how often do you take a break from ASL?

Mr Incredible

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Took a break when I was at uni and then got married. Was probably for about 7 or so years I drifted out of the hobby back in the late 1980s to early 1990s.

Can not get enough since then.
 

hongkongwargamer

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Nobody has mentioned taking a break from ASL in order to play other games. I have seen it said on various forums that ASL has a tendency to become the one and only game for some people but I find that incredible given the huge number of other excellent game designs out there. Do you guys only play ASL? Maybe that has to be the case if you want to reach and maintain a certain competitive standard but it seems a high price to pay.

Only ASL. Apart from a few rounds of GMT Downtown in between.
 

Honza

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Nobody has mentioned taking a break from ASL in order to play other games. I have seen it said on various forums that ASL has a tendency to become the one and only game for some people but I find that incredible given the huge number of other excellent game designs out there. Do you guys only play ASL? Maybe that has to be the case if you want to reach and maintain a certain competitive standard but it seems a high price to pay.
ASL is the only wargame I play. Otherwise I dabble in chess and would love to do some D&D roleplaying too.
 

Sarjent Mike

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ASL is the only wargame I play. Otherwise I dabble in chess and would love to do some D&D roleplaying too.
It's been 11 years since last I broke out the boxes. There is hope; I just pre-ordered the new Stalingrad HASL.

Been playing lots of cribbage with my family.
 

von Marwitz

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Nobody has mentioned taking a break from ASL in order to play other games. I have seen it said on various forums that ASL has a tendency to become the one and only game for some people but I find that incredible given the huge number of other excellent game designs out there. Do you guys only play ASL? Maybe that has to be the case if you want to reach and maintain a certain competitive standard but it seems a high price to pay.
I think your impression is not correct. There are many people around here that play other games beside ASL - other wargames, Eurogames, whatever.

The point is that ASL - being as complex as it is - requires tons of time to grasp, let alone to play reasonably well, not even thinking of mastering it.

Almost all other games are simpler. If you take the average Eurogame, you can learn it in an evening. Such simpler games, while some of them are really good and can keep one busy and content for quite some time, still are in a different category: If you play Catan for 30 years, you can be *very* sure you've seen everything. Not so in ASL. So for most Eurogames you play them for a while and move on to the next one with the exception of a few favorites that you might come back to now and then.

For my part I played and mastered RPGs for decades. And now and then I play Eurogames. But it appears to be the 'complicated' games to which I stick.

von Marwitz
 

volgaG68

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It's been 11 years since last I broke out the boxes.
I know where Black Forest is. A few players on here from 'Springs and Pueblo, and of course the Denver area. Shouldn't have a problem finding some local area player(s) to help get you back in fighting shape.
 

rdw5150

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Greetings!

My FtF gaming buddy and I are playing our first ASL (the game we started with and played more or less exclusively for years) in probably 18 months. We played other games.

My VASSAL buddy and I take very occasional breaks for stuff but ASL is still our main gig (though I see some MBT in our future).

So, I am rarely ASL free. But if I took 4-6 months off, I would miss it less than I would have 5 years ago. I enjoy other games, especially ones not as complicated.

Peace

Roger
 

Tuomo

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I know where Black Forest is. A few players on here from 'Springs and Pueblo, and of course the Denver area. Shouldn't have a problem finding some local area player(s) to help get you back in fighting shape.
For some reason the nucleus of activity in Front Range ASL seems to center around northern Denver; like you said, there are folks in South Denver and south of there, but they're rarely seen north of Colfax.

I'll reach out to Sarjent Mike and see if we can hook him up with Russ Curry and FRASL.
 

Bill Cirillo

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Hmmm...the vast majority of my ASL playing now only occurs at 4 ASL tournaments: Winter Offensive (January), Bitter Ender (April-ish), ASLOK (October), and Albany (December). In between, I usually don't play more than a handful of ASL games (I've only managed to play one scenario since Winter Offensive). So, my main ASL "season" is October through April. On the good news front, I have played a TON of non-ASL games, mostly Euros over the last several years, given that we now have a great local gaming group. I have really enjoyed these non-ASL game as the vast majority are great strategic and tactical level decision analysis puzzles involving a variety of game mechanics and themes.

ASL is simply an awesome game system, but much like the golden age of micro-brews, there is a world full of really great games, both visually and mechanically that have been developed over the last decade.

Bill
 

volgaG68

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For some reason the nucleus of activity in Front Range ASL seems to center around northern Denver; like you said, there are folks in South Denver and south of there, but they're rarely seen north of Colfax.

I'll reach out to Sarjent Mike and see if we can hook him up with Russ Curry and FRASL.
@Jude
 

witchbottles

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Nobody has mentioned taking a break from ASL in order to play other games. I have seen it said on various forums that ASL has a tendency to become the one and only game for some people but I find that incredible given the huge number of other excellent game designs out there. Do you guys only play ASL? Maybe that has to be the case if you want to reach and maintain a certain competitive standard but it seems a high price to pay.
I have an ongoing PBEM game of GMT's Downtown running nearly always. I get in 1-3 games of 3R4 or A3R from TAHGC yearly, and a FTF game of TP-S every six months or so (I like TP-S more than BKN - just a preference- they really are about the same in play of the game system.) Top that off with another PBEM game of one of the TAHGC classics, last year it was a rousing game of WS&IM, the year before, I got in a PGG game. In 2011, I got in a pair of back-to-back SPI's Drive on Stalingrad games (with the play balance errata) - that was a fun year.

2010, I got in a 6 game linked scenario campaign of West End Games' "Air Cav" (an excellent system BTW). 2009-2010 was a PBEM campaign of VG's Pacific War "Guadalcanal" campaign. 2008 was a PBEM umpired double-blind Flat Top Eastern Solomons" game.

Toss in a handful of PBEM Diplomacy games over the last decade - in short, I do not limit myself to just ASL. ASL takes a front seat - with 2 CG's, 2 play tests, a scenario, and a newbie under the wing teaching them the game scenario - ongoing (that's my standard ASL "dance card" - PBEM/FTF hybrids all.) But it does not displace other wargaming.
 

Proff3RTR

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The title says it all. How often do you find that you are putting ASL to one side. These days I have several sessions of intense gaming and then leave it alone for up to several months. I'd like to game more often but RL issues get in the way.
My first real was from 1991 roughly up until 2013. now on another break as of September 2016.
 

hayesncsu

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Agree wholeheartedly with Spencer. I want it to be FUN! With wife, two boys, and a full time job I do not want ASL to be something I dread, rather something I cherish. That being said I think breaks for various reasons make it that much more exciting to come back and play!
 

hayman

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I play solo, so anytime I need a break (due to family or work commitments) I just leave it set up and blow the dust off the boards when I get back to it.

I'm years into a German 198th Division SASL campaign & a solo Spanish Civil War campaign; when I get a little tired of ASL, I crack open a Decision Games solo game or Ambush! or B17 Queen of the Skies.
 

Proff3RTR

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Nobody has mentioned taking a break from ASL in order to play other games. I have seen it said on various forums that ASL has a tendency to become the one and only game for some people but I find that incredible given the huge number of other excellent game designs out there. Do you guys only play ASL? Maybe that has to be the case if you want to reach and maintain a certain competitive standard but it seems a high price to pay.
Very good point, since I started my latest break, I have played loads of Lock n Load Tactical, GMT's Operation Dauntless, Next War Poland, Streets of Stalingrad, GDW's Assault Series, the list goes on, so I think a break every now and then for some is good and healthy, so No, I most certainly do not just play ASL (I did when I got back into it a slack handful of years ago, but not any more).
 

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I play solo, so anytime I need a break (due to family or work commitments) I just leave it set up and blow the dust off the boards when I get back to it.

I'm years into a German 198th Division SASL campaign & a solo Spanish Civil War campaign; when I get a little tired of ASL, I crack open a Decision Games solo game or Ambush! or B17 Queen of the Skies.
Ambush, Leatherneck, and their add ons were some of the best designs from VG- IMO (who managed a number of successful solitaire games overall.) I've always enjoyed (and still do) games of B-17 QotS. Currently I've never had a plane make 25 , but I have had a few crewmen rotate home over the decades. SASL is a whole different creature, enough to almost be a different game, really, as it has C and C and activations, which ASL lacks overall.
 

hayman

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SASL is a whole different creature, enough to almost be a different game, really, as it has C and C and activations, which ASL lacks overall.
I agree, you play against the SASL 'system opponent' completely differently than a human opponent in a regular ASL scenario. I find both equally enjoyable for differing reasons (I love the SASL command control restrictions & stringing a campaign together).
 

witchbottles

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I agree, you play against the SASL 'system opponent' completely differently than a human opponent in a regular ASL scenario. I find both equally enjoyable for differing reasons (I love the SASL command control restrictions & stringing a campaign together).
Probably the most interesting thing for me in SASL is how easy it is to get completely wiped out if you are not careful. Entirely different than playing the "ASL maneuver game".
 

Paolo Cariolato

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Nobody has mentioned taking a break from ASL in order to play other games. I have seen it said on various forums that ASL has a tendency to become the one and only game for some people but I find that incredible given the huge number of other excellent game designs out there. Do you guys only play ASL? Maybe that has to be the case if you want to reach and maintain a certain competitive standard but it seems a high price to pay.
I regulary try and play other games, but in 10+ years I've found nothing so fun, rewarding, intense and generally worth my gaming time. The fact that ASLers are a bunch on nice people only helps this out.
 
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