Reading about the Pacific Theatre of Operations

Been on kind of a PTO kick these past weeks. I think it started with HBO's The Pacific (sequel to Band of Brothers). Though I haven't seen any episodes in full I've seen a few clips and I'm dying to see it out on Blu-Ray or DVD by Christmas -- I'm keeping my fingers crossed. [In a somewhat related note, the gentleman who wrote Band of Brothers, Stephen Ambrose, has had his number called up here recently. Disturbing if true.]

Other than GMT's top flight Combat Commander: Pacific, I haven't gamed the tactical level of the PTO much -- not even Memoir '44 Pacific! So, thanks to Chas Argent's recent update on the Code of Ho reprint (click here) and the buzz on The Pacific I've been diving into two books:

With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge

and

Helmet for my Pillow by Robert Leckie

And yes, they were downloaded onto my wife's Kindle in about 13 seconds. Cool.

Just wanted to throw those titles out there and whet the whistle for the PTO pack for ASL. I hope it comes soon!

The Pacific - a sequel to Band of Brothers

Tom Hanks' and Steven Spielberg's Band of Brothers on HBO (and later on DVD ad nauseum!) was a big reason I got back into wargames and into ASL itself in particular.

The "cinematic" nature of ASL was a big draw of course -- die rolls replicating some of the chaos and sheer intensity of the conflict we so often see on the big screen, be it in Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers or The Longest Day et al.

So, some interesting news has come that the long awaited "sequel" to Band of Brothers has entered final production and will be released March 2010.

Check out the trailer on youtube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I_O6lHIDTM

UPDATE: Looks like the powers that be don't like free advertising. Youtube has pulled this trailer for "The Pacific". Fear not though, just search the site and there are mirrors.

All I can say is, with due deference to our veterans, is WOW. I cannot wait to game after seeing something that stirring. Here's hoping MMP can get the much anticipated Code of Ho module redone in time to take advantage of the synergies involved. In the meantime, I'll be playing ETO in ASL and Combat Commander: Pacific!

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UPDATE: TABSCon in two days! If you're in the Toronto area get out there!

UPDATE: My opponent and I in VASLeague Round 3 have settled on a scenario and sides (S19 Purple Heart Lane -- Band of Brothers inspired! -- and I'm the American parachute infantry!) Somebody call up Lt. Winters!

At NBW!

I'm sitting in my hotel room finishing up some supper before heading back into the Belmont room here at the Niagara Boardgaming Weekend.  I've already played some great games (Hive, Steel Driver, Combat Commander: Pacific, and a 10 turn game of Twilight Struggle), alas, no ASL unfortunately.

If you're anywhere in the neighbourhood the con' lasts until Sunday.  I've met lots of people from Toronto (TABS yo!), Halifax, and the state of New York.  The organizer is Art Lupinacci, well known in wargaming circles as head honcho at L2 Designs.

NBW info here.

Now, if only my wallet had more money... I could buy the Streets of Stalingrad...

p.s. Prawn, get down here!

S21 Clash at Borisovka Redux - An AAR

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. The treacherous Prawn/Megatron laid waste to the noble Optimus Prime in S21 Clash at Borisovka, the all AFV scenario from ASLSK3. The Prawn had been dying to learn the vehicle rules and now his appetite is whetted. I think we only screwed up a few rules that I'll explain in this mini-AAR.

The scenario, as mentioned is all tanks. (Here's a replay of Talloaf and my go at S21 last month.) Basically, on a two-map setup, the Germans have a couple of Tigers and four panzers trying to prevent my force of 10 Russian T-34s from exiting off the far side of the board.

I gave the Prawn a longish intro to vehicle counters with some photocopies of richfam's fifth ASLSK tutorial and we diced for sides. I won the Russians and showed the Prawn a quick run of moving tanks around in the first turn. The Prawn's a quick study and we were soon chucking chunks of steel around the map.

For at least a little while in the first couple of turns my T-34s were scattering about. One of my long range shots (just to demonstrate shooting) clanged off one of his turrets and Shocked the crew (alas they shrugged it off -- as did a Tiger later on). On the other hand, the Prawn's hot dice had a couple of my tanks flipping to wreck side. One notable shot required only that he not roll boxcars but he did (evidence above).

For some reason (and I'm not quite sure why yet) this game turned out a lot differently than the one I had with Talloaf. I think because I was more concerned with learning and teaching the vehicle rules than with just cheesing the victory conditions we had a lot more face-to-face tank battles. Now, I am NOT making light of the Prawn's first victory over me (what the hell, I am), he played very well and made some great tactical decisions. And the force field he projected over this particular Panzer in the above photo helped too. Note the combined acquisition counters from FIVE of my tanks (two of which were -2s). Bastard.

Here's a shot from the Prawn's perspective late in the game (probably turn 3). Note the two Tigers prowling in the foreground with their 88Ls. Nasty pieces of business there. Note the Panzer in the background that had climbed a small hill to get a dirty rear shot of my helpless Ukrainian farmhands. As turn 3 wound down I had two T-34s poised to exit, one which already had, and another that was recalled for a broken MA. Everything else was a flaming wreck (wait, ASLSK doesn't have flaming wrecks...) and so the Prawn celebrated his first ASL victory with a 6-4 score in the Clash at Borisovka!



What did we screw up?! & Miscellaneous Comments...


1. I'm pretty sure were messed up Intensive Fire. For some inexplicable reason I didn't look up the full rule on it in 3.2.4 and I'm sure we were IFing in the AFPh (logically they spent too much time moving to have time to line up a second shot) and definitely we were IFing at targets further than "adjacent" hexes (again, logically speaking the franticness of dealing with a very close threat would hurry the tank crew). So, next time, no more crazy IF in every conceivable phase. The rule is IF is only available to MAs that have lost ROF, during the same phase (not AFPh).

2. Acronyms abound in the vehicle rules. Whether or not there are more than just in infantry rules, it just feels like there's more. The chart look ups got a little bit tiresome -- though sometimes similar shots were quick to take in succession. On at least one occasion I just simply chose not to shoot because the look up on the TH DRM chart was just ridiculous. (Probably meant I would have missed anyways...)

3. Tigers are cool.

4. I pulled another Curt Schilling with Prawn after the game. In the debrief I told him to pull out some counters, I showed him the Chapter H notes from ASLSK3 and we just talked about the sheer multitude of STUFF crammed into the vehicle counters, ruleset and mechanics. It's both daunting and at the same time super impressive.

5. Things I will have to review for next time: vehicle movement on hills, motion status attempts, and 7.10 AFV Effects (I'm sure I missed some stuff about shocks, stuns and such).

6. I'm positive we got the acquisition stuff down. Now I know why I see them so prominently placed in people's Plano solutions for their ASL stuff.

... and lastly, I'm going to add another Learning Tip to the list. This one I kind of was inspired by my play of Combat Commander: Europe (and Pacific). In that game there can be multiple interruptions of the combat sequence after the Firepower attack totals are determined so the game gives you a Attack Total counter to help record-keeping. Relevance to ASL? Whereas keeping track of MF in infantry engagements during Defensive Fire is relatively easy, AFVs have Movement Points that run past a dozen in most cases and can be expended in increments of a half a point! You better have a notepad handy not only to keep track of these things but to write down questions to be researched and answered later.

LEARNING TIP #4:

Keep a notebook handy for record keeping and questions!

That's all for now people, get out there and roll low!