Anzio [Updated October 2005]  

2005 WBC Report  

 2006 Status: pending December Membership Century Vote

Paul Fletcher, CT

2005 Champion


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Event History
1991    Tom Oleson        8
1992    Mike Sincavage      13
1993    Mike Sincavage      12
1994    Mike Sincavage      14
1995    Mike Sincavage        9
1996    Mike Sincavage        8
1997    Tom Oleson      10
1998    Mike Sincavage        8
1999    Mike Sincavage     12
2000    Robert Ryan     24
2001    Stephen Likevich     21
2002    Mike Sincavage     18
2003    Mike Sincavage     20
2004    Robert Ryan     22
2005    Paul Fletcher     18

PBeM Event History
2001    Bob Ryan     22

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Robert Ryan        MI    05    126
  2.  Mike Sincavage     VA    03    114
  3.  Paul Fletcher      CT    05     83
  4.  Tom Oleson         WA    05     76
  5.  Stephen Likevich   OH    01     74
  6.  Carl Walling       PA    03     27
  7.  Mark Bayliss       UK    05     17
  8.  Chris Harris       VA    02     16
  9.  Paul O'Niel        MD    04      9
 10.  John Grant Jr      CT    01      8
 11.  Frank Sinigaglio   NJ    05      6
 12.  Bill Scott         VA    03      4
 13.  Walter Garman      MD    99      4
 14.  Brian Addison      VA    05      3
 15.  Bruno Sinigaglio   AK    00      2
 16.  Bryan Jackson      NY    01      2
 17.  John Ellsworth     IL    01      1
         

2005 Laurelists

Tom Oleson, WA
2nd

Robert Ryan, MI
3rd

Mark Bayliss, UK
4th

Frank Sinigaglio, NJ
5th

Brian Addison, VA
6th


Past Winners

Tom Oleson, WA
1991, 1997

Mike Sincavage, VA
'92-'96, '98-'99, '02

Robert Ryan, MI
2000, 2004

Stephen Likevich, OH
2001


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

 GM      Bruno Sinigaglio [1st Year]   PO Box 60477, Fairbanks, AK 99706
    brunofjs@hotmail.com   NA

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