ASLOK XXXVI - 2022 RECAP Wood TD AAR T-Shirt Artwork Thanks to all 111 ASLOK XXXVI attendees...   Grofaz First Place:  Bill Cirillo (6-0) [VA] Second Place:  Steve Pleva (5-1) [CT]  Third Place:  J.R. Tracy (5-1) [NY] Fourth Place:  Andy Rogers (5-1) [Australia] Fifth Place:  John McDiarmid (5-1) [Canada]   USA vs World Cup Overall: World 23 to US 9 World MVP:  Derek Ritter (5-0) US MVP:  Kevin Killeen (2-0) Bonus Minis Theme Winner Big Game Hunter:  Brian Wiersma Pont Grande Bridge:  Jim Svette Wednesday "Mark Nixon" Minis Theme Winner Godzilla King of the Monsters:  Brian Wiersma Gor-Gor Heretical Variant Mini:  Wes Vaughn From Russia With Love:  Bob Bendis From Russia With Love #2:  Bill Lauter AARP ASLers:  Randy Rossi Bushido - Way of the Warrior:  Stan Jackson Gunned Up in the Desert:  John Gorkowski Twilight of the Reich:  George Tournemire   "Action Burk" Thursday Theme Tourneys Theme Winner Night:  Randy Rossi Deluxe:  Paul Chamberland Tincans & Popguns:  Bob Bendis Pacific:  Andy Rogers It's Like Being There!:  Chuck Payne From the Old Country:  Bill Cirillo Action Burk:  Tracy / Pleva Colonel Klink:  Pete Shelling   Friday "Mark Nixon" Minis Theme Winner Best of the Best (Grofaz mini):  Bill Cirillo Best of 2022 (Grofaz mini):  Steve Pleva Jungle Love:  Kay / Jackson Viva la Resistance!:  Jeff DeYoung Across the 38th Parallel:  Kevin Killeen Battling Buckeyes:  George Tournemire Great Patriotic War:  Nelson Harris Great Patriotic War #2:  Dave Lamb Biggest Loser No More:  Maurizio Grassi   Saturday Theme Winner Bill Sisler Memorial:  Brian Wiersma Samurai of the Rising Sun:  Kevin Killeen Blowin' in the Wind:  Philippe Briaux Wrongway's Ready or Revise?:  George Tournemire Schwerpunkt's Greatest Hits:  Keith Spurlock Jumbo Jets:  Gary Bartlett Start Me Up (ASLSK):  John Schneider Battle for Rock Boy:  Wes Vaughn & Dave Ginnard Mini Scenario Lists - List of scenarios for each Mini plus Gor-Gor Special Rules. Personal Information Sheets P.I.S. - Copies of the P.I.S. submitted by each player. ASL Player Ratings ASLOK '22 at ASL Player Ratings - Compilation of Minis/Grofaz play at ASLOK used by ASL Player Ratings. 2022 ASLOK Statistical Summary - Breakdown of Rated games at ASLOK by Scenario for 2022. ASLOK Mini & Grofaz Display Boards T-Shirt Artwork An American M26 Pershing crests a hill in Korea with infantry support is on the front while the back features the ASLOK XXXV recap... TD AAR Stopped by the hotel yesterday to check on how things were going under Wild Bill's watchful eye. The World Cup was all tied up at 2 apiece. 20-some were already through the door by Saturday afternoon. I counted 22 but probably missed a few in that count. Pre-Reg list has pushed to 97 and I expect will continue to creep upwards to match or exceed last year's 113. Today Dave Ginnard hosts the ASLOK Picnic at his place starting at 2PM and running until whenever. Hope to see you there... USA Forces entered today with a 4-3 World Cup lead. Unfortunately Andy Rogers tied it up 4-4 when I was last at the hotel. There were 4-5 World Cup games ongoing, but all but 1 were suspended for the picnic. Derek Ritter was playing John Garlic in something relatively meaty being the only Cup action I witnessed ongoing. Suprisingly there were only 2 games going on total - definitely a low for my Sunday drive-by. Seemingly everyone was at the picnic. The other game was Wild Bill playing John Gorkowski in AP49 Retrained and Rearmed. As usual the picnic was a top notch gathering hosted by Dave Ginnard and his better half Diane. I counted at least 38 through the door already, and I'm confident that is a bit of an under count as there were a few folks I recognized but wasn't placing with a name offhand. Mea culpa - call the picnic attendance ~35-40 which is fairly astounding this early in the week. Official attendance hit exactly 100 so far... Monday Update: The US exited Sunday only down 7-6, but Monday was not kind to the US forces as the World went 6-2 with the only wins for the US being Mike McGrath (over Magnus Rimvald) and Kevin Killeen (over Michael Rodgers). And oddly this was all done with 2 of the better World players sidelined fighting a Euro-Aussie battle as George Tournemire and Andy Rogers squared off in a non-WC game. The World leads 13-8 entering the final day of Cup Competition, can the American forces rally today? Official attendance up to 105. Believe 53 through the door by Monday night... On the disconcerting front, the elevator to the Skyline Ballroom rolled boxcars yesterday and we are anxiously awaiting the repair dr today... In the World Cup MVP race for the US, Kevin Killeen leads at 2-0 while Chuck Payne, Gary Bartlett & Alan Wayne Saltzman are all sitting at 1-0 and +1. For the World, Philippe Briaux & Derek Ritter are both +3, Philippe at 4-1 and Derek a perfect 3-0. Andy Rogers is lurking at +2 and 3-1. The most amusing game might have been when Mike McGrath's alarm went off last night at 8:10 and he immediately conceded as it was time for Monday Night Football. Gotta' have priorities... From Ray Woloszyn: ASL'er trapped on 6th floor...."The Elevator Man". 11:05 Monday night ASL Player RW was trapped for 90 minutes in the elevator to the Skyline ballroom despite two (one successful) rescue attempts by the Cleveland fire department. Despite a warning the elevator was not working in 8 font hand scratched note that the elevator was not working the door opened and trapped the hapless gamer for 90 minutes but has luck to have his cell phone "handy" called the front desk which cause the Cleveland fire department giving them wrong information of which of the three elevators were not working. A fourth panicked call got the stalwart firemen to come out again and rescue the obviously panicked ASL'er. The elevator is still out of commission so good luck to those who have to portage their gear to the 6th floor from the fifth floor assuming that elevator still works. Like John Merrick yelled, this ASL player yelled "I'm an ASLer, not a ton of ASL gear ." Tuesday Update: Official attendance has creeped up to 108. 52 hardy souls got up at 8AM to join a mini this morning. Bill Lauter was the first to win a mini as he triumphed already in From Russia with Love #2. The World triumphed yet again in the World Cup, although we will always have 2018, 23-9. They pulled away to a 5 game lead on Monday and then curb stomped the US forces on Tuesday with a gaudy 10-1 mark on the final day of cup action. Kevin Killeen took home MVP honors for the US at +2, 2-0. Bob Bendis, Chuck Payne & Alan Saltzman all went 1-0 for the US to garner honorable mention choices. Derek Ritter takes home the World MVP at +5 (5-0) winning a strength of schedule tie-breaker over Philippe Briaux (6-1). Andy Rogers officially ended at +4 (5-1) - if only he had overcome Mike McGrath faster he could have joined the tie-breaker but alas they adjourned overnight and didn't finish until Wednesday. Wednesday Update: Official attendance has snuck up to 110 with the arrival of Cliff Smith & Jim Aikens last night. Thursday morning sees 60 ASL Grognards battling in minis this morning. 7 full minis and the venerable Night mini with only 4 for some reason although all 4 are top notch night savants in Kevin Meyer, Wes Vaughn, Randy Rossi & JR VanMechlen. Wednesday "Mark Nixon" Mini Results & Bonus Mini Pont Grande Bridge (Bonus Mini) - Jim Svette knocked off Mike Cassaro in the final of Mike Faulkner's playtest mini of an Italian Bridge action. Godzilla King of the Monsters - Brian Wiersma eventually downs John Garlic in the finals after dueling in Texas Flood. Brian had the Germans. After a full day of play on Thursday and a few hours here and there the match moved to VASL for a final resolution. From Russia with Love - Bob Bendis knocked off Jack Daniels in the finals. From Russia with Love #2 - Bill Lauter won the first plaque of the day knocking off Jeff Talor. Gor-Gor Heretical Variant Mini - Wes Vaughn overcomes Chuck Payne to win the Pleva variant festival. Bushido: Way of the Warrior - Stan Jackson reasserts reasserts his PTO supremacy with a finals win over Jim Hunter. AARP ASLers - Randy Rossi takes home the wood with a win over John Haughey in the finals. Gunned Up in the Desert - John Gorkowski's British hung on in the final CC against Desert Maven Doug Sheppard's Germans in Khamsin. John wisely stayed concealed as Doug's Germans needed a clean win to take the last hex and his 1:2(-1) just missed due to the concealment. Twilight of the Reich (F&R Playtest) - George Tournemire won in a walk over with Rob Loper as Rob making a mini final on Saturday precluded them from playing the final on Saturday night. Thursday Update: Official attendance has snuck up to 110 with the arrival of Cliff Smith & Jim Aikens last night. Thursday morning sees 60 ASL Grognards battling in minis this morning. 7 full minis and the venerable Night mini with only 4 for some reason although all 4 are top notch night savants in Kevin Meyer, Wes Vaughn, Randy Rossi & JR VanMechlen. Action Burk Thursday Theme Results Night - Randy Rossi regains his Night crown with a hard fought win over Wes Vaughn in the Finals. Pacific - Andy Rogers reigned supreme in the PTO with a win over Mike Faulkner as Mike's dice betrayed him at crunch time. Deluxe - Paul Chamberland KO'd Mike Zeimentz in the finals on Saturday night. Mike Zeimentz and Paul Chamberland are paired in the finals, but are Grofaz'ing now and have a date to finish on Saturday evening. Tincans & Popguns - Bob Bendis beat John Gorkowski in cardboard combat in a double jeopardy mini final & Grofaz 3rd round matchup. It's Like Being There! - Chuck Payne triumphed over Rodney Callen in the HASL mini final. From the Old Country - Bill Cirillo knocked off Jim Aikens in a double jeopardy duel to decide the wood. Bill also won an Out of the Cellar 12 which was a generous prize given by Xavier and LFT. Action Burk - JR Tracy & Steve Pleva have a date to decide the mini winner in the future. The best idea so far had them playing on the return trip to greater NYC where they make Jim Manfredi drive while they dice... Colonel Klink - Pete Shelling takes home the wood over Trent Dobbs in a hard fought battle - although I never heard a single "Ho-Gan!!!" uttered for the duration of the mini... Friday Update: 54 Avid ASLers braved the 8AM start time and made it into 9 different minis on Friday morning. Both Grofaz minis are full and Grofaz play outside of the minis is a tad sparse which will open up the chances that a 6-0 mark could be enough to be crowned Grofaz this year although it may vary depending on how well the TDs can deploy the spoilers... And in perhaps the biggest news of ASLOK, Perry Cocke is actually playing in a non-play test game for the first time in who knows how many years? Don't tell anyone at MMP he's slacking on the playtest front. Perry is playing Erik Spurlock (son of Keith) in FT311 "Five-Oh Sink". Friday "Mark Nixon" Mini Update Best of the Best (Grofaz) - Bill Cirillo beats JR Tracy to take home the Classics Grofaz Mini. Best of 2022 (Grofaz) - Steve Pleva overcomes Bob Bendis in the new scenario Grofaz Mini in a battle of multi-Grofaz winners. Jungle Love - Jonathan Kay and Stan Jackson have a VASL date to settle the final. Viva la Resistance! - Jeff DeYoung snake-eyed Randy Rossi to death in the finals - I believe the count was 7 in the first 3 turns and based on Randy's reactions I don't think they were on wind changes nor Heat of Pins. Across the 38th Parallel - Kevin Killeen repeats as the King of Korea with a win over Dave Reinking in the finals. In addition to the plaque and $10, Kevin won the Korean HASL from LFT which was generously donated by LFT. Battling Buckeyes - George Tournemire beat Russ Hall in the Ohio Designer finals. Great Patriotic War - Nelson Harris wins a non-PTO mini beating Jim Svette in the final. Biggest Loser No More - Maurizio Grassi wins over Gary Bartlett in a VASL matchup to settle this one. Although Gary recorded wood first by winning a Saturday final leaving the ASLOK judges reviewing his eligibility for this mini as we speak. Great Patriotic War #2 - Dave Lamb takes home the win over Anthony Flanagan. Friday Morning Grofaz Update Best of the Best Andy Rogers and John Garlic are facing off in AP40 Head of the Mace. Andy has the Brits. Note that everyone EXCEPT the scenario designer in this mini is playing The Beasts Have Arrived. Chuck Payne and Mike Zeimentz in AP169 The Beasts Have Arrived. Chuck has the Germans. Bill Cirillo and Jim Aikens are playing Beasts as well with Bill having the attacking Germans. JR Tracy and Trent Dobbs are also playing Beasts with JR having the Germans Best of 2022 Brian Wiersma and Rodney Callen are playing Hazmo25 The Trial. Rodney has the Russians. Paul Chamberland and Steve Pleva are also playing the Trial. Steve has the Russians and had already gacked his tank FT. Bob Bendis and John Gorkowski also played the Trial with Bob winning as the Russians. Pete Shelling and Alan Saltzman went off list and played Rocket's Red Glare (195/G6) where Pete let Al have the Airborne! Al ended up winning ending Pete's Grofaz bid. Grofaz Open Play John McDiarmid is dueling David Nicholas in BoF7 The Fields of Black Gold. John has the attacking Germans. Friday Night Grofaz Update Best of the Best Andy Rogers edged John Garlic in Head of the Mace to advance to 3-0 with the Brits. JR Tracy knocked off Trent Dobbs in Beasts with the Germans in another close game. Mike Zeimentz won with the Russians in Beasts ending Chuck Payne's Grofaz dreams. Bill Cirillo's Germans won in Beasts to overcome Jim Aikens. Andy Rogers is facing off with JR Tracy in AP100 Coal in Their Stockings. JR has the attacking Americans. Bill Cirillo is dueling Mike Zeimentz in AP40 Head of the Mace. Bill has the Germans. Best of 2022 Brian Wiersma overcame Rodney Callen's Russians in Hazmo25 The Trial. Steve Pleva's Russians defeated Paul Chamberland in the Trial. Bob Bendis knocked off John Gorkowski in the Trial with Bob winning as the Russians. Alan Saltzman ended Pete Shelling's Grofaz hopes with a win as the Airborne in Rocket's Red Glare. Steve Pleva's Russians overcame Brian Wiersma's forces in HazMo28 Righteous Red Scythe to move to 4-0. Bob Bendis's Romanians knocked out Alan Saltzman in HazMo28 with a relatively up front Woods defense. Steve Pleva and Bob Bendis are destined to duel in the mini final tomorrow but are participating in a very long scenario selection phase. Grofaz Open Play John McDiarmid knocked off David Nicholas in BoF7 Fields of Black Gold. David was hanging on with a berserk half squad which John exterminated in the final CC phase for the W. Paul Chamberland knocked off Chuck Payne in a matchup to be an Open spoiler. John McDiarmid is playing spoiler Trent Dobbs in DTF3 True Grit. John has the Japanese. Saturday Update: Saturday "Mark Nixon" Mini Update Bill Sisler Memorial - Brian Wiersma knocked off Rob Loper in the final to win the wood. Samurai of the Rising Sun - Kevin Killeen downed David Nicholas in RPT190. Schwerpunkt's Greatest Hits - Keith Spurlock downs Jack Daniels in a Navy over Army final. Jumbo Jets - Gary Bartlett wins his first ASLOK wood ever over Russ Hall putting Gary's eligibility to claim the Biggest Loser No More title in jeopardy. Blowin' in the Wind - Philippe Briaux overcomes Randy Rossi to win the wood. Wrongway's Ready or Revise - George Tournemire evades Maurizio Grassi to win Pete Shelling's playtest mini. Apparently the game pivoted on a motion vehicle's defensive fire shot where Maurizio rolled a 3, narrowly missing George's vehicle thanks to the +4 and doubling the lowering dr causing Maurizio to campaign for counter revisions to change the +2 on the motion counter which is somewhat confusing at best... Start Me Up - John Schneider takes home the SK crown with a win over Jonathan Plott in the final. Battle for Rock Boy - Wes Vaughn and Dave Ginnard came up with a new plan which worked in To the Last Man as they overcame the defending champions, Tommy Cvetinovich and Pete Mudge. Wes & Dave did have the balance. Bonus Prizes Gamer's Armory generously donated a couple of scenario packs which were awarded somewhat arbitrarily to attendees who did not have the packs already: John Garlic was awarded the 2nd Death to Fascism pack, No Step Back, for playing the most games at his first ASLOK as he got in an impressive 15 this week. Andy Hershey was awarded the Fistful of Scenarios pack for a lifetime achievement award in helpful ASLOK suggestions from mini themes to helping out with mini scenario lists. Grofaz Early Saturday Update Steve Pleva beat Bob Bendis in DB169 Sternbeck's Sortie. Steve had the Americans. Steve wins the Best of 2022 Grofaz Mini with the win. Bill Cirillo managed to edge Mike Zeimentz in AP40 Head of the Mace. Bill had the Germans. Mike setup his tanks HD on the hills and forced an early tank battle but despite the early tank battle they didn't finish until ~2:30AM. JR Tracy knocked off the last World Grofaz hopeful, Andy Rogers, in AP100 Coal in Their Stockings. JR had the attacking Americans. His attack struggled for the first couple of turns digging himself a sizable hole but JR managed to dig out of it by ~4AM to pull of the win. Bill Cirillo managed to knock off JR Tracy in HF8 Fahrenheit 342 to win the Best of the Best Grofaz mini. Bill had the Americans. Mike Zeimentz and Andy Rogers dueled for the potential spoiler role at 3-1 going old school with TAC43 Massacre in Paradise. Andy had the Germans who prevailed in the end. John McDiarmid beat Trent Dobbs in Open Grofaz Play in True Grit with the Japanese. John McDiarmid beat spoiler Paul Chamberland in DB167 The Last Day as the Germans to advance to 5-0. Grofaz Saturday Evening Update Bill Cirillo (5-0) and Steve Pleva (5-0) are playing Acts of Defiance in what could be the final. Bill has the Russians and Steve has the balance. They used the Festung Budapest rubble rules which can produce debris to add a little spice. John McDiarmid (5-0) is playing Andy Rogers (4-1) in FT179 Landstorm Over Arnhem. Spoiler Andy has the French. Bob Bendis (4-1) is playing JR Tracy (4-1) in the SP147 Zebra Mission for a shot at sneaking into 4th. Bob has the Germans. At this point the Grofaz breaks down to if John McDiarmid moves to 6-0 there will be a final tomorrow between John and the winner of Steve Pleva & Bill Cirillo. If John loses to spoiler Andy Rogers, then the Bill-Steve Acts of Defiance game becomes the final game... Final Grofaz Results Bill Cirillo [VA] (6-0) Steve Pleva [CT] (5-1) J.R. Tracy [NY] (5-1) Andy Rogers [Australia] (5-1) John McDiarmid [Canada] (5-1) Bill's 120mm shell overcame Steve's German 9-2 in Acts to pull out his second Grofaz title and become only the 6th man to record multiple Grofaz titles. Steve placed second due to losing in the finals and tie-breaker on record faced as all Mr. Pleva's opponents were undefeated. JR knocked off Bob Bendis in the 4-1 duel and had beaten Andy in a 3-0 matchup. Andy placed 4th by spoiling John McDiarmid's run and thus winning the tie-breaker over John. Final attendance came in at 111 which was just shy of last year's 113...
|Home| |Pre-Reg| |Agenda| |History| |Links|