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.

Has it already been a month?

So this blog was effectively started after ASLOK 2011 finished and I started revisting Gamesquad and playing again.

I've completed two games on VASL (including one playtest), and have two currently ongoing games at their mid-points.

I've started posting in progress AARs with actual pics, and contemplated heretical alternatives to the one true faith. All this while 99% of my psyche was entwined in some torunament revolving around a legalised brawl over an inflated pig's bladder.

P.S. I just noticed that I've just  matched the October pageview total this far into November. Content really is King!


As always, I've been rolling more than my fair share of these during my games:

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.

ASLOK Sunday Day 3

Sunday 3rd October

Met quite a few of the Gamesquad denizens today. Started off with breakfast with Jim Bishop (Sparafucil) and Gary Fortenberry (Fort) - great guys and very approachable - way out of my league as ASL players - I potentially have Fort, Gary Trezza (of Albany ASL infamy) and Steve "ASL World Tour" Linton in one of my PTO minis.

The morning continues to be eventful when I meet Scott Holst (Tabby) and Mark Pitcavage (Pitman) for the first time. Scott is kind enough enough to pass on the two AoO hard mounted boards I'm missing which means I'm complete except for the desert and Board 52. He's also my and Aaron's roomie for ASLOK. The ASL community could show the minis community quite a lot when it comes to what's really important.

Tabby and the Cleavinator: Scott looks a bit run down and it's only the Sunday.I have no sympathy, he got way more sleep than I did and he introduced me to the world of Hozan.

Meanwhile the BP coffee addiction branches out into English Toffee - I'm going to miss those 24oz caffeine fixes heaps. Probably the only thing that kept me going for the first 4 days.

Start my journey in the World Cup by playing Mark Pitcavage in Melee Pack MP17 Bagging Burcorps. I'd previously played Brits against Jay White via VASL but Mark hadn't played it as the Brits. I like this scenario quite a bit although my play in this was sub-optimal. I'm still feeling my way with the Japanese and my attacking game is woefully poor as I send 20% of my force away on the left flank to accomplish sweet FA. At one poiint towards the end I still had a good chance to swinge out a win but selected the wrong unit to do a CX move for the last building/huts.

Chris Doary, Steve Linton and Mark Pitcavage - A Canadian, an Australian and an American walked into a hotel...in the background is the ANZAC Squad's very own Drop Bear, Dave Longworth (he of everlasting Australian 'Bidding' System glory).

ASLOK 0 and 3, World Cup 0 and 1.

Hooked up with Bob Holmstrom and Jim Burris for a while in the morning and played Bob Holmstrom in Out of the Attic OA29 The Amy H. I think I played an okay game again, but for forgetting all about my Armour Leader in the Matilda as I had several near misses by 1 spot against Bob's tanks. Just goes to show that I don't always have hot dice.

Nigel Blair (who had the rottenest of luck all ASLOK) and Bob Holmstrom (who managed to soak an SK board in Rum without lasting damage). In the background Dave 'picnic' Ginnard and Dave Longworth are getting into it.

Bob wrote an AAR on Gamesquad Rum-Sodomy-and-ASLOK...and-Zombies which mentioned our game:

"Game 4: Amy H

Next up was Pete Palmer, my aforementioned smoking compadre. We went with yet another OotA2 scenario which has some cool rules including exploding Brit trucks and a nearly invulnerable Matilda.

"Pete put up a spirited defense and had a possible game winning move, exploding one of those trucks next to 3 of my squads in melee with his troops and one of my leaders. Fortunately for me, Pete rolled a 9 and none of my squads broke, while one of his did and I cleaned up the rest in melee. Pete did a real nice job of snookering me with his dummies, but I managed to win. Good times."

Bob's one of the most enjoyable ASLers to be around and an excellent player to boot. I look forward to meeting up with him again at ASLOK XXVIII.

ASLOK 0 and 4, World Cup 0 and 2.

Spend the rest of the evening chatting and shooting the breeze but unable to sleep yet again so spend the night talking to the security guard and on Gamesquad. Coffee good.

ASLOK Friday October 1

Friday October 1

Up at 6am to catch the 9am train to Sydney for the 2:35 pm flight to San Francisco. I was bringing my PTO boards, a folder of Action Pack scenarios and the AP6 boards, the rulebook, some dice, system counters and the Japanese, Chinese and Soviets along with some Red Barricades mapsheets.

Met up with Aaron Cleavin, Andy Rogers, Neil Andrews and David Longworth at Sydney. bought a couple of litres of single malt 12yo scotch at Duty Free only to have to get Aaron C to take one bottle with him due to duty free restrictions.

The flight to SF was pretty dire - I used to really like the window seat but I was hemmed in badly by two heffalumps and suffered mild clautrophobia for the whole flight. Not a great start as I managed to not sleep at all which is unknown for me while travelling.

Clearing Customs at SFO was pretty straightforward but getting through to domestic was a nightmare as the security alert had gone to Orange and the queues were horrific - ended up missing my flight to Denver and had to get placed on a flight to Chicago with a later arrival at Cleveland around 11:30pm.

Caught up with the Cleavinator at Chicago which was good. The Cleavinator had unfortunately dropped the ball and forgotten to transfer the Glenfiddich to his checked luggage before transiting through domestic which meant TSA got the benefit of a litre of scotch gratis. The day was only getting better.

Arrived Cleveland at around 11:25 and managed to get to the hotel by around 11;45 after much fluffing around on my part. Credit Cards are blocked by bank at home despite specific instructions to the contrary - some heads will roll. Pay hotel bill with spending cash

Aaron had me playing a scenario by 11:55pm so we could say we were playing on the Friday - as I was wired as by now, finishing at 4:30am was no hardship. Result as expected: a win to Cleavin.