Showing posts with label ASL Journal 8. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ASL Journal 8. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Should a newbie buy ASL Journal?


Hmmm... I get this question all the time*. Short answer: yes! But I know you don't frequent this blog for the short quips; here's the long answer.

This past week I was up at the cottage. My wife's family has a nice one in Tobermory, Ontario and we trudged up there to enjoy a week away from it all. I took up a few small games like ATO Magazine postcard games and some reading (Antony Beevor's D-Day -- not sure if I like it, his Stalingrad was superior imho). In the stack were the ASL Journals 2 and 8.

Now, I've only four full ASL games under my belt at this point so I consider myself still firmly in the "newbie" category. So the question remains, is it worth the money to pick up Journal 8 ($20) and/or Journal 2 (reprint $50). Aside from the well known ASL Axiom of "ALWAYS BUY STUFF WHILE IT'S IN PRINT" (see WO Bonus Pack) the answer thoroughly depends on whether you ever intend to make the step up to the "big leagues". And even if you don't you can always sell the thing for a princely sum when it goes out of print.

Anyways, here's a brief couple of reviews of the two latest Journals.


ASL Journal 8

I'll start with the most recent Journal. There are actually two articles that are directly addressed to newbies: Mark Pitcavage's "The Agony of Defeat: Why Bad Things Happen to New Players" and John Slotwinski's "Tips for Making the Transition from ASL SK to ASL". In the former, Mark details and gives concrete advice to players who want to improve their game and stop making horrible play errors. It's fairly succinct and damned direct. In Mark's own words he tells you "with appalling frankness, why you are bad." I love it. In the latter, John makes the very excellent point that "ASLSK is ASL". For those timid ASLSKers, this might blow your mind. Having played full ASL I know what John says to be absolutely true. You've probably heard it before, the majority of the ASLRB is stuff you don't need the majority of the time. So, unless you have the brainstuff of a flea it's not a big deal to just pick the relevant sections for a new scenario and quickly read what is applicable in the rulebook. Case in point, in VOTG2 with Andy, I read up on the Assault Boats while we sat at the table setting up and playing. No problem!

What else is useful to the ASL newb in Journal 8?

Other than the (endless) errata for full ASL products there are some great articles that don't require full ASL knowledge. There's a great preview of the Finnish core module, Hakkaa Paalle, and if you like designer notes (I love 'em) there are articles about Action Pack 4 and the Turning the Tide scenario pack. Want to be a better player or at least get into the minds of better players? There are two articles analyzing scenarios in the Journal from three experienced players (J.R. Tracy, Bret Hildebran and Matt Shostak). Finally there are two more articles on different aspects of the sequence of play, Vehicular Overrun and Setup. I'm not forced to read those advanced articles but I'm glad they are there and even a brief skim with my limited knowledge gets my ASL juices flowing.

Oh yeah, and there are 16 ASL scenarios. I've even played one! (VOTG19!) So thumbs up! At a fair price of $20 I don't think ASLSK-level players need to avoid this one.


ASL Journal 2 (Reprint)

This one's a little pricier at $50 or so. But look at all the neat stuff you get! The original Journal was fetching quite the premium on eBay for the longest time (remember: BUY EVERYTHING IN PRINT WHEN YOU CAN) and MMP felt the demand was there.

First of all, there's a hojillion scenarios. Secondly, it's neat, at least from my perspective, to see a slice of ASL's history before I played the game. For example, Curt Schilling wrote the intro and an article and a few scenarios in this Journal.

Okay, but what's useful to the ASLSKer?

There's a great comprehensive Rout Example from Tom Repetti -- you don't need the ASLRB for that. There's not one but TWO great articles on how to more effectively use your AFVs in ASL (by Matt Shostak and Chas Smith) but still applicable to ASLSK. More designer notes on Kakazu Ridge (the included HASL) and Pegasus Bridge, the latter probably will be on the playlists of most new ASLers. There's a great article by J.R. Tracy on caves, the dreaded caves that many ASLers cringe in fear about... I haven't grokked it by any means but I'm glad it's there if I one day go to the PTO... And finally, there is, amongst more stuff, a guide to ASL on the Internet, updated by Chas Argent for 2010. He should have included this site but what the hell! ;)

I don't want to sound like some guerilla marketer for MMP but I have to justify the expenditure of cold hard cash for these ASL products too. In my mind, the cost is well justified before I even play a single scenario. Or am I just hoarding stuff to fulfill my rampant OCD?

*- I never get this question... I only talk to myself...

Sunday, March 21, 2010

VOTG19 - Cellar Dwellers AAR - There will be blood...

Take a look at that map area.

It doesn't look like much eh?

I only noticed this scenario in passing as I was skimming the J8 contents last week or so. Knowing that I was going to TABSCON to learn OCS first thing in the morning, I sort of pre-selected this scenario to try out with Andy. Pretty small area, five turns and we're in Stalingrad, home of fun times for wargamers.

So, as mentioned, I spend about four hours plugging away at OCS Tunisia (a fantastic learning experience btw, if you want a realistic grasp of operational level war with a logistical model that's like a tough mental puzzle: OCS is your only choice), I was ready to kill Russians/Krauts. Now to be perfectly honest I had not fully appreciated from my skimming of the scenario notes that the set-up would be like this (sorry, forgot my camera!):

For those of you who don't see the mess, picture the same set-up blown up in VASL, like this:

So, as the set-up went on and I actually re-read the scenario it dawned on me that not only was this a short scenario with limited real estate, this scenario would be capital-I, INTENSE. Andy, as the Russians would set-up his 4.5 squads plus leaders and SWs in the basement of the State Bank building. I would have the non-stairwell upstairs with 6 squads, leaders and SWs. Victory goes to the Germans if we clear the building of GO Russians -- the Reds win if they can sneak a squad out the North or East map edge. Ridiculous.

Obviously, we weren't going to have any sort of playability with three adjacent counter stacks past a dozen each... So we jury-rigged the following play-aid so we could handle things a bit better (feel free to print out and share with friends):


Alas, not only did I forget my camera, I didn't write anything down. But here are the highlights:

1. I set up my forces with my HMG on the ground floor between the stairwell hexes so anyone coming out of the basement was going to get it bigtime. I set up my forces upstairs with a 10-2 leader to rally anyone, ready to assault the cellar asap. There are only five turns and there are a lot of rats in that basement to take care of.

2. Outside I had another 9-1 leader with a squad backing up the infantry gun, aimed directly at the cellars to continually take potshots. Just north of them were another squad with an MMG to keep Andy's outsiders from getting uppity.

3. Another interesting wrinkle in this scenario are the 4-4-7 squads on both sides being Walking Wounded. I won't bore you with the details (frankly I still don't know what they are) but the are NOT the cream of the crop in either OB. I think they all got shot up.

4. Who dares, wins. With that rallying cry I was advancing into the stairwells and cellars from Turn 1. Being a gutted building, the TEM was +4 most of the time, regardless of the massive point-blank fire pouring across the broken bits of bank building. The +4 makes a HUGE difference. So if you play the Germans in this scenario don't be a pussy. Go for it. You won't win if you don't get troops mixing it up in No Quarter, Hand-to-Hand melee.

5. The infantry gun is key in this scenario. It can fire into the cellars from your initial placements and be the first wedge that gets the door open down there. Blast away.

6. About midway through the game, my northern MMG squad collapsed (thanks crap dice!) and my Gun was threatened. Though it was bad it wasn't critical as I was attriting the basement rats pretty well by that point. But I was running out of time and warm bodies.

7. The key point in the game was when Andy's assault engineers came up in hex CC21 and melee'd a solo squad. If I had rolled a 5 instead of 7 on the CC in turn 4 it still might have been a game... the rest of my guys were actually in the cellar in BB19 by then, about to mop the scattered, bloodied remnants of that dank, dark hole.

8. I malfed 3 LMGs I think, and broke a couple trying repairs. Andy malfed his MMG outside. Stalingrad grinds up men and machine.

9. I honestly think this was the best full ASL scenario I've played. It certainly got to the point right away. Andy and I are thinking of more VOTG next time... something involving Germans machine-gunning Russians landing on the shores of the Volga... awesome!

Good times again. Thanks to TABSCON for the venue and Andy for another awesome time. P.S. here's a fun play-aid if you're doing VOTG19.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

ASL Journal 8 in da house!

Is MMP having Chas Argent as a full-time ASL dude paying dividends? I think so. Hot on the heels of the WO Bonus Pack and DB3, I found ASL Journal 8 in the mail today.

I've skimmed the contents already and it looks awesome. With the 20-odd scenarios come some designer notes, articles and tantalizing hints of the near future. Of note for newbs is Mark Pitcavage's article "The Agony of Defeat: When Bad Things Happen to New Players". Looks like required reading for newer players.

Oh yeah, and what an great cover!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

ASL Journal 8 - for newbs?


Matt Kirschenbaum is over at MMP's Winter Offensive this weekend and got his dirty mitts on a copy of ASL Journal 8. He's posted a nice precis of useful content to the newbs in the Journal here:


Let's be clear here, this Journal isn't for people satisfied with SK-level ASL. If you ever intend on moving "up" to full ASL then you already know the first rule of ASL -- BUY IT WHEN IT'S IN PRINT. But for those of you who need a kick in the pants, it sounds like #8 is going to be great for even us newbs...

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Start the New Year off MMP-style!

I AM COOL!!!Brian Youse posted the latest on ASL/MMP stuff coming out in the next couple of months (WO is Winter Offensive) on CSW:

http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?14@366.zao3amtSCiM.42@.ee6d502/78109

Long and the short of it? This ASL stuff is coming:

ASL Action Pack #6
ASL Journal #8
Doomed Battalions
Operations #54
ASL Journal #2 reprint
(actually going to the printers tomorrow)