The first “hit” wargame as part of Grognardcon

Grognardcon is a special Pre-con consisting of an amalgam of eight of the old classic hex-style wargames under the watchful eye of GM Bruno Sinigaglio: Afrika Korps, Anzio, Bulge ’81,Gettysburg, Panzerblitz, Panzergruppe Guderian, the Russian Campaign and Waterloo. All eight use the Free Format scheduling device which allows players to schedule preliminary games at their convenience. Play as many or as few preliminary games as you like but only your best three results in each game will determine the four finalists to advance to Single Elimination play at the end of the week. Each event will be turned over to its own GM on Tuesday for resolution in the normal manner—the only difference is that participation in Grognardcon gives you three additional days to qualify with preliminary games in the events of your choice. Play at Grognardcon is free to all Tribune level members and subject to an additional fee for all others.

1. WBC FREE FORM FORMAT. This Tournament uses a Swiss Elimination format for the preliminary rounds followed by a Single Elimination format for the four players with the best performances during the Swiss segment. Entrants may play multiple games during the preliminary Swiss segment during either the PRECON segment which begins during the PRECON on Saturday, 29 July 2006, the regular WBC segment which runs from Tuesday through Friday, or both. Best performances will be determined as described below in paragraph 7.

2. SCHEDULE. The schedule consists of three segments, GROGNARD PRECON Swiss, CON Swiss and CON Playoffs (Semifinals and Final).
a. GROGNARD PRECON SWISS. The PRECON Swiss Segment consists of four daily heats: Sunday 1400, Monday 0900 and Tuesday 0900. The PRECON Swiss Segment continues through Tuesday, 1700 hours, whereupon the CON Swiss Segment begins. Essentially, the PRECON Swiss Segment simply continues unabated into WBC.
b. CON SWISS. The CON Swiss Segment consists of four daily heats: Tuesday 1700, Wednesday 0900, Thursday 0900 and Friday 0900. The Swiss Segment ends on Friday at 1800 hours, at which time the four players with the best performances during the Swiss Segments will advance into the Single Elimination Playoffs.
c. CON Playoffs. All games played during the Swiss Segment, which includes the PRECON Swiss and the CON Swiss, will be used to determine the four top players. The two-round playoffs begin Friday with the Semifinals at 2100 hours.
SCENARIOS. Either PanzerBlitz or Panzer Leader may be played with the former the default version in the event no agreement can be reached. Players must choose from a pool of six situations (three from each game) with the GM designating the one to be played barring an agreement to the contrary.

This tournament is for players who enjoy friendly competition, new experiences, fast paced games, and flexible scheduling with minimal waiting times. Situation pool and errata is posted at http://www.panzerblitz.org/index.php?form=wbc2006

3. WBC FREE FORM FORMAT
This Tournament uses a Swiss Elimination format for the preliminary rounds followed by a Single Elimination format for the four players with the best performances during the Swiss segment. Entrants may play multiple games during the Swiss segment. Best performances will be determined as described below in paragraph 7.

4. SWISS SEGMENT
There is one Swiss round scheduled for each day: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday. Each entrant may enter as many or few of the rounds as he wishes and the results will be used in determining who advances to the finals. The GM or his assistant(s) will determine match pairings for each round. Self-determined pairings will not be permitted. You must be present at the kiosk at the start of any round you wish to join. Start-times are: Tue 6:00 PM, Wed-Thu-Fri 9:00 AM. Once you receive your match pairing for a round, you have until midnight to complete the game (exception: Friday games must be completed by 6:00 PM). Games must start no later than six hrs before the deadline each day.

5. SWISS SEGMENT - EARLY GAMES
Additional “early” games may be played during the WBC Precons, as both GMs will be present at the convention site. Advise the GM in advance of the tournament if you wish to play early.

6. FINALS SEGMENT
Four players from the Swiss segment will play in the two-round single-elimination finals. The semi-final round will begin at 9:00 PM Friday. All entrants who wish to play in the finals segment should be present for the announcement of rank and pairings. Failure to be present for the start of the finals segment (9:00 PM Friday) will be considered dropping out of the tournament. All games in the finals segment will be timed without exception; however, ample time will be allocated for completion.

7. PLAYER PERFORMANCE RATINGS.
a. All game results and performance ratings will be posted and updated as results are reported.
b. Performance ratings will be based upon the best three games played by a participant.
c. Games in excess of three will not add, nor detract from a player’s performance rating.
d. Performance ratings for a player will be obtained as follows:
10 points for each win.
A player receives 2 points for each victory tallied by an opponent that he defeats. All of the defeated opponent’s games will qualify for the scoring of these points.

8. PERFORMANCE RATING TIEBREAKERS:
a. Head to head play is the 1st tiebreaker.
b. Points scored VERSUS mutual opponents is the 2nd tiebreaker.
c. Points scored BY mutual opponents is the 3rd tiebreaker.
d. Points scored BY all opponents is the 4th tiebreaker.

9. MULTIPLE GAMES
Entrants may play every day during the Swiss segment, if so desired. Entrants may play multiple games during the Swiss segment.

10. MATCH ASSIGNMENTS
The GM will determine match pairings for each round. You must be present at the kiosk at the start of any round you wish to join. If you wish to play more than one game in a day, the GM will attempt to arrange two games for players who want them - this is subject to availability of opponents.

11. ADMIN
Each player will be given a Match Card (3x5), which will list the game, opponent and start time.
When opponents are assigned, they must inform the GM when they will start their game and when they expect to finish. If the players cannot agree on a reasonable start time, they will be required to begin the game within one hour.

12. MISSING PARTICIPANT
If an assigned opponent does not show up for a mutually agreed upon start time, the GM will forfeit the game to a player who is waiting. The player who is waiting must alert the GM that a forfeit is imminent within 15-minutes of the start time listed on the Match Card. If the tardy opponent fails to appear, the game will be forfeited to the player who is waiting at 20-minutes past the start time on the Match Card. There is no deviation from this procedure; therefore, if a waiting player alerts the GM beyond the specified 15-minute alerting period - there will be no forfeit - instead, the game will be cancelled.

13. RESULTS
The results of completed games should be reported to the GM as soon as possible using the Match Card. If game results are not reported to the GM by the end of a Swiss round (2300 hours) both players will be credited with a loss. Exception: On Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, but not Friday - The GM will permit players to continue past 2300 hours, but they must inform the GM beforehand that they expect to finish after the 2300 deadline.

14. JUDGEMENT
The GM (or assistant GM if the game involves the GM) reserves the right to adjudicate any game at the end of the time limit for the round. If one player is moving at a significantly slower pace than the other, this will be taken into account in the adjudication.

15. ORDER OF FINISH
WBC rules require submission of a Winner’s Claim with the top six players listed in order (although there may be no prizes for some of these finishes for this event). At the end of the Swiss, players will be ranked in order from 1 to 6. The final 5th & 6th places will be determined from these standings.

16. AREA RATINGS
The GM will submit the results of ALL games played for inclusion in the AREA ratings.

17. SINGLE ELIMINATION ROUNDS
The four players with the best performance during the Swiss will advance to a Single Elimination Semi-Final at 2100 on Friday. The 1st place finisher will play the 4th place finisher, and the 2nd place finisher will play the 3rd place finisher. The GM will post the match assignments for the semi-final by 1900, Friday.

18. FINALS MATCH POSTINGS
The GM will post the match assignments for the semi-finals by 1900, Friday. If players qualifying for the final round do not intend to participate, they should alert the GM early on Friday, so that lower ranked finishers may be moved up to play in the single elimination.

19. TRUANTS
If any of the four players qualifying for the Semi-Final fail to appear at the Kiosk by 2100, Friday, they will be dropped from further participation. Players who finished lower than 4th in the Swiss segment may move into the Single Elimination rounds, if they are present at the Kiosk on Friday at 2100, when higher rated no-shows are officially dropped.

The following official old Avalon Hill FAQ and errata will be in effect:
Q. Can either side voluntarily destroy their own armored vehicles? A. No
Q. Does a colored hexside obstruct the line of fire? A. In some cases, yes. It depends on the respective elevation of the attacker and defender. Consult the Target Elevation Table and the Examples of play card as there are many different situations.
Q. Do you count truck and wagon units for victory conditions? A. Yes, but you don’t count pieces which contain no men such as mines, blocks, and fortifications.
Q. Are units on hilltop hexes such as the plateau-like hilltop on board 2, that are not forest or town hexes, subject to the overrun rule by armored units? A. Yes, only hexes with orange sides are hilltop hexes. A clear hex is a clear hex, no matter what its elevation is. Clear hilltop hexes are clear hexes.
Q. If a unit is fired upon from a woods hex or a town hex, can it return fire without meeting the SPOTTING RULE conditions? A. No. SPOTTING RULE conditions must always be met.
Q. Using the INDIRECT FIRE rule, may a friendly unit call in artillery fire even though a friendly CP unit does not see the enemy unit? A. No.
Q. Can block units ever be destroyed by engineers or artillery? A. No.
Q. May a unit on a hilltop hex fire at a unit on a slope directly behind a brown hexside (the reverse slope)? A. Yes. This is shown on the examples of play card, see note C&D. Alsom note that this is not always the case. The exceptions are covbered in the rules under the SPECIAL NOTES part of the Obstacles and ELEVATIONS section of the rules.
Q. In situation 10, may the Germans win a marginal victory by destroying all 12 Russian units on board 1 without even entering board 3? A. Yes, but the Russians may then win a decisive victory by moving all their forces onto board 3. Note that the North direction arrow should be pointing towards board 2.
Q. When making the initial setup of units, can the half hexes on the sides of the boards be used if a unit in such a hex would be half on one board and half on another? A. No. Units must be completely on one board as indicated.
Q. What happens in Situation 1 if three German units are destroyed? A. Decisive Victory.
Q. If there are several units on a hex that have identical defense factors, how is it decided which is the weakest? A. You may attack the unit of your choice.
Q. What would happen in a situation such as No. 6 if the Russian player refuses to attack the German positionn?
A. Nothing. No battle - no victory.
Q. In situation 1, may all the CPs be placed in one fort or may two be placed in one fort or may only one be in each fort? A. All three may be in one fort, but the fort must be on a hilltop hex (one with six orange sides).
Q. The TEC states that it costs a truck unit 2 MF to enter a clear terrain hex. Does this mean each clear terrain hex? A. Yes.
Q. When a unit becomes dispersed, does he still have Zone of Control on the hex he occupies? A. Yes, enemy units may still not move through a dispersed unit. The dispersed unit still retains its normal defense factor.
Q. If a unit moves to a Fortification, does it cost him a MF to enter UNDER the fortification, rather than just sit on top of it?
A. There are no movement penalties for moving onto or into a fortification counter.
Q. On the optional rules concerning Panzerblitz assault, must the infantry attack the overrun unit or may it attack any adjacent unit? A. It must attack the unit being overrun.
Q. If only a transport or CP unit is placed under a fortification counter, does the fort counter still have its full defense factor?
A. Yes, any fort with people in it will do it.
Q. If a fort is occupied, can enemy units travel directly through that hex? A. No. They may move onto the fort in one turn, but they cannot move off until the next turn.
Q. If there are three German units in a fort, can there also be three German units on that fort? A. Yes, or two Russian units.
Q. If the Germans have to get units onto board 2, for example, to satisfy victory conditions, are the units that are on squares that are half on board 2 and half on another board considered on board 2? A. No.
Q. If a unit moves onto a minefield and survives the attack, can it attack in that turn? A. No. On the next turn, it may move, fire, or execute overrun or CAT attacks. It may remain on the minefield without suffering further “attacks".
Q. In situation No. 5, do all German units have to move off the east side of board 2? A. No. But before any given unit can count toward the victory conditions, it must leave and stay off for three complete turns.
Q. May wagons move from a gully to a slope hex? A. Yes. Any unit can always move one hex regardless of movement costs listed on the TEC. Forbidden movements such as armor entering swamps are not allowed.
Q. Are cavalry considered vehicles on the TEC? A. Yes, except that they can pass through green hexsides without cost.
Q. Since units in towns and forts are treated as armor targets, can they be attacked by I units that are two squares away? A. No.
Q. If two engineer units are adjacent to a minefield, cvan they “attack” it twice in one turn? A. Yes.
Q. Can trucks and wagons spot? A. Yes.
Q. Can a carrier move after it has unloaded if it has MF left? A. If a transporting vehicle has MF left over after unloading it can move. “Transporting” does not equal “moving". “Transport” is a specific type of movement.
Q. If a defending unit gets a DD and then a D in the same turn, is it eliminated? A. No. Just dispersed.
Q. Can two carriers unload on the same hex? A. Yes.
Q. In situation No. 9, the 1st edition scenario card calls for 4 Russian 120mm. Is this correct? A. No. They should have three.
Q. In Situation No. 12, the scenario card calls for 6 German wagons but there are only four provided. A. Use Russian wagons for the other two.
Q. Can CAT be used against units that are on a minefield? A. Yes.
Q. Can you explain spotting more? A. There are four things to keep in mind. First, since firing occurs prior to movement, a spotting unit must be in place at the beginning of a turn. It cannot move into position and spot for firing in the same turn. Second, even after a unit is spotted, the firing unit must still have a clear line-of-fire to the target(unless the optional indirect fire rule is being used). Third, if the spotting unit moves away, fire may no longer be directed at units that were previously spotted. Fourth, if you are using the Indirect Fire rule, the CP must be able to see the spotting unit.
Q. If armor is carrying units which are attacked and dispersed, what happens? A. Passengers must unload (and are eliminated if overstacked).
Q. In situation No. 8, it states that CPs may only spot for 120mm mortars (within 4 hexes). Does this refer to the enemy within 4 hexes of the 120mm mortars? A. The CPs must be within 4 hexes of the 120’s to spot.
Q. Can overrun attacks be conducted on a unit on a stream ford? A. Yes. A stream ford is considered a plain hex.
Q. The CRT shows results for die-roll subtraction to -2; but it is possible to have a -3 subtraction. What happens?
A. For attacks at 1-4 and 1-3; when a -3 is rolled take the results from the -2 line of the next higher odds column. Therefore, -3 at 1-4 odds = DD; -3 at 1-3 odds = X.
Q. If I had a unit on a slope hex directly behind a brown hexside, is my unit in the LOS of a unit firing from a hilltop (assuming no other obstacles)? A. Yes. Brown hexsides block LOS only when the target unit is on ground level (see TET).
Q. Can the German unload three units in the same hex? A. Yes. If the transporting units all have extra MF. However, he can never load those units again (Transporting...B) unless have a movement capability and can move to other hexes.
Q. Must a CP unload to observe? A. Yes.
Q. In situation 12, Wespe and Hummel units cannot move. Can they be transported by trucks? A. Yes, In this case those units represent towed divisional artillery.
Q. May units being transported by tanks be CAT’ed without involving the tank? A. No. Rules state that all units in a stack must be totalled for defense in CAT. Therefore, infantry while being transported is ignored.
Q. Which board are the half hexes considered to be part of? A. As a rule of thumb, consider the half squares to be part of the middle board, but keep in mind that they are not considered in determining victory conditions.
Q. Are units outside of a fort totalled in with the fort’s defense in the cases of CAT and combination attacks? A. Yes.
Q. Does a unit move at the normal road movement rate even on a road that goes up a slope? A. Yes.
Q. Can a truck, wagon or halftrack drop infantry for a CAT attack, and then retreat? A. Vehicles may unload units and move off but a passenger unit may not fire in the turn of unloading.
Q. While dismantling mines, do engineers undergo the mine attack? A. Not as long as they observe the proper procedure for dismantling mines. If they attempt to cross them in the normal manner they are subject to attack just like any other unit.
Q. May engineers make a mine removal attempt and attack in the same turn? A. No.
Q. Are mines placed in towns subject to the “add 1 to attacker’s die roll” rule of the TEC? A. No.
Q. Are units outside of a fort destroyed if the fort is eliminated? A. No.
Q. Assume three AT guns with an attack factor of 7 each are firing at an infantry unit. Is the total attack factor 3 +3 +3 = 9 or 3.5 + 3.5 + 3.5 = 10? A. 9. Unit attack factors are halved and fractions dropped individually.
Q. May a unit fire through a green hexside through the width of a road in that hex? A. No - unless the units are adjacent.
Q. Since armored units cannot use the road movement rate while executing an overrun attack, can they still use the road to go through obstacles such as green hexsides while still moving at the non-road movement rate? A. No.
Q. The rules state that ford hexes are treated as plain terrain for ALL purposes. Therefore does a unit moving along a gully have to pay 3 MF to leave the gully in addition to moving into the ford hex? A. No. The rules state that fords allow a unit to leave a gully at no extra cost.
Q. What is the stacking limit for fortifications? A. 3 for Germans; 2 for Russians.
Q. The rules state that stacking limits do not apply during movement - only before and after movement. Therefore, may units pass through a hex already occupied to its maximum stacking ability by wrecks? A. Yes, except as qualified by road movement rules.
Q. Do terrain qualifications affect odds or die rolls in a CA attack? A. Yes.
Q. In situation 7, is the Russian player free to move his other units as soon as the lead unit comes within 3 hexes of the Germans? A. Yes, but following Russian units must have moved up the road in convoy fashion up to that point in the time span of the turn.
Q. Do units which move onto mines in woods or town hexes still add 1 to the minefield attack? A. No.