Toh Thornsen and Wayne Morrison	Bill Alpert and Mike Kaye

Tiebreaker Decision ...
Only one new player attended the Tuesday nite demo and went on to play. Nevertheless, we did pick up two more "newbies" later.

Round 1
Defending champion Bryan Eshleman stopped Rich Phares's Germans. Although Bastogne fell on 19-1, Rich was unable to make much additional progress.

Two-time champion Tom Thornsen took on Wayne Morrison, a newcomer in a teaching game. Things started out pretty average for the Germans on the 16th. Vianden, Holzhum and Lutzkampen cleared on 16-2, the US engineer from St. Vith dug in at Burg Reuland, but both that and Diekirch were cleared on 16-2. Neither of the bridges were repaired through 16-2, so On 16-3 the Germans settled for clearing Hoscheid. The US left some tanks in Ettelbruck and at dawn on the 17th the Germans rolled over the bridges and cleared that area along with Marnach and Weiswampach in the center, but both Beho and St. Vith held against 6-step attacks, which blocked the northern flank.

The usual traffic problems a new player encounters then reared its ugly head and forward progress was difficult. The front line at dawn on the 18th was Vielsalm, Houffalize, Noville, Longvilly, Doncols and Martelange. The arrival of the AB units on the 18th allowed the US to build strongpoints that held out the rest of the game. German misfortune in an attack on the 18th allowed the US to place a pair of 3-step armor units in Eschdorf to secure that flank, but the German attacked with ten steps and the US dice went cold! All six US armor steps were eradicated in a single attack. It happens, but not often and is very unnerving when it does! The front line at dawn on the 20th was Vielsalm, Baraque de Fraiture, LaRoche, Bertogne, Bastogne and Martelange. The Germans were down to a handful of 2- step units by that point and only the late arrival of the 2SS Pz on the 20th gave him any firepower. Wayne played on through the 22-1 impulse, but never did take Bastogne.

4th seed Bob Hamel's German's got off to a good start and rolled over John Sharp's defenders. It was a pretty interesting game, looking as though the Germans would breakout to the Meuse at one point. After much back and forth in terms of who had the upper hand, we had to adjudicate the game due to time considerations. The judges opinions wavered for several minutes as to who was really winning, but as more info became available, it became clear that John would not be able to hold a line and Bob emerged victorious.

Jim Kramer managed to stop Dennis Culhane's Germans cold. Everything seems to have gone wrong for Dennis, and when the US was able to build a very solid line in front of Bastogne on the 17th, Dennis resigned.

Charlie Drozd got out of the blocks quickly as the Germans against veteran Nick Smith. Nick held Bastogne to the very end, but lost to a breakout! A very unusual result! Apparently the Wehrmacht offensive went well in the north, but not so much in the south, as Neufchateau never fell. However, Baraque was captured on 18-1 and 2nd SS was released on 18-2. Also, an Ourthe River bridgehead was secured on 18-1. The latter two events led to the fall of Marche on 19-1. Nick's line exploded in the center-north and Charles won with a breakout on the 20th.

The last first round game saw Ladder veteran Mike Kaye defeat co-developer Bill Alderman by breaking out on the 19th. IIRC, Bill was doing very well, but over-committed too early on the 18th and was unable to seal a hole that opened late in the turn. Due to odd numbers on both Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, your GM had to take a bye.

Round 2
Bryan continued to roll on by beating Bob Hamel while playing the Germans. This was one of those games where the Germans were hot and the Amis not. Bastogne fell on 17-3, resulting in an automatic German win.

Ray Freeman's first game was as the German against Charles Drozd. Charlie managed to inflict steady attrition on the German spearheads, which Ray's dice remained just cold enough to frustrate his best efforts. In other words, it was a good game! Charlie made a nice move I'd never seen before, playing the Wiltz engineer in Ettlebruck on 16-3. The German strategy for the 17th was very difficult to determine as the variables felt too complex. Ray's attacks on 18-1 were pretty frustrating, as only Martelange fell. Bastogne, Bertogne, La Roche, Baraque, and Vielsalm all held by a single pip at the end of the morning battles. At this point I felt doomed, (the karma was NOT there) but resolved to play on. 19-1 resulted in a reprieve, as six 1sp Amis all died and the Germans were able to move again. However, German losses had been serious. Bastogne, Baraque, and La Roche fell on 19-1, and 2nd SS panzer came on the map on 19-3. Hopes in Berlin were on the rise! On 20-1 Neufchateau fell, followed by St. Hubert, Bande and Ville on 20-2. Marche fell on 21-1, and Germans established superiority in Ouffet, although again, the single hit was not quite sufficient to clear the area. The odds still favored the US, but a German win was still possible. We called the game on 21-3 after several bridge demo attempts succeeded and German last gasp attacks failed to punch holes. The final US line was Beauraing, Celles, Haid, Mean and Ouffet and the VP stood at 10. Charlie had five units, totaling 9 SP on the map at the end, including the just arrived 29th armored brigade.

Tom Thornsen, playing the Germans, blew right through Jim Kramer's Americans. This was one of 'those games' where very hot German dice doomed the US. Tom eradicated the defenders in almost every area attacked on the 16th. Habsched, Lutzkampen, Marnach, Hoscheid and Vianden were all cleared on 16-1, but no bridges were repaired. Diekirch and Bleialf were cleared on 16-2. The Hoscheid bridge repaired on 16-2. The Germans wiped out the US 3-step armor unit in Berg Reuland and cleared Hoscheid as well. The only US success was the engineer holding St. Vith against the attack of the German 2-step mech unit. Jim considered his options for his half of 16-3 and resigned. He had only three units left on the board and the one reinforcement, not enough to plug all the holes. The Germans were set to roll into Bastogne and breakout into the North.

Rick Young defeated Scott Beall in a teaching game. Scott took the Germans, and a combination of bad dice and being up against a very tough opponent doomed his efforts. Further details were unavailable.

So after two rounds, there had already been two dice-outs! However, each side won one game.

Round 3
Round 3 started off with new player Mike Rinella taking on former two-time champ Mike Mishler, who was concentrating his convention attention on the Russian Campaign. Shockingly, (Mike R IS a good player) Rinella won the game....which demonstrated a certain amount of play balance.

Jim Kramer and Bob Hamel faced off in a battle to remain in contention. Jim took the US with a bid of 0. Bob was unable to make much progress, taking Bastogne finally on 20-1. Having played Bob many times before, I conclude that his dice were unkind to him, as I recall at least one game where he was into LaRoche on the 17th! Neufachateau fell on 21-2, although no other geographical points of significance fell and Jim won easily.

Ray Freeman and Tom Thornsen squared off for maybe the 12th time in the third round. Whereas Bryan got the "easy" pairing (Charlie), the prerogative of the top seed, things are never what they seem to be in this game! The following is a great, detailed report from Tom on the struggle.

US Ammo shortage - US with no bid
Ray was coming off of a hard fought battle as the German against Charles Drozd, so he gave me either side I wanted with no bid. I expected an easy game with a mentally exhausted Ray but the dice favored no one. I have very few notes from this game, but the overall gist of the game was the failure of the US artillery calls and scoring very few hits. (GM: Tom's artillery calls consisted of more 9s and 10s than seemed credible...just amazingly bad, and the few times he got support, they missed a lot!)

I had six units in play at the start of the 17th, just enough to form a front line. Every bridge demo attempt by the US failed through the game. (GM: if you gather that the dice gods have been really hammering Tom...you'd be correct!) The German attack at dawn eliminated all US units but one, and the "Special Forces" were used to restrict movement through Baraque de Fraiture. I sent the 1-step reinforcement on 17-1 and the engineer (entrenched) into Bastogne. On 17-2 the Germans rolled in with nine armor steps and an engineer, but failed to eliminate the defenders! (GM: REALLY ANNOYING! According to Mircea Pauca's superb probability battle engine, this attack should clear Bastogne 89% of the time!) Bastogne would hold out through the 17th once I secured the supply line. The front line at dawn on the 18th was Martelange, Bastogne, Sprimont, La Roche, Grandmenil and Trois Ponts.

On 18-1 the bridge demolitions failed at LaRoche and Trois Ponts. Bastogne and LaRoche were both cleared, and while the US 2-step mech unit at Trois Ponts held on through the 19th, German superiority allowed the entry of the 2SS Panzer on 18-2. The US established a thin line of 1-step units in front of 3-step defenders in Libramont and St. Hubert, which would be able to entrench on 19-1. Two 3-step units were deployed to Marche, and another 3-step AB unit to Hotton. Grandmenil and Trois Ponts continued to hold out for the time being.

At this point the failure of the US to get enough hits on the 16th came home to roost, as the Germans were able to roll over the front line screening units with 6-step attacks, then slam into the entrenched line behind them on 19-2 with 9- and 10-step stacks. Ray commented on how he felt like he was managing a Russian offensive with infinite manpower. Libramont (with 3 SP of entrenched defenders) and Grandmenil were cleared on 19-2 and we both knew that the meager US reinforcements arriving through the rest of the 19th and 20th would not be enough to prevent a breakout or the fall of Marche before time expired, so I resigned.

In the other game, Bryan took the Allies with a bid of 0.5. Charlie was quite successful on his early attacks, and when Bastogne fell on the 17th, it was all over.

Round 4
At this point, Charlie was clearly the leader of the Pack at 3-0. With Bryan, Ray, Tom and Jim sitting at 2-1. Bryan dropped out, so the pairings for Round 4 were Tom vs Charlie and Ray vs Jim, with Bob getting the bye. Jim bid 1.5 to play the US, so I happily obliged him. Things went very well out of the Gate for my Germans and Bastogne, Baraque, Trois Ponts and Neufchateau all fell on 18-1. The Germans secured a bridgehead over the Ourthe on the next impulse. Jim's bid doomed him as I was guaranteed the win by taking Bastogne on the 18th. Otherwise, he could have fought on.

Tom Thornsen vs Charles Drodz ­ Everyone has ammo. Tom was German with no bid. This was a brutal game through the 16th, where both sides scored many hits. The usual opening attack cleared Vianden, Lutzkampen and Habscheid, while both Holzhum and Marnach held out. The 3-step armor moved to block at Berg Reuland. When neither bridge repaired, the Germans attacked Berg Reuland in strength and eliminated the armor, while Panzer Lehr cleared out Bleialf. The Germans sent six steps into Hosheid, and neither side scored a single hit in the 6 v 1 battle. (GM Note: Mixed. I HATE getting the armor killed on 16-2...it portends really bad things for the US, but holding Hoscheid is REALLY nice) On 16-2 both bridges repaired.

The Germans sent six armor steps over the bridge into Marnach, but they were beaten back by the entrenched US unit there that held on. Three armor and two mech steps cleared Holzhum. The front line looked pretty standard at dawn of the 17th, Recht, Beho, Trois Vierges, Marnach, Wiltz, Hosheid and Ettelbruck. German infantry attempted to enter Ettelbruck, but the bridge blew. With Lullange blocked, there was no way for the Germans to threaten Bastogne along the main road, so the "Special Forces" were called upon to seize the bridge into Wiltz. When they were successful, nine steps were sent in to clear out the engineer. The only other attacks made on 17-1 were six steps that cleared out Trois Vierges and six steps that failed to clear Recht. The rest of the units engaged at Marnach and Hosheid did not attack, so they would be available for follow up attacks toward Bastogne. The US set up single step defenders in Longvilly and Doncols to block the way to Bastogne.

On 17-2 the Germans took inventory and found they had no 3 -step armor units remaining and only one 3-step mech unit. There were a few 3-step infantry units in the north, too far away to help at Bastogne. The big mech unit led a 9-step attack on Longvilly, while six steps in the south were able to clear Eschdorf on the left flank. With Lullange and Weiswampach vacant, the German was in position to have his 8 steps that had cleared Berg Reuland on 16-2 move along the highway to Bastogne.

But...the German failure to attack Beho allowed the Americans to move an engineer unit through there and into Weiswampach to block the road! I had to scrounge around to find a single 2-step unit and three 1-step units to attack the single 1-step unit defending Bastogne. At this point the US dice went cold and the Germans were able to clear Bastogne with no losses. An attack on Vielsalm in the north did only one hit on the US 4-step armor there while the belated German attack on Beho with seven steps (the units that were supposed to go to Bastogne) cleared that area. (GM Comment: This was very cool... both sides playing opportunistically with wild dice swings)

The US faced a difficult decision, as there were four units defending Bastogne and only three arriving as reinforcements. They needed all three to have any chance to clear Bastogne (any two of them only gave the US one artillery call), but there were no units left in the south to cover that flank. The US opted to send all three into Bastogne and leave the flank open. Both sides rolled poorly, as the Germans missed with all five shots, while the US with one artillery support unit and eight total shots scored only a single hit. (GM Comment: What happened to all that ammo??!!) At the end of the turn there are US units in Doncols and Weiswampach that are OOS and lost to attrition.

Now the "Hole in the US Line" rule comes into play, as the German is able to trace supply into the areas behind the US front line along the South edge of the playing area. Units on that flank advance as far as Libramont, while the three units in Bastogne advance into St. Hubert, Marnach and LaRoche. Attacking Houffalize puts the US defenders in Bastogne OOS, so eight German steps attack them there, with six or seven of the German steps surviving. Houffalize and Vielsalm are cleared.

The US could probably break through and open supply to Bastogne, but precious time and ground would be lost in the attacks to eliminate the German single step units blocking the roads. Even three attacking steps is not assured of eliminating the defenders, and since the US must actually clear Bastogne at some point to prevent the Germans from getting at least 12 VPs the odds are long. Charles resigned and I had to agree that the situation was an almost certain German win.

There was one last game, as Bob and Charlie were interested in getting in more practice, so they faced off in an impromptu Round 5 with Bob taking the Germans for a zero bid. Bob's Germans were practically unstoppable. Although Bastogne did not fall, Bob took Baraque on 17-3, established an Ourthe river bridgehead and seized Marche on 18-1 (WOW!) and generally shredded the defense. Reports from the front indicated the imminent fall of Antwerp and a negotiated peace with the Western Allies.

Results
For the first time ever, we ended with a three-way tie for first. In addition, the three players at 3-1 had played ring around the rosie with the other two, having beaten one and lost to the other. Don G insisted on a clear winner, but after applying the pre-tourney tie breaks, it was still a three-way tie! Therefore, the GM was forced to go to the internet to research standard tie breaking schemes used in swiss formats. It took two more tries to determine that Charlie was first, Ray second and Tom third. For 2012, I will have four tiebreaking systems in place to make sure I don't have to spend half the night figuring this stuff out again! Jim Kramer was 4th, Bob Hamel 5th and Bryan Eshleman 6th.

Congratulations to Charlie on his fine win. Beating both myself and Bryan in the same event is a real accomplishment. I also want to thank assistant GMs Tom Thornsen and Bryan Eshleman for their able assistance! Finally, a special thanks to Tom for keeping very detailed notes on all of his games, which were reproduced in this report.

Also, thanks to Wayne Morrison, Scott Beall and Mike Rinella for joining in the fun.

Statistics:
German Wins: 10
American Wins: 6
Unknown Winning Side: 1
This is easily the most lop-sided German result in the history of the tournament. Perhaps German play has dramatically improved since last year! There was very little bidding, all for the US. Only four games featured bids, with two at 0.5 and two at 1.5. The Germans won three of these four games. We played with an experimental rule that limited US stacking in most areas to two areas. It turns out to have had virtually no effect on play, so that idea will be reassessed after I poll the WBC and Ladder players for feedback.