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We had 5 members for the May edition of our ASL Game Day at Gameology. This meeting was held at the new store location, which was (and will be for a couple of weeks) under construction. The new venue will be nicer, and will include two working restrooms and polished concrete floors that will make it easier to find dropped counters and dice. Parking really wasn't an issue, and there are any number of services in the plaza if, for example, you suddenly have the urge to get a massage, or have your teeth drilled, or cash a check, or take up smoking, or eat a donut or some Chinese food…
Anyway, Dave Nicholas, Dan Plachta and Blair Bellamy teamed up for the 3 player scenario “Whom the Gods Destroy”. Unfortunately, they ran out of time and called it draw. For the record, Blair proclaimed himself on the verge of winning, but neither Dan nor Nick agreed
That left me and Joe Concepcion to pair up for the Rally Point scenario “Nikolai's Star”, with me as the Hungarian/German and Joe as the Russians. This scenario looked cool, T34-85's facing off against a couple of Panthers, and Hungarians holding a couple of buildings against a large Russian force led by a 10-3 and his trusty .50 Cal. (Yikes). The Russians also get an 80 OBA module. In the end we came to call it a draw when we ran out of time with 2 turns to go.
I came to be disappointed with the scenario as we continued to play. I'm always a little suspect of a scenario (such as this one) that forces the defender to set up half his MMC's on a certain board with lousy retreat options for no clear strategic reason. The Hungarians have to hold one of two buildings that aren't really mutually supportive, and are divided by a frigid stream with one bridge. One building is wood, 4 hexes and 1.5 stories, the other is three hexes, 2 full stories and stone, and is protected on one side by the stream. I dunno, maybe I'm missing something, but when contemplating the defense of the wood building, “death trap” comes to mind.
In the end, it came down to my infantry hunkering down in the stone victory building, trying to maintain concealment while getting the fuck pounded out of them by 8 flat shots from the 10-3/.50 Cal combo, big firegroups of Russian infantry shooting from all angles, and supporting fire from the T34's. The only thing saving me was that Joe drew double red cards on his OBA before even getting a spotting round down. The VC's state that the Russians win if there are no good order Axis MMC's in the victory buildings. The Russians can win by just standing back and pounding the Hungarians into submission without actually ever getting anyone in either building. How is that fun, or challenging?
As I said, perhaps I'm missing something. But in the end I found this scenario rather not fun to play, and I would not play it again as either side, even for money. That's not to take away from Joe (who enjoyed the scenario much more than me.) He played an excellent game, and we certainly had fun. Hey, all ASL is good, even when the scenario sucks a fat one.
This was our second week in a row playing in Montclair, and there was some debate about whether we should try something different for lunch. But in the end, we decided to return to our old stand-by, The Hat, for our mid-afternoon meal. We wrapped up when the store closed at 10:00 PM.
We're looking forward to seeing our new venue when it's completed and in its glory. It certainly looks promising.
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