Tussle in the Tundra 2018

TUSSLE IN THE TUNDRA 2018

It is that time of the year again: Advanced Squad Leader in Manchester, New Hampshire!  My friend Chuck has been running this for a few years now, so I knew it was going to be a fun one!  

What have I got myself into?

For those who don't know, Advanced Squad Leader is a board wargame that pits players against each other in tactical battles of the Second World War.  It was released in 1985 and is the successor to the 1978 smash hit Squad Leader, designed by the late John Hill.  Squad Leader was a revolutionary game, but it had room for improvement.  Don Greenwood came along and with a team of gamers took Squad Leader (and its expansions: Cross of Iron, Crescendo of Doom and GI: Anvil of Victory) and amalgamated and updated the system.  Thus was born Advanced Squad Leader, aka ASL.

Cover of version 1 of the Rulebook, complete with artwork by Rodger MacGowan

So, the Tussle in the Tundra: what is it?  Well, put simply, it is the Northeast's best little ASL Tournament.  Typically participation is around 20 to 25, but in spite of that size, the competition is tight.  Players come from all over New England, New York and this year from as far away as Virginia and California!  It starts on Friday and goes until Sunday, with the option for warm up games on Thursday.

New Scenario from Hatten in Flames

To kick things off, I got off to an early start playing my first-ever ASL opponent, Rob Loper of Vermont.  He brought along his brand-new copy of Hatten in Flames, an historical ASL game-set based on battles in Alsace in early 1945.  He played the US player and I the German.  The game was a tight one, came to the end, but Rob was able to win one for the good guys!  It was a great battle and the set, just released the week previous, was a beauty to behold.  So, warmed up, the next day would see me fighting a battle set on the Eastern Front in Stalingrad

Welcome to Stalingrad

I arranged things such that I would be facing off against Sean Deller, a fantastic player who has an impressive record as both a player and a scenario designer.  Sean is a gentleman and I was looking forward to learning a thing or two from him in this game.  For this one, I would be the Germans, attacking the Soviets with a view to capturing a divisional HQ.  This is set in October, 1942 about a month before the Soviet counterattack that destroyed the German 6th Army. 

Putting on the Pressure!

My initial attack was successful and I was pressuring his HQ building on turn 2.  Things were looking bleak for the Soviets, especially since I wounded one of his two leaders.  As luck would have it, his initial reinforcements arrived in the nick of time!  A Commissar got to the HQ and was able to cycle his broken man back forward into the battle time and time again.  Now the pressure was starting to hit me!

Too little, too late

As it turned out, at game end I had four squads in that victory building, but so did Sean.  I needed to have more in there than he, and in this I was just shy of the required amount.  No matter, this was a fantastic game and I was able to make good account of myself.  On to game two!

Operation Citadel

For my next game, I was up against David Kuchta.  I had never met David before and this is one of the highlights of ASL: getting to meet people from all over.  Not only did we play our battle, set in the USSR in 1943, but we were able to talk and chat about our respective ASL histories.  For this one, he would be attacking with the Soviets and I would attempt to defend as the Germans. 

German counterattack

In the end, David was very aggressive and got into the objective area in good order and I was forced to try to get around his flank.  I did my best, but his gunnery was just too much for me.  I made some tactical errors along the way, but most of all, had fun.  0-2 and time to head to bed: Saturday would see me switching over to bolster the ranks of the mini tournament.

Day 1 of the war: September First, 1939.

Round one of the mini would see me in an epic see-saw battle vs Mike Allexenberg in a battle set on the very first day of the war as the Germans invaded Poland.  My meager force of Poles would attempt to stop his attack using some very odd Armored Cars, the type that were so poorly protected that machine guns stood a better than average chance to knock them out.

Polish Counterattack

This battle swung both ways.  At first, Mike's forces were pushing me back further and further into the village I was defending.  Then in an act of brilliance, I started rolling well.  I knocked out a substantial portion of his force and it looked as if I would emerge victorious!   But then Mike would really put the pressure on me and was able to take out my leader and machine gun nest with one of his pathetic armored cars.  So, I was now 0-1 in the mini and 0-4 for the weekend.   And as it would turn out, Mike would go on to win the tourney, and I was but a mere speedbump in his path!

Early Battle

Here come the Germans

For the next round of the mini, I was paired off against my old pal Keith Talbot.  He and I first played against one another in 2015 when I attended my first-ever ASL tournament.  This time I would be attacking his guys in Latvia.  My force would have to get through machine-gun riddled streets to try to force the issue by capturing a building well to the rear.  I was able to use cover and found myself in his building by the 4th turn.  It was a see-saw battle in the building, but in the end, I was able to force his men out of the building.  One thing I did was apply what I had learned in my 4 years of ASL play: take prisoners whenever possible!  I had a half-squad in the back running around with 3 squads and a leader: the most he can guard at once!

"Start spreading the news..."

I had a long way to go, so I decided to head back to Virginia early.  I head out that night around 5 pm and made it to New Jersey, passing through New York City along the way.  I had a great weekend and a great time with so many friends along the way.  Once again, I find myself at home on a Sunday with fond memories of the weekend past and its battles with tiny men of cardboard.

Human Wave 2018

One of my first experiences with Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) was to play in a tournament.  In fact, my very first full-rules ASL game was at a tournament.  I lost 3 games and won one.  But right then and there, I knew that I was hooked.

I moved on up!

Once I moved to the Northern Virginia area, I discovered the DC Conscripts, a group of ASL players who got together about once a month.  My first match was a disaster for me: I was destroyed.  Completely.  But I learned so much from that game.  The bite was getting deeper and I was out playing in more tournaments.  I went to Tussle in the Tundra, Huzzahcon (my first), Nor'Easter, NY State Championship and the ASL Oktoberfest.

So much travel!

What I was missing was a local tournament.  So I decided to take a leap of faith and organize one locally.  I had met some pretty heavy hitters in the local area when it came to gaming ASL, so I knew that we would have a good core of players.  Going with the theme of us being "Conscripts" (the local crew has a schtick in which we emulate the poor bloody infantry of the Red Army), I named the tournament "Human Wave".  If I had to describe the tournament as it turned out using just one word, that word would be "Success".  People had fun and there was some pretty epic gaming.

URRAH!

So the tournament was set for 8 to 10 June.  There would be a main tournament of four rounds (16 gamers) and a mini of three rounds (8 gamers).  We also made room for open gamers and of course Starter Kit players.  In the end, we had 16 signed up for the main and 8 for the mini, though 3 people had to bow out just before the tournament due to unforeseen circumstances.   In addition to those 21 players, we had 8 open gamers show up, including 3 for Starter Kit.

Starter Kits: The Gateway to ASL Awesomeness!

29 people over the weekend far exceeded all expectations.  Also present was Perry Cocke of MMP.  It sure was nice having him there, especially when a rules question came up.  I would give the answer, pause, turn to Perry and then see if he was nodding or shaking his head.

So Many Prizes!

Another perk of the game was all the prize support.  Prizes were donated by the following great organizations:

1. Bounding Fire Productions
2. Lone Canuck Publishing
3. Yankee ASL (aka "The Bunker")
4. The Gamer's Armory
5. Multiman Publishing; and
6. Key's Games and Hobbies in Moline, Illinois

In all honesty, there is no way that this could have succeeded without their support.  Also of note is that two members of the Conscripts donated some loot.

Main Tournament Trophy

Mini Tournament Trophy

"Box Cars" booby prize

The trophies were a hit.  Our very own Scott Bricker built and painted these wonderful trophies and they were the hit of the tournament!  

The Game is afoot!

The games kicked off on Friday Night for round one.  Unfortunately our room was unavailable due to a failed Air Conditioning system, but we made do.  Having two air conditioners in there on a hot and muggy DC-area weekend sure did help!  After a quick intro, the dice were being tossed and the games were underway!

Round 2 Main and Round 1 Mini underway

Saturday was a tight day.  That room was packed.  The patience of all involved was amazing and there were no complaints to be heard.  Like most gamers, they were able to made do and all made their personal morale checks.  On day 2, it was off to round 2 and 3 for the main tournament as the mini went through all 3 rounds in that one day!

Mini Tournament Champion, Jim Bishop

It was no surprise that Mr Jim Bishop (as seen as a 9-1 in the ASL Starter Kit Expansion Pack!) emerged with a perfect 3 and 0 record to claim the top prize in the mini tournament!  He took home a gift certificate along with the amazing trophy that Scott did.  Congratulations, Jim!

Last Men Standing!

The Last Scenario

In Progress

In the end, Tom Arnold and Neil Stanhagen were the final two standing for the main tournament.  They squared off on Sunday morning playing J103 Lenin's Sons.  Neil drew the Soviets and Tom the attacking Germans.  it was a tight game that came down to the final phase of the final turn!  In the end, the winner was...

The Winner!  Neil Stanhagen

Neil!  In addition to the trophy, he received a gift certificate from Lone Canuck Publishing.  

Scott (left): "I designed that Box Cars model"
Andy (right):  "And I own it now!  I think I set a record!"

Finally, the winner of the Box Cars: Andy Hoskins!  What a champ!  We think he had loaded dice!  Ha!  I think the final number of 15 box cars in four games.  The next nearest was maybe 7.  Poor Andy.  But he did get a sweet trophy!

So, in the end, a lot of ASL was played and the tournament ended up one shy of 30 gamers.  What a great success.  To all who came out for Human Wave 2018, thank you!  And I look forward to seeing you again at Human Wave 2019!  I promise, the room will be bigger!

David

A Study of my Insanity: how I fell in love with the Advanced Squad Leader system

Back in 1983, my friend Gary Olson came over to my place and brought with him a game.  That game?  Squad Leader.  "Welcome to Stalingrad!" was the cry as he and I took on the roles of the Soviets and the Germans in a little scenario called "The Guards Counterattack".  I think I was German and I don't know who won.  It doesn't matter.  That game was all it took for me to be hooked on war gaming in general and Squad Leader in particular.

How we saw ourselves as we rolled the dice!

Gary had Squad Leader and its follow-on components, known as "gamettes".  All were necessary for the full experience, and Gary had them all: Cross of Iron, Crescendo of Doom and GI: Anvil of Victory.  Each one of the gamettes added rules progressively.  In fact, Squad Leader as a system was known for its so-called "Programmed Instruction" approach. So, you would get a set of rules, then you would go play a scenario, get more rules, another scenario and so on.  The system worked!


Well, it did work, but stopped working once you got to the next gamette.  Invariably, each new gamette would add new rules that made previous rules obsolete.  As an example, Squad Leader had rules for tanks and ordnance.  The very first rules in Cross of Iron gave completely new rules.  But all through Crescendo of Doom, the index, page numbering and all else was in sequence. 

GI: End of the Line

This all changed with GI: Anvil of Victory.  The game designers had by the time Crescendo of Doom was released in 1981 realized that the system was growing in leaps and bounds and was spurred on by its popularity.  They decided to go back to the drawing board and remake the system from ground up, incorporating all the elements developed thus far.  As such, the effort into GI: Anvil of Victory, though extensive, was not comprehensive.  Its index failed to refer back to Squad Leader and led to all sorts of confusion.  The new system, Advanced Squad Leader, would fix all that anyway, or so the designers had hoped.

DAWN OF A NEW ERA

By 1985, the rules and initial module for Advanced Squad Leader was ready to go.  Almost.  The first module was released in the autumn of that year, but the rules went back for some refining and then were finally issued in early 1986.  The initial module was set on the Eastern Front and contained maps, scenario cards and the game counters for the system, as well as the entire order of battle for the Germans and the Russians, as well as some for the Finns. "Beyond Valor" became the first of many modules. 

The first of it all

Gary bought Beyond Valor and the Rule book and I think we both just gasped.  Here was a monster of a game and neither of us really had the impetus to crack the code, as it were.  Besides, we were of legal drinking age and girls were really interesting, so we both sort of drifted away from such nonsense.  Well, sort of.  We kept gaming, but we stuck to other games, such as Assault by Game Designers Work Shop and of course the original Squad Leader.

Passing through time now

Flash forward from 1986 or so to 2013 or so.  I was in at work one day and my pal Quentin noted that I had some literature on Squad Leader.  He noted that he had a friend who played, so he was going to put us together.  Alas, turned out he played Advanced Squad Leader.  I related that I had never gotten into it, nobody to mentor me, etc.  "Well, he plays the Starter Kit".  The what?  I had no idea!  I went online and quickly found that there were not one, not two, but THREE starter kits.  ASL Starter Kit 3 was available for purchase for around 30 bucks or so, so I made the leap and bought it.  I tried it, and I liked it!

Where have you been all my life?

I got a hold of Gary and asked if he had the ASL still.  He did, and I bought what he had (Rule Book, Beyond Valor and Paratrooper).  I joined a Facebook community and on the suggestion of the masses purchased For King and Country, a module containing the UK and Commonwealth forces.  But my real luck came a few weeks later.  I met a fellow online who told me of a tournament in "nearby" Portland Maine (6 hours by car...).  I took the leap and went.  And wow!  What a weekend!  Chuck ran a low-key tournament and the players were all great and especially patient with me.  I actually won one game out of 4!

Two or three weeks later, I ran into a fellow who was selling his gear.  And by "gear" I mean the entire collection that was available up to that time.  I bought it, which included both official and third party gear. 

So, I've since played in tournaments and local.  I've played online and I've played solo.  And the best part is the fun I have playing people *and* the relationships I've made over the past few years.  I log my games and I have played over 200 matches in my 3 or so years of serious play.  I realize that this game is not for all, but I do find it both engaging *and* time consuming.  But in a good way. 

So, if you see me with some dice and a happy look in my eyes, fear not!  I am probably just on my way to play some ASL.  See you at the tournament!