East Front Project Q from a ASL newbie

[word_virs]

Heyyyy,

Recently took the plunge and picked up the ASL rulebook and BV after being introduced to the system through the Starter Kits. I was wondering if you had any idea yet how much of this future East Front product will be playable with just the maps/counter mix from Beyond Valor? It sounds like a 'must buy' for me... unless I gotta track down a half-dozen out-of-print modules on eBay to play most of it What were the dependencies for the original Onslaught to Orscha?

Thanks!

 

[wrongway149]

Heyyyy,

Recently took the plunge and picked up the ASL rulebook and BV after being introduced to the system through the Starter Kits. I was wondering if you had any idea yet how much of this future East Front product will be playable with just the maps/counter mix from Beyond Valor? It sounds like a 'must buy' for me... unless I gotta track down a half-dozen out-of-print modules on eBay to play most of it What were the dependencies for the original Onslaught to Orscha?

Thanks!

I think you will want more maps.

 

[Bryan Holtby]

OtO should be playable with BV alone, however you wont have near enough tanks for the Russian hordes.

 

[Gunner Scott]

Hi-

I think you just need BV for OtO since aircraft are provided in OtO and ch E is included in the 2E ASLRB.


Scott

 

[Jazz]

Yeah, you will probably need more maps than what is in BV.

Of course, now that the map set is in print at MMP, it is kind of a mute point?

 

[Paul M. Weir]

For HoB's original OtO you will need boards 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 32, 33, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48 and 49.

From a quick scan of the scenarios the only counter lacking is an extra Hornisse, 5 are needed in 1 scenario. The few Lend Lease AFV used are included with OtO. Most scenarios are fairly small in terms of numbers of the same vehicles or squads.

Apart from BV the only thing required is the map pack, which is a good idea (if expensive) if you are just getting into ASL. Until core modules are reprinted the lack of maps is going to be the thing that is going to limit you in playing stuff from Journals, APs and TPP stuff. You might find it cheaper to buy the map pack now rather than hunting OOP modules, for maps, on ebay.

You will be limited by counters (nationalities) of course. The British (FKaC, maps 6, 7, 10, 12-15 and 32) and Japanese+Chinese+US Marines (RS, maps 34-39 and 47) will be reprinted moderately soon. Yanks (maps 16-19, but NOT 46) is the only module that I would think about trying to get on ebay. Doomed Battalions (Allied Minors) is still available and has maps 9, 11, 33, 44 and 45 as is AP 3 with maps 24, 42 and 43. AP 4 has 53-55, AP 5 has 56-58, WO 2010 has 59, AP7 has 60-62, WO 2011 has 63 and AP6 has 1a/b-3a/b.

If you have what core modules are available (+AP3) and get FKaC + RS you will have maps 1-15, 20-24, 32-39, 42-45 and 47. 16-19 and 46 will be in Yanks v2, 25-31 (desert) will be in Hollow Legions v3 (Italians), 40-41 in Croix de Guerre v2, 48-51 in Armies of Oblivion (Axis Minors), 52 in HP (Finnish). The APs and WOs will get you 53-63 and 1a/b-3a/b.

If you decide that ASL is really your thing then the best rule is get it while it is in print, if you can afford it.

 

[word_virs]

Hey, Paul

Thanks for your detailed reply. Wow, that's a lotta maps Think that puts this squarely in the 'maybe' category, for now...

For HoB's original OtO you will need boards 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 32, 33, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48 and 49.

From a quick scan of the scenarios the only counter lacking is an extra Hornisse, 5 are needed in 1 scenario. The few Lend Lease AFV used are included with OtO. Most scenarios are fairly small in terms of numbers of the same vehicles or squads.

Apart from BV the only thing required is the map pack, which is a good idea (if expensive) if you are just getting into ASL. Until core modules are reprinted the lack of maps is going to be the thing that is going to limit you in playing stuff from Journals, APs and TPP stuff. You might find it cheaper to buy the map pack now rather than hunting OOP modules, for maps, on ebay.

You will be limited by counters (nationalities) of course. The British (FKaC, maps 6, 7, 10, 12-15 and 32) and Japanese+Chinese+US Marines (RS, maps 34-39 and 47) will be reprinted moderately soon. Yanks (maps 16-19, but NOT 46) is the only module that I would think about trying to get on ebay. Doomed Battalions (Allied Minors) is still available and has maps 9, 11, 33, 44 and 45 as is AP 3 with maps 24, 42 and 43. AP 4 has 53-55, AP 5 has 56-58, WO 2010 has 59, AP7 has 60-62, WO 2011 has 63 and AP6 has 1a/b-3a/b.

If you have what core modules are available (+AP3) and get FKaC + RS you will have maps 1-15, 20-24, 32-39, 42-45 and 47. 16-19 and 46 will be in Yanks v2, 25-31 (desert) will be in Hollow Legions v3 (Italians), 40-41 in Croix de Guerre v2, 48-51 in Armies of Oblivion (Axis Minors), 52 in HP (Finnish). The APs and WOs will get you 53-63 and 1a/b-3a/b.

If you decide that ASL is really your thing then the best rule is get it while it is in print, if you can afford it.

 

[Paul M. Weir]

Hey, Paul

Thanks for your detailed reply. Wow, that's a lotta maps Think that puts this squarely in the 'maybe' category, for now...

I am assuming that you have decided that ASL is your thing. It is a big commitment in time and money, though good value in terms of $/€/£ per hour.

If you will bear with me a little, I will try to give you some pointers about purchase priorities, at least as I see them.

If you want to play, say, the French, then sorry, but you will have to wait 2-3 years for a reprint. Apart from individual nationalities the most limiting item, from the point of any package except BV, will be maps. Even if you have no interest in anything other than Russian Front, you will need most of the maps and possibly overlays. The quickest solution is the map pack which will give you maps 1-52 and t-z but no overlays. Core modules are currently the only source for overlays (there has been some talk about an overlay pack, but to date that's all: talk).

The advice that nearly every poster here will give you is buy whatever MMP module, Action Pack, Journal and HASL/HS that is currently in print, if you can afford it. It typically will be 3+ years between core module reprints and almost never for APs, Journals and HASL/HS. The APs and Winter Offensive packs are the only source for maps after 52. Even if you can only make use of 1/4 of what you can buy now, you will find that as you accumulate more ASL you will find you can use more of what unusable stuff that you already have. Patience is required in this game. The Allied Minors (DB) may not excite you now but I suspect that you will regret not getting it in years to come. The British (FKaC), Japanese/Chinese/US Marines (Rising Sun) and revamped Finns (Haake Paale (sp?)) should be out this year and are fairly much a must have.

In terms of TPP, I regard BFP as the best followed by LFT. There are a lot of scenario pack (only) publishers of which I have bought from Schwerepunkt, Friendly Fire and Lone Canuck and am quite happy with. I have also bought from Critical Hit and have though spotty at times their quality has improved greatly over the last few years.

With regard to OtO and BFP's Eastern Front project, my advice is wait for EF as they have said that it will have everything that OtO has and more. I am not a PTO fan but I did get their B&J and was stunned by both the quality and quantity. They say EF will surpass B&J, but I find that hard to believe, given how good B&J is. I can also thoroughly recommend their ItR, BtB 2, HG 2 and Op. Cobra. Again like MMP stuff, grab whilst available.

The only module I might suggest looking for on ebay is Yanks as it opens up so much in ASL. It will be at least next year before it is reprinted. Both Yanks and Croix De Guerre were the last modules to go OOP and the prices might be reasonable. The reprint of Yanks will, I believe, have an extra board (46) and the Paratroop scenarios compared to the original Yanks, maybe more. Again patience might pay off.

Sorry for rabbiting on but to summarise, grab everything MMP whilst it is print, then, in my opinion, everything BFP followed by selections from LFT.

 

[TopT]

I am assuming that you have decided that ASL is your thing. It is a big commitment in time and money, though good value in terms of $/€/£ per hour.

If you will bear with me a little, I will try to give you some pointers about purchase priorities, at least as I see them.

If you want to play, say, the French, then sorry, but you will have to wait 2-3 years for a reprint. Apart from individual nationalities the most limiting item, from the point of any package except BV, will be maps. Even if you have no interest in anything other than Russian Front, you will need most of the maps and possibly overlays. The quickest solution is the map pack which will give you maps 1-52 and t-z but no overlays. Core modules are currently the only source for overlays (there has been some talk about an overlay pack, but to date that's all: talk).

The advice that nearly every poster here will give you is buy whatever MMP module, Action Pack, Journal and HASL/HS that is currently in print, if you can afford it. It typically will be 3+ years between core module reprints and almost never for APs, Journals and HASL/HS. The APs and Winter Offensive packs are the only source for maps after 52. Even if you can only make use of 1/4 of what you can buy now, you will find that as you accumulate more ASL you will find you can use more of what unusable stuff that you already have. Patience is required in this game. The Allied Minors (DB) may not excite you now but I suspect that you will regret not getting it in years to come. The British (FKaC), Japanese/Chinese/US Marines (Rising Sun) and revamped Finns (Haake Paale (sp?)) should be out this year and are fairly much a must have.

In terms of TPP, I regard BFP as the best followed by LFT. There are a lot of scenario pack (only) publishers of which I have bought from Schwerepunkt, Friendly Fire and Lone Canuck and am quite happy with. I have also bought from Critical Hit and have though spotty at times their quality has improved greatly over the last few years.

With regard to OtO and BFP's Eastern Front project, my advice is wait for EF as they have said that it will have everything that OtO has and more. I am not a PTO fan but I did get their B&J and was stunned by both the quality and quantity. They say EF will surpass B&J, but I find that hard to believe, given how good B&J is. I can also thoroughly recommend their ItR, BtB 2, HG 2 and Op. Cobra. Again like MMP stuff, grab whilst available.

The only module I might suggest looking for on ebay is Yanks as it opens up so much in ASL. It will be at least next year before it is reprinted. Both Yanks and Croix De Guerre were the last modules to go OOP and the prices might be reasonable. The reprint of Yanks will, I believe, have an extra board (46) and the Paratroop scenarios compared to the original Yanks, maybe more. Again patience might pay off.

Sorry for rabbiting on but to summarise, grab everything MMP whilst it is print, then, in my opinion, everything BFP followed by selections from LFT.

the scenario packs are nice to have but if you are playing VASL and wish to play a scenario out of one of these packs, your opponent can scan them to you. There are only a few hundred scenarios like this and heck after a few years of vasl (if you save all the scans) you might have half the scenarios anyways. Right now, TPP are kicking out more ASL products than can be reasonably purchased. It is an expensive hobby but a kicka** game!

When i am talking about scenario packs I am talking East Front Gamers, Scwerpunkt, FF and such.
Not knocking any others but BFP products are a must have

 

[Jazz]

Hey, Paul

Thanks for your detailed reply. Wow, that's a lotta maps Think that puts this squarely in the 'maybe' category, for now...

Just to amplify what Paul has said....

If you really want to get into ASL, NOW is the time to pick up the map pack from MMP. Do note that MMP is not a big enough player to maintain long term inventories of all the core components. Large and important portions of the core system regularly go out of print and stay that way for multiple years before there is another print run.

The same can be said for all the core modules.

This is even more the case with HASL as the only MMP HASL reprint that I am aware of was RB when they added it to BV.

If you don't pick this stuff up when it's availble and continue to play ASL, you will kick yourself.

 

[Spencer Armstrong]

I'll add my voice to Paul and Jazz's. If you're in (and you should know if you are), the Map Bundle will be of huge value to you (and Paul's bang-on about Yanks).

The point I would underscore is that as excellent as BFP is (and they are), if you have to choose between any core module/action pack and any TPP product, buy the core module/action pack. Other things depend on these products, they are the base of the system. TPP stuff is necessarily dependent on offiical stuff, and of the official stuff, core modules and action packs are the real "heart" component-wise.

S

 

[Paul M. Weir]

The point I would underscore is that as excellent as BFP is (and they are), if you have to choose between any core module/action pack and any TPP product, buy the core module/action pack. Other things depend on these products, they are the base of the system. TPP stuff is necessarily dependent on offiical stuff, and of the official stuff, core modules and action packs are the real "heart" component-wise.

Although I did say that:

Sorry for rabbiting on but to summarise, grab everything MMP whilst it is print, then, in my opinion, everything BFP followed by selections from LFT.

Spencer's stronger statement is more appropriate.

The geomorphic boards from BFP (13), LFT (2) and FrF (1) are as good as those from MMP in quality. LFT's counters equal MMP's in quality. It is hard to compare directly BFP's counters to MMP's because BFP's vehicles are coloured and there is a subtle graphical style difference. Ignoring the extra colour there is little to choose in terms of counter quality. BFP scenario sheets are in colour and have coloured mini-maps (with overlays, if any) instead of MMP's blank rectangles for the board layout, a small but very nice and useful touch.

 

[samtyson]

BFP and MMP use the same counter vendor, so the quality of the counters should match. BFP is also switching to non-white core counters from now on, so that issue will be moot.

 

[dlazov]

I'll add on to my positive for the map pack as well. Also if you can get AP7 and WO10 & WO11 you'll have maps 1-63, plus most of the SK maps (if you the SKEK you'll have all the SK maps) so that is 73 maps. If you got AP6 you'll have the 3 a/b maps. Add in the 13 from BFP, 2 from LFT and the 1 from FrF (I forgot how many and of what quality CH geo maps are) ten you have 92 maps and if you add in the 8 DASL maps then you'll have 100 maps! Which I now have (still waiting on AP7, WO11 and SKEK to arrive). Lastly AP8 I think will have 4 more a/b maps for a total of 104, not counting any other new BFP or LFT maps that may be published in the next 11 months...

 

[Spencer Armstrong]

I'll add on to my positive for the map pack as well. Also if you can get AP7 and WO10 & WO11 you'll have maps 1-63, plus most of the SK maps (if you the SKEK you'll have all the SK maps) so that is 73 maps. If you got AP6 you'll have the 3 a/b maps. Add in the 13 from BFP, 2 from LFT and the 1 from FrF (I forgot how many and of what quality CH geo maps are) ten you have 92 maps and if you add in the 8 DASL maps then you'll have 100 maps! Which I now have (still waiting on AP7, WO11 and SKEK to arrive). Lastly AP8 I think will have 4 more a/b maps for a total of 104, not counting any other new BFP or LFT maps that may be published in the next 11 months...

Map Bundle only goes to 52... If you want 1-63, you need APs 4, 5 and 7 as well as the WOBPs. 1x-3x are in AP6, as Don notes.

S

 

[dlazov]

Whoops forgot about AP3-7 ...

 

[JRKrejsa]

the scenario packs are nice to have but if you are playing VASL and wish to play a scenario out of one of these packs, your opponent can scan them to you. There are only a few hundred scenarios like this and heck after a few years of vasl (if you save all the scans) you might have half the scenarios anyways. Right now, TPP are kicking out more ASL products than can be reasonably purchased. It is an expensive hobby but a kicka** game!

When i am talking about scenario packs I am talking East Front Gamers, Scwerpunkt, FF and such.
Not knocking any others but BFP products are a must have

Not all that expensive in my opinion. At least, not compared to my friends whos hobbies are motorcycles, RVs, or Poker...

 

[Paul M. Weir]

The quickest solution is the map pack which will give you maps 1-52 and t-z but no overlays. Core modules are currently the only source for overlays (there has been some talk about an overlay pack, but to date that's all: talk).

It looks like I will have to eat my words about overlays. There is an announcement on MMP's site about an overlay pack in preparation. That, in combination with the map pack will cover everything but the nationality counters & chapter F, G, H for those who do not have all core modules.

 

[Pitman]

Yeah, you will probably need more maps than what is in BV.

Of course, now that the map set is in print at MMP, it is kind of a mute point?

I wish a lot more ASL points were mute.

 

[Pitman]

Typically, BFP products are for veteran ASL players. That is, although they can theoretically be played by anybody, the products assume that you are a veteran ASL player who has acquired the bulk of the counters and maps out there, like any good ASL player should, let me add.