Hatten In Flames

[JR Brackin]

I have not had chance to play this - but should be able to this Friday. The scenarios all look interesting with minimal SSRs ( even including the overall Hatten rules which are 1 page). They all seem to have some interesting attack and defense options.

The idea that this is town, providing open areas is very appealing.

The CG has some nice qualities.
1) The units do not come depleted and have equipment and leaders assigned where applicable.
2) The turns are mostly preset with an option of an additional turn dependent upon what the defender chose in the Initiative Phase.
3) Mostly it is designed to get in there and battle with a little less on the in-between items.

Do not take this as a negative - it is refreshing to have minimal Elite units with the concentration on 1st and 2nd Line units. This is something most HASL's do not have. Basically this is a battle with average units who made up a lot of WWII combat since the Elite units could not be everywhere.

It is nice to see the balance between infantry and armor also. It should prove to be tough on the casualties, but that is good also.

Overall what I have seen looks excellent and should provide some interesting opportunities.

 

[JRKrejsa]

The map is of a new material too. Not quite paper, and not quite the shiny, overly rippy stuff. In other words, nice. I hope MMP will continue to use this material for maps.

 

[JR Brackin]

I played my first scenario in this last Saturday - see the post in the AAR section under 21st Brackin Basement Bash for details. I can say that it did not disappoint and went down to the last CC.

 

[GamerKirk]

I've been playing ASL and SL for about 45 years, although surely not always correctly or well, and have most of the original releases and some of the post AH stuff and after playing one day of CGI, this may very well be a very close competitor to Red Barricades as regards to overall fun, combined arms, and both tactical and strategic decision-making.

And in some ways, because of the viability of getting through a CG without having to commit to a year of playing a few times a month, it's better.

It's got what I like in an ASL game, village environment in Europe with purchase options, attack options, variable scenario length to avoid the bum's rush at the end, preservation of force issues, a range of troop quality, OBA, AFVs, and the ability of both sides to be on the defensive and offensive during a CG. Components are good, and besides my preference for mounted boards of the past, a very usable and legible large hex mapboard, great for us grognards.

So far so good, hopefully the game meets my expectations over the next 4 CG days, I do recommend this as a well-written and interesting historical simulation for ASL. Kudos to those involved!