EC are Moderate, with no wind at start.

Fighting Withdrawal AAR

2011-09-28T11:17:00.001-07:00

I played this classic scenario.

I lost.

J116 Brigade Hill

2011-09-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

Well, this was a fun one. Can't say otherwise, even though I lost. Perhaps you, carissime lector, might discover the reasons for my loss, in reading carefully what I write. I for one believe the reasons for my loss are twofold: first, fortune frowned upon my elite ANZAC squads; and second, I lost my player's nerve.

Brigade Hill is a six and a half turn, all infantry scenario which packs a lot of action into just half a board. Japanese are defending a series of hills, and the Australians are tasked with controlling three of the four hills. Specifically, three of four hexes on those hills. The Position is thus:

The Australians setup basically to the left of the gully (stream is dry) and thus control one hill. Reinforcements arrive on the opposite side of the board, opening up the possibility of an envelopment. The Japanese setup on the other hills, and get reinforcements on the bottom of the map. They thus must decide whether to go after the ANZAC setup area and seize that hill, or to bolster the defense of their original hills. Things could go either way, and the design is brilliant, giving each player an opportunity for attack and for defense.

Australians assets for the offence include two 51mm mortars, 2 LMGs and an MMG, and lots of elite squads.Unfortunately, by the end of turn two, both of my mortars malfunction'd, and then were permanently broken by bungled repair attempts. That sucked.

My plan was to throw a large force against hill 526, and send a smaller one against 502, which would link up with my reinforcement group and surround the hill. Hopefully, 526 would be overwhelmed by the time the attack on 502 would be getting underway, and that group of soldiers could either reinforce the assault, or launch a diversionary attack on 506. That sounds good, doesn't it? But the reality was different. By the end of turn two I'd lost both mortars, had killed one Japanese squad, and come no where near taking anything. At least I hadn't taken any casualties. My squads kept breaking; but at least they pretty much rallied right back up every time.

IN turn 3, though, I was finally able to get up on the hill. The Japanese rolled fairly well, and my sniper repeatedly attacked the same squad (the one in the foxhole on the right flank on the forward hill). I got concealment stripped off of all his forces on the front hill and discovered his dummy. There weren't really that many forces on hill 526, actually. After my Sniper had done his work, and I'd done some shooting, all that remained was a HS with an LMG, a 4-4-7 with an MMG and a 9-1 leader, and a 2-2-8 crew holding a knee mortar. And I was ready to go in for the kill.

Here's an image of the front hill at the top of turn 4:

So here is what I did with turn 4. Out of that big stack on the left I deployed one squad into two HS, who ran up to draw fire from his MGs. I didn't want him shooting at my three squads on the hill--that smoke was going to disperse away before he had to shoot. So my HS gambit actually worked--he blasted away as they entered T4, T5, T6, killing them (I just love those boxcar MC rolls!). But that's okay. The Japanese had lost a squad and a half, I could stand to lose one squad for the cause. In Prep, I Op Fired my CX squads and fired the other one at the crew, who shrugged it off. I was saving my Op Fire to avoid CX penalties, and have them shoot at the leader, over the heads of the mortar crew.

My maneuvers were generally effective. I positioned a squad up around their flank, moved two more into the road and broke the HS in advancing fire, and my Op Fire guys did very well, wounding the leader and reducing the MMG squad. Then I advanced up, eager to take out that mortar crew in CC.

I thought my prospects looked good: I had 6:1 odds! And my opponent went 1:6 against everyone, meaning he needed a 2 to kill. OH MY GOD WAIT A MINUTE! Just as I write this I realise we REALLY SCREWED UP! Because, well, of course he rolled a 2, and all of my squads died, which was a huge loss and such a blow to my player morale that I actually needed a minute.

BUT WHEN YOU ROLL EQUAL TO YOUR KILL NUMBER YOU DON'T KILL EVERYONE YOU JUST CAUSE CASUALTY REDUCTION! Without stopping to look it up right now, I bet you're supposed to do random selection to see which squad gets reduced. Wow.

Well, anyway, the Japanese position on this hill crumbled pretty quickly after that. But with the massive loss of manpower, as well as the big hit to player morale, I couldn't pull it off. I started doing stupid stuff. I had moved two squads from my start hill forward, leaving it undefended. And the Japanese reinforcement group, which had come on near the middle of the board, diverted and headed for that hill. So then I had to race some guys back there, and made some dumb moves--they broke and I lost control of that hill.

I was able to set up a kill stack on the hill I conquered to blast away at 502, but that doesn't work as well when fighting troops that don't break. The Japanese aren't going to abandon position easily. You really need to just get in there in CC. The last turn saw me making assaults on the last two hills, but in the last defensive fire phase, my opponent was able to break or pin my attacking forces such that I was unable to advance into CC, denying me the hills. It was still a very close, tense game. Now I wonder what would have happened if we hadn't made the mistake of killing all my squads in CC! There at the very least would have been more units for the Japanese to shoot at--I think I would have taken one of the remaining hills. But there was still that Japanese counterattack which worked out. Meh.

Great scenario, which I would definitely play again. I'll try the Japanese next time.

Roar Stats (as of this writing): 23-17 in favour of the Aussies.

Read some other reports of this scenario!

Check this out

2011-08-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

Oh man, check THIS out. So I'm starting a new PBEM game, right? And I'm the Germans. I have to assault this American position where they have a coupla MGs and artillery pieces. And my whole plan is to use my 81mm mortar to lay out a bunch of smoke in the PFPh with that high ROF and just go around the forward defences in a pincer attack. There's a lot of open ground to go through. I figure I'll lay smoke here, here and here and run around to get my LATW and HMG in position to blast them out of their buildings.

But guess what? The crew forgot to bring their smoke. I rolled (5,5) on my first shot. Start pushing, guys.

Paper Army

2011-08-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

I played S10 Paper Army (from Starter Kit #2) several months ago by email, but never wrote an AAR for it. It doesn’t need much of an AAR, to be honest, but I wanted to write a little bit about it. S10 is a Starter Kit scenario which I actually first played two years ago, as the Italians. When I first played it, I lost, and thought that it seemed impossible for the Italians to win at all. Reports on ROAR show that they certainly don’t often win: perhaps this is a dog. (It is 36-12 in favour of the Greeks.) But when I looked at the scenario card again, I thought that perhaps winning simply requires careful attention to the CX rules, or that the Italians just have a difficult problem to solve. So I decided to try it again. And I won.

So what is up with this scenario? Well, the Italians are on the run from the Greeks. The setup is an empty board: the Italians enter on their first turn, carrying a broken MMG. The Greeks also enter on the first turn, already having spent 2 MF. So they are certainly close by. And at a certain turn (dr ≤ turn number), a Greek “flanking force” enters the map, essentially in front of the Italians.

The Italians, then, need to run like hell, while keeping a small force back. And this is what I did on my first move.

This is certainly a scenario in which the Italian player must violate the prescription that one must never move in stacks. The leader movement bonus really is necessary. I built two large stacks and ran them past the first line of woods. These two stacks, if they made it off, would win me the game. My delaying force was four half-squads, two squads, a 7-0, and a malfed MMG. Not a whole lot of firepower, and probably too much firepower: the Greeks have to enter on open ground for the most part, so even a 1FP attack can be pretty intimidating.

I inadvertently made a very good move by positioning half squads in the two half hexes at the top and bottom of the board, which were woods hexes. The other difficulty of the Greeks in turn one is that they have no rout destinations! And as luck would have it, I was able to eliminate a squad for failure to rout in the beginning. This is due to some of the gameyness of the rout rules, for sure, because they were up against the board edge. Board edges are the bogeyman of wargames, for sure. To my knowledge, only naval wargames acknowledge the artificiality of the boardedge and allow players to reposition their ships if they drift off the edge: everything is just one big open sea anyway.

Well, the Greeks moved onto the board fairly cautiously. They came on in force at the top of the board, through the grain patch. What happened? Well, Markus (my opponent) tried assaulting the two squads I left behind with the MMG. Unfortunately, he was firing through the grain and couldn’t pull off breaking my units until about turn 3. I think this was his one mistake: he should have bypassed that, and chased me on the bottom of the board, I think, or been more aggressive with capturing those rout destinations.

However, one thing which did hurt the Allies was the reinforcement dr. The very first time I played this scenario, the reinforcements came on the first possible turn. This meant that by the time my Italians were approaching the board edge, there was a force of Greeks waiting for them, and my fragile Italians broke under the pressure. But this time, they came on the last possible turn. The pursuing Greeks were delayed long enough that pursuit was impossible, and the flanking force came in just as I was poised to exit the board edge. Not only that, but I was primarily moving two large stacks, each sporting 11FP, which I suppose is a kill-stack for the Italians.

A lot of this scenario does depend on the reinforcement dr, I think. The other is the Italian player’s ability to set up a good delaying force to hold up the Greeks for two turns, and also making good use of going CX and searching out the best path to run along to get off the map. Maybe that is why the scenario looks so unbalanced on ROAR: what we have is a puzzle for the IT player to solve, not a battle for them to fight. New SK players might just not have the tactical acumen to figure this one out. I know the first time I played this, I left too many troops behind, and tried to fight it out with the Greeks. That won’t work. This scenario can’t be played that way.

All in all, I think this is a fine scenario—not a great one, but one good for thinking about victory conditions and what you need to do, rather than thinking about shooting the enemy and fighting him. This is a very important step in thinking about ASL.

Rule A.1

2011-08-03T10:54:00.000-07:00

A.1 on dice: this rule says that “players may also find it beneficial to get in the habit of rolling three dice,” since there are many situations in the game for which a subsequent dr is necessary. Rolling three dice in advance would speed things up. But what are these situations? The rulebook mentions six.

5.132: missing a vehicle when the location is overstacked. If you fire at a vehicle, you might miss. That goes without saying. But if that vehicle is in a location crammed full of other vehicles, you might just hit another one by accident. You might even hit a friendly. The rule here is a little weird, because the possibility of hitting a secondary target depends on whether your opponent’s side is overstacked, but the subsequent dr takes into account the total number of vehicles in the location, including your own. Basically, say guy has three vehicles in a location. If you miss your shot, you might hit another one as long as your roll was no more than two over your to-hit number (two extra vehicles, ya see?). But then the subsequent dr takes into account the total number of vehicles. So suppose you are firing into a maelstrom of metal and you had a truck in the location, too. There are four vehicles there! If the subsequent dr is less than four, you hit something; random select it.

There’s a little more nuance to it, so read the rule, but here it is. If you are firing into an overstacked (vehicularly speaking) location, roll three dice.

7.309: unlikely kills. A natural 2 DR on the unarmoured vehicle line always has a chance of doing some damage.

9.74: Random SW/Gun destruction. Whenever you roll a KIA result against a unit possessing these things, roll a dr on the same column; if you get a KIA or K result, then the thing is either destroyed or malfed. That’s life. But would you really bother rolling three dice every time just for this? I mean, I guess you could. Just roll three all the time.

11.13: the fate of SW in close combat—this is similar to the rule above; basically, whenever a unit is taken out in CC, there is actually a pretty good chance that the SW dies, too. You make the roll.

11.501: unlikely kills in close combat vs. a vehicle. Pretty much the same thing as in 7.309.

24.1: trying to place smoke up a hill. Roll a subsequent dr: there’s a 50-50 chance the smoke grenades roll back down the hill on you. Ha!

I've also heard of people always rolling a third die for rate of fire.That way you might roll a ten (5,5) or something, but still keep rate (5,5,1). I have no idea how widespread this is, honestly. I've never done it, I don't think.

ASL boxes: To Keep or Not to Keep?

2011-07-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

A Victory Lost Tournament

2011-04-08T18:34:00.000-07:00

Even though this is an Advanced Squad Leader blog, I reserve the right to write about other wargames as the mood strikes me--especially since I do play other wargames and unfortunately haven't played an ASL game in about six months. And since I've made posts about this tournament on other sites, why not my own blog?

I'm organizing a PBEM/VASSAL tournament for MMP's A Victory Lost. This is one of those "easy to learn, difficult to master" kind of games and I absolutely love it. The games is an homage to the old-school hex and counter wargame, with an odd-ratio based CRT, but with a chit-pull system thrown in. With the exception of the STAVKA chit, no one will be moving their entire army at any one time, which makes PBEM a little more fun in my opinion--because you can do a move in ten minutes then send it off. Makes for a faster game, possibly.

The game won the 2006 Charles S. Roberts award for Best WWII wargame, and I do think it deserved it. Even after five years, I think it deserves frequent play. After having over ten games under my belt I still don't think I've exhausted all the possible strategies--this is a game that rewards study and tinkering around with different Soviet openings and alternative defensive strategies for the Germans.

So far nine people have signed up for the tournament, which begins May 15th. The idea is to have three or four 'leagues' which play out some games (everyone plays everyone once), and then a bracket tournament featuring the top players from each league. I'd really like to have at least 12 people participate. Let me know if you are interested!

3 Minutes pour un jeu

2011-04-06T22:10:00.000-07:00

Since it is late, and I'm browsing YouTube, I thought I'd share a cool find. This guy has a channel in which he explains the basics of a game in three minutes, and this is his ASL in three minutes vid. It is in French, but you can probably follow him okay. It's a very well-done video, I must say. I was impressed.

Sprachspiele und Kriegspiele

2011-04-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

I like to approach learning and playing games in the same way I'd approach learning a new language. After all, games and languages are remarkably similar. A language is a set of rules governing behaviours: when you say “Schnee ist weiss,” you are acting Germanish, as opposed to acting Englishish when you say “Snow is white.” You also have to be able to do more than simply memorize the rules of the language. Simply knowing the inflection of the verb sein and every other German verb doesn't mean that you know German. You have to be able to use the language well. You must practice reading the language, speaking the language, writing the language. This will reinforce your knowledge of the grammar but also develop your fluency. In the same way, reading the rulebook and memorizing all possible DRMs and so on isn't, by itself, going to make you a good player of a game. It is necessary to apply your propositional knowledge of the rules and practice playing in order to develop fluency.

Therefore, I think some techniques from language study can apply to learning ASL and other wargames. Some activities in language study (and I've studied “dead” languages more than “living ones”) are doing things like conjugating verbs over and over again or doing verb synopses—verb synopses are really good practice because they force you to think about many different forms of a verb. Here's an example: say I have to, or want to, write out a synopsis of the Latin amō, amāre, “to love,” in the third person singular (an easy verb). This means I will write out the third person singular form of the verb in every tense and mood of the system—usually, when a student is learning verbs, they learn them by tense, or mood. Thus, the present indicative is learned first, and the student memorizes, by rote, the sequence amō, amās, amat, amāmus, amātis, amant. Then the imperfect indicative is learned: amābam, amābās, amābat, amābāmus, amābātis, amābant. And so on. But students need to make further connections to help develop fluency with the language. Doing a verb synopsis does just that by forcing you to think about all the tenses and moods apart from their individual sequences. Thus:

amat

amābat

amābit

amāvit

amāverat

amāverit

amet

amāret

amāverit

amāvisset

And so on...(yeah, I'm not going to write out the whole thing or explain it, this is an ASL blog not a Latin pedagogy blog....thus I need to get to my point!)

So, what are some similar 'drills' or exercises we can do to help reinforce our ASL rules-learning? Well, I came up with one thing. Not a big deal but something, and in my spare time I've been doing it. I call if Vehicle quizzes.

Vehicle counters are packed with information, and it can take some getting used to decoding them: what does the red mean? Or that circle there? Is it fully-tracked or what? I figure the best way to get good at reading counters is to repeatedly practice. But this can get you more than just decoding, because in some cases there are further rules implications: if the ID is circled, for instance, you have +2 to any bog check, etc. Here's some examples of what I've done with this 'exercise:'

Pz VG is a rickety ol' thing. It can move 15 MP but stalls on a 12 whenever it makes a motion attempt or starts to move. It has a slow traverse turret and normal ground pressure, so it get +1 on bog checks. Its front armour is 18, with an inferior turret: thus the front of the turret has an AF of 14. Its side/rear AF is 6. Also, this tank was big: it is a large target. Its main armament, a very long-barreled 75mm gun, has a rate of fire of 1. It also has three machine guns: a bow MG of 3 FP, a coaxial MG of 5 FP, and an AA MG of 2 FP. It also sports the awesome Nahverteidigungswaffe, depleting on a 7 in '44 or an 8 in '45. Crew survival is 6.

Pz IIF has 14 MP and is fully tracked. A small target, it has 3 AF on the front and 1 AF on the side/rear., and low ground pressure. Its MA has a restricted slow traverse turret, so it suffers +2 to hit if it changes its CA to fire if it changes its hexside, and an additional +1 for each additional hexside change. Plus, it can only fire when the crew is buttoned-up, so the gun will always have +1 to hit. The MA is a 20mm long-barreled gun, which has a ROF of 2 and an IFE of 4. However, it has a breakdown number of 11. It lacks a bow MG, but does have a coaxial one, which fires 5 FP. Finally, it does have a smoke dispenser which depletes on 7 and the crew will hardly survive: CS of 3.

No doubt doing these can be tedious and simplistic, but the point is to become fluent: to get to a point where I don't have to think about counters at all. The point is not to memorize all the facts about the vehicles. I'm not trying to be able to know off the top of my head what sort of turret a given tank has. (That would be nuts!) One thing I learned from studying languages is that it usually doesn't actually take much mental effort, just practice, and that it is important to drill and reiterate the simple, boring details so that they become second nature. Doing a 'vehicle quiz' every now and then is like writing out a verb synopsis.

I could probably write out more about each vehicle than I am doing, and probably will with time. I have to look things up, and figure if I can write more, and more obscure things, then more facts will become second nature. You should try this out as well! Here's an Italian guy. What's his bog check mod?

Reading the Rulebook

2010-11-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

In the first issue of the DC Conscripts newsletter, John Slotwinski published an article on learning ASL--a list of 15 tips (which can be found here). Reading the rulebook is an obvious tip, but he also says that we should "make the effort to read chapters A - D carefully at least once per year." I'm going to go one better (or three better) and read A-G.

Why? Well, I want to get better at The Game; furthermore I want at least passing familiarity with all the rules in ASL. Sure, I'm not out to master every miscellaneous rule, nor am I particularly enthused about playing desert scenarios, but I'd like to know what's out there. I'd like to know what the possibilities of the game are, so that even if I don't remember exactly how to Mop Up, I'll know that it's possible and look it up during a game.

I've read most of the rulebook before: last summer I had lots of free time and read all of A, all of C excepting the OBA rules, and most of D; I read about half of G, because I was playing lots of PTO, but I never read Caves or Beach Landings. From E I only read the weather rules; and B I read as the terrain came up iun scenarios (oh, this board has a valley and a gulley, I better read up on those).

I was thinking of waiting until January '11, and making it a great 2011 ASLRB year; but I figure why not start this month, while I'm thinking about it? Plus, I might want to have a go at the 2011 VASL tournament, so I better get started now. My plan is to read about 3 or 4 pages a week--I don't have the time to sit and study hardcore right now, considering the fact that I'm doing other, more important research. But this way I should have everything read by next October, and if I'm still obsessed with The Game then I can stick to A-D every year after this.

Starter Kit Sequence of play

2010-10-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

In Preparation for teaching the game, I put together a sequence of play handout/thing that only covers the stuff in ASLSK#1. I think I got everything, but if anyone happens to actually read this blog and has comments or suggestions or sees errors, let me know.

ASL Starter Kit #1 Sequence of Play

Rally Phase (RPh)

(a) Attacker rolls for reinforcements/places reinforcements offboard.

(b) Good Order Units may attempt to recover SW in same hex, Attacker first, dr < 6 (+1 drm if CX)

(c) Repair Broken SW, Attacker first.

(d) Transfer SW between units in same location, Attacker first.

(e) Self-Rallies. (+1 DRM)

a. Attacker may attempt to self rally one MMC

b. Leaders and Crews self-rally attempts, Attacker first

c. N.B.: Original 2 DR = possible leader creation

d. N.B.: Original 12 DR = Casualty reduction

(f) Unit Rallies. Units stacked with a leader may attempt to rally. DRMs:

a. +4 if DM

b. -1 if in woods or building hex

c. Leadership modifier

d. N.B.: Original 12 DR = Casualty reduction

(g) Marker Removal. All DM counters are removed unless the unit is adjacent to an enemy unit. Unit may remain DM if not in woods or building, otherwise mandatory.

Prep Fire Phase (PFPh)

Attacker may fire any units, weapons, etc. Units are marked with a Prep fire marker.

Movement Phase (MPh)

Start of MPh: remove CX markers from Attacker’s units.

During MPh:

(a) Attacker may move any unit which is not broken or marked with a Prep Fire mounter.

(b) Units may declare CX at the start of their move (+2 MF), but a unit can't go CX twice in a row; if it went CX last turn, it can't go CX again.

(c) Units may declare Assault Movement, to move 1 hex and avoid FFNAM.

(d) Weapons may be dropped at any point.

a. Weapons may be recovered by expending 1 MF and making a dr < 6

(e) Placing smoke: 1MF if in same hex, 2 MF if in adjacent hex. +1 drm if CX. On Original 6 dr, Unit must end all movement.

(f) Defender may Defensive First Fire at any unit which expends MF.

a. Common DRMs:

i. Leadership, for Leader-Directed Fire

ii. First Fire Moving in the Open (FFMO): -1 vs. units moving in Open Ground, with no Hindrances along the firing unit’s LOS.

iii. First Fire Non-Assault Movement (FFNAM): -1 vs. units not using Assault Movement.

iv. Terrain Effects Modifiers (TEM) of terrain occupied by target unit.

v. Hindrance modifiers, for terrain in hexes between the firing and target unit (e.g., Orchards, Grain).

b. Types of Defensive First Fire:

i. Defensive First Fire: a Defending unit’s first shot. Any moving unit. Place a First Fire – MPh marker on the unit after it fires.

ii. Subsequent First Fire: Defending units which have already fired once may SFF; can only fire within normal range and only at units which are not farther than closest enemy unit; FP for firing unit is halved.

iii. Final Protective Fire: Defending units may fire only at adjacent units. Original DR acts as a NMC for firing unit; FP for firing unit is halved, but doubled back for Point-Blank Fire.

End of MPh: Remove all Residual Fire markers and Smoke counters.

Defensive Fire Phase (DFPh)

Defender may fire any units not marked Final Fire. Units Marked First Fire may fire at adjacent units only, at half FP, but doubled back for Point-Blank Fire.

Advancing Fire Phase (AFPh)

Attacker’s units which did not fire in the PFPh may fire at half FP.

MMGs or HMGs which moved may NOT fire.

Units with underlined FP receive +1 FP after being halved, and round fractions up.

Thus a 7-4-7 squad has (7/2 ) + 1 = 4.5 = 5 FP, not (7+1)/2 = 4 FP.

Remove all Prep Fire markers at the end of the AFPh.

Rout Phase (RtPh)

(a) Units marked DM must rout to the closest Woods or building hex, away from any known enemy units.

(b) Units may be interdicted during rout.

(c) Units may Low Crawl one hex in order to avoid interdiction.

Advance Phase

(a) Attacker may transfer SW.

(b) Attacker may then move any unpinned good order units once hex.

a. If this move would cost all MF, unit becomes CX.

(c) Units may enter enemy occupied hexes

(d) Place a CC marker on units that advance into enemy-occupied hexes.

Close Combat Phase (CCPh)

(a) Both players resolve CC in each hex.

(b) Check for ambush if CC in building or woods

a. Ambush = if any side rolls 3 less than the other.

b. Ambushes are sequential, not simultaneous.

(c) Original 2 DR = Possible leader creation

(d) Place Melee counters on any hex in which units of both sides have survived

(e) Remove all PIN markers at the end of the phase.

Turn Record: Reverse the role of Attacker and Defender. Advance the Turn Marker if necessary.

You think you know a guy...

2010-10-22T18:27:00.000-07:00

One day you think you’re just going to play Axis and Allies and the next you’re teaching a guy ASL.

I like Axis and Allies as much as the next guy, I guess. It’s okay. I played it in middle school with the family back when my dad what trying to get my brother and me into wargaming. At least I think that’s what he was doing. It stuck for me, and when I got older I left Axis and Allies behind as a kid’s game. I’m actually suspicious of games with miniatures because it feels more like playing with toys than playing a wargame.

I don’t mean to knock A&A. It’s a fine game that lots of people like. And I was going to play a game with a guy. He was all excited about finding other people to play because he used to play it when he was younger and wanted to get back into strategy games again and I tell him I play wargames. Really I’m in my head thinking that this could lead to other things, other, ‘real’ wargames, but I’m not saying this. And besides, I haven’t played A&A in over 15 years, so I can’t really knock it. It might be fine. I’m sure it’s fun in itself—it’s only the thought of other games that might ruin it for me.

So this guy, James, is trying to find players for a game. A couple of days later I run into Danny, and I know Danny plays A&A, so I mention it to him. He says he’d love to play.

“I’m just not sure when. It takes like all day to play. Maybe when we get a break.” We’re both grad students

“Yeah, he doesn’t have a set date or anything, I just wanted to mention it,” I say. “I knew you were into it. I’m actually into super-complicated wargames.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Like, uh. Advanced. Squad. Leader.”

Danny immediately high-fived me. “Really? I’ve been trying to find someone who can play that game for years!”

“What? You’ve heard of ASL?”

“Yeah man, I have this Dien Bien Phu game for it that uses ASL but no one plays ASL anymore and you can’t get stuff for it because it’s all out of print.”

“No, that’s not true. It’s in print.”

“Do you have lots of it?”

“I have everything.”

“Do you have Croix de Guerre?”

“I have everything. You can come over some time and I’ll show you my games.”

“Yeah?” he smirked. “Are they well-hidden?”

“Well, they’re in my closet. I haven’t played in a while.” The last time I played ASL was on September 17, 2009. I know the date but don’t tell him this; he doesn’t need to know details.

“I know, man, I try to keep my nerd-doms well-hidden. I like some pretty geeky stuff but I also like to go on dates.”

I laugh at this. He doesn’t know how much wargaming I used to do with my fiancée. We took A Victory Lost to the laundromat once. I tell him girls play games, too and that an ex-girlfriend used to play ASL.

As we talk more I learn that he has a couple of wargames back home but had never played any of them, because he could never figure them out nor find anyone who plays them. So he’s only played Axis and Allies.

At any rate, about a week later we decide to meet up at my place to dabble in ASL and Wellington. I’m a little apprehensive about it because ASL is so detailed and complex, that it might scare him away. But on the other hand, he somehow knows about Critical Hit!, has a copy of The Rise and Decline of the Third Reich, and is deeply interested in military history. He’s really into Napoleon, too.

Next thing I know it’s time for him to come over. All week I’ve been pulling my ASL stuff back out and looking at it, thumbing through scenario cards, daydreaming about past games. When Danny shows up he immediately goes for the bin full of all the boxes. Most of them are empty, but I keep all the Annuals and other random zines (“ooo—Critical Hit!”) in there. Then there’s the boards, the something like fifteen thousand counters, the rulebook(s), chapter H, everything. And I have other games. He gets excited about the Napoleonic ones—Wellingon, Last Days of the Grand Armee, and so on. His eyes glaze over at my ancients stuff.

And after he’s seen what there is to see, I take out board y and lay it flat on the table; I pull out the scenario card for Retaking Vierville and explain the elements of a scenario layout. “I remember all this from the Dien Bien Phu module. This is starting to make sense,” he says.

And I put my American squads on the board, give him some Germans, and we play.

The Prodigal ASL Newbie

2010-10-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

For over a year now I've wandered through life, aimless, not playing any Advanced Squad Leader, not playing any wargames at all. But I couldn't play. Life broke out in sudden violent storms, and my home was shattered by lightning. I stumbled outside in a daze, leaving everything in a heap, abandoning it all. The rain cut so thick I could not see ahead of me as I walked, and the wind cut my face and I bled. But I kept walking, not knowing where I went or what I was seeking or whether I was seeking anything in the first place.

I walked, in darkness, for months. And then a great snow fell. For days and days it snowed and then I could see again, for the light of the moon was reflected from the snow and all was bright again. But the earth was covered with a thick blanket and I knew not where I was. And nothing grew; for want of food I felt starved. Many times I wanted to lie down, to die, and I would lie down; but a friend would pass by and pull me up, brush the dusty snow from my face, and warm my cheek with a kiss. She always left me alone, though, because the journey was mine own to walk.

And then a great red sun rose in the sky and it melted all the snow. I was stuck in a torrent of mud, and the sun did not set and the mud became dust and the earth cracked, parched. I had nothing to drink but wine, and lay in drunkenness, my tongue was swollen and I thought that now I would die.

But then in my wanderings I met with Purity, who cleansed me of all the sweat and grime, and filled my pitcher with water and not wine, and pulled the planks from my eyes. The sun died down and there was no wind and the weather was moderate; and I looked and saw that I had not traveled at all, but there in a heap was Advanced Squad Leader, waiting for me.

And I took those dice in hand, and tossed them. Things were fair: there would be no change in wind for some time to come.

Lull

2010-02-11T12:49:00.000-08:00

So, it's been a while since I've posted to this blog! I've been doing no gaming lately and there are a variety of reasons for that. I really do miss ASL, though, and I hope that I can find the time and so on to do more gaming soon. I'd also like to get back into studying the rules, and in fact I had planned several short articles on aspects of ASL rules for the blog, but life has gotten in the way. In the mean time, I thought I'd post a stop-action video I made last year of a Starter Kit playthrough. It is scenario S2, War of the Rats, one of my faves. Enjoy!

Turning the Tide

2009-09-06T06:12:00.001-07:00

Yes, yes, Turning the Tide. Jim Stahler's ASL updates of old-school scenarios from the Squad Leader system. Many of these scenarios are massive, up to five boards, thirteen turns, and over 50 squads all told. Of course, it also has two micro-scenarios, one of which (The Front in Flames) I've played already and enjoyed quite a bit (it is a perfect little SK to ASL transition scenario). The scenarios are arranged in chronological order, beginning with the outbreak of hostilities on September 1, 1939 and going up to September 24, 1943.

Starting today, Mike and I will be playing through this pack. I'm very much looking forward to it, for a number of reasons. One, Mike knows the hell out of the ASL system and I've been learning a lot playing him. Second, these scenarios will give me a good "rules workout." There's a lot in here: AFVs, trucks, parachute and glider drops, motorcycles, cavalry, off-board artillery, night rules, radioless AFVs, partisans, air support, mines, towing guns. All the scenarios are vs. the Germans, and Allied nationalities include Russians, Poles, French, British, Norwegians, Americans, Dutch, Belgians, Greeks and Partisans. In some respects, the apparent complexity of these scenarios is intimidating. On the other hand, the only way to master this game and learn all these rules is to keep playing and reading the relevant rules as they come up.

Three, I'm interested in seeing how the old-school played. A lot of the scenarios I've played so far are very minimalist. The designer gives me just enough resources to do the job; sometimes it feels like I have too few squads, in fact, resulting in a pretty tense game where every morale check matters.

Today we're playing The Sacrifice of Polish Armor, the first of the bunch. I chose the Poles. I don't think there are enough recorded games on ROAR to be of any use, but so far it is logged at 5-1 for the Germans.

Don't forget your modifiers!

2009-09-05T05:03:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well....my devoted readers my recall my whiny post about my VASL league game in which I hypothesize that the scenario was broken or unbalanced.

Well. I conceded the game, figuring the fight was hopeless. But yesterday I suddenly realised that the entire game I forgot to claim my +2 emplacement DRMs! That changes everything...I likely would not have done so poorly if not for this. As a matter of fact it probably changed the outcome of the game.

Oh well...don't forget Emplacement!

Fate and Desparation

2009-08-27T05:47:00.000-07:00

The Advanced Squad Leader game models not only WWII squad-level combat on a technical level. It also tackles deep existential themes which have tortured human beings for centuries. Two of these are the concepts of Fate and Desperation.

The concept of Fate or Fortune is one very appropriate to ASL. How many games have been decided by the dice? It may sometimes feel as though they have granted victory to some, and defeat to others, with no regard for one's skill.

Fortune in antiquity and through the middle ages was considered a randomizing factor in people's lives. Fortuna was a Roman goddess, often portrayed as blind, who unceasingly spun a wheel which determined one's lot in life. Not unlike our beloved red and white dice.

The word "fate" in the ASL Rulebook is a technical rules-term but is also used in other rules sections when ruling on those instances when different units "share the same fate." Here are all the mentions of Fate in the rulebook:

A10.6 - it is the only possible penalty for a rally attempt.

A10.64 is the ruling on Fate.

The Icy Hand of Fate: When Extreme Winter is in effect, fate reaches farther. Squads casualty reduce on rally rolls of 11 or 12, not just 12. (E3.742)

11.611: Passengers and Crews must share the Fate of their vehicle in Close Combat

Fate is mentioned in 19.1 as one of those things which can wreck a unit.

Fate is mentioned in the example accompanying C3.32. The fate of all affected units will be resolved on the 6 column of the IFT table.

C10.11. A hooked-up gun and its vehicle are considered one target and thus have the same fate.

C10.4 The above consideration also applies to trailers. They share the fate of their vehicle.

Footnote C15, concerning duds: the dud rule "encompasses another minor aspect of fate."

D6.9 Survival: PRC all make a crew survival check to determine their fate separately in the event the vehicle is destroyed by fire. This doesn't apply to close combat, however; wherein only riders are granted a fate of their own.

Also, passengers usually suffer the same fate as the boat on which they are riding.

Desperation doesn't appear to have the same grand philosophical pedigree. Etymologically the word breaks down to "loss of hope." I suppose squads suffering DM don't see the point of going on in life and they need an extra turn (usually) to think about it and ponder the nature of war for a bit.

A10.62 - Desperation Morale. Everyone knows about this. Desperated squads may also be called "Doughnut Men" or "Death Metal squads."

The Heat of Battle rules also model "acts of desperation borne of heroism or despair."

Desperation Penalties: firing a light anti-tank weapon in desperation will negate case C(3). However, such fire may destroy one's own soldiers (C13.81)

Dare-To-Die

2009-08-22T17:17:00.000-07:00

The Chinese in ASL have a secret weapon: the dare-death squad. The Chinese player may secretly designate 10% (fractions rounded up) of her squads as "dare-death" and spring them on the enemy (likely Japanese) for surprise or to even the odds in a tight close combat.

The dare death squad can, if stacked with or adjacent to a leader, go berserk and charge the enemy. The dare death squad gets a -1 to any close combat dice roll, and goes into close combat as if it were Japanese--which means that it's Hand-to-Hand, with a -1 dice roll modifier. So if the dare death squad starts the fight all by itself, they're going Hand-to-Hand; if the dare death squad enters a melee in progress, or advances into close combat along with some other guys, it will be a normal fight. Either way, the Chinese are getting -1 to the close combat roll. When you are fighting the Japanese, you can bet there will be a lot of close combat; you need any help you can get.

Dare death squads are awesome if the scenario card gives you any hidden initial placement. They might not do a lot of damage, but the psychological impact of having squads appear out of nowhere and berserk charge can be stunning.

Unfortunately, the Chinese will only have one or two dare death squads in any given scenario, so it is important to use them judiciously. As a matter of fact, they work best if, unlike me in the last scenario I played, you remember to use them in the first place! Sheesh...

Counter Madness

2009-08-20T06:58:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I purchased an ASL collection for an extraordinarily low price. It was a lot to spend at once, but it was offered at such a bargain that I knew I had to jump on it. It felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity. I now own every core module, Red Barricades, Valor of the Guards, Pegasus Bridge, KGP I, all the Annuals, four out of the seven Journals as well as some rare third party stuff.

So I've been spending a lot of time re-organizing and trimming counters. I bought a C4 last year and I've been putting it to good use--actually, I wore the thing out so much it broke! So far, I've trimmed the complete OOB for

the Russians, Japanese, Chinese and Americans, as well as all the German 1/2" counters and all the Finns. This is pretty much all first edition stuff, so I had a lot of fun sorting the Finns from the Germans, since some of them were jumbled up. Right now I'm in the middle of doing the French.

One thing that is interesting about seeing all these counters is noting the vast improvement in counter quality over the years. The counters from Valor of the Guards and my Starter Kit gear--the MMP stuff--are much, much nicer than the old Avalon Hill counters. Which is funny, since AH was owned by a printing company! The older counters suffer two main faults: colour variation and horrible die cutting.

The photo above shows variable German colours, but the real problem nationalities I've encountered thus far are the Russians and Japanese.

In the (blurry) photo here, Japanese units are arrayed on the left, and Russian units on the right. Pretty bad! Actually, now that I think about it, I believe I came across British units which were so different in colour it was hard to believe that they were supposed to be the same nationality! The obsessive-compulsive in me wants to sort out the Russians by color, so that my counters may be uniform on the board, or so that I might play with darker or lighter Russians as my whim fancies.

I'm amazed at how bad this is. Did AH change their mind about what colour they wanted with each printing? How did this happen?

Another issue with older counters is the die-cutting. So far the Russians have been the worst about this, but I'm seeing it with the French as well. It seems that the machines couldn't cut in a straight line--I can see it very clearly in one of the unpunched countersheets--resulting in some counters being too small, and others being vastly oversized. In fact, I measured some of them, and instead of having 1/2" square counters, I had several which were 1/2" x 5/8"! I ended up taking a chisel blade (the very same one I use to cut the corners) and cutting the counter down to size. I had to do this for about fifty Russian and Partisan infantry units. I did not see this in any Vehicles or Guns, fortunately. Counters also vary greatly in depth! The counters from Journal 2 are extremely thick compared to others, for instance.

Not only are many counters misshapen, many, many AH counters are offset. There isn't really much to say about that other than to point it out. Again, the MMP counters don't have this problem. The counter manufacturing process either has come a long way over the years, or Avalon Hill just didn't care to make quality ASL product.

All in all, I'd recommend against purchasing used, old ASL collections. The newer counters have larger fonts, a finer glossy finish and don't seem to suffer from radical variations of colour. Not only that, but you're supporting the new stuff and the current producers of ASL, and you won't be inheriting counters with errata. (One of the Japanese squads in the above photo is a malfed MG on the back!) I suppose that, for the price I paid, I'd do it again and still buy the old collection. But I certainly won't rule out picking up a copy of the third edition of Beyond Valor when money isn't so tight.

88s at Zon Video Replay

2009-08-11T16:38:00.001-07:00

I haven't yet mentioned on this blog that I game with fiancee. I do. She enjoys wargames quite a bit, and I'm fortunate that she actually shares my tastes in games!

Last night we played S14 88s at Zon from Starter Kit #2. This one is a "starterkitified" scenario based on a very old ASL scenario called Zon With the Wind, published in the '91 Annual. The original has nearly four hundred logged plays on ROAR, so I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it is one of the classics. So anyway, we decided to do a "replay" of the game in video format, discussing the play. I didn't do too well. Also, I use a lot of foul language. Not for the faint of heart.

The replay is in two parts. Part one is the two of us, in turn, discussing out setup. Part Two has clips for the end of every turn, discussing the action of the turn.

One:

Two:

88s at Zon, part two from Luke Sineath on Vimeo.

Recent ASL games

2009-08-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

My PTO games have stalled lately because my opponent has been busy lately. So I posted on VASL looking for a new opponent and found one! So far we've been playing through the T scenarios in ASL Classic. My new opponent, Mike, is very experienced with the game and knows the rules back and forth, and doesn't seem to hold anything back, so it's a very good learning experience. Last week we played Gavin Take, which, it seems was redone for Starter Kit as S8 Prelude to Festung Brest (and I would give you a link for that, but CSW is down). I've played the latter twice, but the former plays very differently, because it plays on board 3, which features two hill masses flanking a few buildings, as opposed to the Starter Kit's flat urban board. The Americans also gain a 10-3 leader, a counter not even present in the SK countermix. I lost the game, mostly because (a) I didn't rock the firegroups, taking advantage of that neg three and (b) I took a long detour to get to the exit hex--the Americans must exit off the board at Q10. Mike said I got diced, too, but I'm not so sure about that.

Gavin Take is an excellent starter scenario for new players, I think. Moreso than Guryev's Headquarters, I'd say, because there are no HIP units or Snipers...the focus is on maneuver and fire and good use of smoke.

Yesterday we played the next two T scenarios: The Puma Prowls and Ranger Stronghold.

The first pits five Russian T-70s against four PSW234/2s. Pumas. In terms of our to-hit and to-kill chances, we were about even, but the Germans had an edge on maneuverability, having 33 movement points to the T-70's 14. On the other hand, Pumas are armored cars, paying more MPs per hex than the T-70s, but they still had an edge. I made the mistake, as the Russians, of being perhaps too aggressive and running forward. I lost two tanks and nailed one Puma; the Germans win. Nevertheless, it was very exciting--this was my first AFV fight, and the first time driving "real tanks." I played WCW10 Stand and Die, but there I had just crappy mid-30's armored cars armed with MGs. No real guns or armor to speak of.

I really enjoyed The Puma Prowls. I'd like to play it again. The tank game feels very chess-like and unforgiving.

Since the game was so short we went ahead and setup Ranger Stronghold. I picked the Americans. I still haven't figured out how to really "use" bazookas well and wanted to practice. The Americans have four of them, five squads and two MMGs. My setup was decent (according to Mike), except for a half-squad in R3--no rout path--but I was crushed. It really sucked when my 10-2 tried to rally a squad and I roll a 12. Fate (A10.64) decreed that they did not rally and casualty reduced. This allowed the Germans to swarm the hill, No Quarter the remaining HS, kill the leader in CC and capture an MMG. Mike had said that he prefers big, meaty scenarios to small tournament-sized ones, because the smaller the scenario, the greater determinant luck can become. I think I saw that here, although I still probably didn't play at my top game. I started to experience ASL brain burn about halfway through the scenario.

I picked up a few tips about ASL play from these experiences:

-The 10-3 leader is the most powerful piece in the game.
-In AFV vs. AFV combat, never leave a vehicle in bypass movement.
-Make your opponent come to you. Race to a good hull-down position, stop and wait.
-Don't reveal your Armor Leader unless his presence would make a difference to the outcome of a roll.
-Don't forget to skulk!
-Watch out for the Player Morale Check. In Ranger Stonghold the Americans are outnumbered and outgunned, but all they need to do to win the game is survive. The scenario is sort of like S2 The War of the Rats in that regard. The Germans have a ton of assets and I pretty much failed my PMC. I am somewhat consoled by the fact that it shows as 102-67 in favor of the Germans on ROAR.

Next week we're playing Shklov's Labors Lost. I'll try to do a "setup" video for this one. I also will hopefully finish my game of A101 The Drive for Taierzhuang on Wednesday and get another PTO AAR up.

P.S. All of the ASL Classic scenarios can be had here; I don't know where to get T7-T16 or K-W.

Conditional ROF

2009-07-23T14:35:00.000-07:00

Regarding my last post: I was reading the ASL rulebook, just for fun you know, and was suprised when I read C2.5, on conditional ROF. Get this. It says that

The multiple ROF of a non-vehicular NT Gun is lowered by one for its next shot in the current phase if it changes its CA for that shot.

So what does that mean? It means that the Bofors doesn't have its ROF lowered when it changes its covered arc, because it is a 360 turreted Gun! At least in full ASL. This provision is not in the ASLSK #2 rulebook! In Starter Kit, Rate of Fire is lowered by one for several reasons, including "changing CA change." Turreted guns are no exception!

Priority Target

2009-07-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

Well, my most recent SK tourney game isn't going well. I made the mistake of picking a scenario I'd never played, and I picked it without really looking the card over, either. I chose it because, according the the ROAR database, it is the most balanced scenario in SK#2: Priority Target. It wasn't until after we'd set up a time and picked sides ("I'll be the Germans," my opponent immediately replied) that I realised that this was another Brian Youse design.

I don't have any beef with Mr. Youse. I don't know him. I don't know all the ASL fanboy/hater/MMP history or anything. I do know that every I have not enjoyed the ASLSK scenarios designed by Brian Youse at all. I've played three of them. First, Charlotte and I played Purple Heart Lane. The Americans have to take 6 building hexes...and they have to enter the map on one particular hex...and the Germans set up with two LMGs with a clear line of sight to that hex. Sure, the Americans also get a squad IN that hex to start, to try for smoke...but if they gack that, then, well, now we've got residual FP in the only entry hex. Not cool. Then the Germans can exit squads off the board to increase the number of buildings the Americans have to take. It's brutal! This was a pretty easy German win. I don't really know if it is unbalanced, but it's very simple and tactically uninteresting. The Americans don't manouvre, it's all about getting smoke.

Then, there's Ambitious Assault. I actually kind of liked this one. You've got a bunch of crappy Italians with 3 LMGs, an MMG and an HMG, and Americans and Brits closing in on both sides. It's an interesting idea, but in order to win, the Allies have to break every single Italian squad. It's not that easy. This one is all about hiding, skulking, running away, while making sure (as the Italians) you have your MGs in nice spots. There's actually one nice hex for the Italian HMG which can cover any approach the British might take...there isn't that much cover on the British side of the board. In fact, the Brits have to cover a lot of open ground, whereas the smaller American force moves up through a mass of buildings before they get to the open streets. On the other hand, they are moving slowly because there is no Bypass movement in SK.

So in three games, the Italians won every time. I came pretty close once as the Allies by playing extremely aggressively. And you know? On ROAR, the Italians have won 24 out of 30 games.

So the next Youse design I played was Paper Army. Good god! ROAR has this one as 18-6 in favour of the Greeks. So what do we have here? The Italians enter the map on turn one. They are being chased. They have to run through some woods, then over a wide plain of open ground and grain, then through more woods, buildings, and off the map on the other side. The LONG way. Ok. So the Greeks come on behind them. The Italians are trying to get away, holding some guys back to slow up the Greeks, but not too many or they won't make their Exit VPs.

Oh, yeah...the Italian MMG starts malfed and they aren't allowed to try to fix it until turn 2. Hmm...do I lug this thing around, with only a 1/3 chance of fixing it, or do I drop it so I can run away faster?

And then, starting on turn 2, there's a chance that more Greeks will enter the other side of the board...yes, the side you want to exit. Horrible scenario. I hated it.

And this brings me back to Priority Target. It seems balanced, looking at the numbers on ROAR. However, it feels pretty tough for the Allies. I'm outnumbered 2-1 in manpower. I've got a couple of 1st line Brits and a couple of Inexperienced Greeks. And I'm up against Elite German 5-4-8s, with plenty of MGs and DCs. I have to setup my guns together, but not adjacent. And what guns do I have? Three Bofors. 40mm high velocity guns with a high rate of fire (3). In order to win, the Germans have to take out all three guns. The guns do no set up HIP.

However, the Germans enter "on/after" turn one. On any board edge. I'm surrounded. Now, given the setup restrictions, my guns cannot cover every hexgrain all around me. Sure, they have 360 degree turrets, which means they aren't penalized that heavily for changing their covered arc, which I most certainly have to do. Other wise the Germans can exploit those three uncovered hexgrains and run right up with their DCs. But their ROF goes down to 2 when I do that, which is very bad. The high ROF is the main thing these guns have going for them.

In order to have a good chance of hurting these Germans (who, by the way have an ELR of 5), I have to generate a 2MC. But a 40L gun hits on the 4 column. That means I have to get lucky and roll a 4 or less on my damage roll. I need that high ROF. I need to hit the Germans over and over again so that at least some rolls turn out well. But basically, I'm hoping for Luck.

I decide to setup in the middle of a field of Grain. Better than woods, I reason, because the CA change penalties aren't as great, the hindrance modifiers against me are better (+2 up to +4 vs. just +1 for woods), and I can mitigate the hindrances when I fire by gaining acquisition. Well, the dice don't go my way much, and at the end of turn two I've lost one gun, and a melee exists in another gun's hex. Sure, I've kept up rate and hit the same German squads over and over again, to no effect. These guns vs. those Germans aren't getting the job done.

Hm...maybe I should have setup in the woods and focused on firing IFE the whole time. Maybe I don't like it just because I haven't figured it out. I dunno. The Allied setup is a deep puzzle, and I'd like to see how other people did it.

Terrain: Rice Paddies

2009-07-01T15:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a vid on Rice Paddies. I will probably re-do this at some point; really it's a tentative first-step/experiment.

Rice Paddies from Luke Sineath on Vimeo.

Need a Crash course on AFVs...

2009-06-30T15:50:00.001-07:00

The next scenario in the pipeline is WCW10--Stand and Die. I get about seven AFVs and the Japanese have 5 or so.

I haven't read Chapter D at all. Working on it. I'm studying the PTO terrain rules carefully since there is a lot going on there, especially with the rice paddies.

I suppose the best way to learn the game really is to dive right in and force myself to read all this stuff...it's great fun, actually, like learning a new language. I did finish chapter A and am working on a few "articles," really learning exercises for myself.

All about Lumberyards

2009-06-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

To my knowledge, there are only TWO lumberyard locations in the ASL system: hexes 24Q5 and Q6. There's a cute little lumberyard there, nestled at the bottom of a valley between a hedgerow and some buildings.

These hexes are discussed in B23.211, and are nearly identical to buildings--and in fact are a rules sub-case of the single-story house (23.21). So I made the following table for myself to see how exactly they differ.

Looking over this thing, I'm thinking that the lumberyard is a great place to put your mortar. You can fire the thing, get a good terrain benefit, and even though you're in a valley, who cares? Height Advantage is NA for mortar fire! (Please correct me if I'm wrong about that.)

	Single-Story Wooden House	Lumberyard
LOS Obstacle?	Level 1	Level 1
TEM	+2	+2
Ambush?	Yes	Yes
Rally Bonus?	-1 DRM	None
Rout Destination?	Yes	No
Mortar Fire out of?	NA	Yes
Vehicular OVR?	Yes	NA
Kindling #	8	8
EC DRM?	NA	does apply

Shanghai in Flames AAR

2009-06-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

October 27, 1937

There was fire everywhere. I had eliminated many Japanese squads but they were here, with a toehold in the warehouse and it was only turn four. In building B3, a lone half-squad accompanied by a Chinese Hero held a Japanese leader and two squads at bay, fighting amidst the ever-rising flames. I had lost nearly 40% of my fighting force and the Japanese had three more turns to go. As the Japanese mustered in the rowhouse across the street, preparing to make their final push, the Chinese heavy machine gun crew waited in the woods, eager to hurl lead through the street. This was the penultimate moment, where my hopes of slowing the Japanese down long enough to survive would be realised or dashed. This was Shanghai in Flames.

The scenario had begun auspiciously enough. My original setup as the Chinese had denied any LOS to the Japanese—the only units he could see were a concealed stack at K1, surrounded by Blaze, and a squad toting an LMG pointing its guns down the street, through the busted-out windows of I3. The Japanese were situated on the western half of the board, north of the street on board 1. Chris, my opponent, had opted to deploy all his strength against my left flank. I had worried about this, because I covered the entire front, spreading out my forces: I would have to rush the units from the right over to the left, and I'd given my heavier support weapons to those troops on the right and center. Yet on the other hand, it meant the Japanese would have to cross some open ground to get to the first line of buildings (C1-E1-G1).

Turn one. The Japanese advance to the tree line on the extreme flank but also make a push against F1. I lay down some devastating fire, both from the light machine guns in the large central building but also from defending squads on the ground, who opt to drop concealment. The Japanese respond in turn. Their best leader, a 10-1, directs two MG crews to fire. They fill the stone building with pockmarks but the Chinese do not flinch. Instead, a sniper catches sight of the glint of sun from the Japanese leader's sword and slays him with a single bullet, leaving him dead in the street.

Chris' shoulders sagged at that one. Best leader gone, three left. Turn One was not good for the Japanese. On my side, I mostly skulked around and began moving my right flank troops over, under cover of buildings in order to preserve concealment. Sgt. Wan, commander of my left wing, directed a squad to kindle C3 and fall back, while the front line held in place.

Turn two. Chris bumps a few of my concealed squads on the front line then BANZAI!!!!! At the end of the turn, he's killed three squads, captured a light machine gun, and mostly cleared the buildings, except I've still got a concealed squad in C1. He eventually blasts away at it and takes them prisoner. I think he made a mistake here—he didn't No Quarter them, but the scenario is all about taking a building, no CVP to be gained here.

For my part, I keep skulking, moving reinforcements over to the warehouse, and Sgt. Wan kindles B3, falling back to B4 but leaving a concealed half squad behind to slow the Japanese down.

Turn three another Banzai charge after bumping the half squad. This charge is potent. The Japanese swarm past my meager forces, up into the large central building, through the streets and into the rowhouse, then even across the street and into the factory. A few squads were bumped back and slaughtered by gunfire when they ran into the Chinese fortifications, but they had a toehold. They also dragged the prisoners forward with a gleam in their eyes. “You can watch as your comrades burn to death in the Four-Bank Warehouse,” they said as they pushed them to their knees in a small crop of woods just in sight of the warehouse. (hex A4). The Japanese fired on Sgt. Wan's position, testing the morale of his soldiers. But one of them, Shen by name, stood forth and called on each man to be brave and not shirk from the fight. And with that he plunged himself into the raging melee in the next building. Sgt. Wan silently wished him luck and led his squad against the Japanese guards in the woods. “We must free our brethren!” he insisted, despite the fact that he would be abandoning an excellent firing position. The guards were overwhelmed and the prisoners took their weapons, rearming themselves for the fight.

After this point, more and more Japanese flooded into the building. They could not mount an effective banzai, however, since another leader had been killed and the third was locked in melee. Instead the Japanese approached with care, assault moving across the street. The Chinese HMG laid down a firelane, and Sgt. Wan was able to conduct some fire. But inexorably the Japanese ground forward, encircling the fortified position in C6 and killing the Chinese just as they surrendered.

I experienced an extremely tense moment in all of this. Chris had units in D6 during his Advance phase. It was then that I looked at my card on which I'd written the three fortified locations. One of them was D7! It was unoccupied! I had forgotten and thought that I had fortified D8! I sweated for several long seconds as he deliberated on whether to advance to D7 or C7. He finally settled on C7 in order to encircle the one fort.

Things were getting bad. The newly-rearmed conscripts had advanced into the Melee, but flames of Shanghai would not abate. In turn five, they exploded into a roaring Blaze, and everyone—my half squad, my Hero, my rearmed conscripts, and the surviving Japanese and leader—were killed. I'd lost a key position. My HMG had malfed and then broken. It was time to counterattack, to beat the flaming hordes back. But I had to be careful. I couldn't risk committing everything, getting slaughtered, leaving nothing behind to defend.

During this entire time I had reserved a dare-death squad in the recesses of the warehouse. It was now, in turn six, that I unleashed them. They charged forward, with their leader, into C7. Half of them were killed by withering gunfire, but it was enough. I declined to declare Hand-to-Hand in the hopes of tying the Japanese up in a Melee. My scheme worked. I also advanced two squads from my other fort into D6, catching the Japanese there in Melee as well, while reinforcing the fort with a tired squad who'd run the length of six American football fields in ten minutes in order to stop the Japanese advance.

The next turn the Japanese reinforced the melees. The last surviving Japanese leader stepped into the street with his men, picking out a path through the maze of dead clogging the warehouse's frontage. And here Sgt. Wan directed his men to open fire at the foolhardy Japanese. The squad dropped and huddled low, finding cover amidst the bodies. But Sgt. Hana was unafraid—and moreover, angry. How dare these Chinese resist him! He could see them fighting hard within the building, how they stubbornly refused to yield. Drawing his sword he berated his men for cowardice, urging them on, inciting himself into a frenzy.

But his men had seen enough; they could bear no more. And so Sgt Hana charged alone and berzerk into the Melee.

And so the scenario ended with two melees in progress, the Chinese still in control of the warehouse.

Shanghai in Flames Setup Analysis

2009-06-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

A couple of things about this:
1. I realise that a dare-death squad has to be with a leader to go Berzerk and charge.
2. I moved one squad and a leader out of the warehouse to G8. If I were defending at the wall at hex I9 or H8, I would not want to end up routing to G8. My plan was to wait and try kindling the building there in order to deny it as a rout path for my units.

AAR coming up very soon. Today hopefully.

A110 Shanghai in Flames and other upcoming games

2009-06-25T12:28:00.000-07:00

It should come as no surprise that my next ASL game is going to be Shanghai in Flames, from the '97 Annual. Designed my Kevin Meyer, this one pits two relatively equal all-infantry forces against one another. It looks to be a promising game! I've filmed my setup/analysis but won't post it until after we've played, or day of. I have had the board on my table for a few days now and keep wanting to tweak things, but decided to relent and leave things as they are. If I made mistakes I'll learn from them in play.

The ROAR balance for this one is 43-28 in favour of the Chinese; of course I'm looking at it and pissing myself in fear of deathless zombie Japanese. We'll see how it goes.

As for what's coming up on the ASL horizon, the following are the next few upcoming scenarios:

WCW10 Stand and Die
A101 The Drive for Taierzhuang
A87 The Grand Canal
CH25 Land of the Khan

Shanghai in Flames Pregame vid

2009-06-24T10:47:00.000-07:00

A110 Shanghai in Flames

2009-06-24T09:49:00.000-07:00

Our next game is Shanghai in Flames, from the '97 Annual. I'm going to post a series of videos detailing my setup etc. (but mostly only after we've played!) Here's the first, showing the Blaze rolls.

What is this?

2009-06-23T16:05:00.000-07:00

This is a new blog devoted mostlyish to Advanced Squad Leader, the greatest game on earth.

I recently bought an ASL collection and have probably a thousand scenarios. I also have a regular face-to-face opponent who comes over on Fridays these days. We decided to focus on PTO scenarios, when I was struck with a sudden OCD fit and sifted through all my scenarios, locating all of them which feature Japanese. I then organized them chronologically and proposed that we play through them all, in order. Therefore, one aspect of this blog is to provide a record of PTO AARs, starting in 1937.

I'm excited about the prospect of watching the technologies and tactics develop, as I fight the Japanese as the Chinese, then the Russians and French and British and even Muslim partisans, and finally Americans and Marines.

However, I'm a new player. To date, I've played ten games of full-on ASL. I've played thirty-three Starter Kit games. I've read, oh, about half of chapter A, bits of B as needed, parts of G. One of the things I'll be writing about in this blog, then, is the rules. Mainly notes on what I've been reading, but also quizzes, tactics articles, etc.

So this blog is both a chronicle of lots of PTO games and also my quest to learn the game. Enjoy.

Blind Hexes

2009-06-22T12:32:00.001-07:00

I recently spent some time studying the rules on Blind Hexes. I carefully studied A6.4ff and B10.23 with the accompanying example, pulling out board 15 and following along. I now think I've got a good grasp on the Blind Hex rules for crests--but I invite anyone to correct misunderstandings I may still have.

The first issue is that LOS rules work differently when we're dealing with crests than other obstacles like trees or buildings. By A6.4, an obstacle creates a number of blind hexes equal to its level, dropping half levels. Therefore, a level one obstacle creates one blind hex, a level two obstacle creates two blind hexes and so on. The number of blind hexes is increased by one for every multiple of five hexes away from the spotting unit.

So, suppose I'm standing on a hill at level one. The adjacent hex is level zero, but contains trees, which are a level one obstacle. I can't see anything at level zero behind those trees at all: I have no height advantage over the trees. However, I can see anyone on a level one hill behind the trees. I'm looking right over them.

Suppose I'm still on that hill, at the edge and every hex before me is level zero, but there are trees five hexes away. I can see the first five hexes in front of me, up to the trees, but the sixth and seventh hexes out (in a straight line), the two right behind the trees, I can't see.

Now say I keep walking and head up a level two hill. There's a continuous slope (B.5) before me, such that one hex away is level one and two away is level zero. But that second hex contains trees, a level-one obstacle. It still creates one blind hex. If it is five away, it still creates two blind hexes.

Now I go higher, and I'm at level three. At some level zero hex less than five hexes away, there are trees. They still create one blind hex. Five hexes away, there are trees again. These create only ONE blind hex this time. Why? I'm at level three, and the obstacle is at level one. According to A6.42, if the difference between my height level and the obstacle's height level is greater than one, the number of blind hexes is reduced by each level of difference. However, there always is at least one blind hex, so even if I'm at level five, having a difference of four, the trees five hexes away still create one blind hex.

Okay. Now that that is covered, let's look at B10.23. The blind hex rules are not the same when the obstacles in question are Crest Lines. Crest Lines are different because they don't create blind hexes unless they are at least five hexes away. If I'm at level two, then any one to zero Crest Line in the first four hexes out cause no problems. That fifth hex would create one blind hex.

Unlike other obstacles, blind hexes due to Crest Lines can be reduced to zero. So if I'm at level three, then any level one to zero Crest Line from five to nine hexes away produces no blind spot, because three minus one is two, which is one greater than one, which eliminates one blind hex. At level one to zero Crest Line ten hexes away creates one blind hex to a level three viewer, because a range of ten creates two blind hexes, reduced to one because three minus one is two, which is greater than one by one. A level four viewer could see with no problems, though, since four minus one is three which is two greater than one, eradicating two blind hexes.

So consider hex 9Y6 (see attached image). It can see U5-U8, because the crest line along V5-V7 is less than five hexes away, and W6 and W7 also do not create blind hexes because they are less than five hexes away. Hex U9 would create one blind hex because it is five hexes away; however, U9 is level 2 while Y9 is level 4; therefore T9 is not blind to Y6, since 4 – 2 = 2 and 2 > 1 by 1. S9 is visible for the same reason. S7 creates a blind hex because it is five hexes away. S7 is level 3—therefore R7 is blind to Y6 because the elevation difference between S7 and Y6 is not greater than one. Looking at things closely, after having studied the blind hex rules, I now realise that 9Y6 can see almost the entire board. The M5-R7 hexgrain is blind; R4, P4, Q4, N4, M4 are blind. The hexes on the other side of the monastery are all blind. So Y6 is a perfect place for a mortar or gun!

Red Dragon – ASL News 57

2009-06-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

Design: Andy Daglish

RED DRAGON: Chinese communists ambush a string of Japanese second-line squads, three AFVs and a ton of leaders. The Chinese outnumber then 2-1, have a commissar and a ton of support weapons, and have an initial advantage in position, since the Japanese forces are not concentrated. Play is on board 9. The year is 1937. VC: Japanese win by taking Building DD3 (which is a temple), or on CVPs. They may begin exiting off the east edge starting turn 3 (of 7).

This is going to be a report of two games in one. Chris and I started this scenario last week, thinking it looked interesting but not too difficult. Boy were we wrong. After five hours of play, we'd completed two turns, the battlefield was littered with dead bodies and the thing had devolved into two separate fights on each of the two hills. What took so long? RULES. See, I'm new to ASL. I've played every scenario in Starter Kit #1, and one scenario involving guns (88s at Zon). Eager to plunge into full-on ASL, I've started playing ASL every Friday with Chris.

Red Dragon contains three Japanese vehicles—an armored car and two “tankettes”--so I had my rules work cut out for me. And we had to pause quite a bit to look things up. My insistence at reading the entire applicable rule also slowed things down. But hey, I'm learning!

In my setup for the first playing, I split my forces pretty evenly between the two hills. I put my mortar on hex O5—nice and high, but too close to the road to do me any good. The Commisar went in the temple and I put an HMG on hex Y6, etc. Things started off pretty weak for me. After an inconsequential opening, the Japanese AFVs drove up hill 740 and started overrunning my troops. He advanced squads up the same hill from the eastern edge and I fired an HMG, but rolled boxcars. So I fire at the move from the other hill, from which my other HMG has LOS. I roll boxcars AGAIN. Both HMGs out of business right away. I also break my MMGs, one of which ends up captured next turn.

The temple I'm not too worried about and I actually move out of it to bring more firepower to bear on the Japanese coming up the hill. The Japanese are slowing down, but Chris only needs two hexes to win, basically.

The Japanese AFVs move over to the other hill on turn two and do more overruns: two of them just break their machine guns and don't do anything. I lose a couple of squads. We stop at the end of turn 2 for the night, after five hours of play. Believe me, we spent a lot of time looking up rules and doing heat of battle rolls. Three Japanese units had gone berzerk, seven or eight machine guns had been broken, the Japanese captured a Chinese MMG, the Chinese captured a Japanese LMG, total insanity. The sniper had done a good job for me by killing a Japanese 10-0!

Here's the situation at the end of turn 2:

And the deadpile:

The next Friday, we soon realised that Chris had the wrong AFVs on the board. He'd pulled two of the Type 92s, but the scenario card called for 92Bs, which are much better—at least, they have two machine guns, instead of one, and superior armor. Right after he'd dug out the correct vehicles, I noticed a Very Big Mistake. One of the SSRs is that vehicles may not cross non-road hexsides. This was such an error that we simply started over. We couldn't see a way to “fix” that one other than continue to ignore it.

So we set up again! This time I set up to big rows of guys, on either side of the road, thinking I'll kick things off with two big human waves. Yeah. Essentially, lots of guys break. one stack makes it and kills his enemies in CC, the other is locked in Melee for a few turns and dies, all the rest break or die. At the end of turn 1 I've got about 8 broken squads routing off to the periphery of the map—the Japanese hunt them down and kill them all before exiting the map. The one cool part is when I'm routing a big stack and decide to suffer the interdiction. I'm routing like four units...fail, fail, fail, snake eyes heat of battle berzerk. So the others keep running and dying while the other squad says “screw this, I got your back,” turns around and charges these two CX Japanese squads and kills them in CC.

Another cool thing was that I put two HMGs together and shot the crap out of a Japanese squad on the road and wrecked a 92B. I still got crushed though. I conceded at the end or turn three and the Vps were something like 18 for me, 40 for the Japanese.

NO HUMAN WAVE!