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Wayne Saunders and Michael Trobaugh
battle it out on the steppes. Michael led the field with 13 games
played. |
Greg Smith and Tom Gregorio meet in
a lean year for the GM who had to watch the playoffs for a change.
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Charles Catania in his 12th TRC
game vs Mike Mishler |
Ten titles reside with the Schoose-Dickson
finalists and their GM. |
The Tools of Success ...
It's been 23 years that TRC has been run at WBC and
this GM has had the privilege of participating in all but one.
Having been the GM for the last 14, I've seen champions arrive
with gaming fervor and fury while others have moved on to greener
pastures where meeples and plastic figurines roam. Through it
all, however, the attributes a TRC champion must possess
to win in TRC have stayed constant: Endurance, Cleverness,
and Style.
Statistics
Before I delve too far into how this year's winners exemplified
these traits on the cardboard battlefield, it's worth highlighting
some statistics from this year's event. There was a decline in
both players and games played with the figures being 26 and 65
respectively. Some of the regular stalwarts did not show and,
in this GM's opinion, the gaming cornucopia that is WBC provides
sufficient distraction for those seeking other forms of hexagonal
glory. The inevitable aging of the grognards, in my opinion,
requires that efforts must be redoubled to draw in both new players
as well as former players who have moved on to lighter fare.
The scenario itself is fairly well known with this being the
seventh year that the 5-turn scenario was used. This scenario
allows players to get a match completed in a reasonable four
hours or less, while giving both the opportunity to attack and
defend. Balance seems adequate with the Germans winning 50.8%
of the matches this year.
The bidding has continued to drift ever higher with bids now
between 14 and 15 replacement factors being accorded the Russians
over the five turns of the scenario. By the medal rounds, however,
the bids are even higher, the average this year was 23. It appears
there's a strong desire to play the Germans in the final rounds
with them winning two of the three single elimination phase matches.
The weather for the 5-turn scenario features a 50-50 chance
of being Light Mud / Light Mud or Clear / Snow in Sep/Oct and
Nov/Dec 1941. That being said, however, this year the Clear /
Snow weather combination only occurred 25 out of 65 times which
was significantly below what would normally be expected. Most
Germans seem to feel that it's 'easier' to win when Light Mud
is rolled and I personally agree. Unfortunately, for many Germans,
most Russians know that two light mud weather turns can result
in the Red Army being demolished and thus bias their July/August
defenses towards a light mud Sep/Oct weather outcome. (Example:
The Red army tries to defend five hexes away from the Germans
so that they are out of reach on the first impulse of Turn 3.
Even better, particularly in the North, don't defend at all and
count on the rains to keep the Germans away from targets like
Leningrad, Kalinin, and Bryansk!)
One unexpected trend observed was a sharp decline in the number
of games decided by the capture of Moscow in 1941. Only one of
the game records indicated that this happened which I found quite
surprising given the proclivity some folks have for pursuing
the quick knockout. (In the 5-turn scenario, the Germans win
immediately if they control Moscow during 1941.) My belief is
that this decrease was driven by more people using Baltic and
Western Military District setups that inhibited the all-out blitzkrieg
pushes on the Russian capital.
Three key attributes got us through nine 15-hour days of TRC
goodness in Lancaster this summer:
Endurance: No fewer than six players got ten or more
games of TRC in during the course of the week. Michael
Trobaugh was the TRC Iron Man with 13 matches and Charlie
Catania was close behind with an even dozen. Looking at the top
six finishers, at the end of the Grognard phase of the event,
eight matches, including six wins, was generally sufficient to
garner a spot in the single elimination portion of the tournament.
There was one individual match that went six hours, with players
'working' the board the whole time, but most other matches finished
in under five hours with more than a few ending in the 2-3 hour
range.
Cleverness: Turn 5 is replete with tales of 'end-of-the-world'
heroics. Experienced players know to NEVER give in if opportunities
for low-odds attacks capturing victory points exist. Assemble
enough of these, however and the underdog in the individual battles
is statistically the favored player! Gone are the days of Paratroops
or sea invasions capturing unwary German controlled cities on
the last turn; savvy Russians are setting up combinations involving
"Attacker Retreat" outcomes on both first and second
impulses to get far into the Nazi rear areas. In return, Germans
are throwing caution, and casualties, to the wind and relentlessly
attacking in the snows of both Nov/Dec 1941 and Jan/Feb 1942!
It matters not if much of the German army is dead on the last
turn if the Russians can't reach the cities they need to recapture.
Knowing how to smother, leaving a big stack next to a heavily
defended objective at the end of your second impulse, as always,
is a bedrock tactic for experienced players. Demonstrating their
understanding of the scenario construction, many Germans are
going all-out in Nov/Dec, even with low-odds attacks, because
that buffer of an extra VP or two is often critical. But caution
is just as important - putting TWO defenders in a Black Sea port
can be crucial so as to ensure that even a 1-2 is not feasible.
Style: Being able to adapt to the vagaries of the dice
is a fundamental skill at higher levels of play. In a nutshell,
if you're playing someone of equivalent skill, and are losing,
then you MUST take more chances. Counting on an experienced opponent
to make a serious mistake is a mistake in and of itself - the
5-turn scenario is just not long enough for one to build a winning
position by accumulating a series of incremental advantages.
If, as the Russians, you feel you are losing going into Turn
2, then perhaps it's time to switch from positional play to a
strong counterattacking style. More than one game ended early
this year because the Russians launched a series of attacks on
Turn 1 or 2 that resulted in a significant number of Panzer or
HQ losses. Conversely, if you're ahead, you want to minimize
opportunities for your opponent to capitalize on luck. That means
that you don't expose Leningrad or Moscow to 1-2 attacks, you
defend against possible moves that will hamper your mobility
next turn, and, most importantly, you set up so that, should
you lose a critical battle, you'll have the men and material
to mount your own counterattacks.
Single
Elimination:
Semifinal 1
In the Schoose-Beyma semifinal, Bert was well aware of Richard's
tendencies to take long-shots. Bert matched that style early
and launched numerous Russian counterattacks. He was rewarded
with the recapture of Odessa as well as securing some key positions
that would severely cramp the mobility of the Wehrmacht on subsequent
turns. Richard then got clever and set up a Turn 3, clear weather,
bounce-off assault opportunity aimed at Moscow and STAVKA. Unfortunately,
the German 4-1 that would clear the way to Moscow resulted in
a "Contact" result which effectively shut down the
assault in that direction. Leningrad fell to a German 1-1 but
Bert's Red Army responded by holding Odessa against two German
1-1 assaults. Richard then smothered Kharkov and nestled up next
to Bryansk. The Germans still had a chance of winning but the
Red Army would persevere, however, by countering the German forces
at Kharkov and leveraging a little luck of their own to wipe
out several German panzers next to Kharkov as well as blow out
the German forces next to Bryansk. With the reinforcement of
Odessa now yielding a defensive strength to 22 going into a snow
turn, Richard's Germans threw in the towel. A lot of action for
three quick turns!
Semifinal 2
Defending champ Gary Dickson had the honor of leading the Germans
against Alan Zasada. The Germans made good progress, capturing
Kiev on Turn 2 and taking Leningrad, Stalino and Kharkov on low-odds
attacks on Turn 3. Alan surged back, however, and drove the Axis
out of Kharkov and back to the outskirts of Smolensk. An ill-advised
German counterattack at 4-1 vs a defender in woods, resulting
in a first impulse contact, compromised Gary's position, and
left Alan with a chance to win if he captured Smolensk. The initial
Soviet 1-1 failed which denied the possibility to win on a second
impulse 2-1; Gary escaped for the win with exactly the VPs needed
to advance.
Final
The stage was now set for the TRC clash of former champions.
Gary had been paying attention and his Russian defense was a
version of a defense that Bert had used earlier. Bert got off
to a bad start with many Russian defenders able to retreat during
the opening assault. Unfortunately, for Gary, his 3-1's failed
to free all his pocketed defenders so he went from having plenty
of defenders in the south to being very shorthanded. The dead
Russians were so numerous that a forearm was used to sweep them
away! Bert quickly shifted to a very attritional strategy in
the south while his relatively weaker forces were able to maintain
drives on Leningrad and Smolensk.
WIth the arrival of Clear weather on Turn 3, the Germans had
the air power to support a sea invasion that resulted in the
capture of Rostov. German forces also got into the woods outside
of Moscow - this kind of move is often instrumental to bogging
the Russians down in the center. Bert also managed to secure
Dnepropetrovsk and Leningrad while weakly smothering Stalino
and Sevastopol. (Sevastopol saw a rare Dickson gaffe - he overlooked
the opportunity to bring in a defender to mount a low-odds counterattack
that would have had a chance to save the city.) The Russians
securely held Kharkov but their lone defender in Bryansk was
swept away on Turn 4 because the Russians couldn't get anything
else into the city. On Turn 4 the Russians smothered Rostov and
secured it, and Stalino on Turn 5. Russian cleverness also saw
Minsk fall but, with the final score at -1, the Germans secured
their win and the Russians didn't even play out their half of
turn 5 to completion. Bert now joins the ranks of the TRC three-time
Champions!
Closing Thoughts
TRC continues to be an exciting ride with many thinking of further
tournament scenario adjustments - stay tuned! For many, this
event is a mainstay at WBC and hopefully it will continue to
bring in both wily veterans and inquisitive newcomers. Regardless
of what the future holds for this classic game, those who can
endure numerous games, master the many tactical nuances of play,
and learn and adapt to new strategies and situations will continue
to find success on the hexed terrain of Mother Russia.
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