panzerblitz  

Updated Nov. 12, 2014

Grognards Pre-Con

2014 WBC Report  

 2015 Status: pending 2015 GM commitment

Greg Tanner, AZ

2014 Champion

 

Event History
1991    Bart Rigg    12
1992    Johnny Hasay    10
1993    Tom Kearney    12
1994    Johnny Hasay    12
1995    Dave Giordano    10
1996    Eduardo De Nuccia    14
1997    Dave Giordano    20
1998    Chuck Leonard    16
1999    Dave Giordano    16
2000    Bill Scott    20
2001    Bill Scott    12
2002    Marty Musella    18
2003    Bill Scott    16
2004    Chuck Leonard    34
2005     Marty Musella    21
2006    Greg Tanner    19
2007     Bert Schoose    22
2008    Bert Schoose    23
2009    Rich Northey    23
2010    Rich Northey    25
2011    Greg Tanner    25
2012     Greg Tanner    21
2013    Bert Schoose    28
2014    Greg Tanner    28
 
PBeM Event History
2005     Eduardo DeNucci    19

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Marty Musella      VA    14    170
  2.  Greg Tanner        AZ    14    158
  3.  Bert Schoose       IL    14    142
  4.  Bill Scott         VA    12    139
  5.  Chuck Leonard      PA    14    138
  6.  Rich Northey       MA    13     86
  7.  Alan Arvold        IL    14     57
  8.  Dave Giordano      NJ    01     47
  9.  Johnny Hasay       PA    12     33
 10.  Eduardo DeNucci    ag    05     26
 11.  Donald Webster     MD    05     21
 12.  Tom Cooper         OH    05     15
 13.  Tom Campbell       NJ    14     12
 14.  Art Dohrman        AL    13     12
 15.  Bill Thomson       TX    10     12
 16.  Peter Bertram      GA    05     12
 17.  Dave Talmage       VA    01     12
 18.  Jay Zollitsch      WI    00     12
 19.  Steve Andriakos    TX    07      9
 20.  Joe Avinger        GA    05      8
 21.  Matt Spitznagel    MD    03      8
 22.  Tim Greene         TN    00      8
 23.  Paul Grosser       MD    13      6
 24.  Randy MacInnis     NJ    05      6
 25.  Kurt Kurtz         OH    03      6
 26.  John Sharp         FL    05      5
 27.  Fred Schwarz       MI    05      4
 28.  Mark McBride       OH    02      3
 29.  Bill Riggs         VA    03      2
 30.  Tom Shaw           MD    02      1

2014 Laurelists
Repeating Laurelists:

Chuck Leonard, PA
2nd

Tom Campbell, NJ
3rd

Marty Musella, NC
4th

Alan Arvold, IL
5th

Bert Schoose, IL
6th

Past Winners

91: Bart Rigg, KY
93:
Tom Kearney, NC

Johnny Hasay, PA
1992, 1994

Dave Giordano, NJ
1995, 1997, 1999

Eduardo DeNucci, ARG
1996

Chuck Leonard, PA
1998, 2004

Bill Scott, VA
2000-2001, 2003

Marty Musella, VA
2002, 2005

Greg Tanner, AZ
2006, 2011-12, 2014

Bert Schoose, IL
2007-08, 2013

Rich Northey, MA
2009, 2010

Art Dohrman and Marty Musella relive boyhood battles

Greg Tanner and newcomer Thomas Campbell in semifinal action.

44 Years & Counting ...

A Game of Objectives

Each year I am heartened by gamers returning to play PanzerBlitz and PanzerLeader. With all the new games coming out each year, these still have a great game mechanic that is easy to play and offers a challenge to even the most sophisticated gamer.

This year GM Rick Northey paired up more games in the pre-con than in past years. Rick was busy answering rules questions and pulling out old scenarios for a first time play at WBC. Alan Arvold, is probably the most knowledgeable "PanzerBlitz professor", having written many articles for the General in the golden years of wargaming at Avalon Hill. Alan provided three new battle situations of his own creation for play. Newcomer Thomas Campbell who had not played the game since the 1970s was one of the most enthusiastic players. He persevered and made the semis with increasingly sharp play as he refreshed his memory with each additional game played.

As the fog of war intensified through the week of the con, the final four; Greg Tanner, Chuck Leonard, Marty Musella, and fighting Thomas Campbell emerged. Situations for both games were picked, #14 being the favorite in each case. Battle plans were being decided and a quote from Gen. George S. Patton Jr. captures the moment: "A good plan, vigorously executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week."

In the first semifinal, both players chose the German side. Greg won the dice roll and got the Germans. Thomas deployed his Russian forces in Bednost and Golod on board 2. Out of the fog Greg's German armor came rumbling up the hill straight into the assault of Bednost. The Russian HQ was captured on Turn 2. Meanwhile, the main Russian reinforcement group motored up to the South of Hill 132. German tanks and AT guns took up positions on higher ground. In a game of feint and maneuver Thomas' armor pursued Greg's smaller German force. The Germans retreated to board 1 using cover to block the Russian advance. German forces storm Bednost with heavy casualties to Russian forces. In a final counterattack, Thomas charged Greg's positions with his armor, trying to surround them. Time ran out with Turn 8 complete and tGreg victorious in his defense. Old blood and guts reminds us that; "War is the supreme test of man in which he rises to heights never approached in any other activity".

In the other bracket, both players selected the Russians, and Chuck won the diceroll. Chuck put his Russian HQ in Bednost surrounded by AT guns. The German strike force blitzed up the hill and took out the HQ on Turn 2. Chuck rolled a 6 with his AT guns missing their mark in an attempt to cripple the German armor company. Chuck's Russian armored column moved in high gear up the road only to be hindered by Marty's nimble German armored cars darting in and out of the woods copses. Chuck ordered his T34s to use their wide tracks off road to make an encircling move on the armored cars, destroying several platoons in the process. The Russian force retook the hill on Turn 3, and started the hunt for isolated German forces. Remaining German forces fought for control of Bednost. Marty prepared for a battle on the South side of Hill 132 defending the town. Gen Patton would say; "Never let the enemy pick the battle site. Instead, attack rapidly, ruthlessly, viciously, without rest." So Chuck brought up the heavy tanks, Su100s and Su152s, to blast away Marty's dug in infantry on the hillside and in the town. After a bloody final battle, Chuck emerged with the victory, 28 victory points to Marty's 27. It was an exciting game all the way to the last die roll.

As Saturday evening approached, the two finalists, discussed the last game of the con. Situation 45r1 was chosen. Both players wanted the German side, so dice were rolled. Greg won the option to play Germans, which entailed a fighting withdrawal from a superior Russian armored force. Chuck proceeded to assemble his attacking force in the greater Grabyosh area on the North side of board 3. Greg formed up his defense as the first recon sighted the enemy moving South toward his position. German self-propelled artillery units opened fire from the town of Opustoschenia on the advancing Russian tanks. Chuck decided to mass his force on the NW side of the town out of range of the enemy AT guns hiding in the woods on the South side of the river. After firing their first barrage, the German SPA units pulled out of the town and fled toward the safety of Zabrenia. Russian tankodesantniki infantry companies jumped off their tanks into close assaults of the town. Chuck yelled out argggggggggh! having rolled 6s twice, missing targets allowing them to escape across open ground. Return fire from Greg's fixed batteries took out a company of Su152 assault guns. Advancing Russian armor overran the German advanced position, and the infantry went into Opustoschenia to mop up. At this halfway point in the game, Turn 3 complete, a few words from Gen Patton sums up the likely thoughts in the players' minds; "Good tactics can save even the worst strategy. Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy". Then there is the unpredictable fog of war, the dice! In the next two turns players will roll four more 6s making the casualties for this battle unusually low. Chuck advanced what was left of his battle group to the ford in the river to Zabrenia. Volleys from both sides littered both open ground and the town with wrecked tanks. Opustoschenia was finally cleared at the end of Turn 5. Greg's AT fire takes out three of Chuck's tank companies as they poured through the ford, maneuvering to encircle the remaining German positions. The final push came too late though. The game ended with neither side achieving victory conditions. A tie gave the defending Germans the victory and Greg the 2014 title,, his fourth shield and the cool diorama special prize. Adopting a quote from Napoleon used in the final scene of the movie Patton; "Glory is fleeting and obscurity is forever". Of course, until WBC 2015!

John Sharp opposes Chuck Leonard during Pre-Con action.

 GM     Rick Northey [4th Year]  NA 
   geppeddooo@aol.com   NA

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