CASLO Scenario Lists

The Canadian ASL Open (CASLO) is barely six weeks away. If you have yet to register, here are some reasons to do so today.

The Purple Heart Mini

This year the CASLO will feature a Mini tournament geared toward newer and less experienced players. The “Purple Heart Mini” is a single-elimination event running from Saturday through to Sunday. Players eliminated in the first or second round of the Mini may engage in open play thereafter.¹ 

The “Purple Heart Mini” is the ideal place for tyros to earn their first wound stripes. A tyro is a competitor competing in an event for the first time. However, one need not be a tyro to enter the Mini.²

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We have selected scenarios that provide players with challenging situations, but which generally do not require advanced knowledge of the ASL rule set to play. For instance, in the first and second rounds, players can choose from a minimum of two scenarios featuring no vehicles, and very little, if any ordnance. For those players interested in combined-arms actions, we have included one scenario with vehicles in each of these rounds.

Because the third round is for all the marbles, or in this case a copy of Lone Canuck’s Purple Heart Draw, we have provided two scenarios that feature Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFV). These scenarios will give the finalists a greater opportunity to play a more complex scenario in the last round. Players will notice that there is also a fourth scenario choice for the third round. We included this fast-playing, infantry-only scenario as an option for players who wish to finish early on Sunday. Note that this scenario is only an option if both players agree to play it instead of the other scenarios in the round.

The Main Event

The winner of the CASLO, or main event, will receive a copy of Le Franc Tireur’s new historical module Kampfgrupper Scherer: the Shield of Cholm. The CASLO consists of five rounds. Participants play all five rounds, with the winner determined by points. A player scores 10 points for winning a match, and receives one bonus point for every victory that  his defeated opponents have at the end of the tournament.

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Sponsored rounds

Each round of the CASLO has five scenarios to choose from. In addition, four of the rounds are sponsored by ASL publishers. In each of the sponsored rounds, three of the scenarios are drawn from the sponsor’s library of scenarios. Should a player opt to play one of the sponsor’s scenarios (in the sponsored round), he or she is automatically entered in the raffle for this round. The winner of the raffle will receive a scenario pack from the sponsor.

Ian was especially fond of this design.

In recognition of the late Ian Daglish’s contributions to ASL, we have included his favourite scenario design in the last round of the CASLO. Copies of this and other scenarios will be available at the tournament. Players who have pre-registered may request a pdf copy of any scenario on the list that they currently do not have access to. These copies are for tournament use only.

For more information, check out this post, or contact me, the Tournament Director, at battleschool@rogers.com

See you in September!

Notes

1. In most cases, a player who played in the Main (the CASLO) tournament on Friday will return to next round of the CASLO.

2. A handicap may apply to more experienced players, i.e. those seeded in the top half of the field.

And there wuz cows

I stumbled across this delightful micro tourney held in Switzerland earlier this year. In April, Marc Blume organized a two-round event in a rustic venue overlooking the picturesque Walensee. The lake is surrounded by verdant hillsides, and majestic, snow-capped mountains. Their Kampfscheune, or battlebarn, is located just south of the village of Amden, about 100 kilometres southeast of Zurich. Although brief, Alpenfestung (mountain fortress) highlights what can be accomplished with good preparation and organization. Four people attended. They played two scenarios on Saturday. You can get more details of the weekend on Michael Shea's blog. All of these wonderful photographs are his. Enjoy the show!

If you ever needed help convincing your better half to take up ASL and travel the world, here it is. Marc is planning to run a second Alpenfestung this autumn. If you want more information regarding this event, check out the link in my tournament list, or click on Alpenfestung. Marc's site is in English, as well as German.

Battle at Beau's

In June 2010, BattleSchool sponsored a one-day ASL event inside a microbrewery. To my knowledge this was the first time that anyone had held an event in such a venue. 

I wanted to hold a day of open play somewhere between Ottawa and Montreal. My hope was to bring players from these cities together for a day of gaming and socializing. What began as a 12-hour, localized event became something truly memorable.

I was pleased with the results. Multi-Man Publishing, Key's Games and Hobbies, and The Gamer's Armory provided great door prizes. One of the participants, Erik Linkblad of Montreal, donated an awesome laminated map of Gavutu-Tanambogo. The beer was terrific and the food tasty. In spite of three cancellations due to illness and family commitments, there were 16 players and three wives on the day. People from as far away as Toronto, Waterloo, even Maine, showed up. Most of us got two games in that day. (I got a third in the next evening when Keith Hill opted to stay another night in the nation's capital.) A newbie played his first game of ASL after watching his friend play. What a great story to tell in the years to come.

After packing up our cardboard heroes, we headed over to my brother-in-law's place (300 metres from the brewery) for a night cap ‘round the fire. We sipped the last of our Lug Tread beer, toasted marshmallows, and reminisced. Here is a summary of our day (and the day after). Enjoy the show!

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My apologies for the awkward post. I tried to create a slideshow in one of the sidebars, but the images were too small, and I could not get them to open in a new window.

CASLO on CASLA

Just a quick note to say that the complete flyer for the Canadian ASL Open (CASLO) 2011 may now be accessed on the website of the Canadian ASL Association (CASLA).

See you in September!