bulge '81   

Updated 11/11/2011
Grognards Pre-Con

2011 WBC Report     

 2012 Status: pending 2012 GM commitment
Rob Beyma, MD
2011 Champion

Links

AREA Boardgamegeek Consimworld

Event History
1991    Pierre Menard      14
1992    Rob Beyma      13
1993    Randy Heller      12
1994    Phil Evans      12
1995    Randy Heller      14
1996    Bruno Sinigaglio      10
1997    Phil Evans      15
1998    Bruno Sinigaglio      13
1999    Bruno Sinigaglio     13
2000    John Grant Jr       8
2001    Bruno Sinigaglio     10
2002     Steve Likevich     18
2003     Steve Likevich      23
2004     Steve Likevich      20
2005     Bob Ryan        20
2006     Bill Morse      18
2007     Steve Likevich      21
2008     Steve Likevich      18
2009     Phil Evans      20
2010     Phil Evans      21
2011     Rob Beyma      23
 Laurels

Rank  Name             From  Last  Total
  1.  Steve Likevich    OH    08    152
  2.  Forrest Pafenberg VA    11    127
  3.  Phil Evans        fr    10    112
  4.  Bill Morse        VA    11     96
  5.  Bruno Sinigaglio  AK    11     66
  6.  Bob Ryan          MI    09     60
  7.  Frank Sinigaglio  NJ    10     48
  8.  Vince Sinigaglio  NJ    11     39
  9.  John Clarke       VA    11     34
 10.  Rob Beyma         MD    11     30
 11.  Randy Heller      MD    08     21
 12.  John Grant Jr     CT    01     20
 13.  Bill Scott        VA    04      6
 14.  Jim Falling       IL    99      4
 15.  Bill Riggs        VA    07      3
 16.  Chris Withers     CA    05      3
 17.  Mike Mitchell     GA    02      2
 18.  Martin Svenson    VA    99      2
 19.  Buddy Sinigaglio  CO    02      1

2011 Laurelists                                      Repeating Laurelists 

Bill Morse, VA
2nd

Vinny Sinigaglio, NJ
3rd

Forrest Pafenberg, VA
4th

John Clarke, VA
5th

Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
6th


Past Winners

Pierre Menard, CT
1991

Rob Beyma, MD
1992, 2011

Randy Heller, CT
1993, 1995

Phil Evans, fr
1994, 1997, 2009-10

Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
'96, '98-'99, '01

John Grant Jr, CT
2000

Steve Likevich, OH
2002-04, '07-'08

Bob Ryan, MI
2005

Bill Morse, VA
2006


GM Frank Sinigaglio challenges 2006 champion Bill Morse in the swiss rounds.

The head grognard, Bruno Sinigaglio, keeps tweezering the opposition in the senior center of WBC.

still fighting the Bulge ...


While most of us are fighting a different type of "bulge" problem, WBC remains the place for grognards to meet and vie over the AH classic Battle of the Bulge, 1981 edition. A few classic style wargames are managing to hang around due to free form scheduling with nostalgic trips to yesteryear for the older set.

Open Swiss Phase

A total of 27 games were played in the preliminary rounds by 23 different participants, allowing the event to crack the 16-player threshold for the tenth consecutive year. Making this possible is the flexible start format pioneered by El Lingle that allows grognards looking for tournament games to play after they have been eliminated elsewhere.

Of the 27 preliminary games, 18 were won by the Germans, but when it counted the Germans lost two of three in the playoffs. The results since Bruno took over for our late friend John Grant in 2003 have the Germans sporting a slim 130-122 advantage. Making it to the Final Four this year was 2006 champion Bill Morse (44 points), 1992 champion Rob Beyma (40 points), the unpredictable Vinny Sinigaglio (38 points) and perennial hard luck runner-up ForestPafenberg (34 points).

Semi-Finals

Forrest's opening attacks in the south allowed 9cca and 109 inf to escape Engage or Exchange results, while 12 inf was trapped by an Engaged. In the north, four infantry units, 395, 393, 9 and 38 were all Engaged. Attacks in the Losheim Gap were good with 394 inf eliminated and 14 cav running on a D back 4. In the center things were abysmal - all of the 106 infantry escaped to play defense, 112 inf was Contacted and 110 inf retreated in good order with a D back 2.

In effect, the Germans were hosed in the center. It should be noted, however, that Paffy in no way approached his legendary infamous dice from 2003, at which time he rolled zero American kills on the 16AM turn - a feat which we have since estimated to be a 1-in-820 likelihood. It is also noteworthy, that since 2003, only in 2010 has Paffy not had bad German attack dice in every play-off game. Of course, that was because he played the Americans in 2010. In any case, with no push in the center and Bill flush with defenders, things got congested for Paffy's Panzers. On 17PM, he was still attacking St. Vith and Bill had backstops for every front line unit. After uneventful rolls on his 17PM attacks, Paffy reluctantly threw in the towel yet again.

In the other semi, super-grognard Rob took on the younger generation and proved he still had what it takes after a long absence from 'B81 play. His Germans killed 394 inf, 14 cav, 106/422, 106/424 and 28/112 - great results at Losheim and in the center. There were mixed results within the north and the south with retreats, Contacts and Engages, but the loss of five American units in the center made it difficult to form a defensive line where the Americans are weakest. Somehow, Vinny fabricated a decent line shifting units from the north and south and Rob helped by rolling bad dice on the 16PM and 17AM turns, but two more US units were added to the losses.

On 17PM, Rob advanced significantly on a 4-1(-1) Blitz near Bastogne and on an Advance 4 versus units in Vielsalm, which resulted in Germans adjacent to Trois Ponts and Stavelot. Vinny counterattacked at 1-1(0) to hold both towns and rolled Engaged on both attacks - good enough. On 18AM, the Germans captured Bastogne and Trois Ponts on attacks at 2-1(-1) and the crossroads on an attack at 6-1. At this point, with 16 dead US units, Vinny conceded.

The Final:
Two former champs met in the Final although their respective titles came 14 years apart. On the 16AM turn, Bill's Germans rolled poorly in the north with an Engaged vs 395 inf, a Contact vs 9 and 38 inf. At Losheim, the Germans killed 394 inf and 14 cav. In the Schnee Eifel, 106/422 died, 106/423 escaped and 106/424 was Engaged. In the center, Bill again rolled poorly, with a D3 vs 122 inf and crummy D2's vs 110 inf and 109 inf. In the south, 9cca escaped unscathed, but 12 inf was killed in an Exchange. Overall, the results were just fair with only four units lost, and too many units available to move into the usually vulnerable center.

The Germans ground through the next two days with Bill doing everything possible to thin the US line. Of course, Rob is not your usual cannon-fodder and, as usual, he played flawlessly, giving Bill nothing by mistake. On the German 19AM turn, Bill had a 1/6 chance to take Bastogne, but the roll was unsuccessful. By the end of the turn, the Americans had lost 16 units and the Germans had only lost two mechanized, so Bill still had a slim chance for victory on 19PM: take Bastogne and Stavelot, kill two Yanks and lose no more than one more mech. Rob, however, seeing a chance to assure a win, surrounded, counterattacked and eliminated two more mech units thus crippling Bill's chances before Bill could attempt his 19PM hail mary.

Congratulations to Rob Beyma on gaining his second Bulge 81 Championship - some 19 years after the first. Rob, (aka Colonel Hessler), was one of the original Bulge 81 play-testers and even with a long lay-off, retains his prowess in the Ardennes.

Marty Musella opposes Rob Beyma in the swiss rounds as Rob returns to the grognard games.

Bill Morse is denied his second B81 title but Rob Beyma gets his - exactly 19 years after his first.
 GM      Frank Sinigaglio [4th Year]   NA 
   franksinigaglio@hotmail.com   NA

2011 Preview Page | View the Icon Key | Return to main BPA page