world at war   

Updated Dec. 2, 2012

2012 WBC Report     

 2013 Status: pending 2013 GM commitment

Elihu Feustal, IN

2012 Champion

Event History
1992    Joe Brophy**       8
1993    Conrad Struckman**     20
1994    Jason Moore**     17
1995    James Sparks**     41
1996    Bruce Harper*     17
1997    Rob Carl*     26
1998    David Middleton*     27
1999    Greg Wilson*    19
2000    Herbert Gratz**    25
2002    Jon Hogen**    17
2003    Vic Hogen    20
2004    Bill Moodey     24
2005    Jason Moore     16
2006     Eric Thobaben     22
2007     Jason Moore     21
2008    Chris Goldfarb     24
2009    Kevin Milne     21
2010    Bruce Harper     25
2011    Paul Milne     32
2012    Elihu Feustal     20

* = Formerly Global War

**A= Formerly Advanced Third Reich

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Jason Moore        NY    07    156
  2.  Paul Milne         MN    11    144
  3.  Bruce Harper       bc    10    121
  4.  Jon Hogen          CA    11    118
  5.  Elihu Feustal      IN    12    102
  6.  Chris Goldfarb     OR    12     96
  7.  Greg Wilson        NJ    08     96
  8.  Bill Moodey        PA    05     96
  9.  Vic Hogen          CA    12     84
 10.  Herbert Gratz      aa    00     78
 11.  Tim Francis        MD    11     72
 12.  Eric Thobaben      MI    06     72
 13.  Randy Scheers      TX    10     66
 14.  Kevin Milne        MN    09     66
 15.  Don Stanley        sk    12     54
 16.  Rob Carl           MD    12     48
 17.  Stephen Erickson   CA    11     36
 18.  Mike Crowe         VA    09     36
 19.  Eric Schuelin      GA    04     36
 20.  Brock Heathcote    AZ    00     36
 21.  Brian Conway       NY    05     30
 22.  Jim Sparks         MD    07     24
 23.  Alvaro Martin      es    04     24
 24.  Ryan Scoville      NY    00     24
 25.  Conrad Struckman   NH    99     24
 26.  Jerry Smolens      PA    11     18
 27.  Tor Abrahamsen     bc    06     18
 28.  Charles Kruger     MA    00     18
 29.  Tim Schroeder      TX    06     12
 30.  Ernest Copley      ME    04     12
 31.  Ernie Faust        CT    99     12
 32.  Mike Mitchell      GA    00     12
 33.  Randall MacInnis   GA    00      9
 34.  Thomas Stanley     sk    12      6
 35.  Ashley Johnson     VA    09      6
 36.  Kenneth Cruz       CA    06      6
 37.  Jeff Mathis        FL    05      6
 38.  Graham Keys        WA    03      6
 39.  Boyd Piper         BC    02      6
 40.  Mike Stone         OR    99      6
 41.  Don Moody          MN    02      4
 42.  Joe Brophy         MN    02      3
 43.  Keven Leith        VA    02      2

2012 Laurelists                                                Repeating Laurelists:

Chris Goldfarb, OR
2nd

Don Stanley, sk
3rd

Vic Hogen, CA
4th

Rob Carl, MD
5th

Thomas Stanley, sk
6th

Past Winners

Joe Brophy, NY
1992

Jason Moore, NY
1994, 2005, 2007

James Sparks, MD
1995

Bruce Harper, BC
1996, 2010

Rob Carl, MD
1997

David Middleton, MD
1998

Gregory Wilson, NY
1999

Herbert Gratz, Austria
2000

Jon Hogen, CA
2002

Vic S. Hogen, CA
2003

Bill Moodey, PA
2004

Eric Thobnaben, WI
2006

Chris Goldfarb, OR
2008

Kevin Milne, MN
2009

Paul Milne, MN
2011

Bruce Harper, the designer who started the never ending playtest.

GM Paul Milne and Vic Hogen in midgame so this must be Thursday.

 

 

Other events mark their tables with the name of the game; this one announce the turn.

Don Stanley of Saskatchewan and Ashley Johnson battle on in the week-long struggle.

The 20-Year Playtest Continues ...

World War II Evolution Never Ending ...

Five full games recreated WW2 this year. In the first game, the European Axis coupled a conventional attack strategy along with an aggressive German Naval building program (four additional large battleships). Opportunity and Allied miscues allowed the conquest of Spain, Gibraltar and Egypt. This was paired with a low tension Japanese pre-war strategy, and aggressive Pacific island conquests once war broke out. The Allies were always offbalance, and the Axis won a combined four-turn decisive victory.

In the second game, a joint German and Japanese attack on Russia resulted in a high level Russian surrender and a very decisive Axis Victory. A Japanese attack on Russia is always extremely difficult to successfully execute for Japan, as the reduced forces available must capture the Indonesian oil, and fend off the US at the same time.

The third game produced the only Allied victory, which was by a single turn. The game itself developed conventionally, but produced one of the most unusual Pearl Harbor attacks of all time. The Allies had moved the two Atlantic carriers to the Pacific before the war, making a total of five CVs there. The Allies were unlucky, and three of them were caught and destroyed during the Pearl Harbor raid. But luck runs both ways, and against all odds the remaining two carriers found the Japanese strike force, and sank two of its carriers. Veteran players could not remember ever seeing such a result.

In the fourth game, the Axis again coupled a large naval build strategy, along with a very aggressive attack on Russia (this time without a Japanese attack). Eventually Russia surrendered, and again the Axis won a very decisive victory.

The fifth game was one of the most memorable in convention history. It started normally, but the Allies first roll for atomic research was the lowest possible. The Allies decided to abandon nuclear weapon development, and spend their research money on more promising projects. What the Allies didn't know was that Germany was developing atomic weapons. This is very unusual, and extremely hard to accomplish. The economic commitment to develop "the Bomb" is huge, and Germany must fight without many of the units and weapon systems that it usually has. However, this time it worked, and a nuclear warhead was delivered in the US by an advanced submarine, and detonated at the end of 1944. By rule, if the US gets nuked and doesn't have an Atomic program of its own, it stops fighting in that theater, and its forces are frozen in place. This allowed the Germans to concentrate on the Russians. Despite this, and in another surprise, the Russians were able to keep successfully attacking the strengthened German Army, and conquered Germany in Fall 1945 (only one turn late). The Pacific war ended in a draw, giving the Axis a one-turn victory.

WAW is constantly evolving, and this year, prior to the convention, the naval rules were substantially revamped. The goals of these rules revisions were to encourage more naval combat (especially carrier air battles), rules simplification and faster naval battle playing time. It had taken playtesting most of the previous year to get the changes right, but they worked well.

The rules changes identified after this years' games were minimal, and included an adjustment to Russian mobilizations, the end to free Red Chinese offensives (Russia will now have to pay for them), and some clarification to the new naval rules in the areas of interceptions of returning naval units, and air attacks on submarine patrols.

It should be noted that a new companion game, "Gathering Storm", was also play tested this year. Gathering Storm is a much shorter game that deals with the prewar years, and allows for non-historical economic, military and naval development, diplomacy, and aggression. When fully developed, Gathering Storm will be played just before WAW. This will allow for different pre-war strategies and scenarios for the start of WW2, rather than the historical basis that is currently used. Gathering Storm can also be played as a standalone game.

 GM      Paul Milne  [2nd Year]   NA 
    NA   NA

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