How did you aquire your ASL collection

Loquitor

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Seeing Ebay and prices elsewhere for ASL stuff and knowing how many things are out of print I thought this would be an interesting topic.

I first was interested in ASL in 1997-1998 but did not have the money to invest and then there was the whole AH situation.

In 2001 my local game shop had a buy one get one free sale and had all of the ASL mods. (oh the good old days). I mean they had everything except for Sof and RB I bought the all the modules from BV to DB along with the rule book. Needless to say I got everything at about 1/2 price.

The next year I bought all the Historic Mods at the same sale. It use to be a yearly event.

With all the saving I had made I was able to buy the oop stuff. Earlier this year I found a second copy of Journal 2 and traded it for an unpunched copy of ToT#3.
 

graydo

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Waited for the initial release of Beyond Valor and the rulebook and bought them on release. Bought most of the other modules on release except Doomed Battalions (was out of country for a few years) and made the mistake of partially selling West of Alamein. Watching ebay now I'm very glad I did, most of my acquisitions are the Annuals, some of which I'd missed, and the Journals.

dave

Loquitor said:
Seeing Ebay and prices elsewhere for ASL stuff and knowing how many things are out of print I thought this would be an interesting topic.

I first was interested in ASL in 1997-1998 but did not have the money to invest and then there was the whole AH situation.

In 2001 my local game shop had a buy one get one free sale and had all of the ASL mods. (oh the good old days). I mean they had everything except for Sof and RB I bought the all the modules from BV to DB along with the rule book. Needless to say I got everything at about 1/2 price.

The next year I bought all the Historic Mods at the same sale. It use to be a yearly event.

With all the saving I had made I was able to buy the oop stuff. Earlier this year I found a second copy of Journal 2 and traded it for an unpunched copy of ToT#3.
 

Aries

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95% of my collection was bought within weeks of it first going on sale.

Ahh the good ole days when I had a real source of income hehe.

By the time I got Pegasus Bridge the finances sucked, and I was living in a retail zone not conducive to easy purchases.

I have missed a few modules from the last couple of years sadly that I need to catch up on.
 

The Doctor

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This is probably too 'old timey' and not ASL, just plain Squad Leader, but I was hooked on the original Avalon Hill Squad Leader back in the late '70s. I bought Squad Leader, Crescendo of Doom, Cross of Iron and Anvil of Victory from my local hobby shop. Unfortunately they've been packed up in a box since about 1991.
 

purdyrc

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I started in SL and jumped to ASL this year. I got the starter kit at my local game store then got BV and the rulebook off of E-bay. I picked up Partisan, WoA, LH, and RB off of e-bay as well. Purchased Paratrooper, FKaC, and Yanks online. But the best pick-up by far was CoB and GH. I was in Charlottesville on vacation and wandered into a thrift store. Looking through the old toys and games section, I came across CoB and GH mint in SW for $20 each! :surprise:

- Rick
 

Pfc TAZ

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I too played SL - GI in the heady days of the 1980s. I bought the ASLRB and BV on the original release (almost DIED waiting for the UPS man to arrive!). I bought all the mods up to Hollow Legions when they were originally relelased. I loved the game and had a regular opponent (my old SL opp) at the time. He moved in 1991 and I stopped playing. Fortunately, I still bought all the new modules and a ton of TPP over the years thinking "Maybe I'll start playing ASL again someday."

Now I am starting to play again -- no regular opponent though. VASL is in my future. Seeing the insanity on Ebay these days makes me glad I stayed interested in the system at the time.
 

kilometers

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I too started to play SL back in the late seventies, but only solitaire because I didn't have an opponet. Then I moved to ND in the early eighties and found a guy who wanted to learn the game. I picked up all of the SL modules along the way, and then ordered BV and the ASLRB long before they were was released. I got BV about six months before the RB finally arrived, and then I have bought all of the modules as they have come out. A couple of years ago I purchased a copy of the ASLRBv2. Like others, I am glad I have kept up with the releases because I couldn't afford to build the same collection I have now at the inflated prices I see them go for on E-Bay.
 

Legion

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My parents bought me SL when i was just 14 (21 years ago), thought i neded to get out more and that going to the local war games club was a good idea (this was WAY before PC's were around).

Changed up to ASL as soon as it came out and struggled with the rules and playing partners until about 12 years ago...

And with the advent of VASl i have been able to get my fix any time, day or night!

I am poor and the ASL stuff has been (until Reepicheep came along) expensive and hard to get... so it has been a matter of buying what i can when i could...
 

freightshaker

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kilometers said:
I too started to play SL back in the late seventies, but only solitaire because I didn't have an opponet. Then I moved to ND in the early eighties and found a guy who wanted to learn the game. I picked up all of the SL modules along the way, and then ordered BV and the ASLRB long before they were was released. I got BV about six months before the RB finally arrived, and then I have bought all of the modules as they have come out. A couple of years ago I purchased a copy of the ASLRBv2. Like others, I am glad I have kept up with the releases because I couldn't afford to build the same collection I have now at the inflated prices I see them go for on E-Bay.
Have almost the same story here. Where in ND are you? I grew up in Grafton. I don't play anymore but who knows, maybe someday I'll pick it up again.
 

Priest

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I was one of these guys who when ASL first came out vowed that I would never buy it. By 1997 I saw the handwritting on the wall, that if I wanted to play a squad level tactical game...that, that game would have to be ASL. Of course, by that time AH was out of ASL products and being bought up by Hasbro. I had heard that MMP was planning to continue tha ASL line I followed it's progress until MMP had a number of ASL products for sale and bought as many as I could.
 

mkirschenbaum

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Played SL and all the gamettes back in the eighties.

Got back into the hobby a year or so ago, swore I'd just stick with SL.

Saw Rulebook and BV on eBay at a price too good to ignore, swore that those two things would be more than enough to hold me. Who needs allied minors or PTO? Maybe I'd pick up Yanks or Paratrooper to round out the big three.

At least $1000 later, swore to my wife I wouldn't buy a Porsche when I turn forty.

I've gotten nearly everything from eBay, the CSW marketplace, and online game stores. Had I bid on a complete collection at the outset I suspect I could have gotten what I have now for about half to 2/3 the outlay.
 

sgtono

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In 1991, I had almost every Avalon Hill product there was. But I was making just above mininum wage and the family was starting to get bigger - 4 daughters. I knew I had to go back to college and ASL was in the way. So I threw it away, I still remember watching the boxes fly to the bottom of the dump.

In October 2003, with a good paying job and the kids out of the house. I was cruising the internet and ran into a site called MMP. The ASL fever was back stronger than ever before. I paid $200 for Alamein, $150 for ASLRBv1, and everything else that was available. I figure that day at the dump cost me thousands :surprise: more than the original less than a $1000 that it had orginally cost me. :cry:

But now I have the means to enjoy gaming better than before. :cheeky:

Keith
 

Chris Milne

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Started back in 1989, at the tender age of 13. ASL was my first non-solitaire wargame, and it took me a year to convince my parents to get me BV for Christmas if I bought the rulebook. Gradually accumulated everything up to CoB in the early 90s until I stopped in 1993 (hmm, 17 years of age, what could have caused that?)

Missed out on the early TPP years, and got back into ASL (and other wargames) about 4 years ago now when I took a year off work (and found VASL). Bought all of my ASL gear from stores or direct from publishers; always managed to get things before they started needing an ebay account, so I consider myself lucky.
 

The Doctor

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kilometers said:
I too started to play SL back in the late seventies, but only solitaire because I didn't have an opponet. Then I moved to ND in the early eighties and found a guy who wanted to learn the game. I picked up all of the SL modules along the way, and then ordered BV and the ASLRB long before they were was released. I got BV about six months before the RB finally arrived, and then I have bought all of the modules as they have come out. A couple of years ago I purchased a copy of the ASLRBv2. Like others, I am glad I have kept up with the releases because I couldn't afford to build the same collection I have now at the inflated prices I see them go for on E-Bay.
I thin I've only played Squad Leader against an actual human opponent (other than myself) once. It was one of the basic Squad Leader Scenarios where the Germans had to hold a ridgeline against the Soviets. We pretty well fought to the last man...one of my Leaders (wish I remembered his name & rank) took out a T-34 with a panzer faust. The disabled tank blocked the exit route, preventing his troops from achieving their objective by the turn number required. That was back in the Summer of 1979 or '80 when I was a mere college kid, as opposed to the reactionary right-wing old fart I am today!
 

cujo8-1

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I bought everything from Avalon Hill up to Croix De Guerre. I then took a ten year break.

After getting back into the game a year ago, I have since purchased the two Action Packs, A Bridge To Far and all the Journals (except #2) at a local gamestore, Doomed Battalions from MMP, the 97 Annual and Pegasus Bridge off of e-bay and have the second edition rulebook and Armies of Oblivion on pre-order.

My head hurts :eek: .
 

Johnny Canuck

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In early 2003, after getting kind of tired of online cheaters and lamers, I thought I'd try a different approach to gaming. A board game!!

I did some research, which ended up at:

- Squad Leader
- Axis and Allies
- Warhammer


1) Squad Leader was out of print. There was a later edition of it, which was also out of print, and somewhat confusing to understand.

2) Axis and Allies satisified my need for WWII, but was probably too simple.

3) Warhammer looked fun, but was quite expensive, and time consuming to paint. It also wasn't WWII based.


Conclusion:

Warhammer!!

I bought a Warhammer 40K starter set, and my son and I proceeded to paint away and started to play games. I found, however that his 250 point army could crush mine with ease, the scenarios weren't balanced for gameplay and that the rules were somewhat unclear. As my son continued on with Warhammer, I went back for more research.

After a LOT of reading, I ended up at ASL, and started to get immersed in it for the next year. I bought ALL the core components and some HASL's via:

- MMP
- EBay
- Through ASLML acquaintances

I ended up creating the following chart in order to track module pricing during my acquisition phase:

http://www.tuline.com/board/aslprices.htm

Today, I am now playing Warhammer with my son, as he won't take up ASL. I'm also continuing to learn and play ASL with the use of VASL.
 

gorm

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Purchased most of the earlier modules back in the 80's. (BV thru WoA)

More recently have been using the gamer's armory and eBay for OOP stuff and given the eBay pricing am kicking myself for not keeping up with the hobby as the modules were released. :OHNO:

Cheers,
Jeff
 

WaterRabbit

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Legion said:
My parents bought me SL when i was just 14 (21 years ago), thought i neded to get out more and that going to the local war games club was a good idea (this was WAY before PC's were around).

Changed up to ASL as soon as it came out and struggled with the rules and playing partners until about 12 years ago...

And with the advent of VASl i have been able to get my fix any time, day or night!

I am poor and the ASL stuff has been (until Reepicheep came along) expensive and hard to get... so it has been a matter of buying what i can when i could...
I think you need to lay off the crack pipe there Legion. I picked up SL in 1979 and had been playing computer games for a year. By '83 the PC was coming on strong. :D

I started in '79 with SL/COI. I picked up every other official SL/ASL product the month it has come out except for the starter kit and FKaC. So, I guess I acquired my ASL collection the old fashioned way.
 

Loquitor

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I graduated High school in 1983 and I only remember the Com 64 having any type of games and they were primative.
 
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