Anzio [Updated August 2000]

anz     
   12-23  
   9-23    9-23 
   9-23 

  Valley

Robert Ryan, MI

2000 Champion

2nd: Stephen Likevich, OH

3rd: Paul O'Neil, MD

4th: Carl Walling III, PA

5th: Bruno Sinigaglio, AK

6th: Chris Harris, VA
Event History
1991    Tom Oleson       8
1992    Mike Sincavage      13
1993    Mike Sincavage      12
1994    Mike Sincavage      14
1995    Mike Sincavage       9
1996    Mike Sincavage       8
1997    Tom Oleson      10
1998    Mike Sincavage       8
1999    Mike Sincavage     12
2000    Robert Ryan     24
AREA Ratings
 1    Tom Oleson      5734
 2    Mike Sincavage      5531
 3    Thomas Walsh      5342
 4    Robert Ryan      5214
 5    Walter Garman IV      5146
 6    Carl Walling I      5086
 7    Chris Harris      5003
 8    Paul O'Neil      4997
 9    Donald Webster      4911
10    Richard Savage      4909

Return to the Century

What a great success the Anzio tournament was this year! It was perhaps THE Cinderella Story of the WBC, drawing 24 entrants after years of averaging 12. Anzio "ruled" on Tuesday afternoon, as there were four boards set up in the hallway gaming area with tournament games underway. Seven games were played that afternoon and evening. Wednesday morning the tournament moved into the big ballroom and games were played continuously through Saturday.

The resurgence of interest in playing this classic was largely due to the tireless work of Tom Oleson, the elder statesman of the game, who worked for nearly eleven months to produce a playtested set of rule revisions. These new rules, though fairly simple, were enough to breathe life into the game, while correcting some anomalies in play and greatly reducing the stereotyped patterns of play that had emerged over the years. In addition, the Swiss-Elim format allowed players to play three or more games before the field was narrowed for the finals. A total of 31 games were played during the tournament, with first invasions at Mondragone, Napoli, Pescara, Salerno, Termoli, and Terracina. It truly was exciting to see such a variety of strategic and tactical situations and everyone had a great time in the process.

In the tournament, Bob Ryan took the well-deserved victory, after finishing second in 1998 and 1999, pounding out four straight victories with his rough and ready German troops to become only third different champion in the ten-year history of the event dominated in the past by Mike Sincavage and Tom Oleson. Bob had a strong schedule: he faced hobby veterans Randy Heller and Bruno Sinigaglio before taking on battle-tested Chris Harris. All three fell prey to Bob's aggressive German attacks on the first invasion forces.

While Bob was on the warpath, three other players were putting together solid records that earned them berths in the finals. Stephen Likevich lost one game to Bruno, but performed strongly in his other two games, finishing the Swiss segment in second place. Paul O'Neil also put on a fine showing and finished third in the Swiss. Paul is a solid player whose experience with the game goes back to play testing in the days of the Mussolini box cover. (Paul is also known for singing silly army songs loudly; enough said!) The other finalist was the enthusiastic Carl Walling III, who played in the tournament for the first time last year.

The finals pitted Bob against Steve for first/second and Paul against Carl for third/fourth. Despite Paul's earlier preference for the Allies, and Carl's admitted favoring of the Germans, the roles were reversed in the runner-up bracket as Paul brought the Germans to victory against Carl's pesky Terracina invasion.

In the game for all the marbles, Steve's Allies invaded at Salerno and Bob's Germans hit the Allies with all they could muster. Bob rolled a '1' on a 1-1 surrounded attack and when Steve gave up the re-roll chit, Bob rolled '1' again, eliminating a US Division among other casualties! The line got very fluid as the battle developed into a brawl. After a couple of turns, the Allies had struck back, eliminating two German divisions. The slugfest continued between the worn down armies but neither side broke. Things settled down through the middle of the game and it came down to the second invasion to determine the winner. The Allies were threatening both Cassino and Termoli (having Salerno, Foggia and Napoli in hand) when they invaded at Anzio/Roma with two turns remaining. The Allies held both Anzio and a Roma hex near the end, but were stretched a bit too far. Anzio fell to a German counterattack, and as the Germans surrounded the Roma salient, the game came to a close with a German victory.

Congratulations to Bob and the other finalists, and a big thanks to Tom Oleson for his contributions. Tom was also our iron man, playing 12 official games over the course of the tournament. Overall, feedback from participants was excellent and we are looking forward to doing it again next year!

Paul Fletcher, GM (with contributions from Tom Oleson and Bob Ryan)

 GM      Paul Fletcher  [7th Year]   51 Hartwell Rd, West Hartford, CT 06117
    p.fletcher.977@worldnet.att.net   NA

Previous (Old) Yearbook Page
View the Icon Key