Malaya Madness - February 2014 - the Games II

The Games

Game 3

J45 Strongpoint 11 vs George Bates

I have very little memory of this game other than it was a no-contest pretty early on. I really didn’t offer George a good game to my regret.  I owe him a much stronger game next time.

1-2

Game 4

J128 Opium Hill vs Zeke Crater

I’d forgotten that I’d played this game until I read an AAR from Zeke. That’s not an indictment of the game or of Zeke, just reflecting my poor health over the last few months which left gaps in my memory. Rather than try and comment on stuff I can’t recall, I’ll quote Zeke’s AAR. Sad really as what little I can recall of the game was overwhelmingly positive.

“New Zealand's Pete Palmer and I next played J128 Opium Hill. Once again the dice were kind to me but cruel to my opponent. Pete had perfectly positioned his leader directed MMG up on the only hill, dominating the IJA entry zones. Pete's first shot broke the MMG and my armor assaulting IJA moved on in relative safety. A few more equally bad dice rolls for Pete and great dice rolls for me whittled down Pete's Malayan and British troops, delayed his AFV, and Xed his MMG repair roll. As we neared the end game Pete graciously conceded.”

This was where I doubled my Boxcars for the tourney…Snakey Pete was but a dim, distant creature of mythology by now.

The Quick and the Dead.

I swear I play worse at Tourneys than I do normally. I might manage one good game out of 4 or 5 but the rest are generally atrocious displays of tactical ineptitude and poor decision making. However, as per usual the pace of gameplay was pretty good. My natural style of play is conducive to a fast game and even being below par physically didn’t seem to affect this, thankfully.

I will admit to a somewhat skewed sense of pride at being considered a fast player, but I feel that all too often ASLers get too wrapped up in their comfort zone and play at a snail’s pace because they do not know any better. The strongest players I’ve faced are usually among the quickest as well. So I tried to demonstrate for some of the new players that you don’t need to analyse every possible outcome but as you get more comfortable with the core structure of the system, go with your gut.

A fast game is usually a good game, and if you can eliminate some of the ancillary time sinks ahead of time by creating and sticking to a plan, as well as some self-belief in your own play, then you will tend to play faster and smarter. It’s not about your game so much as making your opponent do the hard yards in response to the dilemmas you set. 

But there is one vital corollary to all this:

Speed is Fine, but Accuracy is Final.