ASLOK XXIX October 1-12 Loot

 The final list of loot. I didn't think I would have much difficulty getting it back weight-wise, but space was at a premium. I need to work on my luggage system still. I have the weight allowance but not the room.

• 3 x Dice towers from Jack Daniels
• Schwerpunkt 20 x 3 (Aaron C, Jackson Kw)
• Friendly Fire 9 x 4 (Aaron C, Jackson Kw, Ivan K)
• Rally Point 9 x 2 (Jackson Kw)
• ESG Dezign Pak 10 
• Panzerknacker, Molotov, Dust Devils, Sniper, and ROF dice
• East vs West 12mm 5 dice set (Ivan K)
• Tweezers x 2
• 300 x US sized page protectors
• Overlay Binder and Inserts
• Travel Board Binder
• 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm deluxe counter cutters
• Festung Budapest, Decision at Elst, Rising Sun
• ASLOK XXIX Tees x 5 (Aaron C, Jackson Kw)
• ASL Open Tees x 2 (Jackson Kw)
• Plano 3601 low-profiles x 5
• Longstreet: A Biography by Jeffrey Werts
• Guadalcanal by Richard Franks
• Gettysburg: the Second Day by Harry Pfanz
• AVRES in Normandy by Richard C Anderson Jr 
• Pleva HIP Trays x 3
• Ops Spec Ed vol 4 and Vol 5
• Board 68 x 3  (Aaron C, Vlad S) 
• Miscellaneous Critical Hit modules (mainly desert and winter)

I gave away one of the Pleva trays to an ASLer who has been doing it tough, and one set of tweezers was passed on to another ASLer.

Sadly I managed to lose a pair of Battleschool dice (green and white 14mm plain) as well as the little counter picker, but they are easily replaced.

2014 ASLOK XXIX - preparation

ASLOK XXIX - 2014

 

Gaming Choices

As I confirmed in 2010 at ASLOK XXV, travelling (one way) just under 15 and a half thousand kilometers to play ASL is a mission in itself. I found it really helped if I had a theme to aspire to in my scenario selection and Mini-Tourney selection.

The 2010 Minis

In 2010, I focussed on the PTO primarily, with my mini choices being as follows:

Wednesday: The Emperor's Finest
Thursday: Pacific
Friday: Sons of the Samurai
Saturday: Welcome to the Jungle
Sunday: Tin Cans & Popguns

Apart from the Sunday, I didn't get past the first round in any of the minis, so this year my goal is to get to the second round at least once if I can.

The 2014 Minis

For practical reasons I'm looking at maybe going East Front/Early war only if possible ...this way I only have to bring the Soviet and German OBs plus system counters.

Wednesday: Rocket to Russia or CandyGram!(DCs)
Thursday: Blitzkrieg Bop
Friday: A Decade of Dezign Decadence (There is bound to be an East Front one ehere)
Saturday: Land War in Asia

Open Gaming

I'll be playing in the World Cup from opening Sunday to Tuesday, which is where I intend to try and get 2 games only per day except where there's an opportunity to play some of the Euros who are hopefully turning up.

I've got a wishlist of North American opponents if we can match schedules, one or two being owed games from 2010 or arranged at that time: Matt Book, Bill Hayward, JR (wishlist), Steve Pleva (wishlist), either of the two half-squads, etc etc.

Now if all goes to plan, I should come away from ASLOK with about 20-25 games under my belt. I made sure I arrived earlier than last time just so I could shrug off the jet-lag that wiped me out previously. That and make sure I remember to eat often and well.

ASLOK XXIX and the rest of the news

ASLOK XXIX is a done deal!

In the end, my attendance at ASLOK XXIX was going to be a very close run thing. With the ending of a relationship, the subsequent upheaval and stress and then the termination  of my existing residential lease, it was not looking good.

Thankfully, things turned out okay. Sure I might be living on ramen and instant coffee until the day of my departure so I can have some spending money for ASLOK, but I have paid for the plane fare, the hotel is booked and budgeted for, and I also have a new residence that I will be moving into over the next 14 days.

I'm treating this ASLOK as I should, a chance to recuperate mentally and spiritually after 6 months of chaos. Physically I'm still a bit of a wreck but having a 3 week holiday, most of which will be spent with good friends at ASLOK, will do wonders for my health.

I'm turning up in Cleveland at 10pm on October 1st, and will be ready to gun from the next morning/ afternoon, depending on whether I can get some shopping done (travelling to the US means I will be obtaining some items that are almost impossible to find in Australia anymore, such as US sized page protectors, perhaps some Duratool Raaco knockoffs, and some software/hardware for my PC) and how my discretionary funds are holding out.

My ASL shopping list for ASLOK is pretty much set:

• Decision at Elst (MMP)
• Special Ops 4 and 5 (MMP)
• ESG Dezign Paks that I am missing
• Lone Canuck Historical Modules
• Schwerpunkt 2011 onwards
• The Rat Charts from LFT
• The latest Friendly Fire (plus one for the Cleavinator)
• Battleschool Dice

 I may not be able to afford all of the above in one hit, but I will do my best.

2013 In Review

The Good:

1. Attended CanCon for the first time
2. Attended JunoBear
3. Played as many games Face to face as I did on VASL
4. Played close to 30 games this year despite 8 months offline
5. Made contact with more ASLers in the region
6. Found that I enjoy helping relative newcomers to ASL with the game
7. Without actually trying, realised that I actually do know the IFT  by heart for the most part
8. I am totally over my PTO phobia, to the point I look for PTO games now.

The Bad:

1. Went 0 and 5 at CanCon
2. PC died a very sad death, along with my entire eASL archive
3. Stuck in tablet/iPad 1 Hell for 7.5 months
4. Had to cancel my trip to ASLOK thanks to dental bills, PC crash and lack of $$$
5. Am once more behind the curve in my ASL purchases
6. The reduction in enjoyment at Gamesquad
7. Lost track of exactly what scenarios I played this year.

 Looking Forward to:

• Malaya Madness in February - this could be the start of something special
• Junobear - It would be nice to win more than one game
• ASLOK - Come hell or high water, I am attending this year.
• Hitting the 50 games mark - given ASLOK should account for 20 odd, JunoBear 4 and Malaya Madness another 7/8, getting 18 games on VASL/PBeM and at the Bearz should be relatively easy.
• Finishing off the Swedish Volunteers scenarios
• Catching up on some of the ASL releases from 2013.
• Finalising the Raaco setup.

The Bell is Yet to Sound

With three days to go before the end of what, in retrospect, has been a very good year for me in terms of ASL, I couldn't resist the opportunity to squeeze in two more games.

For me, it's a huge positive in that I went looking for Live VASL games as opposed to PBeM. And it felt comfortable. The only diownside is that I had more takers than opportunities, so for those great people who offered to play me as a default, my heartfelt thanks. I see some more dice purchases in my future, even if I have been told I do not need any more dice.

So I'm playing Damon Norko in FrF40 Sporck's Eleven and Chuck Hammond in ESG38 Choke Point. With these two probably finished by Sunday evening, along with the near to completion of J111 Prussia In Flames, I should get to 35 completed games for 2012 with a day to spare.

I've  just finished ESG38, and I liked it. Chuck handed me my head in this one, but i take some solace that he would roll 3s and 4s on low FP attacks, but I would compound the damage by rolling 9s, 10s and the useful 12s in response. Don't let my tale of woe or that it uses the same board configuration as FrF30 Biderman's Escape dissuade you from playing it. It is quite different in terms of approach routes and defensive setup.

On my playlist for ASLOK.

Some Tweaking and Updates for the New Year

ASLOK XXVIII

 2013 is the year I return to ASLOK after a three year gap since my initial attendance. It's been a long wait until I could confirm my attendance for 2013, and Pre-registration was my Xmas present to myself. It helps that Kirsty has signed off on attendance for 2015 and 2016 as well, so I'm all set for ASLOK XXX and the subsequent 30th anniversary ASLOK as well.

Now all I have to do is generate a decent and attractive playlist so I can maximise my chance of games. There are a few ASLers I have promised games against, and I am looking forward to those games in particular.

New Blogs

I've had a quick look around and added a couple of Blogs to my blogroll:

Firstly Davide Bendazzi's Wargames Journal . I played Davide in a game of FrF30 Biderman's Escape which despite some appalling rules gaffes on my part (RST Tanks firing MA and CMG while CE, anybody?) was a superbly enjoyable game. Check out Davide's well crafted AAR when you have a moment.

Secondly, Lauchie from Scotland's Snake Eyes blog. Have a visit, let him now he is not alone out there in Blogland and even better, see if you can arrange a game.

New Stuff

I've ordered a few more HASL packs from overseas, surprisingly mostly from Critical (mis)Hit, but I feel pretty confident I will get value out of these, particularly as they were at reasonable prices courtesy of Mike Dean at Fine Games.

2012 Games

 I'm hoping to finish off my game with John Knowles this coming weekend, and hopefully I will get one more VASL Live game completed before the New Year.

Upcoming in 2013

I have been pretty remiss in writing up AARs for this blog, especially given I play so many PBeM games during the year. The usual obstacles of time and aptitude do put a hindrance in the way, but 2012 had some great games for AAR purposes, even if the skill levels were not of the highest.

Funnily enough the scenarios that I enjoyed the most were the shorter, more tourney oriented types. So I'm working on preparing AARs of BFP30 Melee Near the Coast, FrF30 Biderman's Escape and FrF45 Totensonntag. If I can get these three AArs done in January I will be happy as it will then allow me to look at perhaps adding one AAR every two months after that. The trick is playing around with the graphics as I am a complete tard with graphics programs.

Other projects in 2013 include creating a couple of T-shirt designs I hope to have ready forr ASLOK 2013 and potentially a bunch of games on the King of the Hill map, if I find they actually work for me.

2013 New Year's Resolutions and Wishlist part 2

Before I go ahead with this second part of my goals and ambitions for 2013, the previous instalment playing goals require additional comment.

In 2012, I resigned from a position and workplace that was making me physically and mentally ill. After 4 months, I was able to find a better role in a much healthier environment. The codicil to all this was that for the first three months of the year I was trying to get the headspace working properly. I then had a nice smooth 3 months of good ASL; but as I started the new job, ASL took an understandable back burner while I delat with the stresses of the new role and the lingering aftereffects from my previous job.

It was only in the last few weeks that I've been able to face ASL and gaming again, but in that time I've also come to the realisation that to manage 30+ ASL games in that time andwioth oustide factors weighing in is a pretty good achievement by my standards. I doubt I'll ever break the 100 games per year unless I get a position that doesn't require 4/5hours commute/transit per day.

What looking at the numbers from 2012 does do is convince me that even with a conservative playing schedule, I can come damn close to 80+ games per ASLOK year and around 60 in a non ASLOK year. The trick will be in managing my FTF games so I actually get to play longer, more in depth scenarios.

2013 Purchase list

The coming year looks to be a fairly intensive one ASL release wise and the list below will be my core purchases:

• Festung Budapest (MMP) - I passed up buying FB as it was released just after I resigned and money was not available.
• Rising Sun "Code of Ho" (MMP)- the new core modules are just too good to pass up. Code of Ho looks to be another win for MMP in terms of the total package.
• WO2013 pack (MMP) - I really think MMP are on a winner with this release each year, as it starts the year off with a couple or three scenarios that generate discussion and much play along with the new board(s).
• Decision at Elst (MMP) - I don't like the fact it's an HASL for ASLSK, as I feel ASLSK has already gone as far as it should in terms of it's focus and development. Once someone has reached ASLSK 3 level, they shouldn't need trainer wheels beyond that. I'll be buying it, but i won't be playing it SK style.
• Poland in Flames (BFP) -Early War has always been the highlight of my SL/ASL involvement, ever since the release of Crescendo of Doom. Given the quality of previous releases, I doubt I will be disappointed with this one.
• Scenario Pack releases - Hopefully we see the return of Friendly Fire at ASLOK and the usual set of releases from Schwerpunkt, East Side Gamers et al. I may pick up a few CH items on the down-low and discount market, but they are a very low priority.
• Holy Grails & older releases - Just a few now to go, but the acquisition of King of the Hill pretty much convinced me that 2014 (a non ASLOK attendee year) will be the go to year for picking up the remaining Grails.
• Dice and accessories - A Pleva dicetower,  a complete set of Battledice and hopefully some RAACO, Hozan and Box-Box storage should round out 2013 nicely. 

I also intend to pick up a few things at ASLOk that might seem mundane: a couple of poster frames and a portable playing mat similar to the one I saw Mark Pitcavage using at ASLOK 2010 plus some US letter sized page protectors and hopefully a good portable mapcase for the boards.

Final Resolutions

1. Have fun.
2. Don't sweat the hard stuff.
3. Be realistic.
4. Finish the US vs World challenge with a .500 average or better after 6 or more games.
5. Play more FTF and get in some HASL scenarios.
6. Play a few non-ASL boardgames to break up the year.

2012 in Review Part 3: Toys n Stuff

ASL Crack obtained in 2012 

 A stellar year for feeding the ASL addiction product wise. A lot of Gaps filled, primarily the raft of releases from ASLOK 2011.

2012 releases

• Le Franc Tireur 13
• From the Cellar 7
• Dos Equis Pack
• Action Pack 8
• Winter Offensive 2012
• Journal 10

Catch Ups

• Le Franc Tireur 12
• From the Cellar 3
• For King and Country
• ASL Starter Kit 3
• Schwerpunkt 17
• Friendly Fire Pack 7
• East Side Gamers Dezign Pack 7
• Special Ops volume 1
• Special Ops volume 2
• Action Pack 7
• Out of the Bunker

 Holy Grail(s)

• King of the Hill
• Genesis '48

 DTO  and Misc Fix

• Afrika Korps: El Alamein
• Afrika Korps: Bir El Gubi
• El Alamein: Ruweisat Ridge
• Genesis II (at 33% retail)    Do not buy from Gamesquest UK, they are bait and switch merchants.
• Omaha West (at 33% retail)

 So where's Fortress Budapest?

It wasn't a priority and Late War East Front City fighting is a acquired taste, particularly as I do not do CGs. I'll see how my non-ASLOK ASL budget goes for 2013.

2013 New Year's Resolutions and Wishlist part 1

Yes it is that time again...the time where I make a whole bunch of promises, predictions and generally put my hopes for 2013 on the line.

2013 Tourneys

Cancon: 

I owe it to myself and to Steve Linton to atttend CanCon - especially given that I am a miniatures gamer at heart and I've been in Aus since 2008 but have yet to attend. This should be achievable as a regular annual pilgrimage as well, now that work situation is settled.

JunoBear

It wouldn't be a Queen's Biirthday in Aus without traipsing to the bearz for 4 games of ASL goodness. 'Nuff Said.

ASLOK XXVIII

I have three more ASLOKs in me before I have to retire from International Jetset ASL. This is the first of those three and the one I have been jonesing for since the return from ASLOK XXV.

ASL Playing

PBeM

Resolution 1: Limit myself to no more than 4 concurrent PBeM ASL games.
Resolution 2: Actively participate and complete all round of the 2013 eASLeague
Resolution 3:Sort out the tri-monitor configuration once and for all.
Resolution 4: get through 3 games every 2 months minimum

Live VASL

Resolution 1: Limit myself to no more than 2 concurrent games
Resolution 2: Be more realistic in my session planning
Resolution 3: No pick up games - I need the prep time

Face to Face ASL

Resolution 1: Attend and play 10 of 12 Bearz meetings
Resolution 2: Play all 3 local to Central Coast ASLers at least twice each
Resolution 3: Play at least 2 ASL games for each day at ASLOK
Resolution 4: 2013 is the year of the DTO

2013 ASL Completed Game Target: 75

Expected number of Face To Face Games: 41

• Cancon: 4, JunoBear: 4, ASLOK: 20, Bearz: 10, other: 3 

Expected number of completed PbeM games: 18 + 2 carrying over from 2012
Expected number of Live VASL games: 20

6000 and counting!

This blog operates in fits and starts and incorporates content from several prior blogs of mine, but I take a little pride in the fact that I have now reached 6000 pageviews (most of which are undoubtedly spiders).

I'm certainly no Ian from Wall Advantage in terms of content and detailed AARs and mass readership, but I hope that those of you who do visit here find something of interest.

In ASL news, ASL12 Confusion Reigns is now in the mid-game and it's come much closeer in the last turn...whereas FrF45 is looking to be a struggle, with the German defenders not being put under pressure any more as my fire attacks have been uniformly poor for a while.

Three concurrent PBeM games is about my limit with my hours the way they are, so Pierce M (ASL1 from GS) and I are starting a series playthrough of the scenarios from Journal 10, starting with J147 Into the Grinding Mill, which loooks as interesting as the WCW classic Stand and Die.

What's not to like about FIVE Type 89B Chi Ro medium tanks swanning around Boards 12 and 13 as I have never seen them before...

In other news Scott Holst and I are starting off my desert reboot with AK07 Kidney Punch from the El Alamein pack, and hopefully Scott will be able to make it to ASLOK next year for some more desert desserts.

I hope to have a game lined up for the December Paddington Bearz meeting, hopefully something along the lines of Ivanovskii or Sporck's Eleven. I can handle a nice fast game, especially if it's done by 3pm.

Pete

The Dog is back in the Kennel (for now)

Winston Churchill supposedly referred to his depression as bouts with the "Black Dog", something I'd thought to be under control on my part but as I learned the hard way in August, it's not always the case.

My recent malaise included a sympathetic ASL burnout which was so pervasive I couldn't even face visiting Gamesquad or opening my email client to catch up with my PbeM opponents. Those of you who found our games abandoned without the courtesy of an explanation until now, my sincere apologies.

A combination of the realities of my working week and a general desire to do nothing other than reactive recreation (ie watching Rugby matches and catching up on various TV series) coupled with a somewhat incorrect impression that I was losing every game I played really put me off ASL (and in effect all gaming).

The low point was missing out on the Operation Veritable sale that MMP put on a few weeks ago...OVHS is one of my Holy Grails of ASL, along with ABTF and KOTH, so to miss out on that purely because of timing between paysdid nothing for my PMC.

So that's the bad part of the year out of the way.

The lessons kicked into me after this are pretty straightforward:

1. Don't overcommit to PBeM - 2-3 games concurrently is about the maximum I can manage

2. The VASL League is not for me - Live VASL with Euro players doesn't work when under time pressure - so better not to commit.

3. Live VASL play - only have 2 games running concurrently at a time. Otherwise I get scheduling conflicts.

4. Look to quality of play rather than speed and quantity.

5. Avoid playing anything over more than 2 full boards on VASL, at least until the triple monitors are set up with a 27/30" main screen.

6. Don't feel pressured to accept every offer of a game - be grateful to have enough people wanting to play.

7. Take advantage of the local FTF opportunities when popssible - it gets you out of the PBeM habit and  a mindset that can be detrimental to FTF play.

8. Stick to a playlist - play scenarios that interest you, not because you feel obligated.

9. Don't sweat the hard yards - the results will come, just focus on playing well.

10. Above all, have fun and take a break when you feel playing is becoming a chore.

11. The final one, always look forward to ASLOK 2013 - getting there is half the fun

 

Pete

ASLOK 2010 Final thoughts

I've been gaming for 35 years in both miniatures and boardgames. I've played competition miniatures events that wereso cutthroat and unpleasant I've lost friends and opponents and I was one of the less obnoxious competition players. The ASL community can be incredibly shitty online but over the tabletop they're some of the best people I've met.

I had an absolute blast at ASLOK. It was a real pleasure meeting so many good people and I made some good friends. I'm already hanging out for 2013 although I may get to Chicago for the Open before then. Thanks to everyone at ASLOK, but particularly to Bret for organising this, Bob Homstrom and Jim Burris for the jetlagged evenings, Fort for "That Game", Scott 'Tabby' Holst for being such a good sort. Oh hell, thanks to everyone I met and played. You made my first ASLOK one hell of a special memory!

ASLOK Sunday Day 10

Sunday 10th October - Bonus Mini: Tin Cans & Popguns#3

Steve Linton and I were paired up for the single elim game to find out who would play Nigel Blair for the plaque. We played SP186 Beaufort's Feast (Out damn' Schwerpunkt, out I say!) and I got so wound up worrying about interdicting the evil french infantry with my Panzer IIIs I left them in harms way of the Somuas. Of course that really didn't matter as I managed to critical hit one Somua and went ahead and diced Linton throughout the game despite losing my OBA without it even getting a chance to get radio contact.

I had to stay out of Linton's reach after the game, my dice weren't just smoking hot they were core-temp white as I went well past 60 snakes for ASLOk by the time I rolled a snakes in the last CC phase to sleaze out a win. OMFG I've won a game in a mini! 3 and 13 for ASLOK, 1 and 4 for minis.

On to the final against Nigel, who'd had a bad run at ASLOK until the Grofaz started where he went 2 and 0 to begin with and lost in a mini final. Nigel had already heard all about my dice, Linton hadn't exactly been backward about this although by this stage I was boring everybody with my dice stories as well, so he was hoping that my streak would have run dry now.

We played  AP53Far from Home, a scenario I think is a great one to finish ASLOK on a Sunday.
Not only did my streak not end it got even more obscene as I was just getting warmed up with 3 s and 4 helped by the odd snakes or five, and Nigel couldn't buy a roll less than 10! It got so bad I swapped dice, tried rolling in a cup as opposed to a dice tower, I even started using Nigel's unlucky dice which promptly rolled one 11 for me then picked up my karma again.

AP53 Far from Home, very apt really.

It came down to one final close combat roll almost in identical fashion to the game against Linton and sure enough, snakes! (later on Nigel realisedthat if only he'd moved one of his AFvs one more hex, he would have secured a VC hex.)

So here I am at my first ASLOK and I won a Mini! Okay it was an abbreviated one of two rounds duration and Linton reckons the plaque should be awarded to my dice not me, in which case I reckon it leaves me still eligible for the Biggest Loser mini in 2013 in that case.

Steve Linton and Nigel Blair

Well there had to be one more game of ASL in all three of us, so it came down to a winner takes all game of Dogs of War! I got picked on horribly by Blair and Linton but to be honest it was all great fun. Even traces of hot dice couldn't save my feral SS from dying in droves and Linton walked away as the partisan player with one last Mini plaque (Bret had scrounged another one that needed to be gotten rid of).

Dogs of War

ASLOK Saturday Day 9

Saturday 9th October
Where the hell have the last 7 days gone? It's a Saturday morning I'm up ready to go straightaway and i get paired against Kevin Meyer again in the last PTO Mini - well at least i know this game is going to be fast and furious ...

2.5 hours later and I'm out of another mini, only this time Kevin goes on to win the whole thing! Seizing the Sittang Bridge, another Schwerpunkt design and it could be one of the last Schwerpunkt non-SK board scenarios I play (I bought that Rallypoint issue for a reason). Anyway i had a faint chance to win if I'd set up and executed the twin Banzais in the right order and with the right units...twasn't to be and Kevin deservedly won.

Great game, great opponent. So out of the four PTO minis I'd played, two of my first round opponents (Rich Domovic and Kevin Meyer) went on to win the mini and I played Kevin in consecutive minis. I don't feel I disgraced myself even though I was now 2 and 13 for ASLOK and 0 and 4 for minis.

Some more photos from ASLOK:

I was however totally gamed out, so I spent the rest of the day in a fugue state staring at the ASL crack I'd obtained from Alex Keys. The man is pure evil allowing me to buy all that stuff. Actually it wasn't so much gamed out as wondering how the hell I was going to get all the asl crack into my luggage.

Then Steve Linton came up with the idea of staging a Sunday mini for the those still jonesing for a plaque (Bret still had one left) but with entry limited to those with no outstanding minis games (which eliminated Cleavin from signing up and winning another plaque as he was still to play Matt Book) - for while we had JR Tracy on tap to play but in the event he went back to Noo Yawk...obviously the thought of facing the Dice of Doom had him running for cover.

ASLOK XXV Friday Day 8

Friday 8th October

Now that Grofaz was a non-issue, I could just concentrate on the two remaining Minis. I was up nice and early once more back to my normal day to day waking routine of 5am. My scheduled opponent for the first round was AWOL so I paired up with Kevin Meyer for Schwerpunkt's SP65 Ayo Gurkhali!

It was a fairly tight game in the early and mid-part but I gradually lost focus and Kevin won pretty conclusively in the end. But it was a good, fast game. Even so I was starting to suffer burnout and my PML was starting to suffer as my ELR dropped to 2 for the day. Yesterday was really bugging me and I wasn't looking forward to the Saturday mini at all.

With all this weighing on me, I cut my losses and quit playing for the day. and got around to talking a few photos:

Went to Denny's with the Anzac crowd in the evening and retired to the bar chatting with Matt Book and Roger Whelan re potential modifications to the Biggest Loser mini (the idea is that only the actual scenario loser progresses and Kibitzing is encouraged and an official kibitzer is on hand so that people can't tank games - to deviate from the advice of the Kibitzer requires an NTC.

2-12 for ASLOK, 0 and 3 for the Minis - I suck at this game.

ASLOK Thursday Day 7

"I've checked into enbalming techniques for extremities...if you go before me, consider leaving your dice rolling hand to me, I've already picked out the walnut and silver stick on which to mount it."

- Gary Fortenberry, on Gamesquad after I posted my ASLOK AAR

This day has been the hardest one to write as my overall ASLOK experience was so overwhelmingly positive. I've hmmmed and hrrred over how to set down my feelings without coming across as a whiny bitch or being unconstructive. It helps that I've slept for 12 hours straight and finally killed the jetlag...no personal criticism is intended though it may come across that way and I'm aware that I'm no saint in this matter.

Thursday 7th October - Pacific

Up nice and early to get ready for the second Mini of ASLOK and perhaps a good start to the Grofaz. Paired off with Wai-Kwong Wang from Canada, one of John McDairmid's Canadian School in a playing of Schwerpunkt's SP125 Numshigum.

W-K was a great guy to play first up, and I was happy with the way I played although I contributed to my own misfortune in this game by forgetting to move my HMG in the backfield on one turn which left it out in the cold. I also missed a really significant LOS which cost me a 1st line squad at exactly the wrong time. I almost managed to pull victory from the ashes of defeat by rolling three snakes in three separate CCs over three turns, but in the end W-K won in the last turn so out of my second mini in the first round yet again. No disgrace as W-K went 2-0 for Grofaz on the Thursday anyway.

2 and 10 for ASLOK, 0 and 2 for the Minis , and I would need to get two more games in today to get to 2-0 for Grofaz (fat chance of winning both I know)

Got paired up with a very nice genuine gamer for my next game after lunch - I sort of stooged around after my game against W-K which finished in about 3 hours so I should have started before 1:30pm. We played WCW 10 Stand and Die from the Windy City Wargamers' pack as I was pretty confident I could knock this scenario off in about 4-6 hours max as it really isn't a complex OB.

Unfortunately after 3 hours we'd only managed to get through 1.5 turns and I was getting a little frustrated at the slow play. To cut a long and whiny story short I resigned the game despite being in a near impregnable position vis a vis the VCs at 9:30pm after only 5 turns. Yes I'd had a couple of smoke breaks but they were all of 5 minutes each. I lost it at the end and felt absolutely gutted about both my reaction and that I'd effectively crapped out of the Grofaz on the first game just as I was starting to play good ASL. Frankly the game was already a fait accompli and I offered my opponent the chance to resign to avoid needless continuance but stubborn intransigence and glacial play killed any spark of enjoyment for me.

2 and 11 for ASLOK, 0 and 1 and out of Grofaz

This is the bit I have to apologise for: I spent the rest of the night bitching and whining to fellow ASLERs about it. Frankly I needed to take some of my own advice and HTFU and get right into another game. Instead I moped. Sorry guys.

General thoughts: I'm a fastish player, to my own detriment most of the time, but I play on gut instinct and it gives me a good level of enjoyment in spite of the results. I can't do the whole paralysis by analysis thing at all, but I played some deliberate players at ASLOK who took their time to setup and plan yet were not molasses/treacle slow in their execution once play began. Frankly that pace of play is understandable and suits me as well. 

One hour to move 5 AFVs of which two failed Independent Movement NTCs and the other three were platoon moving is frankly unacceptable. I couldn't help feeling I should have cut my losses at about 4pm and said the game wasn't working at that point but IIRC I wasn't in nearly as dominant a position then as I was at say 6pm and I still held out hopes of a swift finish .

In this particular case, it didn't seem like the pace of play was caused by excessive care, just that the guy was just slow. I'll be honest, by the end of the game, I was pretty certain he was winding me up as well which is why I resigned in the end.

I ended up chatting to Glenn (GlennBo) Houseman of East Side Gamers, who had a few products out on display. Now I'll be the first to admit that I hadn't really seen or taken any of the Dezign paks seriously, but ever one to try something new, I grabbed a couple of scenario packs and Glenn through in an older one as a teaser. I'm really pleased I did buy the latest pack as it features a very good meaty tourney scenario - more on this later.

Not really in the mood for gaming, I actually had an early night.

ASLOK Wednesday Day 6

Wednesday 6th October - The Emperor's Finest Mini

The first game of this mini was with Rich Domovic, another of the Chicago alumni and a genuine nice guy. We played what is probably my second favourite scenario from Journal 1, J09 A Stiff Fight (with J12 Jungle Fighters being my fave).

The Majordomo Hisself

I felt I was in the game right up until the last turn so I didn't disgrace myself although my weak spot seems to be handling armour in the early game - I am way too aggressive (as demonstrated later in ASLOK in two games against Linton).

So out after one round but as Rich went on to win the mini, I wasn't going to shed any tears over the result.

ASLOK 2 and 8

Because we'd finished by 11am (yay for fast players) I had enough time to arrange a rematch with Mark Pitcavage, this time playing what may have been acclaimed as the best new scenario at ASLOK - Schwepunkt's SP190 Bottcher's Corner. (although neither Mark nor myself saw it that way)

A few teething issues with setup, thanks to non-intuitive SSR defined terrain changes (these only work in VASL as far as I am concerned) and a misread of the setup area by Mark. Nothing that we couldn't fix quickly and no big deal for me.

Mark was a tad concerned about the dice, but even though I managed to stay moderately hot, I wasted no opportunity to show my bad rolls as well

I do need one of those larger Pleva towers though. Mark was too strong for me and I pretty much stayed in the game as long as I did due to the leader rolling well. I just couldn't get enough force there long enough to stick around. So The Pitman owns me 2 and 0 at ASLOK. Even Cleavin can't say that!

ASLOK 2 and 9

I took the rest of the day off to chat with people like Glennbo, Matt Book and Kevin Hill (sorry I ducked you all ASLOK Kevin, next time you're on my must play list) and wondered how long my dice would stay hot. I also got to meet JR and Steve Pleva so I'd pretty much accomplished my prime reason for attending ASLOK - meeting all these people I'd corresponded with on VASL, CSW, Gamesquad and the old mailing list.

They start rolling in

It's getting busy now - Joe Steadman in the Boonie Hat on the far right

173 ASLers don't leave much space

Oh yeah, I didn't forget to make my usual stop over to BP for more caffeine goodness.

ASLOK Tuesday Day 5

Clarification: Previous instalments are slightly out for when I met people, due to the issue of jet lag and the days all merging into one.

Tuesday 5th October
I'd finally managed to get some sleep and gawd was it needed. I had breakfast with some of the ANZAC crew and the Euros. Feeling more alive, I thought it'd be good to ease myself into the day with a game against fellow Anzac Scott Byrne, who like me was feeling a little shellshocked after a run of bad results.

We played one of Murray McCloskey's new Break Contact pack (in final playtest) BC15 Bagging the Bago Bridge. I'm not a big fan of high leadership in smaller scenarios generally and this one just struck me as nothing special. Scott won, restored his Personal Morale Level and went back into the fray for the World Cup - Mission accomplished. I may have lost but I was okay about it as it was nice to play a game without the whole World vs USA thing.

ASLOK 1 and 6, World Cup still 1 and 3 (that second win might be a while coming)

I'd arranged to play Tabby at some point in the afternoon, but he was engrossed in a game that was going rather long so Fort moved our scheduled game forward. To be honest I was nervous as hell about playing - I wasn't even remotely up to speed in terms of playing quality and i just wanted to make sure I offered a little more than being a speed bump.

Before we played, I laughingly remarked that I would need to bring my "A" dice game just to keep it vaguely close. Prescience can be a bitch.

I'd bought a bunch of Dispatches from the Bunker the previous day along with the new Friendly Fire pack, Schwerpunkt 16 and Rallypoint 5 so it didn't take long for Gary to select DB083 Block to Bataan as our game.

Fort's initial defence require some tweaking due to Brush remaining Brush not going to bamboo and he ended up with a hedgehog defence with the Stuart behind the roadblock and the ATG propping up the flank away from the roadblock.

I took a left hand sweep with the middle force being slow and steady after Fort's firelanes made a shambles of my initial thrust. I had got hooked up on the wire, but then my dice went nuts and it continued for the rest of the game...

My 3 tank platoon went up the centre left, swung out to engage the infantry in front blocking my own approach route and up popped the 37LL ATG. The Stuart boxed its MA on the first shot and the ATG missed. I didn't. Snakes (Improb CH) folowed by a 2 on the CH check. Bye bye ATG. Fort blinks but continues on relentlessly. The Stuart repaired the MA on its first attempt later in the game when it had to be taken but I had a turn or two of breathing space.

My dice got even hotter when I generated a Japanese hero from a first line squad (I really didn't see this as exceptional until I went through the actual mods as I've created about 4 Japanese heroes previously) and I had my good leader, a squad with DC and hero next to his Stuart who had already IFed. It was then that the 60 mm mortar rescued the situation, the ROF tear was expected, the final non-rof shot did all the damage though, causing a K/4 on the stack - you guessed it I rolled yahtzee. So athough I rolled 11 snakes (several Heat of Pins admittedly) during the game, I still couldn't pull out a win for the World.

Gary was a joy to play, his equanimity in the face of the satanic dice o' doom was to be admired. I'm not sure how seriously to take his idea of mounting my severed hand on a stick and using it to roll his dice though. I came away with a lasting memory of a game that I could dine out on forever (and I will) and my ASLOK experience was set in stone as truly great.

1 and 7 for ASLOK, 1 and 4 for World Cup.

The evening game was against Tabby and would be my last game in the World Cup with the Minis due to start the following day. I was keen to play something Eastern Front before diving into the PTO for the next 4 days so Scott and I looked at DB079 Mga Station - I liked the board setup, I liked either side and I thought it looked like real smash-mouth in yer face ASL .

The Streak continued with my first Prepfire attack of 20FP up 1 being a snakes. The game continued along those lines pretty much with another 4 or so snakes as I waxed most of Scott's HTs early on, and paced myself to not trigger the reinforcements before the default turn. I felt Scott left me too many reasonable shots early on, even though I never used the 82 mortar (I couldn't figure out where and when to use it).

Tabby's a lot of fun to hang out with at ASLOK. The trashtalking and smart-ass remarks flew between our tables all week. I don't think I could have asked for a better roomie.

ASLOK 2 and 7, World Cup 2 and 4 (final)

Looking at who I played in the WC, I'm pleased to have managed 2 wins:

Fortenberry, Burris, Holmstrom, Goldman, Pitcavage and Holst. I'll take that as a solid looking PIS record anyday. It looks daunting for a first time ASLOK attendee even now.

ASLOK Monday Day 4

Monday 4th October

Finally able to play David Goldman (Mr ASL Open) from Chicago after a couple of failed attempts. I'm pretty wiped by this stage - it's been a long time since I had any real sleep.

David Goldman, Mr ASL Open and a man of exquisite musical taste.

David is one very nice gentleman and an absolute pleasure to play - personally I loved having Nina Simone as background music - it helped take the edge of my slightly manic stage. Poor Dave had to take a couple of work calls so the game was leisurely - this suited me quite nicely as I was starting to run on fumes now with Cherry Coke and more coffee being required.

David and I played Friendly Fire's FrF 51 Bite of the Bassotto where I was the Fallschirmjäger. I set up the Bassotto to make it last until the midgame as I'm shocking at keeping my AFVs alive past turn 2 (as demonstrated against Steve Linton in later games). This is the game where I start getting some good DRs together although Streetfighting a Staghound in the street with an ATMM pretty much contributed the best part of my game.

David felt the scenario may actually be a little tough on the FJs as he misread the VCs and so the game was over in the final NZ game turn. My first win in ASLOK and against the ASL Open TD! It was a memorable game with a memorable opponent. Thanks David.

ASLOK 1 and 3, World Cup 1 and 2.

Other than the game, I ended up thinking seriously about making the Chicago Open in 2012. If possible I can bring Kirsty and we can make a week of it seeing the sights. Having met so many of the Chicago crowd, I'm positive I'll enjoy it even more.

The loneliness of a long distance ASLer - Jim Burris, sans Holmstrom, is able to use his dice cup safe in the knowledge that there are no remains of rum in the glass (for now). I swear Jim hardly moved from that chair all week.

My second game of the day was against another nice guy, Jim Burris from St Louis. Jim's a very thoughtful, deliberate planner who's been out of mainstream ASL play for a year or so. All I can say is based on his ASLOK record this year, he's not that rusty at all. He's also no slouch once he's got his plan sorted. The actual game (AP52 Into Vienna Woods) moved very quickly once he had his set up sorted - it was over at the end of the SS turn 3 as I had caused only one HS casualty and Jim was ensconced on the 2nd level with nothing remaining of mine onboard - I got my head handed to me - it's a scenario I need to look at in more detail for a sov setup (forgetting my second lmg didn't help at all there).

ASLOK  1 and 4, World Cup 1 and 3

At this point I was toast both physically and mentally - I needed to get some sleep so I stayed up for a little bit, had some scotch and crashed after being coma'd on the couch.

Great day for meeting people again.