breakout: normandy   

Updated 11/15/2011
2011 WBC Report  

 2012 Status: pending 2012 GM commitment
Marvin Birnbaum. NY
2011 Champion

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WBC Event History
1994    Jim Doughan      50
1995    Bill Edwards      48
1996    Hank Burkhalter      54
1997    Jim Doughan      53
1998    Don Greenwood      52
1999    Michael Rinella     48
2000    Phil Barcafer     32
2001    Jim Doughan     34
2002     Alan Applebaum     26
2003    Jim Eliason     28
2004    Nels Thompson     33
2005    Andrew Cummins     27
2006    Jim Eliason     19
2007    Jim Doughan     20
2008    Nels Thompson     20
2009    Nels Thompson     20
2010    Nels Thompson     16
2011    Marvin Birnbaum     21

D-Day Mini-Con Event History
1998    Don Greenwood      17
1999    Alan Applebaum     19
2000    Bryan Esleman     18
2001    Andrew Cummins     17
2002     Marvin Birnbaum     23
2003    David Wong     15
2004    Andrew Cummins     15
2005    Don Greenwood     20
2006     Don Greenwood     13

PBeM Event History
1999    Jim Doughan      34
2001    John Crabtree      36
2003    Bruno Passacantando      48
2004    Don Greenwood     47
2006    Tom Dworschak     50
2011    Don Greenwood     38
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Don Greenwood      MD    10    372
  2.  Nels Thompson      VA    11    300
  3.  Andrew Cummins     uk    08    276
  4.  Alan Applebaum     MA    02    204
  5.  Marvin Birnbaum    NY    11    191
  6.  Jim Doughan        PA    09    187
  7.  Jim Eliason        IA    10    182
  8.  Bryan Eshleman     NC    11    169
  9.  Tom Dworschak      GA    07    136
 10.  Henry Jones        PA    06    136
 11.  Michael Kaye       MD    11    133
 12.  Mike Rinella       NY    11    132
 13.  Brun Passacantando CT    10    116
 14.  Scott Fenn         MD    10    113
 15.  Mark Gutfreund     KY    09    104
 16.  Steve Andriakos    TX    10     88
 17.  Phil Barcafer      PA    01     84
 18.  Clyde Longest      VA    06     60
 19.  Ken Nied           KS    05     51
 20.  David Wong         NJ    03     50
 21.  Tom Pavy           OH    03     48
 22.  Kevin Hammond      NY    10     36
 23.  Bill Edwards       VA    99     36
 24.  Harvey Smallman    CA    07     24
 25.  Bryan Stingley     NC    03     24
 26.  Tom Gregorio       PA    10     22
 27.  Scott Moll         VA    10     22
 28.  Chris Byrd         CT    06     20
 29.  Matthew Ellis      uk    10     18
 30.  Nick Anner         NY    06     12
 31.  Anthony Daw        UT    06     12
 32.  Anders Egneus      sw    99     12
 33.  Ron Fedin          PA    04     11
 34.  John Crabtree      CA    01     10
 35.  Tom Drueding       MA    04     10
 36.  Kevin Wojtaszczyk  NY    11      8
 37.  Hank Burkhalter    GA    10      7
 38.  John Grant Jr      CT    99      6
 39.  Chris Roginsky     PA    04      5
 40.  Dennis Nicholson   NY    03      5

2011 Laurelists                                            Repeating Laurelists 

Mike Kaye, MD
2nd

Jim Eliason, IA
3rd

Nels Thompson, NY
4th

Kevin Wojtaszczyk. NY
5th

Mike Rinella, NY
6th

Past Winners

Jim Doughan, PA
1994, 1997, 2001, 2007

Bill Edwards, VA
1995

Hank Burkhalter, TX
1996

Don Greenwood, MD
1998

Michael Rinella, NY
1999

Phil Barcafer, PA
2000

Alan Applebaum, MA
2002

Jim Eliason, IA
2003, 2006

Nels Thompson, NY
2004, 2008-10

Andrew Cummins, uk
2005

GM Andrew Cummins greets CDW cardshark Dave Docktor as the game attracts new talent.

Walter Garman returns to the tournament after a long absence to play newcomer Johnny Wilson.

Still hitting the beach 18 years later ... with a twist ...

The arrival of the new release of the game courtesy of L2 Design on the day of the competition produced a flurry of interest that raised total games played by almost a third over 2010's worst-ever numbers. We saw six new players in the field and L2's early sellout bodes well for next year's play of a game which remains fresh despite its age.

Bidding for the standard game ranged from 5 to 65 supply to the allies with the majority of games going at between 30 and 40 with an average bid of 37 - down from last year's 39. Interestingly, the Allies decisively beat the Germans with 14 wins in 22 games. The L2 games split 3-2 to the Allies with bidding between 0 and -7 for the Allies. As this trend follows last years 12-9 result I am inclined to believe that we are seeing a real effect. The extra impulses giving the Allies the time they need to make up for some (inevitable) ill-luck in play.

Of course behind these abstract figures lie the stories of games won and lost with Breakout's trademark of unusual sequences of events. The Americans at Omaha being driven into the sea while Caen teetered in the balance a day later is certainly not a common sight. Nor was a game wherein Caen was never contested ending in an Allied victory, nor a complete American corps wrecked in Isigny, St Lo falling to the Allies on D+1, or Caen taken on D+1 by a single Canadian regiment. Then there are the games which never saw a weather change against those where the weather changed six times in the first three days. The variety never ceases to amaze.

The single elimination format is cruel, with four former champions being knocked out en-route to this year's conclusion ... none larger than our thrice victorious defending champion Nels Thompson falling to Marvin Birnbaum in the quarter-finals.

The Final matched Marvin and Michael Kaye - both known as Allied specialists, yet both having survived the semi-finals with German wins. The game began with a bidding war for the Allies. Michael prevailed at 14 supply. Omaha was stuffed at the outset, but Gold and Juno broke forward, clearing Brettville. Sword was reduced to a D2 CA and Utah cleared. But there was a weather change on Impulse 2 that allowed the Germans to cover the center with 752 and 30.

Day 2 began with a clearing of Villars by a 5-unit attack followed by a bold -2 attack to contest Aunay which failed. The Germans for their part managed a successful parastomp in Pont le Abbe. The rest of the game followed a fairly typical pattern as the Germans stuffed units into the bocage and the Allies resorted to artillery and big kill stacks. Another failed attack to contest Aunay on Day 3 left a stack of Brits D1. However, St. Mere was cleared and Carenten contested but never taken.

Day 4 found Sword and Merville cleared, plus Caen and Foret contested. Bayuex was cleared on Day 5, Insigny cleared, then recontested. Insigny was cleared again a day later. At the end Michael found a regroup error that allowed him to finally crack Aunay with a +3 roll. He succeeded in contesting it, but failed to clear it. The game ended without the Allies contesting Catz, St. Lo or Tilly. The American progress was stalled by the presence of seven artillery units split between St. Jean and St. Lo. And that was it for another year; 30 hours of grueling gaming netting Marvin his first BKN WBC title and his 16th overall. It's hard to believe he was denied this long.

 GM      Andrew Cummins  [5th Year]  NA
    AndrewJJCummins@gmail.com   NA

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