|
|
It was SRO for the Demo before the
tournament got underway. |
Bruno Sinigaglio and John Vasilakos
form battle lines. |
A Three-Cornered Final
After the best attended demo for this event that I can remember,
we settled in for the Mulligan round Thursday night
that saw nine games of Eutaw Springs played with very
balanced results (4-4-1). Interestingly, two of the
final three players LOST and had to come back for Round 1. So
take heart in the future, all of ye Mulligan-ites!
Round 1 saw John Vasilakos take a "bye",
while Bob Dwyer, Chris Storzillo and Dave Stiffler came back
for a second chance. Ed O'Connor, Graham Cosmas and
our old friend Jim Lawler rounded out the roster for the round. Results
for Eutaw were again balanced with one Substantial
American win, and two British Marginals.
We had five games going in Round 2, with Dale
Long accepting the "bye". The quality of
the players remaining was evident as all victories posted were
marginal. Also attributing to this was the tight,
taut situation played in this round: The "Washington's
Stand" scenario of Monmouth. Brandywine
was skipped in favor of the newer title since we saw that the
number of players remaining presented us with the ability to
have three games going in the semi-final round to get us three
winners for the three-player Savannah final.
Perennial powers (but absent last year) Rod Coffey and Jim
Tracy squared off, with Jim getting the best of it. Yours
truly took out Chris Storzillo in a raucous affair as the fighting
approached the Deacon Craig Farm. Andy Maly beat Consim
regular Rob Doane, and the illustrious Mr. Sinigaglio went down
fighting to John Vasilakos. It seems Bruno rolled
high when he wanted to retreat, and rolled low when he wanted
to kill bad guys. John, the gentleman that he is,
still was not heard to complain much. Our intrepid
Assistant GM fought Ed O'Connor to a draw (Dave's second draw
of the tournament!), but commented later that Ed fought an incredible
battle, and was in fact the very toughest of opponents.
Round 3 was the semi-final. What better
game to take us home than the series' original namesake, Saratoga. All
three games were classics, with each taking a decidedly unique
turn. The weather for the first two turns was clear
- so the Brits were off and running from the start. Top
billing goes to Jim Tracy for taking the baggage train from Dale
Long's British command - say it ain't so Gentleman Johnny! I,
on the other hand took my British light troops around my intrepid
assistant's left flank to try for the Bemis Tavern. However I
diverted against the wrong stack (I guess the Native Americans
I took with me didn't quite understand "go thatta way"
as opposed to "go thisa way"). Dave took
me down good and hard after that debacle. Andy
Maly and John Vasilakos played possibly the tensest game of the
tournament, as the issue went down to the final die roll of the
last turn. All Andy needed was a rotten half point to break
the tie with John's Americans (ties go to the Amis in this one),
but it just wasn't going to happen.
FINAL: 3-Player Savannah
The game started auspiciously, as each player got his preferred
side - with Jim taking the redcoats vs Dave's Americans and John's
French.
Clear weather dominated play from the start, as the
only bad weather was heavy rain on Strategic Turn 7. Every
turn, both before and after, was clear. Prevost
took his band of merry men out on a sortie on ST 2, but did nothing
more than delay some entering Americans. No shots
were fired in anger. There was no card play
until ST 5, and all but one of the cards played were Allied. The
Brits did have one card to play eventually - more on that later.
The French and Americans got along famously for much of the
game, and agreed to begin the assault on the city in earnest
on ST 9. The initial attacks went badly for the British,
as the French and Americans both made inroads against the outer
fortifications. In fact, MacIntosh entered the perimeter
in force. The Americans kept up the pressure against
both Maitland and Prevost on Turn 17, but the British leadership
was beginning to assert itself, as Maitland forced a step loss
on his assailants. The French, however, held tight.
Turn 18 saw the Americans take a beating through multiple
British counterattacks, while the French troops and their big
guns continued to show themselves to be too strong for the redcoats
that were deployed against them. American morale fell
to 11 by the end of the turn. In a wild turn of events
though, Huger took the Spring Hill Redoubt on Turn 19, and Prevost
lost two VPs to French attacks on the British left. British
morale fell to 10!! Could the tide be turning?
The British half of turn 19, however, saw more bad news for
the Americans, as MacIntosh was captured and American morale
plummeted to 7. The British were sensing something
big indeed.
The Allies had held the initiative for the entire tactical
phase until Turn 20. And in the second half of his
double move, Jim Tracy pulled the ace from his sleeve:
His one and only card play: "Commander Initiative". This
card basically adds to his unit's movement allowances. Jim
decided to use this advantage against the downtrodden Americans
(rightly so). John's White Coats were simply
too strong to dent at the time, and Dave's line was exposed by
Jim's actions in the second half of turn 19. Dave
had some disrupted units behind the line that were fair game,
and Jim went all out against any American stack he could hit
- trying for surrounds wherever he could manage it. The
attacks against the damaged units were inconclusive, and the
battle hung in the balance. Success meant victory;
failure would leave the British troops exposed to a furious French
counterattack (although Jim had a nice picket set up just in
case), and a possible Allied double move. We had a
classic finish brewing, and Jim did not disappoint. He
finally had the American morale driven to 1, and had one surrounded
stack remaining - and got his desired result!!! The
Americans promptly fled the field demoralized, and all the French
could do was acknowledge defeat, per the three-player rules.
Mon Dieu!!
The ebb and flow of this contest was amazing, and all three
players had good turns and bad. Jim's inability
to hit anything with his guns initially came full circle as American
units were savaged as the game progressed.
Final Victory Point Tally (Substantial British Victory due
the American Demoralization)
British:12.5
French: 6.5
American: 1
We had a fantastic time this year, and look forward to seeing
everyone again in 2010!!
|
|
Rob McCracken (left) and Andrew Maly
tussle. |
The finalists wage their three-cornered
war. |
|