July 26th Game Day at JJ's Game Lounge AAR

We had 6 members, plus Bill Yuen as a late-afternoon kibitzer, for the July edition of our ASL Game Day at JJ’s Game Lounge.

Blair Bellamy and Sal Pelaez set up the 3 turn SK scenario “Ambush at De Hoop” from the “Decision at Elst” SKHasl. In the first playing, Blair’s Germans defeated Sal’s Brits. They then turned it around, and Blair’s Brits defeated Sal’s Germans. But during the second game, they realized that they forgot an SSR in the first playing that gave an advantage to Blair’s Germans. So they played it a third time (remember, it’s only 3 turns) with Blair once again as the Germans. But this time Sal’s Brits were victorious. And because they *still* had time to spare, they took on the SK scenario “Bend in the Road”, with Sal’s Germans defeating Blair’s Brits. That’s four scenarios in one day played to completion… and I’m pretty sure that’s a Game Day record.

Eric Visnowski’s Japanese defeated Ed Esparza’s Gurkas in the excellent AP scenario “Milling About”. And because this scenario also finished early, they set up the Deluxe scenario “Ripe Pickings” with Eric’s Germans defeating Ed’s Americans.

And with all that going on, Nick Nicholas and I paired up for “Hervorst Hell” from Riley’s Ridge. There are a number of good scenarios in that module, and this one is probably the best among them. I like the scenario so much I have used it as a scenario choice in several mini-tournaments through the years. In this playing, I took the Germans against Nick’s Brits. I set up about 3 hexes from the board edge, in order to make the Brits burn as much time as possible driving their lumbering Churchills, AVRE’s and Crocs forward. I put all four AT ditches along the German right flank, with the two pillboxes among the multi-hex building behind wire. Each PB has a 150 ART by SSR. I positioned one to cover the open ground in front of my position, and the other to cover the wood buildings on the left-center. I gave up the multi-hex stone building on the far left. I figured if Nick tried to go that way, he’d be attacking out of a single hex into a multi-hex front; something you never want to do as an attacker. Nick saw that trap for what it was and settled for capturing the stone building and tying up a couple of German squads in front of it. He came in hard on the German right.

I had bad luck with my 150 Rocket OBA: pulling two reds back-to-back. But I had good luck with my 80 OBA, pulling 4 blacks in a row before finally breaking the radio late in the game. I kept it coming down as harassing fire most of the time. That, and the rain kicking up early and preventing British Smoke, did most of the work of delaying the Brits on their approach. It was a close and vicious game. In the end, my Germans held out for the win. As always, this scenario was fun and exciting. Nick and I always enjoy our games together, and this was no exception. I highly recommend this one. And it actually plays pretty quickly considering its size.

One downside of the day was that the AC had broken the day before, and it got very hot in the store by late afternoon.

We had our usual excellent lunch at San Carlos Deli. For dinner we tried a burger place called The Habit. It’s a small, privately owned chain of hamburger joints with a pretty decent menu at pretty decent prices. We were pretty pleased with that selection, and I think we’ll be returning in the future.

All in all, except for the dead AC it was a great day. A lot of ASL got played and everyone had a blast as usual.