MrP
Senior Member
Ladies and gentlemen.
The Judges have deliberated. The judges have played. The Judges have pushed little bits of cardboard around until their fingers bled (or at least until their mouse fingers bled). Discussion has been heated, abuse and praise has been heaped on all and sundry, often at the same time. But without no further ado, the Top 5 in reverse order are.......
#5 Fourth Of July by Chris Olden
Board 53, 6 Turns
This scenario depicts the attack by Le regiment de La Chaudiere and the Fort Garry Horse on Southern part of Carpiquet, held by 3rd company, 3/26 SS. The Canadians have a half board of OG to cover to close with the village with Shermans and Wasps to do the job, and a pretty vanilla German OB defending, aided by 150mm OBA AND rocket OBA. In the end, we all thought the scenario looked great "out of the box" and had the potential to be excellent, with some great flovour SSRs including ABTF cellars and Fanatic Strongpoints but needed some serious tweaking, especially the OBA. Our judges comments included (and I'll post the fuller ones when we start a thread for each):
"Oh sh*t, all my Canadians are dead" - Ian
"At first glance this one looked real neat! OBA, Rocket
OBA, strong leaders, fun toys including one of my favz - the German
75mm Inf gun, plus two Wasps. But after two playings, we came to an
agreement that this one was just weighed far too heavy for the Germans.
The OBA and Rocket OBA (both 150mm) never go away per SSR. And the Blazes spread like...like wildfire. Half the town was
blazing away by end of game. I'd like to see some major
changes done as I think this one could be a very good scen. " - Dave Roth
#4 50 Butchers by Glenn Houseman
Boards 53 and 35, 5.5 Turns
Rather more of a generic "Canadians attack Carpiquet" this one, with a great title. This generated more discussion about its balance than any other scenario and was played multiple times. As it is, there were enough questions about it to rank it 4th, but at least one judge reckoned it was the scenario with most potential. Some comments:
"Fun toys for both sides, good mix of units, smallish
playing area yet room to move around with three avenues of
approach...what's not to like? The Germans are just a bit too strong in
this one. " - Dave Roth
"Good sound basis for a scenario that could have replay value, but the Canucks are way too tough. Even playing like crap against a very good player (Steve Linton), I was still able to push him back and basically gain the advantage in the scenario by T2." - James Taylor
Dave and Steve have a similar (amicable
)difference of opinion about this one with Steve retort to daves assertion that "An aggressive German player will come away with a victory about 75% of the time." being "I'll see your aggressive German and kick his arse to Berlin"
#3 Party Boys by Pete Shelling
Boards 10 and 43 with Overlay 6.
This one stands out as being the only one featuring a German counterattack, a nice touch. Some comments...
"A little beefier than the first two picks, but still can
be played in an evening. At first glance, with the Canadians only
having one Piat and the Germans three Panthers it looked like a
lopsided affair for sure. But the VC's and SSR's limited the Panther's
impact on play." - Dave Roth
"Very one dimensional. The Germans must attack up their left flank in-order to have a chance at their VC. A proper Canadian will occupy the heights and look to delay the Germans. I would prefer to see something that opens the scenario up dimensionally… possibly a secondary victory condition that would steer the Germans towards the other flank" - James Taylor
"ok, but could use a tweak or two - give the Brits another PIAT and somehow make it more feasible/desirable for the Germans to attack along their right instead of along the bd43 walled compound on their left." - Tom Repetti
#2 Lalande Leads by Bill Brodie
Board 17
This one really stands out as a very different scenario to all others submitted, having an Urban Guerillas-like SSR which generates SS half squads or triggers an OBA attack. I think all of us who played it had a giggle at the sniper-generated shenanigans and ranked it for what it is, popcorn, fun ASL. I wouldn't like to play it for kidneys, but that isn't its aim. Comments....
"I suspect the German SAN is too high, which is going to result in too many Bad Things happening to the somewhat fragile Canadian force, but I'm s ure there'll be games where the Canadians just roll through with a horde of halfsquads." - Tom Repetti
"Popcorn. I didn’t look forward to setting this one up… but it really was quite a bit of fun. There is a sort of “forlorn hope” aspect to the Canucks. Jazz and I had a few giggles at the weirdness of this one. " - JT
"I liked this one for a couple reasons..a small playing
area, small OoB's, short enough for an evening's play. Even so, both
sides have a few options on both defense and offense. The only thing
that was both a plus and a minus was the SSR about Sniper attacks" - Dave
So that leaves only 1
and the winner is #1 Streets Of Carpiquet by Kevin Meyer
DASL Boards b and d. 5 Turns
An attack by the North Shore regiment this time to try and take 2 buildings on board d. This one seemed to impress everyone right off the bat and played well straight out of the box, with plenty of options for both sides and a plethora of hard decisions at every turn. Judges comments....
"There are so few DASL scenarios so this one caught my eye right
away. I was not disappointed. Again, short, small OoB's but some fun
toys for both sides." dave
"Solid scenario design, and probably the best right out the gate IMHO.
The problem with this scenario is the gully. It is very difficult for the Canucks to get past the gully at the end game." - JT
So if Mr Meyer would like to step forward and claim his prizes, $10 for out of box appeal plus $10 for overall best, redeemable at the www.aslscenarioarchive.com for scenario downloads.
So that's that. The designers would like a few days to make any changes once the comments have been posted, so please have patience until they're approved and up for download.
At this stage I'd like to thank all the designers for putting their babies out there for us for free, a tremendous effort by all. The judges have put in one heck of an effort, I think all 5 of us have played every scenario at least once, and in many cases twice, which if truth be told was not an onerous task! The SAG has also done a superb job, herding monkeys and keeping the judges in the dark as to who submitted what until after we'd done the final voting. And to everyone who participated in the initial discussions, its what made this contest what it was. Also thanks to Dave Ramsey for the prize and for hosting the scenarios at the archive (free!)
Cheers
Ian, Steve, Dave, James, Tom, Tom and Kerry, judges and scenario anonymiser guy.
The Judges have deliberated. The judges have played. The Judges have pushed little bits of cardboard around until their fingers bled (or at least until their mouse fingers bled). Discussion has been heated, abuse and praise has been heaped on all and sundry, often at the same time. But without no further ado, the Top 5 in reverse order are.......
#5 Fourth Of July by Chris Olden
Board 53, 6 Turns
This scenario depicts the attack by Le regiment de La Chaudiere and the Fort Garry Horse on Southern part of Carpiquet, held by 3rd company, 3/26 SS. The Canadians have a half board of OG to cover to close with the village with Shermans and Wasps to do the job, and a pretty vanilla German OB defending, aided by 150mm OBA AND rocket OBA. In the end, we all thought the scenario looked great "out of the box" and had the potential to be excellent, with some great flovour SSRs including ABTF cellars and Fanatic Strongpoints but needed some serious tweaking, especially the OBA. Our judges comments included (and I'll post the fuller ones when we start a thread for each):
"Oh sh*t, all my Canadians are dead" - Ian
"At first glance this one looked real neat! OBA, Rocket
OBA, strong leaders, fun toys including one of my favz - the German
75mm Inf gun, plus two Wasps. But after two playings, we came to an
agreement that this one was just weighed far too heavy for the Germans.
The OBA and Rocket OBA (both 150mm) never go away per SSR. And the Blazes spread like...like wildfire. Half the town was
blazing away by end of game. I'd like to see some major
changes done as I think this one could be a very good scen. " - Dave Roth
#4 50 Butchers by Glenn Houseman
Boards 53 and 35, 5.5 Turns
Rather more of a generic "Canadians attack Carpiquet" this one, with a great title. This generated more discussion about its balance than any other scenario and was played multiple times. As it is, there were enough questions about it to rank it 4th, but at least one judge reckoned it was the scenario with most potential. Some comments:
"Fun toys for both sides, good mix of units, smallish
playing area yet room to move around with three avenues of
approach...what's not to like? The Germans are just a bit too strong in
this one. " - Dave Roth
"Good sound basis for a scenario that could have replay value, but the Canucks are way too tough. Even playing like crap against a very good player (Steve Linton), I was still able to push him back and basically gain the advantage in the scenario by T2." - James Taylor
Dave and Steve have a similar (amicable
)difference of opinion about this one with Steve retort to daves assertion that "An aggressive German player will come away with a victory about 75% of the time." being "I'll see your aggressive German and kick his arse to Berlin" #3 Party Boys by Pete Shelling
Boards 10 and 43 with Overlay 6.
This one stands out as being the only one featuring a German counterattack, a nice touch. Some comments...
"A little beefier than the first two picks, but still can
be played in an evening. At first glance, with the Canadians only
having one Piat and the Germans three Panthers it looked like a
lopsided affair for sure. But the VC's and SSR's limited the Panther's
impact on play." - Dave Roth
"Very one dimensional. The Germans must attack up their left flank in-order to have a chance at their VC. A proper Canadian will occupy the heights and look to delay the Germans. I would prefer to see something that opens the scenario up dimensionally… possibly a secondary victory condition that would steer the Germans towards the other flank" - James Taylor
"ok, but could use a tweak or two - give the Brits another PIAT and somehow make it more feasible/desirable for the Germans to attack along their right instead of along the bd43 walled compound on their left." - Tom Repetti
#2 Lalande Leads by Bill Brodie
Board 17
This one really stands out as a very different scenario to all others submitted, having an Urban Guerillas-like SSR which generates SS half squads or triggers an OBA attack. I think all of us who played it had a giggle at the sniper-generated shenanigans and ranked it for what it is, popcorn, fun ASL. I wouldn't like to play it for kidneys, but that isn't its aim. Comments....
"I suspect the German SAN is too high, which is going to result in too many Bad Things happening to the somewhat fragile Canadian force, but I'm s ure there'll be games where the Canadians just roll through with a horde of halfsquads." - Tom Repetti
"Popcorn. I didn’t look forward to setting this one up… but it really was quite a bit of fun. There is a sort of “forlorn hope” aspect to the Canucks. Jazz and I had a few giggles at the weirdness of this one. " - JT
"I liked this one for a couple reasons..a small playing
area, small OoB's, short enough for an evening's play. Even so, both
sides have a few options on both defense and offense. The only thing
that was both a plus and a minus was the SSR about Sniper attacks" - Dave
So that leaves only 1
and the winner is #1 Streets Of Carpiquet by Kevin Meyer
DASL Boards b and d. 5 Turns
An attack by the North Shore regiment this time to try and take 2 buildings on board d. This one seemed to impress everyone right off the bat and played well straight out of the box, with plenty of options for both sides and a plethora of hard decisions at every turn. Judges comments....
"There are so few DASL scenarios so this one caught my eye right
away. I was not disappointed. Again, short, small OoB's but some fun
toys for both sides." dave
"Solid scenario design, and probably the best right out the gate IMHO.
The problem with this scenario is the gully. It is very difficult for the Canucks to get past the gully at the end game." - JT
So if Mr Meyer would like to step forward and claim his prizes, $10 for out of box appeal plus $10 for overall best, redeemable at the www.aslscenarioarchive.com for scenario downloads.
So that's that. The designers would like a few days to make any changes once the comments have been posted, so please have patience until they're approved and up for download.
At this stage I'd like to thank all the designers for putting their babies out there for us for free, a tremendous effort by all. The judges have put in one heck of an effort, I think all 5 of us have played every scenario at least once, and in many cases twice, which if truth be told was not an onerous task! The SAG has also done a superb job, herding monkeys and keeping the judges in the dark as to who submitted what until after we'd done the final voting. And to everyone who participated in the initial discussions, its what made this contest what it was. Also thanks to Dave Ramsey for the prize and for hosting the scenarios at the archive (free!)
Cheers
Ian, Steve, Dave, James, Tom, Tom and Kerry, judges and scenario anonymiser guy.
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