The MEGAZONE-UK Laser Tag Players Community @ MEGAZONE-UK.COM -

2006 Australian Nationals in Campbell Town - July 29th till August 4th 2006.

I was thankfully able to make the Australian Nationals again this year, which was held in Campbell Town, New South Wales, Australia. It's said that this years Zone Nationals event at Campbell Town, is the best nationals in 7 years of running, and I think many would agree. Each player that attended the nationals received there own unique 2006 Campbell Town metal engraved key ring with its own member button, which if shown, gave discounts at certain restaurants & fast food outlets located near zone 3.

Thank to Doug Burbidge, Andrew Larkin "Campbell Town Site Owner", Mel "Electronics & hardware technician" & the other members of staff, all the tournaments were held very well, making an enjoyable and competitive tournament event, which every one seemed to enjoy. The unique bases installed at Campbell Town made a positive change to the Australian Nationals that I'm glad I was able to enjoy. The packs functioned perfectly though out the event, and the style of phaser cable & hand sensors only used by Campbell Town, worked flawlessly, and even better than the typical zone-empire standard when it came down to the phaser cable. The Campbell Town maze was probably the best arena I have ever been lucky enough to play in, and I would be surprised if I play in a maze that could match it.

Australian Nationals 2006 Team Tournament:

There were 19 teams that were originally entered for the team tournament, 6 players per team, though that dropped to 18 teams after Bathurst a new team from New South Wales pulled out. The team tournament event started on the Monday of Nats week and was the main event to continue through most of the week.

Organiser Quote "Team competition was 18 teams of 6 players plus substitutes. Main part of team competition was 162 games; each team played 27 games. First 54 games was a round robin in which every team played 9 times, every team played on each colour 3 times, and every team played every other team approximately once. Next 108 games were three "cascades" of 36 games each. In each cascade, each team played 6 times, each team played on each colour twice, and every team played opponents of rank similar to theirs. 3 victory points for 1st; 2 for 2nd; 1 for 3rd."

Organiser Quote "Semifinals was a Skip Ascension: bottom 3 teams play, loser is eliminated, second place goes into next game, first place skips a game. Top team before semifinals (Campbelltown A) got a free ride through to the finals."

Nationals 2006 Team Ascension Games for 4/08/2006

Friday was the toughest day of the team tournament, depending on your team's success through the week. If you were down at the bottom of the team rankings, your team would play more games, and you would have to rank 1 or 2 to continue on, otherwise you were eliminated. Some strong team's, but it always comes down to three teams.

Organiser Quote "Finals was a 3 game series, with the top team before semifinals (Campbelltown A) plus the top two teams after semifinals (Hobart A and Sunny Coast A). Ranking was on total score, not victory points."

Finals Rankings were based on total scores for each team after three games.

Australian Nationals 2006 Womens Solo Tournament:

The womens solo competition didn't have as many contenders entered as the typical solo event, so it only took two games for the 2006 Australian Nationals Women's Solo winner to be decided. Last years 2005 Australian Nationals Women's Solo winner didn't do so well this year, but I think the arena was harder for some players, down to its interesting design. Samaelette really took the show this year, though she was playing on home ground, I doubt that was the reason alone she won the event, and I wouldn't be surprised if she won next year's women's solo event. Tank Girl & Brain Dead were missing from the list this year, lets hope that they will return for the Women's Solo event in the future, along with some more women contenders to increase the competition. It's nice to see more women getting interested in the zone scene.

Australian Nationals 2006 Women's Solo Champion Winner Samaelette.

Australian Nationals 2006 - Masters Tournament:

The masters event was held on the same day as the women's event, and has an age restriction where by only players over the age of 30 years are allowed to take part. Last years Masters Winner was Billy, followed in second place by Guardian & third was taken by INFUZED. This year Billy didn't finish in the top three. The Guardian guy from Box Hill was keeping it consistent this year, and finished in a neat second place receiving a trophy. However INFUZED from Darwin has beaten his third place position from last year and finished at the top, taking first place this year. Mopar from Rockhampton finished up in a reasonable third place, giving him also a trophy to take back home, nice one. Someone said to me that the age limit for master's maybe increased next year, but only time will tell on that one.

2006 Australian Nationals Solo Competition:

In the Solo tournament event, 92 players entered round 1. By the end of round 1, 30 players were straight through to round 2, with 62 players continuing on to battle it out in repercharge round 1.

TOP 30 PLAYERS FROM ROUND 1 RANKINGS:

Solo Repercharge Round 1:

There were 62 players who entered the Solo repercharge round 1. At the end of repercharge round 1, the top 7 players from all 4 games making 28 players, continued on to round 2, eliminating the remaining 33 players.

TOP 28 PLAYERS FROM REPECHARGE ROUND 1 RANKINGS:

Solo Round 2:

At the beginning of Solo round 2, there were 58 players still in the competition. By the end of round 2, the top 7 players from all three games making 21 players, continued straight on to round 3, leaving 37 players to battle it out in the solo repercharge round 2.

TOP 21 PLAYERS FROM ROUND 2 RANKINGS

Solo Repercharge Round 2:

In the beginning of the solo repercharge round 2 there were 37 players. By the end of repercharge round 2, the top 6 players from all two games making 12 players, continued on to round 3, eliminating the remaining 25 players from the tournament.

TOP 12 PLAYERS FROM REPERCHARGE ROUND 2 RANKINGS

Solo Round 3:

With 33 players remaining in round 3 of the solo competition, the game play became very interesting within the arena, and the game play picked up to a new frantic pace, down to increase of stronger players in each game. By the end of round 3, the top 7 players from both games making 14 players, were through to round 4 the final. The remaining 19 players entered repercharge round 3.

TOP 14 PLAYERS FROM ROUND 3 RANKINGS:

Repercharge Round 3:

Repercharge round 3 was brutal, and the final game of the day after a 6 hour competition. The final 19 players were either going to make it through to the final, or get wiped out trying. A lot of players shook hands in the arena before the game started, knowing not every one would make it through. Some of the really strong players were in this round, after not making it through round 3, so all the strong positions were taken on the ramps at the top of the maze. Some players including my self headed for the floor and attempted to make some kind emergency battle plan on foot, improvising as we went. Some players did better than expected, some players got smashed, some sticking to battle plans that worked from previous rounds did good & some didn't. It was a tough 12 minute round, with the top 6 players going through to the final out of 19 players.

19 PLAYERS FROM REPERCHARGE ROUND 3, TOP 6 PROGRESSED TO FINALS:

The final was held on sunday the following day, with the final 20 players who had made it through the previous rounds.

Organiser Quote "Average score and rank are on your best 3 games.
Score ratio and tag ratio are over all 4 games.
Ratios for punk and Raiden are wrong because they switched packs."

Original Australian Nationals 2006 Solo's Finals Ladder Results, Courtesy of Doug Burbidge from
http://www.geocities.com/dougburbidge/OzNationals/2006_solos.html

Gwai Lo was the 2006 Solo Tournament Champion with an average score of 8,373.

Overall I had a great time taking part in the Australian 2006 Nationals tournaments, and hope to take part in more to come. I send my thanks to Doug Burbidge, for putting on another great set of tournaments, and for adding stats to his website for future reference. If you would like to see more stats & results, from the other 2006 Australian Nationals tournaments not show on here, or previous Nats, then visit here. Oz Zone 3 Nationals.

Written by R4IDER