A Win too Far? ....
Storm Over Arnhem attracted a field of twelve with
a good mix of veterans, including two former champions, and new
green generals. Although the average winning bid for the British
was one victory point, overall the German victories outnumbered
the British 9 to 4, with many close games. The two former champions,
Steve Koleszar and David Wong, met in the second round where
David was victorious as the Germans, although Steve would continue
as an eliminator in the tournament
The first semi-final game pitted the twice champ David Wong
against Jeff Finkleday. Jeff defended as the British, while David
pushed immediately into area 11 with the Germans. The Germans
were able to take area 11 on the first turn and area 24 in the
second. The British pushed back to retake area 11 on turn 3 but
the German fire groups began to pound area 17 and 18 causing
10 British casualties. The battle for area 18 began in earnest
on turn 5 in a see-sawing battle that pushed the Germans out
on turn 5 but the British finally yielded the area on turn 6.
Turn 7 began with the British holding just areas 4 and 5. The
German kill groups and Artillery finally cleared area 5 and contested
area 4 solidifying the needed VPs for a German victory.
For the second semi-final game, Tom Drueding needed to get
past Steve Koleszar who was acting as a tough eliminator. Steve
took the British and Tom's Germans made a very aggressive push
in the center of the city. Although the Germans were able to
capture area 22, 23 and 24 by the second, they suffered very
large casualties. These early captures would provide the Germans
with 15 victory points by the end of the game, so the Germans
needed to capture just one more 2 VP area by turn 6 to get the
win. Using fire groups in areas 22 and 23 the Germans eventually
started to gain ground as the dice turned decidedly German on
turn 5. With the capture of area 17 on turn 6 the Germans would
get the required 21 VPs to win .
David Wong and Tom Drueding met in the finals for the third
time. David bid zero and Tom took the British for one victory
point. David's Germans pushed on the sides concentrating on area
11 and maneuvering on the other sides of the bridge. By turn
2 the Germans had captured areas 11 and 7 and were steadily pushing
the British back to the bridge. Turn 4 opened with all the British
troops in Victory Point areas waiting for the onslaught. Using
large fire groups and pinning the British, the Germans began
to inflict heavy casualties. Turn 5 Area 23 fell with the assistance
of the Tiger Tanks, and areas 18 and 22 quickly followed on turn
6. The final blow occurred on turn 7 as the last of the British
melted away. David Wong captured the title after missing the
WBC last year while serving in Afghanistan, winning all four
of his games as the Germans, and Tom Drueding finished in the
bridesmaid position for the fifth straight year.
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