The March Madness tournament was famous in the 1990s for giving attendees great ASL tchatkes ranging from personalized leader counters to rare scenario packs (thanks to its association with third party ASL publisher Kinetic Energy); the Kansas City Irregulars seem interested in reviving this tradition, following up their 2007 release with further releases every year afterwards (at least through 2011).

The main people behind the tournament (and thus presumably any related ASL products) seem to be Dan Best, Paul Works, and Tom Meier.

Commentary:  Perhaps the most unexpected and unheralded ASL release in 2007 was the Pusan Perimeter Pack, a boutique item created by the so-called Kansas City Irregular ASLers for attendees at the 2007 March Madness ASL Tournament in Kansas City, Kansas.  In the 1990s, this tournament was well known for giving out exciting ASL items to tourney attendees, thanks largely to its relationship with third party publisher Kinetic Energy.  The Pusan Perimeter Pack seems to have been an effort to recreate this excitement, though the minimal prior announcements about the pack means that it might not have attracted many additional attendees.  Most people in the ASL community only heard about the existence of this item months after the tournament when a copy of the pack was offered for sale on E-bay.

The publisher claims that only 50 (numbered) copies of the pack were produced, a claim that, if true, would make the Pusan Perimeter Pack one of the rarer and more collectible ASL items.  The rules in the pack are said to be based on "excerpts from the full Korean War ASL (KWASL) Module rules in development for MMP" and each page has "Fire & Ice Draft" at the top.  The included rules contain some minor terrain modifications (the most important of which is that grain becomes rice paddies), some LATW modifications/additions, and some flares and starshell rules, but primarily introduce the Korean-era Americans and North Koreans.   American squads include 6-6-7 airborne, 6-6-7 elite, 6-6-6 1st line, 5-4-6 2nd line, and 5-3-6 green troops.  There are rules to reflect early war U.S. unpreparedness.  The North Koreans are mostly treated as Russsians.

The six scenarios are all set along the Pusan Perimeter (the last-ditch defensive perimeter held by the US and South Koreans following the North Korean invasion until they broke out of the perimeter in the wake of the Inchon invasion) from July through September 1950.   Though released at a tournament, most are too large for tournament play.  PuP1 (Super Bazooka) depicts 4 T-34 tanks duking it out with a few American squads and does not particularly look fun.  PuP2 (Hey, That Ain't a ROK!), a large scenario, depicts an American fighting retreat from semi-entrapment, and looks like an interesting tactical situation.  Pup3 (Bullets for Breakfast), another large scenario, depicts a dawn North Korean assault on an American perimeter.  Pup4 (The Grist Mill) is a small, short and sweet North Korean attack on an American position with a .50 cal MG.  Pup5 (A Line Too Thinly Held) is a large North Korean night attack (with OBA) on a lightly held American position (and looks a bit tough on the Americans).   Pup6 (The Road to Waegwan) actually features a large American attack, with Air Support, against a fortified North Korean position. 

Commentary:  The Kansas City Irregulars followed up their Pusan Perimeter pack of 2007 with another small scenario pack for attendees of their annual ASL tournament (a tradition resurrected from the 1990s and Kinetic Energy).  This time around the subject is war movies; all scenarios are based on scenes from war movies (8 dealing with World War II and one with Korea).  As one might suspect, these are not historically based scenarios.

The movies represented in this pack include The Dirty Dozen, The Bridge over the River Kwai (two scenarios), Kellly's Heroes, Days of Glory, The Winter War, The Glory Brigade, The Battle of the Bulge, The Fighting Seabees, and Sahara.

Ostensibly, only 75 copies of this pack were printed, making it a very rare item, although the non-historical nature of the scenarios make it inherently less collectible.

Commentary:  The third of the revived series of March Madness ASL Tournament packs is the Partisan Pack, a small release (allegedly only 75 copies were made) containing 8 partisan-related scenarios.

The scenarios, most designed by Dan Best, are varied and include: 

• PP01: Crushed Pride - Greek Partisans vs. Italians - Gorgopotamos Bridge, Greece -25 Nov. 1942
• PP02: New Year's Party - Jewish Partisans vs. Germans/Ukrainians - Rozvazhev, Ukraine - 1 Jan. 1943
• PP03: Ukrainian Mutiny - Ukrainian SS rebels vs. German SS - Near Auschwitz, Poland - 4 Jul. 1943
• PP04: Partisan Fight - Polish Partisans vs. Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) partisans - Near Przebraze, Poland - 6 Jul. 1943
• PP05: Hot Zemlyankas! - Soviet Partisans vs. Romanians - East of Angara, Crimea - 2 Jan. 1944
• PP06: Sturmwind on the Sopot - Polish Partisans vs. German - Osuchy, Poland - 25 June 1944
• PP07: Cabanatuan - Filipino Partisans/US Special Forces vs. Japanese - Cabanatuan Prison Camp, Luzon - 30 Jan. 1945
• PP08: No Simple Victory - Polish Partisans vs. Soviet Border Troops - Kurylowka, Poland - 7 May 1945

In a couple of the scenarios, the partisans have odd weapons.  In PP06 (Sturmwind on the Sopot), for example, the (anti-Communist) Armia Krajowa is armed in part with Soviet (instead of British) weapons.  In PP02 (New Year's Party), Jewish Partisans similarly are given Soviet weapons, when such weapons were simply nowhere to be found (although this one is less problematic, as they only have LMGs and DCs).

Five of the scenarios are large, three are small.  There are no medium-sized scenarios.  Some scenarios use advanced rules, including Caves, OBA (2), Night rules (3), Rice Paddies, Battlefield Integrity (!), and Set DCs.  Overall, the scenarios are SSR heavy. 

The scenario cards are nicely done, printed on thick glossy cardstock and partially colored.  They have bad organization, though (Scenario PP02 is not on the back of Scenario PP01's card, for example).  There is also an overlay representing the Cabanatuan prison camp in the Philippines.  This is not as well-rendered, but is quite functional.  The counters that come with the pack are crude and home-made; they look as if they were printed on a printer from circa 1991.

Overall, for a small and obscure pack, it seems that a good deal of effort was put into it.

The exotic scenario topics alone might interest some people, but the scenario pack will be hard to find because it was released in such small quantities.

Commentary:  The March Madness ASL Tournament held every year in Kansas City is one of the only tournaments out there that actually provides a unique new scenario pack to attendees.  Usually around 75 or so copies are produced; about a third go to attendees and the rest seem to be auctioned off at E-bay (although a review copy of this pack was provided to Desperation Morale), presumably to help support the tournament.  The fourth March Madness ASL Tournament pack is the Irregular Forces Pack (IF), which essentially is the same theme as the previous year:  partisans and guerrillas in World War II (with an odd out-of-era trip to 1978).

The scenarios, most designed by Dan Best, are varied and include: 

• MM01 Ust-Usa.  Soviet Union, 1942.  Partisans (sort of) vs. Soviets.
• MM02 Slovak Security.  Soviet Union, 1942.  Partisans vs. Slovaks.
• MM03 The Jews Have Guns!  Poland, 1943.  Jewish Partisans vs. SS.
• MM04 Is Paris Burning?  France, 1944.  Partisans vs. Germans.
• MM05 Ambushing the Warheads.  France, 1944.  Partisans vs. Germans.
• MM06 Rembertów.  Poland, 1945.  Partisans vs. Soviets.
• MM07 Metal-Shaba.  Zaire, 1978.  Partisans vs. French.

It may have been a better idea to have created only one partisan-themed release for the March Madness tournament packs rather than two, because the situations depicted in the scenarios of IF just don't seem that strong.  Three scenarios in particular are problematic, though in different ways.

First up of the three is MM01(Ust-Usa), which is essentially a gimmick scenario (in the sense that it does not depict a standard battle scenario), representing an attempt at an armed rebellion by gulag prisoners in a Soviet prison camp in Siberia.  It pits 5 partisan squads and 7 unarmed squads vs. 2 Soviet (police) half-squads, plus minor but consistent reinforcements (essentially a dr per turn that can bring in a bad leader, a half squad, or a conscript squad).  There are rules for arming the unarmed counters.  The scenario situation is problematic in that it is extremely hard to simulate such nonstandard situations in ASL and they usually don't make for great scenarios.  MM05 (Ambushing the Warheads) is another gimmick scenario, involving German trucks with ammo trying to make it past a thin French gauntlet.

The second problematic scenario is MM03 (The Jews Have Guns!), the inclusion of which is problematic for entirely different reasons.  The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 was not in any sense a "traditional" uprising (as was the 1944 Warsaw Uprising a year later).  Rather, it was a "symbolic" uprising of Jews who knew that they were going to die at the hands of the Germans but who decided to choose the manner of their death and die with defiance.  When the Uprising began, there was about one day of fighting that might be considered as fighting between combatants; by the third day, the Germans were simply going building to building, destroying and burning buildings and bunkers.  Though Jewish fighters might issue forth briefly for a rare raid, it was essentially a work of slaughter.  The razing of the Warsaw Ghetto, of which the Uprising was a part, was part of the Holocaust and, as such, entirely unsuited for being turned into a scenario for a game.  This is a scenario that should not really have been designed.

The third problematic scenario is MM07 (Metal-Shaba), which is problematic because it is set in 1978, decades away from the era that ASL was designed to simulate.   With hundreds of thousands of partisans fighting in World War II, it is not clear why anyone would have to go so far afield to find a partisan scenario situation.  Here the French are British and the Congolese Chinese, which illustrates the jerry rigging necessary.

The most viable scenario in the pack is probably MM04 (Is Paris Burning?), portraying the August 23, 1944, German attack on the Grand Palais in Paris during the FFI uprising in that city as Allied troops advanced on it.  It was a rare example of real fighting developing during the Paris uprising.  The Germans, however, have an unusual set of victory conditions:  they must turn 5 or more locations of a particular building to Blaze or Rubble.  It is theoretically possible, though, given the right combination of DRs, for the German AFVs to win the scenario on their own merely by sitting back and firing AP on the building, with no way for the partisans to influence the situation other than hindering flames. 

Overall, then, this scenario pack, divorced from context, is somewhat disappointing, and it probably has more collectible value than play value.  However, the context cannot be forgotten; this scenario pack is in essence a labor of love designed to support a regional ASL tournament, and few others even bother to make this amount of effort.  Thus the KCI deserve praise on that score alone.  Given that their previous scenario packs have been more alluring, one rather suspects that this is merely a dip in the road; hopefully, future years will see more enticing packs.

Commentary:  March 2011 marks the 5th year in a row that the organizers of the March Madness ASL tournament in Kansas City have released a limited edition scenario pack intended for attendees at their tournament.  This year saw the release of the Texel Pack, a small pack of 7 scenarios, only 75 copies of which were allegedly printed.

Each March Madness pack has been themed and this year is no exception; the theme for 2011 is the little known (but fascinating) fighting on the Dutch island of Texel at the tail end of the war in April 1945, when a battalion of Georgian Osttruppen on the island mutinied and tried to capture the island (with some help from Dutch citizens).  The rebellion, however, was unsuccessful, with the Germans landing naval troops on the Island that slowly tracked down and eliminated most of the mutineers over the course of the next two weeks, although scattered fighting occurred even after the German surrender on May 8, 1945.  Allied troops finally landed on the island on May 20, 1945, ending the conflict.   It is nice to see this interesting little war appear in ASL (this writer some years ago did research on the fighting on Texel with an eye to designing scenarios around it, but never finished them).

The scenarios use Axis Minor counters to represent the Georgian mutineers; essentially they are treated as late war Romanians (including Panzerfaust usage).  German forces range from various low ELR garrison and service troops to the better armed and elite (but still low ELR) naval infantry troops that landed to suppress the uprising.  There is a certain lack of consistency among the different scenarios; in some scenarios the Georgians are referred to as "Elements of the Georgian 822nd Battalion" while in others they are referred to as "Elements of the Rebelling Georgian 822 Battalion" or "Elements of the Rebelling Georgian 822nd Battalion."  Germans units are sometimes referred to as the 163rd Marine Infantry Regiment but also sometimes as the 163rd Naval Infantry Regiment.  There are other errors throughout as well, such as "Kamfgruppe" for "Kampfgruppe," that indicate some more proofreading was required on the pack.

The scenarios are a decent mix of small, medium, and large-scale actions.  Most of the scenarios, as is suitable for a tournament pack, are tournament-sized (but see fortification comments below).  Three scenarios (almost half the pack) have OBA; no scenarios have Air Support or Night rules. 

Significant fortifications (pillboxes, trenches, fortified buildings, Wire, roadblocks, mines, AT Ditches, sangars, armored cupolas, and/or foxholes) appear in every one of the scenarios.  One scenario, MM12 (Texel Airport), features 37 fortification counters and a minefield of 48 factors (plus 8 dummy minefields), but only 15 squads on the defending side!  Actually, fortifications outnumber defenders in most of the scenarios.  Two scenarios actually feature 9 or more fortified building locations.  There aren't any scenarios where players will be able to set up very quickly and start playing.  The ubiquity of fortifications in the Texel Pack is one of its most distinguishing characteristics (not necessarily a good thing).  Another characteristic is instant victory conditions; 4 of the 7 scenarios feature instant victory conditions for the attacker.

Some of the scenarios just don't seem that appealing.  MM14 (Going to Californie), for example, is a two map scenario (Boards 42 and 52) pitting 15 German squads, well armed, against 4 Georgian squads and 4 half squads.  To win, the Germans must inflict at least 6 CVP more on the Germans than they themselves lose.  Because the Georgians have no firepower to speak of (all their inherent firepower and SW added together is only 20 FP points, compared to 88 for the Germans), they can't stand and fight.  However, the Germans enter from off-board and the Georgians have the entire map area for set-up.  They can set two squads (and any SMC with them) up HIP, while the remaining force can set up HIP if they set up in a fortification (which will themselves be set up HIP).  As a result, almost the only viable tactic for the Georgian forces is to split up, hide, stay hidden as long as possible, and play keep away from the Germans as much as possible.  It might also conceivably be possible to use some of their 16 fortification counters (and plentiful minefields) to set up a small bastion somewhere.  Meanwhile, the Germans probably must deploy as much as possible to send out forces to span as much of the mapboard as quickly as possible in order to spot all the fortifications and flush out any HIP units in them.  Even then they would have great difficulty finding the other two HIP Georgian squads (which would presumably have the two Georgian leaders with them), simply because there are so very many potential places to be HIP on those two mapboards.  If they can't find them, then they only have 8 Georgian VP total that they can find, which would mean that they would have to find and kill almost the entire remaining Georgian OB, without suffering any casualties themselves, in order to win.  Granted, their most likely chance of casualties is only through minefields, but still.  It doesn't sound very fun for either player.

Because of the nature of the scenarios, the pack is likely to appeal mostly to collectors.