RevJJ
Malf'ers of the Universe
Sorry if this is long. Home sick today and trying to keep my mind off of it.
ASL play in my local area has dribbled to a crawl. We've had players move, go on sabbatical like that bum Wolkey (though we're still having fun getting drunk and playing Pandemic Legacy and other games), quit playing altogether, or have more family matters to attend too leaving less time for ASL. It's been the latter situation me and one of my mates, Rob Wirthlin, have been in. For nearly a year it's been just me an him playing locally but even then, we both have changing, complicated, family schedules and are finding less time to play. I love playing Rob. He's a damn good player who just won his first tournament, and a good friend. We have a great time together.
So if it is just going to be me and Rob playing for the foreseeable future (I won't do VASL), I'm thinking about proposing we go in for the long haul and do a CG. We both started two separate ill fated team CGs a few years where we had players drop out early on. One of those was CGIV from VotG. That one didn't get past the planning stages. As we, the "Russians", were doing our initial on-map setup, my partner dropped out leaving 3 v 1 (the Germans were going to rotate players out). All the German players, including Rob, had already agreed and done their purchases and knew the attack plan. For one to defect to the Russian side would mean going back to the drawing board completely so we scrapped it.
Despite it's size, I'm considering suggesting to Rob he and I play VotG CGIV for several reasons:
1. It's pretty bad a$$ both historically and game wise. We were excited to play it originally. I've been reading Mike McGrath's CGIV article in Journal 11 and it's getting me jonesing again for the experience.
2. Rob and I played a lot of VotG scenarios, including night scenarios, to prep for the CG last time. In fact, we're planning on playing VotG27 "Drama, the Park, and Deadly Things" from Journal 11 this weekend to bone up on VotG SSRs, terrain, etc (it's been a while since we've played any VotG scenarios).
3. Rob and I were on opposite teams and if we did share our plans with each other, it's surely been washed away by subsequent years of boozing ASL play (we play, and drink, a little bit of everything). Because we've been through the initial planning for the first scenario once before, and since we're playing the same sides, we can get up and playing quickly I believe.
When I say "in it for the long haul", I'm meaning possibly years at the rate we can play and the size of the CG. One of us might move, have to stop playing altogether, who knows. But it might be a nice foray into different ASL for me especially. I've never gotten past the initial scenario of a CG since getting back into the hobby 5 years ago. It's been strictly scenarios, including a tournament, which I love because of the variety but I may be ready for a change.
One of the challenges to pulling this off will be organizational. Neither Rob or I, in our current domiciles, can leave a CG up for an extended amount of time. I have a 5 year old with special needs and my once large game room is mostly a play area and physical/occupational therapy area for my son now. I have a corner for my large game table which will more be more than adequate for the map, but I can't leave the CG up on it for the long term. Rob has kids older than mine and more of them. He can't leave a CG up at his place either.
So, we would need develop a method of recording/storing the CG which would also lend itself to quick setup. I don't have room at my place to physically pick up the map with counters on-board to store so we need to do it a different way. Before I rack my brain on this, I could use some advice. Some of you I'm sure have developed methods to do this. In fact I remember listening to a 2HS episode years ago where the SoCal ASL group had an ongoing RB campaign that they set up and took down on a regular basis. Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
ASL play in my local area has dribbled to a crawl. We've had players move, go on sabbatical like that bum Wolkey (though we're still having fun getting drunk and playing Pandemic Legacy and other games), quit playing altogether, or have more family matters to attend too leaving less time for ASL. It's been the latter situation me and one of my mates, Rob Wirthlin, have been in. For nearly a year it's been just me an him playing locally but even then, we both have changing, complicated, family schedules and are finding less time to play. I love playing Rob. He's a damn good player who just won his first tournament, and a good friend. We have a great time together.
So if it is just going to be me and Rob playing for the foreseeable future (I won't do VASL), I'm thinking about proposing we go in for the long haul and do a CG. We both started two separate ill fated team CGs a few years where we had players drop out early on. One of those was CGIV from VotG. That one didn't get past the planning stages. As we, the "Russians", were doing our initial on-map setup, my partner dropped out leaving 3 v 1 (the Germans were going to rotate players out). All the German players, including Rob, had already agreed and done their purchases and knew the attack plan. For one to defect to the Russian side would mean going back to the drawing board completely so we scrapped it.
Despite it's size, I'm considering suggesting to Rob he and I play VotG CGIV for several reasons:
1. It's pretty bad a$$ both historically and game wise. We were excited to play it originally. I've been reading Mike McGrath's CGIV article in Journal 11 and it's getting me jonesing again for the experience.
2. Rob and I played a lot of VotG scenarios, including night scenarios, to prep for the CG last time. In fact, we're planning on playing VotG27 "Drama, the Park, and Deadly Things" from Journal 11 this weekend to bone up on VotG SSRs, terrain, etc (it's been a while since we've played any VotG scenarios).
3. Rob and I were on opposite teams and if we did share our plans with each other, it's surely been washed away by subsequent years of boozing ASL play (we play, and drink, a little bit of everything). Because we've been through the initial planning for the first scenario once before, and since we're playing the same sides, we can get up and playing quickly I believe.
When I say "in it for the long haul", I'm meaning possibly years at the rate we can play and the size of the CG. One of us might move, have to stop playing altogether, who knows. But it might be a nice foray into different ASL for me especially. I've never gotten past the initial scenario of a CG since getting back into the hobby 5 years ago. It's been strictly scenarios, including a tournament, which I love because of the variety but I may be ready for a change.
One of the challenges to pulling this off will be organizational. Neither Rob or I, in our current domiciles, can leave a CG up for an extended amount of time. I have a 5 year old with special needs and my once large game room is mostly a play area and physical/occupational therapy area for my son now. I have a corner for my large game table which will more be more than adequate for the map, but I can't leave the CG up on it for the long term. Rob has kids older than mine and more of them. He can't leave a CG up at his place either.
So, we would need develop a method of recording/storing the CG which would also lend itself to quick setup. I don't have room at my place to physically pick up the map with counters on-board to store so we need to do it a different way. Before I rack my brain on this, I could use some advice. Some of you I'm sure have developed methods to do this. In fact I remember listening to a 2HS episode years ago where the SoCal ASL group had an ongoing RB campaign that they set up and took down on a regular basis. Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
