2019 Kansas City March Madness ASL Tournament

Well....another KC March Madness has come and gone...always feel a little blue after a great tourney. It's so great to see so many friends and of course it's hard to say goodbye. This would mark my fifth KC March Madness Tournament and my 10th overall. It seems like yesterday that I attended my first Texas Team Tournament. As the years have gone by, tournaments have become a normal part of  my year. So with KC over, I'll start looking towards the St. Louis Tournament at the end of July. 

Here are the results of this year's KC March Madness Tournament (courtesy of Dan Best):

 35 total attendees. 68 total games played 

The Champion is Doug Kirk.

2nd Place is Jim Burris.

3rd Place is Scott Martin

Starter Kit Mini-Tournament winner is Matt Peterson

Congrats to this year's winners. 

 As I have the past two years, I was lucky enough to stay at the Hollis Renewal Center. 

The evenings at the Hollis were pretty cool this year with moonlight streaming through the trees and a ton of stars filling the evening sky. Always a great place to hang out after a hard day of cardboard carnage.

ROUND 1: Scenario MM25 Gallant Mogilev vs. Scott Martin. My first round would pit me against Scott Martin. Scott would be the attacking Germans vs. my Commissar led Russians.

We had a blast and the game went down to the final German movement phase, before I was forced to concede. My initial line of defense held for 4 turns, before Scott broke out and rolled me up for the win.

Scott and I had a great time with this scenario. I would see two of my 4-2-6's go berserk and successfully charge into the Germans and take down a squad or two before it was all over. Scott would break his radio and his 150mm OBA would never show up. He would not need it. So after one Round I was 0-1.

ROUND 2: Scenario RPT 153 Run  Gurkha Run vs. Ryan Ellet. 

Ryan would be the attacking Japanese against my defending Gurkhas. Ryan would put down smoke and head over the bridge. He would put a VBM freeze on my first position, while his other boys struggled to move across the shallow stream. My ATR's would take down all 3 Japanese Tanks. Ryan would Banzai charge around mid-game and he had me on the ropes. But then his primary kill stack was eliminated in Hand to Hand .

And just like that the momentum swung to the Gurkhas and I would secure the victory. So at the end of the first day, I would be 1-1.

Ryan played a great game and had to fight the terrain as much as he did my Gurkhas. His Banzai charge nearly won the game for him. Exciting game to say the least!

Round 3: Scenario DB 145 Brandenburger Blitz vs. Rick Reinesch. 

Rick would lead his Germans against my defending Yugoslavs and Italians. The early turns of the game, would be hard fought, but as the game neared the end, Rick's reinforcing tanks and Berserk Flamethrower squad would bring the hurt to my boys and secure a victory.

After 3 rounds, I was 1-2.

"BERSERK Flamethrower squad...are you kidding me!?!"

Round 4: Scenario Q2 - Baron's Counter-Attack vs. Ryan Ellet.

Ryan and I would meet again in Round 4. Ryan would lead his German Paras into the bocage against my defending American Paratroopers. 

The early turns would be very hard on Ryan's Germans as they moved around my right flank. Despite heavy losses, Ryan kept up his attack and got into my positions, before my boys recovered and threw the Germans back for the win.

After 4 rounds, I was 2-2.

Round 5: Freeplay of Scenario MM57 Fortress Vercors vs. Dan Best. No tournament is complete without a face to face with my regular Cardboard via SKYPE opponent!!!

Dan would be the defending Free French against my German Mountain Troops. This was my first game with the Korea Steep hills board. Dan and I would have a blast with this quick playing scenario. My Germans would pull out the win. 

I highly recommend this scenario as a great way to become comfortable with the steep hills.

This a unique scenario and proves that moving is way more important than Prep Firing. If the Germans try and Prep Fire, they will find this scenario very difficult to win. So scoot and shoot boys!

So with my final game played, I would finish the tournament with 3 wins and 2 losses. What a great weekend of ASL. Looking forward to next year already!

Some pictures of the event:

The boys will be back again next year!!!