Warfare in Winter A Flames of War Tournament with Eric Cambra This year will bring about the second annual Warfare in Winter tournament here in Las Vegas, Nevada. I will be hosting this tournament again at the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino on the weekend of November 11th and 12th. It is going to be a V4 late-war era event at 1,515 points. We had a great time last year, with people from all over the country coming to do battle and enjoy themselves while doing it!

The 2016 Warfare in Winter started off Saturday morning with a bang as about twenty people voiced their collective opinion of the opening mission... The dreaded Cauldron! Battles were fought over a variety of tables; from the dry and arid deserts of North Africa, to the quaint towns and hamlets of Western Europe and Italian peninsula, and to the frozen tundra and rolling steppe of Mother Russia. There were a couple of themed tables which people seemed to enjoy as well.

There was a rail yard full of tracks, factories, and fuel depots for players to contest over. The other was a full blown battlefield full of trenches, treacherous mud pits, and blasted out forests. After some well fought conflicts, most of which ran to time, we all broke for lunch. During this time those players that wished their armies to be judged, arrayed them out for The Cavalcade of Comrades, where contestants voted for their favorite painted force in the tournament. After lunch, everyone returned for rounds two and three... Counterattack and No Retreat. There was a heavy representation of Axis players this year and the opening rounds of the tournament seemed to resemble more of an Axis civil war than the usual red and blue we were used to, but the rumblings of the Allies started to make themselves heard.

The first day went well, and by the closing third round, the leaders had started to pull away from the rest of the pack by the thinnest of margins. After lunch, everyone returned for rounds two and three... Counterattack and No Retreat. There was a heavy representation of Axis players this year and the opening rounds of the tournament seemed to resemble more of an Axis civil war than the usual red and blue we were used to, but the rumblings of the Allies started to make themselves heard. The first day went well, and by the closing third round, the leaders had started to pull away from the rest of the pack by the thinnest of margins.

The second day got off to a great start! This was especially fortunate since it is Las Vegas and there was the occasional red-eyed general coming to make war this morning and our resident Italian player (in full Pinocchio attire) was not so fully recovered from a raucous night on Pleasure Island!  Apparently, what happens in Vegas, ends up on the battlefield! And so, after a not so surprisingly quiet mission of Pincer, the players broke one more time for lunch and returned for our last and final mission of the weekend, Breakthrough!

The fighting was fierce, as the top spots in the tournament would end up being decided by within one point between all three players. In the end though, it was Lance Vaughn who received the top general honors with his French Compagnie de Combat. Newcomer Mary Beth Waldorf achieved second place by little more than half a point with her Soviet Strelkovy force and Tim Morris placed third with his German Panzergrenadiers. Local Kanon Bene won overall for the Cavalcade of Comrades with his German Czech Panzer Kompanie and San Francisco's own Russell Moore won the prize for Best Sportsmanship.

It was a great time had by all, and to be honest, I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to do it again this year. After some talks with the guys from southern and northern California at the West Coast Nationals a few weeks ago though, I decided that I'd do it again and make this a regular, annual event. I'm really hoping that this year, and the years to come, we are able to expand this event into an even bigger success. Talking with a few of the guys that attended last year, including a couple from Canada, I think that now is a great opportunity to achieve just that. The venue is great, and there's plenty of room for expansion should the tournament grow over the years.

Overall, I'm very happy with the way things turned out and I'm looking forward to seeing the guys that attended last year as well as plenty of new faces. After all, this is Las Vegas, what more reason do you need to come and play than that??

I would like to welcome everyone to the Second Annual “Warfare in Winter” 2017 held in Las Vegas, Nevada! “Warfare in Winter” is going to be held again at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas during the weekend of November 11th and 12th.  I am really looking forward to having this a recurring, regional event held between West Coast Nationals in San Francisco, California and Shifting Sands in Mesa Arizona.  All information, i.e. round schedule, registration costs and payment method, and other general questions can either be found on the Battlefront events and tournament forums under the Warfare in Winter post, on the Flames of War-Nevada Facebook group page, or by contacting me directly via email to [email protected]. We're really looking forward to hosting another great event here in Las Vegas and it'd be great to see a packed house! Please feel free to send any questions or queries about the tournament and registration my way via [email protected]. I'm hoping to see a lot of return players and many new ones as well.

Where and When Stratosphere Hotel and Casino Las Vegas, Nevada (Sierra room, 24th floor). Saturday and Sunday, November 11th & 12th. Tournament Sign-up and List Submission - [email protected] 30 available spots. Registration is offered on a first come, first served basis. Registration/Tournament Fee - $45.00 Tournament Schedule Day one, Saturday November 11th Registration/Sign in time - 9:00am Round 1- 9:30 - 12:00pm Lunch - 12:00 - 1:30pm Round 2 - 1:30 - 4:00pm Round 3 - 4:30 - 7:00pm Day two, Sunday November 12th Recap and briefing-9:30am Round 4 - 10:00 - 12:30pm Lunch - 12:30 - 2:00pm Round 5 - 2:00 - 4:30pm Award Ceremony - 4:30 - 5:00pm Prizes will be awarded for: Best General 2nd place 3rd place Best Painted Best Sportsman Battlefield Award (favorite terrain set up) Registration Deadline - October 1, 2017 List submission deadline - November 1, 2017 Armies must be fully painted! Please have at least one printed copy of your army list. (i.e. Easyarmy, ForcesofWar, etc.) This tournament is a straight Swiss format with missions to be randomly determined before each round.  Players should be aware of time during each round. Time updates will be announced at regular intervals by the tournament organizer. Please do not start a round if both players will not have a chance to finish. Once time is called, dice down, no finishing out the turn. Bad sportsmanship; i.e. cheating, slow play, belligerent and/or aggressive behavior, will not be tolerated. Scoring will be generalship 80%, sportsmanship 20%. ~ Eric.