2023 Tournament AAR

This was our sixth BFB tournament and the fifth held face to face. We meet every year during November at The Headlands Hotel, Blackpool, UK.

 

I was pleased to see a slight increase in the number of attendees compared to last year and am hopeful this will rise again in 2024.

Of the 35 who travelled to Blackpool, 19 entered the main tournament.

 

There was some debate as to who was the oldest player at the tournament with the consensus being XXX (can I name him?) at 70 who we were all delighted to see return to the tournament scene for the first time since COVID. There can be doubt as to the youngest player, at the tender age of 15, so maybe there is hope this great game of ours will still be being played in 2050 and beyond!

 

We again had international presence with Eric Gerstenberg travelling the furthest of any attendee, all the way from The Lone Star State, USA.

 

Early arrivals were there on Wednesday for free play with the organised gaming getting underway on Thursday.

 

These were the Minis, sponsored this year by our friends at Hazardous Movement with scenario choices by Andy Bagley who kindly stepped in to get these organised as I concentrated on the main tournament. There was the usual choice of ETO or PTO with 16 players participating. The winners were Ian Ainsworth, Bill Durrant and Morris Legge (ETO) along with Craig Benn (PTO).

 

The main tournament got underway on Friday. As always the scenarios are blind, mainly unpublished, and this year all from our main tournament sponsor, Bounding Fire Productions. The format was restructured somewhat this year to a four round, random draw, straight knock out competition with an “Heroic” Division of 16 players and a “Fanatic” Division of all the remaining players who wished to play in the main tournament.

 

Whilst a knock out format, any losing players went into a repechage and / or BFP Special Minis secondary tournament thus ensuring that all entrants played at least 3 tournament games. Prizes were awarded to 8 of the 16 starting players.

 

The games finished running up to midnight on the Saturday thus leaving Sunday free for more free play.

 

BFP Special Mini winners:- Ian Ainsworth and Mark Blackmore.

Repechage Tournament Runner Up:- Peter Catchpole.

Repechage Tournament Winner:- Steve Cook.

 

In the “Fanatic” Division well played to Stuart Brant who won the final against Runner Up John Kennedy in a keenly fought game of BFP-105 The Winter City.

 

In the “Heroic” Divsion, both the 3^rd / 4^th play-off game and the final selected BFP-30, Melee Near The Coast (Blood and Jungle) from the choice of 3 BFP scenarios available (the others being BFP-95 Obian Highway and BFP-107 Costly Baptism).

 

The final featured two of the UKs top players with Toby Piling just edging the win (playing the Chinese) in a closely fought match against Martin Vicca, the game coming down to the final Close Combat. Well played Toby, not his first win nor surely his last at BFB.

 

In the play-off game Craig Benn (playing the Japanese) came through to take 3^rd place against Eric Gerstenberg (4^th).

 

Other winners of the various tournament prizes on offer over the weekend included Andy Bagley, Neil Brunger, Nick Ranson and John Turpin.

 

None of which would have been possible without the generous support of our sponsors and supporters - Bounding Fire Productions, Hazardous Movement, Advancing Fire, Battleschool, Dispatches From The Bunker, Ken Smith Fine Art, Lone Canuck Publishing, Second Chance Games, Mario Aceto dice towers and Ian Willey for his superb dioramas / models. Thank you.

 

Unfortunately we received some sad news during our time in Blackpool. A stalwart of the UK tournament scene, Joe Arthur, sadly passed away just a short time before he was due to travel. RIP Joe, you will be missed.

Bounding Fire Blackpool will reconvene at the same location, 13th-17th November 2024, for more friendly, intense ASL action - keep your eyes on the Blog (https://boundingfireblackpool.blogspot.com/) for updates. Many thanks to all those who attended and I look forward to seeing you again next year.