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The button man, Greg Schmittgens,
battles Eric Martin. |
John Wetherell and Bryan Collars trade
war stories. |
Balanced and Clear Again ...
Combat Commander celebrated its third year at WBC by
using scenarios specially designed for this tournament. The scenarios
went the length of the war all the way from 1939 (The Winter
War) to Berlin in 1945, and also including action in the Pacific
Theater of World War 2.
56 gamers including both familiar names and new faces dueled
over a Mulligan round on Wednesday morning and then into six
Single Elimination rounds starting Friday afternoon and ending
Saturday morning.
As always, play was fast and furious and fun was had all around.
Some of the more memorable moments included yours truly losing
in the first round on the last turn of the card as my opponent's
British Commandos won their close combat with my conscripts holding
the needed bridge hex for victory (scenario based on Pegasus
Bridge - part of D-Day). Also memorable was a 1939 Soviets
versus Finns scenario that had a Hamlet ending - virtually everyone
on both sides was destroyed.
Ultimately the tournament came down to a tense final between
original champion Bob Heinzman's Canadians and Brian Hanchek's
Germans fighting over the Italian city of Ortona in 1943. Although
Brian put up a very good fight, Bob ultimately ground him down
and reclaimed his crown. As the winner, Bob claimed the DVD set
of The Rat Patrol series, and Brian claimed the DVD of Combat
Season 2 Mission 1.
Play balance this year fared very well, as the scenarios all
had roughly even records between sides. As these scenarios were
designed using the built in scenario designer provided with the
game it stands as a testament to the strength of that system.
The scenarios will be posted on both ConsimWorld and BoardgameGeek
for the enjoyment of those who did not attend.
As in previous years, rules questions were minimal and readily
answerable from the rulebook. This is a further testimony
to the rules, which are widely considered one of the best written
rulesets in the hobby.
I want to extend special thanks to Bryan Collars, who not
only went way above and beyond in his conduct as Assistant GM
but also was my nominee for Sportsman of the Year for his conduct
in the games he played. The color scenario cards enjoyed by everyone
were created by Bryan, who also collaborated with me in scenario
design and provided the necessary loud voice to get everyone's
attention when I was not equal to the task. Also I want to thank
everyone who played and made this event the success it was.
Finally, I look forward to next year as Combat Commander
tries to post its fourth straight year of increasing attendance.
You the player can have input into the design of the event by
visiting the Combat Commander discussion topic on ConSimWorld.
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Mike Stanley and James Terry wage
war with cards. |
Bob Heinzmann regains his title in
the Final with Brian Hanechek. |
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