pacific victory [Updated August 2001]

ALD   Trial Beginners Swiss Elim Continuous 
   
  Demo 18   19 
  Round 2 9  Round 3 14:30  Round 4 19     Round 5  9 Final 

  Valley

Tom Cannon, NJ

2001 Champion

2nd: Scott Marcotte, NY

3rd: Peter Muenker, NJ

4th: Tom Pavy, OH

5th: John Wetherell, PA

6th: Chris Farrell, CA
Event History
1991    None      -
1992    None      -
1993    None      -
1994    None      -
1995    None      -
1996    None      -
1997    None      -
1998    None      -
1999    None     -
2000    None     -
2001    Tom Cannon    19

AREA Ratings:

GM: Barry Smith

blocks in the pacific

Pacific Victory aka "Blocks in the Pacific," made its debut at the WBC with a strong show of player support. The 1943-45 scenario was played using version 1.2 of the rules, which were released just the previous week. Sides were determined by a secret bid of the number of supplied production points (PPs) needed for a Japanese win at game end, with the high bidder commanding the IJN. Bids ranged from a low of four to a high of ten PPs. The overall average bid was 7.9 with winning bids averaging 7.7 and losing bids 8.1 PPs.

In the first round the average bid was 8.4 and the Allies won five of nine. By the second round, the average bid dropped to 7.5 and the Japanese won three of four. The top four players then advanced to the semis. In one semifinal match, Tom Cannon's
Allies reduced Peter Muenker's Japanese PPs below Peter's seven PP bid for the win. Meanwhile, Scott Marcotte's Japanese held on to nine PPs and won vs Tom Pavy's Allies. This set up the finale of Tom Cannon vs Scott Marcotte. Interestingly,
both players reached the final round via alternate paths. Tom got two of his three wins playing the Allies with an average
bid of 5.3 PPs. Conversely, Scott got two of his three wins playing the Japanese with a bid of 9 in all three games. Thus, the best Allied player would meet the best Japanese player in the final.

To nobody's surprise, Scott bid 9 to Tom's 6 in the final round. Tom's Allies gained the initiative (and moving second) during the first three turns. The Allied forces took Tarawa, Palembang, Rabaul, and Kwajalein with little opposition. Tom again gained the initiative in the fourth (MAR44) turn and by moving first, moved a strong US fleet (that had regrouped from a battle at Midway to the hex south of Dutch Harbor during the previous turn) into Tokyo. He also supplemented this with a CV raid from Pearl Harbor. Since most of Scott's IJN forces could not reach Tokyo during this turn, all he could do was take the unfavorable attrition and retreat. Tom also retreated after the battle as he couldn't blockade Tokyo due to the supply situation. In the JUN44 turn, Tom again won the initiative and after a battle at Marcus that sank an IJN cruiser force, regrouped to the hex southwest of Kwajalein and blockaded Wake. In the SEP44 turn, Scott finally won the initiative, but had to move first to block the many holes in his line of patrollers that Tom had destroyed the previous turn. Scott set up three 6-block fleets in Truk, Manokwari, and Saipan and said to Tom, "Come and get me!" Tom did just that by attacking Truk with a strong naval force of three CV, one BB, and two CA blocks. He also invaded Davao, and Lae, and blockaded Hollandia, Peleliu, and Saigon with subs. In the first big battle of the game, Tom had his "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" in the Carolines as his USN forces destroyed the Japanese fleet at Truk with minimal loss and then stuck around to blockade the Japanese land forces. Elsewhere, Tom's Davao invasion proved unsuccessful, but it was blockaded nonetheless. All of the above mentioned blockades cut supply to much of Scott's forces which resulted in further loss of Japanese CV. Tom got the initiative back in the DEC44 turn, decided to move first, and while moving his forces into Tokyo, Scott conceded after realizing that he only had eight supplied PP's, not much of an IJN, and there were still two turns left to play.

Congratulations to Tom Cannon for showing us all how to win as the Allies using a "hit em where they ain't" strategy. In addition to receiving a plaque, Tom also received a $50 gift certificate from Columbia Games and a game map signed by Tom Dalgliesh.

I wish to thank Columbia Games for releasing version 1.2 of the rules before the tournament and donating $155 in merchandise certificates and a signed map to the tournament. I also wish to thank John Sharp for making it all possible by sponsoring the tournament.

 GM      Barry Smith [1st Year]   323 Lower Stella Ireland Rd, Binghamton, NY 13905-1011
    barry25@banet.net   NA

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