Defending champ Paul Fletcher (left) who learned his craft from the master, Tom Oleson, gets a refresher course on the way to besting his teacher and successfully defending his title.	Paul O'Neill (right) is rebuffed by Paul Fletcher and has to settle for third, but he has won a more important battle. How many of us can still wear an original Origins 1972 t-shirt?

Anzio continued its resurgence with an excellent showing of 22 players participating during the precon and the convention proper. Many interesting struggles were played out as the subtle differences in play resulting from the new terrain at the "toe" and "heel" of Italy have enriched this classic wargame. The new maps have eliminated terrain ambiguities and resulted in better play balance - the Axis line is more extended due to inclusion of the toe and the heel. Also, the release of the US 1st and 9th Infantry due to aggressive German forays against Taranto and Reggio has resulted in more historical ebb and flow.

This year, players could choose to play the 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.

Six games of the six-turn scenario were played with the Allies gaining the upper hand with four wins. The second invasion came ashore at Anzio three times and at Pescara three times. The Allies gathered two wins and one loss on the Anzio invasions and also on the Pescara invasions.

During the prelims, the 15-turn Basic Game was played 17 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 eight times, Termoli four times, Napoli twice, Terracina once, Mondragone once and Pescara once. A German set-up with the 16th panzer positioned near Termoli discourages an invasion at that zone while it encourages an invasion at Napoli or 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. Overall, the Allies won seven and the Axis won ten. The following are the statistics for play of the15-turn Basic Game during the prelims:

- Six games with invasion at Salerno and then Anzio: Axis won 4 - Allies won two.
- One game with invasion at Salerno and then Termoli: German win.
- One game with invasion at Salerno and then Mondragone: German win.
- Two games with invasion at Napoli and then Anzio: Germans won both.
- Two games with invasion at Termoli and then Anzio: Split.
- One game with invasion at Terracina and then Napoli: Allied win.
- Two games with invasion at Termoli in which the Germans were crushed.
- One game with invasion at Mondragone in which the Germans were crushed.
- One game with invasion at Pescara in which the invasion was crushed, but in which the Germans were in turn crushed.

Taranto again proved to be an interesting battleground. In three games, the Germans recaptured Taranto from the Allies in September and in one of those three they also destroyed the port at Reggio. 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 take an extra turn to get into the action. The results of these three games were as follows: The Allies lost Taranto and Reggio, but won the game with successful invasions at Termoli and Rome. The Allies lost Taranto and were unable to win with invasions at Napoli and then Anzio. The Allies lost Taranto and then lost the game with sub-par invasions at Napoli and Anzio.

The top four players in the preliminary Swiss Segment advanced to the semi-final playoffs with the following point totals:  First seed Tom Oleson, 59 points. Second seed and defending champion Paul Fletcher, 42 points. Third seed Paul O'Neil, 35 points. Fourth seed Bob Ryan, 31 points. Hay seed Steve Likevich.

The semi-final between Oleson and Ryan was over quickly. The allies invaded at Terracina and were annihilated when Ryan counterattacked the beachhead, advanced after combat and then eliminated the beachhead on a second combat.

The semi-final between Fletcher and O'Neil went to the last turn with Fletch's Germans victorious. O'Neal's Allies invaded at Salerno and on Dec I at Termoli, but were only able to capture Salerno, Naples, Foggia and Termoli.

The Final matched frequent antagonists Fletcher and Ryan. Fletcher's German set up prevented an invasion at Terracina, so Ryan landed at Termoli on Sep II. The initial foray across the Sangro was able to stand, but the Allies retreated back across the river in the face of a three-division German build-up on and north of the river. Instead, the Allies attacked west from the hills at Vasto and succeeded in pushing the Germans back.

In the south, the Germans decided not to attack Taranto, but temporarily held the southern force with a minimal cordon. Shortly, the Germans had to retreat to the north due to the westward expansion of the Allied beachhead through Vasto. The Germans were loath to allow a premature link-up, but did not have the forces required to fully encircle the beachhead and still block the Allies in the toe and heel.

The allies continued to push west and north towards Cassino at a snail's pace. Masterful delay and judicious counterattacks slowed the Allies. The second invasion came ashore at Anzio on Dec II and Ryan succeeded in eliminating two German divisions; however, the placement of those two divisions prevented the beachhead from attaining sufficient depth and the Germans were able to crush the invasion on Dec III. At the end, the allies controlled Termoli, Foggia, Naples and Salerno. Thus, Fletcher was able to take home his second consecutive Anzio Championship amid widespread speculation that he was starting another Sincavage-like dynasty.

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