tank Destroyers are like Harry Potter always turning up when you least want them’ Left: The trophies up for grabs.

Below: Game on!

The winners for this year are: Grand Tournament Champion Steve Charlton Runner-Up Tvez Delak For the Fatherland Matt Haywood

We Shall Fight Them on the Beaches Stefano Breviglieri A Pint of Sweat Saves a Gallon of Blood Jez Evans Hero of Mother Russia John Hopwood Forgotten Hero Ben Allen

Below: The players enjoying some friend but tough games.

The best painted army this year was hotly contested with many great armies competing for the top spot. This year’s winners are: 1. Anton Von Wirtzenau: SS-Kampfgruppe Peiper. 2. Peter Entwhistle: 12. SS-Hitlerjugend. 3. Sam Street: Panzer Lehr Kompanie.

Below: Visiting the Mess hall.

In the tournament we tried a new format for the Best Sport category, let’s just say the plan did not survive in the face of the enemy and will be revised for next year. So this year’s winner came from an unexpected admission. As we were checking the final scores and placing’s one of the players approached us and admitted that he had made a mistake in the final game and instead of winning 6-1 it meant a 4-3 loss. Without the players knowledge this took out of 3rd place and highest ranking Russian player and took him out of contention. I could think of no better reason to award Best Sport to Martin ‘Nobby’ Neale. Right: Who won?

Below: Victory!

As we have a lot of Europeans coming over for the tournament we put in a team competition element for a bit of fun to see who would be the highest scoring team. This year it went to the ETC runners up Team England. Left: The members of Team England.

Myself and the Umpires would like to thank all the players that attended for making it such a great weekend and hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did. Our next tournament is in January at Firestorm Games keep an eye out on future newsletters for more information. ~ Gareth. Right: Part of this year's international contingent was made of Team Finland.

Below: The players relax at the conclusion of the tournament.

The Iron Cross Painting Competition They say a picture paints a 1000 words so I present this year’s winners. Best Platoon: Steve Charlton. Best Infantry: Peter Entwhistle. Best Tank Team: Juha ‘Innom’ Jokinen. Best Gun Team: Andrew Nedmark. Best Warrior: Tim Harris. Best Objective Marker: Jeremy Howison-Haworth. Best Overall: Team Finland.