Pulhumas Repeats As Champion!

For the Demo this year, we split the group into two, with designer/Assistant GM Ken Dunn showing the newbies the ropes and GM Perry Cocke giving tips to the pros. Two of the newbies kept with it to the immediately following Mulligan Round, where ten players faced off in S5 Clearing Colleville, which favored the defending Germans a bit this year. Last year’s fourth place finisher Josh Coyle lost in a nail biter to Jack Stalica; dissatisfied with his play and enjoying the late night gaming of young adults, Josh wouldn’t make an appearance the next day.

The next morning saw ten players engaged in the traditional Round 1 match of S1 Retaking Vierville. Both Jeff Talor (who has been working hard on his game) and veteran gamer (but new to ASL) Ted Drozd took advantage of the Mulligan, losing Thursday night but winning Friday morning. Ted took out past Champion (and last year’s runner-up) Greg Schmittgens, and Gary Phillips took down laurelist Andy Maly when snake-eyes on a 6+3 shot opened things up. Past Champion (and last year’s third place) Dan Leader and defending Champion Derek Pulhamus both advanced, with Dan firing into a melee in the victory hex and breaking none of his Germans but all of the Americans therein to win. That was the lone German victory in Round 1, as this year the Americans had the advantage in S1.

Round 2 saw two winners from Thursday’s Mulligan Round drop out, resulting in defending Champ Derek Pulhamus getting a bye into the next round. Both Tom Meier (Russian) and Dan Leader (German) had crushing wins in their games of S2 War Of The Rats, while Jeff Talor’s Germans were able to defeat Ted Drozd’s Russians only after Ted’s kill stack crumbled when his Russian 9-2 twelved out on a 4+2 shot.

Round 3 featured a new scenario to the WBC mix, S54 Operation Natzmer, which introduced ordnance to the Russians in the form of a single mortar as well as hills, both from ASLSK#2. Those extra rules proved a module too far for Tom and Dan, who still had a ton of fun as Dan’s last turn desperate charge almost pulled out a win for the Germans. Meanwhile, Jeff Talor proceeded a tad too cautiously, and his Germans ran out of time at the end against Derek.

Tom Meier (like Andy Joy, who dropped out after winning in the Mulligan Round) was returning to ASL after a long absence and now faced defending Champion Derek Pulhamus in the Final, S14 88s At Zon, featuring hills and ordnance for both sides. Tom started well, slowing Derek’s Americans to a crawl, to the point where Derek almost failed his Personal Morale Check. But our defending Champ hung tough, putting himself in position to take advantage of a change of fortune at the end. Tom’s first shot with an 88 malfunctioned it, and he promptly disabled it permanently in the next Rally Phase. Only one remaining gun was not enough to cover the exit area, and Derek was able to squeak out a victory. Derek joins Greg as our second repeat winner and becomes the first to go back-to-back.