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The grognard braintrust: Bill Morse
and Bruno Sinigaglio in their annual 'Bulge battle. |
Charles Catania expands his horizons
in the absence of his favorite Russia Besieged event this
year. |
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Perennial BWD champ Tom
Gregorio plays Jeremy Osteen. |
Ed Witkowski scopes out the
Ardennes terrain. |
Persistance Rewarded!
Bitter Woods posted a significant increase in games
played in 2013 over that of preceding years despite a decline
in the size of the field. A format change that was contrary to
the format that had been approved and announced may have been
at least partly responsible for both. A total of 50 games were
played. The Germans won 11 and lost 14 of the 6-turn scenario,
while winning 15 and losing 10 of the 8-turn scenario. There
were two early games of notable significance as related below.
Tom Gregorio's Germans defeated Kevin Hackers in the 6-turn
scenario as described by Tom below. "It was with some trepidation
that I faced Hackers again. This guy rattles me. He is creative.
He 'creates' his own luck and he sometimes pulls moves out of
his butt that stymie me to no small degree. This match was no
different. By the end of the first two turns, there were ZERO
US units in the dead pile. His defense was THAT good! He pulled
the Hackers Gambit, which involves putting Middleton and two
units in Clervaux, but fortunately I was prepared for that. My
response was to bypass it to the NW and let ground-pounders grind
on the fort. Further south, on 17PM, Kevin gave me an opportunity
to get through his interdiction in the heavy woods and I was
fortunate enough to roll a 5 and drive adjacent to Bastogne,
which was only occupied by artillery. My 1-1 resulted in a CA
result which precipitated his emptying the hex as he couldn't
really counterattack. I challenged the interdiction because he'd
pretty much stuffed me everywhere else on the map. The only mistake
Kevin made in the game was his defense outside of Houffalize
and that was caused by a misunderstanding of the retreat rules.
He assumed he could take a self-sealing route when that was not
the case. The end result was that two of my 5th Panzer Army units
in Reserve were able to break through and get into Samree, Parker's
Crossroads and beyond. My advance after combat allowed me to
surround Noville, which would fall and get me the US casualty
VP. Kevin tried some unlikely counterattacks at 3-1(+1) and 1-1(+1)
against my exploiting units, but they were not successful. At
the end of the US 17PM move Kevin surrendered as we both agreed
that his position was irrevocably 'broken'. It was a tense match
and we shared some Xanex afterwards!
In the other preliminary game of note, Johnny Hasay's Germans
defeated 5th ranked Bill Morse in the 6-turn scenario in a precursor
of things to come. The US stuffed Peiper's breakout move, so
the Germans used Peiper's MEP attack to kill an American artillery,
getting an advance that trapped five units. Unfortunately for
the Germans, the trapped American blockers were either able to
gum up the 6th Pz Army sector or eventually escape, thus securing
the north half of the map for the US. The Americans used a strong
forward defense along the Our River and the Hackers Gambit at
Clervaux to keep the 5th Pz Army mostly contained. A few German
units were able to sneak past the well-defended fort, which held
out to the end of the scenario. In the 7th Army area, the forward
US defense was burned for a devastating D4 vs 7CCA in front of
Ettlebruck, getting FJ 5/15 well on the road to Martelange. The
Americans were forced to spend all their interdiction in the
south for two turns just to keep Brandenburger and FJ 5/15 out
of Neufchateau. Only three steps of units and one artillery piece
were left to protect the approach to Bastogne. All seemed lost
until 17pm when the crafty 4/8-22 regiment slipped behind the
German lines in the south, putting much of the 7th Army and the
spearhead units of the 5th Pz Army out of supply. However, with
the 10th Armor out of position, the Germans made a bold, surrounded
attack with their OOS army on the fort at Bastogne. The Americans
barely held, counterattacking the following turn to eliminate
Lehr/Recon and secure the Bastogne perimeter. Unfortunately,
the US was only able to get 10 factors without a leader into
Noville. On the 18PM turn, the Germans were able to make a 1-1(-2)
attack on the Noville victory hex, securing the town with a D2
that prevented any hope of an American counterattack. US dead
were beyond 12 and only Lehr/Recon was lost for the Germans.
To
no one's surprise, six-time champion Tom Gregorio was one of
the final four to make the elimination rounds. The other contenders,
veterans all, had never won the event, so Tom's loss to Jim Tracy
II's Americans in the 6-turn scenario of the semifinals sent
shockwaves through the grognard room. Tom's demise is relayed
in his own words as follows. "I've met Jim on many fronts
in many games and I know him for the crafty player that he is;
methodical, precise, and rarely makes an error. Unfortunately,
for me, this was not one of those rare times. I was hoping I
could use 'shock and awe' to get my VP spaces. My early luck
ended that ambition; however, as the dreaded ENG results locked
up my units on Turn 1. A sharp counterattack on the US16AM move
gave my Germans the dubious distinction of losing a unit before
the Allies, which had never happened previously in the 100+ games
that I've played! Jim employed a fairly standard, but safe defense,
albeit a little forward. By the start of my German 18AM turn,
I had accounted for only four dead US units. Skorzeny failed
to sneak by Malmedy and an ENG result at that town on 17PM ensured
I would only be attacking Stavelot across the raging rivers of
the Ambleve. Jim tried to lock it at that point but I stayed
in the game by exploiting a tactical misplacement in the center,
which eventually allowed me to claim 12 dead US units. Not that
it mattered, as Jim did an excellent job of applying the clamp
in our game on his 18AM move. My only recourse was a desperate
assault on Stavelot, as that was the only VP space to which I
could get adjacent. The attack was stuffed by Hodges and three
units - I needed to "Shock" all the defenders via bombardment
and then inflict a D2 result. I calculated the odds of that to
be 1/81 and I wasn't even close. Game over! The US has a clear
edge in the 6-turn scenario when played by grizzled vets like
Jim."
Forest Pafenberg's Germans beat Johnny Hasay in the 8-turn
scenario in the semifinal. Forest supplied the details. "Johnny
is a dangerous opponent when he is the Germans. He has beaten
me handily with the Germans previously and displayed that prowess
again by hammering Bill Morse earlier in the week. On the other
hand, he does not like to play defense and there were no pronouncements
from the bench to get him off the hook. The Pafenberg Germans
got an extremely good opening in both the north and south. The
Germans built bridges at Clervaux and Vianden, and a D4 result
in the center resulted in the elimination of two units. By the
17PM turn, the handwriting was on the wall (Daniel 5:5-30), with
German units next to Eupen, entering Trois Point, taking Parkers
Crossroads, crossing the boundary and moving next to Bastogne.
With multiple units surrounded due to a cascade of long advances
in the north. Johnny conceded."
With Gregorio vanquished, a new champion would be crowned.
7th ranked Forest Pafenberg pit his American's against the Gregorio-slayer,
Jim Tracy II, in the 8-turn scenario to decide the title. The
16AM German results were mixed - strong in the south and marginal
in the north with two firefights and one engaged. Paffy played
inspired defense, only erring twice on the 17PM turn: once allowing
Lehr Recon to surround a unit in the center and then letting
a 6-5-4 unit get surrounded in front of Eupen, because he forgot
to move it. On the other hand, Tracy returned the favor on 18AM,
when he forgot to move reserve units that could have moved adjacent
to Bastogne, preventing the building of the fortress. Tracy's
oversight became a critical error, because he never took Bastogne.
The Germans did capture Parker's Crossroads, to obtain three
of the four required victory points, but they fell short of the
fourth. Jim had two 1-1 attacks on Eupen on 18PM and 19AM, but
failed to capitalize. Then Pafenberg reinforced the town on the
US 19AM turn to make it safe before the last turn. This was a
nip and tuck game, with each player having a good chance to pull
out the win. Afterwards, game play was halted in the Grognard
room for presentation of the Bitter Woods Championship plaque
to Paffy. There was a spirited applause for Paffy who has gamely
participated in a variety of Battle of the Bulge tournament games
throughout various Doncons for more than 30 years. Paffy would
frequently reach a championship game and then be victimized by
the worst dice imaginable. After such losses, Paffy would retire
to the bar to drown his sorrow. This year was somewhat different,
as Paffy retired to the bar to celebrate ... a title at last.
Next year, the Bulge '81 event will be merged into
Bitter Woods with the latter as the default version when
players can't agree on which to play. Bitter Woods will
henceforth become part of Grognardcon with free form scheduling
and the Swiss Elim format that goes with it.
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Everyone's favorite yankee judge,
Johnny Hasay. |
The finalists battle on the big board. |
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Forrest Pafenberg finally wins
the big one under watchful gaze of Marty Musella as James Tracy
falls in the big board Final. |
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