Well, it must have been in late 1989 or early 1990.
I was just back from my year that I spent as an exchange student in the US and getting involved full tilt into roleplaying games (Rolemaster on Middle Earth) and Tolkien's world. Back then, I got close to being able to speak Sindarin...
In that game store where I sunk all my money, beside the roleplaying games, they also had a corner for wargames - a rarity for Germany. On one of those days, I pulled out the ASLRB v1, looked at the binder and saw this:
At that point, I had never played a wargame beyond Risk or Stratego. I just looked at the counter depictions with all their numbers and symbols and the explanations such as:
Low Muzzle Velocity, Low Ground Pressure, Limbered Fire Capability, (a) = American Chassis, No trailer in tow, Smoke Discharger Usage Number, Radioless AFV, Gunshield provides +3TEM vs. Fire through Front Target Facing, One Man Turret, Inferior Turret Armor, Main Armament/CMG are AA capable, ...
Of course, I understood not much of the ASL-lingo part of it. But these few 'explanations' made it instantly clear to me, that if a detail such as an 'American Chassis' or 'Normal Ground Pressure' would justify reference even on a minuscule
counter, then the system and rules behind it must be of utter depth and sophistication. Leafing through the rules with its very small font and rules references such as A11.672 (indicating no less than five sub-levels within a rule) this impression was quickly confirmed. I read some paragraph of the rules such as:
"D5.5 IMMOBILIZATION TC: An immediate
TC is required of the
non-Shocked,
non-Stunned Inherent crew of a vehicle
[EXC: one in a Water Obstacle; 16.3] that becomes
immobilized by any non-CC attack, or that is already
bogged/immobilized and is hit by
Direct Fire ordnance which fails to destroy,
Stun, or
Shock it but that would have destroyed or
Shocked it with an
Original TK or
IFT DR of 5. Failure of the
TC results in the crew being immediately placed beneath the vehicle (expending all remaining
MF) and subject to the
Hazardous Movement DRM during
that phase (see also
9.3). Place an
Abandoned counter on the vehicle (
5.41). A crew thus
forced to leave its vehicle may not
Remove (6.631) any weapons from it. If the
TC is passed, the crew may continue to
Inherently man it or may abandon it voluntarily
(5.41) during its
MPh."
A
simple rule to us ASLers now. But imagine how this sounded to me when being exposed to it for the very first time! With all those abbreviations, crossreferences, and ASL-lingo seeping from every pore, it appeared like something of a mythical scroll to me. Like if you look at
old Egyptian hieroglyphs, and KNOW they mean something that must be fascinatingly interesting could you but read and understand them. I mean, give it to your wife, have her read it and then explain to you what it means. I felt like your wife would feel - except that I was
fascinated and
wanted to know!
It was then and there, that this mythical attraction captivated me.
However, I just felt not up to the task. On various occasions of me visting that store, I pulled out the ASLRB again. And put it back. At first, it took me a while to realize, that BV wasn't a complete game but merely the gaming parts for this ASLRB. And that there were more than half a dozen of boxes such as BV. And that all of this was just forbiddingly expensive for a high-school student.
I kept playing my roleplaying games (eventually for decades), but this ASLRB kept nagging at me. Eventually, I resolved to buy SL, because it looked very similar and had that 'programmed approach' that added rules with each scenario. I thought SL might be something of a 'Starter Kit' for ASL.
It must have been around the summer of 1992, when I finally bought SL. I played the first three scenarios, that could be combined into one and that finally did me in. I concluded that it would be best to start with 'the real thing' from the start. Meanwhile I had also bought CoI,CdG, AoV, but actually never used them. By now, I had signed up at university and had some more funds than during my high-school times.
It must have been around the fall of 1992 when I bought the ASLRB and BV, the rest is history.
von Marwitz