Perry Cocke pulls double GM duty as his ASL finalists battle it out while he pairs the next class for Starter Kit combat.	A limited intelligence scenaraio advancing the best four players from each side was featured in Round 1 to reduce the time commitment.

It took a special format to lure 1999 Champion Steve "Gor Gor" Pleva out of his lair. Once unleashed upon an unsuspecting world, Gor Gor inflicted the usual destruction upon all that lay in his path. No blame can be assigned in that direction, however, for the state of the WBC ASL tournament. Valiant efforts including an attempt to reintroduce it as a Pre-Con have been made to restore it to a semblance of its former glory to no avail. It took 18 years but ASL has finally completed its odyssey from the flagship event of the original Avaloncon to a WBC alsoran as it drops out of the Century for the first time - having lost 91% of its peak attendance. Somewhere ASL enthusiasts still gather in numbers to play "the" game, but it's definitely not at WBC.

Hoping to capitalize on the buzz engendered by last year's limited intelligence format, we repeated the format this year, once again featuring brand new scenarios, where players did not know the other side's Order of Battle or sometimes even the exact victory conditions. Once again all the players had a great time. Once again, however, attendance dropped.

The first round saw the German players competing amongst themselves, and the Greek players doing likewise. "Garage Hands" featured a combined arms force on either side in an effort to see who could maneuver (or prevent) the biggest German force past the Greeks and through the fords and across the river. The Germans had much better armor, but the Greeks had a bigger (albeit inexperienced) infantry force. Players were asked to choose whether they preferred attacking or defending and match-ups accommodated that preference where possible. The best four Germans and the best four Greeks advanced. Defending (and 3-time) champion J.R. Tracy squeaked in as the third best German on the basis of captured prisoners. Without the prisoners, J.R. would have advanced in 4th place, but then so would his opponent Rob Schoenen rather than 4th place German Gary Trezza. Gor Gor had no problem advancing as a German, but top German honors went to Col. William Stoppel. No consensus emerged as to whether or not the Germans should use the optional motorcycles.

On the Greek side, Maryland's own Jim Mehl got hot with his 81mm mortar and crushed Rob Seulowitz's Germans, but the best Greek of the day was former Starter Kit champion Jim Munson, moving up to the big game.

Round 2 reverted to standard single elimination, but still with limited intelligence. An all-infantry scenario, "The Briefest Campaign" saw first-line German infantry fighting the elite Danish Life Guards in an attempt to secure the Danish palace in Copenhagen. The scenario split 2-2. In no particular order, attackers J.R. Tracy and Sumner Clarren took out defending Danes Jim Mehl and Rich Jenulis, respectively, while Danish defenders Gor Gor and Gary Trezza defeated respectively Germans Bill Stoppel and Jim Munson (the two leaders from Round 1).

The semi-finals matched the French of Sumner Clarren (last of the south of the Mason-Dixon gang) defending against J.R. Tracy's Germans, and Gary Trezza defending against Gor-Gor in the combined arms-piece "Valor in Defeat." The German player had to amass casualties and exit near the road hex in the middle of the board, and was given several options from which to choose his OB, with various repercussions for his victory conditions. In general, the German AFV were hard pressed to affect the French H-39 tanks, while the popgun 37s of the French could only be truly effective against the most lightly armored of the German AFV. Unsurprisingly, both J.R. and Gor Gor solved the puzzle in favor of the Germans, with Gary Trezza's tenacious defense requiring all of the monster's attention.

To no one's amazement, the Final saw defending (and three-time) champion J.R. Tracy matched against everyone's nemesis-Steve "Gor Gor" Pleva. The brand new Special Edition of MMP's Operations magazine featured an ASL Starter Kit scenario "Ripples in the Pond" that was adapted for this tournament's limited intelligence format. A light mix of German infantry and anti-tank guns had to prevent a combined-arms force of American 1st-line infantry and mixed Shermans from exiting off the east-north-east of Starter Kit mapboard "u." Unfortunately, defender J.R. Tracy read that as the north-east edge of the mapboard, and consequently defended a little too far north than optimal. And as all the ASL world knows, sub-optimal is not going to fend off Gor Gor. J.R. tried manhandling his guns out into the open where they could see the exit area, but they were facing too much firepower to succeed in such a desperate move. Luckily, it was over quickly and J.R. could head for home-another victim of Gor Gor's insatiable appetite for victory.

Congrats to Sumner Clarren for finishing fourth in a strong field. Thanks to J.R. Tracy for adding some class with his valiant attempt to defend his title. Congratulations to Steve Pleva - ever the ultimate good sportsman - for another excellently played tournament. Thanks for gracing us with your monstrous presence.

On a sadder note, I have to ask that someone else take over GMing the ASL tournament. We were hoping that a new format with brand new scenarios would be a big enough draw to increase attendance, but it appears that task requires someone with more energy or free time than I have. You can count on my support in 2009, just not on my direction.