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!

Vacation in the Pacific...

What the heck has the scrub been up to?

Well, thanks to the little ones having some sort of crazy sleep issues I no longer get any! Yay!

Gaming has gone on the back shelf -- yesterday, the missus and I got Fire in the Sky on the table, an MMP title that's not ASL-related (got it in a nice package deal from Chas Argent -- thanks Chas!). Relevance to ASL?

Mr. Argent made a recent post/progress report on Gamesquad and CSW about the upcoming PTO repackaging of ASL-stuff: the long out-of-print Code of Bushido and Gung Ho! will be bundled together and hopefully come out next year. I sense a nice dovetailing of PTO interest between this and the Band of Brothers "sequel" in the Pacific...

In other news, The 2 Half-Squads have episode 21 up:

http://the2halfsquads.podbean.com/

On my plate?

I'll finish up the AAR on my third round VASLeague game (my round 4 opponent is in Europe and just had a baby so things are still getting sorted out) and post it soon and perhaps a primer on VASL itself, or making homemade counters -- why the last two? Ken Dunn has accepted my offer to playtest the new ASLSK HASL and I'll need to get more British counters on the table if I want to do ftf play!

Roll LOw!

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!