Anzio [Updated Nov. 2007]  

Grognards Pre-Con

2007 WBC Report  

 2008 Status: pending 2008 GM commitment

Bruno Sinigaglio, AK

2007 Champion

Offsite links:

AREA Boardgamegeek
Laurels Consimworld

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
2006     Paul Fletcher     22
2007     Bruno Sinigaglio     33

PBeM Event History
2001    Bob Ryan     22

 Laurels

 Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
   1.  Robert Ryan        MI    07    162
   2.  Paul Fletcher      CT    07    125
   3.  Mike Sincavage     VA    03    114
   4.  Tom Oleson         WA    09     94
   5.  Stephen Likevich   OH    01     74
   6.  Bruno Sinigaglio   AK    07     32
   7.  Carl Walling       PA    06     30
   8.  Paul O'Niel        MD    06     21
   9.  Mark Bayliss       UK    05     17
  10.  Chris Harris       VA    02     16
  11.  John Grant Jr      CT    01      8
  12.  John Clarke        FL    07      6
  13.  Randy Heller       NH    06      6
  14.  Frank Sinigaglio   NJ    05      6
  15.  Bill Scott         VA    03      4
  16.  Walter Garman      MD    99      4
  17.  Steve Foren        FL    07      3
  18.  Brian Addison      VA    05      3
  19.  Bryan Jackson      NY    01      2
  20.  John Ellsworth     IL    01      1

2007 Laurelists

Robert Ryan, MI
2nd

Paul Fletcher, CT
3rd

Tom Oleson, WA
4th

John Clarke, FL
5th

Steve Foren, FL
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

Paul Fletcher, CT
2005, 2006
 

Murray Cowles (left) checks out the new Sicily extension for Anzio provided by Tom Oleson at right which helped fuel the event's record attendance.

Bill Scott (left) and Alan Hayes try their hand at the Sicily scenario during Grognardcon as the Heritage room abounds in classic hex wargames.

Year 8 of the Renaissance

The Anzio event this year again had change introduced by venerable grognard Tom Oleson. Tom's efforts, time, dedication, and innovation have, over the past few years, completely invigorated the Anzio experience. This year he came equipped not only with complete new countersheets for the game and an updated rulebook with new OOB cards, but also yet another countersheet for a new tournament scenario for the Sicilia portion of the new maps he published two years ago. All at his own expense!

The new Sicilia scenario quickly became very popular. It has units with undetermined strength (Italians), is only six turns long, and can be a three-player game. In fact, there were more scenarios of Sicilia played than the traditional fifteen turn Anzio scenario (27 vs. 12). There were several new players introduced to the Anzio event (and the game for the first time as well) through the Sicilia scenario.

The increase in the number of contestants and the number of games played was not only due to the Sicilia scenario, but also to the inclusion of Anzio in the Pre-Con 'Grognard Wargames' event. Bruno Sinigaglio graciously agreed to GM the event during the Pre-Con due to the GM not being able to arrive until Monday.

The points scoring system to advance four finalists to the Semi-Finals the last few years was once again used. A winner of the 15-turn Anzio scenario earned 15 points and the loser one. The Sicilia scenario was worth five points for the winner and one to the loser. However, a winner also gains one bonus point for each win a loser previously had. In addition, only the best three games counted for each player. This effectively deals with the issue of a contestant playing more games than any other and/or a player only being involved in matches with less experienced players. 

At 5:00 PM on Friday the four highest scoring players entered into the single elimination portion of the tournament. Those four players were:

1. Bob Ryan ­ 60 pts
2. Tom Oleson ­ 58 pta
3. Bruno Sinigaglio ­ 53 pts
4. Paul Fletcher ­ 41 pts

The semi-finals opened with Bob (German) vs. Paul (Allies). Bob had the 16th Panzer guarding the beaches at Termoli so Paul came ashore at Terracina. The Germans threw all they had into a first turn counterattack and managed to cut through to the Beachhead and the Port. The Allies had no choice other than Surrender at that point.

The second match of the semi's was Tom (Allies) vs. Bruno (German).  Amazingly, even though Bruno had the 16th Panzer on the mountains outside of Termoli, Tom decided to come ashore there anyway! This was an absolute first in the history of the Anzio event. Bruno, non-plussed as always, setup his counterattacks and reached deep into his pocket for a secret weapon, a very old and dirty Avalon Hill die. He then proceeded to roll three 1's on three straight attacks effectively rolling up the Beachhead! Tom, always the gentleman, smiled through the entire ordeal and then offered his Surrender. The die was examined by the GM and found to be legal in all respects.

So, the semi-finals which had started at 5:00 PM, were finished within thirty minutes; another first for the Anzio event.

The Final began Saturday morning with Bob's Allies landing at Terracina. Bruno brought up all the Germans he could muster to counterattack the beachhead. In fact, he committed so much to the counterattack that he was leaving the South of Italy dangerously open for large Allied gains. Bruno had his AH die again and after three turns of constant attack, he rolled up the Beachhead. The last counterattack was so heavily committed that had it failed, the Allies would most likely have been able to connect to the Beachhead at Terracina. Bruno thus won his first Anzio Wood in a long and illustrious gaming 'career'. After the match was finished, he was not shy in letting everyone know that he was the lowest active AREA rated player of Anzio. He even went so far as to sign onto the internet via WI-FI and walk around with the laptop letting all who would listen know that he was in fact telling the truth. Only Bruno could get away with such a stunt.

However, the tournament was not quite finished yet. The Consolation game saw Paul vs. Tom playing another new 21 turn scenario Tom has developed which combined the Sicilia six turn scenario with the Anzio fifteen turn scenario. This match went the full distance and came down to a last turn German counterattack that saw Paul win through to claim 3rd Place. His Germans were able to muster enough factors to counterattack and re-capture control of Cassino on turn 21. Tom's re-cap of the match was this:

Paul Fletcher (Axis) and Tom Oleson (Allies) disputed 3rd place with the new 21-turn scenario (July-December 1943).  Sicily developed historically except that the Allies lost their rangers. Tom invaded at Salerno, pushed steadily north, capturing Cassino (which would've won the game) Dec II.  A furious battle raged there, while the Germans contained and then crushed a Dec-III invasion north of Rome.  The last combat of the game saw the Germans barely retaking Cassino. 

Lastly, many thanks are due to Bill Morse for the time he contributed in logging all matches, keeping score, posting results, etc. The tournament would not have been successful without his efforts.


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      Bob Ryan  [1st Year]   NA
    bobmryan@aol.com   NA

2007 Preview Page | View the Icon Key | Return to main BPA page