ASL - vftt 16

VIEW FROM THE TRENCHESB r i t a i n s P r e m i e r A S L J o u r n a l

Issue 16 November '97 UK 2.00 US $4.00

IN THIS ISSUEASLOK - ASL the American Way! A British View ALTERNATIVE CRITICAL HITS - spice up your CH'sINTENSIVE FIRE '97 - The UK's biggest ASL gathering OLD MACDONALD - Chapter H Advice

AVALON HILLBRINGS COURT

ACTION AGAINSTCRITICAL HIT!

See Page 3

2 VIEW FROM

EMOTICONSWith the growth of the InterNet, emoticons have originated to allow people to show

expressions in text. I find these very useful for the printed word in general, so you'll seeplenty of them in View From the Trenches.

An emoticon is created with keyboard characters and read with the head tilted tothe left. Some typical emoticons are:

:-) humour or smiley;-) winking:-> devious smile grin:-( sad:-o shocked or surprised#-( hung-over

IN THIS ISSUEPREP FIRE 2

INCOMING 4

THE CRUSADERS 4

AVALON HILLS CRITICAL HIT

AGAINST CRITICAL HIT 5

THE BRITS ARE COMING!! 7

MY FIRST INTENSIVE FIRE 9

AN AMERICAN ASLer AT INTENSIVE FIRE 97 10

THE CRUSADERS OPEN ASL

TOURNAMENT LADDER 11

FRENCH TANK FASHION 12

OLD MACDONALD AND CHAPTER H 12

AN ALTERNATIVE CRITICAL HIT TABLE 13

NON - COM-MUNICATION 14

DEBRIEFING 14

ON THE CONVENTION TRAIL 15

TRADEMARK NOTICE: Most products are trademarks of the companies publishing them. Use of a product name without mention of the trademark status should not be construed as a challenge to suchstatus. Advanced Squad Leader, Beyond Valour, Paratrooper, Yanks, Partisan, West of Alamein, The Last Hurrah, Hollow Legions, Code of Bushido, Gung Ho!, Croix de Guerre, Streets of Fire, HedgerowHell, Red Barricades, Kampfgruppe Peiper I, Kampfgrupper Peiper II, Pegasus Bridge, Solitaire ASL, ASL Annual, and The General are registered trademarks of The Avalon Hill Game Company.

PREP FIREWe have however, and will continue, to aggressively pro-

tect our intellectual property relating to ASL. If you produce ordistribute products which infringe on our marks, or trade on ourlook and feel we urge you to cease and desist immediately.

With those words, Jackson Dott, President of The AvalonHill Game Company has announced that AH will no longer tolerateanyone else producing ASL material.

With that, hello and welcome to what could be the last issueof View From The Trenches.

In its current incarnation.One way or another, I shall continue to produce something

that allows us British ASLers (and any overseas ASLers who areinterested) to communicate, share ideas, and exchange informationabout the game referred to by Kurt Martin in Rout Report 1 asAvalon Hills best little marriage breaker.

Anyway, for further details on this important event see oppo-site for the court order and a statement from CH, and page five formy views (and some comments from members of the InterNet ASLMailing List) and some thoughts on the possible ramifications ofthis action.

Unfortunately the coverage I have allocated to this event hascrowded out the INTENSIVE FIRE 97 report and pictures I hadlined up for this issue :-( I have managed to squeeze in some com-ments from two newcomers to INTENSIVE FIRE, as well as theresults, and hopefully will include some of the photos in the nextfew issues of VFTT.

Anyway, I dont want to end on a sour note, so can I interestyou in coming to Leicester next June/July for a mini-ASL tourna-ment? My thought is to have three rounds on Saturday (starting at10am) and one on Sunday. This allows you to travel up early onSaturday morning and drive home Sunday evening (a three hourdrive to Leicester is practical from almost anywhere in England, sosomeone could leave home at 6am Saturday morning and still behere in time for the action to begin). This means you wont need totake any time off from work, and will only have to pay for a roomfor one night. My reasoning for this is that June/July is the summerholidays, when the married types among you may have to go on

COVER: American troops wade ashore in Normandy.

Back issue prices are:VFTT '95 4.00 (overseas 6.00)VFTT 7 - 9 1.00 (overseas 2.00)VFTT10 - 13 1.50 (overseas 2.50)VFTT14/15 3.00 (overseas 4.00)

All comments are welcome. Even better,contribute. Write an article. Design a scenario.Share your ASL experiences with others. VFTTallows you to communicate with other ASLers.Don't be a silent voice.

VIEW FROM THE TRENCHES49 Lombardy RiseLeicesterLE5 OFQ

E-mail:[email protected]

World Wide Web Home Page:ht tp : / / ourwor ld . compuserve . com/homepages/Pete_Phillipps

VIEW FROM THE TRENCHES is the bi-monthly British ASL journal. It costs 2.00 perissue (overseas 3.00), with a year's subscrip-tion costing 10.00 (overseas 15.00). Paymentshould be in pounds sterling, with cheques madeout to PETE PHILLIPPS. Readers are remindedto check their address label to see when theirsubscription ends.

Issue 17 will be out in January.

Continued on page 15

THE TRENCHES 3

In the United States District Courtfor the District of Maryland

Monarch Avalon, Inc. et al.Plaintiffs

v Civil Action No. MJG-97-3517Ray Tapio , et al.Defendants

ORDERA hearing was held on Plaintiffs Motion for Preliminary Injunction on October 31,

1997. With the assistance of the Court, the parties stipulated, without prejudice to anyposition which may be taken subsequently, to the entry of the following Order. Basedupon the stipulation, and until a full evidentiary hearing on the Motion for PreliminaryInjunction, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:

1. defendants, their officers, agents, servants and employees and any personsactive concert or participation shall not advertise, offer for sale, or publish the followingproducts:

a) Critical Hit Volume 1b) Critical Hit Volume 2c) Critical Hit Volume 3 No. 1d) Critical Hit Issue No. 3e) Platoon Leaderf) ASL News Packg) Scroungin ASL Newsh) Jatkasotai) Rout Pack 1j) Rout Pack II andk) ASL 96 Pack

2. The defendants , their officers, their agents, servants and employees and per-sons in active concert or participation with them, may continue to advertise, distribute,offer for sale , and publish , the following products:

a) Platoon Leader 2.0b) Critical Hit, VoL.4 no. 1c) Gembloux The Feint: andd) All American (Timmes Orchard and II (Kellams Bridge)

3. The Defendants, their officers, agents, servants and employees and persons inactive concert or participation with them may continue to advertise, distribute, offer forsale and publish the following products subject to the following conditions:

a) Critical Hit Volume 4 No. 2 may be distributed only after a sticker is affixed overthe designation Featuring Adv. Sqd. Leader in the upper left hand corner of the cover.Such stickers shall be supplied by the Plaintiffs to be shipped via Federal Express for theearliest delivery on Monday, November 9, 1997 and shall be of a reasonably similar colorto the cover. Defendants shall affix the stickers prior to distribution.

b) Aussie- ASL 97 Pack may be distributed only after a sticker is affixed to eachproduct which clearly indicates the product is not endorsed by Monarch Avalon, Inc. orThe Avalon Hill Game Company. Such sticker shall be designed, produced and affixed byDefendants. The stickers shall read as follows: This product is not endorsed by TheAvalon Hill Game Company and shall not be less than 12 point font.

4. Defendants shall notify their distributors of the need to place the above referredstickers on products already in distributors possession within three weeks of this Order.The letter to be sent to distributors is to be reviewed and approved by Plainitiffs counselprior to distribution.

5. The Defendants, their officers, agents, servants and employees may not adver-tise, distribute, offer for sale, or publish any products which rely upon the ASL Trademark,the ASL gaming system, ASL Rules, nor advertise, distribute, offer for sale, publish ASLScenarios, nor any item which contains ASL scenarios, without the prior written consentof the Court.

6. It is explicitly understood that the designation of the products contained in thisorder is without prejudice to the parties.

7. Subject to the terms of this Order and the photocopying of the records, theitems seized on October 27, 1997 shall be promptly returned to the Defendants. Therecords copied shall remain in the custody and control of the Plaintiffs counsel and shallnot be revealed to any third party or the Plaintiffs officers or employees for two weeksfrom the date of this Order. During that time period, counsel for the Defendants shallidentify any confidential or privileged documents, and propose any protective order whichthey believe to be appropriate.

Judge Marvin J. Garbis 11/5/97United States District CourtDistrict of Maryland

A statement fromRaymond J. TapioPresident of Critical Hit!, Inc.

This statement is issued with the authoriza-tion of Federal Court Judge, Hon. Marvin J. Garbis.It is made for the sole purpose of preventing falseinformation from being spread over the internet.

On Monday October 27, 1997 representativesof Monarch Avalon in the form of Jackson Y. Dott,President and A. Eric Dott, Chairman, entered myprivate residence at approximately 7:50 AM, accom-panied by counsel Charles J. Morton of Wright, Con-stable and Skeen, a Baltimore law firm. They werealso accompanied by a Federal Marshall using acourt order obtained ex parte; an ex parte order isone obtained without my counsel present.

Our position is that this order was obtainedbased on misleading information presented to thecourt by plaintiff and their counsel. Case law in-cluding Time Warner Entertainment Companyagainst Jane Does #1-2 and John Does #1-10 callsfor serious sanctions against plaintiffs and theircounsel in the case of improperly seeking an orderfor seizure. A hearing on the appropriateness of theissuance of the order and the manner it was car-ried out by Avalon Hill in our case will take placein the future.

On Friday, October 31, 1997 the Critical Hitlegal team assembled in Baltimore to begin the pro-cess of addressing this case. The result of this longday of hearings was a judicial order returning ALLrecords and inventory of Critical Hit!, Inc., includ-ing my personal effects. Following the hearing, thejudge ordered that the TRO with respect to certainproduct, be lifted. Specifically, we will continue tosell CH merchandise Platoon Leader 2.0 and all PL2.0 products, including Armored Stand,Dzerhezinsky Tractor Works; any ALL AMERICANproducts, Gembloux the Feint, Critical Hit maga-zines, ASL News Pack 1, and the Aussie 97 Pack.

Today our attorneys brought the false andinaccurate information disseminated on the internetto the attention of the court and the Hon. MarvinJ. Garbis authorized us to inform the public thatwe remain in business, able to sell our product, andthis litigation will not interfere with our ability tofulfill orders.

Critical Hit!, Inc. is committed to publishingits magazine, including scenarios, and other prod-ucts. In keeping with the courts order, orders formerchandise are being filled and shipped to dis-tributors at this time. All orders will be shipped thisweekend.

Raymond J. Tapio, President, 11/5/97

4 VIEW FROM

THE CRUSADERSPRODUCT PRICES

The following price list is effectivefrom 1st November 1997.

Items listed in BOLD are tempo-rarily unavailable as a result of the courtorder issued by Avalon Hill.

For the latest on stock availabilitytelephone The Crusaders on (01258)459851, or by email [email protected].

Time On Target #1 8.00Time On Target #2 14.00Time On Target #3 17.60March Madness Scenario Pack T.B.A.WCW Colour Scenario Pack 8.00Critical Hit #1 6.80Critical Hit #2 8.00Critical Hit #3 8.00Critical Hit #4 8.00Critical Hit #3-1 11.00Critical Hit #4-1 12.50Critical Hit Xmas Special 13.60SS Schwere 102 5.60Jatkosota 10.20Soldiers of the Negus (CH Edition) 12.80All American 19.00All American: Timmes Orchard T.B.APlatoon Leader (2nd edition) 9.60Armored Stand (PL2.0) 8.00Paddington Bears 96 Scenario Pack 8.00Paddington Bears 97 Scenario Pack 8.00Rout Pack I 6.80Rout Pack II 8.00OAF Pack I 8.00Leathernecks 8.00Gembloux: The Feint 14.40Defeating Enemy Armor 7.20Schwerpunkt 8.00Schwerpunkt II 9.20Baraque de Fraiture 12.75God Save The King 16.00King Of The Hill 16.00Berlin: Red Vengeance T.B.A.ASL News #28 8.00ASL News #29 8.00

All orders should have 10% added forpostage and packing [EXC: Crusaders areexempt P&P charges] and be sent to NeilStevens, The Crusaders, 4 MonktonDown Road, Blandford Camp, BlandfordForum, Dorset, DT11 8AE.

T H ECRUSADERS

Well another year is drawing to aclose. I cannot believe its 3 years since PetePhillipps and I first got in touch with eachother. He was distributing VFTT to about adozen people and I was hoping to put to-gether a tournament for about 20 players atthe most. Things have certainly moved onfrom those days and its mainly because ofall of you reading this very column. I thinkwe all have realised that stashing thosemodules on the shelves, merely to admirethem, is no longer how to get the most outof this hobby. The way to do that is to play.

On the top of this list is regular face-to-face contact with an opponent who livesnearby.

Second on that list is to attend a con-vention in the calendar year. BERSERK inBlackpool is the next so I am looking for-ward to seeing many of you who were un-able to make it to IF97 up in Blackpool inMarch. Its back to you, Trev!

Of course if neither of these fits thebill for you you can always play by email oreven play SASL - for those of you that dontknow the new Timmes Orchard productfrom Critical Hit actually includes two SASLmissions.

And then there is VASL. Virtual ASL.For those of you who do not own a com-puter or a modem - this is the reason to getone. It is effectively a graphical computer-ised ASL table. All the map-boards are therealong with every counter in the system (OK,some of the really obscure ones might notbe present right now). A player who hasdialled in to his local Internet provider (atlocal call rates) can then watch an opponentin another country click on a piece and moveit to the next hex. It really is AWESOME.Rodney Kinney is the culprit and the rea-son for skyrocketing telephone bills at 4Monkton Down Road.

I am currently playing a guy fromBrazil at Commissars House. It is the firsttime with VASL for both of us and we playedthe first game turn, including German setup time, in about 3 hours. I know that withpractice and a few wrinkles ironed out ofthe system this will dramatically improve. Ihope to put together an article for you witha few screen shots for the next VFTT; somake sure you remind me Pete.

So another IF97 is over. As some ofyou who have called me already will realiseI go through a funny patch after IF with re-gard to the level of stock I hold. I am trying

Continued on page 13

INCOMINGBlood Reef: Tarawa has been delayed

by some perceived imbalances in the CG.MMP also want to add a new CG prior torelease. However MMP hope the delay willonly be slight, and promises to make themodule that much better.

The General Volume 31, Number 6should be shipping any time now. Of inter-est to ASLers will be the in-depth analysesof action in Kampfgruppe Peiper.

The new HASL module from Heat ofBattle, Berlin: Red Vengeance is sellingextremely well, with a large order justshipped to their distributors. Heat of Battledo not expect stocks tolast much longer andaccording to Eddie Zeman We probablywill NOT reprint B: RV. Their advice is toorder now rather than wait until the NewYear. B: RV is available for $25.00 fromHeat of Battle, PO BOX 15073, NewportBeach, CA 92659.

Dispatches From The Bunker is a newnewsletter from the States. The first issuecontains two early war scenarios - BrascheEncounters is set in France in 1940 andsees German Pioneers assault a key bridgeover the Seine River and then having to holdout against a French counterattack.Sochaczew is a slugfest between theLeibstandarte SS and the determined de-fenders of the 17th Polish Infantry Divisionin the suburb of Warsaw in 1939.

Future issues will also include play-ing tips for veterans and novices alike, play-test news on the massive Central Stalingradmodule they are developing for AH/MMP,and articles on all aspects of ASL play.

Work continues on the second issue,which has scenarios set in Bougainville(Unhappy Trails) and Tunisia (DevilsPlay). They hope to have the issue readyany time now.

To get a free copy of the first issuesend in a SASE or a one year subscriptionof $10.00 plus $3.00 shipping and handling($$5.00 outside continental USA) to VicProvost, Dispatches From The Bunker, 1454Northampton St., Holyoke, MA 01040 USA.

Note that in light of the recent actionby Avalon Hill against Critical Hit, the plansof third part producers may be subject tochange.

THE TRENCHES 5

AVALON HILLS CRITICAL HIT AGAINST CRITICAL HITAs you will have read on page three, Avalon Hill have taken action against Critical Hit for producing ASL materials. The news was

initially announced on the InterNet ASL Mailing List by Louie Tokarz in a message posted on 3rd November. He stated Ive heard thatCH is in big time legal trouble. Ive heard that the FEDS raided CH and took most of their stock. If this is true anyone who orderssomething may not get it. The news was confirmed by Curt Schilling (head of research for MMP) a couple of hours later. When askedwhy others, including Heat of Battle, Kinetic Energy, and Schwerpunkt, had not been raided, he added I would think that they will becontacted in the near future..

Until now Avalon Hill have activelyencouraged others to produce ASL materi-als. In the ASL Annual 93a editor Rex Mar-tin wrote: I would urge you to continue yoursupport (both through subscription andthrough submission of articles/scenarios) tothe likes of At The Point, Fire For Effect,ASL News, Rout Report, and others. Thesepublications have much to contribute to yourpleasure of the game system, far more thanwe can reprint herein. As Ive noted in thepast, a vibrant amateur press is a sure signof a healthy hobby. Dont let your supportof these fine zines lapse in the mistakenbelief that you will not miss anything sig-nificant. I can assure you that you will..They have even gone so far as to advert thevery existence of zines in The General andthe ASL Annual.

And yet at the same time they havealso taken actions to prevent us from pub-lishing ASL materials. Back in 1991 theythreatened Kurt Martin with court action ifhe tried to publish The Third Bridge him-self, even though they had no plans to pub-lish it themselves at the time. In 1995 Heatof Battle were forced to stop producingBlood Reef: Tarawa and turn it over to AHfor publication. Hell, MMP were evenforced to stop publishing Back Blast in 1995and Back Blast was just a magazine witharticles and scenarios!

Curt Schilling noted: My take (andmy take only) is that AH NEVER had a prob-lem with amateur rags (FFE included) be-ing published. They tolerated the articles,actually encouraged them, they toleratedpublishing scenarios BUT THEY WEREemphatically opposed to amateur rags pub-lishing CGs., a point noted by several oth-ers, including Louie Tokarz: AH always hasmade it clear that they dont want othersdoing CGs and new rules all the way backto the SL days.

Im not sure how is a court goingto view the fact that AH tolerated, even en-couraged and advertised, one form of ASLmaterial being produced, yet was opposedto another, but it does raise some importantquestions as to what is (was?) acceptable,and what is not. For example, are the oldSL scenarios SL1000 Operation Marston

or R220 Clearing The Breskins Pocketscenarios or CG? What about SL47 Encir-cling The Ruhr? This scenario is played intwo parts, with the set up and forces in thesecond part being affected by the action inthe first. Sounds suspiciously like a CG tome.....

What about maps? How can AH havecopyright on maps. They certainly donthave copyright on map symbols - the sym-bols used in ASL for woods have been usedin wargames from dozens of companiessmall and large over the past 40 years.

What about Baraque de Fraiture, orthe All American modules? They certainlyarent CG, just scenario packs with histori-cal map sheets. So these must be OK, right?

How would the Fallschirmjagercounters printed in VFTT13 be a breach ofAH copyright? The art on the counters wasdone for VFTT by Klaus Fischer, and looksnothing like AH counter art, other than hav-ing 2 or 3 men on the counter.

And if they dont want others doingnew rules, where does that leave SSRs. DoTime On Targets Bayonet Charges and Spe-cial Armour count as new rules or just verylong SSRs? Are they SSR if printed on thescenario card but new rules if they areprinted separately? Where does that leave aSSR that is printed separately when it ap-plies to half a dozen different scenarios, tosave space on the scenario cards (EX: theRed Barricades or Kampfgruppe PeiperSSR?).

As you can see, there is a very greyarea between what is acceptable and whatis (apparently) not.

However, there is one area AH hassolid ground to stand on, and that is in thearea of counter art. AH copyright is clearlybeing violated by anyone who does not havepermission from AH to use their artwork.Many of the third party producers have usedAH counter art on their scenario cards. In-deed, even Critical Hit did so until the ap-pearance of CH4, in which Ray Tapio him-self noted: We take our publishing effortshere very seriously, in an era of the hobbywhere others are perfecting the art of clon-ing AHs look for counters and scenarios.We urge these parties to reconsider theirposition if they are serious about continu-

ing to be a publishing force in the hobby.We have hired a reputable law firmspecialising in Copyright and IntellectualProperties law and have made strenuousefforts to design our new, proprietary lineof counters, clip art and a new scenario pre-sentation format. Elsewhere in the sameissue we we greeted by the appearance ofthe new CH scenario card layout and counterart.

For myself, back in May 96 I askedfor permission to continue using AH counterart on VFTT scenarios, having just producedmy first scenario cards featuring counter art(scenarios VFTT3 and VFTT4 in VFTT7).In August 96 (having done two additionalscenarios in VFTT8) I finally received thefollowing message from Jack Dott:

Thank you for letter of 5/20 which Iam now only able to respond.

Last time I responded to a similar re-quest the spam fall out was deafening....Many feel we are being too heavy handedin protecting our intellectual property. Be-cause this is how we make our livelihood,we feel it best to follow the advice of ourlegal counsel to protect the names, appear-ances and content of our games under thePatent, Trademark and Copyright laws ofthe United States. In no way can we endorseor condone appropriation of our content.

Since then I have not included AHcounter art on VFTT scenarios, althoughadmittedly this is mainly because I haventproduced any new scenarios (unless youcount the joke scenario last issue). And inview of the action taken against CH, I havedecided that I shall not include the scenariocards with VFTT 95, VFTT7 and VFTT8until the matter is resolved (although thelatter two are out of stock at the moment sothis doesnt really have much effect! As faras VFTT 95 is concerned though, I shalleither forward the cards if it becomes OKto do so, or simply forward written detailsof each scenario). The same also applies tothe British SASL tables in VFTT11.

The action also raises concerns aboutthe growing electronic ASL scene. Will AHcrack down on ASL web pages - after all,Paramount has done the same on peoplehosting Star Trek web sites. There is alsoan electronic ASL newsletter, the ASL Di-

6 VIEW FROM

gest, which is distributed to subscribers andmade available to non-subscribers on JeffShields web page (at http://www.vims.edu/~jeff/digest.htm for thosewho are interested). Will AH take actionagainst people producing free software forASL, such as Kevin Pietersen who producesASLAP, or Rodney Kinney and Carl Fungwho have produced VASL, a system for play-ing ASL online?

Without the third party producers,people will be faced with having their workpublished by AH or not at all. What do theydo if AH refuse their submission because itis not good enough, or AH decide there isno market for the item (even if a small mi-nority actually want to see that product)?Previously, they could have published itthemselves (and many did), but not any-more. Without the option of self publish-ing, anything AH turn down will never seethe light of day. Would Soldiers of theNegus have been printed by AH - I doubtit. Did AH have any plans to print a moduleon Arnhem Bridge? Hill 112? Tarawa? Whatabout Korea, Vietnam, Modern ASL? Whyshould some be detained a product simplybecause AH think the market is so smallthat it isnt worth them doing?

Curt Schilling noted: Were work-ing our hardest to re-establish ASL on thewargamers shelf. If you look at what hashappened since MMP took on ASL with AHyoull see that the store shelves are no longerbare.

Yeah, youve got Schwerpunkt,Schwerpunkt II, three issues of Time OnTarget, a dozen scenario packs from Criti-cal Hit, half a dozen issues of Critical Hitmagazine, modules on actions at ArnhemBridge, Hill 112, Berlin, Baraque deFraiture. Would all of this have been on theshelves next to Pegasus Bridge and the twoMMP annuals without the third parties? Ofcourse not. AH arent the only ones whohave being work hard to re-establish ASL,the third party producers have been doingthe same. In fact, without the third parties,the shelves would still look somewhat bare.

And there is also a substantial amountof third party HASL projects out there wait-ing to be published, including StonneHeights, The Third Bridge, Eben Emael, andEdsons Ridge.

It has been suggested that a royaltypayment be made to AH in exchange forpermission to produce ASL materials. A flatfee would force small publishers like my-self out of the market (a fee of $500, about320 would mean I would have to charge5 an issue to break even). A percentage of

sales fee would be awkward to collect fromsmall publishers such as myself (hmm, letssee, 1% of 200 is 2, which at the currentexchange rate is about $3.20. Cant see AHbeing too happy to receive a cheque for$3.20 every couple of months somehow...)

Eddie Zeman of Heat of Battle com-mented that he was doing it for a love of thehobby and not for profit, which led CurtSchilling to respond This is where it hasbecome a problem. There are some who dis-continued working for love and have begunto work for the dollar, look at the price ofsome of the amateur stuff out there and tellme it was done for love....no chance. I thinkthis reveals what the problem boils downto; AH are pissed off with other peoplemaking money out of their intellectual prop-erty.

Some people think that smaller pub-lishers like myself have nothing to worryabout, but I wish I could share their confi-dence. There isnt anything to separate therest of us from CH, apart from the fact thatwe sell less than CH. And I dont think thatwill save us. Otherwise, how will it be allright for us to sell 200 copies, but not allright for CH to sell 2000 copies? After all,copyright infringement is copyright infringe-ment, whether you make money out of it ornot.

Sides, here at VFTT I try to make aprofit too!! And Im not too far off, as I ba-sically am breaking even nowadays. Foreach new subscriber I attract my profit (IEsales minus costs) increases by about 2 peryear. So with just 50 new readers I wouldbe making 100 per year out of VFTT. Whatif I attract 100 news readers (200). 500new readers (1000 - and possible to achieveif I can break into the American market).How will AH view this? Will they insist Ireduce my price so that I continue to breakeven? What if my circulation decreases (be-cause retailers are put off the idea of stock-ing an illegal product, for example). Doesthat mean I am allowed to increase my price!

And the planned scenario packs andPlatoon Leader CG in the works for nextyear will certainly make VFTT into a prof-itable business (maybe not into the CH level,but modestly profitable nonetheless). Andthe plan is to produce at least one pack ayear, so next year wouldnt be a one off profityear.

Yes, AH has encouraged amateur stuffuntil now. But that was when it was justthat - amateurish. But nowadays anyonewith a PC, some DTP software and a laseror ink jet printer (which readily be pur-chased for less than 1000) can produceprofessional-looking material. And as we allhave a desire to better ourselves, so we want

to make our amateur efforts better, and moreprofessional. And as the quality goes up, sodoes the price. Until eventually we are do-ing something as good as, or even betterthan, the professionals.

Unfortunately for us smaller produc-ers we are gonna get caught by the AH ac-tion whether we like it or not :-( After all,Jack Dott says If you produce or distributeproducts which infringe on our marks, ortrade on our look and feel we urge you tocease and desist immediately., which sug-gests that EVERY ONE of us may have tostop..... (although I dont think they can saythat VFTT trades on their look and feel.).I guess the question in law is whether ornot producing a derivative of someone elsesproperty without their permission infringeson their copyright. If it does, then we are allin trouble.

CH has been the first target becausethey have the biggest profile, being the oneswho produce the most new ASL material ina year. I dont think itll be too long beforethe rest of us are targeted, although itll takethem a bit longer to cross the pond to catchme!!

This action raises a lot of issues and Ithink we shall see some serious repercus-sions ripple throughout the ASL world inthe next few months. I hope that both AvalonHill and Critical Hit can come to some sortof amicable arrangement over these matterswhich allows all of us to continue produc-ing ASL material, thus allowing our hobbyto continue to flourish. If not, I fear that thisaction will end the current healthy state ofthe hobby. And if AH turn their backs onASL again like they did in the early nine-ties, this time there will be no-one else torescue the game from oblivion.

Hopefully I will be able to keep youinformed of developments in future issuesof VFTT.

STOP PRESS: As this issue wasabout to be printed (November 12th) BrianYouse, president of MMP, announced onlinethat he had been asked by AHs attorneysto attend a settlement meeting between AHand CH.

THE TRENCHES 7

THE BRITS ARE COMING!!How The British Took ASLOK XIII By Storm

Neil Stevens

I started to plan my trip to ASLOK assoon as INTENSIVE FIRE 96 had finished.The first and most important activity wasto break it in, very gently, to the wife;

Darling, I would like to go toAmerica for about a week.

Oh?On my own.Oh!To play ASL.What?!?!?!

Of course with nearly a year to gobefore the event it did not seem too unpal-atable an idea to her at that stage and as Ihad casually mentioned it in passing it didnot fully register. However full agreementhad to be carefully obtained, so I chippedaway over a period of time and gradually,any resistance from the better half crumbled.Yes, I was actually going to the States toplay ASL. Naturally I threw in the offer, atthe appropriate time, that she was more thanwelcome to accompany me, but this wasdismissed off-hand;

What would I do stuck in a hotel allday while you are off playing your sillygames?

Phew! That was a bit of a gamble butit paid off!

It was about this time that I seriouslystarted to play some regular Face-to-Facegaming with Dave Schofield. He lived about

15 miles away and we had bumped into eachother through the ASL Internet Mailing List.Dave was relatively new to ASL but after afew days spent in the he was easily per-suaded that he ought to be going to ASLOKtoo and so the scheming entered a new, joint,phase.

Before we knew it we were makingour last preparations to go. I had booked thetime off work in February so there could beno complaints from the boss and it was soontime for us to pick up the US Dollars fromthe bank. The air tickets, which took us ona BA flight from Heathrow to Cleveland,USA via Philadelphia, cost us 385.00 eachwhich included insurance. Medical insur-ance was an additional 50.00 and the ho-tel, which we had booked in advance, wasgoing to cost us US $74.00 per night butthe room could cope with up to 4 persons.We hooked up with Paul Case so split thecost of the room 3 ways for our 7 night stay.Meals still had to be paid for but we wereassured there was a host of cheap fast foodjoints immediately outside the hotel thatwould fulfil our every need. We each tookabout 200.00 worth of US Dollars forspending money and for purchasing themyriad of ASL related material we expectedto be available.

But by far the most difficult decisionwe had to make was what ASL game com-ponents to take. We discussed this endlesslyover the Internet with the other travellers tothe States but did not really reach a firmconclusion until just before our departure.

In the end we each decided to each take onenationalitys full OOB and we took a coupleof the historical modules so that we did nothave to carry all 43 game boards with us. Inactual fact all I ended up using was my diceand my rule book. There were plenty ofwilling and helpful volunteers to assist withgame components and a big thank you toeverybody reading this who was able to as-sist.

The flight itself was long and un-eventful but we were kept going by the rac-ing adrenaline of the anticipated gaming. Abeer in Philly airport was our first taste ofthe native ale and at about 9.00pm local timewe finally reached the airport in Cleveland.There we enthusiastically leapt onto theHoliday Inn Hotel shuttle service and halfan hour later we pitched up at this reallyrather splendid hotel on the outskirts of theCity. Unfortunately the hotel was not ex-pecting us. When politely enquiring if therewere any other Holiday Inns in Clevelandthe answer came back; Only about 13!We had definitely failed our Straying TaskCheck at the airport it seemed! The hotelshuttle service kindly returned us to the air-port where we waited and alighted on thecorrect bus. Dave and I finally pitched up atthe hotel at about 10.30pm where we founda rather the worse for wear Paul Case gib-bering incoherently at the reception: wait-ing for us. Whats more he was in posses-sion of all his ASL gear including every gameboard! The room had been booked in myname so they would not let him in! The placewas not quite as grand as our first hotel butmuch closer to the airport and at least theywere expecting us. Thank goodness. Wedropped our kit in the room, took a beer atthe bar and then, exhausted, crashed out onthe beds. It was at this stage that Daveopened his bag to find all of his game markercounters scattered everywhere inside his bagwhere his tray had opened up on the jour-ney. Paul and I laughed ourselves gently tosleep as Dave, cursing roundly in his nativeScouse, tipped all his counters out onto hisbed and started to sort them out ready forthe morning.

Because of the difference in time be-tween the States and the UK I woke ataround 4.00am. Realising that we were allawake we switched the lights on and de-cided to get up because it was useless try-ing to sleep. Dave was first, springing out

BERSERK! Organiser Trev Edwards (right) smiles for the camera even as his ASLOK losingstreak continues! At least he didn't let the others British attendees down!

8 VIEW FROM

of his bed heading for the shower. Instanta-neously Paul and I noticed that Dave had a-1 Acquisition counter stuck on his nakedbackside and we dissolved into fits of laugh-ter. Dave really must sort out his counterstorage system!!!!

We eventually found out that we couldget a coffee at the 24hr Dunking Donutwhich soon made us feel a little more hu-man. We then hung around until some moreintrepid ASLers showed up. The first guyswe stumbled in to were; the Kiwis! Theyhad come further than us to the Conventionand they were out for blood! Aaron Cleavinhad soon taken me to the cleaners for myfirst, and no means last, loss of the week.However honour was salvaged, to a certaindegree, by Dave who beat two of the Kiwisin competition games later in the week fora total UK v Kiwi score of 2-4.

From this point on the tourney beganto grow. More and more turned up with thereal bunfighting starting on the Wednesdayevening with the CRITICAL HIT party.What a party Ray Tapio throws! Plenty offree beer, great and very lively company anda really good insight into the future workand activities of the CRITICAL HIT team.This was a great evening and the reasonbehind my first hangover of the week -thanks Ray! By this time I had racked up 4straight losses in terms of ASL games andhad been on the receiving end of about 2King Size Wimpy Burgers and one Big Mac!We were well and truly settled into the goodole US of A.

The tourney activities for real start onthe Thursday morning with the beginningof the theme based mini-tournies. These arean excellent idea. Players form into groups

of 8 and play until an overallwinner is found. Themes weremany and varied and included;Paras, 1939, 1941, Stalingrad,Battle of the Bulge, PTO,Critical Hit, Time on Target,and so on. Players sign up at8.00am (Gulp!) and crack onunder the control of MarkNixon. The winners play eachother twice until there is atheme champion after 3straight games. The championis then presented with a suit-able plaque and a few dollarsin cash for his efforts. TheThursday theme tourneygames count towards theGROFAZ or the main eventto determine the ASLOKchampion. This is a straight Win/Loss eventwhere the winner will be the person whohas won most games and lost least, if in-deed any. The play for this continues on overFriday, Saturday and culminates on Sunday.Having been eliminated from the GROFAZfor losing any of your games then there aremore mini-theme tourneys that can be joinedin with on Friday and Saturday. Howeverby Saturday we were having trouble gettingout of bed on time so missed this opportu-nity - its 8.00am sharp or you are on yourown; No Quarter is in effect! During the minithemes Dave picked up a Champions plaqueby remaining undefeated in the Pete Shell-ing play test theme. Pete had some very in-teresting scenarios on offer for testing andDave picked himself up a plaque named theWrong Way Shelling Prize. ApparentlyPete is continually getting lost when navi-gating and this is a bit of an in joke atASLOK. This has not helped Dave thoughwho, since arriving home, has yet to con-

vince his wife that the prize was not a boobyprize for firing artillery on his own troops!But well done, Dave. We were all very en-vious and those of you who have since at-tended INTENSIVE FIRE 97 will undoubt-edly have seen Dave sporting his trophyproudly around the gaming room.

As Sunday arrived and our time wasnearly over people started to disappearrather rapidly. At this stage I realised I hadtaken no photos at all so I quickly ran aroundfor some snaps before the battle finally sub-sided. Mike McGrath and Steve Pleva wereduking it out for the title playing one of thescenarios from the new Schwerpunkt II pack.It was great to watch these guys play. Theywere both playing something brand new, sono sharking here, and it was refreshing tosee their style of play which actually in-volved them helping each other out. Theydid not need to resort to the QRDC at all asthey played and it was good fun to sit andwatch through to see the ASLOK 97GROFAZ Championship decided before myvery own eyes. So congratulations to MikeMcGrath from all of the UK contingent.Both of these gentlemen are extremely goodplayers and if you look closely at the photoyou will notice Mr Pleva sporting a ratherattractive INTENSIVE FIRE 96 tee-shirt!

As the gaming drew to a close the fi-nal fanatics hung on to the end in a room atthe top of the hotel where the last gamingwas done. Mark Nixon chilled out with abeer and watched the Cleveland Indiansplaying baseball on the TV. Bruno Nitrossoand Russ Bunten struck up a game of ASLice hockey on one of the ocean overlays. If Iremember correctly the puck was a Demo-lition Charge - so dont hit it too hard!!! Daveand I looked at each other and decided toplay a final scenario. At this stage I had won

The experts in action! Despite sporting a rather fetching NTENSIVE FIRE '95 t-shirt, StevePleva (left) was unable to stop Mike McGrath beating him at "The Slaughter At Krutik" (fromthe newly released Schwerpunkt II) in the final round of ASLOK.

Brian Martuzas demonstrates Blood Reef: Tarawa. You needthree sets of counters from CoB and GH! to play it!

THE TRENCHES 9

6 and lost 9 so was feeling reasonably proudof my record. Daves record was more orless the other way around in terms of Win/Losses and he had played a couple moregames. I had been hankering to play RedWaves from one of the new annual beinginspired by the thought of those gloriousRussian Human Waves. Dave agreed to takethe Germans and admitted to me that he hadplayed it during the tourney and had easilywon as the Germans and regarded it as be-ing pro-German. However he had not reck-oned on my dice making up for a week ofpoor (my excuse anyway!) DRs and myRussians were unstoppable. Despite a firstturn which saw my not very well plannedhuman wave run out of steam close to theGerman MG nests because of the damnedgrain quickly become a mass of broken con-scripts, things quickly picked up for theRussians with the appearance of their trickylittle T-26s. These tankettes just drovestraight into the face of the German defen-sive position. Dave sitting there rather con-fidently soon had an ashen look on his faceas his 75mm Inf Gun malfunctioned on itsfirst shot at a tank followed immediately byhis MMG rolling another set of clickety-clicks. One of the tanks then overran hisGun Crew and the other sat in motion onthe HMG while the Russian infantry gottheir act together and advanced into posi-tion for some Close Combat. Numerousshots from Daves LMG up on the hill intothe rear target facing of the tanks provedineffective, although he did manage to takeout one of the tankettes eventually in by-pass by using street fighting, but it left hisleader and squad helpless as 3 conscriptsquads and a Commissar jumped in in theAdvance Phase and eliminated his killerstack and best leader with an ambush and acool CC dice throw.

So the week ended on a real high as Ibeat on my regular FTF opponent sat upon the 5th floor in the Holiday Inn. The longjourney home was a bit of an anti-climaxafter a week of frantic and draining gamingactivity and we both cautiously admitted toeach other on the flight back that we wouldhave liked to have stayed even longer; de-spite the fact that we both missed our fami-lies. In all 6 British guys attended this yearsevent which is a great showing; so well doneto Shaun Carter, Trev Edwards, MikeRhodes, Paul Case and Dave Schofield.

You never know, one year someonereading this column right now might wellscoop the GROFAZ Championship. Nowtheres a thought ...........

MY FIRST INTENSIVE FIREMartin Hubley

This is a report from my first everINTENSIVE FIRE 97. If any of my oppo-nents are out there feel free to jump in andcorrect my memory.

First, Friday PM after the Tank Mu-seum, played Only the Enemy in Front, aVFTT scenario where a German HTmounted force of 4-6-8s and a StuG try totake out a British Carrier and AC force of458s on the canal board, backed up withone six pounder. I won as the Germanagainst Ian Daglish after a bad start (I triedto flank the Brit set up with some of myHTs and had one (with a 9-1 and squad andLMG) flamed by a HIP PIAT and HS Istopped adjacent too. Recovered well thoughand won on CVP when Ian got too aggres-sive with Carriers, using them to overrunsome of my infantry, which killed two inCC. Got an AC with the Stug, and that wasthe game. Didnt have to take the objectives.We made a lot of stupid mistakes (I forgotto cover the bridge with the Stug on GT1,Ian forgot to bring in his ACs on GT1) inthis warm-up. 1-0

Second, Saturday AM played thesame scenario (chosen by my opponent, JohnFletcher, who had horrible luck throughout)as the first of the tourney, and played theBrit. I had the great advantage of essentiallycopying but improving upon Ians Brit set-up, unloading the Bren C to use its PIATand HS as infantry, while keeping the othertwo Bren As as mobile reinforcements/LMGs, but out of LOS. I got very lucky whenmy opponent drove his StuG into LOS ofmy ATG in Q9, but it took five/five rate shotsbefore I put it down. After that, I had thepsychological and armour edge - used theHumber to run down three German HT, onefully loaded. He never recovered, and nevergot near the objectives. 2-0 (Martin startshaving delusions of grandeur and thinks of

prizes to be won)

Third, played the Tractor Works asthe Russian. Actually wanted to play a morecomplicated mass armour scenario (Direc-tive Number Three) which I had never seen,but my opponent (whose name I forget, buthe was British Army and had a large bottleof whisky for that UK house rule...) (Whichis anyone rolling snake-eyes must take a shotof whiskey - or half a lager if you dont likespirits! Pete) wanted to stick with the safebasics. I couldnt break through the twosquads and MGs the German had in thestone building to the NW of the factory, ashe rolled eight/eight snakes to eventuallyclean me out by T5. Not pretty. And thisdespite playing with the house rule. Didnthelp me much, and I tried to convince themit should be the other way round to dull thepain, unsuccessfully. 2-1, Martin broughtback down to earth.

Sunday, AM, played Taylor MadeDefence from Pegasus Bridge, as Jerry. Anexcellent scenario, perhaps one of the bestIve played. I almost lost as my opponent,John Kennedy, had a good defence and wasagain had hot dice, rolling snakes against astack of three squads (I know, I know, neverstack, but how else do you get into CC witha 638 and win when you only have 467s,and only one hex of cover adjacent to it??) Imanaged to get into the tip of the Britishheld sector of town under heavy smoke andafter winning a CC, using a ? German 467against a wounded 638 and winning (Ivelearned those RB lessons). All looked lostas I quickly lost a PzIV to a ? Piat at range 3after foolishly driving too close, and theMarder lost HE on his first shot and Smokeon his second. However, the squaddies ral-lied, I got back in with some good Prep Fireshots from my 16FP 8-1 killstack and somemore Smoke, and the brutal CC slugout was

10 VIEW FROM

on. This one ended with the surviving Brits(a 458 and Heroic 9-1 I think) against thesurviving Germans (3 squads and assortedMGs, or something like that) in Melee. Theonly other Brit unit was an adjacent 638 anda HS/PIAT 8-1. The 638 fired into the me-lee in the stone building, promptly gettinga K/2 result leaving me with a pinned GOHS, and a lot of broken Germans. However,he flubbed his CC attack, I got a K, with-drew the broken units. In my turn 5 my use-less Marder drove around to this flank (af-ter a second PzIV was recalled when hemalfd and Xd his MA) and promptly firedfour AP rounds killing an 8-1, HS and PIAToutside the melee. In his turn 5, 638 jumpsinto the melee, I rally the boys. He flubs hisCC roll again, as do I. My turn 6, TheMarder fires in with another 3 or four AProunds into the melee, breaking the HS, andI reinforce the melee with everything I have

I had the opportunity to sneak over tothe UK last week for a bit of gaming. Talkabout cramming - I must be a loser to gooverseas for just long enough to hit an ASLevent and then come home. But from theeast side of the US, you can sometimes doit for $300.

INTENSIVE FIRE has been quietlygoing for a couple of years now and is show-ing serious signs of maturity - 70+ players,great location with good lighting, lots oftables, etc. For my fellow Yanks, let me justspell out what was different over there.There are lessons to be learned in terms offighting full metal geekness:

Lovely hotel, with lounge and decentrooms. Not some backwater by the airport!

Small bar serving adult beverages,right in the gaming area!

People who speak English reallygood.

A short walk to the English Channel(the body of water, not some cable chan-nel.).

Really spectacular weather (althoughIve been told its not always that nice inEngland..).

AN AMERICAN ASLer ATINTENSIVE FIRE 97Kurt Martin

Lots of really excessively attractivewomen (although none, as usual, in the gam-ing area).

A right jolly collection of scenarios -Neil Stevens has no fear of offending anypowers that be - he put in a wide array ofstuff and expected people to play them.

Solid organisation. Major 7-0Stevens stayed right at the front desk thewhole time, tabulating up-to-the-minute re-sults on a laptop. Modern guy that he is, hekept everyone in the know about the teamstandings. Very solid. Prizes were beautifulengraved mugs, t-shirts are tres cool (fullcolour evil Kraut para next to brave Britpara, photo style).

Great product displays. Neil had justabout every cool current ASL thing on dis-play. Timmes Orchard, View From TheTrenches, ASL News - you name it (and thatdoesnt include all the TOT stuff that hadsold out by Friday morning!! - Pete).

I found it easy to end up 0600 with afresh pint in my hands and, alternately, withsome still in my mitt.

On the weird side, we discovered thatthe Brits really DO have a superior sense ofhumour. They especially like making fun ofAmericans, but are way too nice to do it to

killing all around me. German win, 3-1 fi-nal record.

The Tank Museum is definitely worththe trip for anyone who ever finds them-selves in south England. King Tigers are alot bigger than they look in those little pic-tures...

And of course many thanks to NeilStevens and his assistants for putting on anexcellent tourney - this was my first evercompetition, and I recommend the experi-ence of going to an event like this if you getthe chance, no matter what level you are at,if only to meet other opponents, and dis-cover they live around the corner from you!

your face. Most of the time. And for thoseof you who missed ASLOK, we did againhave the pleasure of taking some shots atTrevor The Mad King, Shaun CassidyCarter, David Call Me Honest Schofieldand the rest of the lads.

I managed to do some quality gamingwhile there, but never in the expected man-ner. Always in the middle of the night... ButI did take advantage of my nocturnal lean-ings to see the moon over the channel, andthought of young men looking over that samewater 53 years ago...

For you old-timers, Most Strange ofAll - an actual Eric The Red sighting! Gads!(That would be the Eric the Red that actu-ally helped spawn the HASL genre...).

In short, should you ever feel so fool-ish, an ASL experience in Europe has a rich-ness that cant be denied.

I N T E N S I V E F I R E 9 7FIRE TEAM RESULTS

FIRST DIVISION

Place Pts

1st FIRETEAM 18 14.75

Chris Courtiour

Chris LittlejohnKevin Beard

2nd FIRETEAM 10 12.75

Aaron Sibley

Ian Pollard

Burnham Fox

3rd FIRETEAM 4 12.00

Justin Key

Keith Bristow

Tim Macaire

4th FIRETEAM 14 10.50

Phil Nobo

Simon Morris

Jon Williams


Shaun Carter

Bill Hensby

Stefan Jacobi

6th FIRETEAM 8 9.50

Bill Durrant

Brian Hooper

Martin Hubley


Roger Cook

Paul Case

Grant Pettit


Carl Sizmur

John Kennedy

Tim Collier


Nick QuinnJoel Berridge

Graham Worsfold


John Fletcher

Martin Bryan

Steve Allen

ELITE DIVISION

Place Pts

1st FIRETEAM 15 16.75

Toby Pilling

Mike Rudd

Joe Arthur

2nd FIRETEAM 9 14.75

Dave Schofield

Simon Strevens

Paul O' Donald

3rd FIRETEAM 3 13.75

Derek Tocher

Dominic McGrath

Scott Greenman


Nick Edelsten

Peter Bennett

Bob Eburne


Ian Daglish

Philippe Leonard

Iain McKay


Peter Ladwein

Luc Schonkeren

Mel Falk


Arthur Garlick

Trevor Edwards

Steve Thomas

8th FIRETEAM 7 9.25

Frank Tinschert

Armin Deppe

Nigel Ashcroft


Michael Hastrup-Leth

Bjarne HansenJacob Norgaard


Luis Calcada

Eric Baker

Lee Bray

THE TRENCHES 11

THE CRUSADERS OPEN ASL TOURNAMENT LADDER

THE CRUSADERSOPEN ASL TOURNAMENT LADDER

Derek Tocher

POS. NAME PLAYED PTS.41 Steve Thomas 21 308042 Bjarne Hansen 5 307543 Robin Langston 9 307544 Steve Allen 3 307045 Jean-Luc Baas 3 307046 Serge Bettencourt 3 307047 Robert Schaaf 3 307048 Alexander Rousse-Lacordaire 4 306549 Derek Tocher 25 306050 Jon Williams 11 306051 Stefan Jacobi 11 305052 Bernard Savage 11 305053 Scott Greenman 8 304554 Ian Pollard 20 303055 Peter Hofland 4 302556 Frank Tinschert 9 302057 Vincent Kamer 4 301558 Nick Brown 3 300059 Martin Hubley 4 300060 Ian Kenney 4 300061 Phil Nobo 11 300062 Duncan Spencer 4 300063 Eric Baker 2 298564 Burnham Fox 5 298065 Mike Stanbridge 13 296566 Alex Ganna 2 294567 Pedro Ramis 6 294568 Peter Ladwein 13 294069 Martin Mayers 3 294070 Nick Quinn 3 294071 Roger Cook 17 293572 John Kennedy 3 293073 Andrea Marchino 1 293074 Andy Price 3 293075 Armin Deppe 6 292576 Steve Grainger 1 292077 Bill Hensby 3 292078 Trevor Edwards 18 291579 Edo Giaroni 3 291580 Joel Berridge 3 2910

As some of you are aware NeilStevens and I have been discussing the set-ting up of an AREA ladder ranking BritishASLers for some time now. The need forsuch a ladder comes about because, as thoseof you with web access will know, the lat-est AREA listing (August 1997) still doesnot include the results from INTENSIVEFIRE 96 or BERSERK 97.

My first inclination was to set up asystem which would be an exact mirror ofthe ASL AREA ratings maintained by RussGifford. Over several months I came torealise that maintaining such a mirror wouldbe impractical as there are four mechanismby which results can be submitted to Russand the chances of all submissions goingvia me were slight. Nevertheless, rather thanabandon the idea altogether I decided weshould have a ranking system and we wouldbase it on players performance in Crusad-ers recognised tournaments.

All players participating in a British

POS. NAME PLAYED PTS.1 Mike Rudd 21 36302 Carl Sizmur 16 35153 Peter Bennett 11 34204 Toby Pilling 10 33855 Paul ODonald 28 33756 Kevin Beard 10 33657 Brent Ribom 5 33508 Nick Edelston 16 33109 Philippe Leonard 9 328510 Ralf Krusat 6 328011 Patrick Manlig 6 328012 Nick Ranson 6 328013 Alan Smee 4 328014 Dave Booth 7 327015 Joe Arthur 13 325516 Dave Schofield 18 324017 Christain Koppmeyer 13 322018 Tom Slizewski 5 321519 Klaus Malmstrom 4 321020 Nils-Gunner Nilsson 5 321021 Yves Tielemans 3 321022 Francois Boudrenghien 3 320523 Chris Courtier 10 319024 Jean Devaux 3 319025 Bill Durrant 5 318026 Pete Phillipps 26 318027 Grant Pettit 7 317028 Bruno Tielemans 3 317029 Mel Falk 9 316030 Bob Eburne 15 315531 Simon Strevens 5 314532 Keith Bristow 3 313533 Frenk Van Der Mey 5 313534 Michael Hastrup-Leth 7 313035 Paul Ryde-Weller 10 312036 Luc Schonkerren 5 311037 Simon Morris 11 310538 Lee Brimmicombe-Wood 6 310039 Peter Michels 4 309040 Dirk Beijaard 5 3080

POS. NAME PLAYED PTS.81 Justin Key 3 291082 Dominic Mcgrath 18 290583 Andrew Saunders 12 289084 Shaun Carter 9 288585 Jakob Norgaard 6 288586 Andrew Dando 14 288087 Iain Mckay 11 287088 Lutz Pietschker 4 286089 Neil Piggot 4 286090 Paul Saunders 8 285591 Nick Angelopoulos 5 285092 Martin Bryan 4 285093 John Sharp 2 285094 Aaron Sibley 27 285095 Michael Rhodes 17 284096 Lee Bray 4 283097 Ian Daglish 17 282098 Luis Calcada 18 280599 Alistair Fairbairn 3 2790100 John Fletcher 3 2790101 William Roberts 3 2790102 Bryan Brinkman 5 2780103 Ulrich Schwela 5 2775104 Graham Worsfold 3 2775105 Steve Crowley 4 2770106 Neil Stevens 12 2770107 Tim Macaire 8 2765108 Gareth Evans 4 2730109 Steve Cocks 4 2720110 Tim Collier 11 2710111 Nigel Brown 12 2705112 Christain Speis 5 2680113 Chris Littlejohn 11 2670114 Nigel Ashcroft 10 2645115 Brian Hooper 10 2645116 Arthur Garlick 16 2525117 Paul Case 15 2435

ASL tournament will receive a ranking andall games played at the tournament (bothcompetition and friendly) will be used incalculating new rankings. I will endeavourto produce a new ranking within a month ofeach tournament.

Players will have an initial rating of3000 and points will be won and lost de-pending on the difference in rating pointsbetween the two players as shown on thetable.

The OPEN part of the ladder title Itake very seriously and for a tournament toqualify for the Ladder it must be widelyadvertised with a substantial number of par-ticipants drawn from around the country. Ifanyone is thinking of running a tournamentand would like to discuss whether theirevent qualifies then I will be happy to hearfrom them.

The ranking which accompanies thisarticle is based on play at the three INTEN-SIVE FIRE tournaments and the singleBERSERK tournament staged so far. The

next rated tournament will be BERSERK98in March.

Mike Rudd unsurprisingly heads thecurrent ranking with his consistent INTEN-SIVE FIRE record (seventeen straightwins!). However to encourage those of younearer the opposite end of the table let metell you that Carl Sizmur was rated about80th prior to IF97 but his 7-0 record at thattournament netted him 630 points and shothim into second place (Carl, well be watch-ing closely to see if this elevated positioncan be maintained) so there is hope for usall. This also illustrates an important pointabout the way ratings are calculated: over-all win/loss record is less important thanwho you play and I hope this will encour-age tournament participants to seek out simi-larly rated players for their friendly games.

Let me close by saying I will be happyto receive any feedback you like to send (justdont ask me to recalculate the numbers!).Contact me at 19 Tyrrell Square, Mitcham,Surrey, CR4 3SD, by phone on 0181 687

12 VIEW FROM

2699,or by email [email protected].

DIFFERENCE INRATING POINTS

HIGHER RATEDPLAYER WINS:

LOWER RATEDPLAYER WINS: DRAW

high player gains high player loses high player loses

low player loses low player gains low player gains

this many points: this many points: this many points:

0-50 70 70 051-100 65 75 5

101-150 60 80 10151-200 55 85 15201-250 50 90 20251-300 45 95 25301-350 40 100 30351-400 35 105 35401-450 30 110 40451-500 25 115 45501-550 20 120 50551-600 15 125 55601-650 10 130 60651-700 5 135 65

701+ 0 140 70

FRENCHTANK

FASHIONTom Repetti

Ive been thinking about the weirdFrench tank designs. Does anybodyknows the rationale for their 1MTFrench design policy?

The look for Summer 1940 saidClassic Elegance with just a hint of sass.

Armour was sloping at daring angles,highlighting the sensuality of the petite tur-ret profile.

Axle bogies were shortened by 50-70cm for those carefree Parisian summernights.

Everything was Sans Radio - theModern Armour Commander cant be tiedto the phone!

Some ultra-chic designers were mak-ing CMGs that could be repositioned asAAMGs, affording the On-The-Go tankerthe most in flexibility.

Yves St. Laurent experimented withgreen-on-green camouflage designs, whileChanel came forth with a wonderful fra-grance-scented smoke round.

While it wasnt exactly the heyday ofFrench armour design, it certainly was sev-eral cuts above what the German conquer-ors came out with in the Fall.

OLD MACDONALDAND CHAPTER HOr Dad, I wont need the Jeep tonight, but can I borrow the .50 cal from it?Ian Daglish

Ask most ASLplayers how familiarthey are with Chapter H,and they will probablymake some shamefacedapology. Yes, they knowthey ought to be morefamiliar with it, and theyreally do mean to checkit out every time theyplay, but life is short, itsin a separate binder fromtheir rules and some-times you just dont haveit with you, and most of what you need ison the back of the 5/8" counters, isnt it?

Lets put Chapter H in perspective.It is NOT the worlds authority on Vehiclesand Guns of WWII, and if anyone quotes itas a source of data, you should be very sus-picious of the accuracy and extent of theirresearch. It has far too many inaccuraciesand generalisations. But it remains a good- nay, an excellent - compendium of generalinformation, a start point for research if notan always dependable source.

And for game play, familiarity withChapter H certainly separates the men fromthe boys.

At BERSERK! 97, I was the Ameri-cans in KGP CGII: the Bridge at Cheneux.While planning my strategy, it seemed tome that my ill-equipped Parachute Infantry(82nd ALL AMERICAN, of course!) coulddo with some beefing up with better SW, soI started the Campaign with my full allow-ance of two Jeep sections: four Jeeps, eachwith a good chance of some heavy metal (tobe exact: 27.8% chance for each Jeep to gainone 50 cal. HMG; or 30.6% for one MMG).Oh yes, the look on my opponents face whenI started running Concealed 5/8" countersacross the map was worth a few CPPs aswell.

Only when my Jeeps were revealeddid my opponent spoil my fun. You cantRemove those MGs from the Jeeps. D6.631specifies halftracks. You can only scroungethem for (British) LMGs. You see, Jeepsdid not carry the mounts for those MGs.

Like a sucker, I justlooked up Chapter Dand let it go at that.Months later, I wentback to Chapter H andfound I had been rightall along.

The key to this articleis in the U.S. MULTI-APPLICABLE VE-HICLE NOTES. Spe-cifically, E, I, and O.

FIRST: E & IE and I apply to halftracks, plus the

M3A1 Scout Car.

Essentially, E says that although theVehicle has multiple MGs, only one (theMA, unless it is malfunctioned or disabled)may be manned by the inherent vehicle crew.You will need Passengers to fire the rest.

I tells you which MGs the AAMGfactor actually represents. Plus, importantly,the 93(a) Annual added that each MG maybe Removed as this given type.

These points are important to the tac-tical use of Infantry vehicles and especiallyhalf-tracks. This subject has been well cov-ered, especially by two articles, with verydifferent emphases. In Critical Hit #4, Cpt.Modarellis article on armoured assault tac-tics gives a lot of ideas on how MG-armedhalf-tracks can aid Infantry mobility. Bycontrast, in The General Vol. 24 No. 4, JonMishcons Arms and Armored Half-Tracks suggests an abandon ship ploy:how to hide vulnerable half-tracks out ofharms way while utilising their Removedwealth of MGs as Infantry SW.

NEXT: OThis is where we came in: Jeeps. Also

DUKWs, various halftracks, some scoutcars, and the T8 Reconnaissance Vehicle.The Note simply enables the Vehicles listedto share the ability of halftracks to have theircrews Remove MGs (as per D6.631) as theyabandon the Vehicle (D5.41). So, if a Jeeprolls low enough to gain an AAMG (strength2 or 4), it gains an Inherent crew, a CS in

There would have been a picture ofthe M3 (MMG) HT counter to ac-company this article, but I decidedto remove it to avoid legal hasslesfrom TAHGC. It sucks, but that's lifewhen lawyers become involved.

THE TRENCHES 13

place of its cs, and the ability of that crewto Abandon the Jeep taking with it the 2 or4 strength MG as (respectively) a dm MMGor dm .50 cal. HMG.

Hereafter, things get complicated.The 93(b) Annual amends US Vehicle Note30 (only) to say that Passengers may alsoRemove Secondary MMGs. But do not getcarried away: this applies only to Passen-gers in the US M3 (MMG) and (HMG)halftracks. Otherwise, Removal of vehicu-lar MGs remains strictly the province ofvehicular crews!

As regards other nationalities, GER-MAN VEHICLE NOTE 58 allows one ofthe two MGs of the SPW 250/smg and 251/smg (the 3 FP AAMG) to be Removed bythe crew or a Passenger as a dm HMG.And BRITISH MULTI-APPLICABLE VE-HICLE NOTE I is broadly similar to US noteO, allowing those (and only those!) Ve-hicles crews to Remove MGs when theyAbandon their vehicles.

APPENDIX

US NOTE E & I# 27 M2 ht# 29 M3A1 ht# 39 M3A1 sc

US NOTE E only# 30 M3ht (MMG) & (HMG)

US NOTE O# 31 M4 MC ht# 32 M4A1 MC ht# 33 M21 MC ht# 35 T30 HMC ht# 36 T19 HMC ht# 40 M20 sc# 41 T8 sc# 52 DUKW# 54 Jeep

BRITISH NOTE I# 63 M5, M6, M5A1, and M9A1(a)

ht# 69 White(a) sc# 75 DUKW# 84 Jeep

Postscript. Also on the subject of E,I, and O: I have been told that the BBC (Brit-ish Broadcasting Corporation) has a personwho glories in the title of Electronic Infor-mation Engineering/Installations Officer -and guess what they call him at work!

AN ALTERNATIVECRITICAL HIT TABLEMike Rudd

ASL restricts PF and big guns firing at most vehicles to either missing or settingthem ablaze. Historical accounts indicate that other results did occur, for example KingTigers immobilising Shermans. This table below allows for more variety in results, includ-ing some of the more peculiar combat effects reported on the western front. I dont thinkthe table fundamentally alters AFV combat. Perhaps the big tanks are slightly more waryof BAZ shots but so what; SCW are scary to tankers and they can half the BAZ CH risk bygoing hulldown.

NOTES1 The Alternative Critical Hit Table (ACHT) is used as an optional rule by player agree-

ment or by SSR.2 It replaces the TK DR against vehicles hit by a CH or those hit with a hull by DR=3 by

PF, PSK, PIAT or BAZ.3 If ACHT effect is not possible or already affects the vehicle then use normal CH proce-

dures (EX: against a StuG IIIB an ACHT DR of 3 or 10 a normal CH would be re-solved).

4 In campaign games damage results may not be repaired between scenarios.

to sort this out but I am in Germany throughout November, so work is not currently helpingmuch. I am also due a new posting (to where I do not yet know) in July/September timenext year. Im keeping my fingers crossed. Whatever happens I am still planning to beinvolved in IF98, but it may mean the notice of venue and date may not be given as earlyas it has been in the past. Bear with me and keep playing ASL.

Yours in gaming,Neil Stevens

ALTERNATIVE CRITICAL HIT TABLEDR RESULT EFFECT

2 Radio(s) Jammed Treat AFV as radioless (D14.)3 Turret Jammed Turret fixed in current TCA for rest of scenario4 Crew Panic Crew bail out of undamaged vehicle.5 Engine Damaged From next player turn half speed (MP divided by

2, round up) and require start up DR as if MP uinred (D2.51).

6 Slow Brew Up Vehicle wrecked, PRC roll for CS as normal butBlaze placed at the end of the CCPh.

7 Immobilisation Roll Immobilisation TC (D5.5).8 Vehicle Explodes Leaves no wreck, Infantry in same Location

Pinned, Flame in burnable terrain, other vehiclesundamged, and cheesy grin on opponent's face.

9 MA Disabled Crew may take TC to avoid Recall (D3.7)10 Weapon Disabled Random (but not MA) weapon disabled (includes

SA, MG, and close defense weapons).11 Crew Injured Mark vehicle with a Stun counter.12 Near Miss Shell sweeps off crew's kit bags and other gear

strapped onto vehicle. PRC upset but otherwiseunharmed.

THE CRUSADERSContinued from page 4

14 VIEW FROM

NON - COM-MUNICATIONNon-Com: a non-commissioned officer, a squad leaderCommunication: to talk, exchange ideas.

PAUL SAUNDERS, SCOTLANDJust got the latest issue;-) VERY NICE!Damaged glider counters at last, I half

expected AH to issue them with PB, no luck there.I havent really had time to read all the way throughthe mag yet, the PTO stuff seems very interestingespecially as I am just reaching the end of an epicemail game of Tanigawas Outpost against GaryMilks, (weve been at it since February!!!!)

The Step Reduction chart is actuallyfrom an old ASL News; in all fairness, Andrew(Pauls brother - Pete) didnt know this when hesent it in. I forget the authors name, perhaps youcould print a one-liner next issue, just in case thosenice people from Belgium think were stealing theirhard work! (the chart was originally by LucSchonkeren, and I did mention it to him atINTENSIVE FIRE 97 last month - thankfully hedidnt seem to mind. Pete).

IAN DAGLISH, CHESHIREHad an idea following Manchester

Uniteds 7-0 win against Barnsley and the 6-1trouncing of Sheffield Wednesday. A HASL variantof my scenario VFTT6 They Think Its All Over- Manchester United are 11 x Hero counters; anyother Premier League side are 11 x 6+1 leaders. Orfor a European match, the opponents could exchangeone 6+1 for a 9-2.

This letter accepted on behalf of afellow Manchester United Football Clubsupporter - me!! So complaining about it will getyou nowhere :-) Pete.

BRIAN YOUSE, U.S.A.Nice piece on jungle tactics, except I

dont agree with the portion about defending alongthe gully. In my opinion there is a stronger defenceof that position if you move up to the gully insteadof leaving the 1 hex zone.

Keep up the good work.

MARK MCGILCHRIST,AUSTRALIA

First of all, thanks for the latest copy ofVFTT. I still havent got any new copies of ROF toreturn the favour, but I hope that will change thisweekend.

A little bit of errata Im afraid. On page15, Brush - Kunai should be Grain - Kunai..

Otherwise I was very pleased to see myname in print, particularly next to the likes of TomRepetti and Ian Daglish.

I was also very impressed to see theDamaged and Wrecked Glider counters. I copiedthis sheet on a colour copier, changing white togreen, to get a set of Green Damaged Gliders. Twob/w copies of the Wrecked Glider counters and Inow have a set of 26 counters with Damaged GreenGliders on the face, and white Wrecked Gliders onthe reverse. Theyre not professional quality, butvery functional, and two are gracing Cemetry Hilleven as I type, replacing the Wounded Glider andthe Truck wreck. Thanks!

P.S. Next time the laser printer breaks,

get a colour one! (Well Ive got a colour ink jetprinter since then, all I need now is the money todo colour reproductions! Pete).

LA FEMME FATALE, U.S.A.Not much time tonight (same as

always!) but wanted to zip you a quick note to sayThanks for the magazine!! I am impressed - it looksreally good, although I must confess I havent hadmuch time to delve into it just yet.

I read a few bits and pieces on AllAmerican - that looks good - and I a funny pieceabout how to pick us Yanks out from a crowd. Idsay it was pretty accurate! (And yes guys, this ISfrom a female ASLer. But for her safety though,Im with-holding her real name and address tosave here from you lot! Pete).

EDDIE ZEMAN (HEAT OF BATTLE),U.S.A.

Thank you for the copy. I was verypleased by the quality of work that you do. Verynice my friend! Also, thank you for running our adin your mag. :-D

The most important thing that comesacross in your mag is that it is very clear that thehobby of ASL is the your passion. All of the articleswere fair and pleasant. They contained detail andwere honest. So many of your articles were designedto help the ASLer in his/her hobby.

I was so refreshed by the lack of egothat went into your work that I could see myselfsubmitting articles to you to just get involved.

In summary, I found your mag to begenuinely FOR the ASL hobby and player that I willcontinue to support you.

FRITZ TICHY, AUSTRIAAfter our recent replay of Shanghai in

Flames, I meditated about the meat-grinding aspectof PTO. My personal theory is that the brutalinfantry aspect of the game gives much of the flavourof this theatre.

I also noted that some of the bestscenarios I ever played in PTO are actuallydevastating butchery.

I dont know about real numbers, but Ihave played one scenario with 100% loss of totalmanpower (both sides numbers added = 100%) inTigers of Toungoo, now 93% loss in Shanghaiin Flames, I remember about 85% in KP167 andWhite Tigers, and somewhere near 90% inMaggot Hill.

So I think that a PTO with less than 70%loss is a disappointment (85% in Chinese vs. IJAscenarios).

This is not only an effect due to highCC losses, but due to the nature of the game: TheIJA dwindle away until they are gone (and theyarent gone as long as they have some HS and aleader), and the often devastating RtPhs encounteredvs. the IJA. In our games most of the eliminatedunits against the IJA come from failure to rout. Agood IJA will drive you nuts once your key unitscrumble and those orange guys simply pass by and

cut rout routes.Do others have similar experiences/

opinion/kill percentages?

DEBRIEFINGThe following Q&A was posted to the

InterNet ASL Mailing List by Heat of Battlefor Berlin: Red Vengeance.

RePh 8.6071 Add: All FB RG may not be retained regardless ofwhether they entered the play area or not. Such units are not con-sidered eliminated for Victory Conditions nor CVP total unlessthey were destroyed during play.

CG14 As I understand this rule, ANY location [EXC: Bridges]with a Good Order MMC is a Strategic Location?A. Correct.

CG14 Im not sure about the implications of Bridges being NoMans Land. Suppose the Germans have a Strategic Location atboth ends of the bridge, can they set up ON the bridge? Can theGermans set up ON the Bridges in the initial CGS?A. This is my error. It should read: All non-bridge river/canal hexesare No Mans Land...

CG17 Are these effects cumulative? If two Red Banners are placedis the ELR increased/decreased by two?A. No, only one Red Banner counter is required to qualify for theELR bonus. Additional emplaced Red Banners have no added ef-fect except that all must beremoved in order for the ELR to revertback to the normal level for the Germans.

Scenario 8 Polish Prizes The Germans should set up on/southof hex-row D and WEST of the Canal.SSR 3: Delete this SSR (somehow it was transposed from sce-nario 2).

Scenario 2 Run For Your Lives SSR 4: Should include one Road-block and one Barricade for the German OB.

Q. Why am I being so anal you ask?A. Because you are smart and will stop at nothing to win!

The following errata for SchwerpunktII was posted to the InterNet ASL MailingList by Evan Sherry.

Scenario SP17 Cross of Lorraine The German balance shouldread American OB.Scenario SP22 Tods Last Stand The German SAN is 3.

The following errata and clarifica-tions regarding the Paddington Bears sce-nario packs from Critical Hit, Inc. wasposted to the InterNet ASL Mailing List byMark McGilchrist.

The 97 PB Pack was sent to Critical Hit as a 10scenario pack, with an additional three scenarios sent for the Criti-cal Hit magazine. It has been reported to us by purchasers that the97 PB Pack contains 8 scenarios PBP 11-18, and that PBP 19-20are contained in Critical Hit Vol.4 No.2, along with the three addi-tional scenarios numbers PB-CH A-C.

Scenario PBP5 US Forces The Victory Conditions should beread as 5 of the 7 indicated objectives, with entire building K8being a single objective.

Scenario PBP Marked For Death The French AFV depicted isan AMD-35 Armoured Car. There should be two of these AC.

The following errata applies to theASL News pack.Scenario ASL News 48 The French Infantry/ATG group sets upon Board 41, East of row N (not inclusive), as per the outline onthe set-up diagram.

THE TRENCHES 15

ON THE CONVENTION TRAILThere are more and more ASL tournaments cropping up all over the world. In fact, it is possible to be involved in an ASL tournament

at least once a month, often more, if you were so inclined (and had the financial means to live such a life - I wish!).If you plan on holding an ASL tournament, please let me know and Ill include the details here, space permitting.

JANUARYASL WINTER OFFENSIVE 1998

When: 16 - 18 January. Friday 1800 Hours - Sunday 1800 HoursWhere: The Comfort Inn, US Route 301 at US Route 50, Bowie MD 20718. Tel 301-

464-0089. Mention Winter Offensive for special room rate of $57/night.Fee: weekend registration $15 ($20 after 01/01/98), one day registration $ 8 ($10 after

01/01/98)Format: Unstructured format, mutually agreeable scenarios, minimum of five scenarios

needed to qualify. All games AREA rated. Cash prizes based on attendance, plus special 1st placetrophy.

Notes: Sponsored by Multi-Man Publishing. Winter Offensive supports all levels ofplay, from beginner to expert. Whether you are trying to expand your ASL horizons, boost your AREArating, or just get in a few games against fun opponents in a non- pressure situation, Winter Offensiveis the place for you. Returning this year will be the on-your-honor keg of beer; at $1.00 a pop, you caneasily have a good excuse for losing. Dont forget to order your WO98 tee-shirts ($10 L, XL; $12XXL) which once again feature winter combat artwork. Please make checks payable to Multi-ManPublishing and contact:

Contact: Brian Youse 309 Chase Hill Court, Severn, MD 21144, tel 410-519-1862 or byemail at [email protected] or Perry Cocke 1664 Forest Park Ave Baltimore, MD 21207, tel 410-944-3342 or by email at [email protected] or [email protected].

Pre-registration contest: Who has won each of the following at least once - ASLOK,Avaloncon and WO? How many times? Winning entry (before 01/01/98) receives rebate of registra-tion fee (or equivalent prize).

WEST COAST MELEEWhen: 30 January - 1 February. Friday 1200 Hours - Sunday 1600 Hours.Where: The Wyndham Garden Hotel, Culver City, California. The hotel is located 15

minutes north of LA International Airport and the hotel provides a free courtesy shuttle from/to theairport. Overnight accommodation at the hotel is $79.00 for double, triple and quad and $69.00 for asingle. Contact the hotel directly to make room reservations at (310) 641-7740 by January 9, 1998.Ensure you mention the Southern California ASL Club as the organisation for the room block. If youwould like us to assist you in finding roommates, just send me an email.

Fee: $20.00 if paid by 16 January, $25.00 thereafter.Format: Seven round tournament, following the same format as Avaloncon and the

ASL Open that allows a player to reject any one scenario in each round. The WCW scoring system willbe used. To give cardboard commanders a little bit of a challenge, the scenarios will not be publicisedin advance and will be distributed at the beginning of each round.

Notes: All the scenarios are published and selected from Avalon Hill and independentdesigners like TOT, CH, Paddington Bears, Schwerpunkt, WCW and others. The scenarios in eachround will vary in complexity to meet the skill level of newbies and experienced players alike.

Contact: Kent Smoak, tel (213) 296-3830 or by email at [email protected].

FEBRUARYMARCHBERSERK 98

When: 13 -15 March.Where: Hotel Skye, South Promenade, Blackpool, Lancashire, England.Fee: 7.00 (5.00 for members of The Crusaders).Format: Four round Swiss style tournament, with scenarios set b the organisers. The

facility to play CG and other long scenarios is also available.Notes: Although the tournament is for the Friday - Sunday, players turning up on Thurs-

day can be accommodated.Contact: Steve Thomas, 19 Derwent House, Samuel Street, Preston, Lancs., PR1 4YJ,

or email Trev Edwards on [email protected].

MARCH MADNESS 98When: 13 - 15 March.Where: Holiday Inn/Holidome, Overland Park, Kansas, United States of AmericaFee: To be announced.Format: To be announced.Notes: We cannot promise you a new MM Scenario Pak along with this years edition

of the tournament, but that is solely due to time constraints involved in producing a quality productrather than any legal issues.

Contact: Mike Reed by email at [email protected].

APRILFLORIDA ASL TOURNAMENT

When: 17 - 19 April.Where: Best Western Resort & Convention Center, 820 W. Busch Blvd. Tampa, Florida,

United States of America. Telephone (813) 933-4011. Rooms are $59.00 per night.Fee: Admission to the event is $10.00. Registration will be at the door since the HMGS

are the actual hosts.Format: The ASL event will start on Saturday at 8:00 AM. It will be a similar in format

to our past event. Many all new scenarios from the Tampa ASL group will be featured. Drop me a lineif you plan to attend.

Notes: The tournament is being piggy backed with the local Historical Miniature Gam-ing Society spring event called RECON.

Contact: Evan Sherry by email at [email protected].

CHICAGO ASL OPENWhen: 24 - 26 April.Where: Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.Fee: To be announced.Format: To be announced.Notes:Contact: Louie Tokarz, 708-857-7060, or by email at [email protected].

MAYMONTREAL ASL FESTIVAL

When: 2 -3 May.Where: Montreal, Quebec, Canada.Fee: To be announced.Format: To be announced.Notes:Contact: Michael Rodgers at [email protected].

HOW GOOD ARE YOU AT ASL?Whether average or advanced, you might be able to play a vital part in

developing an Historical ASL module for publication.

Some very experienced players are already playtesting ALL AMERI-CAN: Shanleys Hill, the final part of the All American series. But the moduleneeds to appeal to players of all levels of experience, so whatever your level, ifyou have the time to play a half dozen or so scenarios and return reports to atight time scale, Id like to hear from you. The reward? Your name in the cred-its, a free copy on publication, and (I hope) a degree of enjoyment.

Please contact (soon!):Ian Daglish at 5 Swiss Hill Mews, Alderley Edge, Cheshire SK9 [email protected]

holiday with wife and children - keeping your time away short andthe cost low should make it easier for you to sell it to the wife!

Of course, for those able to spend more time there would bethe opportunity to stay Friday, maybe even Thursday if there isenough demand.

So, is there a demand? Write in and let me know, and if adozen or more of you are interested Ill have to start getting some-thing organised!

Until next time, whenever that may be, roll low and prosper.

Pete Phillipps

Double 1. My last, best hope for victory.

PREP FIREContinued from page 2

BLACKPOOL 98ADVANCED SQUAD LEADER TOURNAMENT

13TH, 14TH AND 15TH MARCH (FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY) 1998HOTEL SKYE, SOUTH PROMENADE, BLACKPOOL, LANCASHIRE

THE EVENTLast March some 30 avid ASL fans gathered in Blackpool and had a really great weekend ofASL. We are pleased to be able to invite you to the second of these, now annual, events.

The tournament will be an individual player event in the Swiss style. Each player will playfour rounds against opposition with a similar win/loss record over the three days. Scenarioswill be set by the organisers. Last year the two unbeaten players at the end of the fourrounds agreed to a playoff for first and second place in a fifth round final.

Also on offer, for those of you not wishing to take part in a tournament, is the facility toplay one of those Campaign Games or long scenarios that you could never play at home. Lastyear one team played the massive "Beast at Bay" and another played "The Bridge at Cheneux"from KGP. Alternatively, you can usually find a friendly game at any time. Last year severalplayers arrived on the Thursday evening and play started then.

THE VENUEHotel Skye overlooks the South Shore Promenade of Blackpool. It is -literally- a hundredyards from the Pleasure Beach and railway station. We will have the hotel to ourselves (nonon convention guests) and the proprietor has made it plain that he will strive to make ourweekend enjoyable.

THE COSTEntry in the convention is 7.00.Crusaders get in for only 5.00.

Hotel Prices are as follows:B&B - for a shared room 18.00B&B - for a single room 21.00

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACTSteve Thomas,19 Derwent HouseSamuel StreetPRESTONLancs.PR1 4YJ

or e-mail Trevor [email protected]

BERSERK!

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ASL - vftt 16