ASL First Fire

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.