joining the trials
With designer Randy Heller out of action for his parent's
50th anniversary, Bitter Woods fell from the Century ranks.
We had 14 participants in the tournament. Rich Ogata triumphed
over a strong field to win the wood. In the first round, the
seven victors were Rich, Doug James, Michael Mitchell, Tom Gregorio,
Bruno Sinigaglio, Forrest Pafenberg and Chris Roginsky. The second
round saw victories by Rich, Bruno and Michael, with Tom receiving
a Bye. Michael prevailed over Bruno and Rich defeated Tom in
the semi-finals. All told, there were 7 German and 7 Allied victories
in the tournament.
Tom Gregorio reports
on his semi-final game with Rich Ogata: "The critical battle
was my 19PM attempt to take Parker's Crossroad: I had 88 factors
including a 4 arty unit bombardment against three US full strength
defenders and a leader. I shocked only one of them (ERs 4,5,5)
and thus needed a 1D4. It was a 6-1(-2) and I needed a DE or
a 1D4. I got a D4 and that was the game. (We subsequently determined
that I'd have been able to hold the other three VPs.) "
Rich also reported on this game: "An early breakout
by 7th Army was barely contained, with only the allocation of
both air units on 17PM saving the fort in Bastogne. A pair of
D4s southwest of Eupen allowed the Germans to move adjacent to
the town and threatened to surround it, but the town was reinforced
and held throughout the game. A critical bridge failed to blow
south of Trois Ponts on 18PM, leaving the town exposed and in
danger of being cut off. A key engaged result in the subsequent
battle for the bridgehead saved the day for the Allies.
By the end of 19AM, the Germans had scored two points by preserving
their mechs and destroying Allied units (19 losses, including
7 on the 19AM turn!). With their remaining forces, the Allies
were able to harden all of their positions, with the exception
of Parker's crossroads and one of the Ourthe River bridgeheads.
The bridgehead defense was particularly precarious, with no units
actually occupying the bridgehead hex itself. Parkers crossroads
was garrisoned with two regiments of the 82nd and the 7/CCR regiment,
plus Ridgeway.
The Germans cleared the defenders in front of the Ourthe bridgehead,
allowing Manteuffel and the Lehr/130 to take the bridgehead during
reserve movement. The Germans mounted a massive attack of 88
factors plus four bombarding artillery on Parker's crossroads
and managed to shock one of the defenders. The subsequent 6-1(-2)
attack had a 1/3 chance of success, but the Germans rolled a
D4 and failed to clear the last step of defenders, giving the
Allies the game. Post game examination showed that the Allies
would have had one final shot had the attack on Parker's Crossroads
succeeded, via a counterattack on the Ourthe River bridghead.
Calculation of the odds and a die roll showed that the Germans
would have held their ground."
Rich
Ogata provided the following summary of the finals against Michael
Mitchell:
The opening German result provided mixed results, the highlights
being an advance across the Our river against the 28/110, and
a D2 result against 14AC resulting in the entrapment and immediate
surrender of the 106/422. The Allies suffered heavy attrition
across the board on 16PM, with several FF and 1Dx results coupled
with the loss of regiments of the 2nd and 99th infantry in the
North. The Germans continued to inflict losses on 17AM, one of
the keys being the elimination of an Allied artillery unit on
a FF result when the Lehr Recon managed to infiltrate next to
it, setting up an attack and advance to Vielsalm by the rest
of Panzer Lehr. An important D4 result against a screening unit
allowed Peiper to use his special move and attack the artillery
defending Stavelot. A D3 result blew the artillery back, leaving
Peiper with 12 hexes of daylight, and the Allies decided to concede
the game."
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