The Totaler Krieg! Event this year drew eight players, which is less than was hoped for, but enough to probably let the event continue in 2002. The format was changed this year in an attempt to draw more players, but this did not pan out.

The two preliminary rounds scheduled for Thursday were canceled due to numbers and the event moved straight into the single-elim portion. The scenario on tap in the first round was Gotterdammerung ­ from the Bunker to World War III. This scenario pits the Western Allies against the Soviets after Germany has fallen. While the Soviets have the manpower, the Western Allies have the Support Units and Delay Box DRM's on their side. This scenario was well received and will most likely see action again in 2002. There were three Western Allied wins against one Soviet. It is felt that this scenario is balanced.

The second round consisted of two matches in two different scenarios. Byron Stingley took on Paul Abrahamse in the Case Bruder ­ Hitler's Mid-East Piece. This match saw Byron pull out a win against TKG veteran and former playtester Paul.

The other match saw Todd Treadway take on Bob Ryan in the Spanish Ulcer ­ Operation Condor or Iberian Torch? scenario. Bob's Western Allied troops got off to an early advantage with an invasion at Bilbao. Todd was able to counter and capture Gibraltar when Bob foolishly left Tangiers without a British HQ. However, the Western Allies were able to pull off a counterattack from Bilbao that put most of the Axis forces out of supply and the game ended.

The Finals match pitted Byron Stingley (the 2000 WBC TK! Champ) against Bob Ryan (the TK! GM). The scenario played was The Russian Campaign. The Finals had been scheduled for an eight hour match on Saturday, but Byron and Bob got together and mixed it up on Friday afternmoon for six hours. The game was completed on Saturday after yet another ten hours of play.

Bob's Axis forces were able to make good ground in their opening but did not capture Leningrad or Moscow in the initial surge due to Byron's crafty Soviet defense. Byron made the inevitable counterattack at Moscow in the winter of '41-'42, but the Axis were able to place the assaulting force out of supply and threaten a pocket. This made the Soviets fall back and Moscow was soon inhabited by German ground troops. Meanwhile, Leningrad was still holding out so the Axis made a serious effort to capture the city. Leningrad finally succumbed to the assault in the summer of '42.

Sevstopol and Rostov never did fall to the Axis forces and the game became stalemated (with both sides hammering on each other) until the last turn of summer '43. A breakout by the Axis into the Steppes proved to be pre-mature as the Soviets were able to cutoff the Exploiting forces. The Summer turns of '44 proved too much for the Axis to handle and the Soviets drove into Rumania and took back most of their Russian territory. In addition, the Axis had vacated Narvik and the Finns were unable to come to the rescue. The game ended with the Soviets clearly going to take back enough Strategic Hexes to get the Tide back to Allied Crusade 0 which represents a Soviet Tactical Victory.

Byron and Bob both agreed that the match had seemed to hinge on the fate of Rostov. Had the Axis been able to take it and hold it for six months, they would have gotten two victory level shifts and this would have tipped the game unalterably in their favor. Ultimately, however, Byron had played a tough defense and got the much deserved win.

The format for next year will most likely see the elimination of The Russian Campaign scenario from the event as a 16-hour Final match is a bit long. It is hoped to once again change the format of the event in an attempt to draw more players. There is a possibility of a campaign game being offered.

For complete details on the tournament format go to: http://members.aol.com/bobmryan/TK_WBC_Event/TK_HomePage.htm