It has been one heck of a flying start to the new year.  Beyond Valor is back in print, Journal 11 has been put on pre-order, Poland in Flames is days away, Yanks is right behind, Korea is on pre-order.  Time to get a second job I guess.

Winter Offensive is only four days away.  I wasn’t planning on going this year but alas I have a map table and three 3D maps that need to be delivered so I am happy to have changed my mind.  Please find me and introduce yourself if you are going as I would love to put faces to the names and get some games in with some of my readers.   Unfortunately Ulrich will not be coming with me this year as Maria thinks that 9 days out of school for ASLOK was enough.

The final project on my list was finished last night.  The Kakazu Ridge 3D map for Dan Dolan turned out better that I had imagined.  I hope he likes it and will allow me to get a scenario in on it at WO before he hauls it home.  I have made a ‘how to make a 3D Map Page‘ for any of you that are interested in making your own 3D maps.  I tried to make a video but the audio did not come out (I forgot to remove the gopro from it’s waterproof protective case).  I may post the video anyway as you can turn the volume way up and hear a little bit.  Now it is time to play some ASL as I take a long overdue break from all my projects (except Tim’s Dice Tower).

Map Case

These are the photos of the finished Map case for Eric Ortega at the Southwest Outpost.  It too turned out better that I thought.  I aged it a bit as it was a little too pristine to have the right combat look.

We have Beyond Valor in stock with free shipping and 10% off your entire order coupon code ‘10%off’.  I have one copy of Beyond Valor that has a small crease in the box that I have marked down another 10%.  I am happy to hear from so many of you that are buying BV for the first time after playing Starter Kit.  Welcome to major league, just watch out the hordes of screaming women throwing themselves at you.  It takes a little getting used to.

We had our 20,000th visit today.  Considering we have only been up for 2 months, I am very happy with these numbers. Thanks to all of you for making this happen.

AAR:

None- I can’t buy a game lately.  Where is everyone?!?

MMP has just announced that Beyond Valor is back in stock and ready to ship.  We should have ours here by Friday and can ship that same day to you with free shipping and 10% off (coupon code ‘10%off).   This is going to be a great year for ASL. Order Here

Dinant 1940:

Well after 30+ hours, the 3D Dinant map for the upcoming ASL Campaign Game covering Rommel’s famous crossing of the Meuse is complete.  I will be delivering it to Dan Dolan at Winter Offensive  on the 21st of January.  If you are attending the convention, be sure to check it out or check with Dan to see if he’ll let you take it for a test drive.

Speaking of 3D maps, I am making another Kakazu Ridge 3d map also for Dan and have been filming the complete process with my Go-Pro.  I will be posting the how-to video on Youtube and on this site for those that are interested.

Yanks 2:

I spoke with Luanne this morning and she told me that Yanks will NOT be ready for W.O.  Also remember that YANKS  can be ordered for the MMP pre-order price right here on our website with free shipping so you can save $10-$15.

Ammo Crate/Map Case:

My last Ammo Crate to hold ASL maps has been sold to Eric Ortega of the South-West Outpost.  He liked the idea of an Afrika Korps design so I am doing my best to reproduce the style in the above photo.  The interior is soft craft foam to protect the boards and it holds all of the Geo boards plus the Fort style boards, plus the Historical mapsheets with ease. The photo seen above is not of the map case but of the style I used.  Here is a photo of the finished product:

Poland In Flames with free Battle Dice:

Although all three copies of the Pre-Order special that comes with free Polish Battle Dice are sold, Chris is sending me more dice so I will extend the offer for up to another 2 copies of PIF if ordered before the end of this week.

The 2 Halfsquads:

Ritterkrieg is now the official sponsor of  The 2 Half Squads ASL podcast.  If you are not familiar with Jeff and Dave, please check them out.  They have almost 200 episodes that span hundreds of hours of ASL talk, comedy, rules, AAR’s, reviews, special guests from the world of ASL, etc.  They make the long drives to conventions fly by painlessly.

Almost Sold Out:

Here is a list of items that we are down to our last copy…

BFP: Crucible of Steel and Operation Cobra.

MMP: ASL Map Bundle (SK Style), Annual ’92, Annual ’93 , Action Pack 5,  and Action Pack 6.

Battle Dice: US Airborne  & Axis & Allies

Lone Canuck Publishing: Bloody Buron & .

I hope everyone had a great holiday and got to spend time with loved ones.  It looks like this is going to be a giant year for ASL with many reprints and new items hitting the market.  Is it possible that Beyond Valor, Yanks, Rising Sun, and For King and Country will all be available at the same time?  According to Luanne, For King and Country is only a few months out so you don’t have to despair or pay extortion e-bay prices thinking that it will be years before it is in stock again.

Poland In Flames

The next run of Poland in Flames that will be going out to the retailers is only days away with the last of the counters in queue right behind BV.   We have sold all three pre-orders that come with the free Polish Battledice.

AFV Data Cards

I am working together with Chris Edwards to see if it is feasible to bring his awesome AFV/Vehicle PDF files to print.  We are not sure if these would be released as one massive set or if they would be released in nationality packs.  We will keep you posted.

Raffle:

December’s raffle winner is David Elmore. This months prize is a one of a kind custom coffee mug from the talented hands of Tim Brieaddy at Red Headed T-shirts.  If you didn’t win, no biggie as you have a whole year of entries from the time of your last purchase.

Tabletop

The PzIIIJ Tabletop that was shown almost complete is now finished  and sold to a local ASL player from Cary, NC.  I hope it witnesses many laughs, close games and a few beer stains.

OBA Cards

I am getting close to being sold out on the OBA cards.  Alex Key may still have some in the US, Chris may have a couple in Canada, and Xavier may still have a few left in Europe.   After that…they’re gone.  There will not be a reprint made as I think we are very close to the saturation point of interest.

Sniper/ELR Cards

The Sniper/ELR Cards are only missing images from the more obscure nationalities.  Thanks to those of you that have sent me photos.  I will be using them but I still need more, especially from the Allied Minors, Axis Minors, Chinese, French, and Japanese.  If you have some rare sniper photos, please forward them to me at dr******@******rr.com

AAR: Hell’s Highway

Ian Tuten and I started a campaign game of Hell’s Highway last week.  Ian wanted the Allies and I was happy to take the Germans with their plethora of Panthers and Assault Engineers.  Neither of us knew anything about the battle before now and were pleasantly surprised at the somewhat unique situation of a very strong Panzer unit overwhelming the small Dutch town of Mariaheide only to be relentlessly attacked from two opposite directions by British armor and US Paras, while never-ending swarms of Jabo’s hunt from above.  We ended up finishing the first scenario of the campaign and calling it quits as the US Paratroops were a little too aggressive and got cut off and destroyed just to the South of the town.  I am looking forward to trying this one again.

At first, I must admit that I was a little taken aback when I heard of the Korean War ASL module.  After all, ASL is and will always be a game about WWII, right?  Then I remembered that this was also my prejudice when I first heard they would be adding the Japanese to the system.  ASL was up until then a ETO game system.  But now I can’t imagine ASL without the PTO.  Will Korea be just as fun and add a new and wanted dimension to the greatest game in the world?  I think and hope so.

We are offering a 25% discount with free shipping on your pre-orders for Korea the Forgotten War. We have just figured out how to set up the pre-order add on so you will not be charged until the product is ready to ship.  As always, if you are already a customer of Scott or Alex, please check with them first for this and other great ASL products.

We have also added Yanks to the preorder list with a 25% discount and free shipping.

The ASL tabletop that was shown in the last post is sold.  No new ones on the horizon for a while.

Raffle: 3 days away and Everyone who has EVER purchased from our store is automatically entered into the monthly raffle for 12 months.  This month will be a coffee mug with the 70mm OBA info and artwork printed on it courtesy of

Upcoming Conventions:

Winter Offensive 2016 January 21st-24th, 2016. Bowie, MD.

Where the Iron Crosses Grow  April 1st-3rd, 2016. Kernersville, NC.

Bitter Ender – April 28th-May 1st, 2016. Raleigh, NC.

Misc:

I am happy to announce that we have had almost 14,000 visits in the past 2 months but am sad that we have had only a few people leave comments.  Please leave a note to let me know what you would like to see on these pages and what products you would like to see in our store.  If you have an article, photos or an AAR, please share it and I will get it posted for our community to enjoy.  Happy New Year to all my friends,

Derek and Ulrich Ritter

I am putting the finishing touches on the ASL tabletop that I am making for Andy Hershey.  This design is based off of the PzIIIJ, made of Walnut (which is the same wood used for M1  Garand stocks).   I made a second table with the same specs out of Brazilian Cherry pictured above .  Tung oil, the real stuff not the fake stuff sold at Lowes, was used to finish the natural wood.  I could not believe the color once the finish was applied.  The table top is modular with the side trays attached to the main board with strong magnets which allows it to be packed up into  a 28″ x 28″ square.  The lining is black micro-suede.  The Plexiglas (not shown in the photo) is  24″ x 24″ x 1/8″ Lexan and will fit 3 geo boards in any direction.  The table picture above will be posted for sale in the ASL store as soon as it is complete.

Raffle:

Chris Brackney was the winner of last months raffle and he was kind enough to share a photo of what brand coffee(?!?) he drinksThere is still 9 days to enter into the December raffle by subscribing to our newsletter.  And remember that you are automatically  entered into our raffle for a whole year with any purchase from our online store.

OOP For King and Country is back in stock

I have acquired a few copies of For King and Country so I am offering them to you through my web site instead of posting them on ebay.  In return I ask that resellers refrain from purchasing them and leave them for the players. There is a limit of one per customer.  Free shipping still applies as well as the 10% coupon should the order exceed $100 (code: 10%off). ORDER

I am very excited to be receiving our first order from the great people at Bounding Fire Productions.  We will be carrying a small quantity of each of their products in stock for you.  Once again, if you are already a customer of Scott or Alex, please check with them first for all of you ASL needs.  All of BFP’s modules are on sale and we have a very special offer for the brand new Poland in Flames module.   With the purchase of PIF, not only do you get our reduced pre-order price, you also get free shipping, PLUS you get a free set of Polish precision dice!

What’s the catch?  I only have three sets of the dice in stock so I am limiting the offer to the first three PIF orders.  Why am I doing this?  I am hoping that you love the dice so much that you will return to my site to buy more for your other nationalities.  Note that PIF will only be arriving to retailers next month but I will be shipping the same day it arrives in my hands.  You can pre-order PIF Here

MMP News:

I spoke with Luanne this morning and she is expecting to ship Yanks 2  to retailers by the end of January.   We will be offering free shipping & a special pre-order price. You can pre-order Yanks Here

Woodworking:

Keith DuPont sent me photos of his first game on the new table.  The table was made to hold RAACO trays which he is planning on getting soon. Chris at Battleschool is selling RAACO for those of you that are looking to switch to or expand your counter storage.

On deck:

Afrika Korps ammo case (to hold ASL maps) for Eric at the outpost.  I will be posting photos of the finished product soon.

Finishing the Kakazu ridge and Dinant 3D maps for Dan.

PzIIIJ table for Andy.

Dice tower for Tim.  All I can say is you will not believe your eyes when you see what we came up with for this design.  It will blow your socks off.

Personal:

If I don’t post again in the next week, I want to wish everyone happy holidays and a wonderful new year.  Spend time with the ones you love (even if it’s just a phone call).

Best wishes.

Derek and Ulrich.

Busy month ahead in the workshop.  I am finishing the Dinant maps for Dan Dolan and then continuing work on a custom ASL table top for Andy Hershey.  Everything must be ready by Winter Offensive.  One more table top and a dice tower and I am free to breathe again.  Mike Hershey (no relation to Andy) gave me a wonderful idea when we were talking in Albany to make mini ammo cases to store the dice towers, dice, and trays.  I am looking forward to giving this a try.  I will keep you posted with photos of how this turns out.

Registration has opened for MMP’s Winter Offensive.  Note the change of Date this year.

We just received what will probably be our final shipment of the year.  There are some old items that were out of stock and some new items as well.

New Items:

Suction cup tool from Chris at Battleschool.  Perfect gift for your sausage fingered friends (Tim Brieaddy) who continually knock over your concealed stacks (by accident?!?)

  see more

Turret Counters are back in stock.  Tired of your Blue Tigers having white T-34 turrets?  No longer an issue with vehicle specific turret counters from Countersmith Workshop.  The last batch of 10 sets I received were sold out in a 17 hours so if you want some for your collection, jump on these soon.

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There is a German/Russian set and a British/US set.  Each set have all the counters needed for the complete OOB found in Beyond Valor, Yanks, and For King and Country respectively.

Many sold out titles of our Battledice are now back in stock including: USMC, Chinese, Japanese, Starshell, ROF, 9th/10thSS, Market Garden series, and the Panzerknackern Die.

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Ken Smith Historical Art is now being sold on our site.  With the 10% coupon and free shipping, this adds up to big savings on some beautiful limited edition ASL artwork.  Included is the art for the cover of the upcoming module Yanks 2.

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At the Albany tournament last weekend, one of the prizes was a framed and numbered print of Ha-Go, the box art for MMP’s Pacific module Rising Sun.

Up until then, I didn’t even realize that these prints were available for purchase.  So I contacted Mr. Smith and we will be selling his fantastic limited edition prints on our website now.

All of your favorite ASL box artwork can now be purchased through our website including the new box art for Yanks2.   Remember that shipping is always free and don’t forget to use the 10% coupon(coupon code ‘10%off’ ).

Click here to see all of his great prints

The winner of the November 2015 raffle for the one of a kind 60mm OBA coffee mug is Chris Brackney.   Congrats Chris, I will be mailing your prize in the morning.  Thanks to Tim Brieaddy at Redheaded t-shirts for supplying the great prize. December’s raffle will be the 70mm OBA coffee mug.  Remember that you are automatically entered into the raffle for 12 months with any purchase from the site.

I just got back from the NY State ASL Championships last night.  This was my first time attending and it was a great experience.  Steve, Gary, and Joe did a great job running a very tight ship.  The raffle prizes were out of this world.  Congrats to JR Tracy for the big win.

I have posted some new products in the store including some Grofaz USMC dice (only one set left).

There are only 3 spots left for the ‘Where the Iron Crosses Grow’ team tournament.  If you have always wanted to experience Kernersville’s premier ASL event, now is your chance!  Don’t let your dreams be dreams.  Yesterday you said tomorrow…JUST DO IT!

Countersmith Workshop turrets are in hand.  I will be posting them to the site shortly.