With A Vengeance

Friday

1. VASSAL 3.1.20 Installed. Check.
2. VASSAL 3.2.8 Installed. Check.
3. VASL 5.9.3 Installed. Check
4. VASL 6.0.0beta2 Installed. FAIL.

Saturday:

• Arrange ASL ladder challenge with Blind Sniper (Ale) for FT196 Spittelmarkt from LFT 13.
• Hang around on VASL looking for a pickup game. No luck until...
• After finish of All Blacks vs Australia:
• FrF62 Dryga Larpengar - Finns vs Soviets - vs MrP/Ian Percy.

Friendly Fire Pack 8 has only been out a few weeks and already the scuttlebutt is that this pack could be one of the best they have produced. Seriously high praise indeed after the showing of Friendly Fire packs 6 and 7.

I didn't get to play any of these previously at ASLOK unlike many, so Dryga Larpengar is the first chance I've had to see the scenarios for myself. So far so good. Small, vicious and with a tasty wee hook to the scenario that requires reading the aftermath to understand the impact of the VCs in the game.

If this is the weakest of all the scenarios in the pack, then Friendly Fire pack 8 may well go down as one of the strongest ever produced, rivalling the Windy City Wargamers' offering. If one of the best ASL players was heard to say something along the lines of Friendly Fire are good enough that he would be happy to dice for sides sight unseen, then you just know there's not much on offer that approaches that, let alone coming close.

Sunday: 

• Play John Knowles (German) as Soviet in J146 Ragnarok from Journal Nine. I lose but it's another from the talented Martin Svard.

 So all in all a very good first weekend back on ASL active duty. All I need to do now is restart those few PBeM games that were so cruelly interrupted in February. Emails are being drafted now.

Pete

Playing To Do Part I

This is probably the easiest one to get out of the blocks. I'm looking at themes in terms of products and subjects. I'm hoping to get one Live VASL + Skype game done per month and have maybe 2-3 PBeM games going simulatneously. My goal is to hit 50 plus games next year - nowhere near the numbers posted by the hard chargers  in the 100+ games club, but unless I get a new job closer to home, the 4 hour commute each day is a limiting factor.

The basic idea is to get a like minded opponent willing to run through a theme list in partnership. Sure it may mean playing a couple of scenarios that both of us have played before, but generally that will mean playing a solid design anyway.

WCW '96 ASL Open -

Interestingly, I thought I'd played more of the scenarios, but I guess the amount of multiple playings has skewed my memory.

• 01. Will to Fight...Eradicated - Played, but always willing to play again
• 02. Scotch on the Rocks - ROAR Brit 30 vs Germ 20
• 03. Tigers at Merefa - ROAR Germ 21 vs Sov 9
• 04. Cat Becomes the Mouse - ROAR Brit 16 vs Germ 22
• 05. Abandon Ship - ROAR US 74 vs Germ 69
• 06. Los Ejercitos Nuevos - ROAR Rep Span 27 vs Nat Span 21
• 07. Eye of the Tiger - Played, and would play again at the drop of a hat.
• 08. The Last VC in Europe - ROAR Brit 30 vs Germ 20
• 09. Sweep Up
• 10. Stand and Die - played this most recently at ASLOK, I don't think I've grokked this yet, but I like it a lot.

Winter Offensive -
Currently playing through this with John Knowles although we skipped the first for some reason..

• 01. French Toast and Bacon - ROAR US 21 vs Germ 24
• 02. Failure to Communicate - Completed
• 03. Counterattack at Carentan - ROAR US 18 vs Germ 22
• 04. I Don't Like Retreating - ROAR US 6 vs Germ 9
• 05. Astride Hell's Highway - ROAR Germ 10 vs US/Brit 7

Action at Carentan -

This is out of left-field a little, as it's not widely known or publicised but it got some pretty good  press in Desperation Morale, the downside is making the VASL map work unless it's already been fixed. And with four scenarios it's certainly something that could be completed pretty quickly.

• Cole's Charge - ROAR Germ 5 vs US 1
• The Cabbage Patch - ROAR US 1 vs Germ 1
• Green Devils - ROAR Germ 3 vs US 2
• Cooperation Reigns - ROAR Germ 2 vs US 0

After these I'd like to have a crack at Busting the Bocage from CH, another set of scenarios on an HASL style map. Further down the track, Time On Target/KE MM97-99 series and knock off the Friednly Fire back catalog.

Pete

Currently listening to: Glenn Miller - A Portrait of