the napoleonic wars five-player   

Updated Nov. 12, 2014

2014 WBC Report  

 2015 Status: pending 2015 GM commitment

Bruce Young, SC

2014 Champion

 

Event History
2003    Forrest Speck    67
2004    David Gantt    64
2005     Ed Rothenheber    50
2006    Melvin Casselberry    55
2007    Scott Fenn    52
2008    Lane Hess    46
2009     Henry Russell    45
2010    Mike Casselberry    45
2011    Bruce Young    54
2012     John Emery    48
2013    Francis Czawlytko    50
2014    Bruce Young    42

Waterloo Event History
2003    BruceYoung    24
2004    Scott Moll    14
2005    Mark Hodgkinson     24
2006    Kevin Sudy    32
2007    Kevin Sudy    28
2008    John Emery    24

PBeM Event History
2014    Rob Mull    34

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Bruce Young        SC    14    256
  2.  John Emery         SC    13    198
  3.  Lane Hess          PA    13    157
  4.  Ed Rothenheber     MD    12    111
  5.  Francis Czawlytko  MD    13    104
  6.  Henry Russell      PA    10    102
  7.  Melvin Casselberry PA    11     99
  8.  Scott Moll         VA    05     80
  9.  Mike Casselberry   PA    10     60
 10.  David Gantt        SC    04     60
 11.  Forrest Speck      MD    03     60
 12.  Scott Fenn         MD    14     55
 13.  Rob Mull           CO    14     50
 14.  Mark Hodgkinson    au    05     50
 15.  Scott Pfeiffer     SC    08     48
 16.  Lance Roberts      AK    14     42
 17.  Bryan Collars      SC    04     38
 18.  Tom Eskey          MD    11     36
 19.  John Haas          PA    03     36
 20.  Pat Duffy          VA    08     32
 21.  Gareth Williams    ma    14     30
 22.  Frank Morehouse    PA    13     30
 23.  Brian Sutton       MD    12     30
 24.  Jim Savarick       PA    11     30
 25.  Kevin Sudy         VA    12     25
 26.  Harry Theodore     NY    09     24
 27.  Jesse Boomer       KS    09     24
 28.  Jason White        VA    04     24
 29.  Mark McCandless    CT    03     24
 30.  Kevin Emery        SC    14     21
 31.  Bill Burtless      SC    14     20
 32.  Al Hurda           on    14     20
 33.  Rich Shipley       MD    14     20
 34.  Nick Frydas        uk    11     18
 35.  Daniel Broh-Kahn   MD    10     18
 36.  Joe Burch          MD    06     18
 37.  Josh Githens       SC    04     18
 38.  Charley Hickok     PA    04     17
 39.  Richard Beyma      MD    08     16
 40.  Keith Wixson       NJ    04     16
 41.  Michael Day        AZ    14     15
 42.  Chris Greenfield   NY    13     15
 43.  Brian Sutton       MD    07     15
 44.  James Eaton        LA    03     15
 45.  William Burch      MD    04     14
 46.  Steve Jansen       MD    05     12
 47.  George Young       UT    03     12
 48.  Rachael Day        AZ    14     10
 49.  Alan Sudy          VA    07     10
 50.  Fred Schachter     NY    05     10
 51.  Robert Vollman     ab    06      6
 52.  Edward Kendrick    uk    03      6
 53.  Michael Dauer      TX    14      5
 54.  Daniel Blumentritt TX    13      5

2014 Laurelists
Repeating Laurelists: 0

Gareth Williams, ma
2nd

Bill Burtless, SC
3rd

Kevin Emery, SC
4th

Al Hurda, on
5th

Michael Dauer, TX
6th

Past Winners

Forrest Speck, MD
2003

David Gantt, SC
2004

Ed Rothenheber, MD
2005

Melvin Casselberry, PA
2006

Scott Fenn, MD
2007

Lane Hess, PA
2008

Henry Russell, PA
2009

Mike Casselberry, PA
2010

Bruce Young, SC
2011

John Emery, SC
2012

Phil Rodriguez and Al Hurda keep tabs on the Diplomatic Table.

Brian Sutton and Matt Russell march across Europe.

Rejean Tremblay, Henry Russell and sportswoman Emily Wu Allbutt

Brittania rules the waves ...

In all but a few respects I was very happy with this year's event. Most especially I was happy that the somewhat stale meta-game we saw a lot of last year where Prussia pacts the Turks then joins the coalition to grind up France was thoroughly disrupted as some Prussians decided to break the mould, and some French exploited just how vulnerable Prussia is if she spends everything on diplomacy.

The Duchess of Richmond's Ball on Monday night was mostly dominated by France. At least in part this was because the split between people who want to finish within five hours and those that don't care led to several 4-player games. However I think the advantages of accommodating that are worth it, though I will review the results from the 4-player games with a view to tweaking balance or scoring next year.

Kevin Emery capitulated Austria in Turn 1 and picked up Gibralter and Lisbon in Turn 2 to get the peace roll with +8

Joe Appel destroyed the British fleet to set up an invasion of England, but Soult was repulsed by Beresford. Nevertheless, he finished +9

Llew Bardecki and Lane Hess delivered further victories for France at +11 and +12

It did not go all France's way though, Brian Sutton's Prussia narrowly escaped with a win over France on Track order with +3 at the end of Tun 2 and Phil Rodrigues found himself pinned back to -9 in a game that saw Britain, Austria and Russia all finish Turn 4 on +7, with Jordan Kehrer enjoying the tiebreaker.

The best result of the night was posted by Melvin Casselberry who had the good fortune to acquire all of the pact cards at the start of Turn 2 in a 4-player game. Things went poorly for the Allies with the rest of the world fighting them and he finished Turn 3 at +13.

Wednesday night's Austerlitz heat however firmly belonged to the coalition, especially Britain. Geoff Allbutt managed the only French win of the night with +5 at the end of Turn 3. Frank Morehouse managed a very impressive +8 with Austria to pip Micheal Dauer's Britain for the win over John Emery's France. Greenville honour was saved when Bruce Young opened the scoring for Britain with +3. Patrick Duffy delivered the second capitulating Spain in Turn 2 and getting the peace roll thanks to Europe Exhausted.

The last game of the night didn't finish till 0415, mostly because everybody involved wanted an epic game. And boy did we get one, pretty much everything that could have happened did and events that would have been the most remarkable thing in any other game came thick and fast.

Thursday afternoon's Collingwood heat saw a well attended demo and a full 5-player coached game tended by Melvin Casselberry and won by Gary Andrew's Britain. Apart from that there was only one 5-player game where Gareth Williams opened aggressively with France and secured the win at the end of Turn 2 with him and defending champion Francis Czawlytko's Prussia invading Russia.

The 4-player games saw Henry Russell deliver a Turn 3 win for France with +6 and Bill Burtless best Jesse Boomer's Britain with Russia at +3 on Turn 3. The other game saw Phil Rodrigues pick up several pacts but be faced Al Hurda's Russia securing three of his associates. The two then struck a deal to see Russia join the Imperial Camp but keep it's conquests and finish Turn 3 with +9.

As was the case last year, there four 5-player semifinals. Unlike last year, when every game saw France selected with the third pick, that only happened once this year. Al Hurda piloted that third choice France to a Turn 4 +9 victory against a somewhat dysfunctional coalition. Bruce Young used his first pick to take France and secure a Turn 3 +8 win. Bill Burtless and Micheal Dauer steered their 4th pick Prussia to +3 in both games for runner-up status.

Geoff Allbutt did not enjoy similar luck with his top pick France; despite being down to two fleets Patrick Duffy launched an invasion of France and took Paris. Mud caused France to burn three cards trying to get him out again, finally managing by one hit and surviving turn end attrition to avoid potential conquest. Kevin Emery pipped Rejan Tremblay's Austria on the tiebreak at +3 to get the win.

The GM was extremely grateful to find four other semi-finalists who agreed to postpone their match to Saturday morning as he was in the last rounds of Memoir 44 at the time. This game finished quickly with Austria capitulated and Europe Exhausted at the end of the first turn and Prussia about to get the "join me or die" speech. I must remember to find a way to postpone my semifinal next year also. It seemed to work very well.

And so onto the Final, a game such as the final of TNW in 2014 deserves to be sung by a great skald to a mead hall of warriors as an epic worthy of the ages. Sadly however you only have me, and I am no Snorri Sturluson, I am not even a Homer, though on a good day I may qualify as a Barney.

So, our five intrepid semifinalists were:

~ Al Hurda who had got into the semis with a third pick and was able to choose France (which I am pretty certain is the only time France has NOT been 1st or 2nd choice). He was able to take advantage of a coalition that could at best be described as dysfunctional to rack up a score of +9 by Turn 4

~ Bruce Young - the top of the laurels table, Bruce took his first choice of sides in the semis as France to post a score of +8 by Turn 3

~ Gareth Williams who does not consider himself enough of a threat at either Memoir 44 or TNW to worry about the later rounds clashing, but was able to arrange for his Nappy semi to be played Saturday morning. Taking first pick as France he was able to close out the game in an hour through drawing Europe Exhausted and Capitulation to pick up the win at +6

~ Kevin Emery - rewarded in the gene pool and with many a shellacking by the Greenville formidable 1-2 punch at the top of the rankings, Kevin was third pick as Russia in his semifinal and took the win by Movement Track Order tiebreaker at +3 on Turn 3 in a game that saw Geoff Allbutt's Britain reduced to two squadrons.

~ Bill Burtless was new to the laurels list no more but schooled in Greenville in Napoleonic tactics and strategy. His semifinal fourth pick as Prussia qualifed as the best runner-up in the game Al won.

So, only one prior champion in an event no one has ever won more than once, three newcomers to Round 3 action and a GM making hissecond Final appearance.

Al chose to take France, Bruce opted for Britain, Gareth took Russia and Kevin Prussia, leaving Bill with the ever popular Austrians.

Al opened with an aggressive stab on Vienna with Davout not even using the Cavalry from the Ardennes. This looked like a setup for Capitulation, however after consultation Bill decided to play the percentages "It's a wargame" and rather than march Charles to the relief of Vienna attacked Milan.

The Russian forces were hit with Mud when consolidating, and as we could move no further than Lublin chose to build with our last 2 CP

Al of course did have Capitulation and took Austria out, picking up Venice and Prague and moving east and flagging Zhitomir.

Kevin's Prussia meanwhile had made the standard play and picked up Turkey.

The coalition resolved to play for the long game

After we all discarded to ensure Al could not even get a sniff of a peace roll, some serious discussion then ensued in the interphase.

Austria rejected French offers to join the Imperial camp, Prussia decided also to stay out of it.

Russia formally considered joining the Imperial camp but rejected the proposal, deciding to taunt the French into an invasion.

"If I am to rely on numbers, the Greenville Mafia's dice box does not contain enough. If however I am to rely on valour, this number is quite sufficient"


Scores end Turn 1: France 5, Britain 2, Austria -2, Russia 1, Prussia 2

Al deployed Napoleon and Spanish underlings into Austrian Poland, a deployment the Russians were unable to contest being unable to enter the subject neutral.

Al then prempted Austria with an in turn declaration of war on Prussia. We enthusiastically welcomed Kevin to the coalition.

I then remarked that if anyone was wondering this was what it felt like to be British on December 8th, 1941.

"See, I warned you this guy was trouble, but you didn't listen"

Al proceeded to drive to Berlin via Breslau, flag Leipzig, preempt Russia and pick up Hannover then play Capitulation again to take Prussia out.

Russia at this point has never had the chance to move troops out of Russia, has never fought a battle and has not been able to do anything except build.

We have to look up the rules for marshes because no one can remember and I defend my decision to build in Pinsk calling it "The Tyrol of the Pripyat"

The French make no hostile move to the Russians retaking Zhitomir so that their Home Card is at least an option, though I hold it back as I will need 6 ops later a lot more than two cards now if he choses to come at me later in the turn.

The French even make no move against the Russians moving into ceded Warsaw, though Russia will not press further with strong forces in Austria.

Meanwhile there is a joint British/Swedish descent on Antwerp


Scores end Turn 2: Al is at the 21 key mark to put France up 7, Britain 0, Austria -2, Russia 2, Prussia -4

Bill takes the opportunity to rejoin the coalition at the start of Turn 3, Al having moved forces into Poland causes the loss of Lublin and Krakow

However, Al deploys out of Poland through Prussia and preps to hit Vienna again. In a 28 v 28 battle he forces his way in where Reverse Slopes trump Refused Flank for 30 v 27, and then uses Spithead to pick up Horse Artillery from Britian. Bagration marches from Zhitomir to Budapest to take command of the relief force and then force marches in command of a massive Army Group into Vienna. In the the resulting 34 v 31 battle Al forgets to play Horse Artillery and is forced out. Kevin then plays Panic as Prussia to get the attrition kills needed for the rout and Bagration picks up a resource

Al has Capitulation for the third time but is unable to play it

Bruce meanwhile evacuates Antwerp leaving a Swedish CU there as rearguard and launches a hit and run on Spain. The coalition slowly begin to force the French back, with a Turkish Army Group operating in Italy and Nationalist uprisings returning Leipzig and Breslau to Prussia

We also perusade Bill to play Down with the Prince in Hannover, because that will be more expensive for the French to clean up

Scores end Turn 3: At the end of the turn Al is still winning, but the gap has narrowed: France 4, Britain 3, Austria 0, Russia 3, Prussia -1

For Turn 4 Prussia rejoins the coalition and Russia returns Warsaw. We proceed to slowly push Al back, The Turks overun Italy but are then sent home by a broken pact from France

Bruce overuns all but one key in Spain and comes over the mountains into Southern France

Bagration and Scwarzenberg are sitting in Champagne, but are outnumbered by the forces in Paris and Picardy. I elect not to burn a resource for a hail mary on Paris, but instead hope Bruce does conquer Spain and rolls low on the ceded duchies so I can win on the tiebreak.

Bruce's last impulse is a Parliament + Europe Exhausted combo that sees him eat attrition from Bourdeaux to Rome and take it, but be repulsed from Naples

His other army marches North and takes Brest

Final scores: France -5, Kevin never retakes Hannover and Prussia finishes -1, Austria +2, Russia has 2 resources and 2 French keys for +4, Bruce does not conquer Spain but has done well enough otherwise that it does not matter eitherway for +7 and becomes the first to win NW5 a second time.

I'd like to thank all players, especially those that provided their sets and a special thank you to Melvin for coaching. In particular I would like to thank Henry and Phil for helping as AGMs

Final winners from 5-player games: France 7, Britain 4, Austria 1, Russia 2, Prussia 1

And finally, the AAR of the Tuesday night game that may well be one of the most epic game of NW5 ever played (by somebody who took notes for a subsequent AAR)

The 5 players: Henry Russell - France, Francis Czawlytko - Britain, Llew Bardecki - Austria, Nick Benedict - Russia, Gareth Williams - Prussia

Everybody signed up to play after midnight, though we did not know what would happen, everybody knew the game inside out and just about every reversal of fortune and dirty trick that could have happened, happened.

Turn 1 began fairly conventionally with a French push into Austria, Britain taking the Swedes and the Prussians the Turks. France, Britain and Prussia all finished with +2, Russia +1, Austria 0

The coalition were being far too friendly, so Prussia decided to put the strength of that relationship to the test and offered Tilsit as the event. France and Russia accepted and the Russians went on holiday in Finland. We asked the Austrians how they felt about this development:
"Does that make you upset?"
"No"
"Angry?"
"No"
"Aroused?"
5 minutes later: "Dear Strategy and Tactics, I never thought this would happen to me. I thought the letters in your magazine were made up"

Henry seized his chance and made a bid for Vienna while the Russians were elsewhere. Britain threw in Rally to rout him and Prussia played Tipping the Scales and obtained a 6. The only valid target was Spain, so Spain went neutral along with the British expeditionary force there. Prussia had made it very clear that joining the coalition was not a sure thing, so the coalition used Duke de Enghien to keep her out of the French camp next turn

Turn 2 ended thus: Russia & France 3, Prussia 2, Britain 0, Austria -1

Turn 3 opened with War without End. France drew Napoleon Abdicates and promptly played it as an event allowing a full turn without any attacks and with her in full control of her own territory. Prussia took the opportunity to get Denmark and everybody moved around and built for the coming mayhem.

Turn 3 ended with Prussia & Russia 3, Austria & Britain 1, France 0

Turn 4 saw Prussia join the Imperial Camp. France, Prussia, Turks and Danes lining up against Britain, Austria, Russia and Sweden. Wellington tried an amphibious invasion of Oldenburg but was intercepted and repulsed. The Danish fleet responded with Admiral Fischer and cut off his route back though the North Sea killing him. Just about everybody headed towards Vienna and a bloody series of battles ensued where everybody fought everybody. Meanwhile the Swedes overran Western Prussia until the second Stormaktstiden runs out of control markers prompting a stiffly worded letter to GMT. Russians and Prussians exchange insults, Warsaw & Konigbserg. Up against the wall Austria burns her Resource to get British Subsidies and the last Vienna battle comes down to Hill +1 v Davout

Turn 4 tallies are: Britain 4. Russia 2, Prussia & Austria 0, France -1

Prussia decides to switch back for the last turn. Nappy is killed off outside Vienna and the coalition make inroads into France. Nappy came back via Up From the Ranks and heads for Vienna for the third time, getting there on the final play of the game in "The Best -4 ever played". Well, maybe one of them anyway.

Final Scores: Britain 8, Russia 4, Prussia 2, Austria -1, France -4

Bill Burtless has called in his shock troops.

No wonder the Austrians are gray.

GM Williams and his heavily Mafia-dominated co-finalists.

One of the GM's unique prizes from the Waterloo battlefield.

 Play By Email 2014

A rather ambitious hybrid format consisting of three 3-player games with each player playing a different side once followed by the top six engaging in 2-player elimination rounds has ended with Rob Mull triumphant over Lance Roberts with a French +10 VP win following a Turn 3 Peace die roll. The field of 34 also provided laurels for Rich Shipley, Michael Day, Rachael Day and Scott Fenn respectively finishing third through sixth.

 GM     Gareth Williams  [3rd Year]  NA
   wilphe@gmail.com   00212661623199 

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