Long Time Gone

New computers, busy at work ... just lots of stuff going on. While I've been playing games at a pretty good clip, I haven't had much of a chance to post.

The biggest news of the last month and a half was the stack of games that Al and I were able to pick up on July 22nd. As you may recall, I picked up a pile of Advanced Squad Leader modules from a woman on Craigslist back in March. At the time, the woman had about two dozen additional games that I passed on. However, in July, she contacted me about buying the remaining games for $300. I suggested $250 and split the cost with Al.

The photo shows the stack of games the night that Al picked them up. He also created a Geeklist to catalog them. I'm doubtful that even half of them will ever get played, but they're a great addition to our gaming library.

ASL Modules Arrive

The Advanced Squad Leader modules that I ordered last month arrived yesterday. As the lady who was selling them on Craigslist indicated, they're almost entirely unpunched. Everything seems to be complete, except that one module appears to be missing the boards. Even if the boards are missing (as I'm still holding out hope that they'll be in one of the other boxes when I carefully go through everything), it was still a bargain.

According to the historic BoardGameGeek prices (as recorded by Spielboy) at the site that I discussed awhile back, these modules (in like new condition) have mostly been selling for between $50 and $200 a piece.

ASL Rookie Camp

Al came over yesterday afternoon for some Advanced Squad Leader. Al has been playing off-and-on for several years, so it was nice for us to play with someone who only needs to look a rule up every ten minutes, as opposed to every five minutes. As shown in the photo, Al (taking the Germans) played against Andrew (taking the Russians) in a Stalingrad scenario (S2). (The peeps in the front of the table were an early Easter snack.)

Andrew made a rookie mistake in his setup, so Al was able to break about half of the Russian forces in his first prep fire phase. The Russians were reeling for most of the ensuing two hours, and the Germans were able to take the victory point buildings. Andrew conceded after four turns.

About half-way through the game, we realized that we had all been playing an important rule incorrectly (not just yesterday, but since we started). Andrew was the first to notice that the rules didn't really say what we thought they did. After re-reading the section several times, I visited BoardGameGeek and found a thread discussing the issue.

We had a good time, and I'm looking forward to getting in on the action next time.

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.

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.

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.

Special (and Not-So-Special) Delivery

The good news is that Descent: Journeys in the Dark (which I ordered on February 15th) arrived yesterday. Amazon Prime comes through again. Hopefully I can skim through the rules this weekend.

The bad news is that the Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #1 still hasn't arrived. (See my February 8th post.) I was hoping to have it show up this week, so that Andrew and I could give it a try this weekend. Al volunteered to come over and help us up the learning curve. I'm not optimistic, since Multiman Publishing posted this message at their web page:

Maryland was hammered with snow over the past weekend, with our office receiving over 30". Since this is more than Maryland may see an entire winter, you can imagine the problems the state has clearing roads and getting back to work/school. So, we are likely to be closed the first few days of this week.

Please be patient as we strive to ship preorder copies of Doomed Battalions, Journal #8, and the recent rush of orders for the Winter Offensive Bonus Pack.

Thank you,
MMP

I'm especially concerned for two reasons: (1) Even though the storm ran through Maryland on the 6th and 7th (and the message is dated the 7th), the message wasn't actually posted at their web site until the 15th. (2) They are likely focused on getting their new products out the door, so a lowly single order for an old product may sit in the in-box for awhile.

I'll just have to hope for the best.

I Ordered ASL SK#1

I ordered the Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #1 (also known as ASLSK#1) this afternoon from Multi-Man Publishing. It should be here in about a week. But, let me give the whole story ...

I'm lucky that Andrew is very interested in history, which means that he's a ready-made opponent for trying out wargames. He's especially interested in WWII history, so it was natural that I'd get him the popular (and light) WWII game Memoir '44 several years ago. Memoir '44 is based upon Richard Borg's Commands and Colors system that originated with Avalon Hill-Hasbro's Battlecry (released in 2000) and continued with Memoir '44 (in 2004), GMT Games' Commands and Colors Ancients (2006) and Fantasy Flight's Battlelore (in 2006). Commands and Colors: Napoleonics is currently on GMT's P500 list, and is likely to be published in the next year or so.

Memoir '44 is a nice introductory wargame and can be a lot of fun. Suffice it to say that there are about a dozen expansions available to meet the demand of folks who love the original game so much. On the other hand, it has some problems as a simulation -- some wargamers aren't convinced that it should even count as a wargame. (One of these days, I'll post an entry giving my full take on the "realism versus playability" debate.) While Andrew played the game a lot four years ago, he hasn't seemed interested in taking it off of the shelf lately. When I asked him why, he mentioned several of the issues related to realism. So, for several months now, I've been trying to pick out a more advanced version of Memior '44.

One option is Fantasy Flight's Tide of Iron. Al owns Tide of Iron, and while I haven't played a game, I've watched Al play a few times against Steven and Drew. Tide of Iron has plastic infantry, tanks and vehicles similar to Memoir '44. It also is a significant step up the ladder of wargaming. Different units have different capabilities, and units have multiple options while firing -- including pinning fire and opportunity fire. I described it to Andrew as "Advanced Memoir '44." Al has mixed feelings about the game (with one of his biggest complaints being the thirty minutes that it typically takes to set up a scenario). I offered a few times to buy it from him, but Drew likes it enough that Al wants to hang on to it. (I also found a guy in St. Louis looking to sell his copy on Craigslist, but, while I offered him $40, he's holding firm on $50.)

At the opposite end is Multi-Man Publishing's ASLSK#1. Advanced Squad Leader was first published in 1985 as a sequel of sorts to Squad Leader (published in 1977). I had owned Squad Leader in the early 1990s (but sold it on EBay about ten years ago). ASL is extremely plain looking -- it has small, fairly unattractive cardboard counters and maps that look a little cartoonish. But the rules are extremely detailed. There are actually rules to handle squads moving in sewers for battles that take place in urban areas. The game has a hard-core set of followers. In fact, when Avalon Hill was absorbed by Hasbro, a group of gamers bought the rights to the ASL catalog and continued publishing the games and scenarios as Multi-Man Publishing. One of the group's best decisions was publishing a starter set (ASLSK#1), with six introductory scenarios to give gamers a chance to play the game with the core rules and decide if ASL was right for them. Al owns ASL, and ranks it as his only '10' at BoardGameGeek. If we picked ASL, Al would be thrilled.

GMT's first entry into the category was Combat Commander Europe (published in 2006). I haven't played Combat Commander, but I've listened to and read a number of reviews. My sense is that Combat Commander's rules are about 75% as detailed as ASL, but that the game introduces more chaos into the battles. This probably does a better job of reflecting a commander's actual control over the battlefield, but seems to frustrate a number of players. In addition, there are no vehicles in Combat Commander. While many were turned off, the game is a good seller, and GMT has published a number of expansions. I like GMT, and I usually like a little more chaos in my games than most wargamers, so in some ways it's the game that I "root for" in the debates.

The newest option is Conflict of Heroes by Academy Games. Again, I haven't played it, but I've read many reviews at BoardGameGeek. My sense is that it is somewhere in between Tide of Iron and ASL. It has bigger and more attractive components, and some folks who find ASL too difficult enjoy Conflict of heroes as an alternative. But hard-core wargamers feel that the simulation has more than a few holes. The positive spin is to say that it's ASL with easier rules and prettier components. The negative spin is to say that it's uglier than Tide of Iron and not as good of a simulation as ASL.

So, after reading everything I could about these four games, I still couldn't decide what to do. Realizing that Andrew would need to be excited about the choice in order for it to work, I gave him my quick description of each game and sent him to BoardGameGeek to pick one out. I said I'd buy whichever one he picked out, with the only requirement being that he'd have to promise to give it at least three tries. (I'm sure that I could trade any one of the four, if we don't like it.) Andrew usually has a soft spot for plastic pieces, so I was guessing that he'd go for Tide of Iron. Thus, I was totally shocked when he said he wanted to try ASL because of the deep details.

The game is on its way, and I'm sure that Al will be thrilled.