paths of glory [Updated October 2003]  

2003 WBC Report    

 2004 Status: pending 2004 GM commitment

Rob Hassard, NJ

2003 Champion

2nd: Tom Drueding. FL

3rd: Marvin Birnbaum, NY

4th: Steve Worrel, NC

5th: Peter Reese, VA

6th: David Dockter, MN

Event History
1999    Donald Stone     36
2000    Peter Reese     52
2001    David Dockter     34
2002    Peter Reese     49
2003     Rob Hassard     40

WAM Event History
2003     David Dockter     32

PBeM Event History
2000    Stefan Mecay     40


Offsite links:

AREA Ratings

boardgamegeek         

 Laurels
Rank Name

From

Last
Total
 1. Peter Reese

VA

03
126
 2. Rob Hassard

NJ

02
  99
 3. David Dockter

MN

03
  88
 4. Tom Drueding

FL

03
  66
 5. Marvin Birnbaum

NY

03
  62
 6. Jim Falling

MI

01
  33
 7. Bob Heinzmann

FL

03
  24
 8. Steve Worrel

NC

03
  18
 9. John Emery

SC

00
  12
10. Stefan Mecay

TX

00
  10
11. Michael Johnson

MA

01
  10
12. Don Stone

NC

99
  10
13. Andrew Maly

MD

00
    9
14. Steve Brooks

FL

03
    8
15. Hank Burkhalter

TN

02
    6
16. Nick Firer

WI

00
    6
17. Don Johnson

VA

99
    6
18. James Pei

TX

00
    6
19. Ric Manns

IN

01
    5
20. Dennis Culhane

PA

99
    4
21. Steve Huskey

KS

00
    3
22. Joe DiCamillo

PA

99
    3
23. Rob Winslow

NY

99
    2
24. Paul Horvath

CA

00
    1
25. Paul Abrahamse

MI

99
    1

Past Winners

Donald Stone - VA
1999

Peter Reese - VA
2000, 2002

Dave Dockter - MN
2001
 


The Opening Guns ...

Forty-two Poggers battled it out over four Swiss preliminary rounds followed by two final rounds in the Guns of August Pre-Con action preceding WBC. A total of 78 games were played with few players leaving early before WBC even got under way. The rules were a standard campaign game with the placement of AH and RU corps in Stanislaw and Lutsk to prevent an early "Dance of Death" on the East front.

The bids of VP given up to play the Allies ranged from zero to three with 43% of the games bid at two. The average Allied bid was 1.55. Although this tournament allowed the offer of Peace Terms, only two games actually saw offers, with no acceptances.

56% of the games were won by the Allies, 41% by the CP, and 3% were drawn. The Allies won two of the three semi-final and final games. 82% of the games began with, appropriately enough, a Guns of August opening. The Defend the Rhine West front
strategy was fairly common as well.

Rob Hassard emerged as the POG champion, wining all six of his games. Tom Drueding, Marvin Birnbaum, and relative newcomer/shark Steve Worrell finished in the other top spots. The semi-final game between Drueding (AL bid of 2) and Worrell saw trade-off defeats of Turkey and France but an eventual concession by Steve to Tom's combined eastern armies of RU, SE, IT, BR that finished off the AH. Despite the accepted use of the Defend the Rhine strategy, Steve had success in several of his games with a strong "Blitz the French" attritional strategy.

In the semi-final game between Birnbaum (AL bid of 3) and Hassard, Rob's CP also opened with a strong Western attack, eventually forming a line from Bar-le Duc up to Sedan/Aachen. Although Italy was a quite front, there was much action in the Near East and in Russia. Rob's CP forces took Basra and were able to hold the line in the East to Marvin's expert play, garnering a CP win with VPs in the16 range after bid.

Hassard (AL bid of 2) fought an exhausting ten-hour finals match against Drueding. Italy was a decisive theater with Tom marching four German and three AH armies into the boot. Despite the Allied reserves rushed to Italy, the country was soundly defeated except for a sole flipped Italian corps. This corps in exile managed to fulfill five IT MOs during the rest of the game.
Following this, Rob began a heavy attrition strategy against Tom's GE units, attacking them wherever and whenever possible. Tom was able to secure both Baku and Basra on the Near East front while also eventually playing Fall of the Tsar. Even with the constraints of that card, Rob's Russians were able to shift their front from North to South and blitz the AH, taking Budapest and Vienna on Turn 19. The finals match literally came down to final rolls with failed CP attacks on Budapest and Nancy (with Peace Offensive) for a final bid-modified VP of 11. (Draws were AL wins in the final rounds)

 GM      Jim Falling  [2nd Year]   NA  
    Jimbofal@aol.com   (NA)

2003 Preview Page | View the Icon Key | Return to main BPA page