Seventh Crown Denied ...
Round 1:
Our returning six-time champion, Phil Rennert, started out
the tournament playing the Germans with a bid of 65 against David
Binder who played the Soviets. Comrade Binder attempted to fight
the Germans in a forward defense and hold onto Smolensk. After
a long valiant struggle Comrade Binder's command finally broke
and the German onslaught destroyed or pocketed the Soviets and
drove on toward Vyazma and on to Moscow.
Last year's champion, Robert Frisby got the chance to start
the first game in the tournament as the Germans with a bid of
65. His opponent was David Buchholz. Comrade Buchholz deployed
the Soviet 13th and 19th armies to blunt the initial German offense.
Herr Frisby was not going to be stopped so easily this day. However.
as the Germans pushed through and past the 13th and 19th they
found an aggressive Soviet commander. Comrade Buchholz aggressively
counterattacked the advance elements of the German spearhead
west of Smolensk, resulting in the reduction of one German panzer
division to a 2-10 regiment. The subsequent rescue of this division
saved Herr Frisby the unenviable task of explaining the complete
destruction of a panzer division to the high command. The rescue
also resulted in a large pocket of Soviet troops. With a rather
large portion of the Soviet army being surrounded around Smolensk,
Comrade Buchholz decided to ask Stavka for more troops. Since
Smolensk was an important communications junction this request
was granted and seven divisions were transferred from the southwest
front, resulting in nine victory points for Herr Frisby. After
the reduction of this pocket, the German offensive continued
unabated and acquired 65 victory points for cities captured.
With 65 VPs for cities and nine VPs for a total of 74 for Herr
Frisby and without enough troop strength to counterattack and
take back ten V's Comrade Buchholz conceded on Turn 9.
Round 2:
On the second round, Phil pulled John Keating as his next
opponent. John won the bid for the Germans at 74. Phil decided
to use the Vyazma defense and with extra units, that were able
to pull back from the initial front lines, built his defense.
The Germans secured their lines of supply and proceeded to tackle
the task of trying to break the Vyazma line. The Germans attempted
to break the Vyazma defense with gutsy, but necessary, 1 to 2
odds. Surprisingly enough, the Germans now had a hole in the
center of the Russian line. Undaunted by the apparent success
of the Germans, the Russians went about the task of clogging
the hole put into the line by the Germans and also counterattacked
the German flank in the south. Herr Keating had attempted to
cover this flank with single regiments. Rennert was able to surround
and kill five of these regiments, of which four were components
of two motorized divisions. Thus having plugged the hole in the
front line and crushing the German southern flank and gaining
ten points in the process, Keating had no choice but to surrender.
In this round, Robert Frisby played the Soviets while Max
Zavaneli acquired the opportunity to play the Germans for a bid
of 66. Comrade Frisby fell back to the Vyazma line with the bulk
of the 13th, 19th and 20th armies. The reinforcement of the Vyazma
line by the 13th, 19th and 20th armies created a fortress-like
line which the Germans pounded for five to six turns without
breaking. At this point, I would like to point out that as the
German player you must destroy as much of the 13th and 19th armies
as possible to have a reasonable chance to win with a bid of
66 or higher. Herr Zavaneli made several penetrations of the
Soviet line, but every German penetration was quickly dealt with
as the Soviets had more than enough reserves to blunt any German
breach. On turn 10, unable to successfully exploit a break in
the Vyazma line and acquire the 66th point, Zavanelli had had
enough and conceded.
Round 3:
Phil now won the chance to play the Germans for a bid of 65.
He would be playing against Jeff Hacker. Comrade Hacker used
the Vyazma defense with variant H. Rennert advanced a panzer
division up to the woods south of Yelnya to disrupt the Soviet
defensive line. The soviet, smelling a chance to destroy a panzer
division, formed his defensive line to surround this isolated
division. This turned the offensive for the Germans into a wild
brawl in the south around Yelnya. This fight was mostly in the
open and eventually Rennert saved the division and created a
breach in the Soviet line. The German division commander was
awarded the Iron cross 2nd class for almost single handedly breaking
the Vyazma line. After failing to destroy this division, and
not having enough troops now to stop the German advance, Rennert
was able to easily acquire the necessary victory points to advance
to the finals.
Robert Frisby got a bye in the Semi-Final due to Nicholas
Markevich dropping out of the tournament.
Round 4: The Finals
The stage was now set for the Final between six-time champion
Phil Rennert and defending champion Robert Frisby. Robert won
the right to bid first and bid 65. This left the choice to bid
66 or let Robert go with his bid of 65 to Phil. Phil bid 66 and
got the chance to play the Germans in the Final. Under Rennert's
skillful hand, the Germans utterly destroyed the 13th and 19th
Armies, only two divisions escaping the slaughter. However the
19th Army managed to destroy a 4-10 panzer regiment before it's
final demise. While the 13th and 19th Armies gave the ultimate
sacrifice for the Motherland, the rest of the Soviet Army, under
the skillful direction of Comrade Frisby, went about the task
of building the vaunted Vyazma line. Comrade Frisby having completed
the first stage of the Vyazma line waited for Herr Rennert to
make the initial contact. The powerful German panzer and motorized
divisions ran headlong into the Vyazma line. There was now no
other way. This line could not possibly be outflanked - a soft
spot must be found and exploited. The 13th and 19th Armies had
bought the precious time to build a new line. Rennert attacked
again and again threatening a breach of the Soviet line, but
time after time Frisby successfully plugged the gap and stopped
a fatal breach of the Vyazma line that would spell doom for the
Soviet effort. At the end of the day, Comrade Frisby would become
the Hero of the Soviet Union for his defense that day. Rennert
conceded the crown to Comrade Frisby.
Congratulations to Robert Frisby for his second championship
in PGG and to Phil Rennert for second place. I would also like
to thank all of the entrants who participated this year as we
have once again preserved this tournament in the Century for
next year. Let me also take the time to encourage those who have
played in the past to come play next year as we truly have a
world class event at a world class convention.
Once again the Vyazma line proves unbreakable and denies the
Germans more than 65 VPs. Many veterans of PGG feel that the
game has reached an impasse with a 65 bid for the Germans as
optimal. This has certainly been confirmed by the past winners
of this tournament. In the finals, 66 has meant defeat for the
German player. To get past the 65 VP threshold there will be
a new bidding system for next year. This system will be VP -
# of Soviet units. The Soviets will give up this # of units from
the first turn reinforcements. Example: If a bid of 66
10 wins, then the Germans will have to take at least 66 VPs to
win and the Soviet player will give up the first ten units of
the first turn's reinforcements in any order he wishes. I have
asked Robert Frisby to be the GM as I will not know if I will
be able to attend until May. Give him all the support that you
have given me these past three years. Hope to see ya'll next
year in Baltimore.
|