The Canadian Advanced Squad Leader Open

June 2, 2021 | David Garvin | ASL, Conventions and Events, Gaming

By David Garvin

In May of every year since 1997, the (CASLA) has hosted an (ASL) tournament. This started as the brain child of the late of the Winnipeg ASL club. Last year’s event, won by Carl Nogueira of Massachusetts, was to be held in Fredericton, New Brunswick; however, Mother Nature had other plans and we are still feeling those effects.

COVID-19 wasn’t enough to completely stop the tournament, and through the use of the freeware program , the show indeed went on. This year, the 25th n (CASLO) was once again hosted by the crew out of Winnipeg. Where last year’s tournament was a last minute effort by the tournament director, this year’s online tournament was a full-on plan by CASLA’s committee as a whole. As such, the event was not held over a single weekend, but rather throughout the month of May.

The first three rounds were each a week long. This allowed for two things: longer scenarios and broader participation. Once the final weekend came around, the final two rounds were played in the space of a day each.

Concurrently, there were a number of mini-tournaments available to held on that weekend. This was to allow for more players to come out as winners once the dust settled. And settle it did!

In the end, there was one main tournament champion, the undefeated Rich Domovic and two mini-tournament champions. Rich Jenulis won the winter-themed tournament “White Christmas” and Erik Lindblad won the early-war themed tournament “Early War”. Both mini-tournaments were round-robin affairs with four players in each group. Both Rich and Erik went undefeated in their minis.

Some SWAG from 2020

Up front, however, it must be noted that although the stated aim of CASLA is to foster the play of ASL across Canada, and CASLO is an extension of that, international participation was more than welcome. Last year saw participation from New Zealand to Sweden and this year saw a similar, internationally diverse crowd! In fact, the champion of the main tournament, the undefeated Mr Domovic, is from the United States. Cost to participate was minimal. 10 Canadian dollars is all that it took; CASLA members took five dollars off of that – membership is 10 Canadian per annum. The registration fee helps offset the shipping of prizes to the winners.

The prizes were largely thanks to the support of the various sponsors. As with most ASL Tournaments, the prizes feature a number of ASL scenario packs and other gear; however, just as with CASLO 2020, this year featured as a sponsor. Last year they were able to supply a number of war game download codes to the various winners. This was a popular feature for the tournament and this year they were able to graciously supply some support again.  In all, the prize support amounted to over $500.00 (Canadian)!

Other sponsors were just as welcome. They included le franc tireur out of France, from Victoria, British Columbia, , , the all from the United States as well as the website out of the United Kingdom. The net result of all these sponsors is that the winners not only get a plaque with their name on it, but also some swag from one of the above.

Speaking of winners, this was the final top ten and each of these fine gentlemen received some swag from one of the sponsors:

  1. Rich Domovic
  2. Jon Kay
  3. Paul Chamberland
  4. Wai-kwong Wong
  5. Rob Wirthlin
  6. Brian Wiersma
  7. Greg Barsness
  8. Darren Kovacs
  9. John Garlic
  10. Peter Rogneholt

For the minis, as stated, the winner of “White Christmas” was Rich Jenulis and “Early War” was Erik Lindblad.

A unique feature of CASLO are the prizes for random events.  As I point out in my, random events help weave the rich narrative so often created in games of ASL.  The winners were as follows:

  1. Most Snake-eyes: Brian Wiersma (18)
  2. Most Boxcars: David Howarth (30)
  3. Rate of Fire tear: Andy Beaton (20!)
  4. Sniper Activations: Will Willow (7) and
  5. Most Close Combat Kills: John Garlic (13)

As a reminder for this, in ASL, snakes are good (normally) and boxcars are bad (always).

A final note must be made about the founder of CASLO, the late Jim McLeod. This is very much his tournament. I cannot do justice to his memory, but will instead rely upon the words of Dr. Mark Pitcavage of the website . He said the following about Jim on his site:

Perhaps over a 100,000 people own a copy of ASL, and the number of people who play at least semi-regularly numbers in the tens of thousands.  But the number of “hardcore” ASL players is far smaller and the “hardcore” ASL scene–the scene with clubs dedicated to the game, and tournaments, and people dedicated enough to read these words–is not that large.  That scene depends on key movers and shakers to keep it going.  They are the ones who design scenarios, host tournaments, publish newsletters, run websites.  Among this sort of people, Jim McLeod loomed large.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Jim McLeod was one of the most active and energetic ASL players in Canada and, without understating any of the efforts of others, it was largely through his energy and guidance that a connected “hardcore ASL scene” emerged and endured in Canada.  Jim was one of the founders of the Winnipeg ASL Club in the early 1990s and subsequently one of the founders of the nationwide Canadian ASL Association (CASLA).  It wasn’t long before Jim had established an annual ASL tournament for Canada, the Canadian ASL Open (CASLO).  Jim published a newsletter, the Maple Leaf Route, and even designed the odd scenario or two.  Eventually, he would become one of the people to work on an HASL about the battle of Ortona in Italy.  By the 21st century, the Internet had allowed Jim to become well known to an international circle of ASL players, not just to his fellow Canadians.  When he passed away, unexpectedly, in 2009, his passing brought out an outpouring of remembrance and admiration from the entire hardcore ASL community.

All this to say that there was one more sponsor for CASLO and you’re looking at it. No Dice, No Glory is all about fostering game play, and CASLO provides even the novice player with a unique opportunity to play ASL with some heavy-hitters.

Bloggins, the generic Canadian soldier, symbol of CASLO

It won’t be the same as sitting next to someone and watching them play the game at a master’s level; however, even with VASL (and a little bit of internet savvy), there is the possibility to sit among the champions and watch some high end skill. This author’s first full-rules ASL game was at a tournament and I have no regrets. Heck, I even won one of my four matches that weekend!

So, don’t hesitate next time you see an online tournament!  If you’re wondering where to find information on upcoming tournaments, the best place is the ASL Events Group on Facebook.  So go there, have a look at what’s coming up. While some tournaments are slowly returning to in-person play, I would offer that some form of online tournaments are a more permanent feature of the hobby than pre-COVID. As stated, they allow for more global play and allow people to expand their opponent database. So, don’t hesitate and sign up!

 

David Garvin is an avid ASL player and member of the Canadian ASL Association. He hosted the Canadian ASL Open in 2020 and contributed to this year’s event.