breakout: normandy [Updated October 2004]  

2004 WBC Report  

 2005 Status: pending 2005 GM commitment

Nels Thompson, VA

2004 Champion

2nd: Jim Doughan, PA

3rd: Tom Dworschak, GA

4th: Mike Kaye, MD

5th: Steve Andriakos, TX

6th: Chris Roginsky, PA


Offsite links:

AREA Ratings

boardgamegeek

 

Recommended

WBC Event History
1994    Jim Doughan      50
1995    Bill Edwards      48
1996    Hank Burkhalter      54
1997    Jim Doughan      53
1998    Don Greenwood      52
1999    Michael Rinella     48
2000    Phil Barcafer     32
2001    Jim Doughan     34
2002     Alan Applebaum     26
2003    Jim Eliason     28
2004    Nels Thompson     33

D-Day Mini-Con Event History
1998    Don Greenwood      17
1999    Alan Applebaum     19
2000    Bryan Esleman     18
2001    Andrew Cummins     17
2002     Marvin Birnbaum     23
2003    David Wong     15
2004    Andrew Cummins     15

PBeM Event History
1999    Jim Doughan      34
2001    John Crabtree      36
2003    Bruno Passacantando      48
2004          47

 Laurels
Rank Name

From

Last
Total
 1. Andrew Cummins

UK

04
194
 2. Alan Applebaum

MA

02
180
 3. Marvin Birnbaum

NY

02
151
 4. Jim Doughan

PA

04
138
 5. Don Greenwood

MD

04
138
 6. Jim Eliason

IA

04
124
 7.  Bryan Eshleman

NC

04
117
 8. Henry Jones

PA

04
114
 9. Bruno Passacantando

CT

04
  96
10.  Mike Rinella

NY

01
  96
11.  Nels Thompson

VA

04
  92
12. Phil Barcafer

PA

01
  84
13.  Tom Dworschak

GA

04
  76
14. Mark Gutfreund

KY

04
  70
15. Michael Kaye

MD

04
  54
16. David Wong

NJ

03
  50
17. Tom Pavy

OH

03
  48
18. Bill Edwards

VA

99
  36
19.  Ken Nied

KS

04
  33
20. Bryan Stingley

NC

03
  24
21. Steve Andriakos

TX

04
  13
22. Scott Fenn

MD

02
  12
23. Anders Egneus

Sweden

99
  12
24.  Ron Fedin

PA

04
  11
25. John Crabtree

CA

01
  10
26. Tom Drueding

MA

04
  10
27. John Grant Jr

CT

99
    6
28. Chris Roginsky

PA

04
    5
29. Dennis Nicholson

NY

03
    5
30. Hank Burkhalter

GA

99
    2
31. Tom Gregorio

PA

01
    1

Past Winners

Jim Doughan - PA
1994, 1997, 2001

Bill Edwards - VA
1995

Hank Burkhalter - TX
1996

Don Greenwood - MD
1998

Michael Rinella - NY
1999

Phil Barcafer - PA
2000

Alan Applebaum - MA
2002

Jim Eliason - IA
2003
 


Still hitting the beach 11 years later ...


Under the command of General Eisenhower, Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing Allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France.
- SHAEF communiqué issued at 09:32 (London time) on June 6, 1944

In the year of the 60th anniversary of the crusade by Allied forces to liberate Europe, 33 stalwart players attempted to recreate history, an increase of five players over last year. When the smoke cleared and the dice fell silent, veteran Nels Thompson emerged as the last man standing to win his first ever BKN title as well as his first WBC wood. Just as BKN itself is a game of unexpected developments and strange turns of fortune, so this tournament featured many such twists and reversals. Not one of last year's semifinalists made the cut this time.

As usual the tourney featured a strong field. Nineteen of the 27 gamers with AREA credits had ratings above 5000. Four had ratings above 6000. This year also saw the return of several seasoned players if only for a round or two, including Matt Fagan, Ray Freeman, Ron Fedin, Mark Gutfreund, and former champion Alan Applebaum. Several other veterans were no-shows, the most notable being the game's designer, Don Greenwood. (He kept complaining that he had other stuff to do ­ hey, this is the WBC; what else could there be to do?). Inspired by Jim Doughan's teaching demo on Tuesday night six newbies filled the void by playing their first AREA-rated matches.

The Final Standings
1. Nels Thompson, 5-1
2. Jim Doughan, 5-1
3. Tom Dworschak, 4-1
4. Mike Kaye, 2-3
5. Steve Andriakos, 3-1
6. Chris Roginski, 3-0

In First Round Swiss action (13 matches) the random draw for the second year in a row paired former champions Jim Doughan and Michael Rinella with Jim repeating his early knockout of last year. Past D-Day champion Marvin Birnbaum drew defending champ Jim Eliason and made an early exit. Current D-Day title holder David Wong was the first of many to run into the Nels Thompson buzz saw.

The Second Round match (11 games) between Mike Kaye and Mark Gutfreund proved the old adage that timing is everything. In his last two impulses of the match Mike captured Carentan, and then attempted to contest Caen. He lost the dice roll by -7, but it was just enough to contest the area and end the day, giving Mike the exact 9.6 VPs he needed for victory. I've never seen anyone so grateful to lose a DR by 7.

The Third Round (with nine matches) featured another head-to-head battle of former champions: Jim Eliason vs. Michael Rinella.

Going in to Round 4, eight players still had a viable shot at making the semifinals (last year it was nine).

Semi-final Rankings (Opponents' winning percentage, Opponents' average AREA rating):
4-0
Jim Doughan, .538, 5236
Tom Dworschak, .533, 5578

3-1
Steve Andriakos, .600, 5841
Nels Thompson, .571, 6061

3-0
Chris Roginsky, .333, 5215

2-2
Mike Kaye, .714, 5938
Jim Eliason, .615, 5801

Due to no-shows at semi-finals time, Mike Kaye advanced to single elimination play.

At this stage the expectation was that the two 4-0 players, Jim and Tom, who are also the two highest AREA rated players in the game, would meet in the finals. But Nels' Germans and the dice stopped Tom cold. Tom failed his assault into Caen with the British on June 7, while a day or two later a +5 assault by the Americans into Carentan was stuffed. With stacks of D1 units on both sides of the board, the game was essentially over.

In the other semi-final, Jim's Germans took the magic bridge and held St. Mere throughout the game. Mike made decent progress up the middle of the board and near Caen, but it wasn't enough to overcome the early deficit.

The finals were a rematch of Round 4 between Nels and Jim. Nels' philosophy is that he will not allow anyone to outbid him to play the Germans, and he proved it throughout all six matches of the tournament. Jim accepted the bid of 65 and played the Allies.

Here the dice gods deserted Jim with a vengeance. At one point Jim exclaimed, "You know, if I play this right, I can still have Rangers on board on June 11!" An anti-climax after such a grueling tournament, but an outcome we have all seen before. Nels certainly earned his win ­ his opponents' average AREA rating in the four preliminary rounds was 6061. By the end of the tournament Nels had beaten the four highest rated players in the game.

Congratulations to all!

 GM      Ken Nied  [2nd Year]  14924 W. 124th Terrace, Olathe, KS 66062 
    caesar1@swbell.net   NA

2004 Preview Page | View the Icon Key | Return to main BPA page