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.

Malaya Madness - February 2014 - In Retrospect I

Hindsight

While I may have played well below my own expectations and those of my peers, there is and was a definite upside. I met fellow ASLers, got to know some of them quite well, and I was able to offer encouragement and tangible support to those starting out. I hope I didn’t stress my own opinions and prejudices regarding ASL too much. 

The social aspect of an ASL event is the sine qua non of why I attend, and is the real strength of the ASL community. This social aspect has an impact on the development of sound play and rules awareness that is not always given enough credit. Despite the length of time I’ve been playing, I’m no more than a mediocre to average player, but since 2010 when I first started attending ASL events with some frequency, my play has progressed exponentially so that I’m consistently trending towards average.

I noted this improvement immediately after ASLOK XXV where I played more people than I had played in the preceding 25 years and I could recognize I had become more consistent. But when It comes down to it, it’s the friendships that have been made that I take away the most satisfaction from. 

Forget about the so called “Competitive” side of ASL events. Instead focus on the people themselves and you’ll come away with a lasting enthusiasm for the ASL Community that will stay with you even as you pump more money into Raaco, Scenario Packs and Dice/Dice towers and counter clippers.

Singapore

 

I love the place. It’s been over 40 years since I was last there (similar to Hong Kong) and it’s just a special place. I wouldn’t want to work there (the corporate ethos is just too much for me) but as a place to regularly visit, hell yeah.

The Pod is located in the Bugis area and as an inveterate pedestrian, I loved being able to walk around in the evenings soaking up the ambience and atmosphere, especially along Beach Road.

Now you can take the boy out of Western culture, but you can’t delete certain aspects so it was no surprise to anyone that the first place I stopped between Bugis MRT and the Pod was the Starbucks at Raffles Hospital. Admittedly I was already in need of a rest to acclimatise to the 30 degree heat, so when in doubt I go for what always works: a Venti Latté with one sugar.

If anything I think next time I’ll allow more time to do some shopping and perhaps more of an effort to take in a relaxing evening at places like Albert Court. Plus there’s the whole thing about visiting various museums and sites of historical significance. Maybe one such site per Malaya Madness can be budgeted for in terms of an extra day in Singapore.

ASL wise, I really don’t think Singapore is too expensive as a venue. Sure it’s going to be a significant cost to get a decent venue at a Hotel but then again, it’ll be worth underwriting it just so we can say: This is Asia ASL!

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.

Goodbye Pre-orders

So that's it for pre-orders from MMP: the USPS rates and MMP shipping charges were always treading a fine line between what was justifiable and what could no longer be justified.

With pre-orders it was a necessity to pool orders in order to keep the shipping cost per item reasonable...but that option has been stymied for the future as the postage for more than say 3 or 4 scenario packs from MMP was seriously obscene.

Withe the 50% increase, it's no longer worth my while (especially once you factor in the overseas transaction charges, etc for making an order). So I've cancelled all my Pre-orders from MMP: particularly for the non-ASL boxed games where the postal charges were already ruinous at $50+ for the 2 Storm over.... games, the new postage will be more than the combined price of the games.

Rivers to the Reich and Best of  Friends will have to wait for another day...probably ASLOK. Festung Budapest will be ordered from Milsims. I am very glad I went on the pre Xmas splurge that I did.

Milsims will be seeing a lot more of my money, and I will probably increase the proportion I buy at ASLOK over the next three years.

The real spinner in this is that the new postal rates are almost certainly the death knell for the purchase of miniatures and other games from my usual suppliers like Fine Games, Noble Knight and Gamer's Armory, let alone picking anything up via eBay from the IUS. It will be interesting to see how Amazon's charges go up.