Last weekend I made my way to Kansas City to play in my first March Madness event. It has been over 15 years since I played in an organized Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) event. The last one was in Denver many years ago.
When I saw the notice for March Madness I reached out to Dave Mareske and asked if there would be some play of the ASL Starter Kit. He assured me that I would be able to play and even set me up with Bob Piepho, who I ended up playing all weekend. I hope that Bob had as much fun as I had. It was amazing! I want to thank the guys at the Kansas City ASL Club. Every single person made me feel so welcome. It was a great group of guys and just being around this group of ASL enthusiasts was inspiring.
Let me give you a little bit of my previous ASL Journey. At one time, I had every module, hundreds of maps, and more scenarios that I could have played in 100 years. I had plano containers with all the nationalities, and it looked like I was moving in when attending an event. Hell, the rule book weighed 10 pounds. One day I realized that the rest of the games in my collection were not getting played. All of my gaming time was filled with playing ASL. It was not a bad thing, but I did not want to limit my play options. I also had three kids at home and my time to play was limited. I decided to sell the entire collection. $1200 later Seth was an owner of a very extensive ASL kit. He is still playing with it to this day. I am sure he has gotten more use out of that kit than I ever dreamed of.
I guess the reason I am telling you all this, is I love playing ASL Starter Kit, but at this time, I will not be diving back into the full-blown ASL pool. So I was glad to find that there are many players, perfectly happy to play starter kit and that is it. Well, let's get back to my March Madness experience.
I arrived on Thursday to stay with our friends Suzanne and Marsha. I appreciated them letting me crash at their place and saving the money on the hotel room. The good news was they lived only 8 minutes from the hotel, so it worked out well for me. We enjoyed a great dinner and spent a few hours catching up. I love these folks and it is always good getting to share some time with them.
I was so excited to play the next day that I did not sleep very well. I stayed up way too late, just reading rules, so that I would not make a total mess of the next day. I love the fact that at the young age of 59, I still get excited about some of the little things in life that make me happy.
After a quick shower, I loaded up the car and headed to the hotel. The Holiday Inn was very nice and there was plenty of room for all of us to set up and play. I was sitting at the table and getting the first scenario set up when Bob walked in. After our introductions, I was feeling very good about the morning. Bob was laid back, very nice, and a joy to play with. I checked in at the desk, introduced myself to the gang, and picked up my T-shirt. It was time to play!
The first scenario was Exit #1 S58. I played the Germans and was fortunate enough to squeak out a late victory. The scenario was a lot of fun and seemed very balanced. It was a great way to start the weekend.
The next scenario was S13 Priority Target. I lost this game and we stood at 1-1. Bob was so much fun to play, we took our time, looked up rules when needed and truly learned from each other. If you ever get a chance to play a game with Bob, you should jump at it. I hear he is a huge Panzer Grenadier fan, so I have started to look into that system as well. Stay tuned to see what I decide to do on that front.
Our last game for Friday was S4 Welcome Back. I lost this game as well. Bob exited his last American squad to earn enough victory points for the win on the last game turn. This was a very balanced scenario and one that I would like to play again.
We started playing at 9 AM and I made it home at 11 PM. It was a fantastic day of playing ASLSK. I was learning a lot and like I said earlier, Bob was a joy to spar with. I was looking forward to more play on Saturday.
One of the things I like to do is walk around and see how other folks, like to set up their games and the tools they use to play. I saw several great kits along with a few very nice game tables. The group was very accommodating and friendly. This is a great event.
I was up and excited early on Saturday, so I strolled over to the local Denny's and had breakfast while reading up on the gun & Vehicular rules. Today would be filled with SK2 & 3 scenarios. I had played a few scenarios with all of the bells and whistles but today I would jump into the deep end.
The first scenario of the day was S35 - The Volga is Reached! This scenario was a blast and probably the most fun I have had playing ASLSK. The added Comisar & Stuka SSR's made for a fun and exciting exchange. This came down to the last turn and then it happened! Bob started rolling like a man possessed. 6 attacks went 2, 2, 9, 3, 2 and 2! Yikes. His Russians were not going to be denied! It was a great scenario.
Next up was 88's at Zon. This was another fun scenario that I lost. I went 1-4 but was not mad about it at all. The weekend was amazing and the company and new friends that I met, were well worth the trip. These two scenarios took up most of the day. I finished with 5 scenarios and over 20 hours of playtime. I am already looking forward to playing in next year's event. The KC ASL club also has monthly get-togethers so I might try and attend a few of those as well. KC is only 2.5 miles from the house so making it a long day would work out well.
Well, that about wraps it up for this little report. I had a wonderful time and like I mentioned earlier, was welcomed with open arms. One of the nice things about not having a lot of SK players is they had a few awards and raffle items and I made out pretty well.
I want to thank all of the organizers of this event for their hard work. It is not easy putting on these events and everything was done well. The venue, the location, and the camaraderie were off the charts. I would be remiss if I did not mention Bob again. He got stuck playing with me all weekend and did it with a smile on his face. He is a nice guy and a very good player. Until next time everyone, I hope to run into more of you online playing VASL and hopefully in person as well. *On a side note, I met so many people, I did not remember most of the names, so I am sorry for not adding them to the images above. You can see all of my pictures from the event here. March Madness Gallery Visit the Kansas City ASL Club website here: Kansas City ASL Club Roll low - unless you're playing me!
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