battles of the american revolution  

Updated 11/30/2009

2009 WBC Report   

2010 Status: pending 2010 GM commitment

Jim Tracy, OH

2009 Champion

Offsite Links

 
Laurels  

Event History
1999    Mark Miklos     22
2000    Cliff Hansen     12
2001    Volko Ruhnke     16
2002    John Vasilakos     19
2003    Mark Miklos     23
2004    Mark Miklos     26
2005    Mark Miklos     28
2006    Andrew Maly     20
2007     Dale Long     34
2008*    Mark Miklos     24
2009*    Jim Tracy     21

* Formerly Saratoga

Brandywine Event History
1999    Mark Miklos     13

PBeM Event History
2007    Jim Tracy     22
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Mark Miklos        GA    08    189
  2.  John Vasilakos     VA    09     78
  3.  Dale Long          NJ    09     77
  4.  Jim Tracy          OH    09     72
  5.  Bruno Sinigaglio   AK    08     64
  6.  Cliff Hansen       NM    01     48
  7.  Volko Ruhnke       VA    01     42
  8.  Andrew Maly        MD    09     35
  9.  John Miklos        GA    07     30
 10.  Don Hanle          VA    02     27
 11.  Robert McCracken   DE    09     27
 12.  David Stiffler     VA    09     21
 13.  Jeff Lange Sr      ae    00     21
 14.  Terry Coleman      CA    07     18
 15.  Michael Arrighi    CA    99     18
 16.  Michael Nagel      NJ    03     15
 17.  Jeff Lange         ae    07     12
 18.  Ric Manns          IN    06     12
 19.  William Riggs      VA    04     12
 20.  Luke Warren        DC    03     12
 21.  Hank Burkhalter    GA    02     12
 22.  Rob Winslow        NY    99     12
 23.  Rod Coffey         GA    07      9
 24.  Mauro Faina        it    07      9
 25.  Derek Miller       VA    05      9
 26.  Jonathan Miller    DC    01      9
 27.  Paul Stoecker      DE    06      6
 28.  Tim Wisner         MD    03      6
 29.  Eric Kleist        GA    06      5
 30.  Tommy Miklos       GA    07      3
 31.  James Miller       VA    05      3
 32.  Paul Barker        uk    03      3
 33.  Bill Alderman      IL    03      3
 34.  Mark Hinkle        NH    99      3

2009 Laurelists                                         Repeating Laurelists 

John Vasilakos, VA
2nd

David Stiffler, VA
3rd

Rob McCracken, DE
4th

Andrew Maly, MD
5th

Dale Long, NJ
6th


Past Winners

Mark Miklos, GA
'99, '03-'05, '08

Volko Ruhnke, VA
2001

John Vasilakos, VA
2002

Andrew Maly, MD
2006

Andrew Maly, MD
2007

 

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.
 GM      Rob McCracken [1st Year]   NA  
    NA   NA

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