Vova1 is a legendary Russian chopper.

The news of Vladimir’s death came as a shock and a blow to people in the Warcraft 2 community who knew him. In my memory, this is the first Russian-speaking Warcraft II player to whom we say goodbye like this.

Vova1 was a big fan of Chop Farms map. Even foreign players recognized his strength on this map. In addition, with the great Vladimir’s participation our Russian-speaking Warcraft II community was recreated. For which, of course, we give him special thanks. He often waited for us on the server (and played with foreigners as well), could host games, always helped, taught beginners the very basics of playing this map. In short, thanks to Vova1, we have our own organized Russian-speaking choppers now (the so-called players who mainly play Chop), and Warcraft II players in general (he didn’t play not only chop, but this map was his favorite). We even created our own team “Russianteam” at the dawn of the community, where Vova1 was one of the most important player-comrades.

Of course, Vova1 was immediately recognized by his features in the game, due to which he could not be confused with anyone else, for example: Vova could select the mage and cast Blizzard to one spot until the mage ran out of mana. In general, he loved mages, and if he succeeded to survive until them, then his “mode of stubborn Vova” would turn on and he would rush forward with his troops through the enemies’ ranks… His stubbornness and strength often determined our shared victory in the game.

Asmakaev V. – Just a melody.mp3

 

Now his son, Vladimir Vladimirovich Asmakaev, is in touch. Better known to the community by his nickname – Pytin. He is ready to tell us more about himself and his father.

Interviewer: A little bit about you, how did it happen that you, when you were very young, went to play Warcraft II? The game is old, and you are very young. Why did this happen? What is the influence of Vova1 in this?

Vladimir: I often watched my father playing Warcraft II, and I also wanted to play. I asked him to teach me how to play. In the beginning I somehow didn’t understand how to play, and the game was still in English (at that time I didn’t know it yet). But I would enter the game from time to time to play, and then my father showed me that not only you could play against bots, but he created an account for me and bought one more laptop to play vs players. Since then I fell in love with Warcraft II and learned how to play it. About six months ago I entered the game and thought that it was dead, it was sad. Maybe I just logged in at the wrong time? A lot of good emotions have remained since I played with you.

Interviewer: Well, no, the game is not dead. It even continues to develop with all its might. There is still activity, but you either need to arrange in chats with people, or log in after 9:00 PM Moscow time. New modifications and improvements are coming out constantly. For example, new campaigns. You may be pleasantly surprised, but there are several direct and indirect references to the legendary Vova1 in the Alaunter 1 campaign (in additional missions).

Vladimir: I’m surprised, I thought he was just a player.

Interviewer: In fact, he is one of the people who started/continued the activity in the Warcraft II community. One of the “founding fathers”. Later you can read the article from Oleg, another his friend (tolsty). In the meantime, let me ask you a couple more questions…

Let’s talk about Vova’s personality. We, his playmates, did not know him so well in life. It seems that no one even saw him in person. What more can you tell us about him? We have information that he lived in the village Kuzaikino (later he moved to another village?), had a large family, loved hunting and dogs. We also know (and this was also noticeable in the game) that Vladimir was very stubborn and firm. At the same time, he was a fairly kind person, with a big heart, not touchy, and accepted people as they are.

Vladimir: Yes, that’s right, he was kind in life and achieved everything he wanted.

Interviewer: A couple of times he showed me some photos from hunting, probably you had heard that he was a hunter?

Vladimir: Yes, he and I often went hunting together.

Interviewer: How long was he in the village? It seems like since Covid.

Vladimir: Before Covid, we actually lived in the village, but somehow we decided to move to our house by the lake and stayed there until about 2022. Then back to the village. Over the past two years, he had many health problems and was always worried about it.

Since 2007 he opened his own individual enterprise, he was the director of housing and communal services and invested everything in the village (Kuzaykino) all his life, but that year some people put pressure on him that he was doing everything badly, and as a result he got upset, closed his enterprise, and then in October, while I was studying, mother kicked him out of the house. It can be said that everyone turned away from him and somehow everything collapsed. He walked around, worried that no one cared about his efforts, and although he had tried all his life for everyone, he had plans to live to be 100 years old. And on the day he died, he called, and this is what the conversation was like:

«Father: hi, do you know if there will be northern lights today?

Me: It must be up to 6 points.

Father: okay, if I see it, I’ll tell you.

Me: okay, if I see it too, I’ll tell it too.

Father: I just want to see the northern lights once in my life before I die.

Me: oh, well, if anything, maybe I’ll come later (I didn’t give those words their meaning).

Father: well, okay, bye then.

Me: bye.»

I went outside to clear the snow, but in the end I somehow felt bad, I returned home at 3-4 o’clock in the morning. I went to bed and at 6 am they woke me up and said: “Dad has died.”

Interviewer: They say people feel death is approaching… no information what happened?

Vladimir: Heart attack. Although that day he was doing something in the yard: starting the tractor, clearing snow on the tractor. He felt great. His assistant said that he didn’t really sleep that night, drank a cup of tea and waited for the northern lights. The assistant went to bed, and when he woke up, he started waking up my father, but he was already cold.

Interviewer: Given his physical fitness… did he really not calculate his strength? :(

Are there actually northern lights in those places? I think I heard that they are unhealthy. These are essentially unprotected ultraviolet rays. Still, most often this is a northern phenomenon, where the ozone layer is rare and weak.

Vladimir: Yes, as I understand it, he just gave up on doing anything. Everyone turned away from him, but he is still the kind of person who worries about some little things, for example: no matter how bad someone is. Yes, I have seen them myself [the northern lights] twice. Once, when my father was still living with us, I ran home to tell him, but it was already over. They are very harmful, have a bad effect on your health, and the next day you have no energy and a headache. But this is very rare. Once or twice a year it’s hard to catch the moment. In general, within a month, not only my father died, but also my grandmother and aunt. Everything happened somehow abruptly. And all – while sleeping from a heart attack.

Interviewer: We really sympathize! Somehow, indeed, everything happened very abruptly.

Vladimir: I am not a fragile person. My father taught me everything throughout my life. It would be nice if someone else helped me, but everyone turned away from me. Because of this inheritance, I definitely didn’t expect my mother to kick me out of the house.

Interviewer: Damn, did he leave everything to you? I don’t even know how to react correctly here. Know that we will always be glad to see you.

Vladimir: It can be said so. He came to almost all of us in a dream. My mother wrote that he came in her dream and he hugged me. Maybe she feels that I will finish what he started. She sees that I am not giving up.

Interviewer: Vova was stubborn himself and achieved his goals and objectives. And you were named after him, and you were always strong too! Everything will work out!

Vladimir: Yes, the main thing is to believe in yourself and not to give up.

Interviewer: According to Vova’s behests. And if things don’t work out… let me quote him: “descendants will take revenge!”… I have one more topic to talk about.

About hobbies. In addition to Warcraft, we know that Vladimir was a jack of all trades: he played the guitar, even composed music (one of which became the anthem of Chop Farms map). Maybe there was something else? What place did the big family occupy in his life?

Vladimir: Damn, I can’t answer what place a large family occupied in his life, probably because I haven’t fully understood it yet. He loved fishing and every year we went with a tent to different festivals or somewhere else.

Interviewer: I once collected his music, these are also some of his compositions: “Village M”, “Waltz in the Frost”, “Strategy 0”. They were even included in the sound list for the first Alaunter.

Asmakaev V. – Strategy 0.mp3

 

Asmakaev V. – Waltz in the Frost.mp3

 

Asmakaev V. – Village M.mp3

 

Vladimir: “Waltz in the Frost”… I asked him about this song, if I remember correctly, he didn’t do it himself, but just modified it a little. “Village”, it seems, is already his song.

Interviewer: I know for sure about “Strategy 0” – this is the so-called “Anthem of Russian-speaking choppers.”

Vladimir: He did it for a long time. I remember that he could sit and do it all day. He asked to listen to what he had composed, and I would tell him about what else needed to be improved or whether he did a great job.

Interviewer: Regarding Chop, so as not to be unfounded, returning to the game, together with him we had a cool team for the 4v4 game. And Vova occupied a place of honor there, here:

Vladimir: I have no words. He wanted to come in and play one day, but somehow it didn’t work out for him.

Interviewer: Can you point out some of his strengths in the game? Maybe you were observing something from the side?

Vladimir: Good reaction, speed and strategy.

Interviewer: Indeed, for many (and even for foreigners) he was a recognized legend of this map. I think it’s time for you to read what Tolsty wrote about Vova1:

 https://t.me/war2ru

Vladimir: I remember that he was angry because Dinamit was expanding quickly, if I don’t confuse anything.

Interviewer: Heh, Dinamit is one of our teachers. Dinamit was very cool and all of us, the first choppers of the ru-community, learned from him.

Vladimir: My father initially taught me to play like him.

Interviewer: By the way, this was noticeable in the style of play. How old were you when you started playing Warcraft II? 7 or 8? 2014-2015?

Vladimir: Yes, it’s still stuck in my head. I play in pubgm and there is also a team of 4 people, and when everyone dies [in the team], I try to live until the last drop of blood, no matter what. I already forgot this. I think I started playing when I was still in kindergarten, but then I only played against bots for a very long time. Yes, perhaps a little earlier. Maybe it was 2012-2013, if my memory serves me correctly?

Interviewer: Let me clarify now… you were 6 years old! I remember that you were very little :) I was 16 years old when I joined the server :)

Vladimir: Yes, 10 years have passed. Time flies quickly. Well, because I was little, I didn’t study well and it was difficult to play, but you were stronger than me.

Interviewer: For a 7 year old, excuse me! But you played very well :) when I was 7, I only played Warcraft II on Playstation.

Vladimir: I’ve wanted to play for a long time, but I don’t have access to a computer. The desire to play Warcraft II became even stronger. If anything, I’ll write as soon as I have the opportunity. There are probably also problems with downloading.

Interviewer: Well, if you can solve the problems with the network, log in. You can even join groups or chats in Vkontakte or Telegram. We recently appeared on Telegram. What about the problems – well, we try to avoid them or solve them

Vladimir: Are there any other questions? If there is anything, you can ask, and if it appears, I will answer.

Interviewer: In general, I think everything was asked. Actually, thank you very much for being able to talk. Let me emphasize once again that Vova1 was not the last person in our community. He was one of its founding fathers, for which I bow to him. Come into the game sometime, we will always be glad. Our activity is either mainly in the evening, or somehow by agreement. If you want, join to us.

Vladimir: Okay, I’ll write when I have the opportunity. Good luck with the rest of the whole “Russianteam” in the evening!

Interviewer: Vladimir Baskov (Oragorn).

Interviewer’s consultant: Oleg Radushkevich (tolsty).

Editors: Oleksii Riepin (ARMilitar) and others.