#69: An Interview with Chuck Hammond (half of HazMo)

daveramsey

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Half of HazMo's team, Chuck Hammond, joins Martin and me for a chat about the HazMo philosophy and ASL in general.

A great guy, and if you have an hour to spare, I hope it's worth your time to listen to this funny guy.


Thanks Chuck, we had a great time.
 

commissar1969

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Half of HazMo's team, Chuck Hammond, joins Martin and me for a chat about the HazMo philosophy and ASL in general.

A great guy, and if you have an hour to spare, I hope it's worth your time to listen to this funny guy.


Thanks Chuck, we had a great time.
The pleasure was all mine, gents! Thank you so much for the opportunity and the kind words. It was great to be able to sit down and talk to a couple of true cognoscenti, as the Italians would say. If you'd ever like to get Chad's side of things (lol), just let me know!
 

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Expect an angry email from Mr Mayers for putting Double One first Martin :D I got one when I said the same to Jim Bishop :rolleyes:

Chuck
  • I was disappointed with Red Factories as well.
  • If you are in France, Xavier is retiring and has put out a worldwide call for ASL games / visitors - it's in the LFT From The Cellar 12.
Many thanks for adding to the hobby.
 

Tuomo

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#69: An Interview with Chuck Hammond (half of HazMo)
So is Chuck Haz or Mo?

@commissar1969 - choose wisely. If you're Mo, you face the prospect of a lifetime of being called out, "Hey Moe!", Stooges style. This may be good or not, depending on your outlook.
 
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commissar1969

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Expect an angry email from Mr Mayers for putting Double One first Martin :D I got one when I said the same to Jim Bishop :rolleyes:

Chuck
  • I was disappointed with Red Factories as well.
  • If you are in France, Xavier is retiring and has put out a worldwide call for ASL games / visitors - it's in the LFT From The Cellar 12.
Many thanks for adding to the hobby.
Hey Joe,

Thanks so much for the kind words! I am really happy for Xavier that he is able to retire, and in good health (esp. in his line of work!) and I hope we'll be able to play some VASL soon. If I really lucky, maybe even visit him in France in the not-too-distant future, along with good ol' Ben! haha

Re: Red Factories: It gives me no pleasure to say this, but I literally don't know anyone in the hobby who was pleased with those scenarios, esp. when you compare them with Red Barricades. The map itself, however, is beautiful! So we really hope ASLers will enjoy the scenarios and mini-campaign included in City of Steel.

I'm really going to try to attend one of those UK tournaments soon, perhaps as early as next year. Would be wonderful to meet you in person!

All the best,

Chuck
 

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I'm really going to try to attend one of those UK tournaments soon, perhaps as early as next year.
Chuck - deatils of all UK tournys can be found here:


And if you make it to the UK you have to go here (you can easily spend the whole day there):


You will have to find something else for the wife and kids to do - they will hate you for dragging them round that place :)
 

commissar1969

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Chuck - deatils of all UK tournys can be found here:


And if you make it to the UK you have to go here (you can easily spend the whole day there):


You will have to find something else for the wife and kids to do - they will hate you for dragging them round that place :)
Thank you so much for the references! Now you've REALLY made me want to go. :) I haven't been to the Tank Museum yet, but I was positively impressed by the Imperial War Museum when I was in the UK - WOW!
 

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Thank you so much for the references! Now you've REALLY made me want to go. :) I haven't been to the Tank Museum yet, but I was positively impressed by the Imperial War Museum when I was in the UK - WOW!
Chuck;

When you do go to the UK again, I highly recommend going to Bovington...it is not easy to get to, but it is a trip of a life time if you have any interest in AFV's. The IWM museum at Duxford was amazing as well, and close to Cambridge and a bit easier to get to.

On topic...great interview, dude...looking forward to hearing more about your tournament.

Semper Fi!
Scott
 

commissar1969

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Chuck;

When you do go to the UK again, I highly recommend going to Bovington...it is not easy to get to, but it is a trip of a life time if you have any interest in AFV's. The IWM museum at Duxford was amazing as well, and close to Cambridge and a bit easier to get to.

On topic...great interview, dude...looking forward to hearing more about your tournament.

Semper Fi!
Scott
Hey, Scott!

So good to hear from you, man. I will follow both your suggestions - thanks for them. Thanks also for the kind words. Send me a quick email at hazardousmovement@yahoo.com when you get a chance - I want to ask your advice on the tournament! :)

Oooh-rah!

Chuck
 

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Half of HazMo's team, Chuck Hammond, joins Martin and me for a chat about the HazMo philosophy and ASL in general.

A great guy, and if you have an hour to spare, I hope it's worth your time to listen to this funny guy.


Thanks Chuck, we had a great time.
Chuck is good people, no doubt about it. Great interview.

Regarding your thoughts that the CdG CG is pro-German, there have been 5 recorded playings to date. 3-2 German, so with the extremely limited number of games reported, as balanced as it can be. More importantly, four of the five have gone to the last CG date and two to the last turn of the last CG date. That's rare.

Almost all the direct feedback on balance has been by both sides in each game complaining simultaneously about how impossible their task is. Music to my ears. Both sides have their problems in fairly equal measure. It IS a complicated CG, but once you understand the whole building bridges/ferries/pullies thing just apes off the Manhandling/Clearance rules, it is much easier.

Imbalanced? My little angel? ;-) Hope you guys give it another whirl sometime.
 

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Chuck is good people, no doubt about it. Great interview.

Regarding your thoughts that the CdG CG is pro-German, there have been 5 recorded playings to date. 3-2 German, so with the extremely limited number of games reported, as balanced as it can be. More importantly, four of the five have gone to the last CG date and two to the last turn of the last CG date. That's rare.

Almost all the direct feedback on balance has been by both sides in each game complaining simultaneously about how impossible their task is. Music to my ears. Both sides have their problems in fairly equal measure. It IS a complicated CG, but once you understand the whole building bridges/ferries/pullies thing just apes off the Manhandling/Clearance rules, it is much easier.

Imbalanced? My little angel? ;-) Hope you guys give it another whirl sometime.
It's my experience that in almost all cases balance issues are flagged up by someone who has lost a scenario, with a claim that the balance was in favour of their opponent.

I recall a prominent ASL player wandering up to me after one of the scenarios at BFB last year and saying "I thought this was very difficult for..." "STOP" said I..."you're going to say you lost and it was very difficult for the side you played"..."ahh...yes that's correct" said he.

Same player has never...not once...come to me and said "I won...but to be fair I think the scenario is unbalanced in favour of the side I won with".

99% of the time I'd say...
 

pensatl1962

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Chuck - deatils of all UK tournys can be found here:


And if you make it to the UK you have to go here (you can easily spend the whole day there):


You will have to find something else for the wife and kids to do - they will hate you for dragging them round that place :)
I remember Lulworth Cove being pretty close. Beautiful place!

Edit: breathtaking, actually. Go see it!
 
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JoeArthur

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Thank you so much for the references! Now you've REALLY made me want to go. :)
Steve Pleva had to come to the UK to drop his daughter of at the LSE in London. He then planned on:

Going to Bovington

From there to Portsmouth stopping to see this:


to take the ferry to Normandy following in the steps of the US troops:


and hire a car in France to see the beaches and other military sites:

https://www.maisybattery.com/


Maybe even drive to the French tank museum:


Then fly back via Paris. Covid killed those plans.

He ended up in Aberdeen with Vinnie and a load of Scots :LOL:

If you need some help planning a trip - please feel to drop me a line. The dollar is really strong at the moment Chuck 👍
 

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Enjoyed the interview. Being a fan of Western Front ETO, I will be looking forward to the release of the Overlord mini-campaign pack.
 

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Steve Pleva had to come to the UK to drop his daughter of at the LSE in London. He then planned on:

Going to Bovington

From there to Portsmouth stopping to see this:


to take the ferry to Normandy following in the steps of the US troops:


and hire a car in France to see the beaches and other military sites:

https://www.maisybattery.com/


Maybe even drive to the French tank museum:


Then fly back via Paris. Covid killed those plans.

He ended up in Aberdeen with Vinnie and a load of Scots :LOL:

If you need some help planning a trip - please feel to drop me a line. The dollar is really strong at the moment Chuck 👍
I think it's the pound that is weak - the dollar is weak too just not as weak as the pound....
 

Jwil2020

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One more thing that struck my fancy in that interview with Chuck Hammond: I really like HazMo's design philosophy of making scenarios that give both players, especially the attacker, the time and wherewithal needed to actually develop a more nuanced battle plan. As Chuck said, it goes against the grain (I think he used the word, "rut") of what I see in some (ok, more than some) scenarios that put the attacker in such tight time constraints that he is forced to shun prep fire in favor of high-risk, devil-take-the hindmost, OG maneuvers.

Nice to see such outside the box thinking.
 

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Guys, great video, loved the interview - I've commented on YouTube, but have you put the poll up here yet ?
 
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