2022 St Louis ASL Tourney July 29-31.
- Thread starter Doug Kirk
- Start date
Eagle4ty
Forum Guru
Congratulations to Wes on the championship and to Jim & Doug for putting on a great tournament I hear. I always like Doug's scenario selection, well thought out. One of these days I hope to make it there especially if I lose my weekly ASL buddy Curtis Brooks to a potential move out of my area; we've been talking about traveling there for years.
wesvaughn
Member
Danno
Ost Front Fanatic
I'll post an AAR:
Round 1: ASL 254 Criniti's Escape vs Jeff DeYoung. I came to St. Louis early hoping to get an extra game in on Friday (and possibly Saturday) and met Jeff at breakfast and he was willing to give this scenario a try. I also have an objective to play all 289 "official numbered" scenarios from the official modules. Jeff was also willing to play one of the four in the tournament line up. Little did I know this would be the opening of the butt kicking I would get this weekend by my friends from Michigan. Dice gave Jeff the attacking Italians. He very astutely did the board edge creep on the east side. Some of my Ethiopians were able to get into CC using a human wave but missed the tank flip CC attack. I also missed a CC reaction attack after an overrun. Jeff was able to exit all the tanks plus some infantry. 0-1.
Finishing about noon Jeff was agreeable to playing another of the official scenarios as a pick up game. We played ASL 258 Kebur Zabagna. Dice gave me the attacking Ethiopians. I did a half board attack on the west side and with both sides landing some hits with OBA the battle came down to how well the guns did and if board exit rush would be successful. The guns were fairly ineffective with one out of place and the other breaking after the first shot. The Ethiopians flooded the exit area and were able to break the defenders and exit. Fun game. This was my one redeeming victory against the boys from Michigan as we shall see.
Round 2: HazMo 1 Born Again vs Mark DeVries (also from Michigan). Mark and I chose this HazMo scenario getting permission to play a scenario from round 3 from the accommodating TD. We ended up taking bids and I gave the balance to have the defending Germans. The scenario is a street fight in Ortona, Italy with lots of rubble and fortifications. My plan was to use the fortifications to force the attacker into a slow move through the rubble. If the Germans could hold three fortified building for a turn each the attacking Canadians would be out of time. This plan did not work. Mark's troops broke the 8 morale Germans first shot every time. Mark was also bold to drive tanks into the rubble and luck favored the most prepared. Fun scenario. 0-2.
Round 3: ASL 262 Showdown at Tug Argan Pass vs Jim Burris. With an odd number of players at the tourney the lowest record gets to play the TD and that was me. Jim was willing to play one of the official scenarios and we chose the Showdown. Dice gave me the attacking Italians. Jim had a great strategy and it paid off handsomely. He set up his fortifications for a reverse slope defense and had his troops set up outside the fortifications to get shots at moving Italians and then pull back to the fortifications. Jim also concentrated on the Italian infantry since six tanks cannot control the 7 victory hexes needed. Jim did not need to pull back to the reverse slope as the Italians could not pass morale checks caused by the numerous 2-2 fire attacks. Jim even used his ATRs to fire 1-2 attacks against the infantry instead of hitting the tanks. Well played. 0-3.
Round 4: AP186 The Horse They Never Rode vs Richard Burton. Richard (newly minted Assistant Professor of History) and I settled on this scenario when he decided against the last remaining official scenario on my list. Dice gave Richard the attacking Americans. And this scenario is hard on the Americans. The Chinese are easily able to get into blocking position to prevent American exit and it was made even more difficult when the American MTR had no WP. The Chinese were even able to dig foxholes for cover. With several bad breaks and losses, it ended quickly for the Americans. 1-3.
Round 5: ASL 260 Last Hope At New Flower vs Larry Zoet (also from Michigan). This scenario is a street fight with the attacking Ethiopians and defending Italians. Dice gave me the defenders. Larry moved fast to cross the canal before the Italians could establish any blocking position (most Italians come on as reinforcements). Then the Ethiopian mob proceeded to move through the city and wipe out my defending Italians. It came down to the last turn and Larry wiped me out in his CC phase. Good scenario and great fun. 1-4.
My thanks to all my opponents. The boys from Michigan are great fun to play and good friends to have despite the fierce ASL they play. I also want to thank Jim Burris for running a great tournament. I always appreciate the efforts a TD puts in to making a tournament fun. A tournament is a great chance to play ASL and meet good friends. I recommend the St. Louis Tournament if you can make it. My congrats to Richard and I wish him good luck in his first teaching of history classes this fall! I deliberately chose to play scenarios I had not played before and have the record to prove it. But I have now completed playing 251 of the official 289 numbered scenarios only 38 to go. All are from Forgotten War, CDG2 or Hollow Legions 3. Also playing round 4 was my 1000th recorded game in ROAR which is a nice milestone in ASL. My thanks to Doug Kirk for the scenario list. I hope to see everyone next year in St. Louis.
Dano
Round 1: ASL 254 Criniti's Escape vs Jeff DeYoung. I came to St. Louis early hoping to get an extra game in on Friday (and possibly Saturday) and met Jeff at breakfast and he was willing to give this scenario a try. I also have an objective to play all 289 "official numbered" scenarios from the official modules. Jeff was also willing to play one of the four in the tournament line up. Little did I know this would be the opening of the butt kicking I would get this weekend by my friends from Michigan. Dice gave Jeff the attacking Italians. He very astutely did the board edge creep on the east side. Some of my Ethiopians were able to get into CC using a human wave but missed the tank flip CC attack. I also missed a CC reaction attack after an overrun. Jeff was able to exit all the tanks plus some infantry. 0-1.
Finishing about noon Jeff was agreeable to playing another of the official scenarios as a pick up game. We played ASL 258 Kebur Zabagna. Dice gave me the attacking Ethiopians. I did a half board attack on the west side and with both sides landing some hits with OBA the battle came down to how well the guns did and if board exit rush would be successful. The guns were fairly ineffective with one out of place and the other breaking after the first shot. The Ethiopians flooded the exit area and were able to break the defenders and exit. Fun game. This was my one redeeming victory against the boys from Michigan as we shall see.
Round 2: HazMo 1 Born Again vs Mark DeVries (also from Michigan). Mark and I chose this HazMo scenario getting permission to play a scenario from round 3 from the accommodating TD. We ended up taking bids and I gave the balance to have the defending Germans. The scenario is a street fight in Ortona, Italy with lots of rubble and fortifications. My plan was to use the fortifications to force the attacker into a slow move through the rubble. If the Germans could hold three fortified building for a turn each the attacking Canadians would be out of time. This plan did not work. Mark's troops broke the 8 morale Germans first shot every time. Mark was also bold to drive tanks into the rubble and luck favored the most prepared. Fun scenario. 0-2.
Round 3: ASL 262 Showdown at Tug Argan Pass vs Jim Burris. With an odd number of players at the tourney the lowest record gets to play the TD and that was me. Jim was willing to play one of the official scenarios and we chose the Showdown. Dice gave me the attacking Italians. Jim had a great strategy and it paid off handsomely. He set up his fortifications for a reverse slope defense and had his troops set up outside the fortifications to get shots at moving Italians and then pull back to the fortifications. Jim also concentrated on the Italian infantry since six tanks cannot control the 7 victory hexes needed. Jim did not need to pull back to the reverse slope as the Italians could not pass morale checks caused by the numerous 2-2 fire attacks. Jim even used his ATRs to fire 1-2 attacks against the infantry instead of hitting the tanks. Well played. 0-3.
Round 4: AP186 The Horse They Never Rode vs Richard Burton. Richard (newly minted Assistant Professor of History) and I settled on this scenario when he decided against the last remaining official scenario on my list. Dice gave Richard the attacking Americans. And this scenario is hard on the Americans. The Chinese are easily able to get into blocking position to prevent American exit and it was made even more difficult when the American MTR had no WP. The Chinese were even able to dig foxholes for cover. With several bad breaks and losses, it ended quickly for the Americans. 1-3.
Round 5: ASL 260 Last Hope At New Flower vs Larry Zoet (also from Michigan). This scenario is a street fight with the attacking Ethiopians and defending Italians. Dice gave me the defenders. Larry moved fast to cross the canal before the Italians could establish any blocking position (most Italians come on as reinforcements). Then the Ethiopian mob proceeded to move through the city and wipe out my defending Italians. It came down to the last turn and Larry wiped me out in his CC phase. Good scenario and great fun. 1-4.
My thanks to all my opponents. The boys from Michigan are great fun to play and good friends to have despite the fierce ASL they play. I also want to thank Jim Burris for running a great tournament. I always appreciate the efforts a TD puts in to making a tournament fun. A tournament is a great chance to play ASL and meet good friends. I recommend the St. Louis Tournament if you can make it. My congrats to Richard and I wish him good luck in his first teaching of history classes this fall! I deliberately chose to play scenarios I had not played before and have the record to prove it. But I have now completed playing 251 of the official 289 numbered scenarios only 38 to go. All are from Forgotten War, CDG2 or Hollow Legions 3. Also playing round 4 was my 1000th recorded game in ROAR which is a nice milestone in ASL. My thanks to Doug Kirk for the scenario list. I hope to see everyone next year in St. Louis.
Dano
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Jacksons
Member
A Quick AAR from the St Louis tournament :
round 1 Great Vengeance vs Maurizio
We bid for sides and I bid G0 and Maurizio bid A0. I had played this scenario previously as the Brits and was decimated quickly. In that playing I had split the British forces evenly on each flank and got smoke to cover the steeple but my opponent had the 75L ATG in the orchard on the British Left which killed both of my tanks on turn 1 and then he DI'd my Croc with the 50L and his smoked in HMG in the steeple still managed to decimate my infantry. As the defender in this tournament I had a similar set up as was previously used against me with the 75L in the orchard and the 50L on the British right by the road. Maurizio chose a different strategy and brought everyone in on the British right to the North of the road. He spent a lot of time searching with 5 and 6 for search rolls and was able to roll up the German left flank but it took a lot of time. He never smoked my HMG in the steeple and it was a constant over watch. He malfunctioned one of his tanks's MA but the last straw was when one of my reinforcements with a PSK took out the flame tank. I think he had the right idea with a heavy force hooking to the North of the Road but if the German reinforcements can support the defense of the steeple in time then I think that this scenario is tough on the Brits despite their impressive OOB. 1-0
Round 2 Always Ready vs Doug Kirk
I had played this scenario before and lost as the US. In that playing I sent the initial US forces to take the village and the reinforcements to clear the pillboxes and exit on the US right flank. My reinforcements got chewed up fighting the pillboxes and gun and I lost that playing. Against Doug I don't recall if we bid (I think we just rolled dice to decide that I got the Japanese). I set my pillboxes in the back to cover the Japanese left flank and central region. After the game Doug pointed out that I had set up the pillboxes too far back out of the set up area. My dice were hot and he took a lot of casualties taking the village and with the pillboxes in the back it was too difficult to exit or take the pillboxes. I think the right strategy for the US is to take the village with the inital forces and then swing around the US left to take the pillboxes from behind an exit with the reinforcements. One key point to remember is that the japanese pillboxes are not revealed with LOS in the palm trees but the trenches are. For the japanese the placement of the trenches and pillboxes is important to be able to " skulk" and reposition using the tunnels connected to every trench and pillbox. This scenario is a lot tougher on the US than it looks from the OB . 2-0
Round 3 A celebratory Mood vs James Trues
I wanted to play a japanese scenario I was hoping for Sangshank redemption but we rolled the dice to get celebratory mood. I think that we just rolled for sides and I got the attacking US player. I had my main attack force up the middle/Left and a small force on the US right flank. I was cautious with the shermans but drove the stuarts into the huts to collapse them and avoid VBM LOS from the gun. I used a lot of cannister and smoke.
We only played a couple of turns because my dice were hot and his were not so the japanese were quickly melting away and the center defenses were crushed. I think this is a fun scenario for both sides but the dice were too lopsided to make it a fair fight. 3-0
Round 4 Try at Trentlehof vs chuck Hammond
I had played this scenario previously as the German and won. Chuck had not played it so I recommended that we give the US the level 1 balance and roll for sides. Chuck wanted to bid so he bid G2 and I bid A0( I wanted to play the US this time). The balance upgraded 2 of my 6-6-6 to 6-6-7 and deleted one of the german MMG(this seems like too much to give up?). Chuck set up the MMG/Squad and LMG plus 3 squads on the US left flank at the edge of the massive woods mass. He has a 1/2 squad in the building behind the hedge row and a 1/2 squad on the US right flank. He did not set up any MG in the upper level of the wooden buildings in the center of the board. I split my forces roughly in even thirds with a third going for the woods mass on the left a third going in the central/left flank toward the hedges and a third going on the right flank to head for the hedge line there. All of my tanks were in the central area to put pressure on the wooden building in the central area. Chuck had his trenches behind the wooden building in the central area. Chuck had a preregisted hex for the OBA in the small woods mass in front of the hedge lined village in the center of the board where my Left/Central force was going. Fortunately the initial accuracy roll was off and he brought down the OBA as harrassing fire. I had some bad luck when his sniper took out my 9-2 early in the game and I malfunctioned one of my main armaments. My plan was to go through the massive woods mass and attack the wooden multihex building next to the giant woods mass and then use that as a fire base to attack the buildings in the back central area. With chuck's heavy defense of the wood's mass he kept me from implementing my plan but he had completely abandoned the multi-hex building by the large woods mass so this allowed me to use my left/central forces to take this building(2 hexes of the 4 hexes needed for the VC). My forces on my right flank managed to get to the hedge line but his harrassing fire broke most of the forces there. I used the AFV with the malfed MA to VBM freeze the 1/2 squad in the single hex stone building infront of the central 2 hex wooden building. A brave Squad and leader AM next to this building and survived harrassing fire to CC this 1/2 squad. My Tanks did not touch his infantry even with a 2 ROF but they did manage to take out the reinforcing stug. I lost 2 of my tanks to the PZ4 and 1 to the VBM freeze. I wound up taking 6 building hexes and probably could have taken 1 more. On my second to last turn I retreated my only remaining tank and broke and routed my units in the massive woods mass so he could not get the CVP. At the end of the game chuck had 3-4 of his squads cut off from the action in the massive woods patch. He got 4 OBA fire missions down of harrassing fire and actually shocked his PZ4 when he drove through his own harrassing fire. It is a good scenario but we were up to 2:30- 3:00 in the morning finishing it up. I think the germans best plan is to pummel the US with harrassing fire and go after the US tanks to reach the CVP cap. It will be difficult to keep the US from taking 4 building hexes. 4-0
Round 5 Panther Cull vs Wes Vaughn
We both wanted to play a short scenario to get on the road. I had not played this scenario before and it would not have been my selection if we had more time to play(too short and dicey). Wes had played this before and he said that the germans needed some help so we gave them an extra 238 and rolled for sides. I got the US side. My plan was to take the multihex stone building on the south near one of the entry areas and then push straight ahead to try to take the multi hex stone building directly north of that building. Wes just had dummies in the South stone building but I did not know that so I placed SM and used 2 squads to take the empty building. I malfed one of my main armaments and lost another tank to a panther when I failed motion, area fire and SMOKE (needed a 9). I lost another tank to a HIP PSK and a Squad to a couple of 12 DR after being hit by the MMG in the 2nd level of the stone building. At that point I just conceded. there was no way that I was going to get enough points to win. I think that Wes's strategy to not defend the southernmost VC building was the right one. After only one playing of this it looks tough on the Allied player to me. 4-1
Thanks to Jim and Doug and others who made it a great tournament. I highly recommend that you put this tournament on your must go to list.
Stan
round 1 Great Vengeance vs Maurizio
We bid for sides and I bid G0 and Maurizio bid A0. I had played this scenario previously as the Brits and was decimated quickly. In that playing I had split the British forces evenly on each flank and got smoke to cover the steeple but my opponent had the 75L ATG in the orchard on the British Left which killed both of my tanks on turn 1 and then he DI'd my Croc with the 50L and his smoked in HMG in the steeple still managed to decimate my infantry. As the defender in this tournament I had a similar set up as was previously used against me with the 75L in the orchard and the 50L on the British right by the road. Maurizio chose a different strategy and brought everyone in on the British right to the North of the road. He spent a lot of time searching with 5 and 6 for search rolls and was able to roll up the German left flank but it took a lot of time. He never smoked my HMG in the steeple and it was a constant over watch. He malfunctioned one of his tanks's MA but the last straw was when one of my reinforcements with a PSK took out the flame tank. I think he had the right idea with a heavy force hooking to the North of the Road but if the German reinforcements can support the defense of the steeple in time then I think that this scenario is tough on the Brits despite their impressive OOB. 1-0
Round 2 Always Ready vs Doug Kirk
I had played this scenario before and lost as the US. In that playing I sent the initial US forces to take the village and the reinforcements to clear the pillboxes and exit on the US right flank. My reinforcements got chewed up fighting the pillboxes and gun and I lost that playing. Against Doug I don't recall if we bid (I think we just rolled dice to decide that I got the Japanese). I set my pillboxes in the back to cover the Japanese left flank and central region. After the game Doug pointed out that I had set up the pillboxes too far back out of the set up area. My dice were hot and he took a lot of casualties taking the village and with the pillboxes in the back it was too difficult to exit or take the pillboxes. I think the right strategy for the US is to take the village with the inital forces and then swing around the US left to take the pillboxes from behind an exit with the reinforcements. One key point to remember is that the japanese pillboxes are not revealed with LOS in the palm trees but the trenches are. For the japanese the placement of the trenches and pillboxes is important to be able to " skulk" and reposition using the tunnels connected to every trench and pillbox. This scenario is a lot tougher on the US than it looks from the OB . 2-0
Round 3 A celebratory Mood vs James Trues
I wanted to play a japanese scenario I was hoping for Sangshank redemption but we rolled the dice to get celebratory mood. I think that we just rolled for sides and I got the attacking US player. I had my main attack force up the middle/Left and a small force on the US right flank. I was cautious with the shermans but drove the stuarts into the huts to collapse them and avoid VBM LOS from the gun. I used a lot of cannister and smoke.
We only played a couple of turns because my dice were hot and his were not so the japanese were quickly melting away and the center defenses were crushed. I think this is a fun scenario for both sides but the dice were too lopsided to make it a fair fight. 3-0
Round 4 Try at Trentlehof vs chuck Hammond
I had played this scenario previously as the German and won. Chuck had not played it so I recommended that we give the US the level 1 balance and roll for sides. Chuck wanted to bid so he bid G2 and I bid A0( I wanted to play the US this time). The balance upgraded 2 of my 6-6-6 to 6-6-7 and deleted one of the german MMG(this seems like too much to give up?). Chuck set up the MMG/Squad and LMG plus 3 squads on the US left flank at the edge of the massive woods mass. He has a 1/2 squad in the building behind the hedge row and a 1/2 squad on the US right flank. He did not set up any MG in the upper level of the wooden buildings in the center of the board. I split my forces roughly in even thirds with a third going for the woods mass on the left a third going in the central/left flank toward the hedges and a third going on the right flank to head for the hedge line there. All of my tanks were in the central area to put pressure on the wooden building in the central area. Chuck had his trenches behind the wooden building in the central area. Chuck had a preregisted hex for the OBA in the small woods mass in front of the hedge lined village in the center of the board where my Left/Central force was going. Fortunately the initial accuracy roll was off and he brought down the OBA as harrassing fire. I had some bad luck when his sniper took out my 9-2 early in the game and I malfunctioned one of my main armaments. My plan was to go through the massive woods mass and attack the wooden multihex building next to the giant woods mass and then use that as a fire base to attack the buildings in the back central area. With chuck's heavy defense of the wood's mass he kept me from implementing my plan but he had completely abandoned the multi-hex building by the large woods mass so this allowed me to use my left/central forces to take this building(2 hexes of the 4 hexes needed for the VC). My forces on my right flank managed to get to the hedge line but his harrassing fire broke most of the forces there. I used the AFV with the malfed MA to VBM freeze the 1/2 squad in the single hex stone building infront of the central 2 hex wooden building. A brave Squad and leader AM next to this building and survived harrassing fire to CC this 1/2 squad. My Tanks did not touch his infantry even with a 2 ROF but they did manage to take out the reinforcing stug. I lost 2 of my tanks to the PZ4 and 1 to the VBM freeze. I wound up taking 6 building hexes and probably could have taken 1 more. On my second to last turn I retreated my only remaining tank and broke and routed my units in the massive woods mass so he could not get the CVP. At the end of the game chuck had 3-4 of his squads cut off from the action in the massive woods patch. He got 4 OBA fire missions down of harrassing fire and actually shocked his PZ4 when he drove through his own harrassing fire. It is a good scenario but we were up to 2:30- 3:00 in the morning finishing it up. I think the germans best plan is to pummel the US with harrassing fire and go after the US tanks to reach the CVP cap. It will be difficult to keep the US from taking 4 building hexes. 4-0
Round 5 Panther Cull vs Wes Vaughn
We both wanted to play a short scenario to get on the road. I had not played this scenario before and it would not have been my selection if we had more time to play(too short and dicey). Wes had played this before and he said that the germans needed some help so we gave them an extra 238 and rolled for sides. I got the US side. My plan was to take the multihex stone building on the south near one of the entry areas and then push straight ahead to try to take the multi hex stone building directly north of that building. Wes just had dummies in the South stone building but I did not know that so I placed SM and used 2 squads to take the empty building. I malfed one of my main armaments and lost another tank to a panther when I failed motion, area fire and SMOKE (needed a 9). I lost another tank to a HIP PSK and a Squad to a couple of 12 DR after being hit by the MMG in the 2nd level of the stone building. At that point I just conceded. there was no way that I was going to get enough points to win. I think that Wes's strategy to not defend the southernmost VC building was the right one. After only one playing of this it looks tough on the Allied player to me. 4-1
Thanks to Jim and Doug and others who made it a great tournament. I highly recommend that you put this tournament on your must go to list.
Stan
wesvaughn
Member
Thanks to Jim Burris for hosting another great ASL Tournament (25th Annual) in St.Louis. The BBQ dinner brought in Saturday evening was EXCELLENT!!!!
Here's my AAR.
Round 1 was against Rodney Callen. Last year in the 1st round Rodney destroyed me in Houseman's classic ESG45 Below the Belt. This year to start it off we went late war East Front SP97 Twight Struggle. We both had it as the #1 scenario on our round to play. Rodney got the Germans on defense and I got the attacking Russians with the
Russian squads having German 44 PF's. I believe the Russian's have a slight edge in this one because of the Russian troops with the PF's. The Russian's should concentrate on breaking up the German Infantry on the first few turns to clear the way for the end game of Russian troops swarming the German JgPzV's with PF's. Plus, the Russian T34/85's are nice to run wild in the German back field. I think Rodney made a mistake with his initial placement of his on board JgPzV in hex Board 44 F2. My Russian troops easily creeped up the C3 Hill on board 44 and got into position to fire PF's on the lone German tank. I had to survive several shots from Rodney's troops to get a shot off, But I was lucky and was unaffected by the shots and fired a PF and got a hit and an early game kill of the German big Pig. My Russian infantry continued to press the Germans and made good progress in getting in position to help destroy the 2 German reinforcing JgPZV's. Rodney brought the 2 tanks up without bogging in the sand and destroyed one of my T34/85's. It was time to swarm him with my tanks and Infantry. I hit one in the side with a T34/85 and hit the other with a Eyes with my Russian Pig ISU152 for the game. It's always great to play Rodney Callen. A great guy and ASL player. 1-0
Round 2- DB164 - TRY AT TRENTLEHOF
I matched up with one of the BEST ASL players in the game- Randy Shurtz.
This one was my 1st pick in the round. I'd played DTF-11 - A Greek Tragedy several times, good scenario, but I was wanting to play with some tanks and OBA. I really think that OBA is under used in ASL scenarios. I bid G0 and Randy Bid A0. I got my OBA !!! I set up my brittle German defense, with most of my troops back in the buildings and a strong force on the big Wd34 overlay to prevent the US infantry easy access into the woods and path leading to the victory buildings. I wanted my OBA going off early in the game, so I had my Pre-Registered Hex on Hex O5 -board 44. I think in most games it will be going off strong there on turn 1. I had a few dummies up front and an 8-1 leader and a 4-6-7MMG to lay a fire lane from Board44 J1 hex P10. Randy came in with a good attack straight up the gut J10-T10. I broke a couple squads with fire and then brought the OBA Pre-Reg down. Broke a couple more squads and stunned a GMC M10. had a good chance to kill one early, but couldn't get the rolls. Randy continued his attack up the middle and his right flank and made good progress with several WP rounds coming down for cover. His 45 Baz's and 60MTR's brought plenty of WP rounds. The battle was winding down late in the game, with my OBA Burning a GMC10 and recalling another with 2 stuns. Randy made it to my German strongpoint building P4-Q4. My 9-1 was upstairs with a 4-6-7 with MMG. Randy shot one of his BAZ's 5 hexes away with a big WP round. His American troops stormed the building and climbed inside through the German Firepower. I brought the OBA down on the building with my troops surviving the friendly fire. Randy's squad on the ground level under my 4-6-7 broke and had to route away trough the OBA in the street and got a 2MC and rolled a snake eyes and battle hardened and then advanced into Victory building board17 -O6. Things were starting to look bleak for me at that point. My last turn to move, German turn 5, I moved my PzIVJ to hex- T5 on board 17-to cover the American's last turn attack was knocked out by a BAZ shot from hex T0 - 5 hex shot needing an eye's for the hit and he got it. I was close to giving up at that point, but i knew I was getting close to winning by the 24CVP cap. Last turn my OBA drew a RED card and it was looking worse, but as luck would have it, my 7-0 leader rolled a 1 on his PF check and needed a 6 to hit against Randy's last GMC M10 in motion 1 hex away and I rolled the 6. BOOM!! I killed a half squad in the last CC round and put Randy's American CVP total right at 24. WOW!! What a close great game. Lady Luck smiled on me with this one. Randy out played me in this one, but I squeaked it out. 2-0
Round 3- HazMo12- Foreign Legions
Matched up against Chuck Hammond. Chuck made it to the St.Louis Tournament representing the HazMo crew.
I bid R1 and Chuck bid N2. I was thinking that Chuck had given me way too much in this one with that bid??? anyway, Chuck set up his excellent defense. I really liked his placement of 2 of his PZ1 tanks. One in T10 and 1 in S1 guarding the flanks with the 2 tanks and a few squads close by for support. I attacked with student body center right up the gut and bypassed the defensive strong point flanking forces. My plan worked excellent, cutting off the flanking defenders and pressed on to the village to gobble up the victory buildings. My Republican forces managed to destroy 4 of Chuck's PZ1's and had him outnumbered 14 squads to 7 for the VC building fight, I also had all 4 of my Russian 45L tanks left in the fight. Chuck also had one of his Pz1's with a Malfed MA. I thought the game was over,,, Then Chuck fixed his MA and during my advance into the village he knocked a stack of my best units down with a 1 flat shot from long range from a squad that I bypassed on the flank, OUCH!! Should have dealt with those guys more seriously. Then Chuck knocked out one of my Russian tanks with a MG TK attack-rolling EYES. BOOM!!! Then Chuck then counterattacked with his 2 remaining PZ1's with some great overrun attacks, with me missing all of my MG attacks against him at close range. Also, he knocked out 2 more of my tanks in CC. Great turn for Chuck and a total 180 in the game. I struggled on for another turn, but just run out of gas with my attack with things continuing to get worse with every DR. I threw in the towel. Great game Chuck!!!! 2-1
Round 4 - AP12 - Cream of the Crop.
Matched up against ASL powerhouse George Tournemire.
I had this one for my 1st choice, George had it as his 3ed choice. So, this was the one we went with. I bid R0- George bid G0. I know this one favor's the German a bit,, but I thought I had a plan for the Russians to make it even. I set my defense up mostly to get pregame concealment with a couple squads set up in the front buildings to give the Germans something to shoot at on turn one. You never know, a couple of the German tanks may gack their SMOKE roll?? Before the game I picked out 3 precision dice- one white and one red and a brown/yellow colored die, (a Jim Taylor favorite for the Russian's). George set up perfect as expected, and got his smoke rounds off on turn 1 as expected, George rushed his German's up CX'ed next to my up front squads, I voluntarily broke and routed back towards my Commissar to rally. I don't think the Russian's can set up front in this one and try and hold those buildings in the front from V9-V8 and W7-W5 to X7-X5 building block, they will only die early for nothing, and they will ALL be needed later in the scenario in the building fight. I moved my KV to Y9 to cover the road. I broke one of George's squads rushing up through the brush on my left flank, and I missed all of my shots with my KV firing at the juicy German target in hex X6 board 46- (all buildings are wooden) an 8-1 and (2)- 4-6-7's both with LMG's. So I had an 8 +2 with (2) Russian squads fire grouping at the same target and I rolled a 4 - a 1MC against the stack!! I used the (Jim Taylor) browish-yellow die as the colored die. George jumped up from the table and said I can't switch dice without telling him, I have to use the Red one for the Russian's,, I told George that I wanted to use the Brown die for the Russians. I wasn't going to re-roll the dice. George picked up the rulebook, but I told George that he wasn't going to find that rule in the book. At that point George forfeited the game to me and jumped up and said "You Scoundrel" !!! George picked up his things up and left the room. I told George several times to "come back to the table and set down and finish the game", but to no effect. Maybe we can have a better game next time George?? I extend my hand out for another game in the future. I never like to win by a forfeit, I believe that's the first time that's ever happened to me. 3-1
Round 5 - DTF16-Panther Cull
Matched up against Stan Jackson, one of my favorite ASL opponents and regular VASL opponent. I suggested that we play Panther Cull because of its smaller size for a Sunday morning round. I played this one before as the German and lost badly. So we diced for sides with the German getting a 2-3-8 HS for balance. I put dummies in the Front building and set up strong in the middle building. Stan brought in his swarm of British tanks with strong elite American infantry as riders. Stan did well masking his attack with Smoke Mortars against my dummies and took the big factory building which I didn't defend on turn 1.
I fired up my Panther's guarding my flanks and brought them in the middle of town for the defense of building X16 overlay on board 67. the next couple of turns were horrible for Stan, he broke a MA on one of his Cromwell IV's and missed his Smoke shot with his Cromwell VI. which resulted in my Panther destroying him. Stan brought another Cromwell IV up to flank my Panther, but drove up adjacent to my HIP HS with a PSK. I shot and hit,, Stan let me have the game at that point. Panther Cull is a small and down and dirty scenario for the final round game in a tournament. I've always preferred a smaller scenario for the final round on Sunday for tournaments. Most players that travel a great distance to a tournament are looking for a smaller scenario to wind things up so they can get on the road. 4-1 for the tournament. I ended up winning the tournament on points. Reminder,,, If you have a loss in a tournament, keep on hammering, you're NOT out of it!!!!
As always, I had a great time at the St.Louis Tournament and now I'm looking forward to ASLOK in October. See you there!!!!
Here's my AAR.
Round 1 was against Rodney Callen. Last year in the 1st round Rodney destroyed me in Houseman's classic ESG45 Below the Belt. This year to start it off we went late war East Front SP97 Twight Struggle. We both had it as the #1 scenario on our round to play. Rodney got the Germans on defense and I got the attacking Russians with the
Russian squads having German 44 PF's. I believe the Russian's have a slight edge in this one because of the Russian troops with the PF's. The Russian's should concentrate on breaking up the German Infantry on the first few turns to clear the way for the end game of Russian troops swarming the German JgPzV's with PF's. Plus, the Russian T34/85's are nice to run wild in the German back field. I think Rodney made a mistake with his initial placement of his on board JgPzV in hex Board 44 F2. My Russian troops easily creeped up the C3 Hill on board 44 and got into position to fire PF's on the lone German tank. I had to survive several shots from Rodney's troops to get a shot off, But I was lucky and was unaffected by the shots and fired a PF and got a hit and an early game kill of the German big Pig. My Russian infantry continued to press the Germans and made good progress in getting in position to help destroy the 2 German reinforcing JgPZV's. Rodney brought the 2 tanks up without bogging in the sand and destroyed one of my T34/85's. It was time to swarm him with my tanks and Infantry. I hit one in the side with a T34/85 and hit the other with a Eyes with my Russian Pig ISU152 for the game. It's always great to play Rodney Callen. A great guy and ASL player. 1-0
Round 2- DB164 - TRY AT TRENTLEHOF
I matched up with one of the BEST ASL players in the game- Randy Shurtz.
This one was my 1st pick in the round. I'd played DTF-11 - A Greek Tragedy several times, good scenario, but I was wanting to play with some tanks and OBA. I really think that OBA is under used in ASL scenarios. I bid G0 and Randy Bid A0. I got my OBA !!! I set up my brittle German defense, with most of my troops back in the buildings and a strong force on the big Wd34 overlay to prevent the US infantry easy access into the woods and path leading to the victory buildings. I wanted my OBA going off early in the game, so I had my Pre-Registered Hex on Hex O5 -board 44. I think in most games it will be going off strong there on turn 1. I had a few dummies up front and an 8-1 leader and a 4-6-7MMG to lay a fire lane from Board44 J1 hex P10. Randy came in with a good attack straight up the gut J10-T10. I broke a couple squads with fire and then brought the OBA Pre-Reg down. Broke a couple more squads and stunned a GMC M10. had a good chance to kill one early, but couldn't get the rolls. Randy continued his attack up the middle and his right flank and made good progress with several WP rounds coming down for cover. His 45 Baz's and 60MTR's brought plenty of WP rounds. The battle was winding down late in the game, with my OBA Burning a GMC10 and recalling another with 2 stuns. Randy made it to my German strongpoint building P4-Q4. My 9-1 was upstairs with a 4-6-7 with MMG. Randy shot one of his BAZ's 5 hexes away with a big WP round. His American troops stormed the building and climbed inside through the German Firepower. I brought the OBA down on the building with my troops surviving the friendly fire. Randy's squad on the ground level under my 4-6-7 broke and had to route away trough the OBA in the street and got a 2MC and rolled a snake eyes and battle hardened and then advanced into Victory building board17 -O6. Things were starting to look bleak for me at that point. My last turn to move, German turn 5, I moved my PzIVJ to hex- T5 on board 17-to cover the American's last turn attack was knocked out by a BAZ shot from hex T0 - 5 hex shot needing an eye's for the hit and he got it. I was close to giving up at that point, but i knew I was getting close to winning by the 24CVP cap. Last turn my OBA drew a RED card and it was looking worse, but as luck would have it, my 7-0 leader rolled a 1 on his PF check and needed a 6 to hit against Randy's last GMC M10 in motion 1 hex away and I rolled the 6. BOOM!! I killed a half squad in the last CC round and put Randy's American CVP total right at 24. WOW!! What a close great game. Lady Luck smiled on me with this one. Randy out played me in this one, but I squeaked it out. 2-0
Round 3- HazMo12- Foreign Legions
Matched up against Chuck Hammond. Chuck made it to the St.Louis Tournament representing the HazMo crew.
I bid R1 and Chuck bid N2. I was thinking that Chuck had given me way too much in this one with that bid??? anyway, Chuck set up his excellent defense. I really liked his placement of 2 of his PZ1 tanks. One in T10 and 1 in S1 guarding the flanks with the 2 tanks and a few squads close by for support. I attacked with student body center right up the gut and bypassed the defensive strong point flanking forces. My plan worked excellent, cutting off the flanking defenders and pressed on to the village to gobble up the victory buildings. My Republican forces managed to destroy 4 of Chuck's PZ1's and had him outnumbered 14 squads to 7 for the VC building fight, I also had all 4 of my Russian 45L tanks left in the fight. Chuck also had one of his Pz1's with a Malfed MA. I thought the game was over,,, Then Chuck fixed his MA and during my advance into the village he knocked a stack of my best units down with a 1 flat shot from long range from a squad that I bypassed on the flank, OUCH!! Should have dealt with those guys more seriously. Then Chuck knocked out one of my Russian tanks with a MG TK attack-rolling EYES. BOOM!!! Then Chuck then counterattacked with his 2 remaining PZ1's with some great overrun attacks, with me missing all of my MG attacks against him at close range. Also, he knocked out 2 more of my tanks in CC. Great turn for Chuck and a total 180 in the game. I struggled on for another turn, but just run out of gas with my attack with things continuing to get worse with every DR. I threw in the towel. Great game Chuck!!!! 2-1
Round 4 - AP12 - Cream of the Crop.
Matched up against ASL powerhouse George Tournemire.
I had this one for my 1st choice, George had it as his 3ed choice. So, this was the one we went with. I bid R0- George bid G0. I know this one favor's the German a bit,, but I thought I had a plan for the Russians to make it even. I set my defense up mostly to get pregame concealment with a couple squads set up in the front buildings to give the Germans something to shoot at on turn one. You never know, a couple of the German tanks may gack their SMOKE roll?? Before the game I picked out 3 precision dice- one white and one red and a brown/yellow colored die, (a Jim Taylor favorite for the Russian's). George set up perfect as expected, and got his smoke rounds off on turn 1 as expected, George rushed his German's up CX'ed next to my up front squads, I voluntarily broke and routed back towards my Commissar to rally. I don't think the Russian's can set up front in this one and try and hold those buildings in the front from V9-V8 and W7-W5 to X7-X5 building block, they will only die early for nothing, and they will ALL be needed later in the scenario in the building fight. I moved my KV to Y9 to cover the road. I broke one of George's squads rushing up through the brush on my left flank, and I missed all of my shots with my KV firing at the juicy German target in hex X6 board 46- (all buildings are wooden) an 8-1 and (2)- 4-6-7's both with LMG's. So I had an 8 +2 with (2) Russian squads fire grouping at the same target and I rolled a 4 - a 1MC against the stack!! I used the (Jim Taylor) browish-yellow die as the colored die. George jumped up from the table and said I can't switch dice without telling him, I have to use the Red one for the Russian's,, I told George that I wanted to use the Brown die for the Russians. I wasn't going to re-roll the dice. George picked up the rulebook, but I told George that he wasn't going to find that rule in the book. At that point George forfeited the game to me and jumped up and said "You Scoundrel" !!! George picked up his things up and left the room. I told George several times to "come back to the table and set down and finish the game", but to no effect. Maybe we can have a better game next time George?? I extend my hand out for another game in the future. I never like to win by a forfeit, I believe that's the first time that's ever happened to me. 3-1
Round 5 - DTF16-Panther Cull
Matched up against Stan Jackson, one of my favorite ASL opponents and regular VASL opponent. I suggested that we play Panther Cull because of its smaller size for a Sunday morning round. I played this one before as the German and lost badly. So we diced for sides with the German getting a 2-3-8 HS for balance. I put dummies in the Front building and set up strong in the middle building. Stan brought in his swarm of British tanks with strong elite American infantry as riders. Stan did well masking his attack with Smoke Mortars against my dummies and took the big factory building which I didn't defend on turn 1.
I fired up my Panther's guarding my flanks and brought them in the middle of town for the defense of building X16 overlay on board 67. the next couple of turns were horrible for Stan, he broke a MA on one of his Cromwell IV's and missed his Smoke shot with his Cromwell VI. which resulted in my Panther destroying him. Stan brought another Cromwell IV up to flank my Panther, but drove up adjacent to my HIP HS with a PSK. I shot and hit,, Stan let me have the game at that point. Panther Cull is a small and down and dirty scenario for the final round game in a tournament. I've always preferred a smaller scenario for the final round on Sunday for tournaments. Most players that travel a great distance to a tournament are looking for a smaller scenario to wind things up so they can get on the road. 4-1 for the tournament. I ended up winning the tournament on points. Reminder,,, If you have a loss in a tournament, keep on hammering, you're NOT out of it!!!!
As always, I had a great time at the St.Louis Tournament and now I'm looking forward to ASLOK in October. See you there!!!!
Eagle4ty
Forum Guru
Wow never heard of someone getting a bit bent out of shape over which color the cdr has to be but sometimes George can be a bit testy, especially if it's late at night. Pretty sure he'll get over it (at least I hope).
Gunner Scott
Forum Guru
I do agree, Wes is the nicest guy to play ASL with with and super cool opponent to talk civil war history with too.
wesvaughn
Member
I'm sure George will get over it at some point. You never know when someone is having a bad day, or what may be troubling them?? Gamers need to relax and enjoy playing the game and loosen up a little and have fun at the tournaments,,, it's just a game.
commissar1969
Member
Let's go next year, Eagle!
