I love the combination of model building and ASL that one gets when taking the plunge into using historically painted 6mm / 1/285th scale micro-armor and ASL.
here are some of the challenges I've run into over the two decades of combining my love of miniatures with ASL:
1). Playing with the microarmor on the flat Deluxe boards leaves one wondering why not just use cardboard counters. To make the minis really come alive in a game one needs 3D terrain. I've experimented with everything from cloth game mats to 3" hex-based terrain and while it looks great, there is the time/ expense of creating the terrain and the additional set up time for playing a scenario.
2). Lack of DASL scenarios with a "reasonable" map scale. By this I mean scenarios with less than two Deluxe boards because after translating that into 3D terrain scale at a 3 or 4 inch hex size the playing table gets rather large - and setup time increases as well.
3). Lack of DASL scenarios outside of the Normandy bocage (ie Busting the Bocage) that use a non-city setting. I prefer playing miniature games that don't require a lot of multi- story buildings simply for the visual effect. Most 6mm buildings don't allow units to be placed inside them, much less on different levels since one then has to use some sort of of "level" counters and "inside" markers which clutter up a miniatures game. I would love to see Eastern European / Russian settings along the lines of the Russians trying to crack the Mannerheim line or the a Russin forward detachment overpowering and holding a critical hilltop or bridge. These are both examples of close- in fights that DASL can excel at given it's compressed geographic scale.
Now that I've retired from the US Army, I am getting back into both painting the large backlog of microarmor I've accumulated and playing ASL and other 6mm scale WW2 games. If anyone is working on DASL scenarios or wants to compare notes on terrain, rules conversion, or anything else please contact me.
Matt Zajac
