ASL First Fire

British Turn 3, Wind Change DR is an 11 which results in (meaningless) Gusts.

During the Rally Phase, nothing significant happens as a British HS fails to self-rally and the wounded German leader in 12L4 also fails to rally, thus preventing the other units in his hex from making rally attempts. During Prep Fire, my squad in O5 takes a shot at the German conscripts in K3 but without effect. My mortars along the west edge fire at the Germans in L4 but without effect.

During my MPh, my units on the southern end make tracks for board 5, ending in 5Y10. At the northern end, I take advantage of his lack of good order units and run my squads up to surround his stack of broken units. I send the HS up to K5 and the 9-1 leader with his three squads up to M5. Defensive Fire from the conscript HS in K3 is ineffective, allowing me to bring the last squad to M3. During my Advance Fire, a lucky shot KIAs the HS in K3.

So we reach the Rout Phase with his stack of broken units surrounded and unable to rout away. They surrender to the HS in K5, giving me 5 CVP worth of units (an 8-1 leader, a squad, and a HS). At game end, of course, they'll be worth double CVP, so with this one move I've made tremendous progress.

So, my units start towards board 5 during the APh, and with no active Germans in LOS, many of my units are able to claim concealment. Remember that the S? counters are considered (as per S3.1) to be "non-Activated, Good Order, unbroken Enemy unit(s)" and thus even though no activated German units remain on the map, the S? counters still serve to limit concealment gain.

At the end of two and a half turns, I've completely cleared out the units on board 12. Capturing the prisoners has also garnered me enough VP to start thinking about how much progress I've made towards victory. Right now, 14 S? counters remain (all in the board 5 woods), which are worth 2 VP each at game end. Combined with my squad eliminated on the first turn, my opponent has 30 VP if the game ended now. I've eliminated four HS and one squad for a total of 6 VP. My prisoners add another 10 VP (in game-end terms) for 16 VP total. Obviously I've still got a lot of work to do, but with at least 8 full game turns left to play, I've got lots of time to do it.

Of course, not much happens during the German 3rd turn. The Wind Change DR is a ten, providing more Gusts, but no reinforcements for the beleaguered defenders. The only other event is a successful rally of my broken HS in 12L10.

So on to turn 4. The Wind Change DR is a 5, giving me another Random Event. This time I get Infantry Reinforcements (RE #35), which prove to be four squads (4-5-7) with an LMG and an 8-1 leader. This is a nice bonus, but the player has to be a bit careful in how they are used. The units are considered "temporarily attached" since they won't stay with my company for the next mission in my campaign game. However, I can't just throw them into the front line either. As per S17.1321, these units are worth 1.5 times the normal CVP if they are eliminated or captured, a nice way to keep them from being used unrealistically. I mark them accordingly to remember that they are not part of my regular forces.

During the MPh, I move out towards board 5. The mortar crews along the west edge pack up their weapons and head out. The new leader and one of the reinforcing squads panic, but the other three squads get on board successfully. The majority of my forces head for the board 5 woods, stopping one hex short of making contact with the first line of S? counters. This will allow the concealed units to advance into contact without losing that concealment.

During the APh, my units advance into the woods, activating all three S? in the first line. They'll get first shot at my units, but the concealment should help reduce the effectiveness of their fire.

My turn 4 ends, then with my troops already having engaged the first line of German defense on board 5. So far, I've been lucky. I haven't activated any fortifications, vehicles or exceptionally strong positions. I've been left with plenty of time to accomplish my task.

The Wind Change DR for the German 4th turn is a 7 with no effect. His Prep Fire is ineffective, thanks to my concealment. During my Defensive Fire, a number of things happen. His squad in 5M9 battle hardens. His squad in O9 gets KIA'd, with the resulting sniper check breaking my HS double-timing through the village, the only casualty I suffer this turn. Finally, my concentrated fire on N9 breaks his 8-0 leader and causes his conscript squad to surrender, leaving his MMG behind.

The leader routs back to N7 in the second line. The remaining 4-6-8 squad has the opportunity to advance into CC but fails his required NTC.

So ends the 4th turn. The British juggernaut continues, smashing through the first line of defense with the only casualty coming from a sniper. I also took another prisoner, adding another 2 CVP to my game-end total. Can anything stop me?

Somehow I think the answer will likely be yes. Such is (S)ASL.

Okay, moving right along.

Wind change DR is a 5. This is a Random Event number for the British, so a roll on the RE table yields a 15, which is "Enemy resistance is fading." I get to make a DR and remove that many S? counters from the board.

Well, here is part of what's fun about SASL. The random nature of the process ensures that playing through a specific mission will be different each time. Based simply on the boards used, a task can prove to be simple, moderately difficult or nearly impossible. If the first enemy unit activated proves to be an elite unit such as SS or Paratroopers, all subsequent units will be of that type as well, making for a very long day. And RE rolls can make the job much easier or much, much harder. This is also part of why playing a campaign is likely to be much more satisfying than playing a single mission. In regular ASL, balance is something highly sought after, since nobody wants to play a scenario in which their chosen side has little likelihood of prevailing. In SASL, however, missions frequently do not end up being "balanced" as the random factors mentioned above skew things strongly to one side or the other. Such is the unpredictable nature of combat as depicted by SASL. Playing a campaign makes this more palatable as an impossible task is likely to be balanced out in a future mission when the Fates decide to smile on you, the player.

So I'm not going to feel guilty over this good fortune, especially knowing that a RE for the Germans could just as quickly make my life much more difficult. A quick DR and I now can remove eight of the pesky S? from the battlefield. I'm worried about clearing the woods on board 5, but at the same time I don't want to get hung up on board 12 too long either. So I'll compromise, and remove four S? from board 5, but also remove two of the three remaining S? on the south end of board 12 and two of the S? from the group north of the village. This should allow me to get board 12 cleared a little more quickly and move on to board 5 a good bit ahead of schedule.

So let's go. My three mortars lined up along the west edge take potshots at the remaining Germans, and one gets lucky and breaks the squad in 12L4 (Gotta love ROF and Airbursts - always take a mortar shot at units in woods when given the chance). During my MPh, I first assault move one of my squads from under the 12CC7 bridge to check the lone remaining S? for activation. A dr of 6 eliminates the S? and the southern end of board 12 is now clear. The remaining units in the gully move out. I'll combine them into one stack in the APh so as to be able to use the leader bonus and starting moving towards board 5.

In the village, I assault move most of my troops into the O6 building, except for one squad who moves into P5 so as to have a shot at the S? down the road in K3. During the DFPh, the Germans in M6 fire ineffectively at my squads in O6. During my AFPh, those same squads hit paydirt, getting a K/1 result on M6, which Casualty Reduces one squad and breaks the remaining squad and the leader. My squad in P5 takes a shot at K3 and activates a conscript Half Squad, who survives the attack unscathed. The Germans don't have to rout, and during the APh, my troops leave the O6 building and advance into the street. At the southern end, I combine my squads into one stack as I stated earlier.


Thus ends the top of the 2nd. No S? remain on board 12, thanks in large part to a lucky RE. Of the remaining German units, the only one still in Good Order is the conscript HS. The others are all broken, which means a great opportunity to take prisoners with their doubled CVP at game end. Things are looking good for now.


Not too much happens in the German half of the 2nd turn. The wind change DR of 6 yields no effect. The Germans fail to rally anybody and Prep Fire from the conscript HS fails to make an impression. During my DFPh, I fire at M6 and get another K/1 result, wounding the leader, eliminating the HS and casualty reducing the squad. During the RPh, the surviving M6 units rout back to L4 to join the broken squad there.

So here we are at the end of two turns. The southern end of board 12 is cleared of enemy units and my forces there are moving out to make contact with the enemy lurking in the woods. At the northern end, things should wrap up in the next turn, as all of his units are broken except for a lousy conscript HS. During this next turn, I'll maneuver my units to cut off rout paths and try to take prisoners, and hopefully will be able to turn all of my attention towards board 5 by turn four.