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.

My Win Ratio is 100%!

Okay so it's only because of the one game I played against Rami in the first round of the 2011 VASL Minor League for Europe/Oceania before I had to drop out of ASL for 6 months, but I'll take it. Like my ASLOK Tin Cans & Pop Guns Mini plaque (coutesy of the Dice of Doom), this will be the high point of my ASL tourney career and I'm going to milk it for all it's worth.

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 Pre-planning The Minis - Friday and Saturday

It's going to be interesting coming back and viewing how I managed and whether I got my preferences. No doubt I'll get trampled à la Lomu on Mike Catt but it could be really amusing if I get absurd dice against one of the big names.

Friday - Samurai of the Rising Sun

It's going to be just me and Murray McCloskey representing Team ANZAC this mini - but there will be some familiar faces (by now) in Stan Jackson from Wednesday and Nelson Harris from Thursday. Not one of the scenarios on offer has featured in my ASL playlist before so it's all frighteningly new.

Round 1 - Oh gawd, a completely schwerpunkt round. Cursed, I am! Ayo Gurkhali would be on my shortlist except my copy has disappeared somewhere between The Shaky Isles and Convictland. Which leaves Malignant Mahrattas which i do have and Last Full Measure which is so new it's not listed on ROAR.
1st Preference - SP126 Malignant Mahrattas - very much by default.

Round 2 - another Schwerpunkt duo to taunt me and the alternate is the reappearance of 800 Heroes from Thursday. I'll go with the non-Schwerpunkt scenario cause it's the afternoon session and I'm probably not going to get past the first round anyway. The scond choice defaults to a scenario I have.
1st Preference - AP54 800 Heroes - ticks all the boxes for me. Second choice is Chiang's Finest.

Round 3 - By now I'm sick of the sight of Schwerpunkt (really it's all in good fun , I actually think Evan and the guys do a great job - the particular design ethos post SP issues 1-4 just doesn't suit me and I'm shallow enough to not enjoy the text format of the scenario OBs. ) so I'm going to choose the Action Pack offering as it's the last round of the day which means I'll be mellowing out with a few beers and using the new boards.
1st Preference - AP55 The Generalissimo's Own - by default

Saturday - Rumble in the Jungle

This mini sees the return of Neil Andrews and Rich Domovic from the Wednesday PTO mini, Kevin Meyer, Stan Jackson and Murray McCloskey repeat from yesterday (plus Stan and Murray are by now old friends after seeing them in Wednesday as well. Linton makes his appearance with the big boys in the PTO after bottom feeding in the Heinz Baked Beans and DIce Lucks minis so another dominant showing for Team Anzac is on the cards. By this time, I'm hoping to have bought Op Spec Ed 3, Bunker issue 31 and Out of the Attic 2 so more options will make themselves available. There's even more 'ooh new shiny" to be picked up but those are the relevant ones.

Round 1 - Seizing the Sittang Bridge is disqualified due to possible earlier playing of Round 2 on Wednesday (you really think I'd choose to play the same scenario twice at ASLOK, let alone playing the same Schwerpunkt one? Come over here, there's this bridge I'd like to show you...) and Block to Bataan is already in a default second choice earlier in the week. Bailey's Demise looks to be it, with the Hell's Corner map being the drawcard (plus I liked playing several of the Operation Watchtower scenarios).
1st Preference: HC2 Bailey's Demise - It's easy to choose this one today and it gives me even more imper\tus to help out with the Suicide Creek playtests - I'll never reach the level of a Cleavinator in the PTO but it'll certainly help me give him a stronger game.

Round 2 - Default choice again, but not because of Schwerpunkt - this time I may have already played one alternates earlier in the week, although Brigade Hill will get top billing if I can get past round 1 as I cannot see myself getting to Round 3 on Thursday where it would have been my only choice. Whaling Good Time will be too new for me to digest (I prefer to look over a scenario for a bit before playing it and I'd not want to delay starting the second round) and similarly so Taking heads.
1st Preference: J116 Brigade Hill followed by Whaling Good Time (due to being part of Hell's Corner).

Round 3 - two choices here really, neither one of which I have played. The third choice is a no go as I want to finish the Minis with a bang not a whimper at having to play a Schwerpunkt scenario as my final game before starting on the new From The Cellar, Friendly Fire and Out of the Attic stuff. So it';s a toss up between Raider Ridge and Philippine Fireman, East Side Design gets the nod 'cause it's a non-East Front scenario which is a departure for them to my albeit limited exposure to their designs.
1st Preference: ESG55 Philippine Fireman - if I get this far, I may need the benefit of a perception that East Side Designs don't get as much play compared to mainstream releases such as OotA. I'll take every edge I can get. I hope it's got some vehicles.

So there we have it, my initial preview of the minis I've entered. I've probably gone overboard in the faux-disdain for Schwerpunkt stuff so sorry if anyone's views got dissed. Frankly I'd rather play ASL than no ASL - and I have enjoyed a lot of Schwerpunkt scenarios - they just don't suit my playstyle as much as other design philosophies and styles seem to do - Ola Nygards I'm looking at you. I was surprised to see no Chicago or SoCal designs featured - but then Stand and Die and Bagging Burcorps are some of my favourite PTO scenarios out there.I'll probably see whether i can get a game of them earlier in the week as prep for the minis.