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...

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!

Happy New Year!

Nothing like ringing in the New Year gripping your pillow as the stomach flu ravages your insides. But enough about me. Talloaf and I concluded our S21 scenario and after a brutal half turn where tanks were blasted apart all over and one of his two Tigers was immobilized, it was pretty well over.

Talloaf graciously conceded in face of Optimus Prime's appearance and we pulled a "Curt Schilling" -- that is, we spent the next bit just pulling out VASL vehicle counters and playing our "what-if" scenarios like what happens when Tiger and T-34 face each other at range 18? What happens if one is firing in motion? What effect does it have on TH and TK numbers? You know, all those fun and scary vehicle acronyms. Reputedly, this is how Curt Schilling learned how to play the Vehicle rules in ASL. It was quite educational and I think we're both going to be a LOT better prepared for the VASLeague.

Speaking of the VASLeague, the first round pairings are in and I have drawn a Mr. Andena from Italy. I'll get to contacting him soon about what scenario to play. Should be a blast.

Anyways, what's a New Year without resolutions? OK, let's see...

(1) I resolve to finish this eASLSK3 rulebook. I've actually done ALL the diagrams and illustrations in the entire book including the Nationality Chart and typed up about half the rules. I saved the Vehicle and Gun stuff for a review as I enter the VASLeague.

(2) I resolve to be a little more timely with AARs and debriefings... To be honest, I don't think I was that bad, it's just been a little hectic over the holidays. It's a lot more useful to go over the rules mistakes in the immediate wake of the scenario -- my memory is not what it use to be...

(3) I resolve to let Prawn win a game... NOT!

(4) I resolve to get to a full ASL game by year's end!

That's all, I'm crawling back to bed... or maybe just another quick round of Left4Dead...