ASL First Fire

MMP's sixth ASL Journal is out and now being received by subscribers (it was actually first released in limited numbers to the participants in last month's Winter Offensive). The big attraction this time is the first historical map with accompanying scenarios to be included in a Journal since the second issue, more than five years ago. Although irrelevant to reviewing the actual content, this issue does include one of the nicer cover paintings used in quite a while. The back cover provides an advertisement for Fire in the Sky, MMP's planned reprint of a Japanese game on the war in the Pacific and which is currently on their preorder page. The remaining pages are all given over to ASL material. Overall, this is a nice looking magazine and very good to see. MMP appears very optimistic about this year's schedule of releases, and hopefully this will prove to be the first in a large series of products for both the new and the experienced ASL gamer in 2005.

As admitted by the editors, the Table of Contents looks a bit skimpy, but this is a 48 page magazine nevertheless. There are only three articles, but each is considerable, thus accounting for the appearance of the Table. First up is a Series Replay of scenario J73 "Tired and Unsupported," published in Journal 4. The players are J.R. Tracy and Paul Sidhu, with commentary supplied by John Slotwinski, all of these being familiar names in the ASL community. As pointed out by the participants, this scenario nicely demonstrates the Wall Advantage and Bocage rules as laid out in the 2nd edition of the ASL Rulebook. As always, the article provides a step-by-step listing of every action taken during the playing of the scenario, allowing the reader to set up the pieces and play along at home. While the scenario was a little one-sided, it looks like a nice demonstration that should be of benefit to new players and to anyone interested in the WA and Bocage rules. Plus, anytime you read about the play of a particular ASL scenario, you're likely to have some rules pointed out that you may tend to overlook. Did you remember that a sniper counter must be initially placed in an unoccupied Location as per A14.2? I'd forgotten that, but it's pointed out in the setup comments. Looks like a nice replay, and if anyone's interested I can suggest a couple of articles to browse before reading it.

The second article is by David Olie, and is a "nearly exhaustive" review of Fire Lanes and Residual FP. Given the importance of using these tactics to defend in ASL, both by channeling an attack and by protecting vulnerable routes of attack (such as streets), this article should be of benefit to any ASL player. Helping to clarify things even more, the article is accompanied by a two page "Comprehensive Example" to illustrate the concepts David lays out in the text. Like the previous such comprehensive examples, this appears to be very thorough and should be quite instructive.

The final article is the one most likely to elicit grumbling from some ASL players, but happens to be of a type that I like. Charles Markuss has written several extensive historical articles in the past dealing with the nationalities depicted in ASL. His earliest was entitled "Tommy Atkins at War" and appeared in Volume 25, Number 6 of Avalon Hill's magazine The General. The article discussed the British troops and weapons and their portrayal in ASL. The article in Journal 6 is intended as a follow up and revision of the original article, given the new historical material that Charles has come across since the original was published. It is also the first part of a two-part article, with the second part to appear in Journal 7. I like historical articles. While some players undoubtedly like wargames primarily for the gaming aspect, I have always found the historical context to be very important, seeing wargames and printed historical material as being very much complementary in my desire to learn more about military history, something that has been true since I first found Midway on a toy store shelf shortly after reading Walter Lord's Incredible Victory. I understand that articles like this may not be for everyone, but I am looking forward to reading this and to reading the second part when it comes out.

The centerpiece of this issue is, of course, the Primosole Bridge (PBr) map, accompanied by three scenarios and a Campaign Game portraying the fighting around that Sicilian objective during July, 1943. The map itself is a very nice Kurt Miller creation, depicting the bridge itself with a large area of vineyards next to it. The hexes are the larger size as has become standard in most historical products. Included with the map is a 20 page supplement to the ever-expanding Chapter Z containing rules for using the map along with three Campaign Games. No new terrain types are introduced, although the map contains a new depiction to represent vineyards, previously represented as an "alternate terrain type" in Chapter F. The Chapter Z supplement reprints the rules for Vineyards and Olive Groves from Chapter F, along with the rules for Barbed-Wire Fences and Irrigation Ditches from Pegasus Bridge, all of which are found on the enclosed map. As stated above, there are three Campaign Games ranging from three to 12 Campaign Dates. Two of the CG (which cover the initial landing) have British troops entering the battlefield both by Paratroop Landing and in Gliders. Three scenarios are included as well, with a promise of more to come in the next issue of the Journal. Overall, this a nice module, consistent with MMP's established standards. The only complaint I have is that there is no historical summary provided. In fact, the only historical information provided is the standard prelude and aftermath information on the three scenarios which use the map (one of which doesn't have an aftermath listed). Perhaps that is why MMP has included a brief overview on the Journal 6 page on their website:

What is "Primosole Bridge"? The Primosole Bridge was a key bridge on the Sicilian coast near Mt. Etna which the British required, intact, to continue their drive along the coast. They executed a rather brave plan, seen later in the war at Arnhem, of dropping airbourne elements to sieze the bridge and wait for front lines to catch up. The problem is the Germans realized the importance of the bridge, and landed their own Fallschirmjaegers nearby to hold the bridge and reinforce the Axis units in the area. With such crack troops on hand the battle was fierce with the British nearly collapsing when their ground troops came to their rescue and drove off the Fallschirmjaegers to fight another battle...

The Chapter Z supplement does have an extensive bibliography for the battle, but I was surprised not to find at least an overview of the circumstances surrounding this action, given that I doubt it is widely known to the wargaming public.

As for the scenarios, there are 12 total, three of which involve action on the Primosole Bridge map. They appear to be a nice mix of actions, including PTO, West Front, East Front (both early- and late-war) and even a desert scenario. They are as follows:

J90 "The Time of Humiliations" - French forces desperately defend against the Japanese in French Indonesia. Two boards and the railroad overlays are used.
J91 "The Sooner The Better" - Three-board desert action with Australians and Germans fighting near Tobruk in 1941.
J92 "Your Turn Now" - Filipino troops try to hold off the Japanese in Cebu City during the Phillipines campaign in April, 1942. Two half-boards are used.
J93 "The Porechye Bridgehead" - 1941 East Front action with an encircled German force reinforced by armor holding off a Russian counterattack. Three boards are used (including board 52).
J94 "Kempf at Melikhovo" - Small two half-board action from Operation Citadel in 1943, Russians defending the board 3 village against the Germans. One of Ola Nygårds' "On Top ASL" scenarios.
J95 "Typical German Response" - First of the PBr scenarios, depicts the battle for the approaches to the bridge, with the British defending the German counterattack. Uses an approximately 12 by 12 hex area on the map.
J96 "Another Bloody Attack" - Second of the PBr scenarios, taking place the day after J95, with the British trying to retake the bridge following the successful German counterattack. Uses about one third of the map.
J97 "A Nice Morning for a Ride" - Third PBr scenario, the British now holding the bridge yet again and trying to expand their bridgehead. Uses about half of the map, and features a British hero on bicycle riding to alert the reinforcements.
J98 "Lend-Lease Attack" - Two board action with Germans (including two Tigers) defending against a mobile Russian force containing lend-lease vehicles. Another of Ola's scenarios.
J99 "On to Florence" - New Zealand troops try to take the board 10 village from the Germans in Italy in 1944.
J100 "For a Few Rounds More" - Americans face Germans with Sturmtigers on board 3 in 1945. From Scott Holst.
J101 "The Coconut Plantation" - Australian troops try to clear Bougainville of Japanese in 1945 in a half-board-sized PTO battle.

This looks like another well-done magazine, with only a few minor problems. I would have liked to have had an historical article for PBr as stated earlier, and there are a few typos, some of which are corrected on an errata sheet included with the magazine. Overall a very nice product.

First, before proceeding, this will not be a detailed Series Replay-type AAR, in which every move and specific attack by every unit is listed. There are two reasons for this. First, I wanted this AAR to be directed towards pointing out the mechanics of the SASL system and how they influence the progress of the mission, to give an overview of how the SASL rules work. Secondly, and more importantly, it didn't occur to me until already a couple of turns into the mission that I should save a VASL logfile, so those details are simply not available. My apologies.

Okay, my British troops move first. Wind Change DR is a 10, which causes Gusts to occur, but with no effect as there are no blazes or smoke on board. More to the point, I don't get a RE this turn. There is no Rally Phase (RPh) or Prep Fire Phase (PFPh) activity this turn, so I'll move on to the Movement Phase (MPh).

As stated during setup, I'll position about two-thirds of my forces to enter through the village. Thus I also setup two of my three leaders (a 9-1 and the 8-0) to enter with the larger force. In SASL, a Command Control (CMD) DR is required to allow any forces to move or fire. In this case, my 9-1 leader passes his DR by rolling a 10 or less (92% probability), and does so successfully. While not shown at left, I had my 8-0 leader setup within two hexes of the 9-1, and since the 9-1 had a higher morale, his successful CMD DR puts the 8-0 in CMD as well. By setting up the remainder of this force within two hexes of one of the two leaders, the chain reaction continues and with one successful DR, two-thirds of my entire OB is already free to move/fire this turn. As you can see, the concept of Command Control adds an additional level of complexity to the management of your leaders. In regular games of ASL, you have to decide between using your leaders as rally points for your troops or using them in firegroups to avoid cowering or to take advantage of negative modifiers. Now, you have another option consisting of keeping your leader where he can influence the greatest number of your troops, which might not necessarily be an optimal position for either rallying troops or positively influencing fire attacks. If your leader winds up out of position or, even worse, if he is eliminated or broken, you can wind up with a large number of your units having to roll their own CMD DR. A 9-1 leader might pass his CMD DR 92% of the time, but a 7 morale squad (needs a 7 or less) will only be successful 58% of the time. Thus, careful positioning of your leaders is important to allow your offensive (or defense for that matter) the greatest chance of succeeding. On the first turn, it's easy to setup my troops so that the most units possible are influenced by the smallest number of DR. Once my advance across the board gets underway and my troops become more spread out, it'll be harder to keep such force cohesion, and my progress may slow down. Once again, this is one of the major things that make SASL such a unique experience in the ASL world.


Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's start sneaking onto the board. First to move is my half-squad which enters the woods in 12L10. Activation of enemy suspect (S?) counters is checked either when fired upon with a concealment-loss result or when one of my units moves within a certain range depending on the possible DRM. In this case, my unit uses non-assault movement into a woods hex, providing a net DRM of 0 (+1 for the woods, -1 for FFNAM) for any defensive fire. Each nationality has a chart detailing the detection range for each possible DRM. For the Germans, a DRM of 0 will cause an activation check for any S? counter within 6 hexes of the moving unit (had this been a clear hex, the net DRM of -2 for FFNAM and FFMO could have allowed activation checks for up to 12 hexes away). In this case, the S? counters in 12L5 and M6 are within range with a clear LOS. L5 is checked first (randomly chosen between the two) and activates a 8-1 leader along with a 4-6-7 squad possessing a LMG. The subsequent attack (6 FP with a -1 DRM) fortunately fails to hurt my HS, but leaves 2 residual FP. Since my HS is still Good Order (and used 2 MF to enter the woods), the same units fire again as SFF, and again fail to have an effect. Unscathed, my HS slips into the gully in L9 and temporarily out of harm's way (normally, since he was still Good Order, the S? in M6 should've been checked for activation to possibly attack him in the woods hex, but I appear to have overlooked that possibility).

Next to move is a squad who enters the N10 woods hex. The S? in K7 fails his activation check (AC) and is removed from the board. The S? in K5 is out of range (7 hexes with a 0 DRM), so the squad proceeds into N9. The K5 S? passes his AC and produces a 4-6-7 squad. The 4 FP attack with a -2 DRM pins my squad. Next, another HS enters the board through P10 and O10. The units in L5 can't fire since they're already marked with Final Fire. Upon entering O9, the HS triggers an AC (finally!) for the S? in M6, yielding a 4-4-7 squad. His First Fire and SFF attacks cause no harm. Now, with the German units all marked with Final Fire (M6 and L5) or out of range (K5), the rest of my northern force can enter the board without much concern. My 8-0 enters N10 along with a mortar-toting crew. The other crew with a mortar remains offboard for now rather than enter the 2 FP residual in L10. The remainder of my units (along with the 9-1) enter along the Q10 road and push towards the marketplace.

Down at the southern end of the battlefield, my other units prepare to enter the fray. My 8-1 leader passes his CMD DR. First to move is a HS which enters play through BB10, with the purpose of seeing what the closest S? counters might reveal (with a 50% chance of them proving to be dummies). Upon his entering BB9, the S? in DD4 is checked, resulting in a 4-6-7 German squad being activated. His attack breaks the HS. Seeing that discretion might be the better part here, my remaining forces directly enter the gully in the hope of getting closer to the Germans without drawing further fire, with the exception of my remaining crew with a mortar, who sneaks into Z10. Thus no further activations are made.


No action takes place during the Defensive Fire Phase (DFPh), and no decent attacks are available for me during the Advancing Fire Phase (AFPh). The broken unit in BB9 routs back to the woods in Z10. During the Advance Phase, the HS in the L9 gully claims Crest Status, and the crew and mortar which had remained offboard now advance into the L10 woods hex (since the residual FP is no longer present). The forces in the village advance into cover and my units in the southern gully advance one hex farther. Other than a couple of my squads gaining concealment, no significant action occurs during the Close Combat Phase (CCPh), and the British First Turn comes to an end. I've pretty much achieved the goals I had for this turn, mainly to get most of my force on the board and begin activating the German forces. Other than my one broken unit, no blood has been shed yet.


Now for the German's turn 1. The Wind Change DR is a 7, yielding no effect. During the RPh, nothing happens since the only broken unit on the board can't self-rally. Next to determine what the German units will do. During the enemy player's PFPh, each activated unit on the board is checked to see if they will fire, move or Panic (and thus do neither) during that turn. When on the defensive (such as in this mission), the enemy units are more likely to fire (or else entrench if no target is available) than move. Once that decision is made, charts are used to determine each Location's target (if selected to fire) or movement command (if selected to move). In this case, the German units in K5, L5 and M6 are all given fire commands, while the unit in DD4 is selected to move and is marked with a "move" counter for now. The German units do well with Prep Fire, managing to break the HS in Crest Status in the gully and, even worse, getting a lucky KIA result on the poor squad which had been pinned in the open in N9 on the previous turn.

Down at the southern end of the battlefield, the German squad in DD4 doesn't fare as well. Instructed to move towards the nearest British unit in LOS, he makes his charge towards the units in Z10. However, upon entering the first hex (CC5), he suddenly finds himself exposed in front of my units in the gully (which he couldn't see prior to the move). A lucky roll on my part and he goes down with a KIA as well. During my DFPh, no real action takes place except for my crews assembling their mortars. In the RPh, my HS in the gully routs back to L10. The German uses his APh to get his units out of the K5/L5 grain and into better cover and no action occurs during the CCPh.


So, here we are at the end of one complete game turn. I've moved well onto the board in both locations. My units in the village are positioned to use the 12O6 building to get in close against the activated German units while keeping good cover. The units in the southern gully should be able to get close enough to find out what lurks in the orchard with a little bit of reconnaissance by fire in the next turn or two. My mortar crews should be able to provide a little harassing fire in addition. Overall I'm pleased with the position. CVP are even with 2 CVP per side, thanks to the matching KIA results. However, there are still seven S? counters just on board 12 and still another 18 on board 5, so there's still a lot of work left to do. Fortunately, I'm just one turn into the game, with a minimum of ten more turns left.

On turn 2, I plan to assault move the forces in the village into the O6 building, with maybe one unit moving behind the wall in P5 to get a shot at the S? down the road in K3. The units in the gully will stay in the gully, claiming Crest Status in the APh and plan to hit the German units with Defensive Fire in the German 2nd. With a bit of luck, I could get most of board 12 cleared by the end of the 3rd (or at worst the 4th) turn, leaving plenty of time to tackle the ominous woods on board 5. On to the top of the 2nd...