Here We Go A VASSALing

Of late, I had been lamenting my lack of time to sit down and play my hex and counter games, and in particular, Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit (ASLSK). 

Unlike Pavlov's House, which is not hex and counter, and which I have played several times in the last few months because it can be setup and finished in under 2 hours, ASLSK takes me significantly more time on average. To compound the issue, the longer I go between sessions the more likely I have to spend additional time nose in the rules.

As you no doubt surmised from the title of this post, I have finally tried VASSAL and what a glorious thing it is!

S1: Retaking Retaking Vierville. Things aren't going well for the Americans.

For the few unfamiliar with VASSAL it lets you play board games on your computer, alone or with others, with pieces that look right. 

It is not a video game. It has no AI or anything like that. In many ways, it's not unlike what I do in Google Draw to playtest rule and scenario ideas without having to setup a table and figures. At it's core, it's just moving around shapes over an image, with dice rolling and rules. However, in VASSAL, the pieces and board look much better and the dice rolls are handled in the application (though they don't have to be).

No longer do I need to set up and finish a hex-and-counter game in a single day! I can leave board and counters in situ for days or more at a time, playing turns or even just a phase or two as time permits. 

In the ASL/SK module, many game functions are handled by the program such as flipping a counter and going under DM, reminders that on doubles when rolling on the IFT you move to the left one column for resolution, etc.

You do need to have the game's rules in order to play otherwise they're just pieces and for ASL/ASLSK you'll need the scenario sheets, too. Of course, nothing prevents you from using the pieces and maps while playing your own rules and scenarios.

In any case, the slowed down pace, and lack of looming deadline to clear off the kitchen table so it can be used for its other purposes has been a boon for increasing my enjoyment of the game.

The pros?

• Fewer missed rules - like how a unit is destroyed if it low crawls to avoid interdiction during rout but ends up adjacent to another enemy unit. 
• More consideration of each unit's options in each phase.
• A solo friendly fog of war because I forget exactly what I was intending each side to do from day to day. 
• Games can be left setup for days at a time, undisturbed by child, companion animal, or partner.
• Tall counter stacks are at no risk of falling over onto other counter stacks whereby they would create jumbled messes of counters.
  

The downsides of VASSAL?

• It is buggy, at least the ASL/ASLSK module. I crash at least once a session it seems. Save early and often!
  
• It lacks the tactile delight of handling counters and moving them about the map.

The degree to which the second point is a show stopper depends on the person. I do enjoy that experience, but am willing to sacrifice it for a chance to actually play a game. 

I found this while writing this post. I cannot wait to play! (once i review the rules)

To my great joy, I discovered that there is a Burning Mountains module under the 1st edition Italian name, Inferno sugli Altipiani, 1916.  At seven hours plus to play and with its giant counter stacks that sometimes result, it will be infinitely more feasible to play it on VASSAL. Hopefully the differences between the editions in terms of counters available is not significant (I have the English edition) - VASSAL could give this game new life.

Mid-Week Update

This is something of a catch-all update post.

Although I have not played a figure game in a few weeks, I did play Scenario 5 from Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #1 earlier this month, so it hasn't been a total gaming drought. However, with the first quarter of 2021 on the books, and the first third nearly so, I decided to take a look at how I'm doing with my declared goals for the year.

That tall stack of Germans is a mix of squads, squad weapons, and DM markers.

 

Painting-wise, the late 19th C. Russians are done and they have already been on the gaming table. The WWI Austrians are well underway - which, I've realized, is usually where my desire to paint begins to wain. I think it's painting the little bits and bobs that I find tiresome.

I am happy to paint the trousers, tunic, boots, flesh , helmet, gun and even packs (although not the straps so much), but the other kit - grenades, scabbards, canteens...yawn. It's probably not surprising my favorite figures to paint are the Marx and Airfix WWII Russians, as they have almost no kit to speak of.

Not painting the bits and bobs isn't an option however, unless it's a "paint conversion". My OCD, perhaps not as intense as in others, is still noticeable. Not painting at all is an option but that ship has mostly sailed.

On the gaming front, counting everything together including some homebrew playtesting, I've played some 27 games or so.

Battle for Moscow. I really need to clip these counters.

I have managed at least one hex-and-counter game per month (Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit  (ASLSK) #1 and Battle for Moscow). I really appreciate the all-in-one nature of the board games. I don't need to paint anything or build terrain or even provide dice in some cases. Scenarios are always ready to go. Everything is in the box or ziplock package. The rules can require some serious study (ASLSK I'm looking at  you) but that's not true of every game and certainly isn't unique to board games.  The more I can make setting up and playing miniatures like setting up a board game the better, I think (I have ideas about this) .

Speaking of figure games, I haven't put one on the table in April yet, but that will be rectified shortly. I have played quite a few this year with a variety of rules including my own homebrew (WW2 and Late 19th C.), One Hour Wargames, One Hour Skirmish Wargames, Disposable Heroes / Coffin for Seven Brothers, Panzer Kids, and Crossfire.

A play test gladiator match using a D&D tile box as the arena.

I even managed to play an aerial game which was just a pie-in-the-sky idea (no pun intended) back in January. Since then, I've doubled the size of my plane collection (from two to four!), but have yet to get them back out. Too many options, not enough time.

There's still plenty of time though until the halfway point of 2021 and my plans remain basically the same:

• Play 1 figure game per month.
• Play 1 hex-and-counter board game per month 
• May's entry will be a replay of Burning Mountains, which will require 7+ hours of gaming time.
  
• Finish painting the first WWI Austrians.

Outside of gaming, I received my first Pfizer vaccine jab, and I'm going next week for the second. I don't game in person with others, so it really doesn't relate to gaming but still, kind of important.

Simple Equation Redux (ASLSK)

Rather than move on to play scenario 4 in the Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit (ASLSK) #1, I opted to try scenario 3, "Simple Equation" a second time. My goal was to apply lessons learned in scenario 2 (War of the Rats) and the first attempt at scenario 3.

This is the board at the end of the game:

End of game - turn 6.5

Two massive melees cleared the Germans out of the middle collection of buildings. Although I just barely got the US onto the top half of the map, I declared this a US victory. 

Although they had several squads reduced by either quality or casualties, the Americans were still a company+ strong at least in terms of unit count. On the other side, the Germans finished with a platoon of two regular and one conscript squad with an 8-0 leader on the left and a lone squad on the right.

I definitely learned my lessons from last time for the Americans - I concentrated my force in the middle and avoided the killing grounds on the left and right, used smoke a LOT, and advanced even if I couldn't always pin or break German units with LOS to the spaces the Americans were moving through.

In retrospect, I could have done one or two things different for the German deployment, although I don't think they'd change the outcome. More importantly, rather than fighting the Americans for every inch of ground, I should have fallen back to contain them and deny them the victory. 

Still, the Americans have better quality units, more of them, better leaders, and better squad weapons. Ultimately, this scenario is the Americans' to lose (like they did last time).

Simple Equation. Not.

In addition to a figure game, I got in a board game last weekend - Scenario 3 from Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #1 (ASLSK). "Simple Equation" is set in October, 1944, with the US assault on Aachen.

Please allow my usual disclaimer that I know most people who read this blog probably aren't a fan of this game system. Certainly as eye candy goes, there's not a figure 54mm or otherwise, in sight. On the other hand, I do like to document the games I've played  as much as possible. I digress.

Because the Germans only have to hold off the Americans, it makes another good solitaire scenario - in my game, the Germans shifted here and there, but by and large, they held their positions. Game play bore out the wisdom of my decisions for the Germans.

Then again, quite possibly, my poor dice rolling for the Americans was in part responsible.

When I decided on the American attack plans, I thought, "I will focus on the right of the German line." I sent my flamethrower that way. I felt smug. I felt clever.

That was hubris.

There is a lot of open ground to cross on the flanks to reach the buildings, as the pictures show (and this analysis of a play through calls that area a "killing zone"). 

The wiser choice would have been to go up the middle, moving building to building as much as possible (especially given that the US can use smoke grenades with near certainty in this scenario - a 5 or less on a d6). Instead, my force (a company + ) tried desperately and in vain, to suppress, pin, break,  or otherwise make it possible to advance, until turn 3 or 4 when I finally got the message and started concentrating in the middle. 

About the dice rolling: German LMGs and HMG were effective at slowing any semblance of advance. Somehow even their LMGs maintained their Rate Of Fire for multiple attacks. Meanwhile, the US MMG was lucky to avoid breaking down.

In the end, I think the biggest flaw in my plan was being too cautious. 

Just as in War of the Rats, I waited too long for the ideal conditions. With 7 turns (for the Americans), I had to move even if it meant leaving some forces behind in a broken state. As you can see below,I sacrificed some units in order to capture buildings, but by then it was far too late.

 

The Germans won this one, which looked like a "gimme" on paper for the Americans. The US just barely managed to make a dent in the German defenses. 

ASLSK scenarios most definitely reward repeat play and I may put this scenario on the table again this month. Unlike War of the Rats, and Retaking Vierville, this was the first time I had tried this one.

War of the Rats

Last Friday night I claimed a small portion of the kitchen table to setup scenario #2: War of the Rats, from Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #1. That way, I could dive into the game first thing Saturday morning. 

What can I say? I enjoy my days off in strange ways.

Over the course of the week prior, I listened to a past episode of The 2 Half-Squads podcast, where they played through this scenario - both for inspiration and to refresh my memory on the use of squad weapons.

You haven't lived until you've listened to someone play a board game. Not watched, listened to.

(This works far better for RPGs because it is theatrical in a way that moving counters and checking the Infantry Fire table is not)

Giving credit where it's due, I'll note that after listening to podcast - I opted to place my leaders by themselves behind the action, to act as rally points for their squads. This was very effective for both sides and something I had not considered doing before.

Saying there's a lot to learn about playing this game beyond the rules is an understatement.

(by way of example, I just found this link  to an analysis of the scenario while looking up the podcast link and which I'll be visiting later)

For the Soviets, I went with an unimaginative setup - spreading their forces to block most of the routes to the three German objectives (F8, L6, and O6) One LMG and the MMG were positioned to protect against a German advance to capture O8 (center right, with a single 8-0 leader).  The 2nd LMG was deployed on their left flank for the defense of F8 (the 8-1 leader).

I planned for the German main body to drive a wedge between the Soviet center and left position, attacking both from the flanks, while smaller but well armed force (with the MMG) would focus on capturing the outlier objective of O6 before closing in on O8, joining the main force in the assault.

It sounded great on paper.

In the end it was a tale of German woe. 

A combination of too much caution and many terrible dice rolls - critical rolls I needed for placing smoke and for prep fire to make crossing the roads more likely to succeed than fail - meant the German advance wasn't.  

Turn 1

I forget how many points of firepower were involved here firing on a the Soviet MMG position (everything left of the road was a single fire group) but the result was a pin - that's it!

Artsy shot. Without my glasses I can't read the tiniest font on the counters

Turn 2

Soviet Reinforcements arrived from the south to reinforce their center.
(Soviets can roll for reinforcements starting in turn 2, rolling less than or equal to the current turn number on a d6. They rolled a 2. One more example of things not going for the Germans.)

Turn 3

It looks a lot like turn 1.
MGs for both sides broke down several times during the game, only 1 was permanently destroyed - a Soviet LMG.

Turn 4

The Germans finally managed to get some squads across to the Soviet occupied buildings. There they found themselves exposed to heavy fire in the Soviet phase.

Turn 5

The Germans established toe-hold. However, such a small gain combined with no appreciable Soviet losses sounded the death knell for the effort.

Turn 6

I called the game during the German Movement Phase. Even assuming they were to survive defensive fire and win all of their close combats, they wouldn't be able to capture the three objectives.

War of the Rats is well suited for solo play - the Soviets really don't have to do much except shoot at Germans (at least, that's how I played it and it seemed to work). For them, movement is mostly optional - indeed the only time I moved Soviets was to rout and then return to their positions after rallying.

My initial deployment for the Germans could definitely use work and I have some ideas about that. However, I want to play the rest of the scenarios in the #1 box just to give them at try before I start replaying.

In the meantime, these recent ASLSK games have me rethinking my own grid-based squad-per-base rules (Company Fire and G Company) with some ideas of combining the two versions of that game together, and dropping some bits entirely while adding others.

Retaking Vierville (again!)

I realize few come here to see pictures of cardboard counters on a paper map, let alone a game as brain-taxing as Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit (ASLSK), but, in addition to the figure game I posted about last time, I played the first scenario from the #1starter kit - Retaking Vierville.

As my goal is one board game per month, at least, I wanted to start with something where the rules were somewhat familiar and which will allow me to play several more games once relearned. ASLSK fits that bill nicely.

It helped too that I once again stumbled on the Texas ASL download site, which includes a full tutorial on ASLSK. It was nice to confirm that my understanding of the rules is "correct", although a few questions came up during the game that had me turning to web searchers for interpretations.

In any case, the game was an engrossing close run thing that game down to the end of the 5th turn (the allotted turn count for the scenario):

The American platoon moves through the town. It's quiet. Too quiet.

The initial German advance is pushed back, the Americans capture the objectives early, with American reinforcements arriving via the road to the North (right of the map)

The Germans give as good as they get, with vicious building to building close combat and concentrated range fire (those Desperation Morale markers aren't for giggles after all).

It's not enough and the superior American squads manage to rally (mostly) and retake lost buildings.

The cost to the Americans was high, but the Germans were unable to again wrest control of any of the key objectives. An Allied victory.

The more I play these rules, the more they begin to -  well not fade into the background, but the less obtrusive they become. The story is rising in prominence.

It also was nice playing this game leisurely rather than racing through to finish in a 2 hour window before bed. I set it up on Friday night, sorted all of the counters I'd need for the forces, set up the Americans on the map but then didn't start playing until Saturday. Even then, I played in starts and stops - a turn here, a turn there, stepping away to think about the situation while sipping coffee, before diving back in.

I have played this scenario several times now - and am again confident with the basic infantry rules. The next board game I'll play War of the Rats (Scenario 2) in order to bring in squad weapons and satchel charges.

War of the Rats and SoloCon Wrap Up

Saturday night, I spent about an hour walking through a tutorial on using demolition charges, flame throwers, and machine guns in Advanced Squad Leader Start Kit in preparation for playing the second scenario included in the #1 box: War of the Rats.

This scenario has the Germans trying to capture some key buildings in 1942 Stalingrad. They outgun the Soviets in every possible way - including the aforementioned demolition charges, flame thrower, and machine guns.

The Germans closed fairly quickly - suppressing the Soviets with prep fire from the MGs and placing smoke grenades to cover their advance. They focused on taking one objective at a time, rather than spreading the force too thin attacking all three at once.

In retrospect, my initial Soviet defense could have used some work. This walkthrough gives some advice that I'll apply next time.

Even with reinforcements, which arrived on turn 3, the Soviets were on the verge of collapse. Or so it seemed.

As the Germans advanced, I had the Soviets fall back until eventually they formed a defensive line to protect the final objective. There they put up a last stand worthy of the ages - pinning and breaking Germans on nearly every die roll.

A final push by the Germans to close assault the objective -something I thought would be a slam dunk - led to their being ambushed, which resulted in the loss of a leader and three multi-man counters to a single good order Soviet MMC and a 9-2 leader at 1:2 odds (the two broken Soviet MMCs only participated in the defense not the counter attack)!

The game ended on turn 5.5 with the Germans unable to take, let alone occupy the final objective.

I started late and finished around 3AM, so by the time I woke up Sunday, it was time to return to the real world of grocery shopping, ignoring the 17 tons of leaves covering our yard, cookie baking - it's the holiday season after all- and dad life, when my son returned from his holiday excursion Sunday night.

******

In addition to playing all of the games, I watched quite a few movies. Not all of them relate to gaming interests, but I thought I'd list them anyway:

Is Paris Burning? (Amazon Prime)
Operation Crossbow (Turner Classic Movies)
Panfilov's 28 (Amazon Prime)
Niagara (Turner Classic Movies)
Kansas City Confidential (Turner Classic Movies)
The Mask of Dimitrios (Turner Classic Movies)
The Shop Around the Corner (Turner Classic Movies)

Is Paris Burning? is a phenomenal film that I can't speak of highly enough. It's about the French resistance in Paris just prior to the city's liberation from the Nazis. However, Niagara, is Marilyn Monroe's first appearance in Technicolor - so that alone ties it for the top spot (it's also a good noir. I used to live in Western New York and visited the Falls too many times to remember, and it was fun to see places I knew, only as they were decades before I ever saw them). 

Panfilov's 28, while not the best Russian war movie I've seen, is a gripping last stand scenario and is ripe with wargaming inspiration - plus if you like tanks, there are a ton of them. Finally, The Mask of Dimitrios featured Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, and I just automatically love everything they do (I often joke that Sydney Greenstreet is my spirit animal).

There was an other  movie I watched, starring Katherine Hepburn, that I can't recall the title of and I did not enjoy all that much - to my surprise as I generally like everything I've ever seen her in. Frankly, I think I watched the whole movie only because I expected it to get better at some point, but it never happened.

Thanksgiving SoloCon Plans

As I noted the other day, I am planning to do something of a "Thanksgiving SoloCon" this year - a multi-day event where I play as many games as I can fit in between sleeping in late and watching too many movies.

Like any good convention, I need a schedule of events of some sort, but as this is a solo gaming convention, I have latitude with start and end times or even if any particular idea makes it to the table at all.

That said, a plan is helpful if only to prevent option paralysis in the moment.

So here are some of the ideas I have and any notes I have made to jog my memory when I'm stuffed to the gills with pumpkin pie.

54mm Medieval with One Hour Wargames -  Ideally, I'll play a 5-game mini-campaign of OHW scenarios. I  have worked up a very thin backstory for imagi-nations on the island continent of Tempus, and the on-going war between the armies of Sol, King of Dies, and Luna, Empress of Nox, in order to provide some context and also add some fun to the write-ups. Whether I play one game or five, this will be an on-going thing. I have already been searching ebay for figures I consider suitable for Sol, Luna,and their vassals.

The Gatling glossed and ready to go.

54mm Colonial / Imagi-nations: Provided the Gatling crew is completed, and they should be,  I'll return to Firefly Church (I don't have enough units to pull off Hook's Farm in the entirety) with a small skirmish between Ginland and Vodkia forces. Rules will be In Good Company -but rather than removing fallen figures to the hospital they will stay in place, as in OHSW, to recover or not. If their unit has moved on, they will have to catch up.

ASLSK Scenario S2 - War of the Rats. My ASLSK posts probably aren't why you are reading this blog- after all the blog title implies figure games and ASLSK is just counters - but  I am really enjoying the game ,possibly because of, not despite, the heavy cognitive load (for me) it imposes.

ASLSK #2 - acquired before I'm ready to even crack into it because these boxes have a tendency to go out of print, and I've been seeing the prices rise. In the background, you can see my 18-year old fur baby, Pumpkin.

But, of course, who would I be if I didn't play some 54mm WW2?

With ASLSK scratching the complexity itch, and with ASLSK and my own rules handling squad-per-base games, I have a desire to play something simple and at a higher level, and there is no better way I can think of than Morschauser's Modern rules (true, I do have some amendments I want to try). As I figure it, Morschauser's rules are a platoon per base, and that makes them perfect for playing a One Hour Wargame scenario (which I have used them for, many times in the past) or even a conversion of something from Flames of War or IABSM.

Likely, but dependent on time, I  have it in mind to play The River again, with G Company, but on an 8x8 grid (play test games "online" showed the extra squares made for a different challenge), and either The Hill or, if I can get enough simple ruins together, The Village, with Company Fire, again in 8x8.

Finally, I'll break out One Hour Skirmish Wargames using my unpainted Toy Soldiers of San Diego winter Germans and Soviets.

The wild card of the 3-day-ish extravaganza is a return to The Library Book (The Quests of Brin the Barbarian rules). It really depends on whether or not I feel the story is served by the big bad being one of the few existing painted 28mm figures I haven't already fielded or if I feel the need to paint up something new to wrap up their quest into the goblin cave.

So, obviously quite a lot there, but 3 days and 3 nights to work with and my only responsibility is to feed the dog and cats. Worst case scenario, anything I don't get to will make its way to the table during one of my regular gaming sessions - and as a backup, I have two weeks off at Christmas this year by some miracle (actually no miracle, I just never take time off and have a lot saved and will lose it soon if I don't take it).

Retaking Vierville (again) and a Turn Sequence Idea for G Company

Last weekend, I returned to Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #1, the first scenario, yet again.

Scene from Sunday night's game.

Two or three turns in on Saturday night, I realized I messed up the reinforcements for the US and so stopped after 2 or so turns (plus it was super late). Sunday night, the game was going well, I finally gave infantry smoke grenades a try, and I felt like I really had a grasp of the turn sequence, but I ran out of time to finish (it was looking pretty solid from the US perspective and not so great from the German). I still had to look things up, although far less often, and I suspect games will play faster soon enough.

Speaking of looking things up, it's been said many times before by may others, but I feel the need to add my voice to the chorus: for reference at the table, the rule book is pretty unhelpful - it's not written or laid out for quick reference (it took me almost 30 minutes to find the rule that explains how infantry units can deploy smoke).

Rule book aside, I enjoy the game quite a bit and look forward to having some time soon to play the scenario to completion (for only the second time).

**** EDIT: I have tried several play tests of my ideas for a change for G Company using The River scenario and Google Draw, (so I can do it in between tasks) and the verdict is, at least as I initially conceived it as Prep Fire Phase / Movement / Fire Phase, this method doesn't work particularly better than the original method nor is it noticeably more fun. It may even be less so. I leave my musings below for posterity's sake. I think perhaps Side A unit by unit activation (or all units in gird space) might work a la Portable Wargame et al.  More testing to follow. *****


Playing ASLSK did cause me to think more about my own turn sequence in G Company which probably comes as no surprise to anybody.

And yes, the possibility exists that I'm overthinking / over-complicating G Company but here we are.
 
So, I'm currently testing a "prep fire" phase - although not in the same way as ASLSK, just as an option to give Side A a choice to fire then move or move then fire with any given unit. In this way, the side that wins the draw has a chance to disorder the enemy to prevent reaction fire, and then take advantage of that fact in the same turn - something not possible as it is now. As the rules stand without the change, the enemy will always have a chance to rally before they get a chance to move. - which either keeps units in place longer, or exposes them to danger (and favors a defending force that doesn't have to move much).

However, I do think the current sequence adds a degree of friction that is lost with this new idea (the enemy has a chance to rally before you get to move again and so the rally rolls at the start of the next turn take on added meaning) and that I'm not so sure is worth losing. Particularly as the current game plays well

More thinking and more testing to be sure.

ASLSK#1: First Full Game!

Toy soldiers will resume shortly, I swear.

I know it's not that big of a deal but I played my first complete game of ASLSK#1 on Monday night. It was the full 5 turns allotted to S1, "Retaking Vierville" which pits elements of the US 101st Airborne against German Grenadier and Fallschrimjager units.

With the exception of close combat and the routing phase, everything went surprisingly smoothly and with minimal reference to the rule book (the scenario does not use squad weapons and I still haven't worked in smoke grenades yet. Next time). I'm not entirely sure I handled everything correctly mind you, so I'll probably watch some Youtube examples of play to make sure.

Close combat is Morschauser-esque in its brutality - both sides can be eliminated in the same close combat phase - which is why there are no Germans in the buildings in the center right.

It was a pretty convincing US victory - although that may fly in the face of the victory conditions - the closet the Germans came to occupying any of the target buildings at the end of the game is that red melee marker. Per the scenario: "The Americans win at game end if there are no Good Order German units in buildings N5, N6, M4 and L3." So, technically there's a good order German in L3, but in none of the other targets.

Tonight I worked on prepping some Airfix Germans (not even Chinese knock-offs) - scraping off mold lines (a thankless task that I'm not convinced improves things with my hamfisted handling of the blade. In fact, some days I wish I just played with unpainted plastic like I did when I first started war gaming). I'm thinking of playing a mini-campaign with the 2x2 Crossfire scenarios and using my Company Fire rules, both full and lite versions, to sort out any remaining bugs.

More on that campaign idea in another post.

ASLSK #1: Getting Deeper into the Water

Last weekend, one night after my son had gone to bed and I was otherwise too worn out by Dragon Con to do much, I worked through three complete turns of the first scenario from the Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #1 in my effort to learn the rules.

Still missed a bunch of things, but I identified much of what I missed at least (residual fire is an interesting concept that my brain was having trouble remembering).

The US paratroopers were giving the Germans quite a wallop when I stopped playing. The picture below is just a small sample (the situation was similar on the rest of the board):

One of the problems the Germans had was my choice of table entry points - next time, I'll try coming in with a different approach.

I also didn't use any smoke grenades - and probably won't even try until I get more rules under my belt - but I think they'd have helped a bit.

Hoping to get another attempt at this scenario in tonight - even if just a few turns again.

ASLSK #1 : Dipping My Toe in the Water

Although I've gone through the rule book more than once now, I still hadn't had taken the time to put the ASL Starter Kit (ASLSK from now on) #1 on the table. Last night, I set up the first scenario just to play through part of a turn to start really learning.

Here's what it looked like after the Germans moved onto the board and took what amounts to reaction fire from the US paratroops:

While it doesn't look as enticing as toy soldiers on the table, once I'm stuck in my brain doesn't really care.

I made more than a few errors I'm sure, and I had to read and re-read rules bits, but I haven't been this excited to play a game since I got my Moldvay basic D&D book (aka the 'magenta' cover, the one with the three-holes punched) in '82.

Tonight, I'm going to see Apocalypse Now: The Final Cut (I've never seen the original cut but no matter) in the theater, but if there's time afterwards, I hope to work through a full turn for both sides for ASLSK.