January in review

January 2014

It's been an interesting start to the year, with lots of overtime at work impinging on my energy levels to play and arrange games - No Paddo Bearz, minimal Live VASL

Games Played:

• J147 Into the Grinding Mill - VASL - won as KMT vs  John Knowles with an upfront defensive variation. Surprised John with that, and did some damage up front.
• DftB107 StossGruppe Schlicter - VASL - won as Norwegians vs Daniel Takai in the first round of the 2014 VASLeague. Played a good game but was helped by decent rolls on high FP DF attacks
• AP59 Taking Heads - PBeM won as Japanese vs Ivan Kent - Banzais in the end game allowed me to focus on grabbing buildings rather than exits...the .50cal was almost too quiet until it was too late.
• BoF 01 The Marco Polo Bridge Incident - VASL - Lost as KMT vs John Knowles but tight and close game - very nice scenario.
• SV08 Through the Mud and Blood - PBeM - Won as Soviets vs Rick Carter thanks to Human Waves and getting enough troops into CC to deny control - tough scenario for the Finns/Swedes, particularly if the Soviets can keep initial casualties low. Read the SSRs though, the Soviets forgot about their Turn 3 FFE and thought the reinforcements arrived on Turn 3.

Malaya Madness Update:

• Air travel booked and paid for
• T-Shirts and Registration paid
• Hotel accommodation sorted
• Scenario choices finalised
• Setups for Rounds 1, 2, 3 and 5 sorted
• Mapboards sorted
• Round 4 continues to be a major problem for me
• West Of Alamein arriving today to pass on to Jackson K

Still to organise: 

1. ASL travel pack  - Still working on what mix of nationalities to take
2. Checking duplicate of Yanks countermix is complete enough to pass on to Jackson K
3. Learning to use the new smartphone - yes, I sold my soul to the devil.
4. Luggage - have to buy some new stuff to fit within Scoot's baggage restrictions - 20KG is not a great deal of room to play with
5. WO2014 pack - I may just have my copy of this arrive before I leave.

February Games:

Almost nothing scheduled at the moment - PBeM games are all completed, VASLeague Round 2 doesn't begin until March 1st so I have no idea who or what I will be playing. I think I may call February an ASL bust except for Malaya Madness, but I may get 7-8 games done there anyway.

What's new:

• The biggie: I needed to reduce the ancillary items I am taking to Singapore, and the idea of lugging a slightly dodgy (due for replacement) Android tablet plus Camera plus my old Nokia in my carry on just seemed too much like overkill. So I merged the tablet, the phone and some camera aspects into one and bought this:

Samsung Note 3

Add a decent phone wallet case and that's a lot less needed to be included in carry on. I may just be able to fit everything in the camera bag. A bit of a learning curve to make it work for me, the priority is making sure I have enough music, video and ASL docs on the phone to make the travel as stress free as possible.

Still a fair amount to do,  and with all the pre-tourney practice games other attendees have managed I think I'm heading into some ASL experience deficit territory. But really, who cares? I can only play my game as best as I let myself .

J126 Ugly Faces: An Ugly Dicing

John Knowles and I sat down this afternoon to play J126 Ugly Faces from Journal Nine, a Chas Argent design that initially seemed to get some bad press and some fairly rough treatment for the Germans.

The omens were not propitious as I knocked over my best coffee mug onto the tiled floor before the game even started. Cacophonix may even have struck up a dirge about Toutatis and the sky falling around that time. 

John took the Germans with balance (and that additional 20mm FP is damn useful) and we started to play:

Now I will claim that 8 months away from playing ASL stultified my normal defensive brilliance, but we all know that to be an outright falsehood. I set up the 37* INF far too far forward and had nothing really to stop an end run by the Sdkfz 222s on the right.

And so it proved..because I did absolutely nothing on German Turn 1, apart from stunning the Bathtub. I lost the two squads in U9 because I let them get caught in CC rather than leaving one concealed and/or vol breaking the other and john ambushed me. The only shots I was taking were either decent TH shots or 8+ FP DF or 4FP resids, all the DRs tending to match my MCs and PTCs which were averaging 7.5+ already. Not good when you are French.

So after Turn 1 I was in a power of trouble. Turn two was just annoyingly vicious as I was flanked, broken and routed as well as dead from FTR. The 222s were already in the backfield up by the stone wall on the Y hexrow crossroads.

Turn Three was just bad, and I had a chance to rectify it , but I ended up with 14/60 non-wind change DRs being 9+ versus John's 14/50 of 4 or less. There was an opportunity to cause some havoc as Johnhad not safeguarded the ongoing Melee in W1 which if I had surviuved would have allowed me to threaten the three multi-hex buildings in the south. Alas it was not to be, and the final straw was the last possible 4 up 1 snakes vs one of my 18pdrs that took out the truck, the crew, the gun and a 237 hs that was to assist in bringing the gun into action.

An Ugly game of Ugly Faces , but the scenario deserves a lot more respect than it gets. I won't be counting this game as truly representative as the dice were extreme on both sides.

So it didn't even get past the CC phase of Allied Turn 3. Says it all really. Still want to play this again though as either side.

Time Just Flies By

While I was unable to access this blog, a small but significant anniversary occurred. Although this (Blogger) iteration of the blog is relatively recent, my first ASL related post was back in September 2004, a capsule review of a pretty decent book and ASL Third Party Publisher .

 So I am now in the 10th year of posting, even if it's only an average of 1 post per month. The other anniversary is that this particular site started in October 2009 and 103 new posts have been added in that time.

The other achievement is that we've now reached our 10000th page view, the last 4000 of which came in the last year.

Just as an aside and because I have often promised pretty pictures, here's a graphic of where my small but valued group of blog readers are located (it';s the most recent 100 visitors):

Thanks, people.

Some celebration is in order and what better way to celebrate than to post about actually playing ASL?

So in the last week, I have started and played to completion two scenarios, started one live VASL game (in progress), set up two ongoing series of live VASL matches against players I've never played before, restarted one live VASL game, restarted two PBeM games and set up a face to face game for the Paddo Bearz meeting next Saturday.

Once all these games get underway, I expect to be playing around 2 sessions per day for the three days I am not working each week.  That doesn't even include the ritual loss to the Cleavinator that occurs every three months.

It's good to be back, but even better to be able to write about actual ASL play.

Pete

It's good to be back: AP17 Valley of Death

It's already looking like I have a taker for the XV series playthrough, just waiting for schedule confirmation. But not only have  I started two more games, I'm able to restart a game with Joern Helms: AP 17 The Valley of Death.

We managed to get through the first Italian turn initially before real-life difficulties caused us both to drop out of sight for a while, but here's the situation as it stands:

Some chances taken in light of increased opportunities. I had forgotten how this scenario opened up on the first turn.

My latest project on Gamesquad

Themed VASL + Skype scenario series with a difference .

The theme is not so much Eastern Front, or indeed by publisher but is based on playing through
the designs of a single individual, in this case, Xavier Vitry of Le Franc Tireur.

The idea:

• Commit to one VASL + Skype session per weekend with an option of adding one PBeM log through the week but only if you are into PBeM. 
• Each player plays the same side throughout the series of 10 scenarios, in this case my opponent will be playing Germans. 
• All games count towards the ASL Ladder games and will be entered into ROAR.
• Using VASL 5.9.3 with VASSAL 3.1.20

The scenarios (with Balance if both players are evenly matched) :

1. J093 (LFT 29) The Porechye Bridgehead with Soviet Balance 
2. J102 (LFT 31) The Yelnya Bridge with Soviet Balance
3. J103 (LFT 32) Lenin's Sons
4. J104 (LFT 33) Flanking Flamethrowers with Soviet Balance
5. J105 (LFT 34) Borodino Train Station with Soviet Balance    
6. J115 (LFT 35) Last Push to Mozhaisk with German Balance
7. FTC5 153 Nailed to the Ground
8. FTC5 155 Once Upon A Time...In The East 
9. FTC6 165 Shopino Struggle with Soviet Balance
10. LFT 196 Spittelmarkt

Of these 10 scenarios, I have played all those published in the Journal except J093. I am currently about to start a game of FTC 196 as the Germans vs Blind Sniper.

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

Be Verry, Verry Afwaid...

I'm back! Sans a working storage drive for now (just using the SSD as a temp) as I ended up losing the 1TB storage drive as I had feared.

VASL is installed, only 1 monitor up and running so far, but the prognosis is good. Hopefully will be able to start playing from tomorrow morning onwards.

Six Days in Spring...

This coming Friday morning will see the arrival of the newly refurbished computer. Eight months of exile in tablet hell will come to an end with a vengeance. All caused, not by a power surge as I had thought and dreaded due to the cost of replacing the Solid State Drive, the graphics card and power supply, but by a single failure in a $5 SATA cable connected to the OS drive. So much of my exile was avoidable if I had any kind of computer clue. But then the cable failure was probably caused by me opening the case the last time anyway.

The good news is indeed good, no data loss.

So what is my ASL schedule going to look like? Well, as I only work Mon-Thurs, I intend to get back on the horse that is VASL as soon as possible. I intend not to focus only on pre-arranged games as I was wont to do, but from now on I will have a short list of on call scenarios with associated defensive setups for those times when an ad-hoc game is called for.

I'm hoping to at least start one live VASL game most Thursday evenings Australian time,  as that will mesh well with the North American and Asia Pacific community. The three day weekend also means I will be able to play some of the GB/Euro ASL active players as waking up at 6am to play equates to a 2 hour sleeping for me.

All in all, I am looking at hopefully playing three completed games on average per weekend, and that will still give me the two days per month I need for attending the war games clubs for miniatures. I do know that I am seriously looking forward to being able to post screen grabs and photos on this blog rather than the walls of text I have been restricted to.

Steve Linton from Canberra very kindly sent me two scenario packs from the Break Contact series. Now PTO is very much an acquired taste of mine, if only recently, so the opportunity to look at some new scenarios was always welcome. There are some big scenarios in the two packs I have, but thankfully the new multi-monitor set up makes these doable now. A notable design in the latest pack features the LFT I beach landing board so it will almost certainly make the playlist. I just have to find some one also keen on doing seaborne assaults and evacuations.

All in all, lots to look forward to and lots still to do. 

The Time is Rapidly Approaching...

...When I will be able to rejoin the active ASL online community:

• The rebuild of the PC is almost complete, and should be home by this time next week.
• The  final pair of monitors will be here by October 17th and set up by the 18th.
• I should be able to retrieve all my VASL games by the end of the month which means I will be able to get started on the visual AARs finally. (Trebled 24" 1920 by 1200 screen real estate will allow much multi-tasking.)

Still have to buy a decent headset/mic combo and sort out the archived data, but all that costs is time rather than $$$ which has been the bottleneck until now.

Time to look at an updated playlist and then post a few challenges, particularly for my UK and Euro ASL brethren as the time zone difference is much less of a hindrance with a three day weekend.

It has been a very long and frustrating seven-and-a-half months, in which time I have truly come to loathe tablets and the iPad as the only conduits to the Internet available for me. This is why the current plan is to have a second PC dedicated to gaming ready and available by the end of the year,
just in case.

Games over the weekend

Played two games over the weekend, plus got another three turns done in my VASL league game.. The first game was FB12 The Black Ravens are flying (awesome scenario title) with me as the German/Hungarian vs Aaron C's Soviets. This is just a freaking cool situation and design. Definitely a keeper. Reminds me a little of MP11 Vulcan's Forge in the potential for melee shenanigans on turn 1. We ended up with a tank each trying to share the same orchard hex in setup, hilarious. Lost but who cares, this was my first game from FB and a bit of prep for Cancon.

The second game was J129 Mountain Hunters from Journal 9 versus John Knowles. Peter Struif one of the designers watched our game over a couple of sessions, and I hope we didn't stun him with the mediocrity of our play, particularly in the second session where we were at an impasse in terms of poor DRs. In the end, it came down to the Stug clearing the way while John's commissars did more damage to his troops than I did. The soviet guns up on the rearmost ridge were very frightening, especially after my 60mm Mtr permanently xed itself during repairs on turn 2. All in all, a very good scenario, belying its ROAR record. Sure I achieved all the VC options, but it was really tight between getting all three and only getting one.

Confusion Reigns is still going strong, I put a good turn's delay on the US 9-2 stack of doom, but that was only temporary as they are back now and making me keep my head down. In my PBeM games, J148 Last Minute War has been notable by the Slovakian ACs bogging every single turn. It's now getting into the real mid game and is pretty fraught as both sides are still very much intact. SP184 Cornered Beasts has been notable for the Panzer III marksmanship in the first two turns, but everything else has been a little lacklustre although Soviet inf fire has been effective. Finally J147 Into the Grinding Mill has been exactly that with the Japanese Banzaiing into the midst of the defenses but at some risk and I am expecting a significant riposte from Chinese fire now....

With 5 games at Cancon to look forward to I think it might be my fastest ASL playing start to a year in two decades.

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.

ASL Games Played 2012

There must be an easier way to format this...


My totally awesome display of ASL skill.

2012 ASL Games Played

Scenario	Name	Side	Opp	FtF PBeM VASL	Won or Lost	Ladder/ Tourney
WO3	Counterattack at Carentan	US	John Knowles	VASL	Lost	N/A
MP15	Just A Bit Outside	UUSS	Aaron Cleavin	VASL	Lost	N/A
WO4	I Don't Like Retreating	German	John Knowles	VASL	Lost	N/A
MP16	Power Struggle	Soviet	Aaron Cleavin	VASL	Lost	N/A
AP83	Take Two (playtest)	Japanese	Randy    Shurtz	VASL	Lost	Playtest
MP17	Bagging Burcorps	British	Aaron Cleavin	VASL	Lost	N/A
MP18	Marsh Madness	German	Aaron Cleavin	VASL	Lost	N/A
WO5	Astride Hell's Highway	US/British	John Knowles	VASL	Lost	N/A
J113	Maczek's Fire Brigade	German	Ian          Percy	PBEM	Lost	N/A
FrF001	Jarama Proving Ground	Nationalists	John Knowles	VASL	Lost	N/A
MP19	Ski Patrol	Germans	Aaron Cleavin	VASL	Lost	N/A
J103	Lenin's Sons	German	Lee   Thornton	PBEM	Won	N/A
AP84	Thai Hot	Thai	Spencer Armstrong	VASL	Lost	Playtest
FrF30	Biderman's Escape	Soviet	Davide Bendazzi	PBEM	Lost	eASLeague
BFP099	Ivanovskii	German	Mark McGilchrist	F2F	Won	JunoBear
FrF53	Raid Into The Reich	Polish	David  Wilson	F2F	Lost	JunoBear
MP17	Bagging Burcorps	British	Murray McCloskey	F2F	Lost	JunoBear
FrF20	Rostov Redemption	German	Nick    Irvingg	F2F	Won	JunoBear
SP87	Fangs of the Tiger	Soviet	Jeff      Sewall	PBeM	Lost	Ladder
J114	The Marketplace at Wormhoudt	British	John Knowles	VASL	Lost	N/A
BFP030	Melee Near The Coast	Japanese	Jon       Halfin	PBeM	Won	N/A
J100	For A Few Rounds More	German	Sandro Coriasco	PBeM	Lost	VASLeague
J115	Last Push To Mozhaisk	Soviet	John  Knowles	VASL	Lost	N/A
SP174	Krupki Station	German	Burnie      Fox	PBeM	Lost	Ladder
ASL088	Art Nouveau	German	Ivan       Kent	FtF	Lost	Ladder
FrF57	Warsaw in Flames	German	Aaron Cleavin	VASL	Won	N/A
FrF45	Totensonntag	Polish	Eion Corrigan	PBeM	Won	Ladder
ASL012	Confusion  Reigns	US	Mark   Moore	PBeM	Lost	Ladder
J118	Elephants Unleashed	Soviet	John  Knowles	VASL	Lost	N/A
J119	Sovkhoz Haystacks	German	John  Knowles	VASL	Won	Ladder
ASL015	Trapped!	US	Mark Moore	PBeM	Lost	Ladder
J120	Ishun Tank Traps	German	John   Knowles	VASL	Lost	Ladder
J111	Prussia In Flames	Soviet	John   Knowles	VASL	TBD	N/A
FRF40	Sporck's Eleven	German	Damon Norko	VASL	TBD	Ladder
ESG38	Choke Point	German	Chuck Hammond	VASL	TBD	Ladder

2012 Playing Record: 32 games so far

Won: 7  Lost: 25  
Win/loss Percentage: 22/78

2012 in Review Part 2: Scenarios

So today I reached the magic number of 30 scenarios played for the year.  Of those 30 games, I managed to scrape out 7 victories, which looks pretty harsh in the cold light of day. It has been a very good year when you take into account I did not play any ASL from January to March and from July to October.

The Breakdown

There was a bit of a theme to many of my games as I played through the scenarios from several products in series.

6 scenarios were from Friendly Fire

5 scenarios were from SOCALASL's Mèlée Pack III
5 scenarios were from Journal 8
3 scenarios were from the Winter Offensive 2011 and 2012 packs
2 scenarios were from Journal 7
2 scenarios were from an upcoming Action Pack
2 scenarios were from Paratrooper

2 scenarios were from BFP
2 scenarios were from Schwerpunkt
1 scenario was from Doomed Battalions

So 50% of the games I played were published by MMP with the majority of the remainder coming from the usual recommended suspects in Third Party publishing, with a significant sample from a more esoteric publisher. The absence of LFT from this is purely because I am yet to arrange a theme opponent for a playthrough, plus I am tempted to wait until i can arrange some KGS Cholm play. Other publishers just didn't feature because I haven't looked at them this year.

Opponents

An axiom of ASL is that you learn more from playing a wide variety of opponents than you do from playing within a small playing circle. If that's the case, then I have learned a lot this year.

Apart from  John Knowles (8 games) and the Cleavinator (6), I played some 14 different opponents, 11 of whom were first time opponents.

So since ASLOK 2010 , I have pretty much quadrupled the number of people I have played in three short years.

 My 2012 shortlist

FRF 30 Biderman's Escape
SP    87 Fangs of the Tiger
BFP 30 Mèlée near the Coast
ASL 12 Confusion Reigns
MP   17 Bagging Burcorps (the only scenario I played twice in 2012)

So all in all, a much better year for actual play than I've managed in quite some time, and I will probably get two more games in by the end.

next up...what ASL crack did I get this year...and why Festung Budapest did not make the cut.

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

ASL Crack

Two additions to the ASL library arrived today: the original edition of Genesis 48 from CH and also the El Alamein Afrika Korps core pack. TBH, the Genesis Jerusalem map is something I want to look at in detail, but the counters need to be redone, so definitely thinking about making up my own set with decent and standard graphics and iconography.

Interestingly, the El Alamein pack I have features overlays that aren't too much lighter than the large desert map sheet. I'm not sure I will leave the overlays in the shape they are, preferring to cut them as per the older WOA overlays.

I have some ideas for 1940 Western Desert armour/ infantry battles as well as some early 1941 actions, but will need to do more research as the focus will be on the use of A9 - A13 tanks.

In my current PBeM games, I'm doing okay in FrF45 Totensonntag as the Poles while my US paras are whittling away at the defending Germans in ASL 12 Confusion Reigns from Paratrooper module. I think the title refers to my efforts to come up with a coherent attack plan though.

Exciting pace on both games, even with me doing late shift during the week., and I think my play is going okay, despite some silly omissions and mis-steps.

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

Theory and Practice: Those two imposters

"Theory is when you know everything but nothing works.
Practice is when everything works but no one knows why.
In my games of ASL, theory and practice are combined:
nothing works, and I have no f%&$ing idea why."

The job hunting continues, which has had an impact on my motivation to post AARs to the blog as supposed to succinct posts on Gamesquad. Things look to be improving though, more of that as matters coalesce.

I've been playing a fair bit of ASL lately via PBeM and especially live on VASL. Since the beginning of April, I've completed 8 games of Live VASL and have two PBeM games in varying stages of completion.

With John Knowles, we've completed our run through of the Winter Offensive 2011 pack scenarios but i haven't won any of them despite being in contention for at least 2 two of them right to the end. Aaron Cleavin and I are almost finished with our playing of the Melee Pack III scenarios, the last of which will probably be started and finished this coming weekend. Again, no wins from the 4 scenarios played so far as could be expected but some close games.

Of these seven scenarios, there are a few that stand out, in fact I would say that MP17 "Bagging Burcorps" is probably the highlight so far, It's a scenario that I have played before as both attacker and defender and enjoyed thoroughly despite losing both times. Suffice it to say, Aaron thought well enough of it to include it in the scenario list for the JunoBear tournament.

Of the other standouts, none features from the Winter Offensive pack sadly, mainly from the point of view of being enjoyable and interesting situations with a perception of balance. Facing three HIP 88LLs with good LOS to expected AFV movement channels is not something I expect to find that interesting given the Hit = KO equation, let alone facing 16 flat HE with 7 morale troops.

Some of this may be coloured by my failure to win a game, but given that the outcomes were close, the enjoyment factor during the games was paramount and I can remember feeling I was just going through the ASL motions in some games, not in terms of my tactics,, but purely because I could not see a way of avoiding expected outcomes.

They say bad ASL is better than no ASL. I now think that is a false equation. If the game is not enjoyable for me, I am at a loss on how my opponent might be enjoying it. For me, part of the intrinsic attraction of ASL as a game is that both players participate in a mutually enjoyable pastime/hobby. 

The other game I played was in Gary Fortenberry's AP9 Playtest Tourney where I faced Randy Shurtz in AP83 Take Two, a good little infantry only PTO design with some small but interesting tweaks on regular ASL fare. A little Pro-Japanese as it stands before fine-tuning after the first round of results, but with minor polishing and some clarifications, this looks to be a very solid tourney playing.

Now Randy is a very strong player, having beaten the Plevanator in a toruney himself, so I was very pleased to pull off the win. the disparity in our skill levels evened out nicely with the scenario, but I am pleased that it was not my dice that dominated the game (although my last turn Defensive First Fire was as usual, rather good) but rather my initial setup and patience in the opening turns. A significant factor was a misdirect involving a HIP squad and leader that did real damage to one of Randy's stronger probes.

So 1 and 7 so far, with one PBeM likely to be decided in the next week or so. I have kept reasonable records of the games so far via VASL so when I have the intellectual energy, I will try and provide some detailed AARs here.

P.S. You know you've been out of the loop ASL wise, when you forgot that you had bought Crucible Of Steel and declined a game on VASL because of this.

AP42 Frontiers & Pioneers (AAR) The End Game

Joe and I finished this beastie off yesterday morning. I'll make most of my comments after the turn by turn breakdown. I had hoped to be playing ASL today but domestic duties and the imperative to get all my ducks in a row regarding future employment options are combining to make playing ASL an unlikely option today.

In other news, I've volunteeered my services to Chas Smith as a playtester if required. I'm pretty sure I've got some playtesting work lined up with the Cleavinator for Journal 10 as I enjoyed doing the Suicide Creek stuff, and have been enjoying working on some other stuff with Adam Lunney on one of his designs. Plus I have something from Ian Percy I think I am meant to be arranging a PT session to play soonish.

So as of my last AAR post it was effectively the end of Game Turn 4, and I was looking at driving home the advantage I had with the KV having no functioning AT capability. And so the game went on:

German Turn 5: At Start

German Turn 5 Situation after Rally Phase: Well my worst fear was realised, as Joe repaired the MA on the KV and now it was imperative I used this opportunity to take it out once and for all. My plan was hopefully to draw the Kv's fire at anything other than the FT squad which would have to do an AF phase shot, but the TK odds would be good. I was also concerned that Joe might go for a Motion Attempt to minimise the chances of the PzIII getting a decent BFF shot into his rear, as that PB modifier would be key and the free VCA change would make life difficult for the PzIII. Joe's 9-2 was less successful in rallying his platoon, only bringing back one squad. I would have to take the odds on getting the KV and let the Pz IV and the two other 38Ts in the West do the real donkey work in wearing down his 9-2's redoubt.

German Turn 5: After Preps

German Turn 5 Preps: The Pz IV did a modicum of damage with its 75mm HE, breaking the freshly rallied 447. But the CMG did the real damage with a nasty 2MC that broke everything in the hex and effectively spelled death for the 9-2 and his platoon. At this point I was confident I had the game in hand but if the KV survived I'd still have to be mindful of the CVP cap as two more killed AFVs would make it very interesting and three would be too close for comfort. But this is where I think my instinve gut-driven play style actually is a strength, as I backed myself to do the job. The rest of the Preps were ineffective.

German Turn 5: Movement and Defensive Fire

German Turn 5 Movement and Defensive fire: The start of the end...

With the 9-2 out of the picture, I had the platoon to his south advance in steps to draw the fire of the 447 in the 37O1 building and if they survived, the 9-2 would die Due to FTR. This would also allow me to bring up the FT in relative safety through baiting the D1F with the sqd and LMG. Meanwhile the flanking motorcyclists squeaked past a NMC and started taking control of the North West Village area, a requirement of the VC if I wanted to really force the issue.

The killer blow I think was the when Pz38T B fired his mgs with a point blank 8 up 2, and rolled snakes for a 2mc which broke and elred the 447 in 57T1. That sealed the fate of an entire platoon and allowed me to minimise further AFV exposure.

I drew the Kv into a first fire shot by driving Pz38T A down from the north and although the BFF shots were not successful, I had at least prepared the way. The Panzer II then skipped around the rear, forcing the KV to change TCA and IF. Result! MA malfed again. The initail BFF shot needed to be a HH, which it was, but I needed a 5 to immobilise, 4 to KO. I rolled and dice bot gave me a 6, damn! Possible shock. I duly rolled the NTC and Bam! Shock!  The FT could now take the safer rioute to get into position for that all important AF TK roll.

Joe's Defensive Fire ATR shot bounced and that was pretty much it.  Now all that mattered was the Advancing Fire and the upcoming CCs to clearout the last of the infantry from the 9-2's redoubt.

German Turn 5: Coup de Grace

German Advancing fire through CC: The FT did it's job but only just, with the bare minimum for a KO. the other FT Xed out but still managed an all important PTC which was failed and so it went into CC, after the death of the rest of the soviet defenders for failure to rout. The CC was inclsuive but I did manage to reduce Joe to a hs before it went into Melee. Joe conceeded in his return mail as I expected so the Germans prevailed. A good game I thought, some hot dice in parts but generally I felt I played well and took the right options when necessary.

Conclusion: A good scenario and a good solid game. I found a lot to like about the scenario although it is fiddly in PBeM because of the vehicle numbers. The initial entry for the Germans is pretty scripted as far as i can see, too much risk associated with entering on the central road as one firelane will stop any thought of the motorcyclists traversing to the west.

I feel I played a solid, patient game, particularly on Turns 3 and 4 which helped me set up for turn 5 nicely. I took some calculated risks in Turn 4 and 5, as opposed to a couple of airy fairy decisons on Turn 1 and 2. My timing and sequencing of actions improved, but I still got it wrong on occasions, leaving Joe some opportunities to cause damage which thankfully were not as severe. I completely misread the MOL usage rules and could have suffered accordingly.

I gather the scenario is seen as somewhat pro-German (which is interesting as ROAR has it as 28 to 39 in favour of the Soviets before this game. I wonder if the German players haven't kept discipline and stayed at 7+ hexes to maximise their TH advantage or used hidnrances as a good way of reducing the TH chances equally. Plus the Germans need to use their mobility as a form of defence.) but i feel it's pretty close  to balanced.

It's a good contrast in armour usage and also a good training tool for armour as it's not about a Hit = Kill type AFV slugfest. Make sure the Soviet player knows how the T35 CAs work though as the T35 needs to be in the mid game and can scare the bejeesus out of the German landsers. The 9-2 and KV are the determinans in a Soviet defence so maximising their potential to do harm in the early and mid game (for the KV) is vital.

Recommended.

Pete

AP42 Frontiers & Pioneers (AAR) The Mid Game

Joe and I are munching through the logs on a daily basis, and it's getting tight.

When I last updated , it was the end of German Turn 3 Prep Fire and I was going to try and get that verdammte KW1. Things have gone back and forth since then...

End Of German Turn 3: I'm feeling pretty good here, I have a PzIII behind the KV with a good shot  even if Joe starts up to get out of Dodge, although missing out on APCR hurt and the subsequent PB AP shot hurt. My infantry are now starting to pressure Joe's Main line of infantry and he's had to redeploy the 9-2/MMG sqd. The PzIII is out on a limb though and I probably won't survive past the Prep phase.

End Of Soviet Turn 3: Joe started his turn with a hiss and a roar as the KV snaked his PB pre shot and vapourised the Pz III. Unfortunately for Joe, he went one shot too many and malfed the MA trying to get the Pz IV as well.  The 9-2 trundled down the road into the buildings after drawing some ineffective but threatening fire from the PzIV but other  than that it was force preservation on Joe's part. The threat of the FTs is starting to make itself known I think.

End Of German Turn 4: Advancing Fire Phase: I'm looking a little brittle now, 2 of my AFVs have malfed their MAs, another is under a permanent +1 stun, and the remaining Pz III missed out on APCR, and then scored a PB hit on the freaking superior turret (exacerbated by the subsequent TK roll of 4 being low enough for a Mission Killing Immobilisation on the Hull). Joe's central positionn is proving to be a tough cookie, with 2 sqauds and an ATR holding me up, however there is a FT lurking and the 8-1 does have a beadv on the stack, although without a working LMG. I'm almost temopted to use the prisoners and guards to go fetch the 25LL AA and bring it up for some IFE goodness for sheer style points. Thankfully I've been able to make use of two good rallied hs and get them on their Zundapps to threaten the now somewhat unguarded North western Victory locations.

Start of Soviet Turn 4: Well this is where it may have turned in my favour. I managed to repair both MAs and the LMG with three consecutive drs. If Joe does the same however I'm in a world of hurt again. I have a suspicion actually i'm almost 100% certain the concealed stack is the last of Joe's dummies and his double squad aATR position is now under threat of encirclement attacks. This is going to be a very interesting turn...

 Hope you've enjoyed the game so far, I know I'm hanging out for Joe's next VASL log.

Pete