"Yankee judge" Johnny Hasay and Virginia rebel Bill Scott relive old war stories.	Defending champ Rob Beyma scores again as he denies Bill Morse in the Final.

Defending What's His ...

At least the "weather" issues in Lampeter had one silver lining ... Grumpy Greenwood was too busy dealing with real problems to find time for his annual torment of the grognards. A pair of past champions, Roy Beyma and Bill Morse, and two perennial contenders, Frank Sinigaglio and Forest Pafenberg, persevered through the tropical rain forest to make the elimination rounds.

Paffy's Germans got off to an average start with four kills on the 16AM turn, but the killing slowed and there were only 13 eliminated units after Beyma's 18AM turn. Still, Rob's Americans were stretched thin in some places and he had to make a daring counterattack at 5-1 in order to hold the line -- daring, because an exchange would have killed the only unit able to plug the line and Paffy would have waltzed through to victory. Rob didn't roll the exchange and the breakout opportunity slipped away as US reinforcements reached the front. Paffy had one more chance with a 2-1(-1) on Bastogne on the 19AM turn, but he rolled high and the defending champ returned to the Final.

In the other semi, a lousy opening by Frank resulted in the US losing only two units, but the Germans pressed on until favorable results erupted on the 19AM turn. Frank captured Stavelot and the fuel dump therein and also overran an artillery unit near Houffalize permitting a four hex advance, which put pressure on Parker's Crossroad. At the end of the German 19AM turn the allies had lost 17 units and could not afford the loss of any more, so Bill dropped back into forts and choke points with stacks of defenders hoping to avoid an exchange. On the 19PM turn, the Germans were able to launch a 3-1(-1) attack on Bastogne and a 2-1(-1) attack on Trois Ponts. With these odds, Frank had an 83% chance of taking one of the towns and winning the game, but, he rolled a Contact and an Engaged and Bill was able to weather the storm.

The Final was a rematch of the 2011 title game, but with the sides switched. On the 16AM turn, Rob eliminated 99/393, 99/394, 14Cav and 28/112 thus making it difficult for Bill in the center. The Americans received a brief respite on the 16PM turn when Rob rolled high on a 3-1(-1) at St.Vith. However, Rob rolled great on the next two turns and the Americans were down 15 units at the end of the 17PM turn. Bill was now suffering "Unit Hunger!" and had to resort to risky low odds attacks in order to keep the Germans away from nearby victory point hexes while also blocking routes west. Rob continued to press and three turns later Bill had lost 29 units and could no longer form a line. Rob, (aka Colonel Hessler), was one of the original Bulge 81 playtesters and he continues to demonstrate his prowess in the Ardennes with his third title.