barbarossa to berlin [Updated October 2005]

	2005 WBC Report    2006 Status:
Nicholas Pei, CA 2005 Winner Offsite links: AREA Ratings	Event History 2003    Nicholas Pei     34 2004    Steven Brooks     10 2005   -    4 WAM Event History 2004    Tom Gregorio     11	Laurels Rank Name From Last Total 1. Tom Gregorio PA 04 63 2. Nicholas Pei CA 04 62 3. Steve Brooks FL 04 48 4. Nick Anner NY 03 30 5. Raynald Foret Frnc 03 20 6. Bob Heinzman FL 04 12 7. David Dockter MN 03 10 8. Ted Racier NY 04 9 9. Charlie Hickok PA 04 9 10. Geoff Allbutt ON 04 6 11. James Pei TX 04 5
2005 Laurelists NA 2nd NA 3rd NA 4th NA 5th NA 6th Past Winners Nicholas Pei, CA 2003 Steven Brooks, FL 2004 Down for the Count Despite the advent of a shorter and better balanced scenario to address BTB's shortcomings as a tournament, the event failed to draw a minimum field in 2005 and thus no official tournament was held. WBC restricts the amount of its events largely to ensure adequate fields to generate a reasonable tournament experience. Despite this, occasionally an event fails to draw sufficiently. When that happens, the event is no longer eligible to be held in the following year regardless of membership vote. Therefore, BTB will not be held in 2006. This year's tournament featured a smaller-than-expected field of four: Bob Heinzmann, Nick Pei, Milt Janowsky and Doug Austin. The new "High Tide" tournament scenario was used and allowed the preliminary games to be completed in the scheduled four-hour rounds. The opening draw found the Allies victorious with Bob Heinzmann upsetting past champ Nick Pei nd Doug Austin defeating Milt Janowsky. The scenario was highly regarded by all and the consensus appears to be that it is well-balanced. An important feature in both preliminary games was that Africa was taken early by the Allies. Bob Heinzmann defeated Nick Pei by 1 VP after a close struggle. The card selected by the Allies going into Total War was Torch. The Axis achieved Totaler Krieg and began an all-out assault on Moscow that consumed the last two-thirds of the game and most of the units on both sides. Early conquest of Africa saw Casablanca played along with Allied invasions of Italy. The Milt Janowsky/Doug Austin contest saw an Axist hrust toward Stalingrad and the Caucasus. Fortune was with the Allies as early successful trench rolls in Stalingrad and Saratov helped stabilize the line. The Allied card selected going into Total War was Tank Armies. Africa was not emphasized by the Axis. The Axis player conceded when it appeared to him that he wouldn't reach the 17 VPs to allow play of TK. It was decided to go straight to a final between Nick Pei and Doug Austin using the scheduled full campaign game after Bob Heinzmann and Milt Janowsky bowed out. Nick Pei's well-played Axis juggernaut achieved an auto-victory in Turn 7 over Doug Austin. The Axis bid was +1. The Axis advance was aggressive and units on both sides were repeatedly cut off and then brought back into supply. Stalin was evacuated in Turn 2, never to return. Moscow barely escaped attrition that turn. Industrial Evacuation was played from an OOS, but not yet occupied, Moscow in Turn 3. Axis units broke through the Caucasus into the Middle East. Desperate rebellions from Partisans in Soviet VP cities including Baku and action by the Desert Army in Africa couldn't buy enough time for Western Allied intervention to escape the AV.
GM      Doug Austin [1st Year]   NA    NA   NA