Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1996

The
BOARDGAMER

Dedicated To
The Competitive Play Of
Avalon Hill / Victory Games
Board, Sports and Card Games
Featuring: Avaloncon 1995, Panzer Leader,
Assassin, AREA News & Ratings
 2 The Boardgamer Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1996

Current Specific Game AREA Ratings

Advanced Squad Leader Panzerblitz
November 1, 1995 700+ Active Players December 1, 1995 34 Active Players
1. Michael McGrath 2307 JN* 1. David Giordano 1871 EHKA5
2. Gary Fortenberry 2288 JNE 2. Kenneth Oates 1710 BCEA5
3. Richard Summers 2128 HM* 3. Mike Patterson 1695 BBB-4
4. Omar Jeddaoui 2078 CF* 4. Fred Wexler 1640 EGJ-5
5. Scott Drane 2061 KOJ 5. John Hasay 1627 CB-A4
6. Yves Tielemans 2055 CG* 6. Jeff Wolff 1615 BB—4
7. Perry Cocke 2053 KN* 7. Bruce Wright 1600 BB—4
8. Louis Tokarz 2038 HM* 8. Charles Braun 1534 AAA-4
9. Russ Gifford 2012 PQH 8. Russ Woods 1534 AAA-4
10. Steven Pleva 2003 GJJ 8. Paul Reinert 1534 AAA-4
11. Bob Bendis 1981 DH* 11. Mike West 1532 AAA-5
12. Raymond Woloszyn 1961 IOB
13. Phil Petry 1930 QK* Afrika Korps
14. Chad Cummins 1920 BD* December 1, 1995 31 Active Players
15. Bruce Rinehart 1894 JI* 1. Bruno Sinigaglio 2189 GIJA4
16. Guy Chaney 1893 CG* 2. Randy Heller 1939 FFKA5
17. Brian Youse 1890 NM* 3. Vince Meconi 1850 DHBA5
18. Jeff Kelley 1875 BD* 4. Michael Crowe 1812 BDCA5
19. Lawrence Halpern 1860 BEF 5. Joe Beard 1685 BCDA5
20. Bill Bird 1829 GK* 6. John Grant Jr. 1675 ABB-4
21. Kiri Naiman 1825 DH* 7. Phil Evans 1668 AC-A5
22. John Droesche 1817 CF* 8. Thomas Delaney 1643 DFJA5
23. James Crawley 1815 BD* 9. Gregory Smith 1629 BEBA5
24. Dave Ginnard 1811 DH* 10. Barry Smith 1617 BDAA5
25. Eric Givler 1806 GL* 11. Scott Goehring 1600 BD-A4
12. Roger Eastep 1600 ABEA4
Panzer Leader 13. Frank Piercel 1600 AA—5
December 1, 1995 43 Active Players
14. Mark Gutfreund 1543 BCBA5
1. James McAden 1902 DFJ-5 15. Michael Matthews 1538 AB-A5
2. Dan Price 1780 CCC-5 16. Robert Hahn 1535 AA-A5
3. Bruce Wright 1735 CCC-4 17. Michael Reffue 1532 AABA5
4. Fred Wexler 1592 BCE-5 18. Scott Sianno 1505 AB-A5
5. Rob Beyma 1568 AB-A5
6. Bill Scott 1564 CF-A5 Richthofen’s War
7. Kevin Kinsel 1555 CCC-4 December 1, 1995 12 Active Players
8. Steve Shambeda 1537 AA-A5 1. Glenn Petroski 1690 IGBA5
9. Bill Thomson 1535 AAA-3 2. Aaron Petroski 1560 GE—5
10. Steve Andriakos 1535 AA-A5 3. Amanda Petroski 1538 AA—5
11. Michael Panteleano 1535 AA-A5 4. Bill Thomson 1535 AA—3
12. Roger Kyle-Keith 1502 AB-A5 5. Philip Petroski 1531 EE—5
Peloponnesian Wars Battle of the Bulge ‘81
December 1, 1995 10 Active Players December 1, 1995 9 Active Players
1. Frank Hamrick 1658 AC-A5 1. Randy Heller 1774 CE-A5
2. Mark Holley 1536 AB-A5 2. John Grant, Jr. 1720 AB-A5
3. Kevin McCarthy 1507 AB-A5 3. Forest Pafenberg 1535 AB-A5
4. Michael Spinella 1501 AB-A5 4. Phil Evans 1511 AB-A5
 The Boardgamer
Here it is, at last! Finally, the first full
issue of the BOARDGAMER is back
from the printer and on the way out in
the mail. Although this issue will
hopefully be reaching you by mid-late
December, look for future issues to
arrive much closer to their scheduled
publish date, which is the beginning of
January, April, July and October. Since
it had been so long since the preview
issue came out at Avaloncon, I thought
I’d rush this issue through as soon as I
received the beginning of December
AREA rating updates from Glenn
Petroski (which arrived soon after Glenn
returned from his yearly deer hunting
excursions).
You will notice that this issue is very
heavily devoted to two subjects, AREA
ratings and Avaloncon. The reason for
the AREA ratings is that this year’s
Avaloncon brought in the first large
influx of rated games to the new AREA
system. This will give many individual
games their first real base of rated
games. As the number of rated games
submitted stabilizes, the ratings may not
need to be updated as often as is in
evidence this issue.
The most heavily covered subject in this
issue is Avaloncon. This magazine is
devoted to the competitive play of
Avalon Hill/Victory Gam es, and
Avaloncon is THE place for this
competitive play. Therefore, you can
expect to see much Avaloncon
coverage here every year. I would have
put in even more Avaloncon material but
about half of the GMs neither sent in
any information nor responded to a
written request for information. There is
very little here on the junior’s
tournaments and on events run by the
Avalon Hill personnel, but these events
should receive more extensive coverage
in the pages of the GENERAL.
Also, in return for the Avaloncon
information I agreed to write an article
for the GENERAL. I just received a
copy of the GENERAL article right
before going to the printer, and found
they used most of what appears here.
Hopefully, next year I’ll get things
organized a little earlier and will not
have the duplication you will find this
year.
There will be a little more Avaloncon
coverage in the next issue, a nice article
written by an Avaloncon rookie
chronicalizing his first national
Volume 1, Issue 1
From The Editor
championship experience (and his first
wooden plaque). Other than that, next
issue we will return to more game
related material, with a History of the
World series replay type article, and
revised rules for Panzerblitz and
Panzer Leader planned. Hopefully
there will also be another article from
the sports and/or leisure time game line
and possibly even a strategy article on
one of the “classics” from one of their
more experienced practitioners. Of
course, like any new magazine (or
even any magazine), I am always
looking for more material to choose
from. I am not quite desperate enough
to be at the begging level yet, but stay
tuned next issue and maybe I will be.
With Origins only 100 miles away from
my headquarters in beautiful downtown
Minster the next two years, we may
even have coverage from the Avalon
Hill and Victory Games tournaments at
that convention as well. That is
assuming that there is anything to
report on from there. I have not been
to an Origins convention since 1989
and am no longer familiar with how
competitive the tournaments are.
I hope everyone finds something of
interest within. This is the type of
magazine I had been waiting for ever
since Avalon Hill’s line became too big
to cover many of its older titles, and I
hope it is of enough perceived value to
stay in circulation for quite some time
to come. After all, I really enjoy
reading all the articles which are
submitted; it is like receiving small
segments of a magazine in the mail on
a random time schedule.
If some of you are wondering how and
why you received this issue, it is
because I sent a copy to the Avaloncon
GMs who provided good write-ups for
the Avaloncon coverage inside. I know
things were confused as to Avaloncon
coverage this year, with the word that
the GENERAL would have little
coverage, then my announcement that
the BOARDGAMER would be covering
Avaloncon, then the changing editors
at the GENERAL and the decision
there to provide some Avaloncon
coverage after all. I wish to thank
everyone who did provide information
and to warn you ahead of time that
next year I would like for the Avaloncon
coverage to be more comprehensive
than ever.
January 1996 3
The BOARDGAMER
The BOARDGAMER is published by Bruce
Monnin. The BOARDGAMER is intended to
be a compilation of quality articles on the
strategy, tactics, and variants for a variety of
board, sports and card games.
Articles from contributors are considered for
publication at the discretion of the editor.
Rejected articles will be returned whenever
possible. Potential authors should be
advised that all outside submissions may not
have previously been submitted to other
publications unless permission has been
granted and The BOARDGAMER has been
notified. Articles may be reprinted
elsewhere, although the editor’s permission
is requested (and will usually be freely given).
Unless otherwise mentioned, all game titles
mentioned are trademark names of The
Avalon Hill Game Company/Victory Games,
as is the GENERAL and Avaloncon.
EDITOR: Bruce A. Monnin
ADDRESS: 177 South Lincoln Street
Minster, OH 45865
E-MAIL:
GEnie: B.MONNIN
Internet: B.MONNIN@GENIE.GEIS.COM
PHONE: (419) 628-3332
Subscriptions
To The
BOARDGAMER
The BOARDGAMER is to be
published quarterly with mailings
near the beginnings of January,
April, July and October. Individual
issues are $3.50 each and a one
year (4 issue) subscription is
$13.00 ($12.00 for members of
AHIKS). Although the first few
issues may be sent by First Class
mail, eventually all domestic
subscriptions will be sent via bulk
permit. Overseas and foreign
deliveries require additional
postage charges. Contact the
BOARDGAMER for details:
The BOARDGAMER
177 South Lincoln Street
Minster, OH 45865-1240
 4 The Boardgamer Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1996

Inside This Issue

Avaloncon 1995 5
Extensive Coverage of the National Championships by Bruce Monnin
& Avaloncon GMs
Advanced and Basic Squad Leader 6
Naval Games 7
Multiplayer Games 9
World War II 2-Player Games 12
Pre WW II American History Games 15
Miscellaneous 2-Player Games 16
Leisure Time Games 17
Sports Games 18
Computer & Solitaire Games 19
Juniors Tournaments 20
Avaloncon Hall of Fame Update 21
Let’s Talk About Assassin 23
Tips For Better Play by Steven Kershaw
Nailbiters 23
One Gamers Opinion by Jim Matt
AREA News 25
What Happened? by Glenn Petroski
Panzer Leader Avaloncon Scenarios 28
From The 1994 and 1995 Tournaments by Bill Scott

Gettysburg ‘88 1776

December 1, 1995 20 Active Players December 1, 1995 21 Active Players
1. Mike Uhrich 1855 CF-A5 1. Steve Packwood 2034 DF-A5
2. David Zimmerman 1715 AC-A4 2. John Boisvert 1888 DE-A4
3. John Poniske 1701 AC-A4 3. Michael Sincavage 1884 DE-A5
4. Vince Meconi 1687 BDAA5 4. Mark Miklos 1841 DE-A5
5. Allen Kaplan 1671 BD-A4 5. Michael Newman 1593 BC-A4
6. Charles Hamm 1663 BD-A4 6. James McAden 1570 AAA-5
7. Steve Scott 1535 AA-A4 7. Robert Jamelli 1541 AB-A5
8. John Scvolette 1511 BC—4
Stalingrad
Third Reich 4th Edition December 1, 1995 13 Active Players
December 1, 1995 12 Active Players
1. Scott Goehring 2007 IJR-5
1. J. Ingersoll 1927 DHF-4 2. Joe Beard 1630 BCE-5
2. Michael Mitchell 1815 BDA-4 3. John Grant, Jr. 1601 ABB-4
3. Brian Sutton 1800 AC—4 4. Ed Menzel 1598 ABB-4
4. G. Wilson 1640 AB—4 5. Johnny Hasay 1565 ABB-5
5. Charlie Corn 1535 AA—5 6. Greg Smith 1535 ABC-4
6. Roger Cox 1501 AC-A5 7. Thomas Delaney 1535 AAB-5
 The Boardgamer
Extensive Coverage Of The National Championships
Well, Avaloncon has come and gone
once again. Another weekend for the
crowning of national champions, for
testing our skills against some of the
best competition available and for
having an all around good time. On the
following pages will be extensive
coverage of the Avalon Hill National
Championships, in a slightly different
format than usual. I hope you enjoy this
look at competitive gaming’s greatest
weekend of the year. Much of what
follows will also be in Vol. 30, #3 and #4
of the GENERAL, but there is also much
here that will not appear there.
For those who do not know me, I am a
gamer who in the late 1980’s decided
that there was no longer any attraction
i n t h e O ri gi ns a nd Atl a nt ic o n
conventions and who had limited my
gaming to play-by-mail matches through
AHIKS. Then came the announcement
in the GENERAL of the first Avaloncon
convention. I gave it a shot and have
been hooked ever since. How can any
true gamer not be enthralled by the
opportunity to play almost constantly for
four days in the tournaments of his
choice (I played in eight different
tournaments this year - kind of gives
you a clue how well I did in all of them).
T h e f i f t h a n n u a l A v a l o n Hi l l
Championships were held August 2nd-
6th, 1995 with over 1200 attendees.
Despite turning in my worst overall
performance (by far), I had my best time
yet. There was time to compete in the
more serious tournaments, yet I still
managed to squeeze in a healthy
number of the short and fun sports and
leisure time events.
Although the number of attendees was
relatively constant from last year, many
events saw an increase in the number
of participants. I think this can be
explained by a remark from Don
Greenwood at the After Action Meeting
where he mentioned that people are
getting better at scurrying from one
event to another. Personally, I had a
prepared list of when all my favorite
tournaments started, so that, for
example, when I was forced to depart
early from the Circus Maximus
tournament due to being swerved into
Volume 1, Issue 1
Avaloncon 1995
by Bruce Monnin
the inner spina, my disappointment was
lessened by the fact that I now had time
to make it to the Win, Place & Show
tournament.
This was the first year without the
mandatory AREA ratings at Avaloncon.
However, there may actually be an
increase in the number of games rated
with specific game AREA ratings as at
least 18 of the tournaments were run
with all results submitted for ratings and
with all participants in these events
receiving free specific game AREA
ratings.
Later in this article will be details of the
individual tournament which comprise
Avaloncon. However, first there will be
mention of the non-tournament events at
Avaloncon.
An Avaloncon tradition continued as the
Inter-Faith Religious Service occurred
from 7:30 to 8:00 AM. Many of the 26 in
attendance had just been seen at 2:30
AM the night before still participating in
the Slapshot or Victory In The Pacific
tournaments or still partaking of the
open gaming. The Sunday worship
service allowed those in attendance to
give their thanks for the almost
completed weekend.
The After Action Meeting is another
Avaloncon tradition going strong as
many gathered to provide praise, voice
criticisms and to question the direction
of Avalon Hill is general and Avaloncon
in particular. There was very little in the
way of concrete news offered, with the
exception that Avalon Hill has already
paid the hotel the deposit money for
Av a l o n c o n 1 9 9 6 , t h u s m a k i n g
Avaloncon VI likely regardless of
corporate events at Monarch-Avalon.
Team Black Bear won the Team
Tournament at Avaloncon 1995. The
Maine-group scored 17 points total
based on an 8 point win by Seth
Cousins in Kremlin, an 8 point win by
Mike Neal in Advanced Civilization, and
a 1 point effort by Andy Lewis in
Merchant of Venus. Rounding out the
team was two-time 1994 winner Caleb
Cousins who failed to score in
ROADKILL - an event he won last year.
January 1996 5
Finishing second was AHIKS Europe
with 15 points based on an 8-point win
by Herbert Gratz of Austria in Up Front,
a 6 point win by Greece's Nick Frydas in
War & Peace, and 1 point from Tom
Oleson in Anzio. Murray Cowles failed to
score in Breakout Normandy to round
out the effort.
A close third was scored by the Old
Guard with wins in Russian Campaign
(Robert Beyma), Waterloo (Joe Beard)
and single point performances by John
Grant in Russian Front and Randy
Heller in Bulge '91.
Congratulations are also in order to Ken
Lee for winning the Gamemaster
Award with a perfect 10.0 rating. Other
top finishers were '94 winner Glenn
Petroski (VIP, 10.0), Russ Gifford (ASL,
9.88), Bill Scott (PZL, 9.66), and John
Ellman (MMS, 9.63). All five of these
guys are repeat winners of the top Six
GM Award at Avaloncon.
Breaking into the top six this year in the
Y ear of DI PCO N XXVI I I at
AVALONCON is James Yerkey (DIP,
9.61). Other top GMs just missing the
cut by .1 or less were Dave Terry (B17,
9.53), Alan Applebaum (BKN 9.5), Neal
Schlaffer (EIS, 9.57), Trevor Bender
(HCR, 6.25), Andy Maly (UPF, 9.57),
and Bruce Monnin (WAS, 9.5). *
Finally, and perhaps most importantly,
congratulations to Ian Lange for winning
the Sportsmanship Award in a random
drawing of 13 nominees. Ian was
nominated for his performance in the
MUSTANGS tournament. He will be
Avalon Hill’s guest at AVALONCON '96
with a free room and an AVALONCON
plaque. If Avaloncon is anything to
many of us attending it is a chance to
both display and improve our skills in a
multitude of Avalon Hill/Victory Games
without having to face the win at all
costs attitudes that can so ruin the
enjoyment of gaming. The nominees for
the Sportsmanship award are full of
stories of people sacrificing their own
chances for victory to help increase the
enjoyment level for another gamer. It is
important to remember that this is what
is truly important and what can keep our
hobby alive and well.
 6 The Boardgamer
Avaloncon 1995 - Squad Leader
Advanced Squad Leader
Titans strode across the game room at
Avaloncon '95. How else does one
explain two people dominating a field of
130 top notch players _TWO YEARS
RUNNING?_ It might also be explained
as a "grudge match." Gary Fortenberry
and Omar Jeddaoui both felt they had
some unfinished business from last
year, and both were determined to meet
in the final round to prove their point. Of
course, 128 other players felt they had
something to say about the outcome,
too. People like Mike McGrath. Yves
Tielemans. Brian Youse. Bob Bendis.
But, they were wrong. Fort and Omar
were the chosen two. Thus, at 3 AM,
drive, determination and dice wrote the
ending of this story.
There can be only one. And this year,
that one is Gary Fortenberry. At 2:50
AM Sunday, Gary Fortenberry of
Reston, VA defeated Omar Jeddaoui of
Paris, France to become the 1995
Advanced Squad Leader Champion.
Omar placed second, atop of a field of 7
other 6-1 finishers.
Fort becomes the first player to achieve
back to back wins over two 128+
Avaloncon ASL field! He blazed his
path to the top through half of the
eventual top ten, and took no prisoners
along the way. Gary joins Mike
McGrath, the only other repeat winner at
Avaloncon's ASL championship, and
Perry Cocke, the 1992 Avaloncon ASL
champ. Perry's win split McGrath's
two victories, the second of which was
achieved via a last round win over --
Gary Fortenberry!
The McGrath - Fort rematch was
postponed again this year when Brian
Youse turned McGrath away in round 5.
Brian's bid for the Championship was in
turn halted by Omar. Youse, clinching
third, now has 4 top ten Avaloncon
finishes. Jeddaoui's play has created
believers on both sides of the Atlantic
with some superb efforts two years
running. He may also have created a
new rivalry; Second place, twice in two
years, losing both times to Fort.
Something tells me he'll be back with a
vengeance next year.
Round 1 action saw some top seeds
drop, with Rob Banozic ousting #3 seed
Perry Cocke in the first round, while #4
Volume 1, Issue 1
seed Scott Drane lost to Jim McLeod
and Ray Wolozsyn fell to Steve Katz.
"Being a top seed means you play the
better players early," says Tourney
Director Russ Gifford, who somehow
manages to get a quote in every one of
these articles.
"People seem to think seeding means
the 'big guys' get it easy -- but the
opposite is true. Seeding insures two
top players won't knock each other out
in the early rounds, but the higher
you're seeded, the tougher your
opponents will be. In Swiss System
pairings, seeded players play the BEST
unseeded players, not the worst."
Avaloncon this year was the uprising of
the middle class of the ASL world. By
round 4, the players in the middle ranks
of ASL were sending a clear message:
All contenders were fair game! Joining
Cocke, Drane and Wolozsyn were
Summers, Givler and Tokarz, all losing
to the younger "lesser knowns."
But, the real story is the effort all these
people put out to work their way BACK
to the top ranks. Though they might
finish one win behind normal, they fired
back and had returned to the top ranks
by tourney end. They all proved
determination, not dice, decides one's
destiny.
BEST OF CLASS AWARDS. Before
the tourney, 4 different skill classes
b a s e d o n AR EA p o i n t s w er e
determined. The highest finishers in
each class would be recognized for
achievement within their skill level.
Thus, while we are all trying to win the
overall tournament, we are also
competing for a "championship" over
our equals.
Novice (1299 and Under -- 14 Players):
1) Seth Semenza, NY 4-3
2) Pierre Pelletier, CAN 4-3
3) Ralph McDonald, MA 4-3
Class C (1300 to 1499 -- 27 Players):
1) J.R. Tracy, NY 5-2
2) Michael Rodgers, CAN 4-3
3) James Manfredi, MA 3-4
Class B (1500-1699 -- 29 Players):
1) Bruno Tielemans, BEL 6-1
2) Pat Kavanagh 6-1
3) Robert Feinstein, CA 5-2
January 1996
Class A (1700 to 1899 -- 23 Players):
1) Brian Youse, MD 6-1
2) Ray Wolozsyn, NC 6-1
3) Kiri Naiman, MA 5-2
4) Louie Tokarz, IL 5-2
Unrated Prize (31 Players):
1) Chad Cummins, DC 6-1
2) Geo.Tournemire, FRA 5-2
3) Danny Stanhagen, VA 4-3
6-1!! Fort's tourney card says it all: He
listed Chad's name, followed by "????"
No one knew who he was, but we
certainly know now!
Sportsmanship Nomination. I had
numerous people recommended for this,
the most important award. I have no
idea who will eventually get it, but I must
second the nomination of Steve
"Whammer" Petersen. Steve was the
1994 Unrated Award Winner, and had
every reason to believe he would do
well this year, too. Steve, though,
sacrificed much of his tourney for his
friend, Brian Youse. Brian required a
hospital visit on Thursday,and Steve
skipped Thursday to see Brian made it
to the doctor. He then suffered more
tourney problems, including facing Brian
over the board, and a late start that left
him without an opponent in the next
round. He took every one of these
items in stride, never bitched, never
frowned, and continued in the tourney,
notching 3 points by the end. Thank
you, Steve, for remembering this is a
game, and that other things do have
greater importance!
Russ Gifford wished to express his
special thanks to Stephen Frum, Jim
Brackin, Steven Kyle, and Steve Katz
who provided me with great help thru
the weekend. Also, special thanks to
Chuck Geotz, who allowed me to make
him an "answering machine" and to
Daniel Zucker, who helped me every
round with the drudge work of making
the new "leader boards" work. And
most of all, I thank all of you who
participated.
Squad Leader
Eight die-hards continue to eschew ASL
to participate in the Squad Leader
tournament. Kevin Welsh of Browns
Mills, NJ defeated defending champion
Eric Stranger to claim this year’s title.
 The Boardgamer
Avaloncon 1995 - Naval Games
War At Sea drew its largest ever field of
33 entrants, partially due to the
beginner’s session ably run by John
Pack prior to the tournament. Jon
Lockwood was the only player to finish
the five round Swiss preliminaries with a
perfect 5-0 record. Four players
finished at 4-1 which unfortunately
necessitated calculation of tie break
points to eliminate one player. Steve
Packwood came out the lowest in the
strength of schedule calculation and
was thus eliminated to finish 5th. Paul
Sommers, Michael Knautz and Bruce
Monnin finished 5th through 8th,
respectively, after the preliminaries.
In the semifinals, Tim Hitchings
defeated 1994 champ Phil Rennert and
Ray Freeman defeated Jon Lockwood
by successfully employing the Barents
on 1 Allied strategy against their Axis
counterparts. The final was a nearly
identical rematch of their round 3
meeting earlier in the tournament. As
before, Freeman bid 1 POC to play the
Allies, and Hitchings took the Axis. In
the early going Hitchings got the upper
hand, and as Ray put it, “I had a really
depressing position at the beginning to
turn 5. Only the fact that this was the
finals gave me the incentive to play on”.
However, the dice switched sides on
that crucial turn, and, as in the earlier
game, it came down to the last turn. In
the preliminary round, Hitchings had
won by 2 POC when the Luftwaffe sank
the last British convoy in the Barents on
Turn 8. This time the Luftwaffe missed,
and Freeman squeaked out a 1 POC
win. It doesn’t get and closer than that!
Freeman (Berkley, CA) went 6-1 playing
the Allied side in all seven games using
his version of the Barents on 1 strategy
where he entices the Axis into a weaker
South Atlantic Ocean on turn 1, then
traps as much of the German fleet as
possible there giving up the Barents Sea
on turn 2.
This year’s tournament continued the
trend towards better Allied play. Early
Avaloncon tournaments were dominated
by Axis victories,usually by large POC
margins. However, this year the total
wins were split 33-32 in the Allied favor,
while the top 8 finishers were a
combined 21-3 playing the Allied side
but only 12-10 as the Axis.
Volume 1, Issue 1
Greg Mayer of Maryland was the only
member of last year’s Naval War finals
to return to the finals again this year.
Greg used his hard won experience to
claim the championship this year over a
record sized field of 49. Kim Cresswell
took 2nd place, while Eric Kavalauskas,
Ken Good, Tom Kobrin, Tim Evinger,
Robert Rademaker and Paul Weintraub
rounded out the top eight.
A record high number of Victory In The
Pacific players (46) once again
subjected themselves to a three day,
seven round Swiss tournament. The
usual suspects were missing this year
with none of the three previous
champions nor any of last year’s final
four cracking the top eight this year.
Dan Henry of Chicago, IL made his
team happy by taking the first place
plaque and the 8 team points that went
along with it by posting a 6-0-1 record.
Mike Kaye took 2nd with a 6-1 record,
while Tom Johnston’s 4-1-2 record was
good enough for third over Mike
Ussery’s 5-2-0 record. GM Glenn
Petroski finished 5th, Mike Knautz 6th,
Greg Hansen 7th and Tom Arndt 8th.
During the course of the VITP
tournament, 96 games were played (lots
of AREA chits for Glenn to process) with
the Japanese having a 53-38-5
advantage. The highest bid for the
Japanese side was 4 POC during two
games, with no bids recorded for the
Allied side. The average bid was 1.2
POC for the Japanese, although 37
games featured no bidding for either
side.
Enemy In Sight was once again
popular, drawing 48 entrants (an
increase of 12 over last year) into this
naval card game. Phil Thomas of
Baltimore, MD took top honors, with
Steve Cameron again coming close in
second place. Gerald Lientz and Wade
Fowble were tied for 3rd-4th place at the
end of the final round, with Gerald being
awarded third based on points scored in
the first round games. Dave Davis, Bill
Place, James Hughto and Jonathon
Squibb also collected prizes. None of
the 5 female entrants made it past the
first round. Apparently gallantry at sea
is dead when it comes to wargaming.
January 1996 7
AVALONCON '95 saw the
reinstatement of a Fifth Fleet after a
year’s absence due to lack of a GM.
The 1992 AVALONCON champ, Jim
Fleckenstein of Virginia, GM'd the
renewed event, which drew 8 entries.
The double elimination type A event's
f ir st round saw vi ct ori es by
Fleckenstein, Andy Maly, Tom Juneau
(who had learned the game at
AVALONCON) and David Davis. In
round two, Maly's Allied forces eked out
a 4 VP marginal victory over Jim
Fleckenstein's Soviets while Davis, the
1993 Fifth Fleet GM, posted a victory
over Juneau to remain undefeated.
In the third round, Jim Fleckenstein's
luck ran true as he was ousted by the
newcom er Juneau, whil e t he
undefeated Maly continued his streak
by besting Davis. The fourth round saw
Juneau's luck finally run out as Maly
handed him a marginal defeat. Jimmy
Fleckenstein advanced to the finals
through the loser’s bracket when Davis
resigned.
The hard-fought rematch of round one
ended with the same outcome, as one
of Fleckenstein's Allied task forces
diverted from their course to pursue one
of Maly's fleeing Soviet Indian Ocean
wolfpack subs, and so failed to reach
their objective by game's end. The
"lost" 25 VP fuelled a 10 VP victory and
a National Championship for Maly of Bel
Air, MD, an experienced gamer/GM who
nonetheless had only played Fifth Fleet
solitaire prior to AVALONCON.
Bridesm aid again, the younger
Fleckenstein vowed to be back next
year.
The game of modern naval combat in
the Indian Ocean will appear again at
next year's AVALONCON, says GM
Fleckenstein, who intends to run it as a
type B event to increase participation.
"The success of relatively inexperienced
players this year seemed to show that
anyone with gaming experience can
play the intermediate scenarios of Fifth
Fleet and be competitive." Fleckenstein
noted, "I want to grow this event by
letting others give this game a try - I
think they'll enjoy it."
 8 The Boardgamer Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1996

Avaloncon 1995 - Naval Games

Blackbeard continues to grow in
size each year, this time attracting
61 would be pirates, with John
Kilbride of Philadelphia, PA
reclaiming his 1994 championship.
Chris Greenfield accumulated the
second most booty, while John
Emery finished third and Charles
Scaglione fourth. Tom Carroll,
Laurie Seeloff, Linda Schiffer and
Sarge Presser also claimed prizes
for finishing in the top eight.
Attack Sub drew 40 entrants as this
traditional get-away day tournament
remains popular. Jack Reid of
Pittsburgh, PA defeated 1991
champion Jim Fuqua in the finals,
with Ed Musselman and Jeff Lange
also making the semi-finals. Brian
Conlon, Richard Trockel, Erick
Young and Bruce Wigdor also
claimed prizes for finishing in the
top eight. This was Jim’s second
attempt in the finals to become a
repeat champion, but so far there
have been five different champions
in the five years of the tournament.
Larry York of El Monte, CA proved
to be tops among the 21 admirals
participating in Wooden Ships &
Iron Men. David Metzger took 2nd
place while Brotherhood of the Main
Brace teammates Keith Hunsinger
and Paul Risner each fell one round
short of facing off in the finals to
take 3rd and 4th places.
Brotherhood
Of The Main Brace
I shall try to give the details of the trials and
tribulations of the team I belonged to, The
Brotherhood of the Main Brace. Our team
had only 3 points in 1993 but improved to 4
points in 1994. We were hoping for an
exponential increase for the 1995
convention.
Wednesday struck the first blow against the
Brotherhood of the Main Brace team as one
of our members, Mike McAnnany, was
trapped in Florida by a hurricane. Here we
found out that not even an act of God can
overcome the Avaloncon rule of no
substitutions during the team tournament.
So we were already fighting with a handicap.

The Brotherhood of the Main Brace got off to

Team Tournament Standings
1) Black Bear (Sean Cousins - KRM, Michael Neal - ACV,
Andy Lewis - MOV, Caleb Cousins - RKL)
2) AHIKS Europe (Herbert Gratz - UPF, Nick Frydas - W&P,
Tom Oleson - ANZ, Murray Cowles - BKN)
3) Old Guard (Rob Beyma - TRC, Joe Beard - WAT,
John Grant - RFT, Randy Heller - B91)
4) Koleszar Plot (Stephen Koleszar - TTN, John Koleszar - GUE,
Luke Koleszar - MOV, Marilyn Koleszar - TVW)
5) Manly Men (Ken Gutermuth - MMS, Tom Kobrin - DIP,
George Sauer - KGM, Bruce Reiff - WPS)
6) Will Game For Food (Tim Johnson - HWD, Ed Kraska - SOA,
Ed Beach - HCR)
7) Windy City Wargamers (Dan Henry - VIP, Louie Tokarz - ASL,
S. Reynolds - A3R)
8) Band Of Fools (Ray Freeman - WAS, G. Dickson - TRC,
Mark Gutfreund - BKN, Tom Gregario - VIP)
9) Jerry’s Kids (Joe Bellas - RTG, Jeff Otto - HCR,
J. Black - ACV)
10) Brotherhood of the Main Brace (Paul Risner - B17, Bruce
Monnin - WAS, Keith Hunsinger - WSM, Mike McAnnany - NVW)
11) Team Delaware (Vince Meconi - GBG, Tim Hitchings - WAS,
William Rohrbeck - WSM, J. Kirk - HCR)
12) Entrophy (Mark Giddings - 183, Marvin Birnbaum - BKN,
Ted Racier - WTP, Jim Eliason - FSE)
13) Last Good Warriors (Mike Sincavage - ANZ, Mike Crowe - A3R,
Michael Ussery - VIP, M. Bocho - ROR)
14) Christians (Frank Hamrick - PPW, Glenn Petroski - VIP,
Mark Holley - D91, Lee Price - RBN)
15) 1st Minnesota (Steve Packwood - 176, Tom Arndt - VIP,
K. Arndt - RBN, Mike Backstrom - BKB)
16) Game Knights II (Carol DeMarco - TYX, W. DeMarco - ADV,
J. Wagner - RKL
17) Vanguard Victors (M. Kaye - VIP, M. Romanicki - HWD,
B. Romanicki - BKB, J.Torkelson - BKN)
18) Light Brigade (J. Foster - ADV, C. Foster - MOV
M. Foster - CDT, K. Liemmons - RBN)
19) Team Doily (Don Greenwood - BKN, Ray Pfeiffer - ADV
Bill Cleary - FBS, Alan Ernstein - GNG)
a fantastic start as last year’s runner-up,
Paul Risner of Sarasota, FL, flew his B-17
“Red, Red Robin” to victory in a field of 31
17 pilots. Paul’s victory provided 7 points in the
team tournament standings, but our
15 handicap came up to bite us as an 8th point
would have been won with just one more
15 participant, and our stranded Florida
teammate would have brought the field up to
12 32.
11 I was up next in War At Sea, also making my
Avaloncon debut as a GM. After seeming in
11 constant motion for the 6+ hours of the first
three rounds, I was amazed to find myself
10 with a 3-0 record. In the last two rounds the
demands on the GM decreased, thus giving
10 me time to concentrate better on the games I
was playing, which explains why I lost them
10 both to barely hold onto 8th place and 1 point
for my disappointed team.
9
Naval War was the team’s third team event,
9 but here’s where the hurricane took us out of
action and we scored the big goose-egg with
8 Mike McAnnany’s absence.
Keith Hunsinger did manage to pull out one
8
last point for the team, bringing us up to a
total of nine, over doubling last year’s effort.
8
Keith and teammate Paul Risner both
advanced to the semi-finals, where they both
7
were defeated one step short of an ethical
dilemma of teammates in the finals. Not that
4
it would have been a problem, Paul would
have tried his hardest to humiliate Keith no
4
matter how it affected the team standings.
4 So, we made it up to 10th place this year.
Everyone else had better watch out next
4 year as we’re due to hit the upper teens in
points.
 The Boardgamer
Avaloncon 1995 - Multiplayer Games
This year’s Advanced Civilization
tournament boasted a perfect 40 players
in five 8-player games. This year’s first
round games were much harder fought
than previous years and some barely
finished before the time limit. Michael
Neal, Doug Gallulo, Todd Vander
Pluym, Michele Sandoe and Jeff Cornett
won their boards and advanced along
with the three best second place
finishers, Jim Reynolds, Michael Ehler
and Jeff Clark. Unfortunately, early
d ep a rt ur es , fat ig u e a nd f am ily
emergencies forced four of the finalists
to withdraw. Their places were filled by
those next in line. Next year the
qualifier round may need to be changed
to Friday to ease time constraints.
Michael Neal of Bangor, ME (Egypt)
finally won after two second place
finishes. Todd Vander Pluym (Illyria and
2nd), Joe Lux (Crete and 3rd) and GM
Charlie Hickok (Assyria and 4th) were
separated by a mere 30 points. Jeff
Cornett (Iberia and 5th) was close
behind after suffering from prolonged
front runner status. Perennial victor Dan
Vice (Thrace and 6th) was possibly
sidetracked by a desire to repay Jeff
Cornett for their first round match. Bill
Pennington (Africa and 7th) and Jeff
Clark (Babylon and 8th) staggered
under much more than their fair share of
disaster. The final’s highlight was Todd
Vander Pluym’s sincere and humble
announcement in the early midgame
that he was amazed by everyone else’s
level of play and that he was
“outclassed”. No one believed it, of
course.
Next year look for the first round to run
all day Friday, with the finals starting
Saturday at 6 PM and continuing on
Sunday.
Advanced Third Reich drew its largest
ever field as 41 grand strategists
competed in this event. The team of
Jim Sparks and Dave Middleton from
Maryland won the title, defeating a team
of Jaani Lantelon and Peter Baekgren
from Finland in the finals. The teams of
John Boisvert and Louis Giannobile and
of Victor Hogan and Jerry Smolens
finished in 3rd-4th places.
Volume 1, Issue 1
Perennial favorite Circus Maximus
drew 72 Ben Hur wannabes racing 98
chariots in the preliminaries for its
largest field in Avaloncon history. The
charioteers were greeted by a slightly
changed tournament format which
rewarded the racers not only for their
position at the end of the race but also
for the number of damage points they
managed to inflict on their competitors.
Surprisingly enough, a 3 light chariots
managed to slip through in the
preliminaries to post victories, as did 4
normal and 5 heavy chariots.
In the final, Mike Pantaleano of Felton,
DE (in a 1-2-2-0 chariot) edged out
Steve Cameron (in a 2-2-0-1 chariot) for
the win. On the next to last turn, Steve
rolled just high enough on his straining
roll to move adjacent to Mike and attack
his car/driver. However, he decided not
to attack and moved one square ahead
instead because he incorrectly believed
that the winner of the race would be the
player who was farther around the
corner after the finish line. Since Steve
was on the inside of Mike, he could
have won had his belief been the actual
rule. Doug Lefevre in 3rd, Joe Abrams
in 4th, Tom Stokes in 5th, John Pack in
6th, Scott Sirianna in 7th and Paul
Bolduc in 8th finished during later turns.
12 heavy, 3 normal and 1 light chariot
lined up for the final race. Amazingly,
11 chariots finished including all three
normals and the one light.
Coloni al Di pl om ac y m a d e it s
Avaloncon debut with with the best
countries from two preliminary rounds
advancing into the Saturday finals.
Di pl om a cy G M Jim Yer k ey o f
Catonsville, MD came out on top of the
field of 40 participants. Yerkey reached
the finals by being Best Russia in the
preliminaries. Stephen Koehler finished
in 2nd place and was Best Holland, Ed
Rothenheber was 3rd and Best France,
Scott Bowling was 4th and Best China,
Ken Mathias was 5th and Best Turkey,
Ric Manns was 6th and Best Britain,
while Tom Pasko finished in 7th and
was Best Japan. The finals were played
for 9-1/2 hours until the victory was
finally conceded.
January 1996 9
The Avaloncon Diplomacy tournament
gained increased stature as it was also
the home of DIPCON XXVIII. A record
sized field of 73 competed in a best 2
out of 3 scoring system under the
guidance of GM Jim Yerkey. Sylvain
Larose of Montreal, Quebec snagged
the prestigious title, with Michael
Cunningham finishing in 2nd place, Tom
Kobrin in 3rd place and Carl Willner in
4th place. Steven Cooley, Thomas
Pasko, Rex Martin and David Webster
finished 5th through 8th.
A number of special awards were also
given out. Champion Larose was also
Best Russia, Cunningham was Best
Italy, Willner was Best Turkey, Web
Agnew was Best France, Joseph
Abrams was Best Germany, Bill
Schuelle was Best England and Hugh
Turner was Best Austria.
The Golden Blade award went to Willner
for the best stab of the tournament, a
four center stab in the last round. The
Hammered Award (which goes either to
someone who is repeatedly crushed or
to the victim of the Golden Blade) went
to David Hood, who suffered Willner’s
Golden Stab.
Another subcompetition was the
Diplomacy Team event during the
Saturday heat. Any 5 people could form
a Team. The prizes consisted of a
certificate and some non-trivial prestige.
Team GEnie (Lauren Cain, Sandy
Wible, Hugh Turner, Sean Smallman
and Greg Geyer) bested three other
team to take this prize. The five
members of Team GEnie did superb...
Hugh Turner had an excellent game
while everyone else on the team was a
part of at least a 3-way draw.
One good story from the tournament
from Sandy Wible: “Friday night, I went
to get drinks from the Pizza Hut for my
ally and myself. However, I couldn't
figure out what he wanted...some
bizarre juice flavor or something and
who knows _where_ it was. I came
back, and everyone said "Hey, man, you
got stabbed!" I looked at him in surprise
and he got a sheepish look. "Yeah, I
stabbed you," he finally admitted. I
shook my head with a wry curl to my
mouth. "Well, that's ok," I said.
"Because I didn't get you your drink."
The whole table lost it. It was hilarious.
 10 The Boardgamer
Avaloncon 1995 - Multiplayer Games
The Gunboat Diplomacy
demonstration grew in size as for the
first time there was not one, but four
gunboat games, which even allowed for
cross game press to really confuse
things. For those who don't know, Rex
Martin's ferrets were the joke at the
gunboat game last year, and resurfaced
at this year's gunboat. What exactly that
means, I have no idea.
Britannia continues to draw large fields
as 69 contestants fought for the crown.
Randy Schilb of Columbia, MO emerged
with the plaque, with Barry Smith, Tim
Proksch and Scott Pfeffier also finishing
in the top four. Sean Smallman,
Richard Curtin, Brett Mingo and John
Price finished 5th through 8th.
The 1830 field was down in size from
the previous two years, but still drew 51
entrants. Mark Giddings of Albany, NY
snagged first place (unfortunately the
2nd through 4th place results were
illegible on my copy of the winner’s
claim sheet). Martin Remick, Dick
Martin, Ed Wrobel and Barry Gorski
claimed the 5th through 8th spots.
Empires In Arms saw its field size drop
to a new low of 15, and also saw the
unusual occurrence of a tie for first
between Ed Slusarek of South Amboy,
NJ and Hwan Ho Rhee. It is unknown
how they decided to divide the plaque.
Peter Stein of Flushing, NY took the
Guerilla title over John Koleszar, Sean
Cousins and John Wetherell. Kevin
Bungess, Tom Mueller, Michael
Livingston and John Coussis finished in
the top eight to also claim prizes. The
first round consisted of six six-player
games. Each played with two guerilla,
government and mercenary loyalty
markers. When the first round ended
the government faction won three
games as did the guerillas. Five of the
first round games had a point spread of
21 points or less. The final round was
anything but close. The Rebel forces
showed the government who was in
charge with a difference of well over 120
points.
Volume 1, Issue 1
James Garvey of Amherst, NY became
the fourth champion in four years of
Dune competition. Gregory Crowe
finished second in the field of 23, with
Jason O’Donnell and Bruce Bernard
also finishing in the top four.
History of the World drew another
record field, once again breaking the
century mark with 108 entrants for the
three round event. Tim Johnson of
Odenton, MD triumphed, defeating Sean
Vessey, Stefan Krzywicki, Michael Hart,
Tom Scarborough and Helen Hsieh in
the final game. The first round had a
wide range of results, with some winning
scores in the 180’s while two games had
3 people at 200 or better. The second
round had only one runaway winner,
with the other 5 games being tightly
contested. The final game came down
to the usual last turn luck of the card
pick, with at least three of the players
having a good shot at victory going into
the last epoch.
I once again showed my skill by just
barely avoiding being lapped on the
victory point chart during a first round
game, and somehow managing to
receive the Incas/Aztecs and Germany
in the last two epochs despite being the
low man on both the victory and
strength point charts.
Kingmaker drew a record field with
Charles Hickok of Harrisburg, PA
besting the field of 38 entrants to be
crowned champion of the tournament.
Michael Newman finished 2nd, with
Jess Stepanck and Sean Smallman also
finishing in the top four. William ‘Sandy’
Wible, Jon Kwiatkowski, Tim Flanigan
and Scott Bowling took 5th through 8th
places.
Merchant of Venus remained as
popular as ever, setting a new record
with 56 entrants. GM Greg Mayer of
Ballwin, MD won the event over 2nd
place Bill Crenshaw, 3rd place Shannon
Stuart and 4th place Kevin Welsh.
Caleb Cousins, Debbie Otto, Andy
Lewis and Chuck Foster all finished in
the top eight.
January 1996
1992 champion Sean Cousins of
Bangor, ME regained the Kremlin title
over a field of 36 entrants. The semi-
finals featured the die rolling of Debbie
Foster, who was able to purge
candidates at will, but failed three
consecutive time before getting a game-
ending wave on the fourth attempt.
Torrid purging continued in the finals as
3 party chiefs were sent to Siberia (a
15% chance each). In the end, Sean
was able to purge 6 politicians in one
turn to empty the Politburo and win the
championship. Newcomers Michelle
Giannobile and Debbie Foster were 2nd
and 4th respectively, while Ray
Stakenas II came in 3rd after winning an
impressive 3 preliminary games. Jay
O’Donnell, Dave MacLellan, Heikki
Thoen and Jeff Finkeledy placed 5th
through 8th.
GM Michael Anchors ran the New
World tournament as a two-round Swiss
event using the basic game, to teach
beginners how to play and promote
interest in this interesting game. 24
explorers participated in the first round
and and fourteen in the second. Brett
Mingo of Washington, DC and veteran
Jim Fuqua tied with first and second
place finishes. Since Brett had
accumulated more money in his two
games, he took home the plaque. 1992
champion Trevor Bender and Kirk
Woller rounded out the top four. Winning
players concentrated on developing
Central America and the Brazilian coast,
the former yielding more gold and the
latter doubled resource points. The
fickle finger of fate award goes to David
Gantt whose three ship armada was
sunk in a single roll, a 1 in 5832 chance.
The group assured GM Anchors that
they were ready to take on the
Exploration Variant next year.
Rail Baron saw its largest ever field of
63 entrants. Heikki Thoen of Montreal,
Quebec was the master magnate this
year, with Terry Telger in 2nd, Tim
Flanagan 3rd and Bill Crenshaw 4th.
Last year’s runner-up, Chuck Foster,
joined Mark McCandless, Dave Terry
and Jared Scarborough in the 5th
through 8th places.
 The Boardgamer
Avaloncon 1995 - Multiplayer Games
Pax Britannica drew 14 entrants with
Richard Curtin II of Peekskill, NY
claiming first place over second place
finisher Benjamin Foy and third place
James Shacher. Other awards given
included Curtin claiming Best US, Foy
as Best Britain, Shachar as Best
Italy ,Mark Franceschini as Best Japan,
William Lentz as Best Russia, Vince
Battestelli as Best France and Gordon
Clay as Best Germany.
Last year’s problem with the walkaway
Belgium victories on both boards was
resolved by the Belgium divisor being
changed from 1 to 1.5 and by not
playing Belgium. Next year there will be
a mechanism to prevent “squidding” of
Interests on the last turn to increase
tensions. There will also be a brief clinic
on scoring at the beginning of the
tournament in addition to the two hour
demo before the tournament.
Republic of Rome attracted 37 people,
up 12 from last year, which GM Will
"Sandy" W ible attributes to the
tournament format change. It was
Continuous last year, which is a killer for
a 6 hour game. This year was run in
three stages, one heat Wednesday
night, one heat Thursday night, and the
final Friday morning. There were four
tables for each Heat, which used the
Middle Republic, and with a winner from
every table there were two boards of
four each for the Late Republic Final.
Michael Ehlers of Baltimore, MD
claimed the final victory, with Trevor
Bender, John Pack, Chris Bartiromo,
Wray Ferrell, Sean Larsen, Gabriel
Crowl and last year’s winner Chris
Greenfield rounding out the final eight.
While Michael had a clear win, both
games were so close that, for example,
the difference between #2 and #7 was
only four percentage points.
Will continued his tradition as one of the
best prepared GMs by giving away four
custom professionally framed trophies,
full color RoR prints with the Avaloncon
'95 logo and the player's choice of RoR
game card. For those whose interest is
piqued by this, Sandy is planning on
GMing this tournament again next year.
Volume 1, Issue 1
Titan featured a field of 65 players in 46
preliminary heat games. Steve “The
Phoenix” Koleszar of Charlottesville, VA
emerged as the fifth champion in as
many years after effectively “backing”
into the semi-finals. Steve had
uncharacteristically poor results in the
preliminary rounds where many of this
year’s high seeds were falling, but made
the semi-finals after the withdrawal of
some higher placed players. Newcomer
Christian Goetze took 2nd place, 1993
champ and top seed after the
preliminaries Brian Sutton took 3rd and
another newcomer, Rick Pierce,
rounded out the finalists and finished
4th.
Also of note was 10 year old Jon
Shambeda finishing 8th and beating out
his dad, Steve, who finished 9th (one of
many related combinations in the field).
12 year old Richard Beyma finished
10th, and Kurt Litscher received the
unofficial “com eback award” for
defeating all 10 colossus with his Titan
stack in two battles during the
preliminary heats.
1993 champion Nicholas Frydas bested
a field 10 Napoleonic commanders to
take the War & Peace title back home
to Athens, Greece. Marv Rabin was the
bridesmaid for the second consecutive
year. The 1805 scenario was used for
all games this year, with the added
feature that players were able to bid the
number of strength points they would
give up from their army to obtain the
side of their choice. This became
interesting in the finals as both players
submitted identical strength point bids
for five consecutive bidding rounds until
Nicholas won the Allied side with a 5 SP
bid on the sixth try.
Next year should be interesting as both
Nicholas Frydas and 1994 champ Rob
Beyma are expected back. Also, the
tournament format will be changed to
play a different scenario each round.
These scenarios will probably be the
1805 scenario, the 1809 scenario, either
the 1812 or 1813 scenarios, and
possibly th e Mar en go sc enario
published in Volume 26, #6 of the
GENERAL.
January 1996 11
Third Reich, 4th Edition was also won
by the defending champion, as Michael
Mitchell of Roswell, GA triumphed over
a field of 10. Roger Hoffman once again
finished near the top with a second
place finish.
Unlimited Civilization made its
Avaloncon debut with 33 entries and
was won by Jim Reynolds of Warwick,
RI. Jeff Clark, Dan Broh-kahn and
Michael Neal finished 2nd through 4th.
Maharaja was another game making its
Avaloncon debut with a field of 16
entrants. David Gantt of Columbia, SC
captured the inaugural title, with Michele
Sandoe second, Scott Pfiefer third and
Kirk Harris in fourth place.
Avaloncon Hall Of
Fame
On Saturday afternoon a large crowd
was gathered together to watch Russ
Gifford announce that, by unanimous
vote of all the GMs, Don Greenwood
had been elected to be the initial
honoree in the Avaloncon Hall of
Fame. Even someone such as myself,
who has never been thrilled with
“service to the hobby” awards and am
not sure I would ever even vote a GM
into the Hall of Fame of this gamer’s
convention, could not find a way to vote
against this. Don, of course, cursed a
few times under his breath, shot Russ a
few dirty looks, accepted his beautiful
crystalline trophy and went back to his
gaming (Breakout: Normandy, I
believe), which, after all, is what
Avaloncon is all about.
Don is currently contesting his election
to the Avaloncon Hall of Fame, claiming
it is not official unless he counts the
votes, and he ain’t counting no vote for
himself.
For an unofficial update of everyone’s
current status towards the Hall of
Fame, see the article on pages 21 and
22 of this issue.
 12 The Boardgamer
Avaloncon 1995 - World War II 2-Player Games
The Afrika Korps tournament flourished
despite a change in Gamemasters and
starting time; attracting 16 entrants to
this classic boardgame. Last year's first
and second place finishers were
unavailable making this a wide-open
tournament. Two-time defending
champion Joe Beard put his efforts to
compiling a 2-1 record in the War at Sea
tournament (although he was spotted
playing Afrika Korps in the open gaming
area later at the convention). Proving
that experience is very important in a
classic such as Afrika Korps last year's
third place finisher - Phil Evans of
Arlington. VA - came out on top over
Gregory Smith (another player with
several years of experience in the
Avaloncon Afrika Korps tourney).
Newcomer Barry Smith and another old
hand at Avaloncon Afrika Korps
tournam ents, Michael Matthews,
finished third and fourth.
The 12-player Fortress Europa
tournament saw one of the upsets of the
weekend as three-time defending
champion and GM Michael Newman
was defeated in the finals by Trevor
Bender of Arlington, VA.
In the Battle of the Bulge ‘81
to urn am ent, Jim Fallin g n earl y
dethroned one of the top seeded
players, Randy Heller, in the first round
of play by opening an alternate supply
line and retreating forward some infantry
into the American rear area. This
disrupted the entire defense and caused
Randy to "scramble" for a hard fought
victory and a trip to the semi-finals.
John Grant, Phil Evans and Forrest
Pafenberg also advanced to the semi-
finals. The semi-finals were not
concluded until 4:00 AM Saturday
morning. Forrest was able to retain
control of Bastogne against Randy's
adjacent panzer units. However, the
loss of the fuel dump, along with
Stavelot, gave the victory to the German
player. Randy and Phil, both previous
winners of this tournament, met for the
third straight year in the final round. As
the German player, Phil was severely
hampered by a weak start, having killed
only one unit on the opening turn. With
a stiffening American defense, the
German player "threw in the towel,"
resulting in Randy recapturing the
crown.
Volume 1, Issue 1
Battle of the Bulge ‘91 was only able to
draw 8 participants this year. The final
was between two-time champion Randy
Heller as the Germans and Jack Morrell
as the Americans. Randy had a good
first turn and created some holes in the
American line, which Jack was able to
plug during his portion of the turn.
Randy made some bold moves in an
attempt to create a breakthrough. He
achieved some initial success but was
unable to maintain the pressure on the
Americans. The Americans were able
to cut off the German spearhead and
claim victory for Jack Morrell of Palmyra,
NY.
The Anzio finals found three-time
defending champ Mike Sincavage of
Sterling, VA meeting Tom Oleson for the
fourth time in five years (and the third
time in the finals). Mike defeated Tom
once again to go 3-1 in their personal
Avaloncon series and to claim the
plaque over the field of 9.
Breakout: Normandy once again drew
a large field as 48 gamers refought the
landings at Normandy. William Edwards
III of Richmond, VA triumphed,
defeating last year’s runner-up Don
Greenwood in the final round to edge
him in total points in this Swiss format
tournament. William, Don, Ron Fedin
and GM Alan Applebaum all finished
with identical 5-1 records, but William
won out as his opponents had the
greatest combined winning percentage.
D-Day ‘91 GM Tyson Arnold was unable
to attend the convention, so assistant
GM Kevin McCarthy was forced to step
in after 1-1/2 hours sleep the night
before. Such is the life of an assistant
GM. The event was only able to draw 8
participants this year. Although the
Germans won most of the games last
year, this year the Allies turned it around
to claim the majority of the games.
The final game was between Mark
Holley playing the Germans and Jack
Morrell playing the Allies. Jack invaded
in the Normandy area and made slow
progress through France. The game
was not decided until the last turn when
the Allies were able to take Berlin and
claim the plaque for Jack Morrell of
Palmyra, NY.
January 1996
Steve Chilcote of Westminster, MD
proved to be tops among the 20 pilots in
the Mustangs tournament. Jeff Lange,
Jr. finished second while Dave Chilcote
and Eric Stranger rounded out the final
four. The tournament started with three
rounds of Swiss elimination. Players
chose to fly either Allied or Axis aircraft.
After the Swiss rounds, the best two
Allied and best two Axis players
advanced to semifinal matches. The
first Swiss round matched Hellcats
against Zekes. The Hellcats come out
big, winning 7 of the 10 matches. In the
second round the Allied P-47Bs also
won 7 of 10 matches against the FW-
190A-8s. The advantage changed sides
in the third round, where Axis Georges
won 7 of 10 against the Allied F4U-A1
Corsairs. The semifinals matched Steve
Chilcot e's P- 47 Ds a gain st Eri c
Stranger's F4U-1Cs; the Thunderbolts
hit heavily for the win. Jeff Lange Jr.
also flew P-47Ds against Dave
Chilcote's F4U-1Cs, with the same
result. In the final round Steve Chilcote
flew P-51Ds against Jeff Lange's F4U-
1Cs and the Mustangs delivered the
win.
Old venerable Panzerblitz continues to
draw players back with 10 participants
this year. David Giordano of Carney’s
Point, NJ defeated two time champion
Johnny Hasay for the championship.
Steve and Joe Sheftic finished in 3rd
and 4th places.
The Turning Point: Stalingrad
tournament of 16 participants featured a
very strong field of the four previous
c h am pi o n s a n d som e t al en t ed
newcomers. 1992 champion Jim
Doughan of Wayne, NJ was able to
defeat Chris Bodkin to win his second
plaque. Michael Kaye and Tom Oleson
also made it to the semi-final round.
Proving once again that the Russian
side is the most unforgiving, the
Germans won 10 of the 15 games
played. Also of note was that the 1994
champion and runner-up were both
eliminated in the second round (claiming
“we was diced”), while one German
player scored 13 points in a second
round game only to score 3 points in the
third round.
 The Boardgamer
Avaloncon 1995 - World War II 2-Player Games
The Panzer gr uppe G uderi an
tournament dropped to 8 entrants, just
enough to retain tournament status. GM
Phil Rennert of Seabrook, MD captured
his fifth title in as many years by eking
out a win over last year’s runner-up
Mike Pustilnik during the mech phase of
the last turn in a 12-hour marathon. The
bid was 71, dropped to 56 by 10 SW
reinforcements. Mike’s Russian
defense line ran through all three cities
Phil needed: Smolensk, Yel’nya, and
Roslavl. Yel’nya fell on turn 8, but the
two best Russian units in the game
showed up at Smolensk, rendering it
impregnable for the rest of the game.
The real action occurred near Roslavl
with both sides cutting each other off,
resulting in most of both armies being
pinned. The game came down to a
battle for Vyazma, where on turn 12 a
loose regiment beat a Russian leader to
Gzhatsk by one hex, and Phil’s
Germans managed to get four out-of-
supply divisions next to Vyazma. The
combat phase reduced the city to one
Russian defender, so it was down to
out-of-supply overruns. The German 1-
1 attack failed, leaving three possible 1-
2 attacks where a “1” or a “2” cleared
the city for the German win but a “6”
resulted in a lost division and a Russian
victory. On the first attack, Phil rolled a
“2” to pull out the victory.
Newcomer James Pei of Austin, TX
defeated last year’s winner, John Grant,
in the finals of the Russian Front
tournament (look for James’ description
of his first Avaloncon weekend in the
next issue of the BOARDGAMER) . The
game played was the four turn
tournament scenario with bidding for
sides. James bid 24 VP and played the
Axis. A tense struggle ensued, with the
Russians losing Kiev and Smolensk for
the Axis margin of victory. The 8 player
tournament used a Swiss format with
the average bid for German objectives
being 23 VP. Runner-up John Grant
rolled up the high score of the
tournament with 42 objective VPs in the
second round.
A record tying field size of 19
participated in Storm Over Arnhem
with John Ellsworth of Morris, IL coming
out on top and Ed Kraska second. Jim
Fuqua and Tom Gregorio rounded out
the top four.
Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1996 13
The Russian Campaign continues to In the finals, the Germans got off to a
be a vibrant tournament with a strong 16 good start but Allen held Kharkov and
player field. 1991 champ Rob Beyma of Stalino with the help of bad weather in
Pocomoke, MD playing the Germans the fall. The Germans took Leningrad
defeated Allen Kaplan (as the Russians) during the winter by winning a crucial 1-
in the finals for his second Russian 1 attack. The German 1942 offensive
Campaign championship. Rob survived got off to a slow start with Mud in March/
a strong Russian performance by April. The Russians held enclaves at
Forrest Pafenburger in Round 2 by Riga and Sevastopol in early summer
rolling mud in November/December but they fell in July/August. A 4-1 Stuka
1992. Beyma advanced to the finals by attack on Rostov in September/October
edging Gary Dickson, last years runner- clinched the game for the Germans.
up. Gary got off to a powerful start in
1941, capturing Dneproptrovsk on turn 2 The Germans won 10 of the 14 games
and Stalino on turn 3, but lost the played although the Russians won both
momentum during the summer of 1942. semi-final games. The bids ranged from
Allen got by another strong Russian -3 to +5 with the average bid being 1.7.
Campaign player, Jim Eliason, in the Jeff Martin, last years champ, remarked
semi-finals by invading and recapturing that the German edge in wins was
Sevastopol on the last turn. probably due to underbidding .....
perhaps.
AHIKS
International Wargamer’s Society
The AHIKS International Wargamer’s Society was founded in 1966 to be a self-
policing, non-profit organization devoted to supporting play-by-mail wargaming
among reliable members. AHIKS is unaffiliated with any particular wargame
manufacturer and encourages the play of games produced by all manufacturers.
AHIKS consists of a wide variety of potential opponents with its hundreds of
members in both its North American and its European branches.
AHIKS main function is to serve as a matching service to pair members who wish to
play the same game. If a match request cannot immediately be filled, it is published
in the AHIKS newsletter to help encourage other members to accept the requested
match.
Besides its primary function of providing members with opponents for play-by-mail
games, AHIKS also provides the following services:
1) A workable PBM system which includes sets of random numbers sent to players
to replace die rolls and stock tables.
2) A bimonthly newsletter filled with open match request lists, gaming related
articles, society news and much more.
3) The judge, an impartial rules arbiter available to resolve rules questions.
4) The PBEM Coordinator to help find electronic mail opponents.
5) The Unit Counter Pool to replace that one missing counter from your otherwise
complete favorite game.
6) The Multi-Player Coordinator to help arrange for matches in multi-player games.
7) Courteous, dependable competition. Members with a history of dropping out of
games or otherwise behaving unethically can face expulsion from the society.
To join AHIKS, or for more information, contact the BOARDGAMER at 177 South
Lincoln Street, Minster, Ohio 45865. You will be put in contact with your Regional
Director who will provide you with more information about AHIKS as well as your
membership application.
 14 The Boardgamer Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1996

Avaloncon 1995 - World War II 2-Player Games

This year's Up Front tournament drew Another "highlight" of the qualifying well calculated last deck maneuver to
48 competitors seeking the title, or at round was the performance of Greg claim a tight 15-14 victory as the
least the opportunity to beat two-time Courter, a.k.a. "Mr. Up Front." Yes, Russians. In the other game, Bruce
defending champion Bruce Young. The Greg was the only entrant to go 0-5, but Young had a chance for revenge
1 9 9 5 t o u r n a m e n t wa s a t r u e he did it in quite unique and basically against Herbert Gratz, however Herbert
international affair, as six countries on impossible ways. Needless to say, he was in prime form, and took advantage
four continents provided the contestants was the victim of much fun at of Bruce's Russians 18-2.
willing to do battle for the title. Avaloncon, so we will not embarrass
him through further elaboration. A large crowd gathered to watch the
The qualifying round was Swiss style, final match, and they were entertained
and players competed in preselected Twenty-four of the original forty-eight by a contest that lasted the entire three
scenarios. There were numerous contestants qualified for the single decks. The game was filled with
reports of very close games, with elimination finals. Tight contests outstanding play. Herbert quickly
reports of, "It could have gone either whittled the field down to the elite eight. established a fire base at range one and
way." One of the major highlights of the Ray Stakenas Sr., Ray Stakenas Jr., started picking away at Jeff's maneuver
opening round were the loss by Bruce John Emery and Steve Huskey fell in group. Though never being able to
Young to Austria's Herbert Gratz. the round of eight, but those four knock Jeff out of the game, Herbert
Bruce, in claiming the 1993 and 1994 finished in the money. managed to masterfully cycle about two-
titles had gone undefeated, and was 3-0 and-one-half decks in rapid fire
in this tournament until the loss. Bruce Each of the final three games played succession. Jeff tried everything
quickly got that loss out of his system by were Russian-German City Fight possible to lead his troops against this
trouncing his next opponent. Herbert's matches. Don Hawthorne faced his withering fire, but he came up just short.
glory was short lived as he was nemesis, Jeff Paull, in a repeat of one of The smile on Herbert's face told the final
defeated by Ray Stakenas Sr., who last year's semifinal matches. The story.
entered the finals as the number one result was the same, as Jeff made a
seed.
The Panzer Leader tournament
Great Campaigns of the American Civil War consisted of 17 players participating in
18 preliminary round and 3 final round
As will be mentioned on the next page, the results of the three games of the Great games. The German side won 2/3 of
Campaigns of the American Civil War series were compiled to determine an overall both the preliminary and final rounds,
champion. This was the first year for the overall championship and from everything with 90% of all games played being
heard from the participants it was an unqualified success. scenarios designed by GM Bill Scott for
the tournament (look for these scenarios
Thanks to his perseverance and strong play throughout the weekend, Bruno in the next issue of the
Passacantando was the overall champion achieving the rank of Lt. General with BOARDGAMER). The new scenarios
139 total points. A look at Bruno’s score sheet shows that he actually had two emphasized play balance and quickness
defeats including a decisive loss in the opening round of Stonewall Jackson’s Way. of play, with the average length of the
However, as was envisioned, the combined tournament allowed Bruno plenty of new scenarios being under 90 minutes.
time to recover from his early defeats and capture the overall championship. In all,
Bruno posted a 7-2 record including 4 decisive victories. His final victory over Ed In the final game, Rob Beyma of
Beach in Lee vs. Pope (played as the final to the Stonewall Jackson’s Way Pocomoke, MD bested 1994 champ
individual tournament) turned out to be the deciding factor in capturing the Angelo Valeri in game situation S2, “Hit
championship from Ed who finished in second place with 121 points. and Run”. Rob’s bid of 11 turns gave
him control of the Allied forces.
In addition to Bruno and Ed, the other four top six finishers received trophies for Angelo’s German defense setup
their efforts. They included Sean Turner (113 pts.), a newcomer to the Great covered all 3 attack approaches of
Campaigns tourney at Avaloncon who made it into all three elimination rounds; Ray board “C”, but exposed one infantry unit
Rooks (109 pts.) who was last year’s SJW champion; Joe Bellas (109 pts.) who to early elimination by opportunity fire
was the winner of this year’s HCR individual championship; and Ken Kloby (105 from Rob’s aggressively placed and
pts.) a newcomer who made only one of the three elimination rounds but managed alert self propelled gun. In spite of well
to piece together enough points to gain the rank of Major General. h a ndl ed in dir ect fir e f rom th e
Nebelwerfer the Allied offensive was
Other notable finishers included Ken Lee (104 pts.) achieving Major General rank, able to isolate the only German armored
Jeff Otto (88 pts.) reaching the rank of Brigadier General, and Patrick Duffy (78 pts,) unit and penetrate the center of the
and John Clere (70 pts.) rising to the rank of Colonel. German defenses by turn 9. Tom
Kearney, Phil Rennert and Bill Scott
Look for the addition of Stonewall in the Valley next year to bring all four games in also finished in the top five.
the Great Campaigns of the American Civil War series into the overall
championship. Also look for changes to be made in some of the scenarios next
year to help improve play balance, as well as the possible distribution of “tip sheets”
with recommended bids for sides in each scenario.
 The Boardgamer
Avaloncon 1995 - Pre WW II American History Games
1776 again drew 12 players to relive the
American Revolutionary War. In the first
round players competed in the short
“Saratoga” scenario, with Steve
Packwood, Mark Miklos, Nathan Kilbert
(the only junior competitor), Robert
Jamelli and Mike Sincavage advancing
with American wins while Charles Ryder
posted the only British win. The
“Yorktown” scenario was played in the
second round with the British side
allowed two addition strength points of
Tory militia (1 on turn 4, the other on
turn 10) in an attempt to even the play
balance. Although the British side won
all three games, only Mark Miklos won
decisively as Robert Jamelli and Steve
Packwood both won tight games
(Packwood’s game coming down to a
final pair of die rolls).
The third round again used the
“Saratoga” scenario for the match
between Miklos and Jamelli (Packwood
drawing the bye as the defending
champ). Jamelli’s British were dominant
early, but Miklos pulled out the win by
taking and holding New York City late in
the game (a mandatory British
objective). This setup a rematch of last
year’s final with the players switching
side: Packwood as British and Miklos
as the Americans. Unlike 1994,
however, which lasted 14 hours,
Packwood’s opening was absolutely
irresistible. American forces in New
England were obliterated in a decisive
field battle, while Packwood was able to
pin all remaining American forces on the
board with the sole exception of
Washington’s army by passing 7 out of
8 force march attempts on turn 1.
Washington’s army was shadowed with
a British force over twice as large. In 3
turns, it was all over with Steve
Packwood of Eagan, MN repeating as
champion. The player’s didn’t even
need the first quarterly interphase and
the Americans never got to roll for
French intervention.
56 entrants entered the We The People
tournament, but in the end it was last
year’s third place finisher, Roger Taylor
of Reston, VA defeating last year’s
runner-up, Scott Smith, in a rematch of
their semi-final encounter from last year.
George Seary and Bruce Wigdor
finished 3rd and 4th, while James
Fuqua, Michael Nagel, John Poniske
and Tom O’Brien rounded out the top
eight.
Volume 1, Issue 1
Across Five Aprils saw 34 entrants
battle it out, with Mark Giddings of
Albany, NY claiming the title over Jim
Falling. Dave Davis and David Metzger
rounded out the top four places. Mark
Mi kl o s, Bri an Co nl o n, Mi c h a el
Sincavage and Jeff Lange finished in
5th through 8th places.
The result of the final round of the 10
entrant Civil War tournament was that
three time champion George Seary’s
Union defeated Stephen Banks as the
South. Playing the 1861 scenario,
George bid 7 VPs to play the Union
side. The South moved first and quickly
took Grafton, WV only to see a see-saw
battle for the city rage for most of the
turn. Joe Johnston went on a raid
causing much havoc in Maryland and
Pennsylvania but the end of turn 1 found
both Missouri and West Virginia siding
with the Union. Lincoln put Grant in
charge of the Army of the Potomac and
won a battle but only took one city in
Virginia, while two cities in Arkansas fell
to the Union onslaught. On turn 3,
Kentucky was the scene of hard fighting,
with no one controlling it at the end of
the turn but with the Union accumulating
5 more VPs than was needed for the
win.
The Gettysburg ‘88 tournament drew
10 entrants, with Vince Meconi of
Wilmington, DE defeating David
Zimmerman to win the championship.
Here Come the Rebels was the first
event in the Great Campaigns of the
American Civil War series, which
consisted not only of the 3 individual
tournaments but also an overall
championship (see the previous page
for the overall campaign results). Joe
Bellas of Fayetteville, AR bested a
record field of 36 participants to claim
the championship. After reaching the
elimination rounds via two substantive
victories, Joe went on to defeat Ken
Lee, Jerry Black and runner-up Jeff Otto
for the title. Other elimination round
participants included Sean Cousins,
Sean Turner, Ken Kloby and Gary
Gonzalez. Although Trevor Bender, last
year’s champion, failed to advance to
the elimination rounds, he once again
did a fine job of gamemastering the
event.
January 1996 15
27 participants took part in this year’s
Stonewall Jackson’s Way tournament.
The first day’s qualifying rounds resulted
in six participants moving into the
elimination rounds. Remarkably, of
these six participants, five were in last
year’s elimination rounds and the sixth,
Ed Beach, was the tournament’s
champion two years ago before taking
last year off. When the smoke cleared
on the fields of northern Virginia, last
year’s runner-up, Bruno Passacantando
of Marlborough, CT was the champion
having accomplished the difficult task of
defeating John Clere in the quarters,
Ray Rooks (last year’s champion) in the
semis and Ed Beach (1993 champion)
in the finals. Bruno’s hard fought victory
over Ray Rooks was especially sweet
given his loss to Ray in last year’s SJW
final.
The third installment of the Great Battles
of the American Civil War series, Roads
to Gettysburg, m ade its first
appearance as an official event at
Avaloncon and attracted a solid crowd
of 28 participants under the direction of
GM Mike Arnold. True to the newcomer
status of Roads To Gettysburg, 2 of the
4 finalists in the tournament were
newcomers to the Great Campaigns
series at Avaloncon: Sean Turner and
Steve Katz. Thanks to a fortuitous set
o f cir cum stan c es, Ken L ee o f
Tunkhannock, PA ended up being a
finalist despite having lost decisively in
the first qualifying round. This, however,
was the last match Ken was lose as he
went on to capture the tournament
championship with victories over Tom
Constantine, Stan Buck, Sean Turner
and Joe Bellas.
As was previously mentioned, the
results of the three games of the Great
Campaigns of the American Civil War
series were compiled to determine an
overall champion. See inset box on the
previous page for further details.
Geronimo drew 33 entrants in its
inaugural Avaloncon. Gregory Stroud of
Brooklyn, NY took top honors, with
Jeffrey Paul, Joel Tambero and Ralph
Coleman all finishing in the top four.
Gordon Rogers, Kirk Harris, John Emory
and Unias Frattal finished in 5th through
8th places.
 16 The Boardgamer
Avaloncon 1995 - Miscellaneous 2-Player Games
Besi des st andar d m ult i-player
tournament, 26 Titan players also were
able to participate in the two-player
Titan 2 tournament. Bruno Wolff of
Whitefish Bay, WI (the multi-player Titan
GM) defeated 1993 Titan champ Brian
Sutton. Michael Pustilnik and Paul
Goliwas finished 3rd and 4th.
After fielding 18 entrants last year,
Firepower dropped from tournament
status by only attracting 6 players this
year. Andy Lewis of Long Beach, CA
took the title over second place finisher
Rob Schoenon.
Peloponnesian War drew a total of 10
participants this year (growth!) in spite of
three pre-registered “no shows” due to
scheduling conflicts. In the first round,
Athens won four out of the five games.
The only Spartan victory came from
John Ellsworth, who had rushed out to
buy a copy of the game moments before
so there would be enough games for all
the players. The second round
produced two Spartan victories and one
Athenian victory with the three high
seeds making their way to the finals.
Mark Holley, twice a runner-up; Frank
Hamrick, the 1991 champion; and Kevin
McCarthy, the defending champion,
squared off for the title. McCarthy was
awarded the bye by virtue of being the
defending champion, and he watched as
Hamrick’s Spartans defeated Holley’s
Athenians, setting up a final match
between the two former champs.
The title match was full of excitement
with a maximum four-turn Armistice and
a Helot Rebellion playing decisive roles
in the final outcome. McCarthy drew
Sparta for the final campaign and used
the old “end around” operation -
developed by Hamrick at the first
Avaloncon - ravaging over twenty cities
from Sparta to Loryma. Hamrick’s
Athenian navy, led by Pericles,
countered by seizing Corinth (a move
McCarthy used last year to oust
Hamrick). Sparta then captured Larisa,
Amphipolis, Pela and Magnesia with
only two further operations (using the
rules interpretation in the GENERAL,
Vol. 30, No. 1). The turn ended with
Megara falling to Athens in a siege.
After turn one McCarthy’s Spartans led
+10 to -40.
Volume 1, Issue 1
The auguries turned against Sparta on
turn two, however, and Hamrick took
advantage of his opportunity by sieging
and winning six fortresses to take a
commanding +45 to -70 lead. Both
sides had so crippled the other in these
first two turns that a four-turn armistice
went into effect. Needless to say, the
armistice saved Hamrick’s Athenians,
who were at “2” Bellicosity (and ready to
surrender) before the armistice. After
the armistice the Athenians were back
to “10” Bellicosity and from that point on
took control of the game. Athens
outscored Sparta 50 to minus 75 in turn
seven (giving them a +95 to -145 lead)
and capturing four of the five Delian
League cities. Athens needed to
capture one more Helot city (Prasiae) to
trigger a Helot Rebellion and reduce
Spartan bellicosity to zero.
At this point, McCarthy considered
surrender, but decided to make one last
effort, and it almost paid off. Turn 8
found Athens sidelined with an auguries
die roll after only one mission, and the
Spartans won three quick sieges before
rolling auguries. This tightened the
score to +10 Athens, -90 Sparta.
However, turn 9 proved decisive as
Athens captured Prasiae, precipitating a
Helot Rebellion and driving Sparta’s
bellicosity to zero. Final score,
Hamrick’s Athenians +50, McCarthy’s
Spartans -170 (not counting surrender
victory points).
Platoon saw a drop in participation this
year, with only 6 entrants competing for
the title. The first round results left GM
Roger Knowles as top seed along with
Kevin McCarthy and Josh Dunn. The
latter two played each side once in the
semi-final round with Kevin earning the
right to face Roger in the finals. The
scenario for the final round was called
“Protect the Flank” but this was
something that Roger failed to do as the
Americans. Kevin was able to exit six
soldiers off the side of the board, and
along with the 1 American casualty
scored a total of seven points. During
the previous scenario Roger had the
NVA and exited only one soldier off the
board along with 3 American casualties
for 4 points. Kevin McCarthy of Euclid,
OH pulled out the hard fought victory by
a score of seven to four to take his fifth
career plaque in five different events.
January 1996
Main Battle Tank was another
tournament to draw the bare minimum
of 8 entrants for maintaining tournament
status. Defending champ Bruce Young
of Simpsonville, SC secured his fifth
overall Avaloncon plaque by besting
Sportsmanship award nominee Dave
Sidelinger in the final.
Although Waterloo entrants were down
to 10, the competition was tough. In the
semi-finals, Carl Adamec had 1993
champ Larry Lingle on the ropes, but
von Bulow’s IV Corps saved him. Phil
Evans played almost a perfect defense,
but defending champ Joe Beard’s slow,
relentless French steamroller smashed
through to victory. In the final, Larry
Lingle’s unorthodox spirited use of the
French cavalry as panzers with stirrups
came right up to the last few hexes
when they realized, uh oh, there were
too many empty saddles. Oh well,
there’s always next year. Meanwhile,
Joe Beard of Phoenix, AZ took home
the plaque as well as some points for
his 3rd place team.
War At Sea AREA PBM
Ladder
An AREA PBM ladder tournament is
being started for War At Sea. The
seedings for the first round will be in
order of the AREA ratings at the time
the ladder officially begins. For the
official details or to sign up, call or write:
Paul Martin
1971 St. Laurent Blvd., Apt. 1914
Ottawa, Ontario CANADA K1G 3P8
(613) 739-9769
I will be serving as backup to Paul in
case he runs into any personal
difficulties, so you can be certain that
this ladder will survive.
If you are interested in participating in
or starting up AREA ladders for other
games, the best man to contact would
be:
Glenn Petroski
AREA Technician
210 W. Hunt
Twin Lakes, WI 53181-9786
(414) 877-4178
 The Boardgamer
Avaloncon 1995 - Leisure Time Games
Many may not consider these games to
be as “serious” as some of the others,
but they are highly entertaining and
often combinea quick format with the
diplomacy aspect common to most
multi-player games.
Acquire started off the Sunday morning
tournaments as 43 entrants battled it out
to build the greatest hotel chains. Steve
Koleszar of Charlottesville, VA won out
in the end, with Wolfgang Peter in
second place. Shannon Stuart finished
third and Luke Koleszar fourth while
Steve Packwood, Dave Reed, Marilyn
Koleszar and David Platnick rounded
out the top eight. The finals was the
closest game of the tournament, with
only $1800 separating the top three
finishers. The tournament may also
have set an unofficial Avaloncon record
for having 3 Koleszars in the top 8.
Adel Verpflichtet remained immensely
popular with 65 entrants in this year’s
event. Beth Bernard of Fairview, PA
proved the top art collector, with Barry
Grabow second, Steven Davis third and
Tom DeMarco fourth. Fifth through
eighth places were claimed by Erika
Poniske, Jessica Foster, Dave Terry
and Bruce Bernhard. Rounding out the
final sixteen were prizewinners Terry
Telger, Ray Stakenas, Linda Schiffer,
Ray Pfiefer, Ben Foy, Earl Anderson,
Greg Mayer and Greg Berry.
Assassin drew 23 players and resulted
in a brand new top four from last year’s
inaugural event. The finals was a fast
game with only one quarter of the deck
used. The top four finalists got
approximately the same number of
destinations, but Steve Cameron of
Upper Darby, PA was farthest from the
assassin and won the event after many
close calls in other tournaments during
the weekend. Ed Musselman finished in
second place, with Beth Benard and
Charles Ryder finishing third and fourth.
Both last year’s GM and Steven
Kershaw, this year’s GM, tied for last in
the finals, neither of them ever getting
out of Vienna.
Volume 1, Issue 1
Bruce Wigdet of Edison, NJ raced to
victory over the other 41 participants in
the Roadkill tournament. Daniel
Forester (the Sportsmanship nominee),
Andy Lewis and Kurt Adam finished 2nd
through 4th, respectively. The
standings underwent a major change
from last year with none of the three
returning members of last year’s top four
making it into the top eight this year.
Bruce Reiff of Powell, OH picked up his
first duplicate plaque as he repeated his
1993 Auction championship. Marilyn
Koleszar finished second, David Walrath
third and Luke Kratz fourth in the 28
entrant event. The final was over quite
quickly as Bruce had early sets of Rare
Miscellany and Queen Anne furniture.
The real contest was in the semi-finals
as last year’s champion Ken Gutermuth
was denied by Bruce and Marilyn in a
hard fought match.
Candidate continued to show a steady
following with 29 politicians campaigning
for the top spot. In the six primary
campaigns, only Governor B. D. Bell
was a repeat winner with General Mark
"Sledge" Hammer being shut out of the
final campaigns. Our six politicians who
advanced, Alan Ernstein, Peter Staab,
Bruce Reiff, Marcus Foster, Jim Bell,
and John Coussis, spread out across
the US visiting 36 different states. Only
AZ, CA, IA, MS, and NJ were visited by
three politicians while the following
states were deemed to be unimportant
to the advancing politicians: AK, CO, FL,
ME, MN, MO, MT, NC, NE, NY (nobody
ever wants to visit NY), UT, VA, WA,
and WI. All of the games went deep into
the convention with Jim Bell having the
toughest campaign advancing from a
pre-convention last place position.
In the finals, Peter Staab rode his
California campaign into a pre-
convention lead with undecided
following in second. Defending
champion Bruce Reiff grabbed the lead
by winning the undecided vote but Alan
Ernstein of Columbia, MD showed his
convention prowess by winning 3 of the
next 4 convention rounds to be sworn in
as CANDIDATE champion for 1995.
The rest of the standings were 2nd
Peter Staab, 3rd Bruce Reiff, 4th
Marcus Foster.
January 1996 17
Stephanie Greenwood decided to give
someone else a chance to make it into
the finals, and stepped back to GM the
24 entrants in Facts In Five. Chuck
Foster of Fort Worth, TX came out on
top of the pack, with Stephen Cameron
(4th last year) in 2nd place, Gary Moss
in 3rd and Luke Kratz (1993 champion)
in 4th.
Gangsters made its return to the
Avaloncon lineup with John Pack of
Santa Clara, CA besting the field. Kevin
Lerow, Doug Galullo and 1993 champ
John Kilbride were the other top four
finishers.
Bruce Reiff of Powell, OH continued on
his mission to collect one plaque in each
event as he topped a field of 13 in
Stocks & Bonds to collect a plaque in
his seventh different event. Bruce went
broke in the first round as Stryker
crashed, but enough others also went
down that all were still alive for round
two. The Stryker investors returned and
defending champ Ken Gutermuth said
“give me the dice” and for 3 straight
turns ran Stryker through the roof. It
was then that another player took the
dice away. Bruce Reiff sensed a
change in fortunes for Stryker and got
out. The others all stayed with Stryker.
When Stryker suddenly went bankrupt
again, Bruce was left ahead of the field.
12-year old Nathan Kilbert finished in
second place.
A field of 28 network executives
challenged for the TV Wars title.
Michele Giannobile of Pinehill, NJ
mastered the ratings game to claim the
plaque, while John Dunn, Bob
Rademaker and Steven Protsch finished
2nd through 4th, respectively.
1994 champ Tom DeMarco was denied
in his bid for another Tyranno Ex title,
but it was captured by a contestant with
a familiar name. Carolyn DeMarco of
Riverside, NJ was the winner after two
straight years of making it into the finals.
Ben Knight placed 2nd, Peter Staab 3rd
and Tom DeMarco 4th out of a field of
18.
 18 The Boardgamer
Avaloncon 1995 - Sports Games
This year was the first year for the
unoff ic ia l overa ll sports games
championship. For the overall standings
in this subcompetition, see the inset box
on the next page.
Decathlon made its Avaloncon debut as
the late Friday evening entrant (11 PM)
of the sports games for those who were
not yet ready to call it a day. 39
entrants competed for the title of the
world’s greatest athlete. Bobby Laboon
of Indianapolis, IN coached Bill Toomey
to the gold medal, followed by John
Coussis in second with Vasily
Kuznetzov, Andy Lewis in third with Jim
Thorpe and Tom Johnson in fourth with
Milt Campbell. The contest was a
handicapped match with players being
able to select their decathlete. The
catch phrase of the night (uttered
whenever Bill Toomey was selected by
a participant) was “It is not a
Toomey” (from the movie Kindergarten
Cop).
Win, Place & Show set a new record
with 29 bettors in the early evening
entrant in the sports games lineup.
Dennis Nicholson of Pawling, NY turned
out to be the best jockey/handicapper of
the bunch, followed by Robert Hahn,
Steven Rugh and John Cousis, in that
order. Perennial finalists Steven
Kershaw and Bruce Reiff were denied
entry into the finals - Bruce missing by
just $1500.
March Madness started its first of four
regionals Wednesday night. Faced with
the probability of more than 16 entrants
in each heat, GM John Ellmann doubled
the field size to 128 teams. This
enabled all 46 entrants to play in as
many heats as they wished. In the
finals, Ken Gutermuth’s (Clinton, NJ)
Louisville squad did what nobody else
had been able to do, and shut down
Paul Risner’s Kentucky AA rated bench.
Risner (who learned the game during
the convention) managed to play an
offensive specialist card 6 times during
his first 6 games, but was unable to find
it one last time in the finals. Dennis
Nicholson and two time defending
champ Terry Coleman rounded out the
final four with Joel Ferich, Vana Ratliff,
Don Greenwood and David
Baumgardner making it to the elite eight.
Volume 1, Issue 1
Yours truly finished the tournament with
an impressive 1-5 overall record, being
defeated as the favorite team twice and
allowing Wilt Chamberlain to score over
60 points against me while drawing five
fouls against my hapless centers
(possibly both Avaloncon records for
futility).
Paydirt featured 25 players battling it
out for gridiron gold. Defending champ
Mark Potter of Mechanicsville, MD
coached his Detroit Lions over Brad
Richardson’s Dallas Cowboys 31-14.
Dallas was unable to overcome the
point spread (+15), four turnovers and
Detroit running back Barry Sanders.
Pro Golf was the first entrant of the late
night sports games. Due to its late night
timing and ease of play, it drew many
more entrants this year (46 total), as did
Decathlon on Friday night and Slapshot
on Saturday night. Bruce Reiff of
Powell, OH managed to win his 6th
plaque in 6 different events despite
claiming to have never heard of his
golfer, Gene Sarazen (famous for,
among other achievements, his double
eagle at the Masters, which Bruce was
unable to duplicate). Lind Pratt, Robert
Voisin and Ken Gutermuth also
advanced beyond the first round play of
Augusta and Pebble Beach to reach the
Skins Game final. Three of the final four,
Bruce, Lind and Ken, were all
teammates on the Manly Men team, but
none of them had Pro Golf as their team
event.
Slapshot was the surprise hit of the
weekend as its 11 PM start time
attracted those who had been
eliminated from a myriad of other
events. The crowd of 74 hockey
fanatics was unable to fit into its
assigned room and was forced to march
upstairs to find the necessary space.
The procession, led by GM Bruce Reiff,
resembled the Pied Piper leading his
spellbound followers. Amazingly,
enough copies of this long ago out of
print game were found to accommodate
the crowd. The entrants were informed
of the rules by assistant Keith
Hunsinger, who informed all that the
penalty for breaking the no whining rule
was breakfast with a cranky Don
Greenwood.
January 1996
The nine preliminary round winners met
in the finals with Peter Staab of
Pittsburgh, PA emerging from a tight
three-way playoff as the champion. Kirk
Harris finished second, Dave Davis third
and Bruce Reiff fourth. Keith Hunsinger,
Ken Good, Luke Kratz, Dylan Small and
Sean Cousins were the other finalists.
36 would be coaches battled it out in
two heats for the Football Strategy title.
In the end, David Terry of Sykesville,
MD defeated Don Greenwood in the
semi-finals, and David then rode that
momentum to defeat Kevin Keller in the
championship game.
Speed Circuit saw last year’s 3rd-place
finisher, Lane Hess of Mountville, MD,
top the field of 23 drivers. Kevin Keller
drove to 2nd place, while Jason
O’Donnell and Matthew Staab also
placed in the top four.
Statis Pro Basketball was drew one
additional player this year with Steve
Caler of Petersburg, PA defeating Derek
Landel to conquer the field of nine.
Title Bout was the early Friday evening
(8 PM) entrant of the sports games with
26 boxers vying for the heavyweight
championship of the world (or at least of
the convention). 1993 runner-up Ken
Gutermuth of Clinton, NJ again reached
the finals, this time capturing the
championship belt by defeating Ed
Ocramoto. Steve Kershaw and Joel
Ferley were the other two semi-finalists.
This helped Ken win the overall
Avaloncon sports games championship
(see the inset box on the next page for
f ur t her det ai ls of t he sport s
championship).
16 grapplers entered the Wrasslin’
singles event, with John Souders of
Horsham, PA defeating Bruce Harper
for the championship belt. Matthew
D’Amico and Paul Weintraub were the
other two semi-finalists.
Wrasslin’ Tag Team was won by the
team of Tom Kobrin and John Souders
over a field of 14 entrants.
 The Boardgamer Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1996 19

Avaloncon 1995 -
Overall Sports Games Championship
Sports Games
Using the point system which is used to determine the standings in the Avaloncon
Wrapping up the weekend, the team tournament, the results of all the sports games were compiled to determine
Wrasslin’ Battle Royal was the last the overall sports championship. Ken Gutermuth of Clinton, NJ prevailed with a
chance to pick up an Avaloncon total of 15 points by winning the March Madness and Title Bout tournaments while
plaque for another year. 16 wrestlers placing fourth in Pro Golf. Bruce Reiff finished second with a win in Pro Golf, a
split into 2 tables of eight, with the last fourth place finish in Slapshot and an eighth place finish in Football Strategy.
four survivors from each table Below are the top eighteen finishers:
advancing into the eight wrestler final.
I thought this would be the perfect 1. Ken Gutermuth 17 MMS (8), TBT (7), PGF (2)
tournament for someone like myself 2. Bruce Reiff 12 PGF (8), SST (3), FBS (1)
who had been victimized by poor dice 3 (tie). Peter Staab 9 SST (9)
much of the weekend. A look at my Dennis Nicholson 9 WPS (7), MMS (2)
great hand filled with a Reverse and 4 5 (tie). Bobby Laboon 8 DEC (8)
Blocks gave me more confidence. David Terry 8 FBS (8)
The first three entrants had been John Souders 8 WRS (7), WBR (1)
tossed when the attacks started on my 8 (tie). Lane Hess 7 SCT (7)
wrestler. Once damaged, the other Mark Potter 7 PDT (7)
four realized they were in the finals if Robert Williamson 7 WBR (7)
they just finished me off, which they 11. Steve Caler 6 SPK (6)
preceded to do through constant 12. Kevin Keller 5 FBS (3), SCT (2)
attacks until my valiant wrestler was 13 (tie). Kirk Harris 4 SST (4)
finally tossed. The finals saw Robert John Coussis 4 DEC (3), WPS (1)
Williamson survive to take the title by Dave Davis 4 SST (3), PGF (1)
tossing Bruno Wolff out of the ring. Paul Risner 4 MMS (3), PGF (1)
John Souders was the third last in the 17 (tie). Lind Pratt 3 PGF (3)
ring and Mike Bailey claimed fourth Don Greenwood 3 FBS (2), MMS (1)
place.

Avaloncon 1995 -
Solitaire Games
The Brotherhood of the Main Brace
got off to a fantastic start as last
year’s runner-up, Paul Risner of
Sarasota, FL, flew his B-17 “Red, Red
Robin” to victory in a field of 31 pilots
as this solitaire game continues to be
a convention favorite. Paul’s victory
provided 7 points in the team
tournament standings, but our
handicap came up to bite us as an 8th
point would have been won with just
one more participant, and our
stranded Florida teammate would
have brought the field up to 32.
Risner ended up with 2 aces on his
crew who survived all three missions,
including a tail-gunner who shot down
3 German fighters as they passed by
after attacking from the front. Claude
Stone, Carmen Petruzzelli and
Stephen Lorys finished 2nd through
4th, respectively, while two-time
defending champ Kevin Coombs ran
into tougher opposition over the skies
of Europe this year.
Avaloncon 1995 -
Computer Games
The Fifth Fleet (Computer) tournament drew seven entrants, with four defeating
the computer in the first round to advance ti the semi-finals. Robert Jamilli took the
title playing the Red side, with Mike Welker, Dennis Culhane and Tracy Graf also
making it into the semifinals.
Another computer game event, Flight Commander II, saw nine entrants give it a
try. Michael McMain came out on top in this one, with Vince Alonso placing
second.
The World At War: Stalingrad (Computer) event concluded Saturday after a
gruelling four day competition using the Manstein's Solution scenario from
Stalingrad. Fourteen competitors signed up for the single elimination tournament.
Contenders bid for sides and the only variant in effect was more Soviet supply. Out
of thirteen total matches, the Axis won eight times. Although competitors bid for
sides, there were surprisingly few high bids for the favored Axis. Against an
experienced Axis contender, the Soviets have a difficult task in this scenario. With
a fifteen minute time limit per day move and simultaneous plotting of moves, there
was rarely a dull moment in the marathon event. Four days of continuous
competition taxed the six available computers, as each match averaged about five
hours.
Saturday's Semi-Finals saw some impressive talent behind the machines, with
James Lorys, Steve Chase, Mike McMain, Tracy Graf, Eric Sposito, and Vince
Alonso having advanced. For Sunday's final GM Vince Alonso of De Ridder, LA
won the bid for the Axis by ten points (500 to 510), and clenched the title from the
World at War guru Eric Sposito. Overall, the event was a resounding success. We
introduced computer events to AVALONCON and garnered a high degree of
interest from the board wargamers.
 20 The Boardgamer
Avaloncon 1995 -
Juniors Tournaments
24 young art collectors participated in
the Adel Verpflichtet, Jr. tournament
with Mike Destro coming out on top.
Jessica Greenwood was the runner-up,
while Eric Wrobel finished third and
Erika Poniske fourth.
A small field of eight allowed Circus
Maximus, Jr. to be run with two
preliminary heats with four contestants
each to allow beginners to gain
experience. All eight entrants then
competed in the finals, with 1994
champion Mike Pantaleano once again
victorious. This made it a sweep of the
Circus Maximus events for the
Pantaleano family as his father took the
seniors event. David Yingling finished in
second with the Chilcotes, Philip and
Russell, finishing third and fourth.
Dinosaurs of the Lost World, Jr.
remained one of the most popular junior
events, attracting 35 junior entrants.
John Poniske was the top explorer,
beating out Micah Rabin and Brad and
Scott Garman. Mike Pantaleano, Steve
Dickson, Evan Hitchings and Robert
Navolis rounded out the top eight.
Josh Johnson overcame 24 other
History of the World, Jr. contestants to
win this title. Phil Thomas finished in
2nd, Nicolas Raymond in 3rd and
Richard Beyma in 4th place.
The Greenwood family finally got on the
Avaloncon 1995 scoreboard, but it was
neither Don, nor Wrasslin’ superstar
Tara nor even Facts In Five master
Stephanie, but Jessica Greenwood
winning the plaque for Legends of
Robin Hood. Defending champion
Nicholas Raymond finished in second
place among the 19 junior entrants, with
Steve Dickson and Bradley Garman
also finishing in the top four.
Merchant of Venus, Jr. saw 17
youngsters competing with defending
champion Eric Wrobel of Springfield, VA
defeating Courtney Foster, Mike
Pantaleano and Ludovic Raymond in
the finals.
Volume 1, Issue 1
Speed Circuit, Jr. saw the Kirchner
brothers finish first and second out of a
field of 15, with younger brother Tim
beating out his older brother Brian.
Their father, Eric commented, “Did you
know that although juniors (14 &
younger) enter their tournaments for
free, they get plaques and merchandise
credit prizes the same as adults? What
a class act.”
14 junior network television moguls took
part in TV Wars, Jr., with 1994
champion Eric Wrobel repeating. Mike
Destro finished ahead of third place
Lauren Vessey to claim the last prize
certificate in the event. All the games
were decided by survivorship vice most
cash.
12 juniors hung around on Sunday
morning to compete at Tyranno Ex, Jr.
Russell Chilcote repeated his victory of
a year ago. Robert Navolis finished
second in the event.
Brad Garman topped a field of 24
juniors in the Wizard’s Quest, Jr.
tournament. Brad beat out Kim
Cresswell, Nicolas Raymond and Scott
Garman who finished 2nd through 4th,
respectively.
The prizes in the Wrasslin, Jr.
Tournament were swept by the Kirchner
brothers, with younger brother Tim once
again edging out his older brother Brian.
J essica Green woo d and Tyson
Rademaker were the other two semi-
finalists.
July 31, 1996
January 1996
1995 Avaloncon
Wrap-up
For the fourth straight year, Avaloncon
showed a 10% increase in attendance
thanks to a stronger than usual non-
preregistered “door” signup. This
year’s increase was despite the nearby
presence of Origins in Philadelphia
and worries about Avaloncon's future.
With Origins moving to Columbus,
Ohio next year, the signs look positive
for another large crowd again in 1996.
Reserve that hotel room early!
Changes For
Avaloncon 1996
First of all, it appears that Avaloncon
will survive for at least one more year.
Avalon Hill has a contract with the
Hunt Valley Inn to host Avaloncon
between July 31 and August 4, 1996.
Next, there will be a few changes in
order to make Avaloncon more
economically viable for Avalon Hill.
1) The admission fee for the
weekend is being raised $5 to
$35.
2) There will no longer be any
supplemental prizes beyond
the plaque for the free juniors
events.
3) Events using games no
longer sold by Avalon Hill will
be subject to a separate
restricted prize schedule
(since promotion of these
games no longer produce
income for Avalon Hill). The
championship plaques will
still be awarded for all events.
August 4, 1996
 The Boardgamer Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1996 21

Avaloncon Hall of Fame Update

Following is the current list of the elected members, those eligible to be elected and those only partially qualified for the
Avaloncon Hall of Fame. This is not the official list (which is kept by Avalon Hill) but a listing based upon the listings in the 1995
Avaloncon booklet and the 1995 Avaloncon results.

Current Hall Of Fame Inductee Don’s entry into the Hall of Fame is currently being
contested, by Don himself. However, Russ Gifford
3 Greenwood, Don WBR, TVW (2), STH 61 swears all the i’s were dotted and all the t’s were
crossed and Don is stuck with it. Stay tuned for
Hall Of Fame Qualifiers
further details.
6 Beyma, Robert TRC (2), B81, WAT, W&P, PZL 104
4 Doughan, James TPS (2), ROR, BKN 103
2 Fortenberry, Gary ASL (2) 260
4 Fuqua, Jim ATS, SOA, KRM (2) 122 Legend:
4 Giddings, Mark 183 (2), PPW, A5A 129
4 Gutermuth, Ken AUC, S&B, MMS, TBT 121 STH = Service To Hobby
4 Kilbride, John EIS, GNG, BKB (2) 157 GMN = Top 6 GameMaster
4 Koleszar, Steven SOA (2), ACQ, TTN 141 * = Sportsmanship Award
2 McGrath, Mike ASL (2) 211
8 Reiff, Bruce WPS, MMS, AUC (2), DIP, CDT, S&B, PGF 214
6 Rennert, Phil PGG (5), WAS 75
5 Young, Bruce ATS, UPF (2), MBT (2) 173

Not Quite There Yet # Name Events Won Entries

# Name Events Won Entries 1 Ehlers, Michael ROR 37

- Ellman, John GMN (3)
1 Alexander, Frank B17 32 1 Ellsworth, John SOA 19
1 Alonso, Vince WAW 14 1 Ellsworth, Mike SSB 16
2 Anchors, Michael ACQ, MOV 69 2 Endres, James CIV, NVW 50
1 Anderson, Jim EIA 19 1 Erni, Wes VIP 39
1 Applebaum, Alan VIP 36 1 Ernstein, Alan CDT 29
1 Barbehenn, Robin 183 66 2 Evans, Phil B81, AFK 28
1 Barnum, Jeff CMS 67 2 Falling, James RFT (2) 24
1 Beach, Edward SJW 22 1 Fedin, Ron TPS, GMN 15
4 Beard, Joe AFK (2), WAT (2) 65 1 Fellin, Bill RBN 57
1 Behrens, Alan ACV 24 1 Finnerty, Sean ROR 23
3 Bellas, Joe CDT, KRW, HCR 74 3 Fitzgerald, Michael FBS, WRS, SCT 56
3 Bender, Trevor NWD, HCR, FSE 54 1 Flanigan, Tim CMS 54
1 Benson, Chaka BKB 37 2 Fleckenstein, James 5FT, NVW 40
1 Berger, Ron SDA 20 1 Forrest, Winston EIS 17
1 Bernard, Beth ADV 65 2 Foster, Chuck RBN, GMN, FI5 52
1 Bliss, Gordon HWD 102 1 Frappier, Alan TRC 26
1 Bodkin, Chris KGM 28 1 Freeman, Ray WAS 33
2 Boisvert, John WSM (2) 65 3 Frydas, Nick W&P (2), A5A 56
1 Bower, Phil RKL 56 1 Gantt, David MAH 16
1 Brandeberry, John SSB 9 1 Garvey, James DUN 23
1 Brophy, Joe A3R 8 1 Giannobile, Michele TVW 28
1 Brophy, Megan WRS 16 - Gifford, Russ GMN (3)
- Burnett, Jim GMN 1 Giordano, David PZB 10
2 Caler, Steve SPK (2) 17 1 Goehring, Scott SCT 24
1 Cameron, Steve ASN 23 1 Goliwas, Paul TT2 26
1 Carpenter, Ray DUN 24 1 Gonzalez, Gary PCW 8
1 Chilcote, Steve MUS 20 1 Gosnell, Fred EIS 48
1 Cleary, Bill FBS 30 1 Grant, John RFT 8
1 Cocke, Perry ASL 112 2 Gratz, Herbert 5FT, UPF 58
1 Cohen, Mark UPF 44 1 Greenfield, Chris ROR 25
3 Coleman, Terry MMS (2), TBT 75 1 Greenwood, Tara WRS 8
1 Conway, Bryan A3R 32 1 Grimes, Ben HWD 53
2 Coombs, Kevin B17 (2) 67 2 Hamrick, Frank PPW (2) 18
2 Cousins, Caleb KRM, RKL 92 1 Hancock, Chris SCT 16
2 Cousins, Sean KRM (2) 56 1 Hansen, Cliff MUS 20
2 Cox, Randy CDT, GMN, SSB 33 1 Harper, Bruce WRS 25
- Cox, Roger GMN (2) 1 Harper, Greg BKB 19
1 Crowe, Mike AFK 15 1 Harshbarger, Dave 183 46
2 Culhane, Dennis CVW, A5A 45 2 Hasay, Johnny PZB (2) 22
2 Curtin, Richard BRI, PXB 53 2 Haskell, Franklin PXB (2) 28
1 DeMarco, Carolyn TYX 18 1 Hawthorne, Maria UPF 43
2 DeMarco, Tom ADV, TYX 76 4 Heller, Randy B91 (2), B81 (2) 41
1 Durlacher, Dave NAP 8 1 Henry, Dan VIP 45
1 Edwards, William III BKN 48 1 Hess, Lane SCT 23
 22 The Boardgamer Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1996

Avaloncon Hall of Fame Update (Cont.)

# Name Events Won Entries # Name Events Won Entries

1 Hickok, Charles KGM 38 1 Rareshide, Steve TTN 43

1 Holley, Mark D91 14 1 Reid, Jack ATS 40
1 House, Andrew SCT 29 1 Reynolds, Jim UCV 33
2 Ingersoll, Jerry 3R4 (2) 32 1 Rigg, Bart PBZ 12
1 Johnson, Tim HOW 108 1 Risner, Paul B17 31
1 Johnston, Tom TPS 18 1 Robert, Jason PTB 10
1 Kaplan, Allen GBG 18 2 Rodgers, Gordon BKB, FBS 78
1 Kaplan, Chuck TTN 67 1 Rohrbeck, William WSM 28
1 Kearney, Tom PZB 12 1 Romanowski, Scott SQL 12
1 Kernan, Bruce RFT 9 1 Rooks, Ray SJW 22
1 Kershaw, Steven WPS 14 1 Rosetti, Christopher 5FT 8
1 Kibler, Judy WBR 19 1 Rothstein, Ken ACV 35
1 Kibler, Kaethe WBR 12 1 Rudolph, Robert ROR 23
1 Kilray, John * 1 Rugh, Robert ATS 26
1 Kobrin, Tom DIP 65 1 Ryan, Mike SSB 21
1 Koehler, Stephen DIP 71 1 Sauer, George KGM 11
2 Kratz, Luke FI5, SST 62 1 Saunders, Paul DUN 12
1 Kuchta, Dave ATS 46 2 Scarborough, Tom WAS, NAP 35
2 Laboon, Bobby ASN, DEC 69 2 Schilb, Randy FSE, BRI 77
1 Larose, Sylvain DIP 73 - Scott, Bill GMN (4)
1 Laskey, Brian SQL 14 4 Seary, George CVW (4) 56
1 Lee, Ken RTG, GMN 28 1 Shoenen, Rob MBT 9
2 Lerow, Kevin GNG, GUE 48 1 Shunk, Kenneth NVW 30
2 Lewis, Andy SST, WTP 84 4 Sincavage, Mike ANZ (4) 48
1 Lingle, Larry WAT 16 1 Slusarek, Ed EIA 15
1 Litscher, Kurt BBP 16 1 Smith, Aaron EIA 26
1 Maly, Andrew 5FT 8 1 Smith, Barry CMS 35
1 Martin, Jeff TRC 17 1 Soper, Paul B91 14
1 May, Ralph ADV 57 1 Souders, John WRS 16
2 Mayer, Greg NVW, MOV 105 1 Staab, Peter SST 74
4 McCarthy, Kevin WAT, B91, GBG, PPW 52 1 Stakenas, Ray Jr. WBR 14
1 McMain, Michael FC2 9 1 Stanley, Mike CMS 47
1 Meconi, Vince GBG 10 - Stapp, Chuck *
1 Menard, Pierre B81 14 1 Stein, Peter GUE 36
1 Metzger, David MUS 22 1 Stingley, Byron TPS 12
1 Miklos, Mark 176 16 1 Stranger, Eric SQL 15
1 Miller, Jeff SQL 19 1 Stroh, Kathy MOV 21
2 Mingo, Brett BRI, NWD 110 1 Stroud, Gregory GER 33
2 Mitchell, Michael 3R4 26 1 Struckman, Conrad A3R 20
2 Monnin, Bruce WAS (2) 48 2 Sutton, Brian 3R4, TTN 83
2 Morrell, Jack B91, D91 16 2 Targonski, Dave VIP (2) 72
1 Neal, Michael ACV 40 1 Taylor, Roger WTP 56
3 Newman, Michael FSE (3) 50 1 Telger, Terry ADV 34
1 Nicholson, Dennis WPS 29 2 Terry, Dave NWD, GMN(2), FBS 47
1 Nolan, John SPB 18 2 Thoen, Heikki KGM, RBN 87
1 Norton, Bernard ACQ 49 1 Thomas, Phil EIS 49
1 O'Conner, Ed TRC 20 1 Thompson, David MOV 43
1 O'Neil, Paul FBS 30 1 Toro, Paul KGM 24
1 Oleson, Tom ANZ 8 1 Tracton, Keith MBT 8
1 Olin, Eric FI5 25 1 Truitt, Jim WSM 23
1 Otto, Debbie GNG 28 1 Tucker, Stuart WPS 20
1 Pack, John GNG 22 1 Uhr, Andre PCW 8
3 Packwood, Steve ACQ, 176 (2) 62 1 Uhrich, Michael GBG 19
1 Pafenberg, Forrest ACQ 28 1 Valeri, Angelo PZL 20
1 Pantaleano, Mike CMS 72 1 Vander Pluym, Todd 183 84
1 Passacantando, Bruno SJW 27 2 Vice, Dan ACV (2) 85
2 Patrick, William TYX (2) 32 - Von Pagel, Tiger *
1 Pedlow, Linda $GR 67 2 Wagner, Duane MOV, BRI 77
1 Pedlow, Steven SPB 12 2 Walrath, David TBT, PGF 45
1 Pei, James RFT 8 1 Weintraub, Paul DUN 22
1 Pena, Tenis de la EIA 35 1 Welsh, Kevin SQL 8
- Petroski, Glenn GMN (4) 1 Wible, Will DIP 56
1 Pfeifer, Ray ADV 23 1 Wigdot, Bruce RKL 41
1 Pfeiffer, Scott BRI 73 1 Williamson, Robert WBR 16
1 Poniske, John AFK 12 1 Willmer, Charlie FPR 18
2 Potter, Mark PDT (2) 41 1 Wolff, Bruno TT2 26
1 Pugh, David FPR 12 1 Yerkey, Jim CDP, GMN 40
1 Purnell, Robert NWD 14 2 York, Larry EIS, WSM 58
3 Quirk, Kevin RBN (2), TTN 115
 The Boardgamer
Let’s Talk
About
Assassin
Tips For Better Play
by Steve Kershaw
I usually keep a destination 2 cities
away from the one I’m in. And I always
keep my Legitimate Target cards. This
you might say is a rule of thumb in
ASSASSIN. If people are reaching a lot
of cities and the only vehicle you have is
a sports car then go ahead and use it. If
you’re not the Assassin, then I’d suggest
holding on to the Interpol Agent and
Innocent Bystander cards as a defense.
When passing cards it’s usually best to
pass the bicycle or a 20k or 50k card,
but if you’re holding a lot of the
aforementioned cards it is okay to pass
the sports car or 200k cards. If you
happen to have the 1000k card this
would be a good card to keep hoping to
use it with either the EuroTrain or Long
Range-Rider. If you should get a gray
hazard card and it applies, play it;
otherwise it would probably be better to
discard this underneath another discard.
If you get the Espionage Agent, use this
as soon as possible on someone you
suspect as being the Assassin. Never
discard a city unless it is underneath
another discard.
Optimally it would be best to use these
vehicles: the Long-Range Rider, the
EuroTrain, the Express and the
Airplane. Discard or pass the others.
This gives you 32 cards to choose from
out of a total of 56. It is also best to hold
on to 300k and higher distance cards.
And if the only vehicle you have is a
sports car it’s good to hoard the 300k
distance cards. Another tip is not to go
to Athens or Istanbul since it is hard to
find a destination card to go to. But if it
is late in the game then by-all-means go
to either of these cities if the Assassin or
most of the players are far away. Same
thing for Madrid.
Those are my tips for the Assassin
game. One last observation: if you are
the Assassin visit as many cities as
possible, and when the third gun card is
out you must pass the Assassin.
Volume 1, Issue 1
Nailbiters
One Gamer’s Opinion
by Jim Matt
The best games are nailbiters. These
are the ones that both you and your
opponent(s) have your hands on the
prize and are about to snatch it, but
keep slugging it out turn by turn. A win
is a win, but a nailbiter win is held
especially dear.
Nailbiters erase the stain of poorly
matched players. Most experienced
players don’t get a thrill by beating a
novice. A novice is left with poor
feelings after being steamrollered by a
player way above their skill level. But if
the game is close and challenging from
turn to turn, a win by either player is
earned, and the thrill is deserved.
All players come away from a nailbiter
with a good feeling. The winner eked
out a victory. The sting of a loss is
tempered by the multitude of “what ifs”
that would have won the game for the
loser(s). Players may still kick
themselves for dumb mistakes, but have
the legitimate right to use the “I was
under game pressure...” excuse. ;)
So, how do you play more games that
qualify as nailbiters? If handicaps will
make the game closer, use them!
Change the victory conditions if you
need to. Bend, or even break, rules that
hold you back from a closer game.
Make new rules that make more sense
to you. It;s your game — you own it; do
what you want. You’re playing a game
for fun, remember? You can always
play another game later to rectify a
mistake of giving away too much the first
time.
If you’re designing a scenario for a two
player game, make sure that players of
equal skill (and luck levels) can achieve
victory conditions with the “underdog”
side in at least 40% of the games
played. This is not a real life simulation.
The players are investing their
recreational hours to have fun. Only a
masochist wants to play a severe
underdog for “fun”.
After tinkering with a game and finding
something that works to make the game
a nailbiter, share it with others in a
magazine like this. Others may not
agree with your variant, but it’ll foster
January 1996 23
discussion and possibly generate an
ever better variant.
If you’d like to discuss this further, I
can be contacted on the Internet at
WAMASTER@GENIE.GEIS.COM.
There are two other good ways to find
“nailbiter” games. Attend Avaloncon
and play in the tournaments there,
especially Swiss style tournaments.
You are fairly certain to play a few
games against equal opponents before
you are done.
The other method (especially for PBM
and PBEM matches) is to use the AREA
ratings printed elsewhere in this
magazine. Seek out opponents with
AREA ratings close to yours. Your
opponent should either be at a similar
level as yourself, or else your rating will
rise or fall until you do find opponents at
your level.
History of the World
AREA GEnie PBEM
Ladder
An AREA PBEM ladder tournament is
being started for History of the World on
the GEnie computer network. To start
with, the ladder will be run with two
simultaneous games occurring, an
upper land lower portion of the ladder.
Points will be awarded for each level of
finishing order, so there is still interest
in the last Epoch to squeeze out of the
celler for that 5th place finish (if you
play like me).
The ladder is taking place in the
Scorpia Games RoundTable (type
M805;1) in Category 21 (Avaon Hill)
topic #37 and possibly also topic #27.
For details or to sign up, call or email
me at the BOARDGAMER:
Bruce Monnin
177 South Lincoln Street
Minster, OH 45865
(419) 628-3332
GEnie: B.MONNIN
Internet:
B.MONNIN@genie.geis.com
 24 The Boardgamer Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1996
Advanced Squad Leader 2-Player Game
AREA Victory Claim Chit AREA Victory Claim Chit
_________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
(winner’s name) (winner’s name)

_________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
(player number) (player number)

_____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________
(signature) (signature)
HAS DEFEATED HAS DEFEATED

_________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
(defeated player’s name) (defeated player’s name)

_________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
(player number) (player number)

_____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________
(signature) (signature)

in a rated live pbm game of Advanced Squad Leader: in a rated live pbm game of:

_____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________
(Scenario Name and/or Number) (Name of Game)

_____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________
(Side of Winner) (Game Company Published By)

_____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________
(Date) (Date)

_____________________________________________________________________
(Play Balance Used - If Any)
Return this chit to: 1st Subsequent

Return this chit to: 1st Subsequent Glenn Petroski game vs. this opponent
Russ Gifford game vs. this opponent 210 W. Hunt
320 E. 27th Street Twin Lakes, WI 53181-9786
South Sioux, NE 68776

Multi-Player Game AREA Victory Claim Chit

________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________
(Name of Winner #1) (Name of Defeated Player #1) (Name of Defeated Player #4)

________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________

(Player Number) (Player Number) (Player Number)

________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________

(Signature) (Signature) (Signature)

________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________

(Name of Winner #2) (Name of Defeated Player #2) (Name of Defeated Player #5)

________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________

(Player Number) (Player Number) (Player Number)

________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________

(Signature) (Signature) (Signature)

in a rated live pbm game of:

________________________________________ ________________________________________
(Name of Defeated Player #3) (Name of Defeated Player #6)
________________________________________
(Name of Game)
________________________________________ ________________________________________
(Player Number) (Player Number)
________________________________________
(Game Company Published By)
________________________________________ ________________________________________
(Signature) (Signature)
________________________________________
(Date)

If more than 2 winners or 6 defeated Return this chit to:

players, continue listing on another chit Glenn Petroski Check here if continued
and mark box in lower right corner. 210 W. Hunt on another chit.
Twin Lakes, WI 53181-9786
 The Boardgamer
Ever since April people have been
asking me what it is that I know about
Avalon Hill, the theft of a computer and
much of their records. It is amazing
how many people have asked me the
exact qu estion “W hat REALLY
happened?” My answer has been
“Whoever knows is not telling me.” But
rather than continually dealing in pat
cliches, let me recount what I do know,
and what happened on my end.
On Sunday, April 23, 1995, The Avalon
Hill Game Company was broken into by
a person or persons unidentified.
Whomever it was knew what they
wanted, and where to find it. One
complete computer set up was stolen,
along with corresponding software
backups. Significant financial records, a
number of mailing lists, and every scrap
of AREA records were taken.
How the financial records were covered,
I don’t know. That is pretty well
between the accountants. The mailing
lists were largely on hard copy files, or
cross referenced off other files. AREA,
well...
There was nothing, not a thing left,
having to do with AREA, except a
handful of chits which hadn’t been
entered. Nowhere to start over, no way
to rebuild. Or so it seemed.
AREA had been a losing proposition,
financially, at Avalon Hill. It was a part
time side line distraction. To the non-
gamers who now own the company
there was not much incentive to carry
on. Then too, there is a percentage of
the actual AH staff who are not what we
would call competitive gamers. These
more casual types really didn’t care
either way about AREA, or looked upon
it as one more job. While Don
Greenwood created AREA, and kept it
going for 20 years, there had been
continual opposition from these
attitudes.
When the nefarious “Baltimore Break-In”
occurred, there wasn’t enough support
for AREA at the Hill to try to jump start
the thing again. Pretty quickly it was
decided to terminate the entire idea.
Within a few days I was holding a letter
Volume 1, Issue 1
AREA NEWS
What Happened?
by Glenn E.L. Petroski
in my hand, including a rough draft of an
editorial for the GENERAL, which told of
the incident and decision to end AREA.
I was dialing my phone before I set the
letter down. If Russ Gifford had been
sent a letter, he wouldn’t have it yet,
since he was at the Chicago ASL Open.
I had the phone number. Besides Russ,
I wanted to tell Louie Tokarz. Louie is
another personal friend, as well as
president and organizer of Windy City
W ar gam er s and t he Chi cago
Competitions.
The news was met with a stunned
silence. After the three of us groped
with a few futile attempts to say
something we hung up.
A few days after getting home, Russ
called back. I have learned to recognize
his ring. He is the only one of you who
takes me literally about calling at any
time. He waits for the rates to go down,
then calls me between eleven and
midnight, once or twice per week. I
tease him about it, but I actually
appreciate it. This is when I really have
time to talk. This particular phone call
began a series of almost every night
between us for the next three weeks -
Ma Bell was definitely solvent!
After only one or two calls Russ had
made up his mind. By sheer fluke Russ
had written for, and received, complete
AREA records for every ASL player
barely two weeks before the break-in.
By default, this included the records of
every generic rated player who had
previously played an ASL game within
the previous 90 days. As AREA NEWS
editor I had records of every reported
AREA game within the last two years.
All combined, Russ realized that he was
holding a very nearly complete file of
AREA ASL. With this much to go on,
and his interest in competitive gaming
and ASL in particular, he just did not
see any rational alternative to continuing
the rating system from where he was.
It took me about another 48 hours to
reach my decision. Continual phone
calls with Russ had me wondering if any
of the rest could be salvaged in any
way. I called Don Greenwood. After
two lengthy conversations with Don he
January 1996 25
made me understand that what I was
thinking of doing was impossible.
Furthermore, any attempt would be
extremely controversial, subject to much
opposition and frustration. At very best
this would be an Excedrin headache
without equal. In short, he talked me
into it.
Now we were faced with deadlines that
we were not likely to meet. The next
GENERAL was already on the way to
the presses. Only by deft interception
on the part of Don Greenwood and
Robert Waters did we get two short,
hopeful blurbs inserted, announcing that
Russ and I were going to do our best to
“reconstitute” AREA.
The next deadline was for the following
GENERAL. Readers needed a
complete explanation of what the plan
was. To the uninitiated it would seem
that with 30:1 at the printers we had
about 60 days to get out 30:2. Reality is
that on the day that 30:1 goes to press
30:2 has to be set in stone and on its
way to set up. When you read almost
any magazine it is too late to add
anything to the following issue, and only
by sheer luck and extreme speed can
you alter the wording of a sentence in
the issue following that. This is a
general truism, and not just for the
GENERAL.
Don, Robert, Russ and myself ran up
phone bills, smoked keyboards and lost
lots of sleep. We got the stuff into the
GENERAL, but the printer didn’t make
the deadline for AC ‘95. On the other
hand, we did get the material we
needed printed for the AC ‘95 program,
and into the player’s hands on time.
Enter: Bruce Monnin.
Don and Russ are both on-line. Even
as we worked on details news spread
across the country; nay, the world. A
week had not yet elapsed and I was
getting phone calls. Before the end of
the second week I was getting mail by
the bag full. Bruce is also on-line and
had an idea what was happening even
as events broke. He was on the phone
within hours after I tossed my hat into
the ring.
 26 The Boardgamer
Bruce and I have casually known each
other since Avaloncon ‘91. At AC ‘93 he
approached me with plans for a number
of hobby projects, including a
wargaming magazine. For these
projects he was actively soliciting my
help. I offered a lot of encouraging
advice and moral support. In addition, I
was willing to share whatever I had or
could do that would dovetail with my
present commitments. To take a more
active part in another endeavor was
beyond what I was willing to do at that
time. It was enough for Bruce, and he
was off and running. I have heard from
him nearly every month since that time
as he developed his ideas. I got to
know Bruce and realized that while his
dreams were big, he had realistic plans
for getting there, and was not foolish or
reckless.
By coincidence Bruce had a prototype
run of his magazine available just as AH
was being broken into. Bruce was all
over me. Would I give him the ratings to
publish? Would I write for his new
magazine? Would I endorse his efforts
to others? How could he help AREA?
While I did have half a dozen other
offers from other publishers and would
be publishers, Bruce was clearly offering
me the best deal. Which is to say just
about everything I could ask for, with
little or no risk on my part. Bruce was
using me as a proof reader. I had read
almost all of his planned copy. There
was a clear understanding of both his
intent and actual content. I could see
where he was going. The groundwork
was already there. Most importantly,
Bruce had a clearly stated philosophy, in
writing, publicly, that his magazine,
BOARDGAMER, was to support and
encourage COMPETITIVE play of
boardgames. This is what AREA is all
about. There was no better home.
The one catch was that Bruce had
another deadline for me. He wanted his
premiere issue to be available at AC ‘95.
Which put it in the same time frame as
everything else. On this one, things
went better than we hoped. With my
head reeling, I sat down one afternoon
and spun off the first of the new AREA
NEWS in about two hours. Seldom
does inspiration strike anyone like that,
but every so often. This time God
blessed right when I thought I needed it.
And it was blessed! It was a good
article that said just what needed to be
said at the right time.
Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1996
In my mail I was already getting the Another example; there is one listing of
help and encouragement that I has an old AREA membership number with
hoping for. Gamemasters were writing an interest in one game. The name
with information that they had. Russ given was illegible. It is entered in the
was not the only one with fairly recent file as it is. When more is learned, the
information. Updated ratings for Panzer blanks will be filled in.
Leader, Panzerblitz and Gettysburg all
showed up in time for me to forward to The following is a listing of what
Bruce for printing. We were on a roll! information is being searched for and
included in the A.R.E.A. information
The next thing I knew I was on a plane system.
to AC ‘95!
Personal File:
The story doesn’t end here. But it slows AREA ID number
down enough for me to think about First name
catching my breath. As I write, AC ‘95 is Last name
only two days behind me. Final results Mailing address
are not yet in. I am just now waking up. City or Town
The mail piles up faster than I can read State, Province, or Country
it, let alone answer it. But I will soon be Zip code
able to begin pacing myself, rather than Home phone
just stomping out fires. Second phone
E-mail address
At this point I would strongly Generic rating
recommend that you stay tuned here. Generic letter qualifiers
This AREA thing is going to keep Game titles
happening, and this is where the news Administration
will be. Promise!
Game File:
A.R.E.A. Information Search Player rating
Letter qualifiers
To: GMs, Tournament officials, hobby Frequency
administrators, AREA supporters. Opponents
Play by mail
Subject: Information being collected Tournaments
for A.R.E.A. information system. Activity
Anyone who can provide any of this Administration File:
information is sincerely requested to do Local events
so. Information is being sought in National events
regards to any Player, GameMaster, Play by mail
Tournam ent Official, Hobby Answer man
Administrator, Game Title, or Company. Other
Supplying information, or being listed, Further Explanations:
does not obligate anyone to anything,
nor is there any cost involved. The only AREA ID number: This is the old
cost is $1.00 per request when asking to membership number, if the person in
receive information from A.R.E.A. This question has one. If not, one will
is to cover postage, handling, and the eventually be assigned. It is also
incidental costs necessary to operate possible that some will be changed for
the system. Additional SASE is always various administrative purposes. It is
appreciated, but not required. SASE safe to assume that an old membership
alone may be responded to with minimal number continues to be a player's ID
reply, but no promises are given. until such time as that player is informed
otherwise.
Even if complete information is not
available, any portion is appreciated. Zip code: All nine digits, if available.
For instance; at this time I have many
listings of only names of people which Second phone: Work, office, Fax,
might be interested in our hobby in whatever.
some way. These have been entered
into the AREA database. More
information about these individuals will
be added and updated as it is acquired.
 The Boardgamer
Generic Rating & Generic letter
qualifiers: Generic ratings and qualifiers
are being kept temporarily at this time.
Upon request they may be converted to
any one game rating of the owner's
choice. This offer will expire at a time
yet to be determined. In either case, the
generic ratings and qualifiers will then
be eliminated entirely.
Game Titles: These are the titles of
games for which a player has ratings. A
player receives a rating in a game title
by any one or more of the following: a)
reporting one or more completed
games; b) turning in an old, verifiable,
AREA specific rating for that title; c)
converting or "rolling over" an old
generic rating. Ratings cannot be
obtained solely by request, some sort of
activity must be on record. However,
ratings will be freely added as records of
activity come in.
Administration: How this individual
supports our hobby, including which
game titles he serves as
GameMaster, tournament official,
administrator, or other functions. Notes
are also made for other services which
an individual provides or participates in.
Player rating: This particular player's
rating in this particular game, only!
Letter qualifiers: The letter form, for
shorter reference, of a player's
experience qualifier's.
Frequency: Number of individual games
played of this title.
Opponents: Number of separate
individual opponents.
Play by mail: Number of games played
by mail, e-mail, or other means other
than actual face to face.
Tournaments: Number of live, face to
face tournaments this individual has
participated in. To qualify a tournament
must include a minimum of least ten
active players, three rounds of
competitive play, and two specified
tournament officials.
Activity: Year and month of last
recorded activity in this game title.
Local or National events: While the
definitions are admittedly a bit vague
here, I think we all know what is meant.
In any case, what is national, local, or
Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1996 27
just doesn't qualify, is solely the
judgment of AREA administration.
Stalingrad AREA Ladder
The AREA ladder tournament of
Play by mail: Which game title, if any,
Stalingrad (the old AH boardgame, not
this person runs an AREA supported
the computer game) is still going strong.
pbm or pbem competition for. Only one
Round 4 is starting up now with 11
GM will be supported in each title for
players on the ladder. We could use
each medium.
some more. Players are matched and
play a 2 game set taking each side
Answer man: If this individual serves
(usually simultaneously). The games
as THE OFFICIAL answer man for a
are played using PBM--yes, snail mail.
particular game title. This must have
If both players agree, email is possible.
the support of the issuing game
company or general acceptance of the
The matches currently set for round 4
hobby.
are as follows:
Match 1:
Other: Whatever isn't covered by some
John Grant vs. Joe Beard
other file, but seems worthy of note.
Match 2:
Greg Smith vs. Ed Menzel
Please forward all information which
Match 3:
you may have as soon as possible to:
Chuck Synold vs. Johnny Hasay
Match 4:
Glenn E. L. Petroski
Paul Selzer vs. Scott Goehring
A. R.E.A. Technician
210 W. Hunt
Anyone who is interested should email
Twin Lakes, Wisconsin 53181-9786
John Grant (J.GRANT@genie.geis.com)
414-877-4178
for further information. Or mail him at :
198 Brookdale Road
Thanks for all of your help!
Stamford, CT 06903
Authors Needed!
The BOARDGAMER is always in need of authors to pen quality articles.
Although there are no set restrictions as far as article content, the
BOARDGAMER will always concentrate on the play of Avalon Hill/Victory
Games board, sports and card games. Thus strategy articles, series replays
and variants for these games are always good material for submission. Game
reviews of some of the older titles which may not be quite as familiar to some
of the newer members of the hobby as they are to the old grognards would
also be welcome material. History articles, game reviews, game previews and
articles dealing with games from other companies will be considered on a case
by case basis.
So, break out those word processors and start writing. Pull out those thoughts
on that older title which you never thought would be published. Tell us about
your adventures at Avaloncon. Describe that wild play-by-mail match you just
finished or that e-mail Diplomacy game. The BOARDGAMER cannot survive
without the contributions of its readers. In fact, the size of each issue will be
directly related to the amount of material received.
Pay for authors is currently in the form of one free issue of the BOARDGAMER
for each page the article occupies. Although nobody will ever get rich this way,
hopefully there is enough perceived value in this publication to make the effort
worthwhile.
Articles submitted will not be printed with any significant changes without first
receiving the approval of the original author. It is requested that articles
submitted to the BOARDGAMER not also be submitted elsewhere without first
informing the BOARDGAMER.
 28 The Boardgamer Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1996

Panzer Leader - Avaloncon Scenarios

From The 1994 and 1995 Tournaments
by Bill Scott
The following three scenarios have been used in the last two Avaloncon conventions. They are designed to be good
tournament scenarios and do not necessarily correspond to any specific historical battles.

Panzer Leader Scenario S-1

Force B ............................ Enter Any 1 Hex, North or South
South
———— Board Edge on Turn 2. Entry
Board Configuration =
(5) Daimler Hex must be recorded before
(3) M20 game starts and may not be
East A D West (3) Stuart changed during game.
(2) Truck
(3) M3 Scout Car
(1) Recon HQ Troop
North
(3) Scout Infantry
(1) MG Infantry
Set Up Notes: 1 Block counter is placed on Hex AS9 before
(1) 17 lb. Anti-Tank Gun
the game starts. Allies move first. Game Scenario Length is
12 Turns.
Force C ........................... Enter Hex DQ1 on Turn 2.
————
Victory Conditions: Players score points for having at least 1
(3) Bren Carrier
unit occupying the following hexes at the end of turn 12:
(3) 25 lbr HOW
AR2 = 2 points AQ2 = 2 points AQ10 = 1 point
Force D ........................... Enter Any 1 Hex, West Board
———— Edge on Turn 7. Entry Hex must
The player with the most points is the winner. If both players
(5) Rifle be recorded before game starts
have zero points, the Allies win marginally. If both sides have
(1) Engineer (UK) and may not be changed during
equal points, more than zero, the Axis win marginally. Winning
(9) Sherman (UK) game.
by 1 or 2 points is also marginal, by 3 or 4 points is a tactical
(2) Achilles
victory and by 5 or more points is a decisive victory.
(1) Churchill Flamethrower
(3) Sexton
Players may agree to choose sides by adjusting the arrival turn
(6) Bren Carrier
of the last (turn #7) Allied reinforcements (+ or -). The player
who bids the latest arrival turn is the Allied player. If both
players bid the same arrival turn then the bidding switches to
points given to the Allies (+ or -) with the player giving the Axis Order of Battle
fewest points playing the Allies. Bidding for side choice is done
simultaneously and only once for the turn delay and once for Force Y ........................... Enter Hex AQ10 on Turn 1.
the point adjustment. If both the biddings result in a tie, choice ————
must be determined at random (by die roll) AND the bid (3) SdKfz 234/1
adjustments to Allied reinforcement arrival time and point totals (1) SdKfz 234/2 (Puma)
is in effect. (1) PzKw-III
(1) StuG-III
Note: If an Entry Hex is blocked due to the presence of an (2) Truck
enemy unit or because of “stacking” limits, arriving (2) Rifle
reinforcements must delay their entry until a later turn. A (1) Sdkfz 234/4
player may choose to delay “normal” arrival of his own (1) Lynx
reinforcements. Any delayed reinforcement(s) must enter on
the same hex in a later turn that they were required to enter on Force Z ........................... Enter Hex AQ10 on Turn 3.
in their “normal” turn of arrival. Use of the Optional Rules of ————
Opportunity Fire and Infantry Quick-time Speed is strongly (6) PzKw-V (W) (1) Maultier
encouraged. (2) PzKw-IV (W) (1) 20mm Anti-Aircraft
(2) PzKw-VIa (1) Nebelwerfer
(1) PzKw-III (1) 75mm Anti-Tank
Allied Order of Battle (6) Submachinegun (1) 88mm Anti-Tank
(1) Engineer (4) Truck
Force A ............................ Enter Hex DQ1 on Turn 1.
(3) Rifle (10) Halftrack SdKfz 251
————
(4) Truck
(2) Engineer (UK)
(2) Rifle
(4) Cromwell
 The Boardgamer Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1996 29

Panzer Leader Scenario S-2 (Rev. B) Panzer Leader Scenario S-3 (Rev. E)
North North
Board Configuration = Board Configuration =

West C East West D East

South South

Set Up: All Axis any hexes on Board C on or North of hex row Set Up: All Axis on Board D anywhere on or South of hex
J. All Allies move first and must enter on turn 1. row AA. All Allies move first and must enter on turn 1 from
the north edge.
Axis Order of Battle
Axis Order of Battle
(4) Rifle Infantry
(3) Submachinegun Infantry (6) PzKw-V (W) (3) PzKw-VI
(2) Truck (3) 234/1 (1) Puma
(1) 75mm Anti-Tank Gun (1) 234/4 (1) Lynx
(1) Nebelwerfer
(1) Hetzer
Allied Order of Battle
Allied Order of Battle
Enter on any hexes along North edge of Board D.
Enter on any hexes along South edge of Board C.
(3) M 8 Armored Car (3) M 20 Armored Car
(6) Halftrack (6) Armored Infantry (4-I-2*-10-1) (9) M 4/75 (1) M 24
(2) Truck (1) Engineer Infantry (3) M 4/76 (1) M 36
(4) M 4/75 (2) M 7 SPA (3) M 10 (3) M 5 Stuart
(1) M 4/76 (1) M 4/105 (1) M 18
(1) M 18 (1) M 16
(1) 81mm Mortar (1) Valentine, Tank-Bridge Layer Special Conditions:

Special Conditions:
a) The Axis may have targeted Indirect Fire recorded to hit on
turn 1. Such I.F. must be pre-recorded during the Axis Set
Up.
b) Players must simultaneously and secretly bid for sides.
Each player bids the number of turn the game will last. The
player choosing the fewest number of turns takes the Allied
side. If players choose the same game length, then they bid
again, only this time for how many Axis units will be eliminated
by the game’s end. The player choosing the highest number
of Axis units eliminated will play the Allied side. If players
choose the same number of Axis units then they must bid
again choosing the fewest number of Allied units that will be
eliminated by the game’s end. The player choosing the lowest
number of Allied losses will play the Allied side. If players
choose the same number of Allied losses then roll a die to
determine sides.
a) Players bid for side choice. Roll a die to decide which
player starts the bidding. The opening bid must be between
1 and 15. Players then alternate bidding until one player
passes, or until 15 is reached. Bids made after the initial bid
must increase by at least 1. The player making the last
(final) bid plays the Allied side. The final bid represents the
number of Allied units which must exit the board or number
of Axis units which must be eliminated for the Allied player
to win (see victory conditions).
Victory Conditions:
If the required number of Allied units are exited off the South
edge of the board OR the required number of Axis units are
eliminated by the end of turn 10, the Allied player wins.
Otherwise, the Axis player wins. Only Allied units may exit
the board and only off the South edge. Units may exit on
one or more turns until the required total is reached. Once
exited, units may not return to play.

Victory Conditions: Optional rule suggestions:

If at least 15 Allied units are exited off the North edge of the
board plus the required number of Axis units are eliminated (if
the bidding set such a number) and the maximum allowed
number of Allied units lost is not exceeded (if the bidding set
such a number) by the last turn of the game the Allied player
wins. Otherwise, the Axis player does. Only Allied units may
exit the board and they may do so on any turn but only off the
North edge.
1) Do not limit bids to 15, but allow bids as high as 27.
2) Use SS PzKw V units instead of Wehrmacht.
3) Vary the game length.
4) Allow bids to 42 and allow the Allied player to combine
“units exited” with “units eliminated” to reach the victory
requirement. For example, if the final bid is 20, to win, the
Allied player could exit 12 units and eliminate 8 Axis units.
 30 The Boardgamer Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1996

Current Specific Game AREA Ratings

War At Sea Up Front
December 1, 1995 44 Active Players December 1, 1995 111 Active Players
1. Bruce Monnin 1832 EHEA5 1. Dave Laufle 2048 FH-B4
2. Tim Hitchings 1790 DG-A5 2. Herbert Gratz 2028 DHAA5
3. Ray Freeman 1752 CF-A5 3. Jeff Paull 1904 GKDA5
4. Tom Scarborough 1707 CEBA5 4. Don Hawthorne 1862 GI-B5
5. Phil Rennert 1691 CF-A5 5. Nick Cascone 1823 GI-B5
6. Jon Lockwood 1671 BD-A5 6. Stephen Buchholz 1781 BCC-5
7. Michael Knautz 1662 CE-A5 7. Larry Davidson 1777 EF-B5
8. Glenn Petroski 1626 AC—5 8. Jim Murphy 1749 IK-B5
9. Steve Packwood 1623 AC-A5 9. William Edwards III 1690 FKDA5
10. Joe Beard III 1560 AB-A5 10. Paul Lebowitz 1680 BE-A5
11. John Pack 1558 CE-A5 11. Richard Mello 1669 BD-A5
12. Vince Meconi 1551 BE-A5 12. Bruce Young 1662 BD-A5
13. Chuck Stapp 1535 AC-A4 13. Craig Tenhoff 1649 KK-B5
14. Aaron Petroski 1535 AB—5 14. Mike Fitzgerald 1645 AC—4
15. Paul Sommers 1528 BE-A5 15. John Emery 1631 BD-A5
16. Daniel Henry 1522 BE-A5 16. Ray Stakenas Sr. 1623 BD-A5
17. Mike Bailey 1513 AC-A5 17. Ray Stakenas Jr. 1612 BD-A5
18. Alan Applebaum 1509 AC-A5 18. Bill Conner 1611 CF-A5
19. Gabriel Crowl 1505 AC-A5 19. Philip Coveney 1610 BB—4
20. John Welage 1505 AB-A5 20. Jim Vroom 1607 AC-A5
21. John Hart 1606 EH-A3
Waterloo 22. Andrew Maly 1591 BD-A5
December 1, 1995 21 Active Players 23. Steve Huskey 1580 BE-A5
1. Kevin McCarthy 1866 CC—5 24. Bill Henderson 1577 AC-A5
2. Rob Beyma 1775 BB—4 25. Darren Leviloff 1575 AC-A5
3. Larry Lingle 1744 AC-A5
4. B. Sielski 1635 BB—4
Turning Point: Stalingrad
December 1, 1995 17 Active Players
5. Joe Beard 1601 BCBC5
6. James Penick 1589 AAB-4 1. Jim Doughan 1870 AC-A5
7. Eric Kirchner 1572 BC-A5 2. Ron Fedin 1775 AB-A5
8. Scott Goehring 1515 AAB-5 3. Marvin Birnbaum 1674 AA-A5
9. Carl Adamac 1512 AB-A5 4. Bryon Stingley 1673 AA-A5
5. Henry Jones 1656 AB-A5
Main Battle Tank 6. Christopher Bodkin 1599 AC-A5
December 1, 1995 15 Active Players 7. Tom Johnston 1574 AA-A5
1. Robert Schoenen 1643 AC—5 8. Tom Oleson 1570 AB-A5
2. Bruce Young 1622 BC--5 9. Michael Kaye 1533 AB-A5
3. Jon Cleaves 1588 AC—5 10. Rodney Robinson 1513 AA-A5
4. Chuck Yingling 1559 AB—5 11. Neil Fedin 1504 AB-A5
5. John Emery 1537 AA—5 Fortress Europa
December 1, 1995 8 Active Players
D-Day ‘91
December 1, 1995 9 Active Players 1. T. Pavy 1660 BB—4
1. Henry Lowood 1660 BB—4
1. Jack Morrell 1601 AB-A5 3. Charles Jehlen 1606 AAD-5
2. Glenn Petroski 1537 AA-A4 4. Jim Eliason 1585 BB—4
3. Ed Snarski 1535 AA-A5 5. Tom Scarborough 1582 AAD-4
 The Boardgamer Volume 1, Issue 1 January 1996 31

Current Specific Game AREA Ratings

Victory In The Pacific The Russian Campaign
December 1, 1995 95 Active Players December 1, 1995 47 Active Players
1. Alan Applebaum 2017 GKBA4 1. Ed O’Conner 2081 GIPA4
2. Mike Crowe 1950 CDG-5 2. Patrick Flory 2006 DCG-4
3. Dave Targonski 1922 IK-A5 3. Charles Sorbello 2000 BCGA4
4. Ray Freeman 1910 EHBA5 4. James Bjorum 1997 DFIA4
5. Ed O’Conner 1819 BD-A4 5. Alan Frappier 1995 EHE-4
6. Tom Gregorio 1796 FIBA5 6. Robert Shurdt 1992 GHN-5
7. Neil Moran 1775 AA-A5 7. Tim Greene 1921 GHNA5
8. Glenn Petroski 1772 KMEA5 8. Thomas Gregario 1876 GIIA5
9. Bruce Kernan 1770 AB-A5 9. Larry Earhart, Jr. 1827 EEKA4
10. Tim Proksch 1754 DG-A5 10. Craig Clemens 1800 CEHA4
11. Dan Henry 1747 HKBA5 11. John Laney 1750 ABDA4
12. Tom Johnston 1716 CF-A5 12. Dan Barker 1720 ACDA4
13. Steve Packwood 1704 FI-A5 13. Charles Jehlen 1695 BBB-4
14. Greg Smith 1697 AC-A5 14. Ed Drukman 1682 BBA-5
15. Greg Hanson 1694 IK-A5 15. Henry Lowood 1610 ABBA4
16. Mike Kaye 1688 BD-A5 16. Paul Siragusa 1590 BEB-4
17. Bill Thomson 1669 BDDA5 17. Jim Eliason 1590 ACCA4
18. Mike Knautz 1668 EH-A5 18. Mark Figge 1573 AAB-5
19. Kevin Kinsel 1667 ACC-5 19. John Cooper 1570 AAAA4
20. Mike Ussery 1636 GJBA5 20. Henry Peet 1569 AAC-3
21. Ken Nied 1631 FI-A5 21. G. Makis 1566 AAB-4
22. Lance Ottman 1618 ABB-5 22. Gary Dickson 1565 AAAA4
23. Steve Resman 1614 ABC-5 23. Dave Ketchum 1546 AAA-5
24. Louie Tokarz 1605 DFBA5 24. Randy Schilb 1540 AAAA4
25. John Sharp 1586 IMBA5
Russian Front
Breakout: Normandy December 1, 1995 12 Active Players
December 1, 1995 50 Active Players 1. Michael Mitchell 2024 GJP-4
1. Bill Edwards 1644 BD-A5 2. Patrick Flory 2006 DCG-4
1. Alan Applebaum 1644 BD-A5 3. Charles Sorbello 2000 BCG-4
3. Ron Fedin 1636 BD-A6 4. James Bjorum 1997 DFI-4
4. Don Greenwood 1636 BD-A5 5. Alan Frappier 1995 EHE-4
5. Michael Lazar 1601 AC-A5 6. Tim Greene 1885 FGM-4
6. Rodney Robinson 1570 BD-A5 7. Thomas Gregorio 1883 EHG-4
6. Mark Gutfreund 1570 BD-A5 8. Ed O’Conner 1866 CFE-4
8. Herbert Gratz 1570 AC-A5 9. Larry Earhart, Jr. 1827 EEK-4
8. Steve Andriakos 1570 AC-A5 10. Craig Clemens 1800 CEH-4
10. Byron Stingley 1568 BD-A5 11. John Laney 1750 ABD-4
10. James Stenard 1568 BD-A5
12. Dave Newport 1535 AC-A5 Superstar Baseball
12. Dirk Naish 1535 AC-A5 December 1, 1995 15 Active Players
14. Jeff Czerniak 1535 AA-A5 1. Michael Ellsworth 1695 BC-A4
14. Brian Carr 1535 AA-A5 2. David Baumgardner 1590 AB-A4
16. Dennis Nicholson 1531 AB-A5 3. Michael Garton 1581 AB-A4
17. Henry Jones 1527 AC-A5 4. Timothy Sullivan 1555 AA-A4
18. Robert O’Conner 1526 AAA-5 5. Randy Cox 1521 AA-A4
19. David Long 1525 ACAA5 6. Jared Scarborough 1518 AA-A4