TRC Champion: There can be only
one...
Thirty entrants participated in the thirteenth TRC Tournament.
At the end of six rounds, those players had played 31 games and
put in 310 hours. Doug James, playing as the Germans, got his
second TRC crown by defeating perennial contender, and two-time
champion, Rob Beyma.
Background
With the concurrent release of the 4th edition of TRC, by
L2 Design Group (L2DG), the TRC event this year began a significant
evolution. Several rules from TRC4 were introduced, the most
significant of which being the use of the new weather system.
The new weather chart builds on the last 25 years of playing
experience and has been significantly revised to balance the
overall weather so that, by itself, it will not be a game determining
issue. Next year's WBC TRC event will exclusively feature the
rules from the 4th edition; judging by the reaction to those
introduced this year, this GM believes the transition to TRC4
will be seamless. TRC4 was officially available at 10AM on Friday
and sold out within twenty minutes - the rest of the tournament
was played with one or two 'pick-up' games of the new game constantly
being played. For those wanting to get in tip-top TRC shape for
next year's WBC event, stay tuned to the L2DG TRC folder at www.consimworld.com
and for current standings and news, go to www.russiancampaign.com.
The bidding for sides using extra Russian replacement factors
continues to be well received. This gives both sides the opportunity
to play the side they prefer which comes in handy as many players,
including this GM, are 'better' at playing one side. Bids went
down a little bit this year. The average bid for German wins
was 8.25 (meaning the Soviets got a little over 8 extra replacements
spread over the ten-turn event). The average bid in games that
the Russian won was 10.45. Does this mean that the bid was decisive?
It's hard to tell as all but one of the rounds featured seeded
matchups which ensured that there was an experience differential
between the opponents which may have overcome any edge to be
gained from the bidding.
This year's competitors definitely constituted the most experienced
player pool seen at WBC for TRC. Six TRC champions participated
with TEN crowns between them. Five of these six made it to the
'Elite Eight' with twelve of the top 20 AREA ranked TRC players
in attendance.
The War Begins
After the TRC tutorial in Cafe Jay, the Mulligan round kicked
off at 7 PM on Thursday night. Based on feedback from last year's
participants, this round featured random seeding. There were
several upsets, George Karahalios over Phil Evans, Robert Frisby
over Dave Ketchum, and, while maybe not an upset, the ever enigmatic
Alan Zasada got the win against tournament veteran Forrest Pafenberg.
The
main single elimination show started at 9 AM on Friday, no more
'free' losses. Rob McCracken, who'd been pumped for TRC all year,
chose to skip the Mulligan and was on the receiving end of an
ignominious loss handed to him by Joe Collinson. Playing Joe
for your first tourney game isn't the best way to get the rust
out of your TRC game! Ray Freeman, master of combat in the Atlantic
and Pacific, enlisted for duty on the eastern front but had the
misfortune to draw two-time champ Rob Beyma and learned the hard
way how critical clock management is for this event.
The second round started shortly after 2 PM on Friday. Notable
upsets included Robert Frisby over Phil Evans on turn 1: Phil's
Russian setup was 'misplaced' and Robert went straight for the
throat with an AV in the Odessa district which drew a concession
from Phil. Robert happily accepted as it ensured that a Frisby
would prevail in this round; his brother Brad having the misfortune
to play Ed O'Connor who, as a TRC champ from many years ago,
was on a mission to prove that he still had what it takes to
play. (He does.) Lest this GM forget, the most upsetting of upsets
was having himself tossed by newcomer George Karahalios whose
Russians had my Wehrmacht on the ropes right from the beginning.
Nevertheless, it was a fun match with things going down to the
wire on the last turn. The Hacker brothers did not fare as well
as the Frisby brothers - Jeff having been eliminated in round
1 and Kevin in round 2 by eventual champ Doug James.
The third and final round of the day kicked off in the early
evening. The elite eight consisted of experienced tournament
players so there were no quick knockouts. There was a significant
upset though: Dave Ketchum advanced to the final four via his
first victory over three-time champ Gary Dickson in a close match
that could have gone either way on the last turn.
Saturday morning saw four tired participants (Dave and Rob
having played 15+ hours the day before) teeing it off in the
frigid Valley ballroom. The first semi-final match featured Ed
O'Connor taking the Germans with a bid of 12 against Doug James.
The opening attacks saw rather mediocre dice, including several
DR's. The second turn saw much better German dice and very good
progress in the north, but J/A ended with Russians still holding
Kiev and Dnep. S/O was clear - Kiev, Bryansk and Leningrad fell
while Dnep was vacated but uncontrolled by either side. S/O Russian
counterattacks featured a 2:1=D1 on a 5-4 at CC18 with a follow-up
on DD19 in Oct., causing the Germans a loss of several units
and Russians regaining the city. N/D weather was snow, so the
Russians pushed hard during the winter re-capturing Bryansk and
driving the Germans out of Leningrad. The height of the Soviet
advance had units within two hexes of Odessa, and controlling
(but not occupying) Riga! All through this the Germans avoided
significant losses. 1942 weather started with M/A lt. mud. Throughout
the summer a fluid melee raged between Smolensk and Bryansk that
cost both sides units but never resulted in a decisive blow for
either. Meanwhile the Germans ground away at the advanced Soviet
units in the south and re-captured Leningrad with a 3:1 stuka,
weakening the overall Soviet position and troop strength. S/O
was also lt. mud, and brought the Germans control of Kharkov
and Stalino and within striking distance of Rostov and Kursk.
The Russians consolidated, making Rostov and Kursk virtually
impregnable and made a strategic withdrawal in the Bryansk sector.
With a +1 drm for N/D, the Germans rolled a 2 for MUD, at which
point the game ended as it was now impossible for the Germans
to achieve their objective victory points. A very exciting game!
The other semifinal match had Rob Beyma taking on Dave Ketchum.
Rob's Germans got off to a good start aided by some hot dice
which eliminated 19 Russian units on turn 1. Dave never quite
fully recovered. To make matters worse, the Germans rolled Clear
S/O and Stuka'ed Stalino at 5-1. The second impulse had a 1-1
(contact) vs Leningrad but a huge 1 (AR) was rolled on a 3-1
surrounded vs Kharkov. Much like a 90 yard drive only to then
fumble on the goal line. Uncle 'Mo had showed up - the Russians
then rolled a 6 on a 1-2 at Leningrad and then got Snow for N/D.
Rob consumed a lot of clock time in 1941 so he wanted to get
in a better position for winter. He attacked a unit next to Leningrad
at 2-1 (an EX) while soaking off on the city at 1-6 (AE). The
Russians rolled an A1 on their forced counterattack. At Kharkov,
Rob made a 1-1 surrounded with every unit that could reach the
battle. Dave kicked himself because he then realized he could
have moved one unit one hex further to force Rob to have used
a soak-off unit and be unable to achieve the 1-1. Rob then rolled
a 3 (AR). He moved back in the 2nd impulse for a 2nd 1-1 and
rolled a 6. Silence reigned. Dave fought hard from a difficult
position in 1942. Because of Rob's difficult clock situation,
he had six minutes to play the last THREE turns. He literally
was just sliding stacks of Russian units between the VP cities
and the Russian line. Rob had three minutes for the last two
turns and about 50 seconds for N/D 42 but that proved sufficient
to deny Dave the opportunity to get the necessary victory point
cities.
The Championship Match
The finals for the tournament got underway in the early evening:
Rob Beyma vs Doug James. Rob was not up for a lot of factor counting
and decided to stop the bidding at five replacements in order
to get the Russians. Doug had seen Rob's non-traditional Odessa
defense before and responded by putting seven (!) out of ten
German panzers in the south. His rapid advance in the south caused
Rob to execute the big retreat which did an excellent job of
preserving the Red Army. (To get a feel for the extent of the
German advance, the Jul/Aug Russian reinforcement for Kursk had
to show up on the east edge!) After a brief and costly battle,
Doug took Leningrad in S/O. The Germans also took Kharkov and
Stalino. The Russians were down to only three workers but had
light losses. Daring Russian counterattacks were thwarted by
ungentlemanly rolls.
Things looked pretty balanced as 1942 got underway. The March/April
weather was Clear, so the Germans caused attrition where possible,
advanced to the gates of Smolensk, and consolidated in front
of Stalino but withdrew from Kharkov. The Russians, with their
large army, pushed forward to contest the Germans everywhere.
At this point Rob was in severe time trouble, having no more
than 15 minutes remaining for the rest of the match! Rob had
no time to counterattack or count factors; he shoved the units
up. In July/August 1942, Doug changed the axis of his attack:
He drove on Rostov and concentrated both Stukas there. In a second
impulse attack against Rostov at 3-1, he was repulsed by an AR
result. Rob was down to about two minutes so he knew the outcome
was a forgone conclusion. He did move another big stack into
Rostov, killed the unit that invaded, put a big stack behind
Rostov, and tidied up (re: lined them up ) the rest of the front.
His flag dropped as he was about to do his second impulse and
the game ended with Doug emerging victorious. There was a general
agreement that the board position was about even with two turns
to go.
Summary
As always, the tournament was both fun and heavily competitive.
Gary and Doug served ably as assistant GM's. Next year's event
will usher in the full suite of TRC4 rules and the new, larger
physical components. Speaking for myself, playing on the old
board is now quite painful. Bigger is better! The clocks continued
to serve their purpose but I was a bit surprised by the number
of games that went to the wire. (I suspect this was due to the
higher level of competition, i.e., very few early blowouts.)
The tournament format may change a little as; more than a few
people wanted to participate but found the timing to be a bad
fit.
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