It's All About The Players!

GMs Rick Northey and Alan Arvold added their creation of new situations of Arab Israeli Wars this year. Fifteen situations: 5 Panzerblitz (PB), 5 Panzer Leader (PL), 5 Arab-Israeli War (AIW) were placed in front of the game kiosk for players to choose from for play in the Semifinal and Final. The Swiss Rounds saw play of several of the new AIW situations, as well as some from PL and PB. A few of the situations that used to be featured, created by former GM Bill Scott, were played in his memory. Bill, who passed away this year, was the GM in the 1990s and 2000s, contributed a lot of his work to the WBC tournament.

Players needed to adjust to the new AIW rules, which featured shoot and scoot for some turreted AFVs, increased infantry antitank capability, and infantry defense against armored overruns which were happening all over the open desert terrain.

In one game between Rick Northey and Bruce Cota, Rick was able to close with his Syrian mobile troops and get the dice roll he needed to open a breakthrough in the Israeli line to exit units off the board.

In another game, with Rick again playing the Arab side, as Egyptians, Chuck Leonard moved his high quality, yet few, Israeli tanks forward to challenge. Rick moved in hordes of t-55s with the aim of overrunning the Israelis. However, as with the fog of war always present, the dice did not go with that attack, and the plentiful, yet outdated Egyptian Russian made tanks were picked off one by one, with accurate Israeli fire of the US made M60 main guns. Only succeeding in disrupting some of the Israelis, Rick was not able to press on with the attack, as Chuck made his morale checks, firing again and again in a fighting withdrawal.

Bill Scott’s situation “Burning Tanks” was played by Art Dohrman and Chuck Leonard. Chuck’s Russians surrounded the central town and eliminated the Germans there, while taking some losses along the way. Playing deftly, Art retreated his Germans to the best defensive positions. As is common in this well designed situation, the Russians always are pressed to the maximum for time, to eliminate the rest of the Germans. This did not come to pass with this game.

Alan R Arvold, assistant GM, loves the old game, PanzerBlitz. He chose one of his, “A Little Fight in the Woods 1944” to play as Russians against GM Rick Northey. This situation involves some tactical planning around a central hill, which requires the Germans to give ground in exchange for eliminating Russian units. Rick got off to a strong start by setting up, moving and close assaulting two of Alan’s loaded convoys on the left and right flanks. After two turns, those Russians had been neutralized. However, greed has a way of getting the better of some egos, and this was true when Rick tried to hold the central hill with too many units. In addition, Rick also tried to send a force to get behind Alan’s front lines. Both these tactics proved to be a bid too high, when Alan systematically shifted his forces to block the incursion and march up the hill. Overwhelmed by the mass of Russian Infantry, the Germans lost too many units fighting for the hill! The week went well with games played every day, and players adding points looking toward the Semifinal.

The final four, with GM Rick Northey and assistant GM Alan Arvold electing not to play, were Jed Bodenheimer, John Sharp, Art Dohrman and Curtiss Fyock in seed order. Four dioramas were put on display, later to be awarded to 1st through 4th places.

Jed and former champion Curtiss asked GM Rick to choose a situation for them to play. Rick chose situation RPN3A – A final battle from El Alamein 1942, one of his own. This situation has the British armored forces assaulting three hills held by Italian and German forces in the desert. The objective is to destroy Axis units and exit units off the opposite board edge. Curtiss set up his forces on the hilltops, with his armor waiting offboard as reinforcements. Jed then decided to attack up the left side, avoiding hill “33” on which several Italian batteries were emplaced. With his Humbar armored cars in the lead, the British column came under fire from numerous Axis guns on the hills. Curtiss then moved his armor on the reverse slopes in hull down positions. Jed led off his turn 2 with a smoke screen to blind the enemy guns. British armor and armored infantry moved up to engage. Several British tank platoons were destroyed by brutal Axis fire. Trying to use the terrain and the smoke screens, Jed pressed his column forward. Opposing forces mixed, battling for control of hilltop “Snipe” in a melee of fire, overruns and close assaults. Two turns later, turn 4 of 6 complete, it looked like either side could win. Curtiss moved his remaining German tank platoons to block Jed from moving more units off board. At this point, hill Snipe was cleared, and hill Woodcock was down to one unit, after being hit with off board heavy artillery. Jed had 18 units off and needed 7 more to offset the 6 Axis units still on hill 33. At the end of turn 5 it looked like Jed had the game and would exit 25 units exactly to win by one point. Curtiss, seeing that he had no resources left to stop a British victory, resigned the game. Jed, in his first appearance in the Semifinal, won his game! After only four years playing in the WBC tournament, he is about to play his first Final game. A great achievement!

Art and defending champion John decided on AAWBCPL2. The Breakthrough at Caen 1944, is a battle for a central town, with some options for flanking maneuvers. The central town is divided by a small river. John setup his German forces with infantry defending the central town and artillery support further back concealed in woods and small villages. Art decided to attack across two of the bridges, marching rifles and engineer platoons across, with tanks providing fire support. Four German platoons; one StuG, two rifle, and one engineer, fell to one British rifle in the initial exchange. John rolled three 6s, missing shots, while Art rolled a 1 to assault and destroy a stack of Germans. Fighting back, John’s counterattack succeeded in eliminating two more British platoons. A series of tank and anti-tank volleys followed. The bridges became littered with carnage and burning vehicles by the end of turn 3, halfway through the game. Art lead by 3 (8-5). No move was made by either side to flank the town as both sides held fast observing each other. By turn 5, John had tied up the score as three more British platoons were dispersed and destroyed on the bridges. Spotted targets took indirect fire, with the British Sexton SPA battery dropping barrages and destroying a German Maultier mobile rocket battery, and also an 88 battery. As the forces in the central town continued locked in combat, it was neck and neck to the end. By the completion of turn 6, game end, Art won with 12 points to John’s 11. Art, the second place finisher in 2017, 2019 and 2023, advanced to the Final, and another try for his first Championship in the PanzerBlitz tournament.

Curtiss and John decided to play a consolation game for third place at the same time as the Final. PanzerBlitz situation RPN24, Case Blue 1942, a GM Rick creation, was selected for play. The open steppes of the eastern front were the terrain for the second German offensive. In this situation, a German mobile combined arms force has the objective of breaking a mostly static Russian line and advancing off board. Curtiss, playing the Russian side, set up his forces in clusters, concealed in villages, and in woods copses. John decided to attack up the right flank, aiming at the village in the center to start. Cautious was the advance, as a large section of the German infantry had to ride in unarmored trucks. John sent his armor to take the central hill. Fighting broke out on the hill, and an initial force of Panzergrenadiers assaulted the village. Curtiss committed what few mobile units he had, including a company of KV-1 heavy tanks, to defending the central village. This conflict drew more and more troops into the melee. Instead of bypassing the central village, John’s German forces tried to clear the way by destroying the defending Russians. After several turns, Curtiss’s Russians prevailed, awarding him third place.

GM Rick was once again asked to select a battle situation to play for the Championship. The Initial Bulge Thrust, AAWBCPL3r1, looked like a good one for this year. This situation is depicting the first contact in that final big German offensive on the western front. US forces, primarily airborne infantry, are trying to slow the advancing German armored spearhead. Jed set up his US force forward with a battalion of airborne in the woods. Rumbling up the road came the German armored column. Art immediately engaged Jed’s defenders, wasting no time in this fast paced 6 turn game. Jed decided to try to hold his position in the woods, possibly thinking that a fighting withdrawal would be a good tactic. As is usual in this situation, German forces flanked to their left, where there is more open ground, and pushed forward. Meanwhile, Jed’s engineers built blockades in the woods, stopping the Germans there. Art, realizing his Germans were not going to get across the board, concentrated his fire on select US weak points. The dice went in Art’s favor, as combined fire and close assaults succeeded, with several US forward ordinance units eliminated. Jed counterattacked by close assaulting with infantry and engineers, destroying two tank platoons. However, this was not enough to silence the German guns that continued to reduce the US forces. At game end, Art accumulated 11 points to Jed’s 6 points. On his fourth try, Art won his first championship.