South Austin: Texas ASL League play continued today with a small turnout at the Whoopass Commissar's House. In the first game, Matt Shostak commanded the German forces in Kampfgruppe Karachev against Sam Tyson's Russians. The Russians just couldn't catch a break in this one. To start off, the lead T-34 was set ablaze by the German antitank gun as it tried to plow through the woods. The next T-34 motored down the road and overran the gun, breaking the crew, and continued on into the next hex, where it attempted ESB and immobilized. Two more T-34s moved down the woods road, with one bogging as it tried to enter the woods portion. The German gun crew quickly rallied but was unable to recover the gun in two successive attempts, yet the crew endured much incoming fire without breaking. Meanwhile, a German 8-1 and 468 were locked in close combat with the immobilized T-34 for two phases, neither able to destroy the other. Finally the gun crew recovered their weapon and drilled a round through one of the lead T-34s, setting it ablaze also. Retaining rate of fire, the gun turned to shoot at the immobilized T-34 in melee behind it. The shot missed, but intensive fire knocked that T-34 out also. On the German left flank the Russian 9-2 leader with a squad failed to achieve ambush on a German squad in close combat, and was also held in melee when neither side could harm the other. The Germans were quick to reinforce this melee and soon eliminated the 9-2 and squad. The bogged T-34 had tried to free itself but threw a tread instead and immobilized. When the flames from the blazing T-34 spread to the woods and finally became a blaze, the last T-34 was destroyed, and the Russians were only 1 point away from their casualty victory point cap. A couple of double breaks later and the game went to the Germans. Although critics say he is washed up, Shostak claimed the victory earned him a title shot at Toreki. The victory put the two top players tied for ladder points, and sources close to both players report that a major pay-per-view deal is being worked on.
In the other game, Carl Kusch (Americans) clashed with Jeff Taylor (Germans) in Merzenhausen Zoo. Fans were treated to a brutal slugfest. A clever pairing of the Nashorn and JgPzIV in the 10Y10 area was proving to be a tough nut to crack for Kusch's Amis, until a Bounding First Fire attack with a couple of gyro-equipped Shermans, angling in from the rear, set both German monsters ablaze in the same turn. Shortly thereafter a key German position crumbled in 10V10, and 2.5 squads died for failure to rout with a Sherman behind them. The way into Merzenhausen was open, and all three Crocodiles were poised on the outskirts of the town. The Germans had some highlights of their own, however, as a hidden German half-squad in the brush of board 43, undaunted by the earlier malfunction of their panzerschreck, simply crept close to a Churchill tank and exploded it with a panzerfaust. Not satisfied just with kicking ass, these Germans took names too, taking an American squad prisoner. The JgPzIV, before dying to the bounding fire swarm, knocked out a Crocodile that had gotten a bit overzealous in its attempt to burn out some German infantry. A German 50L crew also managed to immobilize another Crocodile and a Churchill before being forced from their position by a hail of lead. With only one mobile Crocodile left, the Americans still had a chance to make some good progress into the town, but they had a little more trouble coordinating their attack and lost some momentum. Shortly after the German reinforcements came on board, Kusch's corner threw in the towel, recognizing that the Americans didn't have enough left to win. The victory evened Taylor's record at 3-3 as he made his bid up the Texas ASL Ladder.
League play was simultaneously under way in Houston, where 4 matches were played, resulting in a shakeup of the standings. Doyle Motes solidified his position near the top of the standings when his Germans defeated RJ Mate's Partisans in Death from the Sky. Meanwhile, Jeff Toney (Americans) topped Jay Harms (Germans) in Ace in the Hole. Tom Gillis helmed the Japanese to victory over Ryan Nelson's Americans in Battlin' Buckeyes, while Bret Smith's Germans put Dirk Renshaw's melancholy Danes to bed in Goodnight, Sweet Prince. Observers close to the Texas ASL scene noted that on a day when both groups held matches, the Houston attendance was double that of Austin's. The point was not lost on Gillis. "We're gearing up for the Austin tourney in June. We did alright last year, but we think we can do better. We even sent Eardley up north to Wisconsin or some such place for special training." Reached at Texas ASL Whoopass HQ, Shostak apparently tried to send a message to his Austin contingent. "I think overall we're pretty good, but you have to be careful not to get complacent, and you have to wonder if all the distractions will have an effect. With all the book deals, endorsement contracts, and charity golf tournaments, you hope your guys don't lose focus, but you have to wonder when only 4 guys show for a game day event. The Houston guys are pretty solid. When you look at the film, what you notice about them is their fundamentals." The latest standings can be seen at the club ladder page.
South Austin (APCR): In what top Austin ASL poser Matt Shostak wishes was just a cruel April Fool's joke, Jeff "the Flying Dutchman" Taylor's Dutch defenders last night snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Matt's Japanese in a wild game of Wet Sahwahs. Taylor's win toppled Shostak from the pinnacle of the Texas ASL Ladder, where Jeff Toreki took over the number 1 position.
After a critical hit from a 20L ATR killed one of the Japanese tanks in the early game, the Dutch dice largely went cold, allowing the Japanese tanks and infantry to maneuver much more easily in the very open yet strangely constricted terrain of Wet Sahwahs. The Japanese moved most of a company up through the center, while two platoons flanked toward the jungle at the board edge. Once their firing line was established, Japanese mortars laid down a very effective smoke barrage, which allowed their infantry to assault the town under excellent cover, taking advantage of the fact that a breeze had kicked up at the beginning of the battle, spreading the smoke cover all across the front line. Two Dutch half squads soon found themselves prisoners, and one crew had to abandon its ATR in the face of the furious Japanese assault. The battle looked to be well in hand for the Japanese, but a series of small setbacks, followed by a very large one, allowed most of the Dutch to get away for the victory. The first such setback was the failure of a Japanese tank crew to get the proper signals in the confusion of battle. Without a radio they had no idea what the final plan was, and hesitated. Had they done as ordered and gotten behind the Dutch it would have spelled sure victory for the Japanese. But the Japanese were so overwhelming at that point that it hardly seemed to matter; they were suffering from victory disease but of course didn’t know it. After all, an IJA squad was about to ambush two Green Dutch squads and earn some valuable points toward the victory. But that turned out to be a pipe dream, as the Dutch won that Close Combat with no loss to themselves. Still, it didn't look to matter much, because even if the Dutch broke and ran, they couldn't earn enough victory points in time, and the Japanese would simply take the town and exit some units to seal the win. But wait. A Green Dutch squad was in Close Combat with a Japanese tank in Motion. They needed a roll of snake eyes to kill the tank, and that's just what they got, creating an 8-0 leader to boot! Ultimately this amounted to an 8-pt. swing as the leader and squad managed to exit. Even at that point, however, the Japanese could still win. In fact, the Dutch needed to exit nearly everyone, and had to survive several morale checks unpinned to do so. But that's exactly what they did, and found themselves 3 points over the immediate victory cap.
"This was a great win for me," said Taylor, "and for all underdogs in the Texas ASL League. All I heard prior to the game was 'Matt this' and 'Matt that'. I used that as motivation. You just gotta believe!"
Shostak was stunned and would not immediately come out of the locker room, delaying his press conference. "First of all, congrats to Jeff on pulling this one out. He played a great game, and he sure didn't seem like an underdog to me. There were probably some things I could have done at the end there that might have been better in retrospect, but I can't second guess myself. So many things had to go wrong at the end. Of course, it might have been tougher for me earlier if his dice hadn't been cold then. I want a rematch." Shostak denied reports that he would fire his dice. "I'm not considering that at this time. I know that the fans want wins, but you can't just go firing a loyal pair of dice based on one loss. But that's the reality of league play these days. Fans, management, and ownership are all impatient. They want wins now. They want a championship. It's all what-have-you-done-for-me-lately. But I don't want to get into that mode. Tomorrow, I'm going to meet with my dice and go over the film. We'll reevaluate our approach. But no, I'm not going to fire them."
Eric Gerstenberg, currently 10th ranked in the Texas ASL League, had a ringside seat for most of the game. "What this proves is that Jeff is really good at getting guys off," Eric quipped, "so in terms of scouting him I’ll remember to avoid exit scenarios. Now it's my turn to beat Matt. It's been my turn for quite a while actually." Eric's agent, Theakston Peculiar, reported that he is currently negotiating for matches with several players, but that they were dodging him. "We put out a challenge to all takers for Saturday, but no one came forward, which is why we were at tonight's game. Are they afraid?"
Toreki could not be reached for comment on becoming the new #1, leaving fans around the league wondering, once again, what he was up to.
Austin ASL took a little time off from league play Saturday to put a new design by Chas Smith through its paces, with 3 playtest games of Oriola Force from the pack of Operation Bagration scenarios currently in development. The action depicts an attempt by weakened German infantry to seize a town from elite Russians, whose armor shows up late in the action for a counterattack. German stukas come on at the very end to contest the armor. Mike "Special" Sosa led the German forces in one game and dismantled Robert "no nickname yet" Esparza's Russian defense, despite the ignominy of enduring a 36-1 overrun attack from the Russian meatchopper halftrack. Esparza told one source that he plans to get back into the hobby on a more regular basis, and with luck this playtest can be a springboard in that effort. In other action Mike Seningen watched his Germans win five close combats without suffering any casualties as he mopped up the Russian defense led by Steve Eckhart. There was little Steve could do with such bad luck in CC. The last game of the day pitted arch-rivals Jeff "Big Tease" Toreki and Eric "Thirstenberg" Gerstenberg. Eric managed to grab 14 of the required 15 points before a Russian counterattack, bolstered by the timely arrival of the armor, smashed his forward line and won the game for the Russians.
Best exchange of the day:
Matt: You need to be anal-retentive in this game.
Eric: After that big meal, that's what I'm concentrating on.
South Austin (APCR): Texas ASL League play continued Saturday with 5 matches at the Seningen headquarters. In a quirk of probabilities, all five scenarios were won by the Germans. Three games had a late-war flavor, as Matt Shostak's Germans fended off Tom Gillis' Russian horde in The Liberators, Mike Seningen's Germans successfully defended The Slaughterhouse against Sam Tyson's Russians, and Carl Kusch led elements of the Muencheberg Panzer Division through Russian lines to surrender instead to the Americans, thus earning victory in The Fugitives over expansion player Jake Henry. Henry's skillful destruction of Kusch's panzers showed that he will be a force to recon with, especially considering the extra picks he'll get in the draft as an expansion player. Meanwhile Mike "Special" Sosa led the Germans to victory over Mike Austin's British in Scotch on the Rocks, while Eric Thirstenberg conducted a successful glider operation with his SS to defeat Jeff Taylor's Yugoslav Partisans in Death from the Sky. You can see the standings at the club ladder page.
