Rich Northey, Greg Tanner, Johnny Hasay and Marty Musella	The finalists before the big game.

Situation 45 ...
On the blazing hot steppes of Lampeter, and from the Blitzkrieg of 1940, the historic battles were re-enacted once again this year. PanzerBlitz is a game that offers flexibility such that practically any company to regimental scale battle can be approximately recreated. Several new battles from research courtesy of Bill Scott, Rick Northey and Alan Arvold were played, as well as the old standards. Also, the usual France 1940 scenario of PanzerLeader was played. The conditions in the HQ became increasing warm as the week unfolded. Armchair majors and colonels endured the heat as they ordered their forces into battle. As the dice rolled, sweat and emotion followed in the form of both glory and despair. The final four to stand at the end of the week were Johnny Hasay, Marty Musella, Rick Northey and Greg Tanner in seed order.

Marty and Rick ranked their preferred situations, and came up with 45 as the chosen battle from the Bagration offensive in 1944. After both chose the Russian side, the players rolled off for the opportunity to play the armored force and attempt to overrun the dug-in German positions. Rick got dice in his favor and set up his Russian force. Marty then placed his mobile artillery force in Opustoschenia and companies of infantry, mortars and AT guns in the woods to the West and SW of Zabrenia. Now, at this point in the game I am reminded of a quote from Napoleon Bonaparte: Nothing is more difficult, and more precious, than to be able to decide. The Russian forces have a conundrum; commit all their forces to surrounding Opustoschenia, or keep some infantry forces in reserve to move south to root out the main German defense while letting some artillery forces escape from the town, taking up positions in Grabyosh. Rick held a couple of infantry companies in halftracks, while surrounding the town with the main armored force. Marty used several artillery batteries to clear an escape route from the town. During the advance, Rick moved the halftracks loaded with infantry across open ground, but missed the fact that a German heavy mortar platoon had line-of-sight on them. After losing a key part of the advance force, the Russians continued to press the attack past Zabrenia into the woods where the main German defense had taken cover hoping for some luck to come their way. It was not to be as Russian armor was whittled down during the firefight with AT guns and bombardment from remaining artillery. After losing several tank companies, Rick conceded the game to Marty as a decisive German victory.

In Game 2 of the semis, Johnny and Greg also chose situation 45. It is a faster game with five turns for the Russian commander to clear out German defenders dug in behind a river. Not an easy job. Greg won the toss and took the German side so Johnny took the Russian. The game started with Johnny bypassing Opustoschenia with his armored force. An unorthodox strategy, which leaves the German artillery batteries room to maneuver. A quote from Napoleon: One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority. The Russian tankers went right for the fixed positions behind the river, first squeezing through a ford and temporarily taking Zabrenia. Direct fire attempted to break the German lines, but Johnny rolled a 6, and the defense held. By the third turn of five, the Russians had to go for broke. In an open ground melee of armor direct fire and overrun attacks, the Russians lost two halftracks, two KV 85s and three companies of guards infantry. Even a SU-152 was dispersed by a German Marder assault gun platoon. Russian tanks fired on the towns only to miss both shots with 6s on the dice rolls. This was incredibly bad luck for Johnny. The Germans now had firm control of both towns by the end of Turn 4, and Johnny conceded the game to Greg, for another decisive German victory.The finalists, Marty Musella and Greg Tanner, are both two-time champions, with Greg defending the title from 2011. The Napoleonic quote that seems appropriate here is: You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war. These two guys have met several times across a PanzerBlitz board! To decide which game to play from a selection of historical battles, each player rated each of five situations as their preference. Again, situation 45 was selected and a die was rolled for choice of sides. Greg won the choice and took the Germans. As described, this situation requires the Russian forces to use every resource at their disposal to clear the way for the greater offensive during the push toward Germany in 1944. Marty set up with the idea of keeping some infantry companies in reserve. Greg's German defense had a 120mm heavy mortar platoon in the woods SW of Zabrenia and the rest of the force in the woods to the west behind the river. Marty moved his halftracks loaded with SMG's flanking the ridge west of Opustoschenia, in attacking range of the river. The attack of Opustoschenia with the main armored force failed to clear the town by the end of Turn 2 when a key close assault against the concentrated SPAs and Marder missed. German AT fire from the woods along with the SPAs wreaked havoc in the Russian ranks. The usual carnage of wrecked AFVs littered the fields. Marty made his move to the west of the "pond" and deployed infantry across the river into the woods where the stronghold of the German defenders lay in waiting. Russian tanks swung around from the East, clearing Zabrenia and surrounding the defenders. After several close assaults by Russian SMG's, time ran out as the German forces held fast. Greg successfully defended his title and took home his third PanzerBlitz championship wood. Greg was also awarded this year's diorama entitled "Recon Surprise".

One last insight from Napoleon: The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies'.

Rich Northey's extra special diorama prize.	Rich presents Greg Tanner with his prize.