ASLOK XIII 1998
On a week in spent in Cleveland, Ohio, USA playing ASL. Travelling with Klas Malmström from Sweden via Amsterdam and Detroit we arrived after 14 hrs. US customs in Detroit had us queuing for 45 mins before interviewing us for the purpose of the visit. It went like this:
Customs Lady: What is the purpose of your visit?
Me: holidays & meet friends from the internet
Lady: where are you going?
Me: to Cleveland
Lady (looks at me closely): Are you *sure*?
Hmm, she probably did not play ASL. Greeting us upon arrival at the hotel was room mate Russ Bunten, Don Glasco, Brian Martusas, Dave A., Wild Bill (I think) and many others. Mark Nixon came later, followed by Pete Phillips of VFTT. The atmosphere was hilarious. Within 30 minutes we are playing....
(Russ... eh.. reports his side:)
Next Lars (Thuring) and Klas (Malmstrom) arrive and we sit down to Dogs of War. I manage to draw the Partisans and am hating life. Lars is the ROA and Klas is the Germans. Game see-saws back and forth with the nasty Euros picking on the poor American. Still comes down to the last turn. Lars manages to whack most of the Partisans but I keep enough alive to get all of his troops into melee. Lars pins a 527 headed for the victory area forcing me to kill most of his guys in CC for the win. I ambush 2 of 3 CC's but don't get the one I really need and don't kill enough in the ones that I do. Lars wins.
Russ, Klas and I started off with this pearl of scenario. Russ already gave his (partisan) view of this so I'll only add we had great fun with this one. Klas started by having his best leader Sniped away, and many units ELR'ed. One of his squads sat around in open taking about 5 different MC's without blinking. Klas' two JgPz needed two turns to take care of my Hetzer, losing one JgPz to a ROA PF. On the final round I moved up all I had and it was to many squads for the Partisans to handle (8-1, 9-2, +5 squads + MMG / LMG in three hexes vs. the 10-2 and three squads + HMG). If the 10-2 HMG had received rate it would have been different. Cool game. (1-0)
(Russ again:)
Tuesday after breakfast, Lars and I sit down to Cross of Lorraine. I have played this before and except for Dogs of War it would be the only non "new" scenario for me for the whole weekend. Not bad considering I played 18 scenarios throughout the week. Lars gets the Americans and sets up a crafty defense which includes bushwhacking an 8-1, 467/LMG with a 667/FT that I just _KNEW_ was a Bazooka toting 666. Ha! I nonchalontly wisk up next to it (with a concealed guy next door in anticipation of acing the guy in CC) only to have Lars pop off the concealment counter and reveal the FT. 24 flat and a 3 later and there is nothing left but a flame. Sheesh.
I manage to get into the meat of the American defense when my 150 OBA rubbles the hex with is 9-2 in it. I rumble in and hammer Lars with a FT tank and manage to ace most of his armor in one turn. Seems nothing went right for Lars that turn (or afterwards).
Next morning I sat down with Russ again. He had played this before and wanted the Germans this time. After some initial successes (one Panther ESB'ed out of the way; the other Shocked twice by my OBA (but still was ok in the end), the 24FP FT attack DR of 3) his central attack broke through and took out about everyone in a quick and efficient way, leaving little to chance. At the end I tried all manners of desperate acts to no avail. This was good scenario and I had fun playing - see you again, Russ!. (1-1)
In the evening I played room mate #2, Dirk Heinz (designed Sons of Negus), and we selected this KE scenario from my want to play list. I got the inexperienced Germans with the two mega AFV's. In the first turn I entered all my tanks to have a LOS down to the US entry road. One Jagdtiger was immobilized as I ESB'ed it for a lousy MP. Dirk rolled on only six of his many AFV's and I missed all. Next turn I took out some AFV's (TK # of 33 down 1 for range can handle everything it hits - especially Shermans), but the Shermans started taking out my lesser AFV's and at the end I had only the two big ones left and gave up as he was about to swarm up the final distance. (1-2)
Comes Wednesday and the PTO mini tournament.
Got to play Pete Shelling (designer of many scenarios) in this one and of the three scenarios available this looked like the best. Pete set up in the middle behind the stream, with 2 squads and a leader on my right side. I sent one AFV up the middle and splitted my force to the right flanks (4 squads, a leader and the LtMtr) and rest to the left with two AFV's for support. He fired the AT and eliminated my central AFV. In turn 2 I manoeuvred down in the Stream and managed to break his outpost on the left. Turn three was spent closing in and setting up the Banzai's with the 10-1 now being under the bridge. A berserk went ahead and draw most of his defensive fire that turn. Pete then did some minor shifting in positions. I then initiated three bainzai's starting on the left. This drew lots of fire, which was mostly ineffective due to TEM's. Then the 10-1 came on and took possession of a Foxhole. The third and final wave took care of the right flank, breaking the Squad defending in FPF. The AT Gun crew is eliminated and another squad captured. Pete generated a hero in a Rally and counterattacked but the IJA had good defensive positions and held on; counting CVP's Pete resigned the game. (2-2)
I was paired with one of the Ginnard brothers - Paul (but everyone said "Johnnie"). The dice gave me IJA again. Setting this one up was difficult with so few units and still needing to hurt the US as they move up. I put the mortar as far back on my left as possible cowered by a HS, a HIP HS up front to keep him honest and hip another one with leader and LMG to lay a FL. The remaining squad was in the middle of the village. Dave sent some HS running, followed by a couple of squads. Two kill stacks AM to keep "?". I only fire the LtMtr but does nothing. Next turn he stumbles on my HIP HS with his first move and quickly surrounds it. He discovers the cowering HS on my left and moves up to take it out. The FL only channels him a little but does no real harm. The ex-HIP HS is killed in AFPh, but the other takes a full squad with him in CC. Thereafter the LtMtr gets a nice ROF and breaks the 2 squads closest giving the IJA a breathing pause. The IJA reinforcements come on board and after rushing to the closest edge of the village they are able to counter attack. With the help of the knee mortars and some useful huts ablaze the IJA keeps a majority of the huts. (3-2)
In the final round I play Aaron Cleavin, the title defender from last year. I played the IJA again. The first turns where quite uneventful. I entered, he pulled back. Misreading the scenario card he thought I entered the reinforcements from the opposite side, but he was still in a good position to stop them. Especially since I also misread the card (doh) to think I could enter on rows up to Q inclusive instead of Q exclusive. Aaron was falling back nicely, and as I failed to bag his 9-2 and .50 cal when I catched them in forward position I was never close to winning this one. Later someone mentioned Aaron had accidentally picked Open Ground overlays instead of the intended Orchard overlays, but this probably played only a little role (though I prefer Banzaing around in the later terrain ;-). (3-3)
BTW, the doomed battalions module was released in the middle of this game - in such cases does new rules like those for Human Wave immediately apply?
Comes Thursday and the Night tournament
The opening round here brings me face to face with the (supposedly) not insane Dr. Rob. Fortunately he had not yet made The (M)annual available for the masses (us) so we could play this ASLUG scenario without distractions. I defended with a handful 666 guys against the Doctors Germans, supported by four of those 20FP AA trucks. The victory condition is to get >= 1 of these inside the a roadnet in the city half. I placed all my HIP units back among the houses, with a HIP HS/Baz in the walled hex in the middle and a second on the 2nd level in a house as spotter for a HIP LtMtr. I was fortunate in this game that starshells repeatedly was placed in my favour. Twice my own failed, but the Germans helped me out the first time by illuminating himself nicely. This contributed to slowing down the German attack a great deal. The second time when my starshells failed later in the game Rob rushed to the outskirts of the village. The first turns where uneventful. I managed to pull back without any losses but wounding my best leader. Rob lost a halftrack to defensive fire halfway through (though I don't remember exactly how now...). As he tried to reach a nice position with the second it was immobilised via an ESB for one MP. Close to the end the third got hit by the Sniper and the crew had to bail out. It came down to player turn and where the final AA truck had to move into position and survive. When it came within range the HS/Baz popped up and managed to nail it. Game Over. This was a nice scenario that forces the German player to make some tricky decisions with those brittle gun platforms. I enjoyed playing the Doctor and hope we can do it again some time (is that insane?). (4-3)
Some time thereafter the (M)annual made it's appearance. This is a must for anyone on the ASLML (a requirement for many of the jokes BTW). Get it.
(First a view from JR's side of this one!)
Game 3 - Lars Thuring (Night Tourney)
Castello Fatato
The Situation: Twenty Italian squads and two 47L ATGs try to throw a handful of Rooskies out of a village built from overlays on the desert
boards.
The Plan: Line up for the Human Wave and hope for the best.
Key Moment 1: ATG crew is broken, then killed by Sniper
Key Moment 2: Human Wave goes off without too many casualties, HMG team on Eyetie right subdued.
Key Moment 3: I take eyes off the clock, rush victory building early and am thrown back with heavy casualities
Key Moment4,5,6,7: Five HoB results create Berserk leader, three Berserk squads, Hero, and Fanatic squads
Key Moment 8: Second ATG crew is broken, killed by Sniper
D'Oh! : Rushing building early
Eureka : Getting behind victory building for Encircling shots
Outcome: Despite the Encirclement, I could not break the building defenders, hunkering down in the fortified cellars. My Berserkers got
me back into the game, before which I was being trounced, but after pinning the occupants of one cellar location I had no luck with the
second - a well-earned victory for Lars, and an opportunity to test the new HW rules for both of us.
The next game finds me sitting on the opposite side of fellow list member J.R. Tracy as the Defending Russian. We decided to try out the new Human Wave rules in this as his Italians get off to a running (Human Wave) start per SSR. This went to be an amazing game in many ways, as well as being very entertaining. I placed the best leader and 4 squads the target building. The second leader, a squad and the HMG went to the far left to lay a firelane across the probably human wave path (they had to target the building). My LtMtr setup behind the target building to keep some woods under fire. To the right of the Building I had a 458/LMG to provide support to from the outside. JR's setup was fairly restricted by SSR, having only two small AT guns to place freely. Off we go. The Human Wave went quite smoothly with few casualties. In my turn I break his best leader which has to rout away. It was later to play an important role. Eventually my HMG position got swamped by advancing Italians. My sniper bagged one of his gun crews, and quite a few of the Italians were breaking as JR was pacing the attacks on the building slightly to fast. The first Italian berserk appeared, but died rushing it's target.
In the meanwhile the broken leader had reached the back of the woods area target by my mortar. I managed to keep him DM by illuminating him and making potshots. However, JR is rushing his attack and two consequtive MPh finds my defensive positions surrounded by broken units. Then .... an Italian squad on my left the got HoB and battle hardened... and generated a Hero! Wow, an Italian hero - a virgin counter gets to be used! My defences were now reduced to the units in the building , the 458/LMG position and 1.5 squads behind the building. JR now proceeded to surround the building and I started withdrawing some units into the Cellars (RB type per SSR). That was just in the nick of time. Freak DR's then produced two more Italian Berserk squads by rolling consequtive snakes on Rally attempts. Other units closed in on the building and CC situations developed in both ground locations of the key building. One stayed active for several turns, blocking JR's approach here. In the other the Russians gained ambush advantage and could withdraw into the cellars. It came down to pinning those guys in the cellars and breaking the guys in CC to be able to get to those below. In the accessible cellar the 628 pinned... but the other Comrades all made their MC's and won the game for me. This was an intense game and JR is a real fine player in all ways. (5-3)
Second final! I meet Randy Rossi, a player obviously enjoying Night scenarios. As the Canadians in this I have three sides to enter from. I split my force in half; one comes in straight at the village and the other finds an unguarded route into the back of the village by following the gully and bypassing the wooden area. Early fire exchanges breaks two of his units and I run ahead. I make rather good progress till Randy discovers I that I have moved through one of his HIP units with a cloaking counter earlier in that MPh. Doh. Randy suggests he remove it and I suggest we talk to the TD about. Mark agrees to Randy's suggestion. I felt this was hard as we are having a real good game going, but Randy shrugged it of smiling, saying don't worry. For some silly reason I then rush forward with the 9-2 and two 648's (yes stacked) only to find that the 75L and a MMG are in a real nasty position. A broken HS is all that remains some shoots later. I have to detour through a wooden area, but the Canadian 648's really rock ("you there walk through that minefield!" "yessir!") and somewhere after 0200 in the morning in my next to last turn I am on top of him in the AT gun hex. A CC develops with a leader, a squad and a HS on my side and the gun crew and a conscript squad + leader on his side. I try to capture the crew with the HS and conscript + leader with my other units. The crew is capture but I roll 11 for the conscript guy... He tries to kill my HS guard but misses. Comes his CCPh, again I roll a 11 for capturing the conscript. In my final turn I reinforce the Melee with another 648. Stupidly I put my leader with the 648's again instead using him with the guard HS. I manage to capture the conscript now, but he kills my HS freeing the prisoners. Counting CVP's we find that I have 29 of the 33 needed! Ugh! Putting the leader with the HS in the final CC would have made all the difference. Afterwards Randy pointed out some ways for me to insure a better result. Randy is a really fair player who got his well deserved win and I really enjoyed this game. (5-4)
After this game I wonder over to look at the JR - Pleva game for a while (at least I think it was this night...). JR was going strong and eventually won. Upstairs in the Eagle's Nest Klas was playing Mike Reed in a Korea scenario and some other games were going on here as well. On the TV Stalingrad was on and an hotel security officer came by looking for someone knocking on hotel guests doors. I hit the bed...
Comes Friday and I have two points for the Grofaz tournament.
Scott's AAR first:
Got up Friday morning, and Mark hooked me up with Lars Thuring, another lister from Sweden (actually Germany now) who was travelling with Klas. Both are gentlemen and fine players, and I tried to convince them to come back again in April for the Chicago Open. Lars wanted to play something new, so we settled on Jungleers from the new SchwerePunkt Pak. After dicing for sides, Lars gets the Amis, and I the Japanese. The Japanese must immobilize or destroy both American Shermans, or take 7 of 10 foxholes by the end of the game. They have no AT weapons aside from TH Heroes, but the Amis are restricted to setting up pretty close to the initial Japanese setup area. Things look pretty bad for me at first, as Lars bags one of my HA GOs, a squad, and my 9-1 by sniper all on the first turn. But the morale 6 Americans just can't stand up to those crazy Japanese, and Lars gives up after I toss a DC on the CE crew of one of the Shermans and roll a 3 (the other already roasting in the street). We wonder if the Japanese might have it all over the Americans, but are not so sure. Fun scenario that will need a couple more playings.
I'll just add that after my good start I really thought I could win this one. However, Scott exploited my somewhat suboptimal setup and was all over me before I could blink. Afterwards we wonder about how the US setup should have been done; probably much better to set up on the US left side to make the IJA come after you over open ground. Still had a fun game and I could sit and admire Scotts good gaming. (5-5)
Next up was John McDiarmid from Canada. I wanted to play something from DB and we settled for this. This has a nice twist to the Belgian OB, it can either be increased or decreased depending on three dr's and the VC is modified accordingly. I got the Belgians and had to subtract a counter and selected a squad, which isn't very bright. Next time I'll remove the LtMtr instead. My setup had the best leader, a squad and the MMG in the middle to lay a FL straight up his entry area main road to keep them motorcycles from spreading all over the place. Well, that worked but nothing else. In my turn I decided to reveal my funky Belgian tank to overrun some of his motorcyclists that were still mounted. The targets were not so happy about this and so tried a motorcycle mounted rider leader directed LMG TH / TK attempt and promptly KIAed the tank. Doh (this was actually NA due LMG mounted fire being halved and thus not eligible for TK DR's). Thereafter John proceeded to pick up the pieces very efficiently and the game was over by turn three. (5-6)
I got together with Kevin Meyer to play this from HOB's latest release. It was a heavy metal scenario that I saw being played a lot at ASLOK. I get the Russians who have to have more squads on the board closest to the German side to win. The board was accidentally one of the new ones, #45. A real nice city board that is definitely different from the other ones with lots of high buildings and loooong straight roads. To get there the Russians must pass a King Tiger, a quad 20L AA gun and some 658's. Oh, the only paths are via two bridges. To do this the Russian player gets two JS-2 tanks, two Shermans and 10-12 squads of the 458, 628 and 527 variety led by Mr. 10-2. Kevin sets up the King Tiger to guard the bridge further away and the closer is guarded by the AA gun, a MMG position and a 658/DC tank killer stack. Accidentally (not) the KingTiger has LOS to both bridges. The AA gun is setup a hex behind a Wall to protect it from direct fire but with LOS to the bridge.
The attack starts of luckily as the 658/DC breaks itself by a PF attack over channel that misses a JS2. I advance the 10-2 with 458/LMG, 458/LMG, 458 to a level 1 position where it can hit the AA gun over the wall. His return fire removes their "?" and retains ROF for a 20+2 attack. Glurg. The guys handles this except for the lone 458 who decides to berserk away at the AA gun. I manage to break the Gun crew with return fire and in next turn smoke the bridge with Sherman. I foolishly move up a JS2 PBF to the King Tiger to distract him and has it taken out on a IF shot. How is that for distraction? The three other AFV's drive over the bridge but only two squads manage to follow. My error doing to much prep fire. Kevin in his turn moves to cut the AFV's of when his reinforcements arrive (a panther and some squads). The final turns see him picking of the three AFV's with his Panther and the PF toting squads restricting their movement. The 10-2 makes it over but doesn't get any squads to follow him to the victory area so the Kevin wins this. This is very good scenario IMO with tough decisions for the defenders and with real knuckle breaking Russian attack force. Once Kevin's bad luck went away he played a clever game and forced me going after his guys instead of trying to reach the V area. (5-7)
Comes Saturday, and I get a slot the Eastern Front mini tourney.
I play Russ Hall in this as the German attacker. He sets on backside of the buildings spread out. I make two killer stacks, one with the 9-2 and one with Mr. 10-3. Since he has only set up a squad on my left flank I put the StuG's there to make a breakthrough. This works well as I break his guarding squad in my first Prep fire attack and the 8-1 and two squads run around to cower the street behind the first building with his 10-0 and cuts him of from the rear victory buildings. As his ATR breaks upon shooting on the escorting StuG he wants to give up immediately but I pursue him to continue a little. He then manages to advance a concealed squad into the hex of the second StuG, gets the Ambush but whacks the CC roll. His 10-3 leader is cut of in the building to the right and is kept away on the backside. My other forces concentrate on the 10-0 stack and when it gets chewed up the game is over. (6-7)
I get a free round and go directly to the final to play Doug Powers. As Doug is playing in the team tournament we agree on playing later in the evening. Ross Sutton is also looking for a game.
This is small scenario from the old Blackblast and had me (Germans) trying to chase a few US elite squads out of the buildings. To their defence they have two bazokas model 43 and hero. The attacker has a handfull of squads being supported by two PzKw IVH tanks. Ross setup to defend to the left and back in the village. As the Germans enter from offboard everything is concealed and any ?(2) stack holds a potential baz. My attack speed forward and the units in the forward wood area gets cut of from retreat except a squad that breaks. I continue down the houses with my squads and send one tank to keep the broken squad under DM and to keep the forward unit from coming back to that building. My final turn movement starts with a Sniper one killing a leader and breaking the two squads with him. Major setback as I have two separate building locations to clear. The tank to the left is too far away. The other PzIVH moves to stop adjacent to squad #1 and does BFF with the MG's for a 8+3 and breaks th
at guy. It starts and moves over to squad #2 and freezes him in a VBM sleeze. My remaining leader moves up PBF with two squads and breaks #2. Game over. I enjoyed this game. (7-7)
In the evening I sit down with Doug to do this one. I have the Russians in this toy laden scenario. Each side gets air support, tanks (Russian as reinforcements), FT's, DC's, and 80mm OBA. The Russians get some wire and mines to aid the defence, whereas the attacking Germans have a 10-2 and the tanks are an Elephant and two Panthers (of the weak engine variety). To win I have to have a GO squad or an AFV on a level three hill hex (yes, it is the venerable board 2). I plan to kindle three wooden areas across my defence line and plants mines in middle gap. To get some time for the kindling I put most mines up front to the left and some in the middle. The right side is open to infantry with only two hexes of AT mines. I setup the two ART 76L guns I get two cower the hill hexes from behind and the 45LL to cower the left front wires/mine field. The only unit up front is the 628/FT.
Doug sets up all his forces to go through my left side with some coming through the center. "Ha" I think, that will chew him up. But Doug makes a school book example on how to deal with this and I learn a few lessons here! First he searches the whole left side and knows enough to find a way through. He puts a high stack to clear a mine field hex on the left side. In the middle he gets hang up on the wire and cannot assemble a clearance stack there until turn two.
The kindling actions go well except for the middle two hex wooden area. I withdraw the 628/FT and move a leader, plus a squad to put some fire on his units in the mine field on the left. He then gets his air support which arrives as two Stukas with bombs, but X's his radio that was malf'ed earlier. He then overruns the 45LL position which was really too close to the minefields and it has to take some pot shots at his infantry without doing any damage. In my turn the third wooden area is kindled and the others are spreading well. The Stukas go after my leader, squad/LMG and breaks them. His 10-2 gets hit by a Sniper "1" and is gone. I get my air support in form of a lone Fighter.
He shifts his attack to go on my far left and through the center. The left minefield is cleared and he finally moves the AFV's having saved them till now. To counter this I finally activate my OBA and manage to get accuracy to place the SR in the middle between the two blazing wooden areas (BTW, I remembered to use the MOL for this - but forgot about using MOL for the rest of the game! Doh.). The follow FFE breaks 1.5 squads in a AP minefield there. The next turns see him pressing hard on the left side, moving the Elephant and Panther there together with squads and the two FT's. His Stukas continue to harass my infantry reinforcement so I am forced to AM them forward. When I finally think of locking them up in CC Dogfighting my Fighter rolls a 12 for the Sighting TC and is recalled. But not until it has broken both of his units with FT's. This was rather important in the end. The second Panther moves up in the middle and positions itself on a third level hex to over look my defences. I manage to Smoke it with a 76L ART, and the goes for it with the second ART as well and roll snakes for a CH! It penetrates and one panther is gone! I move to keep out of LOS and to slow him down.
For the final turn I have two squads (one with the FT) ready to advance up to the lvl three hexes and the APh to assure me of my victory (or so I think...). The two AFV's are on top and to side of them guarding them from the German squads that have the rear hill all but surrounded. Doug puts the Elephant in the hex adjacent to the two level three hexes I can reach and goes up with his second Panther on the of them. Hmm, I take a DFF shot with the FT and kills that panther as well. It is three o'clock in the morning and my final turn. I am just about to ask how he can stop my units from advancing up to the third level and winning when, as if he was reading my mind, he looks at me and says: "don't forget that my Stukas will pin your squads. I saw this coming for two turns or so". Arghhh! That explained the Stuka absence in the last two turns, he didn't want to gack their sighting TC's!! Gargle. That left my two AFV's, one whom can't even reach the level three hexes without an ESB for 3-4 MP's.... Opposed "only" by the 88LL of the Elephant point blank to where I wanted to go. I try for Smoke with a 76L ART and smoke one of the level 3 hexes. I move the my first AFV to a hex adjacent to the side of the Elephant, I have to ESB for one point to avoid Motion fire. Makes the DR. Bounding Point blank at the side of the Elephant, but misses the TH DR by one (yes I didn't go CE...). Ok, here we goes. Moves the final AFV up into the Smoke and stays in motion. Doug goes for the first shoot and misses by one. Then the inevitable Intensive Fire shoot. Misses by a lot, game over and owner of $10 and a plaque. One of my better games during ASLOK and that was required to overcome Doug's inspired and cunning play. I could not believe how he came at me after losing the radio, the 10-2 and the first Panther. (8-7)
Sunday morning I get shanghaied by Malcom Rutledge, a Kiwi living in Canada, to take the remaning spot in a four man single elimination play.
Another from HOB's No Quarter No Glory module. Rolling for sides I play the Germans withdrawing on board 43 (or 42?). The Brittish gets an AVRE, a Crab, a Crocodile and two Shermans. VC is CVP + to take buildings and exit units. Rather mushy in the grey matter now, I miss that grain is not in season and set up two HS in the open, I fail to HIP my 81mm MTR and don't read the SSR saying that no hills exist. Oh, well, one of those games. It was Malcolms birthday so this must have been present for him. I also get to place some known mine fields (front left with AT in front of AP) and the best way to split 20AP factors in three hexes is 6 + 6 + 6, right? Yawn... At least that was what I did. The two HS are in the open next to the mine fields cowered from behind by a 658/LMG. In the middle I have a hero/PSK and to the right a MMG stack and the non-HIP mortar. The British infantry set up onboard with the armor entering from offboard. The infantry get stuck on the mines and the firelane. A sherman goes for a OVR vs one of the HS in the open but it makes its MC. As the Crab enters I manage to immobilize it with the mortar! This was the first time Malcolm said "I hate you" out fifty times or so! :-) Next turn the hero having choice of two Shermans at range two & three gacks the PSK. I pull back the others. Malcolm then proceeds to ESB a Sherman for a second OVR within a MPh vs. one of the HS and gets stuck immobilized. I continue to pull pack , keeping the Hero in front with HS or a squad close to keep the AFV's at arms distance from my main group. My hero takes lots of prep fire but shrugs it all of. Finally he has to take a 200mm HE dustbin direct hit! And is _wounded_. This has us laughing for quite a while in the best Monty Python tradition. I continue moving back and hero crawls as best as he can but is finally gone in a DFPh (I think). On his final turn Malcolm has to do some desperate moves and gives in when a squad finds a PF to nail the only Sherman being able to exit the board. Nice scenario as well as having some serious fun with Malcolm. (9-7)
Camille Goureau (France) then found me to play him (as my next opponent in the elimination group had started playing someone else, and it would take just two more hours). He warned me that he was lucky. Fair enough. I received my worst dicing ever. This one is from the new Schwerpunkt and I sat up as German to defend against six Russian Shermans and six squads. I had two AT guns; a 75L which must setup unhip and a HIP 50L. He set up with LOS to the 75L and started by placing WP there. Crew MC DR = 6,6 bye, bye. Every 75mm sherman HE hit with DR's of 3 & 4. I gave up in turn two; there was no need no prolong this. Hope I get to play a normal game with Camille sometime. (9-8)
As my elimination-oppononent just got back from eating and needing another two hours (sic) I sat down to play Spyros "No Greek Flag" Lacaros.
Having this scenario card handy we choose between it and a WCW one. Spyros rather liked this. As the Germans again I received another frightfull dicing. I couldn't do anything to him. Engaged a forward unit in CC and got eliminated. Tried again in CC with a squad and leader to have the squad break from his Sniper. This one lasted three turns I think. Spyros was nice playing and I hope we see each other when he moves back to Greece next year. (9-9)
I sat down with Mike Conklin to do this one as his opponent had left him sitting in the middle of a scenario to play in a rumble. I got the Russians and moved in a solid clump amoeba like over the board. When the two groups met Mike split into two groups, but had one Puma immobilized and killed. I went after the other and sourrounded it as it was in motion and Mike resigned. (10-8)
Since it was only 11 in evening on the Sunday we decided to do a tank rumble. I played with Spyros (as British), Russ Bunten with Klas Malmström (Russkies) and Don Glasco with Mike Conklin (US). Each side got 150 BPV to purchase armor in year 1942. As playing area we used six deluxe boards. Let me tell you one thing; British armor in 1942 isn't. We bought two Lee's for the double guns and spend the remaining points on the smoke belcher (95mm and non-depletable smoke). The idea was to smoke opponents and kill them. Simple. The US players bought two Shermans with Gyros and the russians two T-34 M43 and a T-70. The first tank revealed in the game was our Smoker and we almost won there by default as the others went wild with laughter ("What is THAT? Are you going to smoke us to death?"). Lots of fun was had and our Lee's quickly died while the T-34's and Shermans were dancing around. Finally there was a Shocked T-34, a CE Sherman and our smoker left. We tried an OVR vs. the Sherman but it did nothing to harm him (to bad, that would have been great revenge). Sherman kills smoker boy; T-34 recovers and kills Sherman for Russian win. (10-10)
This was an awesome event. And judging from the number of players and the talk going on there is no demise for ASL in sight. Thanks to everybody and hope to see you all again next year!