napoleon [Updated October 2004]  

2004 WBC Report  

 2005 Status: pending December Membership Century Vote

Jeff Cornett, FL

2004 Champion

2nd: Scott Cornett, FL

3rd: Carl Willner, MD

4th: Forrest Atterberry, VA

5th: -

6th: -

Event History
1993    Tom Scarborough      12
1994    Dave Durlacher        8
2000    Jeff Cornett     16
2001    George Seary     14
2002    Jeff Cornett     20
2003    Scott Cornett     17
2004    Jeff Cornett       8


Offsite links:

AREA Ratings

boardgamegeek

 Laurels
Rank Name

From

Last
Total
 1. Jeff Cornett

FL

04
78
 2. George Seary

NY

01
48
 3. Scott Cornett

FL

04
48
 4. Tom Ruta

MA

01
32
 5. Lane Newbury

TX

01
24
 6. Matt Calkins

VA

02
21
 7. Jonathan Price

NJ

00
12
 8. David Norquist

DC

00
  9
 9. Larry Felton

PA

01
  9
10. David Earles

PA

00
  6
11.  Carl Willner

MD

04
  4
12. Chris Byrd

CT

02
  4
13. Forrest Atterberry

VA

04
  3
14. Bill Place

MA

03
  3
15. Michael Sincavage

VA

01
  3
16. Larry Lingle

PA

00
  3
17. John Lynch

NY

02
  2

Past Winners

Tom Scarborough - MO
1993

Dave Durlacher - IN
1994

Jeff Cornett - FL
2000, 2002

George Seary - NY
2001

Scott Cornett - FL
2003
 


The classic wooden block wargame:

Although we had a small turnout this year, the competition was exciting with most games being very closely fought. The final was a rematch of last year's finals, but instead of a 40 minute rout of the French, Scott Cornett and I played a 4-hour nail-biter until 2 am.

Scott bid 10 for the Allies and set up with a variation of his patented "Autobahn defense." Desperate to find a solution to this defense, the French unleashed its "jump-dog-jump" attack. It is so named because it is reminiscent of holding a bone over a dog's head and tempting it to jump -- then pulling it up higher just out of reach as the poor dog jumps. In this case, the bone was Ghent left largely undefended, but which the English and the heart of the Prussians could reach and retake through aggressive force marching. The French jumped at the bone, but also sent a decoy force (nine 2's?) down the road to Liege. When confronted with the Prussian cavalry and five other blocks, this decoy force cowered as expected and promptly retreated back to France.

As the French arrived in Ghent (jump dog, jump), the entire English army and most of the Prussians force marched to prepare for the decisive battle. Upon seeing the French decoy force cower in fear, the Prussians committed their entire army including their cavalry to the battle leaving only a few pickets to guard Liege against slow moving 2's. In response, the French then put its tail between its legs and ran away abandoning Ghent. Strangely, no yelping was heard from the French dog. At this point, the dog bit the ankle of his master!

The "decoy force" now jumped at a different target and force-marched on Liege overrunning the picket with three 4-strength cavalry. Instead of nine 2's, the decoy force consisted of three large cavalry, three large guns, and three medium infantry! The Prussians now seemed doomed in a predictable number of turns. Meanwhile, the rest of the French army just wanted to stay out of reach of any remaining Prussians before they died.

The Allies then responded with a swat on the dog's nose -- bad dog! For the next several turns, the Allies who controlled the middle of the board zigzagged back and forth while keeping the frustrated French not knowing where the decisive battle would be. Since Liege could be retaken by determined force marching, the French had to hastily redeploy their cavalry to be able to force march to reinforce Liege. With much of the French out of position and scattered, the Allies chose to pounce on the isolated French center army. Nearly surrounded, the French could not easily retreat out of battle. However, since they did have most of their remaining guns in place along with a few good cavalry and infantry, the battle was closer than expected. In the decisive battle, the French held the center with two big guns. The Allies pounded the French infantry on the right with their grand battery, then eventually assaulted the 1's. Meanwhile, the French charged with their cavalry on the left gaining the upper hand on that flank.

After bloody fighting on all flanks and with the French right flank down to a single 1-strength unit plus Napoleon, the dog decided to accept his punishment and go lick his wounds. The French chose to save Napoleon and pulled him back to reserve, rather than let him get shot by the Prussian guns. The French could now only hope that when the Prussians disappeared, the remaining French could somehow consolidate and take on the rest of the Brits. All the Allies now needed to do to win the battle was pass at least 1 of 4 morale-rolls on the left flank -- aided by Wellington's leader bonus. Grrhh! As you have already guessed, the dog growled and struck fear into the hearts of the British. The 1 in 81 chance came true, and the Allies were routed before the French could retreat. Dog now owns bone for the next 12 months. Arf!

For more details on the tournament, go to:_http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/rabdwombat/wbctempl.htm_ (http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/rabdwombat/wbctempl.htm)

 GM      Jeff Cornett  [4th Year]  728 Ashgrove Terrace, Sanford FL 32771
    JeffreyLCornett@aol.com   407-330-1968

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