Here is a fire lay that I am a big fan of. With enough patience in material gathering constructing the lay, it's always lit with one match when dry. If it was wet, a tinder quick or candle stub would help it go real quick too.

It's a basic lean to fire lay, using a large log (4-8") for the support. Dig/gouge with a stick, a small air trench (2 in deep, 2 in wide) about an inch from the base of the log in a parallel fashion. Take 3-5 pencil thick sticks and lay them across the trench, close enough to support your tinder but far enough to ensure air circulation. Then using the tried and true methods of progressively larger kindling (I start with TINY stuff, like pencil lead size), you lay those above the tinder pile, using the large log for support. When you light said fire, you can use the trench to get the match right under your tinder, and the trench supplies lots of air (which you can multiply by gentle blowing, a lost art in firecraft) so that the fire catches and grows quickly. I'm sure all of you know, but I really like "pine snaps" or "squaw wood" for kindling (the dead, always dry wood at the bottom of a pine tree) and pine pitch/dry pine needles if I have matches.

The real keys in firecraft are a) getting oxygen to the fire b) gathering enough tinder, kindling, and fuel so that you don't have to run off and gather more before you fire dies c) the patience to do things right. 90% of firemaking is done before the sparks fly or the match is struck.

Just my two bits.