Delux ASL

kcdusk

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I always thought DASL would be well received, bigger hexes making the game easier. But reading some threads here it sounds like DASL was frowned upon.

Whats the story? And which do you prefer?

Is it because larger hexes meant there was less fighting/manouvre room?

Or were DASL maps paper instead of mounted?
 

Commissar Piotr

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Hi Guys

I think that DASL is awesome but as you point out there is less room for broad maneuvers.
I have to say that there is a very nice feel to DASL scenarios, especially in Bocage or in city-fights.
There is also lots to be learned regarding close quarter fighting in DASL.
Two things I think makes people not as enthusiastic as they should be (IMO) is that the board is easily crowded and hard to grasp LOS and such due to the different scale and I also think people do not understand how to handle Wall Advantage correctly, which is in my opinion simpler in DASL than in standard ASL.
DASL, way to go!
 

kcdusk

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how can DASL be more crowded? Bigger hexs = less crowding i would have thought???

and how would wall advantage be different in DASL verse normal?

LOS perspective i can understand being different, but not wall advantage.
 

Patrocles

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kcdusk said:
I always thought DASL would be well received, bigger hexes making the game easier. But reading some threads here it sounds like DASL was frowned upon.

Whats the story? And which do you prefer?

Is it because larger hexes meant there was less fighting/manouvre room?

Or were DASL maps paper instead of mounted?
oh yeah, i recall DASL and I liked the few battles fought on the boards...wasn't one DASL somefink 1/4 the size of a regular ASL board (in terms of hexes)?

I preferred the DASL boards over the ASL boards for the ease of use and seeing counters in the hex.

Yeah, I did not like the DASL boards due to their manuever restriction (wasn't one DASL board somefink like 1/4 the area size of an ASL board..in terms of hexes?).

and didn't AH have a tie-in with GHQ minatures to sell scenario packs? iirc, you would buy a special GHQ minature pack for a specific DASL scenario or it had a scenario included in the pack..
 

Commissar Piotr

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Hi Guys

Regarding WA in DASL:
You can claim/retain WA over just a part of a hex walls in DASL, that is the difference.

In close quarters figthing, especially city fights with wind there is a lot of smoke and on a small area even if not in hex size and that makes it a lot harder to actually see what is going on.
Some of these things becomes easier in VASL and some becomes harder in VASL.
 

Commissar Piotr

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Hi Guys

The DASL scale was made so that GHQ miniatures could be used with the DASL boards.
I have never before heard or seen anything about getting a scenario when you buy GHQ miniatures.
 

SamB

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I didn't immediately take to DASL because it seems that I had just bought the entire Squad Leader series, then I was buying the Advanced Squad Leader series, and then they suggested I get yet another set of maps for Deluxe.

Seemed like a grab for my cash at the time.

Of course, I bought it anyway. :eek:

That said, Deluxe is nice for in-close city fights. You know, where you have 20 squads in 6 hexes slugging it out toe to toe.

Sam
 

chris_olden

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SamB said:
That said, Deluxe is nice for in-close city fights. You know, where you have 20 squads in 6 hexes slugging it out toe to toe.

Sam
*cough*to the last man*cough*;)
co
 

JRKrejsa

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Yes, they are nice. No stack tipping!

Yes, there is less room to move around, but that is the nature of urban or bocage fighting.

HOB even published a DASL board, unmounted, in last years Recon By Fire.

The original boards, a-d city, and e-h normandy, are mounted.
 

Watson

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DASL is kind of a paradox to me. Yes, you can spread your units out and feel like they are taking up more realistic positions than in an amorphous clump in the middle of a hex. But then LOS is traced to the same point in the hex so that they are really just in a big clump anyway. Then there is the issue that more apparent space on the mapboard actually translates into less room for maneuver.

Having said that, I still like DASL for the reasons others have stated: the claustrophobic flavor it gives to city fights. It would have been fun to see a PTO DASL "rumble in the jungle" kind of module but I doubt that would be economically feasible.
 
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JRKrejsa said:
HOB even published a DASL board, unmounted, in last years Recon By Fire.
Bounding Fire Productions published other DASL board in its module Hell on Wheels as well.

JRKrejsa said:
The original boards, a-d city, and e-h normandy, are mounted.
AH published unmounted versions of maps a-h too

Jesus
 

da priest

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Commissar Piotr said:
...I have never before heard or seen anything about getting a scenario when you buy GHQ miniatures.
There was such an animal way back when..died when DASL died......:bandit:

Dasl's dead, Jim......live with it.:dead:
 
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kcdusk said:
I always thought DASL would be well received, bigger hexes making the game easier. But reading some threads here it sounds like DASL was frowned upon.

Whats the story? And which do you prefer?

I don't think it's frowned upon (maybe by some). DASL is just a different ASL experience: kind of like how the Pacific is different from ETO, DTO is different from ETO/PTO, river crossings are different from urban fights, night is different from daylight, etc...


da priest said:
Dasl's dead, Jim......live with it.:dead:Yesterday 20:29

DASL might be dead, but I don't see any reason why it can't be resurrected at some future date. I betcha if a test Preorder P# was run for SOF & HH it'd show a good response.
 
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LDM

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The biggest problem with the DASL is the size: there is not much room for manuver. 'Course, its city fights or bocage so not a big deal. I have it and use it for new players to get a feel for 'small scale'. And I have alot of the GHQ stuff but I use that on plywood with klenex and towels for terrain.I go 1" to the hex. It allows me to break in the minies players and perhaps create a convert.:crosseye:
 
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LDM said:
The biggest problem with the DASL is the size: there is not much room for manuver.
True, but typically I don't want anyone maneuvering around my flanks,
;)
although doing it to someone else is perfectly fine
:)
 

Richard Weiley

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As I recall, from statements in the General and/or the early Annuals, DASL was dropped because sales were disappointing. The modules were quite expensive for what they contained (4 maps and 8 scenarios) and consequently didn't move off the shelf as well as expected.
 
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Richard Weiley said:
As I recall, from statements in the General and/or the early Annuals, DASL was dropped because sales were disappointing. The modules were quite expensive for what they contained (4 maps and 8 scenarios) and consequently move off the shelf as well as expected.
I think, though, if the same thing was done today the cost factor could be quite different. Consider the advantages:

1) no counters [the half countersheet from HH is not needed, since those counters pretty much exist in some form or fashion now].
2) sk style maps can be used.
3) AFV cards are not needed.

So, basically, we'd have just have deluxe-sk maps and scenarios. A box wouldn't even be needed, instead just market it as a SOF "packet" (for example) where a "packet" is just a 9"X12" (or whatever) manila envelope containing 4 deluxe-sk mapsheets and 20 (or so) scenarios (scenario #s can certainly be beefed up with reworked OOP ones). This would certainly reduce costs considerably (even $20/$30 seems feasible). MMP could also save stock space via this approach (you can certainly stock 1500 deluxe "packets" in the same amount of space that 100 BV3s would take up). Not much playtesting needed since all the scenarios are done already (maybe just some "tweaking" for unbalanced scenarios etc...).

Some of the best ASL scenarios I've ever played were Deluxe. I'd love to see it back in print & reenter the mainstream ASL scene again, better yet, see some new dx boards & scenarios added as well (i.e. more packets, even a PTO "packet").

btw: there's no need to go the miniature route with it, though I suppose that option could be left open for those preferring miniatures.
 

countermanCX

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My old ftf group went for DASL in a big way. We used ctrs for Infantry & markers, and had quite a selection of vehicle & gun miniatures - both GHQ and cheep plastic, in various stages of paint. Our host worked a late shift at a 24-hr Kinkette's joint, it seemed he just worked there in order to do 'government jobs' on the color-xerox and laminate machines - every Friday we'd show up at his house, repair to the basement, and he'd have another mapboard 'blown up' to DASL size, sealed in heavy plastic.
 

jimfer

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I've listened to the arguements about the size and lack of manuever. Those of you that have played those scenarios know they were for the most part excellent and Fun! I luv'em and suggest to the newbies to get em and play them.

Jimfer
 

Glennbo

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DASL will not be "dead" as long as people keep playing it. New DASL scenarios are still being published. MMP could make a killing by simply publishing a few, new, "official" boards. The East Side Gamers will always include at least one new DASL scenario in every "Dezign Pak"...our first had two. A Japanese Deluxe Module with new boards would probably be a huge seller. :)
 
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