Rare subjects for ASL battles.

[djohannsen]

..., but would love to see more coverage of the Spanish Civil War.

Agreed! Right now I'm reading For Whom the Bell Tolls, so would really like some Spanish Civil War scenarios. I was a bit shocked looking at ASL Scenario Archive with how few there are.

 

[Honza]

The South West Pacific Area in the PTO. There were 18 US army divisions and 6 USMC divisions that fought in the Pacific, but I'll bet there are more USMC scenarios. Aussies in New Guinea are under-represented too post-42 especially compared to the large number of Burma scenarios.

Biak, Wadke, Lae, New Georgia, Bougainville e.t.c Even Luzon & Leyte have very few scenarios considering the scale - 6 divisions or so each.

That would certainly be welcome.

 

[Honza]

Iwo Jima is underrepresented. Probably due to the uniqueness of the terrain and the consequent fight.

 

[witchbottles]

Iwo Jima is underrepresented. Probably due to the uniqueness of the terrain and the consequent fight.

Nah, Monster Pack took care of Iwo for me- 2 fun scens quite representative.

 

[Honza]

Nah, Monster Pack took care of Iwo for me- 2 fun scens quite representative.

Iwo, Peleliu and Okinawa are all a bit underrepresented. There is stuff in the works though. Will have to try the monster pack scenarios one day.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

ASL is a tactical game set at approximately battalion level. Average game size is a single infantry company and their actions over an hour or two. Laundry lists of months-long operations involving entire army corps seem beside the point as far as brainstorming scenario ideas.

Find a unit history, after-action report, or memoir and find an interesting situation involving a company or battalion.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Aussies in New Guinea are under-represented too post-42 especially compared to the large number of Burma scenarios.

Can you think of a specific battalion action fought by Australians after 1942 in New Guinea that would be dissimilar to situations covered by existing scenarios?

 

[witchbottles]

Iwo, Peleliu and Okinawa are all a bit underrepresented. There is stuff in the works though. Will have to try the monster pack scenarios one day.

CH did White Beach 1, good HASL - you got Pel scen in a Journal, another 10 or so more oldies, here and there before all that, then there is BFPs product upcoming to top all that off. Oki, you got J2's Kakazu Ridge, CH's Ordeal; Before Shuri, a huge portion of the Leatherneck packs, and a HASL in work ( in play test mode) for an MMP submission. Iwo is a bit shy, a few scens, but you really get the flavor or a large-scale no cover to speak of action, from the two monster pack scens on DTO boards with cave complexes in play and a host of SSRs to simulate the terrain.

 

[lluis61]

Madagascar. And I wonder if the rules covering it could be a hybrid of ETO and PTO...

 

[hayman]

"Acts Of Defiance" is the only ASL scenario set on the battle of Breslau

I read an old article about this battle, and looked up any ASL scenarios about it, and only found the original BV one.

The Germans landed reinforcements in light aircraft down a city boulevard, and straight into action; engineers with Goliaths; volksturm vs high morale Russians; TDs vs t34/85's.

All the ingredients for a late war city smash-fest. Fertile material for scenario designers.

 

[JRKrejsa]

Italy after the fall of Rome, the Aleutians battle, more US Army in the PTO- liberation of the Philippines in particular. Chinese Civil War 30's through to '49.

More on the fighting in Iraq and Iran in '41.

While I'm at it, more on two of my favorite topics, the Bulge and the Korean War!

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Madagascar. And I wonder if the rules covering it could be a hybrid of ETO and PTO...

"Madagascar" isn't a subject for an ASL scenario. It's a setting. Anything special about the terrain or weather conditions there that could be represented by SSR or overlays to the standard geo boards? What's special about the campaign? Did you have a specific battalion action in mind?

 

[footsteps]

"Madagascar" isn't a subject for an ASL scenario. It's a setting. Anything special about the terrain or weather conditions there that could be represented by SSR or overlays to the standard geo boards? What's special about the campaign? Did you have a specific battalion action in mind?

The OP is asking about subjects, ie general areas of operations. "Stalingrad" isn't a subject for an ASL scenario, but it is an area of operations from which a group of scenarios for ASL could be developed from appropriate source material. Posters on this thread are identifying subjects for designers to consider - provided that appropriate source material is available.

We often talk about the subjects that are overdone in ASL - like Normandy, the Bulge and Stalingrad.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

The OP is asking about subjects, ie general areas of operations. "Stalingrad" isn't a subject for an ASL scenario, but it is an area of operations from which a group of scenarios for ASL could be developed from appropriate source material.

Not really. The Stalingrad campaign had all kinds of small unit actions - from Russian armour attacks on Romanian fixed positions in winter, to urban assaults by German combat engineers on Russian-held factories, etc. That's scenario fodder. I'd have thought the point of scenario design is to find unique situations and model them in entertaining ways - particularly with ASL where SSRs depicting small details of individual actions are used to provide the flavour. Really, you could take The Tractor Works and rewrite the historical write-up to say "Breslau 1945" if all that mattered was the name of the campaign.

Posters on this thread are identifying subjects for designers to consider

Not really. They're listing campaigns.

Okay, here's one: Battle of the Scheldt. Not a lot of scenarios set there. But so what? The interesting part is the "why should there be?"

 

[lluis61]

Not really. They're listing campaigns."

Madagascar was a campaign. Lasted from May to November 1942. There were a-plenty of clashes between Brits and Vichy French, and even the intervention of two Japanese midget submarines. Peculiar: climate, terrain, units involved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Madagascar

 

[Honza]

My intention was to discuss any battles which are underrepresented in the system. You can have underrepresented campaigns such as Breslau, Madagascar or East Africa. Or smaller battles. Not sure what point you are trying to make Michael.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

My intention was to discuss any battles which are underrepresented in the system. You can have underrepresented campaigns such as Breslau, Madagascar or East Africa. Or smaller battles. Not sure what point you are trying to make Michael.

No one is discussing any battles. They're listing campaigns. If you're trying to generate ideas for scenarios, don't just list names of campaigns. The Battle of the Scheldt is "under-represented" as well. If I was going to talk about scenarios, I would point out that Kampfgruppe Chill was an experienced formation that formed the core of resistance at the neck of the Beveland Peninsula. The Germans had artillery ammunition shortages, and few tanks, but held out in some key urban areas because the terrain surrounding them was relatively flat, without trees, and often inundated by the Germans blowing up dykes. Movement was often restricted to the dyke tops, so Allied troops could only advance on a front about 20 feet wide, one squad or one tank at a time.

Scenario fodder? Maybe there is a reason it was "under-represented".

By contrast, the garrison on Walcheren Island was a "stomach battalion", part of a division of convalescents - guys with hearing problems, digestive issues, and too sick to serve in other units. Would that require an SSR?

Walcheren Island had to be taken by amphibious landing. An option had been parachute assault, but Guy Simonds opted instead to bomb the dykes on the island - pull a trick out of the German playbook - and flood the island. So, no paratroops (they were needed for Market Garden anyway) and an amphib landing on Walcheren Island.

The only land approach to Walcheren was a 1600 metre causeway, straight as an arrow and 40 metres wide. On both sides was flooded swampland. Scenario fodder? Probably not. My regiment was there and managed to get across 1600 metres of causeway under 88mm and 20mm direct fire. It took three tries by two regiments to do it, and was only managed with an intense 25-pdr barrage leading the way. Scenario fodder? Probably not. The German counterattacks on the bridgehead were more worthy of that, including the only time German flamethrowers were used against my regiment in the entire campaign. Sergeant Blacky Laloge got the DCM for throwing German hand grenades back before they exploded. Now we might be getting somewhere. Scenario fodder: tired Canadians in the midst of a reinforcement crisis, fighting a German stomach battalion in a tiny bridgehead on Walcheren Island. No tank support for the Canadians (crater on the causeway). No artillery (Germans too close). Not a lot of 'toys' that seem to be popular, but a German FT or two and maybe even a StuG.

Kind of says much more than 'Battle of the Scheldt' don't you think?

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Madagascar was a campaign. Lasted from May to November 1942. There were a-plenty of clashes between Brits and Vichy French, and even the intervention of two Japanese midget submarines. Peculiar: climate, terrain, units involved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Madagascar

That's a little better. What did the midget submarines do and how would you model their effects on the tactical situation?

 

[footsteps]

No one is discussing any battles. They're listing campaigns. If you're trying to generate ideas for scenarios, don't just list names of campaigns.

Why not? Honza asked a broad question, people have responded with broad answers. From those, more detailed discussion could proceed, if someone has more detail on battles within a campaign.

 

[Hovned31]

The Chaco War