Tournament Results

The Foundry Firefight was held the last weekend in July and a lot of fun was had by all.

The Firefight was a 3 round, 1750 point, Late War, Flames of War tournament held at The Foundry in Huntsville, Alabama. 

Format: 

- Forces were restricted to any list from an official Flames of War Late War Version 3 compatible source (book or PDF).  Force could not exceed 1750 points.

- 3 rounds (1^st round Mobile Battle, 2^nd round Defensive Battle,  3^rd round Fair Fight).  Players decided mission or rolled for mission from those available for that round if they could not come to terms. 

- Round lengths were 2.5 hours with 30 minutes between rounds

- Initial pairings were be based upon player’s estimated strengths while trying to keep as many matches Red vs Blue as possible.  Remaining rounds pairings were based upon player tournament standings.

- Matches were randomly assigned to a table.

- Tables consisted of a variety of terrain (urban, desert, wadi, village, light forest, streams, hills, etc…).  The Tables used:

Rules clarifications were announced early.  Specifically, we used the following clarifications:

            - “Ambushing Pioneer Supply Vehicles (PSV):”  PSVs that are in ambush reveal their obstacles when the unit is declared to be in ambush.

            - It was preferred that aircraft be on the “new” Battlefront standard oval aircraft bases.  In the event aircraft were not, we measured to a spot 2.5 inches up from the table to determine the aircraft’s location. 

            - Hills.  Several tables had “sculpted” hills.  These tables were identified as such and “hulldown” status is earned from true line of sight.  On tables with “flat topped” hills, players claimed hull down concealment if the hull was just behind where the crest of the hill would be if it were not a flat game hill.  The crest was defined as an imaginary line running along the center of the hill. 

            - Terrain types for each board were identified with a handout at each table

Well, no plan survives first contact…and this was no exception.  We had expected several out-of-towners to attend, but alas they did not show.  So, we were down to the core of our local players.

Steve Toth's Hungarians

Michael Raper's US Tanks

Mark Kilness' Panzer Grenadiers

Paul Applebaum's British Guards Infantry

Results:

Round 1: 

    Steve vs Michael:  Hasty Attack     Steve was the victor 4-3

    Mark vs Paul:  Hasty Attack           Mark was the victor 6-1

Round 2:

    Steve vs Paul:  Pincer     Steve was the victor 4-3

    Mark vs Michael:  Surrounded           Michael was the victor 6-1

Round 3:

    Steve vs Michael:  Dust-up     Steve was the victor 4-3

    Mark vs Paul:  Dust-up           Mark was the victor 4-3

Final Standings:

                        R1       R2       R3       F

Steve             4          4          4          12
Michael          3          6          3          12
Mark               6          1          4          11
Paul                1          3          3          7

Tie breaker was the painting competition that was held during the lunch break.  The judge was Clay Williams of The Foundry.  Clay is a Gold Daemon Award Finalist and has judged numerous other painting competitions to include several Games Workshop Grand Tournaments.

Paint Competition:

1^st:  Steve Toth

2^nd:  Michael Raper

3^rd:  Paul Applebaum

4^th:  Mark Kilness

Final Standings:

Using the Painting Competition as a tiebreaker, Steve Toth was the Overall winner with Michael Raper coming in second.  Their games were close blood baths and it was only fitting that it fell out the way it did.  Great job done by all the players…The Foundry’s staff…and The Foundry’s other patrons putting up with us.  Thanks to all of you.

Lessons Learned:

- Advertise…Advertise…Advertise… You need to do more than word of mouth.  You need to call other game stores…visit other groups. 

- Strike up relationships with the people and groups you advertise with.  If you travel to their tournaments and visit them….they will be more much more inclined to do the same and visit you…and attend your tournament.

- Timing.  Start advertising at LEAST 3 months in advance and keep in touch with the places/people you are advertising with.  This will really help give people time to make plans, especially if they are out of town.  Follow up is also key…don’t want them to forget!

- If you have the tournament in your FLGS, make sure other patrons know in advance that you will have a tournament and gaming space will be limited. The store had several disappointed players of other systems show up to see that we had occupied the gaming areas they wanted to use…at least for a few hours until we opened some up to them.

- Be flexible.  We had 9 tables set up, based on initial estimates, but ended up only using 2 tables per round.  So, we opened up 3 of the tables part way into the first round and then opened up the tables we just played on as each round ended.  This allowed the other patrons of the store to get there game on….and helps you maintain that positive relationship with the store.

- Rules knowledge.  This is one area I was really worried about.  I felt at first that I needed to be a walking encyclopedia of Flames of War knowledge.  You can’t know it ALL.  You need to have the basics down.  Be familiar with the current hotnesses (Ambushing Pioneer Supply Vehicles for instance)…but know where you can get the info quickly should you need it.  I was asked maybe 2 questions for the whole tournie…the players did a great job handling things themselves.

Parting Comments:

Again. thanks to The Foundry for hosting the tournament and to the players who came.  I think everyone had a good time and were challenged.  Taking the lessons learned, I think the next time I do this it will be even better.