Results of the 10th European WiF-Con:

Hello all.
Attached short summary and pictures of the EuroWifCon in October.
Thanks to Gerry for taking the pictures and for Rüdiger to help sponsor the prizes.
We had a total of 30 players with 3 (Dominic, Gerry and Bryan) new to Hofgeismar.

On Saturday evening we followed the tradition started by Harry last year and dined together at Hotel Mueller incl Awards etc.

Here now the winners:

1. Co-Winner:
For the second year in a row, the russian 2-5 cavalry did the trick of singlehandedly paving the road for the defeat of the mighty Whermacht. This time not by breaking the pact (like last year), but instead by moving over all rail lines on the western border of a Rumania, which at the Führers orders, denied Bessarabia. Needless to say, no peacekeepers were able to reinforce the betrayed Rumanians and the Ploesti Oil Fields were sooon gone. It didn't take long for the Panzers and the Luftwaffe to run out of fuel thus giving the Allies a decisive win. Congratulations of this years leader of the mighty Russian Cavalry:
Achim Tulke.

All German players be forewarned: From next year on, should any of you loose *again* due to the 2-5 Cav (although I cannot think of any new feat this unit could perform), you will earn a new special (negative) recognition price yet to be named.

As an alternative, for play balance purposes, Harry might consider reprinting the Russian CS putting "GE" (or even better 1944) on the back of the 2-5 Cav so as to at least give Germany a slim chance by keeping the Russian Cav out of the game for a while ...

2. Co-Winner:
New to the the EuroWifCon Counter Unit Hall of Fame of winning games is the 8-4 Australian Mot. This unit laid down a spectacular career by being "loaned" to Markus Scheffer-Roosevelt in the Pacific Theater. However, the unit proved to be a true trojan horse. Roosevelt innocently used it taking Rabaul and with the Aussies having more combat factors then the brave US Marines plus Div combined that led the attack, technically speaking, the decisive VH hex went to the CW instead of the US. So much for all those precious US SCS Shore Bombardment and US CVs...

And what did the US have to give up in return for the 8-4 Mot "troyan horse"? Loads of US-Goodies in Europe. However, the conniving Victory Hex grabber Cristophe Huart-Churchill was more clever in using the "foreign" units. Tons of US ressources in Europe were used (or sacrificed) to storm the SS-Lines while a few UK troops followed them, mopping up Antwerpen, Paris, Kiel and about all VH in western Europe. I believe J/A 45 even saw a race for Helsinki between the Russia and the UK. Congratulations to a shared first place for the leader of the mighty 8-4 Australian Mot:
Christophe Huart.

3. Third Place went to Karsten Nolte as CW.
In a well fought out game, the Allies were getting the better end of it especially due to an impressive US Giant (Japan dowing the US? in 1940? helped a little). By midweek the CW was leading the Allies to a win when the Axis asked for and were granted a restart.

Fairest Players were Stefan Stubenvoll and Bryan Lillicrap.
Stefan kept the builds at his table honest (for both sides !) and Bryan was known for allowing just about any take backs.

Unluckiest went to Matthias E. as US Player.
He set a new EuroWifCon record for late US Entry: First Gear Up in M/A 42 ! Even worse, he had to endure watching the opportunistic Japanese swarm the pacific and conquer New Zealand and Australia while the US Congress was still debating whether they should increase their production to War Appropiations level in S/O 42 ...

Fastest Player went to Thomas Biellinsky, again.

And also again, "Will Fight to the End" goes to Johan Salin.
His table set a record this year: For the very first time a WifDeluxe was finished to the very end of J/A 45. As the german player Johan kept the spirit up and made everybody want to keep playing (the Allies at times looked like Hyaenas or Vultures fighting for the prostrate cadaver once called the Third Reich). Johans Germany then finally conquered in J/A 45 with Japan still holding on.

Trivia went to Matthias E., who got 6 of the following 10 right, solution in ( - ):

1. WiF Map Hex Hofgeismar is in (either 0634 or 0734)
2. US at War Number 17/23 Tension and 55/60 Entry (5)
3. US Entry DR "Axis Conquers other CW Home Country" (12)
4. Partisan Roll of 9, name 3 of 10 (SW, IT, RUM, TU, CA, AU, US, CH)
5. Including this week, how often has the EuroWifCon taken place (12)
6. Anti Air 10-14 vs 6-7 bombers (1/1)
7. In the "Peace" Step, what comes after Allied Suppot Minor (Mutual Peace)
8. Force Pool Addition of the 3 US Supply units (1935, 1940, 1943)
9. 2D10 DRM at odds of 1:3 (-2)
10. Wheather 3 in M/A in S. Monsoon (Storm)