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…where are they? I heard through the grapevine that Jim played in a Mini final game…tell us about it! What about Robert? Eric? Let's hear about what scenarios you guys played, and if you guys can recommend any from the new packs that were released. (I know it's early, but I want to start putting together a “wish list” of scenarios for WCM in February.)
Semper Fi!
ScottAll,
Sorry for the long AAR, but Scott asked for it… blame him.
Attendance was respectable at 136; not bad considering the high cost of airfare and rough economy. Among those in attendance were fellow Club members Rob Feinstein and Hank W., as well as expatriate Club members Ray Wolozsyn and Chas Argent.
I took the Continental red-eye out of LAX on Tuesday evening, and walked through the door of the hotel at 7:45 Wednesday morning. I was greeted by many friends, including Chas, Ray and Hank, who were already there, and my good friend Darrell Wright. The room was already fairly filled up, with most of the table space occupied with set-ups. I chose one of the few remaining clear tables (unfortunately not near a window or electrical outlet) and set up shop. I ended up playing nine consecutive games at that location before a better spot opened up on Saturday evening.
Although I was scheduled to play in the AARP Mini at 8:00 AM, Bret found a replacement for me so I could get some breakfast and a game in with Darrell.
FRF 22 “Wunder Waffeâ€. I had never played this scenario from Friendly Fire, but it got a lot of play the previous year when it came out, and we’d both heard good things about it. We were not disappointed. Darrell and I have played many, many games together; some real nail-biters, but none as close or as exciting as this one. The dice gave me the Russians, and I managed to win only by surviving two close combat attacks at game end. Don’t be put off by the lack of counters for the German 75LL AT Gun; pull out the 75L’s and use your imagination. Trust me; this scenario is well worth the effort.
FRF 26 “Polish Requiem. After wrapping up my game with Darrell, Chas Argent stepped up with an offer to play this early war scenario from the latest Friendly Fire pack. Chas and I haven’t played each other in several years, and we picked this scenario due to our mutual interest in early war scenario. You’ve got to hand it to a scenario where the Polish FT-17 tank is the queen of battlefield. The dice gave me the attacking Germans. Unfortunately, it was late in the day when we set this up, and I had gone over 40 hours without sleeping, which is kind of my limit. Sleep deprivation makes me stupid, and I played this scenario like I’d never played ASL before in my life. I moved stacks through open ground, drove my tanks forward into death-trap positions, and didn’t have an overall plan of attack. The only thing that kept the game from ending earlier than it did was my stupendous dice-rolling (evidently sleep deprivation doesn’t affect luck). I hate to give an opponent, even a friend like Chas, such a poor performance. I don’t recall ever being more deserving of a loss. The scenario was cool, though. I’d like to try it again.
VotG 9 “Eviction Noticeâ€. Six hours of sleep and a solid breakfast can do wonders for the powers of concentration. Thursday morning found me signed up for the “Enemy at the Gates†Mini, playing this scenario in the first round against Nelson Harris. Nelson is part of the ‘Raleigh Contingent’ which I often hang with at ASLOK, so we were well acquainted, but had never played. “Eviction Notice†is one of my favorite scenarios from VotG; short but interesting, and challenging to both sides. The dice gave me the Russians. It was a close game, but ultimately my Russians prevailed, and I moved on to the second round of the Mini.
VotG 16 “Under Murderous Fireâ€. I like to refer to this as “Pavlov’s House in Reverseâ€; the Russians have to attack out of Pavlov’s House to grab buildings and rubble on the other side of 9th of January Square. My opponent was Trent Dobbs, of Michigan. I have played this scenario as both sides and the dice gave me the Germans, which I prefer in this one. Trent had never played the scenario, and as is so often the case, experience with a scenario can often be a great advantage. Trent played well, and we had a very enjoyable game, but my experience with the scenario made it tough for him, and my Germans prevailed. I moved on to the third round of the Mini.
VotG 2 “Russe, Drown in the Wolgaâ€. Typically in ASLOK mini’s, as the rounds progress the competition becomes increasingly stiff. By the third round of a mini it is not unusual to find yourself playing a Grofaz contender like Steve Pleva, Wes Vaughn or J.R. Tracy. In this case, I drew Canadian John McDairmand, a very high caliber player and last year’s runner up for Grofaz. We chose this scenario, which I like and have won as both sides. I hoped my experience with the scenario would keep me in contention. Wishful thinking; experience with a scenario might give an advantage against skill, but is no help against luck (or the lack of it). In this scenario the Russians (which I drew) start out with NKVD troops which are under ammo shortage but can’t ELR. If they roll ‘12’ on a fire attack they Disrupt. I pretty much rolled nothing but 12’s on my fire attacks (including three in a row at one point) for the first two turns. By the end of turn 2, of my nine MMC’s, six were disrupted, and John’s Germans just rolled forward and through my defenders. Not to take away from John’s game; he played quickly and aggressively, but my unit Disruptions and moral check failures did most of the work for him. By the bottom of turn 3, every singe Russian MMC was dead or captured, and the Germans were lined up on the ferry landings to mow down my reinforcements. Yikes! There was no point in playing the scenario further; and I resigned so we could catch a late dinner.
AP 13 “Sheilding Moscowâ€. Friday morning found me in the “Industrial Revolution†mini and up against Doug Smith from Pennsylvania. This is a fairly old scenario that neither of us had played. It includes two T-35’s and a gaggle of Russian conscripts attacking a small German force of good quality. Getting our heads around the T-35’s multiple covered arcs (MA and two SA’s, plus three CMG’s) took some doing. The dice gave me the Germans, which have no AT weapons beyond street fighting. As it turned out, I was able to squirt two MMC’s into the factories in the Russian rear late in the game, and though Doug was able to get some Russians back there to recapture them, he ran out of time and my Germans pulled off another last CC phase victory. Cool scenario, I’d happily play it again as either side.
VotG 14 “Pavlov’s Houseâ€. Round two brought on Jeff Waldron, a retired Marine from Charleston, SC. I really don’t like this scenario; although it shows even on the Roar, I’ve never seen a German victory against equal opponents. As luck would have it the dice gave me the Russians. Jeff made a good try, but when his FT toting 8-3-8 went down to a KIA and his 9-2 wounded, it was pretty much over. On to another championship round.
ESG 37 “Tsunami of Maniacsâ€. Although my second round game finished up around 7:00 pm, the other second round game was just getting started, and didn’t finish until well after 11:00 pm. Despite the late hour, the other second round winner, Dave Lamb, was determined to finish the mini that day. Dave and I have played before, and he is always a gentleman and good sport. Our three scenario choices were all pretty long, and I wasn’t familiar with any of them. This one was the shortest (though it had 15+ squads per side). Dave had played it, and assured me I’d like it. We got under way at 11:30 pm, and I will admit it was a pretty interesting scenario, with a crappy quality Japanese force trying to hold a large factory from a ‘tsunami’ of good quality Chinese attackers. Ultimately Dave’s experience with the scenario seemed to give him just enough of an edge to his Chinese attackers. Dave wrapped up a win and we wrapped up the scenario up at 4:15 am; the last game in the room. Despite our level of fatigue we still managed to have a few laughs. I’d try this scenario again, though it seems a bit pro-Chinese from my limited experience with it.
RPT 24 “Farmyard Affrayâ€. I returned to the game room a little before noon on Saturday, rested and ready. I quickly lined up this scenario as a rematch with Darrell Wright. This was our first foray into the new Rally Point III pack, a short British-German scenario where the British must raid a small farm complex, then high-tail it back to the victory area with German reinforcements in pursuit. The dice gave me the Germans. We had a quick but typically pleasant game, with my Germans besting Darrell’s Brits. This is a nice, short scenario that will no doubt appear as a scenario choice in a future WCM mini.
RPT 22 “Convent Beato Santeâ€. After a nice dinner I hooked up with fellow Clubber Hank W. in this Rally Point III scenario. It has the look and feel of one of my favorite Schwerepunkt scenarios “Arm and a Legâ€; indeed, the same hill board is used with a pillbox. In this case though it’s the Canadians on the attack with Churchills in support. They’re up against good quality Germans with trenches and wire. The dice gave me the Germans, and I thought I had a pretty clever set-up. But I didn’t count on Hank rolling up a Berzerk Canadian (yes, really), who promptly lead the charge up the hill and trapped one and a half German squads at the top of the hill against a cliff. Hank used the rest of his forces to pry open my position. It turned into a good fight and Hank played very well. It came down to a final CC in the PB, which Hank won, along with the scenario. If you like “Arm and a Leg†you’ll like this. It’s another smaller-size combined-arms scenario perfect for a mini-tournament.
SaP 4 “Nary a Winkâ€. I was pleased on Saturday evening to learn that Pete Shelling still had his dance-card open on Sunday. We have been working together with Don Petros for several years on the historical module “Slaughter at Ponyriâ€, and become friendly over that time. For the last couple of years, we’ve tried to connect for a Ponyri scenario playtest. He wanted to do this all-infantry Night scenario and I was all for it. As Night goes, this scenario is pretty simple, although the NVR eventually decreased to zero (I don’t recall every seeing that before). This scenario is a winner, and I suspect it will show up in a Night mini tournament in the future. We had a very enjoyable game and in the end my Russians gave me the victory in what was my last scenario of the trip.
Overall, I played 11 games in five days and went 7-4. I competed in two mini’s, and went to the championship round in both. I was only unhappy with my play in one game (the one against Chas). All of the games were fun though, and in my mind that is the much more important than winning or loosing.
Much was made about the new venue. The consensus was that it was an improvement over the previous location. Granted, it didn’t have Damon’s (sports bar) in the parking lot, and fast-food options were limited to Subway and whatever your scrounging die roll could produce at the AM/PM Mini-mart.
OTOH, the hotel restaurant is good and reasonably priced. It also has a nice, full service bar. There is a Greek family restaurant next door with a varied and affordable menu. It isn’t Tavern-on-the-Green, but quite adequate overall. This restaurant also served breakfast all day (which Rob referred to as “My Big Fat Greek Breakfastâ€). The marquee in front of the restaurant advertised “All-you-can-eat Perchâ€; which begged the question ‘why would you?’ There is also a Denny’s within an easy walk. The hotel had an “enhanced†free continental breakfast that consisted primarily of oatmeal, melon balls and mini-muffins; not very adequate for gamers. The hotel’s cooked breakfasts had a limited menu and were a bit expensive.
The game room is on the 6th floor, with plenty of room and natural light (an improvement on the old place where the function rooms were in the basement.) There was a pretty large ‘retreat’ area with couches, recliners and a big-screen TV. Nice place to cool your heals during an opponent’s set-up, or in our case, watching the baseball playoffs and football. The hotel set up a private bar just outside the main game room, and that proved quite popular and convenient (if crowded at times).
Because ASLOK was so successful booking hotel rooms, there was money left over to host an open bar at times, and provide free pizza on Saturday night. The hotel rooms were reasonably priced ($75) and adequate. The hotel’s service personnel were outstanding and friendly; also a marked improvement over the previous venue.
Bret Hildebrand did his usual outstanding job as event T.D., assisted by ASL’s longest-serving T.D., ‘Wild Bill’ Hayward pulling night duty. This ASLOK also witnessed the return of three very high caliber players who have been more or less absent in recent years; Bill ‘Fish’ Conner, Guy Chaney and Gary Fortenberry.
And you might be interested to know that our own Candice Juliano is actually not the only active female ASL player. Liz Struijf, who with her husband Peter runs the ‘Bridge Too Far’ ASL tournament in Arnhem each year, made her ASLOK debut. Evidently those sneaky Euro guys have been keeping this charming lady (and able player) a secret for a while now.
In all, it was one of my best ASLOK trips ever.
-Jim
Other than Melee Pack III
there was Schwerepunkt #14 and Rally Point #3, Friendly Fire #4 and Dezign Pack #4. I bought all four and they all look like a pretty good value. They sold steadily all week.I believe CH had some new products out, but the only thing I saw being demo'd was an HASL map of Omaha Beach. That looked cool enough that I'd consider buying it.
Pete Shelling was demo'ing some of the Slaughter at Ponyri scenarios, as he usually does.
I saw nothing from HOB or Bounding Fire. Alex Keyes set up a big table next to the upstairs bar for one whole afternoon. He had plenty of ASL stuff plus a bunch of other games. Scott Blanton (Gamer's Armory) wasn't there this year.
The only MMP representative was Chas Argent. Curt, Brian and Perry did not go. That's the first time I haven't seen Perry at ASLOK.
Jim,
Thanks for the great AAR.
Sounds like it was a lot of fun.
I hope to be able to go one of these years.
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