ASL Primers at YouTube

Any other Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) newbies should check out the series of ASL Primers by Joe Steadman at YouTube. Joe was Tom Vasel's original partner on the Dice Tower podcast.

The first video (previewed below) describes ASL and the starter kits. Subsequent videos discuss the components and the various phases of the game turn. I've found them very helpful, and I'd recommend them as an excellent supplement for anyone working his or her way through the rulebook. The complete series can be found at Joe's YouTube Channel.



The video and sound quality are a little rough on the first installment, but they improve as the series progresses. Joe deserves a big thank you.

Hail to the Chief

Patrick and I played a quick game of Campaign Manager 2008 this afternoon. Patrick (managing the Obama campaign) won by claiming MT, NJ, WV, MN, NH, OH, IA, FL and PA (plus his "banked" states) for a total of 279 electoral votes. Each player starts with a certain number of electoral votes "in the bank," reflecting the non-battleground states such as California (presumed for Obama) and Arizona (presumed for McCain).

The game is nice and quick. It's easy to learn and only takes about 30 minutes to play. At this point we're only using the starter cards, which means the game is already feeling a little stale after only two plays. We'll use the full deck next time, so hopefully that will "freshen" the game. I'll write a more meaningful review after a couple of more plays.

ASL Module Bargain

I don't want to be guilty of "counting my chickens," but I think that I've found a treasure chest of Advanced Squad Leader modules on the St. Louis Craiglist. ASL "modules" are expansions to the base game that include new scenarios, along with the maps and counters to play them.

I noticed the posting at Craigslist last night. The poster was listing about 20 old Avalon Hill games for sale. We exchanged emails, and five of the games were Advanced Squad Leader modules: Yanks (which includes mostly American units and scenarios from the Western front in 1944), West of Alamein (which mostly includes British units and scenarios from the North Africa campaigns), The Last Hurrah (which mostly includes minor Allied units and scenarios from the opening of the war), Code of Bushido (which mostly includes Japanese units and scenarios from the Pacific Theater) and Croix de Guerre (which mostly includes French units and scenarios from the war's opening). Of these five, only The Last Hurrah is currently in print. They all regularly sell for between $50 and $100 apiece on eBay.

The other game was Hedgerow Hell, an ASL Deluxe module. The Deluxe modules didn't include any counters, but they included scenarios with extra-large map boards -- designed to be used with miniatures. This sells online for about $75.

I originally offered the seller $120 for the six games. She counter-offered $180, including shipping, which I accepted. I plan to mail a check on Tuesday. The deal is good enough that the thought crossed my mind that it's not as advertised. The seller indicates that five of the six are never-played. I keep remembering the Seinfeld episode with "Mom and Pop" stealing Jerry's shoes.

The other irony (and if you're an ASL player, you're probably already thinking about this) is that I can't currently play any of these modules since I don't currently own the core rulebook or the core module -- Beyond Valor. In other words, I'll need to spend another $200 on other ASL games before I can actually use any of these games. The picture above is a "flowchart" from the Wikipedia that summarizes which ASL modules are needed in order to play other modules.

So what am I thinking in spending this money? First, Andrew and I had enough fun yesterday that I'm confident that Andrew, Al and I will be playing these modules twenty years from now. And, if we ever want to play these modules, this is by far the cheapest that I could ever hope to obtain them. This is the type of "score" that becomes almost legendary at BoardGameGeek. But, if worse comes to worse, I am confident that I could sell any of these games on eBay or BoardGameGeek for far more than $30 each.

The seller had a number of other old Avalon Hill games, but I didn't want to spend more than I did. I did ask her to contact me in a few weeks if she still had any leftovers from the list. There are a few that I'd consider making an offer for.

Two Battles Fought

Andrew and I battled it out twice today -- once in Northern France, and once in the battlground states of the US.

We played the first ASL Starter Kit #1 scenario for the second time today. Andrew took the Germans, and I took the Americans. We still got a few rules wrong, but we're getting better. Andrew learned the dangers of running a squad across the middle of the road in front of a fire group; I learned not to move into point-blank range of two stacks. Andrew ended up winning the game. He likes the game enough that while I was cooking dinner, he set up the second scenario -- which adds machine guns -- and played it solo.

Next, we tried out Campaign Manager 2008 for the first time. Andrew took Obama and I took McCain. I was able to pull out a solid victory by taking Florida, Pennsylvania and several other swing states. The game was very easy; anyone could learn to play it in ten minutes. At any point in time there are four battleground states up for grabs. Each player draws and plays cards to try to capture the states. Some cards allow the player to alter the state's primary concern -- defense or the economy. Other cards allow the player to place markers (matching the campaign's color) on the state's card -- either in the economy section or in the defense section. When a player completely controls the section of the state's card devoted to the state's primary concern, the player is able to claim the state. The first player to claim enough electoral votes is the winner. (There are additional things going on, but that's the essence of the game.) I enjoyed it for what it is -- a very light Euro-like game that can be played in less than an hour. The cards reflect campaign events, but I don't think a player will really learn much about the 2008 campaign by playing the game.

Return of the Killer Bunnies

We played Killer Bunnies REMIX tonight at mom's after dinner. Andrew picked up three carrots in the first few minutes, but then spent most of the next 30 minutes without a bunny. Meanwhile, Patrick, Teresa and I each picked up one carrot. After Teresa picked up a second carrot, Andrew was able to get a bunny into play -- allowing him to grab a fourth carrot. Andrew then played a bunny-casino card (as a saved special) and was able to get enough money to buy the last two carrots -- giving him a total of six. (Mom didn't have any carrots.) With six carrots in play, it wasn't surpriing when Andrew had the magic carrot (Presto).

Now that we've played a handful ot times, I feel a little more certain saying that I like the game. It was certainly worth the $18 I spent on it. I would compare it with Mille Bornes. It's a fairly light card game (although it has more going on than Mille Bornes), with a certain amount of "take that" when folks play nasty cards on each other. Thus I couldn't recommend it to a group uncomfortable with playing mean cards on other people.

Killer Bunnies REMIX comes with three decks. The first deck has enough cards to get a feel for the rules of the game. Once players feel comfortable with the starter deck (which is just about when the game starts feeling stale), they can add cards (and rules) from the other two decks. Tonight we added the rest of the yellow and blue cards to the mix. In addition to adding a little more money and a couple of new Terrible Misfortunes to the mix, this (roughly) doubled the number of weapon cards -- including a number of weapons that affect bunnies adjacent to the targeted bunny. The newly-added cards also add a few unusual events (such as the casino card that Andrew used to win the game) and Free-agent Bunnies (that act as wild cards for completing sets).

Can War be a Game?

An article in Monday's Providence (Rhode Island) Journal describes the anger felt by members of the Nipmuc and Mashpee Wampanoag tribes regarding the forthcoming Multiman Publishing game, King Philip's War. King Philip's War (also known as Metacom's War) was a series of battles between English colonists and a group of Native American tribes during 1675-1676. "King Philip" was the nickname given to the leader of the Native American tribes.

I know that I'm not alone among wargamers in that (more than once) I've been a little embarrassed describing my hobby to non-gamers. Most non-wargamers are used to games being about making money, searching for treasure, building cities or traveling across the globe. In short, any violence (such as that found in Clue or Risk) is very abstract and/or cartoonish.

For most folks, games are either tests of abstract thinking skills with little or no theme (such as in chess) or a thematic means of escape (such as in Monopoly). Wargames are not abstract -- they clearly have a theme. But it's hard for most people to understand how a theme based upon death and destruction might provide escape for anyone other than a psychopath. I don't think that I'm a psychopath, but I do understand the confusion they have.

So, what is the appeal of wargaming? I've met a few wargamers over the years who don't notice the theme -- and view wargames as very complex versions of chess. But 99% of the wargamers I've met (in person and online) have two things in common: (1) they enjoy history, and (2) they enjoy thinking about how different decisions might have caused events to unfold differently. Thus, most wargamers enjoy wargames (such as GMT's Here I Stand) and other games ( such as Fantasy Flight's Twilight Imperium) that combine the battles with diplomacy, research and resource management.

Wars and battles have always made for fascinating turning points in history. So it's natural that history buffs often become wargamers (and visa versa). A good historical boardgame (as some wargamers prefer to call them, in large part, I suppose, because it sounds less violent) can take you back -- or even better, put you in the role of Lincoln, Grant or Lee during the American Civil War; Henry VIII, Charles V or Martin Luther during the Reformation; or Ike, Patton or (yes, even) Hitler during World War II. Facing the decisions they faced doesn't force you to share their beliefs. (I find it amusing that my son Andrew loves his Jesuit high school, yet enjoys playing the Protestants in Here I Stand.)

So what do I think of the unhappy Native American tribes? I think much of their confusion sits in the convential use of the word "game." In normal usage, a "game" is trivial. A game depicting King Philip's War might be understood to trivialize an important time in their histories. My guess is, however, that the "game" will introduce several hundred people to that important time, and (far from trivilizing their tribes) it will generate new-found respect. But I understand their confusion -- I sometimes feel it myself.

Starting with the Starter Kit

Andrew and I were finally able to give ASL SK#1 a try yesterday. We played the first scenario (S1), with Andrew taking the Germans and me taking the Americans. We only had time to finish three turns, but Andrew was winning handily when we quit.

The first scenario only uses the infantry rules -- no machine guns or mortars. It reminded me a lot of the original Squad Leader that I owned and played a few times in the mid-1990s. We moved fairly slowly yesterday, since we needed to look up a rule every ten minutes or so, but I did have a great time. Andrew was enjoying it too, so I think that I made the correct choice when I ordered it.

One issue is certainly going to be storing the counters. There are so many types that my usual system of using zip-lock snack bags is probably not going to cut it. I researched the topic on BoardGameGeek, and the popular solution seems to be Model 3701 tackle boxes from Plano. I ordered one of these from Amazon this evening. It was less than $10, so it will give me a chance to see how it works. If it works well, I'll order a few more next week.

Gaming in Jamaica

I spent last week in Jamaica, enjoying some sun and relaxation. Gamewise, I took San Juan and Pandemic, but as it turns out, neither one ever got played. The only game we played was Scrabble Slam (by Hasbro). Gillian's dad (Ollie) won all three games.

Tuesday night a local village, down the hill from our villa (shown in the photo) had loud music playing most of the night. According to the villa's chef, the village was hosting a dominoes tournament. According to him, Dominoes is the most popular board game in Jamaica. From his description, Jamaicans play a simpler (blocking) game (as opposed to scoring games, such as my family's favorite, Muggins).

I took Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #1 and read the rules over the course of the week. Andrew read the rules back here, and we hope to play a scenario tomorrow.

Finally, I took the rulebook for Paths of Glory. I was hoping to play a solitaire game using Wargameroom, but the villa's Internet service was down most of the week.

Not Bad in the Abstract

Patrick beat me at Hive this afternoon. He's getting very good at the game, and I'm surprised how much I like it, given that it's an abstract strategy game.

In game theory, an abstract strategy game is a game with no chance and perfect information. No chance eliminates any games with suffled cards or dice. Perfect information means that nothing is hidden -- both (all) players know where all of the pieces are. Examples of games with no chance but hidden information would be Battleship and Stratego. Chess, checkers and Go would be good examples of abstract strategy games -- having no chance and perfect information.

Why don't I like abstract strategy games? I think that the main reason is that I have a really bad memory, which seems to be a requirement for being a strong player. First, good players need to memorize standard openings and defenses. I probably could do this, but that wouldn't solve the mid-game problem. At some point in the middle of any abstract strategy game, players need to start analyzing potential moves. Anyone who's played chess knows the process: "If I move my knight here, he could move his queen there, in which case I could move my pawn forward. Or if he moves his bishop over there, I could counter with my bishop taking his knight." I suppose that I could "train" my brain to be better, but I'm generally lost after three levels of recursion, and can rarely remember which move I started the analysis with. The Wikipedia entry on Abstract Strategy Games suggests that chess has 10^123 possible board situations. Checkers is much easier, only having on the order of 10^31 possibilities. I am proud of the fact that at least I'm willing to admit that it's my mental shortcomings that sour me on these games, unlike many who want to write off the games themselves as being uninteresting. Since Hive only has 20 pieces (10 on each side), the mid game seems more managable to me. I still lose, but at least I don't have a headache at the end of the game.

A secondary reason is that most abstract strategy games lack a theme. (As a side note, Steve Krebs argues at BoardGameGeek that when gamers use the term "theme," what they really mean is "setting." I think he's right.) I enjoy learning something about a topic I'm interested in when I play a game. If I'm playing something from the Ticket to Ride series, I won't really learn anything about running a train network, but I do learn some geography from the mapboard. On the opposite end, I've learned a lot of history from the GMT card driven games, such as The Napoleonic Wars and Here I Stand. I remember that I wasn't through my very first turn playing Japan in a game of Axis and Allies (in 1985) when I understood the strategic importance of the Solomon Islands (and thus Guadalcanal). Checkers and Go have no pretense of a theme, and it would be a real stretch to argue that chess in any way teaches about military tactics. As it is, Hive has no real theme; that is players learn nothing about insects.

So, who is Hive good for? It's good if you want an abstract strategy game with fairly nice pieces, a short playing time and few enough pieces that someone with a bad memory can enjoy it.