Michael announced the start of the ASL open where some 38 players from UK, Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland assembled. The opening draw was random and I found myself playing George Tournemire at the WCW scenario ‘Eye of the tiger’. Using ABS I selected the defending Soviets. The highlights of the game included the 280mm oba breaking only 1 squad much to my relief. George put together a very strong attack down the left flank, a Puma becoming immobilised after overrunning a ? Counterstack. A Panzer IV eliminated a T34 with a BFF shot. The other T34 trying to shoot it out with a Tiger and loosing the gun duel and the 3^rd T-34 dying from a panzerfaust shot when trying to flank the Tiger. Thus far the game was going south rather rapidly. However ASL is a funny old game with a berserk soviet HS forcing an immobilisation result on the other puma the crew failing the resulting task check and subsequently dying in CC leaving an abandoned vehicle. The Soviet 57LL atg shocks the other Panzer IV with APCR but survives! The gun crew becoming parts of a large melee an 8-0, 2-2-8 and 4-5-8 vs. 16 points of SS firepower. German attack 3-1 resulting in the Soviets dying. I resolve to attack at 1-4 George’s points out how unlikely my chance of getting a favourable result are. Next die roll snakeyes causing German casualties and no certain amount of upset on the other side of the board. The combined armoured assault ground down the Soviet defenders but German CVP became an issue when the immobilized Puma succumbed to a flank ATR shot. A belated soviet counterattack on turn 6 temporarily captured the abandoned Puma but the remaining German forces were too strong. My attempts to use the DC and Close combat on the Tiger were brutally dealt with by superior German firepower. So the record became 0-1 but I felt that I had at least given George’s a decent game.

The Danish tournament is different in the they offer a buffet sized meal in the early evening which not being familiar with I went for wanting to maximise playing time in a fairly tight gaming schedule. I felt this was an excellent idea. Next round players were matched those winning or loosing 3 points being accorded a win. I was drawn against Andreas Hinz a very jovial german currently resident in Sweden. We picked ‘Under a Sky of lead’ with myself selecting the Free French. Andreas methodically advanced the German flak troops across mapboard 41 getting the control of the majority of building hexes required for the victory conditions. Due to fatigue I forgot that harassing artillery fire should be resolved on the 6 FP column not the 16 column which totally destroyed my forces in the open. But as 8.2 applies I went 0-2. The following morning Andreas apologised for the error but I did enjoy the game nonetheless. I joined Derek for a couple of beers to wind down at the John Bull pub and exchange tales of the day.

Refreshed from a decent night sleep Saturday dawned. The third round I played Michael Sachau from Kiel in North Germany we selected ‘Blackjack is Back’ with Michael as the defending German player. I went for a central thrust through the boards. My personal morale took a nosedive, as Michael’s first panzerfaust was a snake eyes resulting in a CH and a burning Sherman. The German player has a lot of terrain to defend, which meant that they were spread to cover a lot of ground. I was hoping the special Pershing would be an effective antidote to the normally deadly Panthers. I was able to gain ground due to the superior American firepower and the low ELR of their opposition. I decided to attempt to overwhelm the right flank Panther. This tactic got off to an inauspicious start as the hunted Panther destroyed the first M4A3 attempting to flank it with a defensive fire shot. The Pershing then moved into action the Panther using its BMG to face the threat. A BFF shot from the Pershing resulting in a 6 not only gained APCR but also it hit its target and killed it at the end of turn 2. My forces were in a strong position in the middle of the board. Michael’s response was being to move the surviving Panther into the fray outside of the TCA of the Pershing. Unfortunately for him my DFF shot was another 6 resulting in an APCR hit in the turret result another dead Panther. The German CVP loss being an issue with 24 CVP gained. On game turn 3 with three turns to go Michael conceded a victory due to the time and forces available to me. Thus honour was satisfied with a win. It makes a pleasant change to play a scenario where a Panther is vulnerable so that player tactics placement and luck come into play.

For round 4, I was drawn against Derek Ward an Australian now residing in Denmark. I persuaded him to play the Schwerpunkt scenario a ‘stroke of luck’ with me as the Soviet defender. As I set up the ATG in a woods hex I was informed by a casual observer of the illegality of the disposition. As this is recommended in the write up a clarification seems to be in order as all Soviet units must set up in buildings.

Derek manoeuvred his flak panzer in direct Los of the repositioned ATG, which promptly dispatched it. The reward for their bravery being two Panthers lining up to exact retribution. In the following prep fire phase I decided for a deliberate immobilisation shot. A DR of 2 ensured the desired result, the subsequent shot declared as APCR with you guessed it another 2 this time a CH which forced the crew to abandon their dead tank. Derek took these events with good humour. I managed to manoeuvre my armour into the centre of the board hull down. The Panzer IV shocked the SU100 only to succumb to a CC reaction fire attack from two Soviet squads. However in my delight in inflicting serious vehicle casualties I had overlooked the fact that my right flank was very weak and Derek advanced to gain control of the 2 buildings on mapboard 21 required to win. So even though I destroyed the other Panther with the SU-100 I had insufficient forces and time to launch a counterattack to retake either one of them. A salutary lesson in not taking enough notice of the Victory conditions. Many thanks to Derek with whom I had a superb game which I thoroughly enjoyed. My record was now 1-3.

Round 5 found me drawn against Philippe Vaillant from Cambrai, France. Being somewhat tired by this point I was looking for the smallest scenario I could find. Fortunately Philippe was of the same opinion. ‘Morire in Belieza’ being selected for this reason. It is a fascinating mix of unit’s elite Italians including Assault engineers with flame-throwers supported by an 81-mm mortar. They face Yugoslav troops of mixed quality low elr defend half of mapboard 41. They’re main firepower being provided by two 75mm field guns and a HMG. However their ELR is 2 and half the squads are green 4-3-7, which aren’t intended to inspire confidence. I picked the Yugoslavs with a defence design to slow the Italians as much as possible as the victory conditions require control of four level 2 hill hexes at game end. Philippe got off to a cracking start with an kill stack complete with 10-2 leader marching triumphantly into the middle of the board brushing aside one of the single 4-3-7 green squad deployed as a skirmish line. To further enhance his chances the 81mm mortar broke a 75mm gun crew and put smoke in front of the other 75mm. I decided to try to hold my ground an 8+2 from the MMG broke the 10-2 leader thus forcing the rest of their comrades to go the same way. In the course of defensive fire and the following prep fire I was able to break just about every good order Italian unit on the board. Therefore I was able to move enough forces in the path of the Italian advanced. Philippe conceded the game as he had insufficient time and fewer forces to shift the remaining Yugoslavs from the stone buildings. My record was 2-3 by this time it was nearly 11pm and time for a beer.

Sunday morning brought the final round. I was paired with Johan Salin a Swede. Unfortunately he had never played either PTO or Desert a considerable handicap given the fact that the theme was PT. Gamely he took the Japanese in the ‘Halha river bridge’. The objective is the destruction of a bridge in Manchuria i.e. desert terrain. Fortunately for me Johan’s lack of familiarity with Japanese was his undoing as he cautiously advanced over the very open terrain with 2 tanks and 2 kill stacks. I resolved to stay concealed for as long as possible and only to shoot whenever a good target such as a DC carrying unit presented itself. The 37mm atg achieved nothing after having been broke by Japanese tank and mortar fire. The concealment t counters did their job in greatly reducing the effectiveness of the Japanese firepower. The tanks were used to create vehicle dust to give some cover to the advancing infantry in the open ground. The wire obstacles were useful in slowing down the Japanese. On the last turn I only had one good order squad in the game which was promptly taken out by VBM freeze. However only 1 squad was in a position to place a DC requiring a DR of 5 to get a destruction result. When a 9 was rolled I breathed a big sigh of relief. Final record being 3-3 which I was very happy about.

I felt the scenario selection was excellent. My only observation about big scenarios like ‘Orlik and the Uhlans’ should be played in the morning round rather than last round at night when players are more tired after having already played 2 rounds. As I understand it Georges Tournemire won the tournament as his opponent fell asleep until 11am thus forfeiting the game!

As for the British players Derek Tocher ended with a 4-2 record and Toby Pilling gained 5-1 and an overall 4^th. So a good showing overall. I have no hesitation in recommending the Scandinavian Open as an excellent tournament to ASL players everywhere. Many thanks to Michael Hastrup-Leth for doing such a good job. Also thanks to Derek Tocher for persuading me to go in the first place I had a great time. I hope to be there next year.