bulge '81 [Updated October 2007]  

Grognards Pre-Con

2007 WBC Report     

 2008 Status: pending 2008 GM commitment

Steve Likevch, OH

2007 Champion

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Event History
1991    Pierre Menard      14
1992    Rob Beyma      13
1993    Randy Heller      12
1994    Phil Evans      12
1995    Randy Heller      14
1996    Bruno Sinigaglio      10
1997    Phil Evans      15
1998    Bruno Sinigaglio      13
1999    Bruno Sinigaglio     13
2000    John Grant Jr       8
2001    Bruno Sinigaglio     10
2002     Steve Likevich     18
2003     Steve Likevich      23
2004     Steve Likevich      20
2005     Bob Ryan        20
2006      Bill Morse      18
2007     Steve Likevich      21

 Laurels

Rank  Name             From  Last  Total
  1.  Steve Likevich    OH    07    122
  2.  Forrest Pafenberg VA    07     82
  3.  Bob Ryan          MI    07     57
  4.  Phil Evans        VA    05     52
  5.  Bruno Sinigaglio  AK    07     51
  6.  Bill Morse        VA    07     48
  7.  Frank Sinigaglio  NJ    06     21
  8.  John Grant Jr     CT    01     20
  9.  John Clarke       FL    06     19
 10.  Randy Heller      MD    03     15
 11.  Vince Sinigaglio  NJ    06      6
 12.  Bill Scott        VA    04      6
 13.  Jim Falling       IL    99      4
 14.  Bill Riggs        VA    07      3
 15.  Chris Withers     CA    05      3
 16.  Mike Mitchell     GA    02      2
 17.  Martin Svenson    VA    99      2
 18.  Buddy Sinigaglio  CO    02      1

2007 Laurelists

Forrest Pafenberg, VA
2nd

Bob Ryan, MI
3rd

Bill Morse, VA
4th

Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
5th

Bill Riggs, VA
6th


Past Winners

Pierre Menard, CT
1991

Rob Beyma, MD
1992

Randy Heller, CT
1993, 1995

Phil Evans, VA
1994, 1997

Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
'96, '98-'99, '01

John Grant Jr, CT
2000

Steve Likevich, OH
2002-04, '07

Bob Ryan, MI
2005

Bill Morse, VA
2006


Bob Ryan prepares for his next match.

Frank Sinigaglio's Americans (left) are pummeled by Steve Likevich's panzer opening.

still fighting the Bulge ...

While most of us are fighting a different type of "bulge" problem, WBC remains the place for grognards to meet and vie over the AH classic Battle of the Bulge, 1981 edition. A few classic style war games are hanging with the newer games, as they provide an easy sojourn into some tense competition.

Open Swiss Phase

A total of 26 games were played in the preliminary rounds by 22 different participants, allowing Battle of the Bulge 1981 to crack the 16-player threshold for the sixth consecutive doncon. Contributing to this success is the flexible format pioneered by El Lingle which allows grognards looking for tournament games to play after they have been waxed elsewhere.

The eight-turn tournament scenario developed by Randy Heller has been playing right near 50-50 for 17 years. The results since Bruno took over for our late friend John Grant in 2003 are now Germans 68 and Americans 66. Making it to the Final Four were 2006 champ Bill Morse with 38 points, three-time champ Steve Likevich 38, 2005 champ Bob M Ryan 36 and perennial runner-up Forest Pafenberg 36.

Semi-final: Bill Morse's Americans were seriously hosed on 16AM with a spectacular opening by Forest Pafenberg's Germans. The 9th, 38th , and 395th Infantry were tied up in Engaged battles, while 14 cav, 422 inf, 109th inf and 9CCB were eliminated by various means. To make matters worse, the panzers advanced four vs 394 inf, four vs 112 inf and three vs 110 inf. The solid opening by Paffy was held off by Bill's stubborn defense, but the kills mounted with 16 eliminated by 18PM. Bill's three engaged infantry remained so for several turns, as Paffy went around them. Bill's defense began to collapse near Malmedy when an untimely exchange forced him to use an artillery unit to hold the line.Although Paffy miscalculated and botched the overrun, allowing the artillery to escape, a good advance allowed the Germans to trap an armored regiment. Continued pressure by Paffy resulted in the capture of Stavelot and the fuel dump on 18PM. At that point, Bill knew all was lost and surrendered.

Semi-final: Steve Likevich's Germans engaged the 9th , 38th , 395th and 424th Infantry while eliminating the 393rd , 14cav, 422nd , 109th and 12th infantry. There were no great advances, but Bob Ryan's Americans were short ten units for defense on 16AM. The Americans were able to from a reasonable defense in the center, but the wings were going to hell. Eventually, Bob had to cover three roads with only two units and Steve was able to capture two towns on the western board for an automatic victory on the 18AM turn.

The Championship:

Forest Pafenberg's 16AM attacks yielded the following results:
#1: 1-1(0) vs 4/12 in Echternacht. Contact ­ 4/12 escapes. An Allied +.
#2: 1-1(-1) vs 9CCA. A back. An Allied +.
#3: 3-1(0) vs 28/109. Contact. A Washout.
#4: 4-1(-1) vs 28/110. D back 4, A Adv 4. A German ++.
#5: 5-1(0) vs 28/112. D back 2. An Allied +.
#6: 1-1(0) vs 106/424. Contact. An Allied +.
#7: 1-1(-1) vs 106/423. Contact. A Allied +.
#8: 1-1(-1) vs 106/422. Contact. An German +.
#9: 8-1(-1) vs 14cav. D back 4, A Adv 4. A German +.
#10: 1-1(-1) vs 99/393. Contact. A Allied +.
#11: 7-1(-1) vs 99/394. DElim. A German
#12: 3-1(-1) vs 2/9 and 2/38. D back 3, A Adv 2. A German +.
#13: 1-1(0) vs 99/395. A back. An Allied +.

This was a horrible opening for Paffy ... one kill and one trapped. If the advance 4 versus the Bloody 110 had not occurred, allowing the Germans to capture Clerveaux, Paffy would have been shot at sunrise by the Fuhrer. Bad dice by Paffy in the playoffs is to be expected. Paffy is infamous for his legendary bad dice from the 2003 Final, at which time he rolled zero kills of the Americans on the 16AM turn - a 1 tn 802 chance.

Paffy tried to take advantage of the success at Clerveaux, but Steve was able to blunt the offensive by holding adroitly in the rough terrain between St. Vith and Clerveaux. As a result, Paffy's attacks in the center resulted in Engaged daggers into Paffy's heart or attacker retreats on low odds attacks.

Soon Paffy realized that Bastogne or Parker's Crossroad was not going to fall, so he surprised Steve with an all out sledgehammer to capture Stavelot and the Fuel Dump within. Unfortunately, the dump in Stavelot is evacuated on the Allied 19AM turn as it was historically, so Paffy had to take the town on the German 19AM turn. As fate would have it, Paffy blew a 50-50 die roll to capture the town on 19AM and finished the game with three victory points - one short.

Congratulations to Steve Likevich for winning his fourth Bulge 81 championship.

 GM      Steve Likevich [1st Year]   NA 
   lipac@earthlink.net   NA

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