Pitman
Forum Guru
As 2005 winds to a close, the question arises: how was 2005 for you, ASL-wise? Did you win tournaments? Get a lot of good games in? Find a long-sought ASL product? Find a new gaming group or a cool opponent? Get involved in a new project? Were there any unexpected pleasures for you in 2005, or disappointments (or expected disappointments, as in the non-appearance of AOO)?
Overall, I think 2005 was a good ASL year for me:
1) Playing. Overall, I played fewer scenarios in 2005 than I did in 2004. However, it was still a pretty respectable number--somewhere in the 60-70 range. A fair amount of that was playtesting (see below). Played a lot of good scenarios, including new fun scenarios from the East Side Gamers, George Kelln, Paul Kenny, and Schwerpunkt, among others.
2) Tournaments. Went to my usual three tournaments: Winter Offensive, World Boardgaming Championships, and ASLOK. At Winter Offensive, I won a mini (my second at WO). At WBC, I came in third. At ASLOK, I didn't win anything, but that was mostly because I was mostly playtesting (see below). I had a very fun time at all three. Now that I have been playing ASL and going to ASL events for 5 years now, plus being active on-line, a great part of going to ASL tournaments is not winning, or even playing, but just the chance to meet and re-meet people I know and like. I probably ended up annoying more than one opponent this past ASLOK just by chatting with people who came by my table to say "hi".
3) Other ASL events. There were a lot of these for me in 2005 and they were very fun. In February, I went to Rod Callen's multi-day ASL bash in Northern Kentucky. In January and May, I went to Officefest in Detroit, hosted by the famous P.J. Norton (alas, this is no more). At Origins, I played lots of fun pickup games of ASL and ASLSK. Several times, I journeyed to Medina, Ohio, for ASL days at the home of the inestimable Mike Faulkner. Other times I journeyed to Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky for the "third Saturday" meetings of our little Ohio/Kentucky ASL group. And, I am pleased to say, now that I own a house, three times in 2005 I was able to host an ASL day myself, which brought together people from northern, central, and southern Ohio, as well as northern Kentucky.
4) ASL Loot. This was a good year for ASL! Although Armies of Oblivion did not come out, alas, at least it became imminent in 2005. Aside from that, I got ASLSK2 and the latest Journal from MMP; the ASLSK2 was as good as the first, and the Journal had some good scenarios in it, as well as a mini-module! My friends at Heat of Battle put out another Firefights scenario pack, although it sounds like 2006 will be an even better year for them. Schwerpunkt had another good issue (although they promise 2 issues in 2006!). George Kelln and Paul Kenny both put out some cool stuff for me to nab. Critical Hit had some neat historical stuff, although we didn't get a chance to see their big Berlin module in 2005 (it is supposedly imminent), and a third Hero Pax, which is very nice. Dispatches from the Bunker had some great scenarios this past year. And there were some cool unexpected surprises, especially the ASLOK XX Anniversary Pack, the East Side Gamers Dezign Pak 1 and the Friendly Fire pack from Scandinavia. Plus, there was ASL stuff that I did not buy, but which I was very happy came out in 2005: the ASLRB and Beyond Valor. They help insure that I will get fun new opponents in the future!
5) ASL Projects. This was a good year for me in this regard, although not always in the ways I had expected. My ASL Journal article did not come out, being bumped for space (it is a long article), so I await it in the next Journal. I made no progress with my scenario designer's guide, stalled at 98% completed, but I just recently learned of an exciting option for making it available, so I expect completion of it in 2006. The Warsaw Uprising historical study also got stalled, largely because another project, the Few Returned scenario pack, took on an unexpected priority (see below). I also submitted a couple of independent scenarios, which hopefully will see print in 2006. I need to do more of that in 2006--I have a bunch of partially designed stand-along scenarios! And lastly, I made some modest additions to the Desperation Morale website, mostly to the ASL Museum, and started a new project for the site, which will debut in sections beginning in 2006.
6) Few Returned. In many ways, my ASL year has been dominated by Few Returned, a scenario pack featuring Italians vs. Russians during the Italian breakout from Russian encirclement in Operation Little Saturn and its follow-ups in December 1942 and January 1943. I had been planning this scenario pack from some time in late 2004, when I read a pair of memoirs by Italian soldiers, which opened my eyes to the possibilities in this situation. In 2005, I decided to go ahead and design the scenarios, before I lost interest in doing that project. My thoughts were that this would be a low-key "secondary" ASL project that I would do over a relatively long period of time as I found time to get playtesting done. However, the project soon took on a greatly increased importance! The response by playtesters, both in terms of numbers of people willing to help playtest the scenarios (and the quality of their playtests!) as well as their positive reactions to the scenarios, created a momentum that I had not at all expected. Soon I discovered that the project was advancing much faster than I had figured it would, and there was even a "buzz" about the project. This was increased greatly when MMP and I arrived at an agreement in August that MMP would publish "Few Returned" as an official scenario pack that would include the long-lost boards 42 and 43! I could not ask for anything better than that. As it stands now, "Few Returned" is definitely on track for 2006 publication--sooner rather than later if all my great playtester friends continue to submit playtest reports! (you know who you are, and how grateful I am!)
I hope I didn't miss anything. The bottom line is that I met a lot of cool folks, renewed my acquaintance with cool folks I already new, played a lot of fun scenarios, got a lot of great ASL stuff, and am just as addicted to ASL as ever! Okay, 2006, bring it on, baby!
Overall, I think 2005 was a good ASL year for me:
1) Playing. Overall, I played fewer scenarios in 2005 than I did in 2004. However, it was still a pretty respectable number--somewhere in the 60-70 range. A fair amount of that was playtesting (see below). Played a lot of good scenarios, including new fun scenarios from the East Side Gamers, George Kelln, Paul Kenny, and Schwerpunkt, among others.
2) Tournaments. Went to my usual three tournaments: Winter Offensive, World Boardgaming Championships, and ASLOK. At Winter Offensive, I won a mini (my second at WO). At WBC, I came in third. At ASLOK, I didn't win anything, but that was mostly because I was mostly playtesting (see below). I had a very fun time at all three. Now that I have been playing ASL and going to ASL events for 5 years now, plus being active on-line, a great part of going to ASL tournaments is not winning, or even playing, but just the chance to meet and re-meet people I know and like. I probably ended up annoying more than one opponent this past ASLOK just by chatting with people who came by my table to say "hi".
3) Other ASL events. There were a lot of these for me in 2005 and they were very fun. In February, I went to Rod Callen's multi-day ASL bash in Northern Kentucky. In January and May, I went to Officefest in Detroit, hosted by the famous P.J. Norton (alas, this is no more). At Origins, I played lots of fun pickup games of ASL and ASLSK. Several times, I journeyed to Medina, Ohio, for ASL days at the home of the inestimable Mike Faulkner. Other times I journeyed to Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky for the "third Saturday" meetings of our little Ohio/Kentucky ASL group. And, I am pleased to say, now that I own a house, three times in 2005 I was able to host an ASL day myself, which brought together people from northern, central, and southern Ohio, as well as northern Kentucky.
4) ASL Loot. This was a good year for ASL! Although Armies of Oblivion did not come out, alas, at least it became imminent in 2005. Aside from that, I got ASLSK2 and the latest Journal from MMP; the ASLSK2 was as good as the first, and the Journal had some good scenarios in it, as well as a mini-module! My friends at Heat of Battle put out another Firefights scenario pack, although it sounds like 2006 will be an even better year for them. Schwerpunkt had another good issue (although they promise 2 issues in 2006!). George Kelln and Paul Kenny both put out some cool stuff for me to nab. Critical Hit had some neat historical stuff, although we didn't get a chance to see their big Berlin module in 2005 (it is supposedly imminent), and a third Hero Pax, which is very nice. Dispatches from the Bunker had some great scenarios this past year. And there were some cool unexpected surprises, especially the ASLOK XX Anniversary Pack, the East Side Gamers Dezign Pak 1 and the Friendly Fire pack from Scandinavia. Plus, there was ASL stuff that I did not buy, but which I was very happy came out in 2005: the ASLRB and Beyond Valor. They help insure that I will get fun new opponents in the future!
5) ASL Projects. This was a good year for me in this regard, although not always in the ways I had expected. My ASL Journal article did not come out, being bumped for space (it is a long article), so I await it in the next Journal. I made no progress with my scenario designer's guide, stalled at 98% completed, but I just recently learned of an exciting option for making it available, so I expect completion of it in 2006. The Warsaw Uprising historical study also got stalled, largely because another project, the Few Returned scenario pack, took on an unexpected priority (see below). I also submitted a couple of independent scenarios, which hopefully will see print in 2006. I need to do more of that in 2006--I have a bunch of partially designed stand-along scenarios! And lastly, I made some modest additions to the Desperation Morale website, mostly to the ASL Museum, and started a new project for the site, which will debut in sections beginning in 2006.
6) Few Returned. In many ways, my ASL year has been dominated by Few Returned, a scenario pack featuring Italians vs. Russians during the Italian breakout from Russian encirclement in Operation Little Saturn and its follow-ups in December 1942 and January 1943. I had been planning this scenario pack from some time in late 2004, when I read a pair of memoirs by Italian soldiers, which opened my eyes to the possibilities in this situation. In 2005, I decided to go ahead and design the scenarios, before I lost interest in doing that project. My thoughts were that this would be a low-key "secondary" ASL project that I would do over a relatively long period of time as I found time to get playtesting done. However, the project soon took on a greatly increased importance! The response by playtesters, both in terms of numbers of people willing to help playtest the scenarios (and the quality of their playtests!) as well as their positive reactions to the scenarios, created a momentum that I had not at all expected. Soon I discovered that the project was advancing much faster than I had figured it would, and there was even a "buzz" about the project. This was increased greatly when MMP and I arrived at an agreement in August that MMP would publish "Few Returned" as an official scenario pack that would include the long-lost boards 42 and 43! I could not ask for anything better than that. As it stands now, "Few Returned" is definitely on track for 2006 publication--sooner rather than later if all my great playtester friends continue to submit playtest reports! (you know who you are, and how grateful I am!)
I hope I didn't miss anything. The bottom line is that I met a lot of cool folks, renewed my acquaintance with cool folks I already new, played a lot of fun scenarios, got a lot of great ASL stuff, and am just as addicted to ASL as ever! Okay, 2006, bring it on, baby!
