glennhoek
Hambone Champion
Hello guys,
I have been out of the hobby for a number of years since I joined the Army, got married, had a family, etc etc. Its been nearly 10 years since I played regularly, but I find it interesting to see what direction the game has gone since then, such as the emphasis on smaller, tournament-style scenarios.
When I played a number of years ago, it was with a group that enjoyed monster scenarios and campaign games. I would like to get the designer to eventually publish these campaign games, as they have been thoroughly playtested and are a ton of fun. I cut my teeth in ASL mostly on these large games, and the intensity and the steep learning curve made new players into veterans quickly. I was curious as to what the current ASL community’s reception to these scenarios might be. Let me describe them to you:
There are three large campaign games Mr. Johnson, the designer, has written. The first is a July 1942 German offensive against an unnamed Russian town (we nicknamed it Potatograd), a sort of historical but non-specific campaign game. It spans 16 geo mapboards (4x4), with overlays. It is ideally played with 6 players, three per side, with each player pairing off against his “regional” counterpart on the north, south, or west side of the town. The ultimate objective is to take all the stone building locations, and the German forces enter from the north and south beyond the village, the pincers of an off-map pincer attack. There is a third force that enters from the west, preceded by the retreating Russian forces. The campaign game spans 5 days if memory serves, with each day being 5-8 turns. We generally could finish a half turn in 3-5 hours, and played one night a week. It took us months to finish a campaign game. The most important aspect however, and the most attractive as a player, is the scale: Each player might control upward of a battalion’s worth of forces, and every “region” affects the way the game plays out for everyone. You get to see large, unit-level maneuvering, massed infantry attacks, fighter-bomber support, companies worth of armor, etc etc. The scale of the game makes it so it is nearly impossible to get diced, since any local tragedy you may suffer from crits and snipers will most likely be softened by similar misfortunes by your opponents elsewhere on the map and a healthy supply of similar units.
The second campaign game is really just a remix of the first, with roles and directions reversed. It is played on the same map arrangement, but is set in July 1944, with the Germans on the defense and the Russians attacking, from the east rather than the west. It is much more armor-centric than the 1942 campaign. In one playthrough, I was in charge of the eastern main assault, and had nearly 40 tanks (!!!) under my control. It was an incredibly unique experience, and a ton of fun.
The third campaign game is set in Nijmegen during Market Garden, and is recreated using 20 (!!!) geo mapboards with overlays, with rather accurate results. The counter density is much lower than in the 1942 or 1944 campaigns, with much less armor. A large portion of the American force enters via parachute landing, and features 10-3 General Gavin. Moreso than the previous campaign games, Nijmegen is often a collection of interrelated local conflicts, much more decentralized. I personally never played this campaign, but my friends told me wild stories about how it played out.
We also played the Beast at Bay scenario from KGP, which I am convinced is completely unwinnable from the German side, but that’s another conversation. Anyway, I am curious what interest these campaign games might spark in the community, and if they ever get published, whether anyone thinks they would play them. Thanks!
I have been out of the hobby for a number of years since I joined the Army, got married, had a family, etc etc. Its been nearly 10 years since I played regularly, but I find it interesting to see what direction the game has gone since then, such as the emphasis on smaller, tournament-style scenarios.
When I played a number of years ago, it was with a group that enjoyed monster scenarios and campaign games. I would like to get the designer to eventually publish these campaign games, as they have been thoroughly playtested and are a ton of fun. I cut my teeth in ASL mostly on these large games, and the intensity and the steep learning curve made new players into veterans quickly. I was curious as to what the current ASL community’s reception to these scenarios might be. Let me describe them to you:
There are three large campaign games Mr. Johnson, the designer, has written. The first is a July 1942 German offensive against an unnamed Russian town (we nicknamed it Potatograd), a sort of historical but non-specific campaign game. It spans 16 geo mapboards (4x4), with overlays. It is ideally played with 6 players, three per side, with each player pairing off against his “regional” counterpart on the north, south, or west side of the town. The ultimate objective is to take all the stone building locations, and the German forces enter from the north and south beyond the village, the pincers of an off-map pincer attack. There is a third force that enters from the west, preceded by the retreating Russian forces. The campaign game spans 5 days if memory serves, with each day being 5-8 turns. We generally could finish a half turn in 3-5 hours, and played one night a week. It took us months to finish a campaign game. The most important aspect however, and the most attractive as a player, is the scale: Each player might control upward of a battalion’s worth of forces, and every “region” affects the way the game plays out for everyone. You get to see large, unit-level maneuvering, massed infantry attacks, fighter-bomber support, companies worth of armor, etc etc. The scale of the game makes it so it is nearly impossible to get diced, since any local tragedy you may suffer from crits and snipers will most likely be softened by similar misfortunes by your opponents elsewhere on the map and a healthy supply of similar units.
The second campaign game is really just a remix of the first, with roles and directions reversed. It is played on the same map arrangement, but is set in July 1944, with the Germans on the defense and the Russians attacking, from the east rather than the west. It is much more armor-centric than the 1942 campaign. In one playthrough, I was in charge of the eastern main assault, and had nearly 40 tanks (!!!) under my control. It was an incredibly unique experience, and a ton of fun.
The third campaign game is set in Nijmegen during Market Garden, and is recreated using 20 (!!!) geo mapboards with overlays, with rather accurate results. The counter density is much lower than in the 1942 or 1944 campaigns, with much less armor. A large portion of the American force enters via parachute landing, and features 10-3 General Gavin. Moreso than the previous campaign games, Nijmegen is often a collection of interrelated local conflicts, much more decentralized. I personally never played this campaign, but my friends told me wild stories about how it played out.
We also played the Beast at Bay scenario from KGP, which I am convinced is completely unwinnable from the German side, but that’s another conversation. Anyway, I am curious what interest these campaign games might spark in the community, and if they ever get published, whether anyone thinks they would play them. Thanks!