suggestions for introducing PTO to ASL players

SFiedler

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Good idea but the player in question is a proficient Asl player but inexperienced in PTO.
 

mgmasl

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I Will start with scenarios with Jap troops and no PTO rules.. Normally city scenarios.. Then PTO scenarios.
EX FrF 17 The Marco Polo Bridge Incident…
 

Ed Donoghue

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This as my first PTO scenario, fun game.
 

TopT

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AW hell, go for it -ASL 72_ Sea of Tranquility :)

Seriously, Run Gurkha, Run (RPT 153) is an excellent scenario and not a lot of PTO rules. Burn Gurkha, Burn is the next in the series and the same amount of PTO rules.
 

Kijug

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I got this from a list of beginner scenarios. The PTO section lists:

ASL 126: PTO
A 60 - Totsugeki! (Annual '93a)
67 - Cibik's Ridge (GH)
A 53 - Smith & Weston (Annual '93a)
A 58 - Munda Mash (Annual '93a)
63 - The Eastern Gate (CoB)
60 - On The Kokoda Trail (CoB)
A 42 - Commando Hunt (Annual '92)
CH 28 - Children Of The Kunai (Critical Hit! 3) A 83 - Last Of Their Strength (Annual '95w)
 

xenovin

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This was my first PTO scenario and neither of us thought it was all that exciting. Perhaps it just couldn't live up to all the hype. Or maybe it was my Chinese just melting away with not much of a fight.

Totsugeki….
 

jrv

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This was my first PTO scenario and neither of us thought it was all that exciting. Perhaps it just couldn't live up to all the hype. Or maybe it was my Chinese just melting away with not much of a fight.
The Chinese should be able to hold because the Japanese have to move fairly fast. Their Dare-Death squads can get some good licks in, as can the guns. Both the Japanese and the Chinese melt away, but in different ways. The Chinese want to maintain a solid line to keep the Japanese from slipping by and eliminating Chinese broken units for FTR. It is a solid scenario that should be able to live up to its reputation.

The main reason I would not recommend it for a beginner is because now in addition to learning PTO and Japanese, you are also learning the Chinese. I can't think of any good scenarios that feature just the Japanese without PTO or Chinese (or DTO: Red Sun Red Star!)--they tend to have Japanese and something else. If there were such a scenario I would recommend that, i.e. start with the Japanese only. Then add PTO. There are a few out there, First Banzai comes to mind, but it isn't an interesting scenario. I mentioned Burn Gurkha Burn because while it is both Japanese and PTO, it is at least infantry only.

JR
 
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Honza

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I think "Jungle Fighters", in an ironic twist, involves no jungle or PTO terrain at all, and is in fact a fighting withdrawal in a city, with Japanese vs. British. Good scenario too.
Is that an official scenario?
 

Craig Benn

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I've played a lot of PTO and IMO the best scenarios are Japanese vs Dutch, British (Commonwealth) or French. The squad values are similar so the (rules) differences for each nationality are accentuated. USMC and US army have too much firepower normally so it's less maneuver and more hunkering down and less fun. Chinese vs Japanese can be good but if you don't know how to use the Japanese properly Chinese numbers will often prevail.

I'd recommend Nunshigum from Schwerpunkt 11, The Sangshak Redemption J164 or any of Schwerpunkts ghurka trilogy. Advance to Kakas from Blood and Jungle a good all day affair. Casualties Cooks and Corpsmen a Schwerpunkt small smash mouth USMC scenario....

But really PTO is best with all the trimmings. Recently played Coke Hill from Blood and Jungle and it was fantastic. Twice as many 8 morale stealthy non cowering Australian attackers with OBA and a flamethrowing Matilda vs every sneaky Japanese trick. Booby traps, HIP pillboxes and tunnels, boresighting, A-T set DC, HIP Tank Hunter heroes, panjis and mines....jump right in for full flavour. Best way to teach the Japanese to a newcomer is to use every trick against them with some tough love.....
 

djohannsen

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This was my first PTO scenario and neither of us thought it was all that exciting. Perhaps it just couldn't live up to all the hype. Or maybe it was my Chinese just melting away with not much of a fight.
I agree. When I played it, the Chinese didn't even flirt with winning, either. The Chinese just broke and broke and never rallied (6 morale, IIRC). Not one of my more enjoyable ASL sessions (despite playing a good friend).
 
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