David R. Moody - Sep 5, 2006 11:44 am (#15456 Total: 15460) 2006 Silicon Valley ASL Tournament Champion ConQuest AAR Part the First: Flashman at the Con, and What If They Had A Minis Event and No One Came? Over Labor Day weekend I went to ConQuest, the biggest gaming convention out here in the San Francisco Bay Area, held once again at the SFO Marriott in Burlingame. I decided to attend for two days this year (Saturday and Sunday--I also went down on Friday night last year but couldn't this year) and also to play mostly in historical miniatures events, as I never get to play minis outside of cons and the East Bay Armchair Generals events the first Saturday of the month. I arrived at the venue, picked up my registration packet, signed up for the events I wanted to play in, and headed down to the boardgames room to hang out prior to heading up to the ballroom for my first minis event. While there I got into a six player Down in Flames dogfight, part of the Ace tournament. We had two Hurricane and one Spitfire element against three Bf-109E elements (I had Hurribirds). I had to leave early so as not to miss my event, but not before flaming a 109. The first minis event I signed up for was Siege of Baba Ram. Set during the Great Mutiny of 1857, it depicted the final assault by besieging sepoys and their Afghan allies against a ragtag band of British and loyal Native troops holding the residency. The players (seven of us) commanded the defenders, while the GM ran the attackers. Cards were used to determine who got to take actions when, and also special events like the participation of Harry Flashman, Gunga Din, coordinated sepoy attacks, etc. At any rate, my personal command was a detachment from the Naval Brigade (two companies). Among the other defenders of Baba Ram were parts of the 60th Foot, 78th Highlanders, a Sikh unit, loyal sepoys with blue hats, Bengali fusiliers, and Gurkha rifles, as well as two fieldpieces served by Royal Artillery gunners. My troops were split up, with one company in a small outbuilding facing south and one defending one of the inner walls. We did not have long to wait for the enemy to show up, as soon hordes of sepoys and Afghans began attacking. They broke through our lines in places. My detachment in the outbuilding, after taking some of the attackers out with accurate fire, was driven from their building by sepoys with green trimmed uniforms. Harry Flashman then showed up, via random event, to assist my troops in reforming to cover the water supply. Meanwhile, some berzerk sepoys overran and virtually destroyed a company of Bengal Fusiliers. My second company reformed behind a wall and blasted the sepoys with a volley, driving them back. Taking losses from artillery fire as well as cholera and heatstroke, my men continued to stand to it, pouring fire in and beating off an assault. All along the line the enemy broke through, but our superior fire discipline won the day. The green-trimmed sepoys took the water supply, but were blasted by artillery then cut down by my surviving troops, who regained their positions. One of the Bengal fusilier companies even counterattacked out of the walls to scatter more sepoys. At one point some of the Afghanis fired at each other, as old clan rivalries flared up. Our lines bent, but held, and the sepoys and their allies were driven off, albeit at great cost. I lost nine dead to various causes. Great game, and great fun. That event ended early, so I decided to go check out the Age of Eagles (Napoleonic minis based on Fire and Fury rule) event, only to find it had been canceled! So I cruised the dealer room, picking up a copy of The Burning Blue from the GMT booth at a nice discount, and headed down to the boardgames room. Since my next event (1859 minis) wasn't until 7 PM, I played more DiF dogfights, shooting down a Ki-61 Tony over Burma with Hurricane IIbs and a MC.202 Folgore over North Africa with P-38s. I was less successful with Fleet Air Arm Corsairs and Seafires vs. Tojos and Franks. At any rate, my three kills was good for a second place tie, and 20 Mondo bucks, which I cashed in for a copy of Gloom. Also cruised the flea market, mostly looking for 15mm Napoleonics and coming up empty. I did get a copy of 'Swords Around a Throne' for $2 though. Then up to the minis room, and a fruitless search for the 1859 game. No one had seen the GM all day, so it looked like that game was canceled too. Frustrating. Since the ASL Tournament (the only non-minis event I had signed up for) was the next morning, and I wanted to make sure I was rested, I decided to head home. With the lower (eastbound) deck of the Bay Bridge closed all weekend, I had to go the long way home, via the San Mateo Bridge. Took me about an hour and half to get home, what with all the traffic. Did dishes, went to sleep, little knowing the greatest glory was yet to come. David R. Moody - Sep 5, 2006 12:31 pm (#15457 Total: 15460) 2006 Silicon Valley ASL Tournament Champion ConQuest AAR Part The Second And Last: Hail the Conquering Hero Sunday was the 4th or 5th Annual Silicon Valley ASL Tournament (I forget which). This was my third year of participation; I came in third two years ago and fourth last year. Every year the GM (Michael Rhodes) does something different with the tourney, and this year was no exception. There were three rounds, all featuring short/small (five turns/half maps) scenarios from Heat of Battle's Firefight series. In each round we had a choice of two scenarios to play. In addition for getting points for winning and finishing within the alloted time, we also got points for rolling more snake eyes than our opponent, for having the most snake eyes in the round, and the most in the tournament. The 'twist' this year was the ASL Lotto points. You got points for bad things happening to you in the scenarios--breaking MMGs/HMGs/AFV main armament, losing units in close combat, having your units surrender via the Rout Phase method, etc. Since that sort of thing happens to me all the time, I was in my element. So we paired up and began. Round 1 offered a choice between Germans clearing out Russians around Smolensk in July 1941, or Germans attacking dug-in Russians at Kursk. All but one group chose the former scenario, as no one wanted to deal with the off board artillery and bunker rules (both sides got OBA in that one, and the Russians got a bunker). My opponent in the first round was Ryan Kent, a fellow minis gamer from the North Bay whose minis I keep borrowing for Napoleon's Battles games. It was good to see him, and to see him across that short deadly space at last. I took the Russians, and the goal was to score more VP than the other side. In addition to casualty VP, both sides got VP for controlling hexes of the railroad that ran through the map (it supplied the panzers deeper into Russia). The resulting battle was one of the best I have ever played, full of twists, turns, wild swings. Lots of melees, and my men had such a low ELR (1) that they kept Disrupting and surrendering, but I launched close combat counterattacks that freed them all! At one point one of my best squads (a 4-5-8 ) got Heat of Battle, rolled a 12, Surrendered, and was then liberated in a melee! At any rate, the climax of the battle came when I broke Ryan's kill stack, costing him the game. I won on points, having inflicted more losses and controlling most of the railroad. I also had NINE ASL Lotto points (five units eliminated in CC, 3 units surrendered via Rout Phase method, and I rolled more snake eyes), which gave me 15 points and the lead in the tourney after Round 1. A great game, and I have a new ASL opponent in the area. Round 2 offered a choice between 1940 scenarios: French dragoons vs. Germans or Belgian Chasseurs Ardenais vs. Germans. Everyone chose the latter scenario, as no one wanted to deal with the rules for motorcycles and trucks that the French had in the former scenario. In this one, the Germans had to clear the Belgians out of a cluster of five stone buildings on a small Level 2 hill, traversing open ground to do it. I was the Belgians, and I deployed my tiny force (three 4-5-8 squads, a half squad, two leaders--one a 10-2--two MMGs, and two LMGs) to cover both the buildings and the flanks. My random reinforcement was a T-15 tank. This was a very tough one for the Germans, despite my breaking one of the MMGs (fortunately not the one with the 10-2). My opponent tried to use his armored car to lay smoke and advance up the hill under its cover, but my good die rolling carried the day, breaking him. After breaking his ATR squad, I drove my tank up the hill and engaged in fire at two hex range against his armored car, getting two Shock results. My 8-1 led a squad in close combat against the armored car, but failed to knock it out. My opponent conceded after it became apparent he could not get up that hill. Another win, and a nice lead going into the final round . . . . Which was the toughest. Neither scenario choice was good--either Ami paras night dropping on a village (St. Comte du Mont?) on D-Day or Russian Guards trying to drive elements of 5th SS "Wiking" Division out of a partially ruined castle in Hungary in January 1945. Again, we all picked the same scenario--the one with the SS in the castle--as no one wanted to deal with the Night rules. I was the Russians in this one, and did not do well at all, losing all my tanks and managing to get into part of the castle before being thrown out again. I did take out two Panthers, at least. But I had enough points to hang on, and win the tournament by four points. So it is with considerable pride that I can say I am the 2006 Silicon Valley ASL Tournament Champion. It blew me away, and still blows me away. Two years ago, when I first went to ConQuest, I was unsure if I was good enough to play in an ASL Tournament. Placing third that year was, up till Sunday, my proudest moment in over a quarter century with the cardboard colors. Now I am defending champion. Plus I got a cool little IS-2m and King Tiger which sit on my monitor as I type this. After that glorious and hard-won victory, anything else would be anti-climatic, but it wasn't. I went up to the minis room and played in a Seven Years' War minis game, using a homebrew rules set. It was a fictious scenario, pitting elements of the Prussian army under Marshal von Baden against an Austrian force. Both sides were trying to take control of the area ahead of the rest of their armies. I was overall Prussian commander, and also controlled two of our three wings, giving the right wing to a young gamer (maybe 14 or 15). Opposite me, once again, was Ryan Kent, commanding the white coated minions of the inbred mouthbreathing Hapsburgs. My plan was to hold with my left and try to roll up the Austrian line with echelon attacks from right (where I put the kid) and center. And it worked, though it was touch and go, as Ryan's cavalry routed most of our right wing cavalry and threatened to drive a wedge between my center and right. But the left held, despite some Badenese I posted in the woods who took fire and routed on the first turn and kept running like wussies all game. Some of my light cavalry even smashed into a column of Austrian horse the enemy (not Ryan--another player) had foolishly advanced too close, routing many of them. In the center, I drove up onto a small hill held by Austrian grenadiers. The fighting raged here, with lines surging back and forth. I drove back the grenadiers, and took a battery, but follow on Austrian units threatened to push my lads back. At the decisive point I sent in a fresh Fusilier battalion, and it broke the Austrian lines, sending them pellmell down the slopes. At that point it was nearly midnight, so the GM adjudicated a Prussian Minor Victory. The Austrian cavalry, still superior to ours, would cover the retreat of their shot up forces, though we would take another battery whose horses had routed away. Chalk up another victory for me, this time at Weiszhof (I named it after a certain British actress of Austrian and Hungarian extraction). So I went home, exhausted, exhilirated, and covered with glory. Four battles, three victories. I felt like I should have a Triumph. I already know all about the 'all glory is fleeting' bit, as I had a long honeydo list yesterday--five loads of laundry, clean kitchen and bathroom floor (the latter really fun if you have a seven year old with an ostomy and bad aim). But I didn't care; I won enough glory to last a while.