Favorite Mission(s)?

Barking Monkey

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With a rerelease of SASL apparently in the wings, I thought this might be a good time to see which missions are players favorites.
1. Official 'core' mission set from the boxed/bagged game:
  • #12 "Besieged" I've played this one 3 times and although they've all been wins they've been by very thin margins, so I don't know that there's really a balance issue. My playings have all been tense, with a definite 'Fort Apache' feel as the ENEMY attacks from multiple directions. This is definitely my favorite of the "Advance Attitude Enemy" missions.
  • #13 "The Bridge": I love the creativity in this mission and there's real pressure in deciding when to blow the bridge. I seem to have a disproportionate number of 'weird' events in this one. (I lost the 1st playing when both of my demo charges failed to breach the bridge despite needing to roll, if I recall, '10' or less.)
  • #3 "Recon": This one has some balance issues (I'm 7 wins v 2 losses and one of the losses was after I instituted a handicap for this mission). Nonetheless I really like playing it. There's a lot of flow as you taxi your boys around and it gets interesting in the late game when you're weighing whether to add one more board or not.
2. Published missions from other products (I'm including the VOTG stuff here since MMP have posted it to their site):
- OTO-S2 "The Crossroads": I've gushed about this one before, but it's really the best of the "historical" SASL missions I've tried. I've only played it once, but thanks to using geo-boards it should have quite a bit of replayability. The author doesn't fall into the trap of trying to 'control' the balance by limiting the RE values, but rather embraces the chaos. After trying my hand at converting standard scenarios to SASL a number of times I believe this is the way to go. Also, Cavalry!

3. Fan produced missions:
I've only played around 5 of these, all but one of them only once, but from that limited array the winner for me is
- "Rescue": This one was on the Lubbin site and authored by Ken Scheer. A creative mission that seems reasonably balanced. The player has to be careful about how he activates the trapped guys as things spring into high gear when the last one is activated - there's some extra danger since your campaign guys have to stick around for awhile in an increasingly hostile environment.
 

Honosbinda

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Sorry, I missed your gushing about OTO-S2 in the past! I like what you have to say about this mission and particularly interested in converting standard scenarios to SASL -- so you're saying this particular pruduction took a crack at that and solved it (at least for that scenario?). Can you elaborate on how 'this is the way to go' for cross-pollination of SASL with ASL (or HASL)?
I don't know where to find this particular mission - does it come with OTO?
 

Barking Monkey

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No, OTO-S2 does not convert a standard mission. It is an original SASL mission that comes with Onslaught to Orsha. I have separately converted ASL scenarios to SASL, with mixed results, though you get better at it with practice. I mostly play dedicated SASL missions b/c dedicated SASL missions usually give a better game, though I've quite enjoyed a couple of the scenarios I've converted. Also, even when you don't get a decent mission from it, it's an interesting and educational exercise. Also, only a minority of standard ASL scenarios lend themselves to SASL (vehicles on both sides = Nope, too many vehicles = Nope, Exit victory conditions = Nope, etc.)
 

Honosbinda

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Thanks for the swift reply. When converting, I was thinking the best way would be to use the command rules for each side and add a few turns, perhaps some 7-0s to act as 'runners' to enlarge command radius and get round the problem of distributing command. Radio communications could also be used for the same purpse.. The other thing to add, of course, would be the random events for each side. Just a few ideas to throw around.

Also, the last time I played the 42 Russians, I noticed that they barely have a chance. I understand that the designer slimmed down the company to reflect the reduction in force related to the devastation of Russian forces in 1941, but it's a bit much. Do you have a favorite company to work with? Obviously nice to work with Americans with 3 smoke exponent and huge squad firepower compared to playing an Axis minor squad!
 

Barking Monkey

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The early war Russians have two huge strikes against them: ELR '2' and only two leaders. Two leader companies are VERY tough to succeed with. ELR '2' is similarly crushing - I think when I played my Russian company I just allowed the directly-attached units to have ELR 3 and only used '2' for temporarily attached elements. All this is part of the reason I developed the variant to spend ENEMY CVP for company improvements (like an extra leader or ELR boost.)

The Americans are challenging to play b/c they are so prone to ELR degrading due to the low base morale. Your company tends to lose quality as the campaign goes on unless you can string together a couple easy missions in a row now and then.

I don't know that they are my 'favorite' but I've found the Germans the easiest to succeed with.

Because of the way they are designed to work in the game I've found the Japanese to be impossible to sustain against anyone but the Chinese and, conversely, one of the toughest to face as the ENEMY. One of the SASL lessons I've learned is you should ALWAYS be trying to avoid CC.

If I had to pick a favorite nationality to play it might be the Free French.
 

daniel zucker

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2. Published missions from other products (I'm including the VOTG stuff here since MMP have posted it to their site):
- OTO-S2 "The Crossroads": I've gushed about this one before, but it's really the best of the "historical" SASL missions I've tried. I've only played it once, but thanks to using geo-boards it should have quite a bit of replayability. The author doesn't fall into the trap of trying to 'control' the balance by limiting the RE values, but rather embraces the chaos. After trying my hand at converting standard scenarios to SASL a number of times I believe this is the way to go. Also, Cavalry!
Thank you for this extremely favorable review of the Mission. If I remember correctly from conversations with Chad, the Cossack's were; within the Soviet regime; a chaotic group. Basically Red Army command pointed them in a direction suggested what was wanted (e.g. Military Orders) and let them go. It was rather easy to design with this guidance's. I did want to make a geo-board with crossroad as a requirement, but it the end a town is as good as farm with a road next to it. Also Because of the nature of the battle depicted within the OTO module. I felt that anything that was available to both army's could happen apron the action was possible. This Mission could be taking place on the flank, in the van, or behind lines.
It's been a looooooog time since I've played this one.
 

ParaMarine

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I really do like them all and although I sometimes pick certain scenarios to go with my campaign narrative, I wouldn’t ignore any of them.

I do ignore the naval assault ones for now. I need to get them learned and I probably will eventually. Maybe a Black Sea landing I’ll do.
 
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