Requiem for the Champ
2004 | 2003 |
2002 | 2001 | 2000 |
1999 | 1998
Don
Greenwood, who won the inaugural
D-Day mini-con in 1998, reprised
his role as top dog by sweeping the
field at 5-0 to claim 60 laurels against one of the event’s
strongest fields. With 20 players
on hand, including several talented
newcomers, the competition may well have been the best to date.
Anytime you send players of the quality
of ex-champ Bryan Eshleman and Mark
Gutfreund home with 1-4 records, you know it was no walk in the
park.
For
only the second time in eight years we managed an even number of
players—eliminating
the need for byes and allowing everyone a chance to play in every
round. Even when players dropped out in the latter rounds they
did so in pairs. In all, 46 games were played—eleven more
than at this year’s WBC—thereby cementing the mini-con’s claim
as the top tournament for serious players of this game.
Greenwood became the second two-time D-Day champion and only the
second to run the table. Alan Applebaum also won five in 1999 and
no one else had done it before or since. Overall, the Germans reclaimed
a slim 24-22 edge in play balance, primarily on the backs of the
top three positions, Greenwood, Clyde Longest and Nels Thompson,
who went a combined 12-1 with the field gray. Greenwood and Longest
both went 4-0 with the Germans to split the Rommel honors. Leading
the Allied crusade was Ken Nied in 4th place with a 4-1 record to
take the Eisenhower role followed by Henry Jones in 6th place with
a 3-1 Allied slate.
Bids were again artificially lowered by Ken Nied who remained true
to the tan and olive green throughout—claiming a single supply
point twce and never venturing higher than 14. Elsewhere, the bidding
increased with an average bid for the tournament of 29 to play the
Germans. Bids ranged from a low of 1 to a high of 70!
No
After Action Report is complete without a few war stories. I think
the best one I heard was Ken Nied’s game against Chris Byrd. Ken’s
Allies whiffed on all the pre-invasion bombardments on or adjacent
to Omaha Beach and had to come ashore facing interdiction from
three coastal guns. Not one of the seven landing units survived
interdiction and all immediately went to D1 without firing a shot.
Then he lost the Montebourg magic bridge. Game over? Not quite.
His first Naval bombardment of Caen on June 7th spent everybody.
Then his flyboys turned the interdiction tables on the Germans
by interdicting every unit of the 12SS that tried to make it into
Caen on the trail of tears, allowing him to take the city shortly
thereafter.
As
for my exploits: My
Round 1 opponent was Scott Moll,
an excellent wargamer with more than
a few BPA plaques on his wall. He
took the Allies with a bid of 14.
Fortunately for me, this was only
Scott’s second game of Breakout ever
because he brought a hot hand. Of my five games this was the only
one where I was clearly outdiced. Try as I might to keep a cork
in it, the ol’ whineometer was feeling the strain by the third
day. I particularly remember the bridge rolls…I would
average three rolls to blow a bridge
and he would build them back with
one.
After
he had done this five straight times, I got the feeling
this would be a long weekend. Nevertheless,
I persevered for the win although he took it down to the final
roll of the 12th and well past midnight. I could only remember
one other instance where a new player had pressed me that strongly…Ray Freeman back
at the 1998 WBCs. As I told Scott, I was glad I got him in the
first round instead of the fifth because I doubt I would have prevailed
had he had a few more games under his belt.
My Round 2 opponent was Mike Kaye who I knew to be an excellent
Allied player, having gone 4-1 in 2003. I got the Germans for a bid
of 26 which I think reflected more of his desire to play the Allies
than mine to play the Germans. This time I was the beneficiary of
hot dice and Mike was in early trouble. To his credit, he fought
back well and in fact could have won the game. The contest was decided
by an assault on Caumont which failed to clear the area by a single
step with even dice. Had he won that dice roll, I think I would have
been hard pressed to hold on. As it was, I still needed to muffle
his bombardments of Carentan at the end to move on. I entered Round
3 feeling very fortunate to have survived.
In
Round 3, I was paired with Nels Thompson,
a past champion, with a strong and
widely known preference for the Germans.
By this time, I was pretty tired and more than willing
to play the Allies, which I think
are easier to play in terms of concentration. Nevertheless, I knew
Bryan would not let the Germans go at practically any price. When
the bid reached 70 I accepted the Allies, although I was tempted
to see how much higher he would go, but afraid to find out. In
any case, the bid was meaningless other than putting us in our
respective seats.
Although
my initial landings were all saefly
ashore, they really were nothing
special and constituted no great
threat anywhere. It was a fairly
vanilla start which a German player
of Bryan’s caliber can easily take
in stride. But momentous Impulses
soon followed that would decide the
game. About Impulse 4, Bryan took the magic bridge on his first
attempt against my four-bridge opening. I declined a reroll with
the Advantage that I’ve seen many players take and which I thought
Bryan expected me to make.
Instead,
I landed the last regiment of the 4th and assaulted St Mere at
7-5, rolling a +4 to clear the area! Game breaker. Lucky? You bet!
Instead of being in a virtual armed prisoner camp on Utah, I was
now primed for an assault on Carentan on the 7th. But, it got better.
The next Impulse brought a Weather Change. Not wanting him to use
it to bolster Carentan’s defenses, I gave up the Advantage for
a reroll. When the day ended without further mishap, it proved
a wise decision.
On
the 7th, I was blessed with nuclear dice, twice bombarding Carentan
to maximum effect and Overrunning
it—taking Catz and Periers in the same assault. The last regiment
of the 4th then assaulted and took Area 41 on the next Impulse
to complete the isolation of the Cotentin peninsula. I had 8 VPs
by Impulse 2 of the 7th! I’d like to report that I had at long
last played the perfect game and could finally retire having achieved
nirvana. Sadly, I must admit to getting swept away by my good fortune
and succumbing to greed.
Instead
of accepting a -1 drm after the Overrun
to ensure the weather and safeguard my impressive gains like any
sane conservative player would do, I pressed my luck and opted
for a +3 drm to extend the day. Needless to say, I promptly rolled
a weather change and had cause to regret my decision as the day
was extended no less than five times and seven Impulses by that
drm. Even so, I continued to roll better than I deserved and hammered
Caen heavily while gaining an easy contest of that area and crossed
out of Omaha and into Trevieres as well. Nels conceded early, and
I was off to Euro land for some R&R before
the next round. It was probably the
most devestating early Allied win
I’d ever seen.
Round
4 saw me back in action as the Germans
against Chris Byrd with a bid of 31. Having been blessed by the
dice two straight games I was expecting my luck to change and
was surprised that it didn’t. I again
got the better of the early dice rolls and was in a strong position.
Nevertheless, Chris kept plugging away with an effective and conservative
Allied attack that churned out steady gains. Suddenly, on the 10th,
I found myself in considerable trouble—needing to hold
Carentan to survive and with Chris
in excellent assault positions. It
was more than a little disconcerting to realize that I no longer
had the upper hand in a game in which I thought the dice had favored
me. Fortunately for me, fate continued to smile on me and blew
coldly on his bombardments as Carentan held on for the win. In
our post mortem, both Chris and I concluded that he had regained
the driver’s seat until his dice deserted him on the 11th.
Round
5 pitted me against the last other undefeated player, Clyde Longest.
I didn’t particularly want to be the Germans again, but I noted
that he had won all four of his games as the Germans so I wasn’t
anxious to feed his comfort level by
giving him a fifth try. As a consequenece, I got the Germans with
a bid of 40 that I didn’t really want to win and soon had cause
to regret. Clyde’s landings were truly devastating and had me on
the ropes early—pressed hard on both
flanks and the center. The lone bright
spot came when he surprisingly gave up the Advantage to reroll
an assault that cleared Utah. That reprieve was fleeting however
as I gave it back to reroll the following assault which had cleared
St. Mere. When the Bretteville garrison was disrupted and three
attempts at the magic bridge came up empty I was in deep trouble
that soon got worse.
Villars fell early on the 7th when I failed an 84% bridge demolition
and that threatened the loss of Caumont also, setting Lehr off on
the trail of tears with devestating results. A double impulse into
Caen contested it and the Advantage was soon regained with the hat
trick on Omaha while St Mere fell on schedule. Clyde’s attack plan
had been a thing of beauty executed with the skill of a surgeon.
The German position as the end of the 7th approached was a veritable
shambles. It was concession time, but I’ve seen such positions reversed
before so I soldiered on and my new friend, the dice, lent a hand
here and there. Reduced to desperation, I tried a +1 shot vs the
spent assaulters of Caen and rolled seven hits. Although it didn’t
seem so at the time, this proved crucial when Clyde surrendered the
Advantage to reroll it. In hindsight, I think it was his only mistake.
I clung to that Victory Point for the rest of the game and with the
Allies stalled at 8 for several days it proved to be the difference.
I
got a huge break on the 8th when
the Isigny bridge fell on the first
try—thus, redirecting
his offense out of Omaha instead.
It cost me Foret but was worth it,
because the resulting delay put his artillery out of position for
the end game at Carentan. Somehow, while all this was going on
he failed to exploit his early capture of St Mere and Carentan
remained uncontested on the 9th thanks to a short day, some failed
bombardments and distractions elsewhere. Nevertheless, my position
was still all but hopeless until his +7 assault on Carentan on
the 10th was repulsed. Suddenly, there was a light at the end of
the tunnel—a chance where
previously there had been none. I
still needed some remarkably cold dice on his bombardments, but
somehow he was stopped cold, and I had survived.
Next
year, I am contemplating a change in format to two rounds each
on Friday and Saturday and one on Sunday to relieve the stress
of playing three games in one day. This would require an earlier
(noon) start on Friday. I’d like to hear pros and cons on what
such a change means to you.
2005
Laurelists
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1st: Don Greenwood, MD
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2nd: Clyde Longest, VA
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3rd: Nels Thompson, NY
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4th: Ken Nied, KS
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5th: Chris Byrd, CT
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6th: Henry Jones, PA
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Final Standings for the weekend were:
Place |
Name |
Record |
SoS |
1st |
Don
Greenwood |
5-0 |
[SoS
13] |
2nd |
Clyde
Longest |
4-1 |
[SoS
17] |
3
rd |
Nels
Thompson |
4-1 |
[SoS
15] |
4th |
Ken
Nied |
4-1 |
[SoS
13] |
5th |
Chris
Byrd |
3-2 |
[SoS
14] |
6th |
Henry
Jones |
3-2 |
[SoS
12] |
7th |
Nick
Markevich |
3-2 |
[SoS
11] |
8th |
Andrew
Cummins |
3-2 |
[SoS
10] |
9th |
Scott
Fenn |
3-2 |
[SoS
10] |
10th |
Mike
Kaye |
2-2 |
[SoS
14] |
11th |
Nick
Anner |
2-2 |
[SoS
11] |
12th |
Scott
Nolan |
2-3 |
[SoS
14] |
13th |
Jim
Eliason |
2-3 |
[SoS
13] |
14th |
Ron
Fedin |
2-3 |
[SoS
10] |
15th |
Jason
Levine |
2-3 |
[SoS
8] |
16th |
Scott
Moll |
1-3 |
[SoS
8] |
17th |
Mark
Gutfreund |
1-4 |
[SoS
10] |
18th |
Bryan
Eshleman |
1-4 |
[SoS
9] |
19th |
Todd
Bogan |
0-3 |
[SoS
7] |
19th |
Nathaniel
Bogan |
0-3 |
[SoS
7] |
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