First and foremost - I HAD A BLAST! - thanks to all who showed up!

The tournament ran from friday noon to sunday afternoon. We played six rounds, with 3 scenarios to choose from each round, with ABS supplied for all scenarios by the organizers.

Round 1:

I was matched up against Clas Eric Rydberg from Sweden and we settled for AP12 Cream of the Crop. 10 German squads supported by 3 StuG's assault a village defended by 10 russian squads supported by a KV1. The russians are reinforced by 3 T60's halfway through the game. The germans has to capture 21 building hexes.

I got the germans, and Clas set up spread out - covering all approaches. After studying his setup I decided for a massive assault up the middle and on the noth flank with a few squads moving to the south to apply pressure on that flank. I wanted to use the StuG's to shoot up russian squads. (they didnt - but at least they scared them away)

Not much happened during the first 2 turns - I didnt break any of his troops and neither did he. I made some progress, since he wisely abandoned his positions when my StyG's moved up and started acquiering them.

By turn 3 I entered the village in the north, and things started to happen. During the nest turns his defense in the North got broken up, and the StuG's was posistioned to interdict any movement of troops from the south. The KV1 broke its MA, and so did 2 of my StuG's.

By the end of turn 4 I was in possession of most of the North part of town, with 2 russian squads and a leader holding the far rear. "My area" was seperated from his by a road which I had covered with 2 MMG's and the reamining StuG. I still needed to capture 4 building locations during the last 3 turns, one of wich was within "my area". At this point we had to call over one of the judges to decide the game, since the round was over. I was ruled the winner - imo the right decision.

1-0

Round 2:

I got matched up against another Dane - Rene Yssing Rasmussen. We decided on PP6 - Under a sky of lead, from the Provence Pack. 10 german squads with a generous SAN of 6 attack a village initially defended by 11/2 free french squads, led by a wounded heroic 9-1. On turn 2 the french receive a further 10 squads led by a 9-2. The germans have to control more buildings on board 41 than the French. OBA fall in a rather random fashion starting game turn 3.

Again I got the German attackers. I decided to move strongly against the western hill in the village to capture the buildings on the hill, and be in posistion to interdict the French reinforcements, while sending a couple of squads to clear the other hill. I also sent 2 crews with MG's to the level 2 building at the south end of the village - to interdict movement in the village, and to cower my south flank. Assigning 2 MG's to this role proved to be to much.

Rene left the west hill almost undefended, thus allowing me to be in position on the hill in time to interdict his reinforcements. I set up my defense at the edge of the hill - until the 9-2 popped up across the street leading a couple of squads with LMG's. I then fell back one hex turning my defense into a backslope defense. The next 2 turns wa very onesided. I broke up all his attempts to assault the west hill, and the sniper made his precense felt by breaking up the French attempts to roll up my south flank, and then killing the 9-2. The game looked almost over, but then things changed again. Maybe I got a overconfident and suddenly my guys couldnt make a MC - they just kept rolling 9's. I advanced into CC my guys concealed his CX - guess what my guys died. Rene was back in the game he had 3 french heroes by now, and a stack had moved into position to assault the east hill - which the last turns had left to thinly defended. It came down to the last CC-phase, 4 CC's would decide the game. All four had to go his way for him to win - in two of them he needed wrest control of the building from me so he had to kill my guys, and survive with a MMC, in the last two he had to keep control, so if he died so must I. Three of them went his way - but in the last his hero couldnt stand the ground in a 1-4 / 4-1 against a squad - his hero died - my squad lived!

2-0

That concluded the rounds for friday - I typed in the results and went home to get some sleep in my own bed - thats the advantage of living 10 minutes by bike from the tournament site!

Round 3:

I was matced up against Toby Pilling - who is leading the British ASL-ranking list. This turned out to be one of the best and most intense games I played the weekend.

We both wanted to play PBP 25 - First and Inches, and we both got the sides we wanted - I got the US, while he got the germans. This scenario starts with 5 US squads defending against a massive german assault app. 8 SS squads, 2 StuG's and a FlkPz "flak-vierling", the US receive reinforcement in turn 2 - 1 M18, 2 M36, 2 M3 HT and 10 or so squads. The germans receive 1 VP each round for each stone building adjacent to a road they control, and they have to accumulate 22 VP during 6 rounds to win. I set up my meager initial forces spread out across the village. He entered and moved agressively forwards. During the first 2 turns Toby executed a excellent attack and shattered my initial force. He also drove a couple of halfsquads all the way to my entry area riding on the StuG's. When my reinforcements entered, only 1 squad w MMG, and a 9-1 leader remained of my initial force - another squad was encircled and surrounded by superior forces on the right flank and was taken out the next turn. Toby controlled 7 VP-buildings. He had the 2 roads leading from my entry area covered, one by a StuG - the other by the Flak-Vierling. In order to kill my initial force he had most of his infantry concentrated in the right side of the village around the encircled squad, leaving only two squads in the center, and two on my left.

Well my turn to be agressive - It looked as if he had overlooked that the M18 could bypass through the center of the board and get into position to shoot up the StuG or the FlkPz from outside their CA - so I drove the M18 forwards. When it rolled up next to the StuG and stopped Toby chose to set his AFV in motion - I then started th M18 again and turned towards the FlkPz- who turned the turret two cliks and shocked the M18 with IF. I then rolled the other 2 tanks forward in position to take out his AFV's. Squads came runnning forwards adjacent to the halfsquads near my entry area and CC'ing them. A -1 leader with two squads with MG's raced forward to cover the road that Tobys squads would have to cross to get into the center of the village where most of the VP buildings are. One HT stayed ofboard along with a squad in order to force him to defend all the roads, since I would otherwise be able to move it up, and unload the squad in his rearto reclaim building(s). In AfPh i nailed the FlkPz, but didnt shoot at the Stug since I had to move one of the M36 BU to avoid a nasty 8+1 from his troops.

His turn 3 saw the death of the StuG, the death of my encircled squad, and the death of one of his squads on the left in CC. Still leaving him out of position with a lot of his guys, and only one squad on the left, trying to keep me from running my Halftracks to his rear. I of his halfsquads was still in position to take control of a VP-building in my rear. I continued my agressive assault. I ran a squad forwards on my left, in order to draw fire from his single squad there, when he fired I overran it, and proceded by entering my offboard and squad, and moving it al the way to his rear - where it got stunned by MG fire. I then started the other HT, moving it towards his rear in support of the shocked HT, i wanted it to draw fire - and it sure did - it got shocked to!

My infanty got in position for the assault on the center, and i had MG's and AFV's covering the approaches to the VP buildings. Unfortunately the time was up - and 3 turns remained. We called up a judge, who spent nearly 30 minutes evaluating the situation and finally awarded me the victory. I think that it was the right desicion, Tobys troops was out of position, the couldnt defend the area where most of the VP-locations are - I think the odds was 2-1 in my favor when we finished. But I really would have liked to finish this scenario.

3-0

Round 4:

I played Lars Klysner, a local player. we decided on CH19 - Into the valley. a small force - 21/2 squads with one 75L AT-gun defends a valley against a russian horde - 6 T34 and 16 squads. The germans move first, and enter 2 Pz IVH, and 5 HT, carrying 4 more squads, and a 9-2. Well this ended up being my fastest victory - I have played this scenario before, and Lars had not. I had a clear idea what to do - Lars hadn't. At the end of turn 3 he was three T34 down, and one more was in a bad position with German infantry adjacent. His infantry was scattered and far from the VP-locations. My 9-2 was matched up with my MMG, overlooking the approach to the area where the Victory locations are. Lars threw in the towel, and immediatly formulated a better plan for the assault - I'm sure hell demand a rematch one day. ;-).

4-0

The fast game gave me time to cath up with the results that had to be entered into our database, and still left some time over to look at the scenarios for the 5th round - the semifinals. This round featured the Minors - both allied and axis.

Round 5:

After round 4, only three players remained undefeated - I got matched up with one of them Christoph Liewndahl from Sweden. We decided on PBP22 Morire in Beliza, featuring a elite! Italian force assaulting a prepared Yugoslav position. I wanted the Italians, since they looked quite formidable, 12 squads, 2 FT, DC's an excellent 81 mm mtr. and a 10-2 leader.

The yugoslavs had wires, 2 * 75mm Art guns, and a couple of MG's. The VC requires that the Italians control 5 of 6 level 2 hill hexes in the rear of the yugoslav setup area.

When my opponent bid balance level 3 for the Yogu's I got a little suspicious. And sure enough - what goes around comes around. He had played the scenario before, and had (rightly) concluded that the scenario favors the Yogoslavs. He had a very good setup, and my assault got repulsed. I kept trying though, and in the end i forced his prepared defenses, both my FT's x'ed out on their first shot - which was largely compensated by his guns x'ing out early. My position didnt look to good - he had just as many squads as me in position to move to the top of the hill. His left flank was very weak though, one one halfsquad in a stonehouse covered the approach around the flank, with 2 broken squads and a leader behind him. If I could break the halfsquad, I could run the 10-2 and 2 squads around the flank without geting shot at. My remaining squads would be in position to cover the approach to the hill, and with a little luck, I could inflict some casualties on his troops moving towards the hill. I took my shots at his halfsquad - a 15+2 resulted in a MC - he pinned. I then took a 10+3, and behold, a 2MC - rejoice rejoice, i had him - but NO!!! He rolls snakeeyes, and instead of a broken squad i now had to run adjacent to the pinned halfsquad AND a hero - I tried but failed, 4-3 shots are bad for the health!!

4-1

After this game I was totally toasted - I grabbed a beer and finally got to talk to some of the people, but the late hour, and the many hours of concentrated gaming soon took their toll - I wanted to get some sleep, but I had to stay to type register the last results, so we could be ready to make the draw or the final round sunday morning. Finally at 3 o'clock the last games finished, and I hit my bike and got home for some sleep.

In the morning I nearly failed my WUTC (Wake Up Task Check). I was subject to the triple case L (play Late) modifier, but the double case K (Kids crawling on your face) did the difference ;-)

I got to the museum in time to make the draw for the final round - without being (much) to late!

Unfortunately one of the finalists - Christoph failed his WUTC - due to Double L (play Late), case A (THEN go home and Analyse the scenarios), and Case C (fall asleep in a Chair) modifiers, and didnt show up for his game. Wich meant that Georges Tournemire won the tournament - congratulations!!

Round 6:

I got to play Bjarne Hansen, Bjarne is IMO the best player in Copenhagen - last year he won both Intensive Fire in UK, and Grenadier in Germany. Last time I played Bjarne was in the final in our local club-tournament 2 years ago, where I beat him in a intense game of Maggot Hill. Now came his chance of a rematch - the final round featured the Japaneese. Bjarne is an excellent PTO player, and I don't play PTO much, only when I have to in tournaments - so I figured I had my work cut out for me - but the same applied last time - and I beat him then, so....

Our gamed turned out to be a game for the runner-up spot, since both Bjarne and I had faced stiff opposition in the tournament both of us had excellent Tie-breaker score (A calculation of how tough opponents we have played during the tournament).

We both had J9 - A Stiff fight - as our first choice of scenario. I wanted the Ghurks and bid B1, while Bjarne wanted the Japanese and bid J2.

This little gem of a scenario has 7 ghurka squads with 4 LMG's, 2 ATR and 4 wires defending on board 37 against 8 japanese squads and 2 crews w. MMG's (one of wich Bjarne gave up as balance) The Japs are supported by 3 Type 97A AFV.

The japanese win if by game end there are no unbroken Ghurka MMC on or adjacent to the road.

I wanted to keep my trops together and form a continous line to avoid infiltration for as long as possible, when this became impossible I planned to deploy and disperse. Biggest threat against this strategy are the Japanese tanks, I hoped for some bogs on the wires and when they entered the jungle, and I also hoped that their lack of radio would slow them down.

This game was the most intense of the weekend, it went all the way - and then some.

Bjarne played an excellent game as the japanese, almost every turn he moved 4-5 squads right into the face of 3-4 of my guys daring me to shoot. When I did shoot all I could hope for was to flip some of his guys, and if my guys broke on his return fire he would (if possible) have moved a AFV or some infantry behind to cut routpaths. Fortunately for me his AFV's didnt fare to well! - The first to enter a wire hex bogged, mired and immobilized. One kept failing its TC's when trying to move out of platoon - it only managed to move in two of the seven turns! The last had some luck, and was a nuicance, and if his luck with the AFV had been better, the fight wouldnt have been so stiff!

I had some initial luck during turn 1, I lay down firelanes all over his approach, and managed to kill one, and wounding another of his two leaders. After the game Bjarne demonstrated how close my firelanes came to costing me the game. His guys moved up and broke my 8-1 and a squad, and if his AFV hadn't failed its Bog roll on the Wire, my guys would have died for failure to rout.

The came continued like this - Bjarne applying relentless pressure, me falling back, trying to keep some kind of fighting line, and avoiding infiltraton. Largely due to his inability to get his AFV's rollin - I did quit good. Over the next couple of turns he managed to surround and encircle two of my squads - one broke and died, but a wellplaced snakeeyes saved the other, and even gave me a hero! They promptly died next turn, when they again got encircled and surrounded, and as their best chance moved into a 4-1 shot, where Bjarnes threw snakeeyes killing the hero and breaking the leader. But they bought som time, and my broken units got back online - and this was still everybodys game. The next turns continued like this, and as the squads disappeared on both sides the every move became more and more important. It took up to 15 minutes to do advance faces witl less than 5 squads!

At turn 6 it looked as if I was going to pull it off. I still had four halfsquads left, 2 of which were in position net to the road, while last two had to move through kunai past an AFV and a CX squad with a LMG to get in position. I expected to use the first halfsquad to draw fire by moving adjacent to the enemy, the other halfsquad could then move at 2 hex distance and move next to the road. First halfsquad moved and Bjarne fired with the tank - miss, he then fired the squad, and got a MC, and I rolled boxcars - ARGH. This means he got to shot SFF at the other halfsquad (and 8-1) and sure enough on the 3+1 he pins my guys! If these guys had got into position I would have looked very good. I still had 2 halfsquads left, all that was needed for me to win was that one of them surived through the CCphase, by ambushing and withdrawing - or not getting killed. Bjarne got a full squad into position adjacent to each of them, and removed their ?'s by searching. Nobody broke during the firephases, and the final CC phase ensued. Well - I didnt ambush him, and Bjarne didn't gack any of the CC rolls. This was an absoloutly awesome game! For the first time I really saw what japanese can accomplish in the hands of an expert.

4-2 and an overall 6th place, waaaaay beyond what I had expected.

My only real problem with the tournament was that there wasn't enough time. I played all the rounds, using all the allotted time most of the rounds, and had to register results in the breaks, I just didn't got to do much hangin out - beerdrinking - talking to my fellow ASLoholocis - and so on. Theres only one solution to this - next year I wont sleep!!!