Year 6 of the Renaissance
Anzio continued its resurgence with an excellent showing of
18 players participating between Tuesday and Saturday using the
beautiful reprinted Anzio maps that Tom Oleson provided last
year. Many interesting struggles were played out as the subtle
differences in play resulting from the new terrain at the "toe"
and "boot" of Italy have enriched this classic wargame.
The level of interest was high and the new maps (with all the
terrain ambiguities resolved) were highly appreciated.
As
always numerous unexpected and unique situations developed on
the board. It seems that once you get the basic system down,
it is amazing how the game can develop in different and often
surprising ways, both strategically and tactically. This is probably
the main charm of the game, and it keeps longtime fans of the
game and rogues like Dan Dolan coming back year after year for
more.
This year, players could chose to play the much shorter six-turn
tournament scenario in the preliminary rounds, if both opponents
wished to do so. The six-turn scenario begins with the Nov III
turn and the Allies poised to launch the second invasion. The
Allies are close to capturing the requisite victory hexes, but
must eventually assault the Cassino Line.
Eight games of the six-turn scenario were played and the split
was 50-50. The second invasion came ashore at Anzio six times,
at Terrecina once and nowhere once. The Allies and Germans split
on the Anzio invasions, each winning three times. The Germans
won the game when the second invasion landed at Terrecina by
eliminating the beachhead. The game wherein the Allies launched
no second invasion was an Allied blitz - the Germans rolled almost
exclusively high, while the Allies rolled almost exclusively
low.
During the prelims, the 15-turn Basic Game was played 13 times.
All players landed at Reggio on Sep I and all accepted the Italian
invitation at Taranto on Sep II. The first invasion landed at
Salerno five times, Termoli four times, Terrecina twice and Napoli
twice. A German set-up with the 16th panzer positioned near Termoli
discourages an invasion at that zone while it encourages an invasion
at Terrecina. The invasion at Napoli deprives the Germans of
air superiority on Sep III, but it is farther away from the cavalry
coming up from the south. The following are the statistics for
the prelims:
Two games with invasion at Salerno and then Anzio: Allies won
both.
One game with invasion at Salerno and then Termoli: German win.
One game with invasion at Salerno and then Mondragoni: German
win.
One game with invasion at Salerno that was crushed: German win.
Two games with invasion at Napoli and then Anzio: Split.
Two games with invasion at Teermoli and then Pescara: Split.
Two games with invasion at Termoli and then Mondragoni: Axis
won both.
One game with invasion at Terracina in which Germans were crushed.
One game with invasion at Terracina and then Anzio: German win.
Taranto again proved to be an interesting battleground. In
several games, the Germans recaptured Taranto from the Allies
in September. This strategy is not a trivial one, because without
Taranto, Allied units trying to shift from an unlinked invasion
beachhead down to the south end will find themselves taking an
extra turn to get into the action. This can be quite awkward
for the Allies.
The top four players in the Swiss Segment advanced to the
Final with the following point totals: #1 - Tom Oleson, 57 points;
#2 - Paul Fletcher, 57 points; #3 - Bob Ryan with 55 points;
and #4 - Mark Bayliss with 42 points.
The semifinal between #1 - Tom Oleson and #4 - Mark Bayliss
went to the last die roll with Tom's Germans victorious. Mark
invaded at Termoli and later at Anzio. The Termoli invasion went
well, but the Anzio invasion was crushed. Mark still had a chance
to win, but his 1-1 roll versus Pescara on the last turn of the
game was lousy and Tom advanced.
The semifinal between #2 - Paul Fletcher and #3 - Bob Ryan
went to the last die roll with Paul's Allies victorious. Paul
invaded at Salerno and later at Anzio. A 1-1 die roll of one
by Paul took the last victory hex on the last turn and Bob's
counterattack was unable to take it back.
The championship game found Paul's Germans successful. Tom
invaded at Salerno and the Anzio, but Paul was up to the challenge
and thrashed Tom's Allies. Paul got possession of the reroll
chit early and refused to give it back. A great win for Paul
who wins his first Anzio championship. After the game. the longtime
Anzio GM was interviewed concerning his win. Paul commented that
he was tired of Tom Oleson, Bob Ryan and Mike Sincavage winning
the Anzio plaques, so he decided to quit the GM position in order
to concentrate on playing and kicking their butts. Objective
realized.
PBeM Tournament
22 players took part in BPA's Anzio PBeM tournament hosted
by Bruno Sinigaglio's BPAClassics.com. The laurel winners were
as follows:
1st. Bob Ryan, MI
2nd. Tom Oleson, WA
3rd. Steve Likevich, OH
4th. Paul Fletcher, CT
5th. Bryan Jackson, NY
6th. John Ellsworth, IL
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