The 2026 KC ASL March Madness Tournament is now a historical record. This would be my 9th March Madness Tournament. My annual pilgrimage to Kansas City is welcome part of each year. It marks the most significant ASL event for each year. It's a time to reconnect with some face to face play and to see familiar faces and a few new ones. The venue at the Holiday Inn Express in Shawnee continues to be a great one. There is always plenty of room for everyone to easily move around and enjoy their games. The hotel is a great place to stay...breakfast is always first rate and the accommodations continue to be very good. There are also plenty of restaurants in the area as well as some excellent parks just a couple minutes away.
From Tulsa, OK it's about a 4-1/2 drive. It can be done faster...but I love the route up 169 through some very scenic and historical parts of eastern Kansas. The first stop in Kansas is Coffeyville.
Coffeyville is famous for the last raid of the Dalton Gang. My wife and I toured the museum and the area of the shootout. Outlines are still on the streets where each raider met his fate and a marshal as well if I remember correctly. Highly recommend taking the tour and visiting the cemetery where the Daltons are buried.
Like the James Gang at Northfield, Minnesota...the Dalton's fared poorly against an armed and angry population. And some seriously poor planning. Remember ASL players...don't leave your horses 8 hexes away...if you think you might need them...just say'n.
Coffeyville Raid and Blood Alley worth a look!
As is my normal process...I left for Kansas City on Thursday afternoon after a lunch with my wife. I arrived around 4:30 PM just in time to catch Dave Mareske and Dan Best exiting the hotel after getting the conference room set up. Always great to reconnect with Dave and Dan in person.
The tournament opened for business on Friday morning.
My Round 1 opponent would be Richard Burton. Richard and I have played numerous times at March Madness and at the St. Louis Tournament. I always enjoy playing with Richard. Our games are always competitive and fun. Richard, a Civil War Reenactor also shares my passion for the American Civil War. We always have great discussions about that event in American History.
Richard and I would play SP204 Yankee Pride. I was the attacking Americans vs. Richard's defending Germans. This is a great scenario and a lot of fun to play. After a long and hard fought battle, I would succeed in achieving the objectives for the win. Richard would suffer from some bad dice rolls. One of his Panther's would be knocked out by the Sherman 105, who managed a rear shot. The other Panther, surrounded by US infantry would MALF it's MA at the worst time as the Sherman 76 and a Sherman 75 surrounded it and squads jumped on it in CC.
Richard would also suffer a terrible Panzerfaust backblast moment. He would take a long range shot...and roll a 1 and 6. He would miss...but the 1 on the colored die was bad news. He would then Yahtzee who would take the casualty reduction with both the leader and the squad. He would then roll back to back 12's on the result...yep...all that was left was a wounded officer.
My Round 2 opponent was Jeff Ital. Jeff is another of my favorite opponents. I am 0-3 lifetime against him after this game, which I also would lose. Nonetheless we always have a fun game. We played MM99 Harckoski Assault....yep...my own scenario from last year's MM Pack. I was the defending Russians vs. Jeff's attacking Hungarians.
Our game would go the length and only end in the final Turn 6 Close Combat phase...you cannot ask for a more exciting game. On turn 1, I would have some incredible luck. My AT Gun would knock out the first tank and set it a ablaze...then the three squads and leader armor assaulting it were all broken. It's rare for me to have that kind of opening luck. And it wouldn't last!!! Undeterred, Jeff moved his force forward. My AT Gun would manage a second kill, but then the crew would be broken and later the gun was destroyed by an overrun. Jeff would immobilize a third tank on a 12 start up roll. The other two tanks would get up on the victory location hill and do good work. The final close combat would see one of the tanks destroyed as Jeff rolled back to back 12's, which allowed me to keep fighting and tie him in Melee. There was some real tension in the air as I watched Jeff prepare for the most crucial die roll of the game...He needed a 9 or less, if I remember right...He held up the dice and looked ahead...then dropped in the cup...for the WIN! A great game and I think the most fun game I had among the three that I played.
At the end of Day 1 - I was 1-1.
Saturday morning...Day 2 - cold winds were starting to blow in...but I managed an early morning walk. Gotta get my steps you know!!!
Round 3 vs. Chuck Anderson. This was my first time to play against Chuck. We had a great game and I hope that I will get to play Chuck again in the future.
We would play AR4 The Overlook. I was the attacking Germans vs. Chuck's defending British. This is a very well balanced scenario. ROAR has it with 19 German wins to 18 British wins. The British are concealed and dug in. Chuck went with a great reverse slope defense with a killing zone at the crest of the hill. There was no way my Germans could go to level 2 without being hit with heavy fire. I moved cautiously on Turn 1 and got up on Level one without taking any defensive fire. I advanced some 4-3-6's and 2-3-6's adjacent to this defenders. They would get shot up pretty good on his part of Turn 1...but two 4-3-6's would survive and on Turn 2 manage to occupy foxholes held by Dummy units. With this foothold, I move the rest of my force around the left side supported by both flame tanks. My force on the right managed to flank the hill, but would be pushed back and broken by good a defensive effort by Chuck on that side.
While I struggled to pass morale checks...my force managed to push the British back...aided by my flame tanks. I would roll two snake eyes with 30 factor flame attacks. The British Hero would be KIA and an officer and two squads would also go down to the flames. Snake eyes can of course really unbalance a scenario and that was the case here. The effectiveness of my flame shots allowed me to clear the hill and eliminate the reinforcing British. Going into the last turn, Chuck had a squad and two half-squads holding out on the right side of the hill, where my earlier attach had been stopped. At this stage, my 9-1 was carrying the British DC that survived the flame attack that killed the British Hero. I successfully placed the DC and managed to take out the last full squad. With only 2 half-squads remaining...the German victory conditions were met. I told Chuck I thought it had been a fun game...he wasn't so sure...and I can't blame him...suffering two snake eyes 30 factor attacks would be difficult to enjoy. But I'm glad we had the chance to meet and play...and hopefully we'll face each other again across the cardboard pitch.
That was the end of my tournament. I packed up and by 12:30 PM was on the road back to Tulsa. I'll admit, the older I get, the less I like to be away from my wife and home. And as an introvert...too much time around a lot of people tends to drain me. So with three great games under my belt...I was happy to drive home to Tulsa.
My thanks to Richard Burton, Jeff Ital, and Chuck Anderson for three very fun matches. I enjoyed them all. My thanks to Dan Best, Dave Mareske and Paul Works for all of their collective hard work that makes March Madness such a special event.
This year's March Madness Tournament would also see a very special guest...Curt Schilling would be in the house...seen here playing Tom Meier. Having a top MMP person in attendance was a great treat and a sign of respect for the hard work that the Kansas City ASL club has done to make March Madness the amazing tournament that it has become over the years.
Some other shots from this year's tournament:
Mark your calendars for March 2027...
hope to see you then!!!
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