Is there Something wrong with Journal 12 and WO Bonus Pack 8?

Paul M. Weir

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I suppose it's a bit too early to hope for a Europe-based online store to offer these... (MMP's S&H is about $22 for $38 of products, I'd like to find something slightly cheaper...)
I get mine from Second Chance Games in England. http://www.secondchancegames.com/
Their MMP page is http://www.secondchancegames.com/index.php/component/virtuemart/manufacturer/advanced-squad-leader-mmp-1.

They don't have it yet, but they usually have it sent to me within a month of WO.
 

Philippe D.

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Now what are we going to become when UK really leaves the EU... (we have a few French online stores that do carry some ASL stuff, but nowhere near Second Chance I fear)
 

von Marwitz

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Now what are we going to become when UK really leaves the EU... (we have a few French online stores that do carry some ASL stuff, but nowhere near Second Chance I fear)
We can do without them. Try Udo Grebe Game Design.

Old site:
http://www.ugg.de/

New site:
http://ugg2nd.de/de/Nach-Hersteller/Udo-Grebe-Gamedesign-ugg/

His prices are pretty good. He even gives pre-order discount (i.e. you can pre-order with him when MMP puts things on pre-order). The only drawback is that you will need some patience before shipments arrive. Usually, it is a number of weeks after they become available at MMP directly - which personally I do not care about.

von Marwitz
 

Westy

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Just ordered. Seriously hard to find. Are MMP trying to restrict sales?
 

Gunner Scott

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Well, my prediction was right lol. All scenarios except the desert one use less then or equal to 3 boards, most use 2 boards. No scenarios go beyond 7 turns. 99% of the scenarios are small with J187 In deadly combat being slightly in the medium category. I did buy this Journal but why are there so many small scenarios in this product?

Scott
 

Mister T

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Well, my prediction was right lol. All scenarios except the desert one use less then or equal to 3 boards, most use 2 boards. No scenarios go beyond 7 turns. 99% of the scenarios are small with J187 In deadly combat being slightly in the medium category. I did buy this Journal but why are there so many small scenarios in this product?
Scott
I guess this is entirely supply-driven. Designers know that if they design scenarios that could be played in one evening, there is a better chance that they would be played or feature in tournaments. Additionally, longer scensrios are more difficult to balance and therefore need more playtesting. All of this conspire to make long scenarios less frequent nowadays.
 

Philippe D.

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I can understand that some players like large scenarios, and I agree that they can be a lot of fun to play, but with many people having difficulty finding the time for them, I also understand how designers could be biased towards smaller things. Most of my FtF playings this year have been evening plays, where we had about 4 hours to play a scenario. Not being fast players (lots of searching through the rulebook), anything with more than 6 turns (ideally, 5) was difficult to fit.

Now, with VASL, it's easier to have an ongoing game, and large scenarios don't suffer too much from PBEM since you can start moves in separate parts of the board and not stop a log when defensive fire occurs. But it's still easier to play a small thing in a few hours.
 

Srynerson

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Well, my prediction was right lol. All scenarios except the desert one use less then or equal to 3 boards, most use 2 boards. No scenarios go beyond 7 turns. 99% of the scenarios are small with J187 In deadly combat being slightly in the medium category. I did buy this Journal but why are there so many small scenarios in this product?
I can't find the analysis I did on this a couple years ago, but my conclusion was that the average turn length of scenarios published in the Journal has almost continuously declined since the Journal started publication.
 

zgrose

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I'd wager the sum of leadership modifiers has moved closer to zero, too.
 

Philippe D.

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I'd wager the sum of leadership modifiers has moved closer to zero, too.
This seems to be a general trend since the first Squad Leader scenarios, right? I mean, most scenarios with 10-3s, and many with more than one -2 leader per side, come from the early days of Squad Leader. And it's rather a good thing, IMHO - such leaders tend to make way too strong stacks, with the side effect that a lot of their side's fate lies on the MCs the leaders make - when they pass, it's that more likely that the MMCs will pass as well.
 

von Marwitz

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I can understand that some players like large scenarios, and I agree that they can be a lot of fun to play, but with many people having difficulty finding the time for them, I also understand how designers could be biased towards smaller things. Most of my FtF playings this year have been evening plays, where we had about 4 hours to play a scenario. Not being fast players (lots of searching through the rulebook), anything with more than 6 turns (ideally, 5) was difficult to fit.

Now, with VASL, it's easier to have an ongoing game, and large scenarios don't suffer too much from PBEM since you can start moves in separate parts of the board and not stop a log when defensive fire occurs. But it's still easier to play a small thing in a few hours.
Over the last years, there has been a tendency for shorter scenarios. In some cases, I think they have become too short (4 turns). Personally, I like the 6 to 8 round range best.

von Marwitz
 

jrv

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ALL RIGHT GOLDANGIT WHAT IS UP WITH JACK GETTING HIS STUFF IN HONG KONG HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD BEFORE ANYBODY ELSE?
It's just a hoax, easily debunked. After all, what organization which donates to an American World War 2 foundation would put a picture of a Known non-American (Monty) on the t-shirt? At the very least they would have used Churchill, who was half American. The reflective sheen as if wrapped in plastic is a very nice touch, BTW.

JR
 

zgrose

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This seems to be a general trend since the first Squad Leader scenarios, right? I mean, most scenarios with 10-3s, and many with more than one -2 leader per side, come from the early days of Squad Leader. And it's rather a good thing, IMHO - such leaders tend to make way too strong stacks, with the side effect that a lot of their side's fate lies on the MCs the leaders make - when they pass, it's that more likely that the MMCs will pass as well.
Possibly true, but I think its a self-referential problem. Small, quick scenarios with high leadership mods probably not that great. Larger, slower scenarios maybe not so bad. Personally I think the pendulum has swung too far against leaders. Too many squads and too few SMC means fewer opportunities for a battle with ebbs and flows. But if your battle is only 5 turns long there aren't going to be that many RPh opportunities.
 

kcole4001

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That's some very nice artwork, and the shirt looks darn good too.
 
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