afrika korps   

Updated Nov. 23, 2013

Grognard Pre-Con
 2013 WBC Report  

2014 Status: pending 2014 GM commitment

Jonathan Lockwood, VA

2013 Champion

 

Event History
1991      John Poniske      12
1992      Mike Crowe      15
1993      Joe Beard      20
1994      Joe Beard      17
1995      Phil Evans      16
1996      Bruno Sinigaglio      10
1997      Bruno Sinigaglio      25
1998      Gregory Smith      23
1999      Gregory Smith     24
2000      Randy Heller     20
2001      Lane Newbury     29
2002      Vince Meconi     29
2003      Jonathan Lockwood     22
2004      Randy Heller      30
2005      John Popiden      20
2006       Vince Meconi      34
2007       Bert Schoose      23
2008      John Popiden      24
2009       Vince Meconi      20
2010       Bert Schoose      19
2011      Vince Meconi      22
2012      Vince Meconi      22
2013      Jonathan Lockwood      23

PBeM Event History
2003      Ed Menzel     26
2008       Bruno Sinigaglio      26
2010      Bert Schoose      26

 Laurels

 Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
   1.  Vince Meconi       DE    13    245
   2.  Jonathan Lockwood  VA    13    196
   3.  Bruno Sinigaglio   AK    13    161
   4.  Bert Schoose       IL    12    156
   5.  Ed Menzel          CA    12    118
   6.  John Popiden       CA    10    108
   7.  Randy Heller       MD    11     81
   8.  Lane Newbury       TX    03     48
   9.  Greg Smith         PA    08     44
  10.  Joe Beard          AZ    13     39
  11.  James Tracy II     OH    11     31
  12.  Bill Morse         VA    10     30
  13.  Barry Smith        NY    08     30
  14.  Doug Burke         MD    03     24
  15.  Mark Gutfreund     KY    08     21
  16.  Phil Evans         fr    01     15
  17.  Gary Dickson       CA    05     12
  18.  Johnny Hasay       PA    04     12
  19.  Andrew Miller      GA    03      9
  20.  Ray Clark          CT    13      8
  21.  Robert Hahn        NY    02      8
  22.  Bill Scott         VA    10      6
  23.  Pat Mirk           FL    09      6
  24.  Ted Drozd          IL    08      6
  25.  Steve Likevich     OH    01      6
  26.  Michael Day        AZ    13      4
  27.  Andy Gardner       VA    12      3
  28.  Chris Godfrey      MA    06      3

2013 Laurelists                                           Repeating Laurelists

Joe Beard, AZ
2nd

Ray Clark, CT
3rd

Vincent Meconi, DE
4th

Michael Day, AZ
5th

Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
6th


Past Winners

John Poniske, PA
1991

Mike Crowe, VA
1992

Joe Beard, AZ
1993-1994

Phil Evans, fr
1995

Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
1996-1997

Greg Smith, PA
1998-1999

Randy Heller, MD
2000, 2004

Lane Newbury, TX
2001

Vince Meconi, DE
'02, '06, '09, '11-'12

Jonathan Lockwood, VA
2003, 2013

John Popiden, CA
2005, 2008

Bert Schoose, IL
2007, 2010
     

Gregory Smith doesn't get enough sand on Florida beaches apparently.

Joe Beard's well supplied Axis forces overpower Vince Meconi in the semifinals.

russian roulette with hand grenades ...

The big news this year was that the Board of Directors has voted Legacy status to the granddaddy of wargames so Afrika Korps will be spared running the gauntlet of the Membership trial vote and remain in the Cenury for as long as it may maintain minimum Century standards.

The latest Afrika Korps tournament saw an influx of needed new players, one of whom managed to advance. Journeyman Ray Clark made it into the semifinals for the first time to join a trio of former champions: five-time defending champion Vince Meconi, two-time champion Joe Beard, and 2003 champion and GM Jonathan Lockwood for yet another contest in boardgaming's version of "The Unforgiving Game."

In the first semifinal, Clark's Germans faced Lockwood's British. Despite low supplies, Ray was on the verge of forcing the British into Tobruch and beginning his drive on Alexandria when Jon was able to take advantage of a critical weakness in the German lines to execute an AV against one of Ray's 2-2-12 Recce units and seal off most of the Afrika Korps. Two turns later, Ray was compelled to surrender when it became apparent that he would not be able to break out of the encirclement, thus returning Lockwood to the Final for the second straight year.

In the other semifinal, Beard's Germans faced off against Meconi in an epic confrontation between two masters of the game. Joe's supplies were near perfect, missing only one supply before November, and yet Vince was able to delay the German advance to just west of the Ruweisat defense line until his November reinforcements arrived. Recognizing that Joe had the attritional advantage and could eventually pound his way into Alexandria, Vince opted for an aggressive 1-1 counterattack in an effort to kneecap the Afrika Korps by taking out the 7-7-10s. The counterattack was partially successful, resulting in an exchange, but did not provide the superior attrition that Vince needed. Vince eventually conceded in December 1941, sending Joe into the championship round for his first ever confrontation ever with Lockwood.

Joe once again led the German forces in the Final. Although Joe's opening move gave Jon the opportunity to use his Paleveda Gambit defense (two 2-2-6s with a supply unit setting up a blocking position along the coast road escarpments in Cyrenaica), Lockwood decided to opt for the more conservative Standard defense of the western passes after having observed the Beard-Meconi semifinal. Unlike his prior match, Joe's supplies were less favorable this time, and Lockwood was able to maintain both a strong garrison in Tobruch and a defensive line to the west of Ruweisat in the same manner that Meconi had done in his match. When Joe's September 1941 attack failed to kill the British 3-3-7 near the Ruweisat ridge and lost an Italian 2-2-4 n the soakoff attack as well, Joe realized that he would not be able to take Alexandria prior to the arrival of the November reinforcements. In the meantime, Jon's future intent would be to pull the heavy armor out of Tobruch once the November reinforcements arrived and combine them with his Alexandria forces to enable the British to get a 3-1 attack against a German 7-7-10 if the opportunity arose. Faced with the prospect of a long slogging match with a far from certain outcome, Joe sent his forces back to Tobruch and launched the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch (1-1 low odds attack against Tobruch). Last year, the Hand Grenade worked against Lockwood to win Meconi the title. This year, however, Joe's Hand Grenade resulted in an Attacker Eliminated, forcing Joe's concession in October 1941 and giving Lockwood his second AFK championship following several near misses.

 GM      Jonathan Lockwood  [14th Year]       P.O. Box 3436, Reston, VA 20195-1436
    jsl552009@hotmail.com    703-476-2005

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