This past Saturday I participated in a Flames of War tounament at Gamerz Depot. We had 12 players, so it was an official tournament in the eyes of Battlefront, the owners of the game system.

My force consisted of 4 M4A1 Shermans, equipped with a 75mm barrel, not quite able to punch through the late war (1944-45) tanks like the Tiger. I also had an Armored Rifle Platoon, which is a pair of fire (shoot, not as in flamethrower) teams, along with a mortar and a pair of light machine guns, all mounted in half-tracks. I also had a couple of anti-air trucks, a section of tankhunters and my secret weapon, three experimental M6 heavy tanks. Last but not least, my Company Commander and his second in command in 75mm Shermans.

The first battle was against Kaleb and his Italians. They have a strange rule that says they must roll to see what level they are trained to, from anywhere from Confident Trained to Fearless Veteran. This was literally his first game, and having the force right out of the Italian Army Box, he didn’t have a lot of anti-tank weaponry. So, I rolled right over him without too much effort and took the objectives. I did get a little hasty and lost one platoon to enemy fire. Result: Win 5-2.

Second battle was against Griff and his Italians. Griff has been playing for a while, and knew how to handle his forces. The deciding moment of the game was when I had dealt enough casulties to the two platoons sitting on the objectives and when he rolled for platoon morale, they both failed and ran off the board, leaving me in control of the objecitves. Again, I won 5-2.

Third battle was against James and his Germans. This scenario was a little different, in the fact that we started on the short board edges instead of the long board edges. This meant we had to go 6 feet instead of 4 to reach the other side of the board. For once, I was the defender, and I was defending instead of attacking. The scenario we played is weighted heavily in favor of the defender. I have never won this scenario as the attacker before. So, I started in prepared positions with only half my force, and it was his objective to be on my half of the table. If I could keep him off my side of the board for 6 turns, I would win. And that’s what I did. I put my armored Rifle platoon with machine guns dismounted from the half-tracks in a line at the half way point of the board, and they stood like a sea wall with waves crashing over them. This one I also won 5-2.

Let me say that a “perfect” score in this game is a 6-1 win, and I lost one platoon in each game, resulting in the 5-2 score.

So, with 15 points, I took first place in the tournament! I now have the opportunity to play at the nationals, which will cost me about $750. I have until September 11th to make up my mind about going. I could use some sponsors. You can contact me via email, the address is mark -at- theconservativezone -dot- com.