Canadian Mid-War Nationals 2018

By Dennis Campbell AKA Matt Varnish

Photos by the Author and Chris Fretts

                                    Honest Ahmed (foreground) “Ah yes, come here GI Joe, have best price on allied 6pdr, trade-in on 37mm AT guns, very good, you get Masters shirt fast!”

Hey guys, This will mostly be a big picture dump from Canadian Nationals, and perhaps I will leave the analysis for others.  Firstly, shots of armies before they got deployed, then gaming pics, with Day 1 and Final standing snapshots by Chris Fretts.

Scott “Obsidian23” Roach’s Bersaglieri.   3 weeks ago, these were still NIB, and he got Best Painted.  Well done

Robert Kelly’s Mid-War Canadians (training in the UK) with the dreaded Artillery Expert card

My Italian 2x Carri formations, with the not-well-named ‘I Always Hit my Target’ card

Soviet tanks, not sure if he was done taking them out of his case..

More Italian M14’s, Lancia’s and presumably that card is Captured 25pdrs

 Soviets backed by AT guns and some Lees by Marc Viau.   Really nice objective models too

 Tim’s snow desert Diana’s with allied Italians?   I don’t have a clue whats going on here either, but rumour has it he has more Diana’s now

Jay “Maximum Maksims” Geekie ran the all infantry swarm.   I think he had more infantry on another movement tray

Marders, Schlepps and captured 6pdr, part of every nutritious German breakfast                      Zach Watson

Well painted EF germans with beer crate objectives.

Chris “3peat” Johnson’s Pascucci-led Italians.  This year’s Nationals is sponsored by Fiat, Lancia and Breda!

Interesting mix of defensive infantry and guns, then three Panzers for support.

 US lists were in short supply this year.   These were superbly painted

  Chris Frett’s Hero Strelkovy with Valentines, T-34s and Il-2 Sturmoviks in support.

 Another Canadian Mid-War list (using brits out of Armoured Fist)

 Tom “Chairborne” Mullane’s Crusaders are so fast, they are blurry (apologies)

       Another German Breakfast, less Shlepp, more FlaK

                                         Bernard’s Crusaders

                                      Matt MacKenzie’s Aufklarungs w/ Tiger support.

                                        Rob’s Hero Tenacious Strelks

Preston “PBR” Jacobs italian tanks.  Biplanes of Justice, crushes you, overpowers!

With that out of the way, and I didn’t get all the armies sadly, here are some gaming pics, starting with Day 1 standings:

    No Dice No Glory grudge match between Matt MacKenzie Tiger & Friends and Tom Mullane’s Crusaders

      I think this was the only plane-on-plane match-up of Hurricanes vs Chris Frett’s Sturmovik

          Bill B has to negotiate either those hedges or minefields to press home the attack.

Germans face their erstwhile Italian allies.

Matt MacKenzie would lose his Tiger to Bob “Luggs” McBride’s Marders

           East meets West (or Andy Zhu’s DAK vs Dan’s Iron Cross Panzers)

          David Attenborough voice: “And now, we see the T-34s coupling out in their natural habitat”!

           Epic ‘Labatt Blue’ crates of beer objective

        Speaking of beer, Rob, Andrew B, Matt McKenzie and Tom Mullane.  Tom’s face when he sees the menus are in French!

         Top-table match-up of Chris Fretts vs Chris Jackson or the urban board, day 1.

         Who says MG’s can’t make firepowers?!

        Andrew Buchan’s MDF laser-cut buildings from his own pattern.   Was dubbed Concrete Jungle, AKA infantry paradise

          Bob moves in for the kill…

 …and gets stymied by the new victory conditions, by not putting in more models to contest the crossroads objective. There were a lot of folks who got caught with that, including some of the French Montreal crew, when they read the rule that isn’t in their native tongue.

     Ben Crick measures while the Italian player talks with his hands! (Scott Roach)

     Dean Marquis’ exceptional poker face while in the heat of battle

      Darko P’s Soviets vs Matty

    Gary vs Andy

      Yes, those are 3 minefields guarding the gaps between the 4 rowhouse complexes…..

Bob “Luggs” made this table scenery:   Wheatfield with wrecked panzers, crew, and tea-light lit fire

He also had nuns chasing down German prisoners with dogs and canes by the graveyard.  This did NOT get best-painted table. They thought these bases were unfinished.    He kept them to match the streets.    Short-changed in my opinion!

     These T-34s sure are going to ruin the Feng-Shui of that rock and sand garden….

     Things get saucy as the Bersaglieri repulse the lend-lease Valentines

Andrew B captured a Panzer IV Long using the British Capture card.    Ok, maybe SOME CAPTURE CARDS are fun.. as Andrew would later use a captured flame-T-34 to win the game for him

     A lot of wrecked Soviet tanks… love it

     The joy that Matty feels as he plays on the Concrete Jungle board is palpable

Tom Mullane never drinks alone, he’s got his friends Jack Daniels and Jimmy Beam!

The final assault, last game, top-table. Chris Johnson seals the 3-peat, his third Canadian Nationals in a row. We need to build a wall, and get him to pay for it I think. Well done, and a huge thanks to EVERYONE who came up, it was most appreciated.