Superb ASL Resource Link:
https://www.desperationmorale.com/
I know, it is like Groundhog Day, or a scratched record (again and again). Yes, I am going in again. Wish me luck or pass me the bottle of Jack Daniels, and yes I mix it with coke and ice. The ASL Starter Kit #1 is my way in (again). I have also ordered ASL Starter Kit #2 as well, because "you do need indirect fire" in WWII infantry combat. I was also looking (too much looking) at ASL Starter Kit #3, which brings in tanks, but the prices were/are just too crazy. ASL, sigh, like an attractive mysterious woman, perplexing. It seems so right until you start dating! It is not that the "sound of" the rules doesn't feel right - even "good" (when [or rather if] you managed to cram them all into your head), but it is that there seems so much to learn and options (edge cases) to remember, so you are left with the feeling of "have I missed something"! Which - is frustrating, but in the end for ASL - is that a bad thing, if it gets you there?
Footnote: I have a theory. A lot of the ASL rules seem to stem from misuse of Squad Leader rules or dissatisfaction with unintended game effects. In the same way that the follow on versions of DBA (or its more complex cousins DBM, DBMM etc) were aimed at stopping "competition gamers" distorting the historical principle of the game, winning in "unhistorical" ways. Trying to maintain the historical realism and avoiding clever mathematical twists that inevitably snag rules.
Please see Bob Corderey's Blog Home Page (Wargaming Miscellany) - The First Rule and The Spirit of the Game on https://wargamingmiscellany.blogspot.com/ - top right hand side! I also want to run ASL with miniatures, 1:1 (they are company sized battles). Does that make me "mad and bad"? Because otherwise you forget what you are trying to model in the real world. I have a friend who invested heavily in 2mm blocks of troops and literally said it makes you stop trying to "wibble" when you realise the number of men you are trying to control!
Update I: Found this interesting blog/website as it describes ASL SK#1 - Simple Equation Scenario 3 was thinking of transferring to the tabletop (spoiler alert the attack was bounced and ran out of turns):
https://www.stallardhonour.com/a-journey-into-advanced-squad-leader/
Update II: Board Game Geek tutorial support (thanks to "John Y", see comments):
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/157922/an-aslsk-tutorial-part-1
The Internet is a rabbit hole of ASL resources!
7 comments:
Mad, perhaps, but certainly not bad.
what's the saying about having a bunch of bridges to traverse? Loved SL and the expansions but fullhalt on ASL. Hope your luck is better.
Jonathan and pancerni, I know what you are saying .. this is my third time, they say third time lucky! I just think that "somewhere" in all those mechanics there is "a game" trouble is most of the time spent is the human learning to be "the game engine!
Joe, I, too, loved SL and expansions and played them a lot but made a dead stop when ASL came onto the scene. I am tempted to get back into it, though.
I typically prefer very simple rules (Morschauser, One Hour Wargames, etc) but I quite enjoy ASLSK #1 and have played several of the scenarios more than a few times. In the beginning, I felt like most of the time, my nose was buried in the rule book - not helped by the fact that I found it very prose-y and somewhat difficult to find exactly the information i wanted.
For me, this tutorial made it all make sense: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/157922/an-aslsk-tutorial-part-1
In particular, the walk through for support weapons clarified a lot of questions I had.
Good luck!
Thanks John, much appreciated. One thing I find a little crazy ,, a 7 turn game is actually 14 minutes of combat but you will take two hours to play it .. *according to teh back of the book - more when you are learning it). That is 8.5 mins of game time for 1 min of real combat .. that is not to my like. I almost feel as if there is a good game system trapped in the ASL rules,
Thanks again "John Y" much appreciated .. I put the link in the Blog Post
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