Due to the great response we had to the World War II miniatures tournament we held at Historicon '94, we held a similar tournament at Cold Wars '95. The tournament was organized by Phoenix Military Simulations, and sponsored by GEOHEX, Quality Castings, and Vac-U-Cast. Designed to test each players all around tactical skills, the tournament used a duplicate type format. Each player had to participate in an attacking, defending, and meeting engagement scenario. Each scenario was unique, with different terrain, objectives, and victory points. Special thanks go to Kevin Garbelman for creating hills with bunkers for the first scenario and helping the judge and players with rules questions and technical details throughout the tournament. The players had to design their own armies using the point system from Module II of Battalions In Crisis! Each player had four units, two German and two Allied. Both nationalities had to have a 1,000 point army for attacking and a 450 point army for defending. No equipment or weapons introduced after 1943 could be used. Each player had the choice of Americans, British, or Russian armies. We opened this tournament to include 15 mm figures as well as 20 mm figures. The following maps show the terrain setups for each scenario. The opponents in the first round were randomly matched. In the second round, the highest scoring defender faced off against the highest scoring attacker, and so on for all the contestants. In the third and final round, the players were again matched based on their scores. The best attacker in round one was Tom Wise with a German army. The best defender was Paul Schatten with a Russian army. The highest scoring attacker in the second round was Jerry Branch with a German army and the defender was Bill Faranda with a British army. In round 3, Tom Wise with the Germans scored the most points, followed by Bill Faranda, with the British. In all three rounds Tom Wise had the highest score to take First Place Overall. Bill Faranda took the Desperate Defender award, and Mike Vogell received the Aggressive Attacker award. Tom Dam won the Best Sportsman award. Tom Wise received a GEOHEX ground mat as a prize. Bill and Mike were presented gift certificates supplied by Quality Castings and Vac-U-Cast, while Tom Davis got a Battalions in Crisis sweatshirt. Below are the attacker and defender objectives and points for the three rounds. Round I Attacker's Objectives: To exit complete units off the east edge of the board. To destroy enemy units. Point Values for Attacker. Infantry squad on foot-30 points, infantry squad on an AFV-40 points, infantry squad in a truck-50 points, infantry squad in a halftrack-60 points HQ on foot-30 points, HQ on an AFV-40 points, HQ in a truck- 50 points, HQ in a halftrack-60 points Armored car section (minimum 2 cars)-40 points, SPA section- (minimum 2 vehicles) 50 points, tank platoon (minimum 3 tanks)-200 points Mortars under 81mm (minimum 2)-10 points, MMG or EMG-15 points, towed AT gun-20 points, mortars over 81mm (minimum 2)-30 points Value of defenders destroyed units Enter anywhere along west edge of board on turn 1. Defender's Objectives: To halt enemy advance. To destroy enemy units. Point Values for Defender: One point per soldier, entire squad or HQ= cost of entire unit. Actual costs of transport, armored fighting vehicles, guns, mortars, and artillery. Set up east of start line. Round 2 Attacker's Objectives: To exit complete units off the east edge of the board. To destroy enemy units. Point Values for Attacker Infantry squad on foot-30 points, infantry squad on an AFV-40 points, infantry squad in a truck-50 points, infantry squad in a halftrack-60 points HQ on foot-30 points, HQ on an AFV-40 points, HQ in a truck 50 points, HQ in a halftrack-60 points Mortars under 81mm (minimum 2)-10 points, MMG or HMG-15 points, towed AT gun-20 points, mortars over 81mm (minimum 2)-30 points Armored car section (minimum 2 cars)-40 points, SPA section (minimum 2 vehicles) -50 points, tank platoon (minimum 3 tanks) 200 points Value of defender's destroyed units Enter anywhere along west edge of board on turn 1. Defender's Objectives: To delay enemy advance. To retreat units off east edge of board. To get points, unit must start on board in set-up area. Point Values for Defender. Purchase cost for units that exit as a group off east edge of board times 3. For example: all surviving tanks in a platoon exit on same turn all surviving infantry in a squad exit on same turn. Minus value of enemy units that exit off east edge of board. Set up within defender set up area. Round Three Objective: Control of crossroads. Destruction of enemy units. Preservation of friendly units. Point Values: Five hundred points for control of crossroads. Control means owning side can use road and the enemy cannot. One point per enemy soldier, purchase cost if entire squad or HQ. Actual cost of transport, armored fighting vehicles, guns, mortars, and artillery. Minus value of friendly units destroyed; use same costs as for enemy. Both players have the same objectives. One enters on the road from the south and the other on the road from the west. Tom Wise's Two Armies US 1000 points 3 81mm mortar, 1 60mm mortar, 2 HQ, 6 infantry squads, 3 half- trucks, 5 M4A3E8, 1 M4A3 HOW, 1 M10 TD, 4 bazookas, 1 flamethrower, 2 trucks, 4 MMG, 1 jeep w/MMG, and 2 radios. US 450 points 3 infantry squads, I HQ, 2 81 mm mortar, 1 60mm mortar, 3 bazookas, 2 M10 TD, 3 76mm ATG, 1 radio, and 3 MMG. German 1000 pts 2 81mm mortar, 1 50mm mortar, 2 HQ, 6 infantry squads, 3 halftrack 251, 2 Elephants, 2 Tiger Is, 2 Panthers, 2 Panzerschreck, 1 flamethrower, 2 truck, 2 MMG, 1 Panzerfaust, 1 Stug III 142/2, 2 radios, 1 20mm AT/AA, and 1 ATR. German 450 points 3 infantry squads, 1 HQ, 2 81mm mortar, 1 50mm mortar, 1 Panzer- schreck, 1 Elephant, 3 75mm ATG, 1 radio, 2 MMG, 1 88mm flak, 5 Panzerfaust, and 2 ATR. Back to Table of Contents -- Combat Simulation Vol 1 No. 4 Back to Combat Simulation List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by Mike Vogell and Phoenix Military Simulations. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com