The Gaming Economy - From a chat at TABScon

Hmmm, what else is on my mind...

I had a chat with one of the vendors at TABScon this past weekend. After I was admiring his stock for a few hours he offered me a copy of Valley Games' Titan for $50 tax included. I hemmed and hawed and decided this was too good a deal to miss out on so I grabbed it. The gentleman asked for my help packing his full boxes and carrying them to his car and I happily obliged.

We chatted things up a bit as we packed and he made a comment about the economy. I asked him how bad business was. Was it down 10%? 20%? 30%? I couldn't conceive of a business surviving a hit as bad a third. He said that last year at this time, he sold literally every copy of every game he got into stock.

This year, he's sold 1 out of 10.

Ninety freakin' percent DOWN!

Wow.

Luckily this individual was a bit diversified in his income so he wasn't dependent on his boardgaming sideline. But 90%! Jeeeez.

What does this mean for ASL and wargames? I'm not suggesting, as President Bush did a few years ago in the wake of 9/11's depressive effects on the economy, that you to go buy stuff to single-handedly keep the economy afloat. Profligate spending is not the answer (and this is no more true than amongst ASL fanatics); but I think that wiser spending by all involved will keep the hobby healthy.

I'm thinking that if nothing else, the downturn in the economy will force the truly committed wargaming companies and retailers to better service and prices. Gone are the salad days when anything will sell. Granted wargaming has been undergoing this kind of darwinism for years. We need to support the companies that make great games and have good service -- not every Tom, Dick and Harry with a hex map and countersheet. Have a little patience for the companies like MMP and GMT, the two "big" players in the wargaming space these days who themselves are tiptoeing carefully around surprising spikes in costs. [Those unafraid of ConsimWorld should check out the fun banter regarding the business practices of MMP in the Support Folder. Wow! Always a good time...]

Off the top of my head, the people I still don't mind giving my hard-earned money to? The creme of the crop for ASL is of course MMP, Bounding Fire, Lone Canuck Publishing, Schwerpunkt... You'll have your favourites too. For wargames in general? GMT has earned a top spot in my books and Simmons Games -- that man is a G-A-M-E-R! Consider your pre-orders. Wargaming is infamous for this financial necessity. Use a little discretion. DO patronize the games you want to see. DON'T pre-order everything under the sun.

For Internet retailers? Scott Blanton's Gamers Armory, and Jason Russ' Wargames Depot (and Paul Paterson's fungamescafe.com for you Eurogamers out there -- tell them I sent you).

If you're careful about your money you're probably already doing this, at least subconsciously asking yourself: Do I really need this ASL-related game from a company I don't think puts out the best stuff? Do I want yet another Bulge game from this company that doesn't seem as committed as they should? This company's service has been mediocre -- why am I still buying their stuff?

Press your FLGS too. Retailers have more to lose. Demand good service. That snot-nosed punk that actually knows the games and has a great customer rapport vs. the store on the otherside of town that's run by that refined gentleman who looks down at you for checking out the wargame half-shelf to the detriment of their Magic card sales -- you decide. Demand better prices. Bargain or haggle a bit. Shop around. An economic downturn means that your dollars will have that much more impact.

Anyways, that's just some more mutterings of this madman.

AAR RPT11 - Butchers and Bakers

Well it was a LONG weekend of gaming for yours truly. The Niagara Boardgaming Weekend was a smash hit. The organizers say it was the biggest yet. I personally played about 16 sessions of various games in just over 36 hours. I will be back next year and I'd recommend anyone who has a passing interest in wargaming or Euros or both to show up.

Seeing as the Prawn was left out of the fun we set up a game of ASLSK using a scenario from Schwerpunkt's Rally Point 2 collection. The first scenario in the pack is RPT11 Butchers and Bakers -- the one infantry-only scenario of the bunch. Schwerpunkt is known for producing very focused scenarios that are well play-tested. Butchers and Bakers was no exception.

The game was quick with very few squads overall. Essentially the British enter from one corner of the map and have 6 turns to exit 6 VP of squads and leaders off the opposite corner while clearing out two buildings in the middle of the map. The Germans' only goal is to prevent this.

Here's how the evil-- sorry, Prawn set himself up in the small half-map area (sorry for the glare!). The primary defense was the (A) group where the Germans only leader was. The (B) group was a single conscript squad with a medium MG. The Mines are actually set up hidden by the German player -- in this case, any unit entering or exiting the hexes are hit with a no-DRM 6FP attack on the IFT. (The other option for the Germans is to put one mine in one hex with a 12FP attack -- nasty!) Grain is in season and a hindrance.

Here's the board after about 3 turns (of 5.5). The Germans are woefully poor in the squad quality department. Basically, forcing them to MC at anytime is going to result in a break or casualty reduction. [Note the British 6+1 leader -- he's actually a 10-2 leader but the SKs do not include such a counter or my counter got lost!] The British has a superior elite squad edge and two leaders, an 8-0 and a super 10-2. You have basically two approaches on either of the extreme edges. I lucked out and chose the less mined one.

Our impressions of the scenario were not that positive to start. To be honest, I thought it was turning out to be a rout. The German side was just so brittle. On the start of turn 4 I had already cleared the middle buildings and my squads were starting to run for the exit hexes. But here is where I made a fatal mistake. Instead of just going for it and escaping I decided to add insult to injury and engaged the final German squad in the building at the edge of the map. Guess what? Yep...

The CC lasted precious turns so that while my 10-2 and elite squad was dueling his conscripts and later his 8-0, I could only exit off 5VPs! ONE SHORT!!! Oh the humanity!

Let that be a lesson to you kids. My wife likes to tell me: "Don't get fancy." It may not be pretty or honourable but losing when your stupid 10-2 led squad can't roll a 7 three times hurts! Just exit the damn squads! Congrats to the Prawn for hanging in there. I'd post an aftermath photo but I can't find a suitable toy that matches the dumb.

Reflections, Comments and Learning:

1. Prawn and I have to start putting the residual fire counters on the board. We're just so damn lazy! But again, in this scenario it barely mattered.

2. Butchers and Bakers is not the most intense scenario. It's really a good learning scenario with a nice twist (hidden mines) and a bit of deceptive depth. You have to hoard your British squads like gold. The dual VP conditions of clearing out two buildings and exiting 6VP of squads in just 5.5 turns is a pressure packed situation.

3. The Prawn and I are looking forward to trying this scenario pack again possibly next week in a mixed infantry/AFV scenario. It'll be our first.

4. Rally Point 2's big sell, of course, is that it's SK-level and full ASL tested and compliant. A neat feature that I'm sure we'll make use of when we transition to full ASL. Should be good. So far I'd say that Rally Point 2 is looking to be worth the price of admission.

Go play some ASL!

Buying ASL for the Newbie

So you wanna get into the hobby or at least get a taste of the "greatest" tactical WWII game out there? The problem, of course, is that Advanced Squad Leader is a niche within a niche within a niche and you aren't likely to find the game conveniently sitting at your local convenience store.

If you are lucky, your Friendly Local Gaming Store (FLGS!) has a boardgaming section nestled between the Magic cards and the RPG/Dungeons and Dragons stuff. If you're even luckier the boardgaming section has some wargames in it. Of course the final piece of luck is that the store has ordered and has in stock ASL (probably Starter Kits) within that wargaming section. That's a lotta "ifs".

Let's assume that you want to start small first of all. MMP and the powers that be that control the ASL brand realized that an introductory product for those who wanted to play the game was the best way to proceed and a few years ago produced the ASL Starter Kits. The three kits were released a few years apart (I think, I wasn't active in ASL at the time) and today form the basis for quite a few new people joining the hobby -- like yours truly.

What the Starter Kits enabled was a neophyte to sample the core and basic ruleset for a fraction of the price of buying into full ASL. A Starter Kit runs from about $25 to $35 (Kits 1 to 3) which is a pittance compared to the outlay for the full Second Edition ASL Rulebook (new!) and the first module Beyond Valor (that contains the system/informational counters, and the almost full orders of battle for the Russians and Germans) -- these two cost about $65 and $95 respectively. The Starter Kits' contents are all compatible with full ASL so the investment is practically a no-brainer.

If you are interested in ASL GET THE STARTER KITS!

The subset of rules in the kits reputably contains the vast majority of the rules you'll need most of the time in full ASL. Some have even remarked that this subset of SK rules is a full-fledged game system unto itself and I'm not inclined to disagree with them. For those who want a more thorough breakdown of the SK contents I point you to Desperation Morale's World of ASL page on the kits and to MMP itself.

I would only advise a new player to pick up full ASL in lieu of the Starter Kits if, and only if, they were very sure they'd be playing it full on with an experienced player.

Of course if it was this easy I don't think I'd be making a post about it...

The problem is that MMP's Starter Kit #1 is no longer widely available, even through online resellers. Your best bet these days are FLGS websites or the stores themselves or ASL on eBay. For those not well versed in the advanced search on eBay try this link.

["Wait a second scrub," you say, "how can MMP possibly not have Starter Kit #1 in stock?!" -- ah, that's a rant for another time my friend...]

Due to the fact that the production lead times and various other logistical issues are compounded with the relatively small print runs that MMP uses to keep ASL in print and in stock, it has basically become an unspoken rule amongst ASL players that you should ALWAYS buy ASL stuff while you can because the next window of opportunity to acquire that product without facing the exorbitant mark-ups on eBay may be YEARS away. Let's put it this way, though I have yet to pick up full ASL, I am still buying the Valor of the Guards Historical module and the Normandy Action Pack in the full expectation that by the time I want to sit down and play them in the next year or so I may be SOL due to their being OOS!

Time for some good news though. You really only need one of the Starter Kits. All of them are basically standalone. If you could only pick up one I'd choose #3 since that has the full Starter Kit ruleset for infantry, guns, and armoured fighting vehicles. However, completists and anal ones at that, like me, will want all three for the maps and counters and scenarios.

So where can you get this stuff?

If you aren't willing to wait for MMP to reprint and restock, Starter Kit #1 is basically eBay-only or other after-market territory like Boardgamegeek's Marketplace forum or Consimworld's or Gamesquad's. As long as you're patient you should be able to get it for a reasonable, near-retail price.

Starter Kit #2 and #3 are all still available from MMP itself or online resellers like Wargame Depot or Gamer's Armory. I have purchased ASL and non-ASL stuff from both of these sites and can vouch for their speedy and reliable service. Being Canadian I've had the Sentry Box recommended to me and may try it next to get around the silly customs I've had to occasionally pay.

The only other newbie purchase of ASL-related product I would recommend (I'm saving chatting about counter storage and gaming paraphenalia for the next post) is picking up Operations magazines from MMP that have ASLSK scenarios in them (around $8 a pop for single scenarios -- I recommend this only if you are dying for more official SK-level product or are a wargamer with other MMP/Gamers product). Here is a link to the almost complete list of official ASLSK scenarios and where to find them on BGG.

Finally there is also a little scenario pack called Rally Point #2 by Schwerpunkt -- a so-called "Third Party Publisher" (TPP). Here is the Desperation Morale write-up on it and the here is the website for the Schwerpunkt guys. I actually picked this scenario pack up because of the reputation of the Schwerpunkt group who publish a yearly eponymously-named scenario pack. I'm itching to try it out soon by mixing them in with the official scenarios. Rally Point #2 is the pack you'd want as it is not only made for ASLSK but upwards-compatible to full ASL should you graduate there one day.

Whew, another massive post! So here's the summary:

1. Check out Desperation Morale's World of ASL pages to see what is what. This is the "get edumacated" step.
2. Check MMP to see what they have in stock. Cross your fingers.
3. Order from MMP or a reputable online retailer or support your FLGS by ordering through them!
4. Post "wanted-to-buy" messages on forums like Gamesquad, BGG or Consimworld. Sometimes fellow gamers have good quality product they'd happily sell at great prices to their peers to grow the hobby.
5. Check eBay (use the linky on the upper right). Cross your toes.

Hope this helps you out. As for paying off your credit card, that's your problem!

Next up, what to buy/find/steal to help you maximize your enjoyment of ASL...