Some ASL nostalgia for y'all...

[Harold]

I usually comment on the ASL threads since I still play ASL on a regular basis. I hope to touch on some of the questions or comments.

1) ASL is alive and well. The latest, Operation Watchtower was just released and is based on the fighting on Guadalcanal in 1942. Retails for $40 US dollars. Other Third Party (non-MMP) releases include Genesis '48, The First Arab Israeli War and Guerra Civil, The Spanish Civil War.

2) The ASL mailing list is doing fine as well. Yes, the IFT/IIFT debate still rages. Kind of like blondes/brunettes/redheads or pitcher/designated hitter debates. It will never end and it is part of the fun.

3) There are still a fair amount of players that play Squad Leader exclusively. The ASL scenarios can be converted to SL by those who choose to so fresh material is not a problem. There are over 1000 scenarios to choose from.

4) I agree that most of the recent box art is rather smeary looking. CM's ain't so hot either though. It's what is in the box or manual that counts.

Here are some links for those interested.

MMP's website: http://www.advancedsquadleader.com/

Virtual Advanced Squad Leader: http://www.vasl.org/

Web version of the mailing list: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mhb/aslml/

Harold

[danbob]

I'm glad ASL is alive and well...we still enjoy it, and will probably buy the new modules. There are many, many details and theatres in ASL that CMBO doesn't cover...

Cheers

Danbob

[Michael Dorosh]

...yet.

[gredeker]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Georgii2222:

HA! Any "in the know" ASL player would know that you only need to take a PAATC (pronounced "patsy") when advancing into close combat with an AFV or when participating in reaction fire! NOT when firing a PF! MUAHAHAHAHA!

Georgii<hr></blockquote>

Right! You, uh, er... passed the test! Yeah, that's it!

{Note to self - never attempt to post anything about ASL without the sacred Book of Rules in the same room}

[Knaust]

SL and ASL were great games...but what about the solitare games of Victory Games, Ambush, Carrier and Tokyo Express?

[dalem]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Georgii2222:

HA! Any "in the know" ASL player would know that you only need to take a PAATC (pronounced "patsy") when advancing into close combat with an AFV or when participating in reaction fire! NOT when firing a PF! MUAHAHAHAHA!

Georgii<hr></blockquote>

What if you're trying to use a PF for Reaction Fire?

[Georgii2222]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by dalem:

What if you're trying to use a PF for Reaction Fire?<hr></blockquote>

*Ahem* Excuse me, CCRF (close combat reaction fire)

Georgii

[dalem]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Georgii2222:

*Ahem* Excuse me, CCRF (close combat reaction fire)

Georgii<hr></blockquote>

True enough, but wouldn't a PAATC still be required?

And to me, the definitive ASL 'rule' is that there is a difference between 'Smoke' and 'SMOKE'. That says it all for me.

And -ahem-, anyone else here find a typo in the Second Edition OBA Flowchart and have it confirmed by the MMP guys? Anyone? Of course, that didn't save me from getting my tuckus ground into the rubble of Stalingrad by the Germans last winter in a full Red Barricades campaign. It wasn't just a loss, it was a LOSS.

-dale

[Michael Dorosh]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by dalem:

Of course, that didn't save me from getting my tuckus ground into the rubble of Stalingrad by the Germans last winter in a full Red Barricades campaign. It wasn't just a loss, it was a LOSS.

-dale<hr></blockquote>

Didn't you know there is a pro-German bias in ASL, too?

[dalem]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

Didn't you know there is a pro-German bias in ASL, too?

<hr></blockquote>

This was just a case of 'pro-Dale rolling badly' bias. Both I and my opponent (who played several other campaign games earlier that summer, i.e. Columbia Games' EuroFront package) agreed that I had teh worst summer of dice rolling anyone had ever seen. In the RB game I had one counterattack scenario set up pretty early in the campaign where I had 2 KVs and 3 T-26 tanks ready to pound the crap out of a German salient and bust a hole for my infantry to exploit.

On turn 2 I rolled 3 boxcars for main guns and on turn 3 I rolled boxcars for the other two. I put a billion purchase points and that entire scenario in the crapper myself - no enemy fire needed! I rolled like that for most of the campaign. It was a short campaign.

-dale

[Barticus]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by dalem:

On turn 2 I rolled 3 boxcars for main guns and on turn 3 I rolled boxcars for the other two. I put a billion purchase points and that entire scenario in the crapper myself - no enemy fire needed! I rolled like that for most of the campaign. It was a short campaign.

-dale<hr></blockquote>

No offense dalem, but this actually makes me smile. It's good to know I am not the only person with this kind of luck (at dice rolls).

B

[gredeker]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by dalem:

This was just a case of 'pro-Dale rolling badly' bias. Both I and my opponent (who played several other campaign games earlier that summer, i.e. Columbia Games' EuroFront package) agreed that I had teh worst summer of dice rolling anyone had ever seen. In the RB game I had one counterattack scenario set up pretty early in the campaign where I had 2 KVs and 3 T-26 tanks ready to pound the crap out of a German salient and bust a hole for my infantry to exploit.

On turn 2 I rolled 3 boxcars for main guns and on turn 3 I rolled boxcars for the other two. I put a billion purchase points and that entire scenario in the crapper myself - no enemy fire needed! I rolled like that for most of the campaign. It was a short campaign.

-dale<hr></blockquote>

Yikes! :eek: My only RB campaign game went the other way, once again due largely to dice. I was the Russians, and I kept rolling low on my RG leader dice rolls (getting lots of -1 and -2 leaders), while my opponent was rolling average or slighly worse. In addition, his leaders seemed to break early and often. After five CG days, he surrendered. My squad/leader ratio at game end was insane - I want to say somewhere around 4.5/1.

[dalem]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Barticus:

No offense dalem, but this actually makes me smile. It's good to know I am not the only person with this kind of luck (at dice rolls).

B<hr></blockquote>

No offense possible. It got so bad each day that even my buddy/opponent kept shaking his head. The coup de grace came during the turn 5 of what I was trying to make my "make the Hun pay for every hex with oceans of blood" scenario. My line was pushed back into the last big factory in the center (Manufacturing Hall?). I have a nice killer stack that is actually performing quite well - lots of broken Germans huddling amidst the rubble. My buddy drives his MkIII into the Factory, I close assault it with a platoon of Engineers, he kills them all. Other bad things (my normal allotment of boxcars) are happening all scenario. My morale is hanging by a thread. He moves the MkIII one hex closer, fires at the killer stack (9-2 + 3x 6-2-8 + HMG) with his MGs on the 4 column. +2 for rubble and factory. Gets a NMC.

I look up and say "this is it."

He says "no way, look at that stack - look at that leader."

And I say "Doesn't matter. This is literally the first fire he's taken all this scenario. You know what happens when I roll MCs."

"But he's in a Factory! It's a frikkin' NMC - you can do it."

"Nope," I say perkily. "Gonna be a twelve."

I raise the dice, give them a light shake, and drop them in the box while still looking at him and smiling. He looks down, shakes his head: "Oh my God, Dale. You are horrible."

I look down, and sure enough, a nice fat boxcar is staring up at me. One failed Wound Check and 3 NMCs and +2 LLTCs later I have 2 broken HS and a broken squad left in that hex. At that point I threw in the towel.

Is it wrong of me to still like the game after that?

-dale

[danbob]

Red Barricades Campaign, Game 3. 2 teams of 2 players. Ward (ger) trying to reduce a building full of Red Guards with StuGs. He rolls 5 11s in a row to hit, over the course of 2 turns.

Actual quote : "If I roll another *^$#@&^@#B!eleven I will personally give EACH of you $20!"

Guess what he rolled?

He was very quick with his wallet though.

He just hadn't learned psychic dice control for ASL yet. I'm still trying to learn psychic random number generator seed control for CMBO though. No luck yet.

Danbob

[ 01-23-2002: Message edited by: danbob ]</p>

[BloodyBucket]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Knaust:

SL and ASL were great games...but what about the solitare games of Victory Games, Ambush, Carrier and Tokyo Express?<hr></blockquote>

Had lots of fun with Ambush and Battle Hymn, mostly playing co-op with a friend against the system. The easter eggs in the paragraph book were very entertaining.

Played a lot of Up Front, but very little SL/ASL.

[Compassion]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Knaust:

What I lack more in CM compared to ASl is that sort of legal dispute about the interpretation of rules <hr></blockquote>

And the string... DOn't forget the string!

[Ricochet]

LoL

What dalem, the MkIII didn’t fall in the basement and simply disappear?

I haven’t played for many a year and boy this sure brings it back.

Just want to add: WP morale checks and cavalry horses.

[dalem]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Ricochet:

LoL

What dalem, the MkIII didn’t fall in the basement and simply disappear?

I haven’t played for many a year and boy this sure brings it back.

Just want to add: WP morale checks and cavalry horses.<hr></blockquote>

Sadly, no Basements in Factories. But now that I do it using miniatures on a tabletop, I've cut out a lot of the extranneous stuff anyway.