Minor Desperation Morale Update Progress Note

Pitman

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Just fyi, still have been busy each weekend adding new entries. If you are an archivist, you may be interested to know that so far in this update I have done write-ups for 15 linear inches worth of ASL products (for others, think of a stack of ASL products 15 inches high). The hardest and longest was the one for Forgotten War--it is the longest write-up in the whole website (at 8,880 words), primarily because there was so much to analyze.

I still have many items to go, including Corregidor, Objective Schmidt, LFT #14, Red Factories (I hope to do that today), The Fight for Seoul, and several scenario packs, not to mention whatever I will or won't eventually do with Critical Hit. I will note that some of these products have come out WHILE I have been updating, which is really very unkind. To all official and unofficial publishers of ASL stuff: Please stop releasing things until I catch up. You probably need a break anyway. I have a few days off for the holidays, which will help me work on the update.

Thanks VERY MUCH to Gordon Smolek and Neal Ulen for contributing photos for some of the entries. MUCH APPRECIATED. I love it when people help out by taking (decent, focused) photos of ASL products!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled flamewars.
 

RandyT0001

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To all official and unofficial publishers of ASL stuff: Please stop releasing things until I catch up.
Any other subversive or revolutionary comments like this will be swiftly dealt with. Like this.

To all official and unofficial publishers of ASL stuff: Please stop releasing things until I catch up. Make more!
Thanks for the updates Mark.
 

olli

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Great to hear your getting through the releases Mark
 

Tuomo

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Yeah, and why aren't you doing something about that?!?
Busy busy busy. Tempting to have a go at Jan's map, partly to honor his effort, and partly to see how well I could replicate the RB/VotG palette and artwork. If things slow down enough and if someone else hasn't done it by then, I may give it a crack. But honestly, please don't anybody wait on me. There's tons of other people who have real talent and can do a great job with Jan's labor of love.
 

Nineteen Kilo

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I bought FW at low tide of my ASL gaming, that and the fact that I was suffering from Rules Fatigue, means I have never played any of the scenarios, punched the counters, or even analyzed them.

Upon reading your review I find it interesting that there was no "practical" purpose for the two-toned counters (such as concealment or SW). I had, until now, just assumed the two-tone nationalities needed to borrow counters from other nationalities.

Perhaps they are two-toned simply because there is now a paucity of "good" single tones left unclaimed. For example Purple counters would not only be garish but dark text on dark background might make them hard to read. And can you imagine the outrage if the Chi Com counters were yellow?
 

Nineteen Kilo

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Mark I just finished the entirety of your FW write up. I'm sure as more folks read it, it is going to spark heated discussion, pro and con. But I think you have broached many valid points/criticism of the new rule set.

I particularly like the history of the module, and the fact that it is a descendant of KE. While this is news to me, it is not surprising, given the Bayonet Charges and general propensity for overly long SSR's that company had.

Good show, that is one of the more thought provoking write ups you've ever done.
 

hayman

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Mark,
Thanks for your continuing efforts to update your website. If your write ups are considered contentious or otherwise, you produce an invaluable source of information for our hobby and your contribution to the ASL community is appreciated.
 

Michael Dorosh

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Perhaps they are two-toned simply because there is now a paucity of "good" single tones left unclaimed.
Perhaps Mark could have just asked someone from MMP or the design team, and they would have told him, and he wouldn't have to go through his usual routine of presenting himself as the only sane man in the room.

His "critique" of the included boards is similarly bizarre, and centred on weirdly specific examples of things you can't do with them.

Only one of the four boards, for example, has a road going down its “valley” portion, meaning that one cannot really easily use them to depict UN forces trying to retreat down a road between two ridgelines in which the Chinese control the heights (actions like “The Gauntlet”).
You also can't recreate Omaha Beach with them, or other one-sided actions. From The Gauntlet link above: "In one of the last acts of the battle, the 23rd Infantry Regiment fired off its stock of 3,206 artillery shells within 20 minutes, and the massive barrage shocked the PVA troops from following the regiment. "

Doesn't much scream ASL to me; YMMV.
 

Sparky

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"Welcome to Korea. American fought both a war and a sitcom there. "

LOL!
haha.. yeah man. Of all the people I read here he is the one I'd like to meet most and have him tickle my funny bone over a few high octaine beverages. Whatever work place talents he might have.. the man has stand up comedian written all over him.

Loved the Korea writeup.. but I'll take to heart a previous comment and perhaps leave feedback on his review in the comment section there.

but I will say here I was disappointed he didn't whip this out again.. sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words..

11280
 

dreenstra

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As usual with reviews that occur right after opening the box, I'll take what Mark wrote with a huge grain of salt. The design choices the FW team made to simulate the KW combatants based on their research doesn't jibe with your opinion of how those combatants fought? That's fine, but who really cares? To me, it's most important that it makes for an interesting game, because that's what ASL is. So far the scenarios I've played from FW have done just that. I'd put more stock in your opinion if you had played through several of the scenarios and found them boring, unbalanced or otherwise not to your taste. But complaining about the use of two-toned counters? C'mon. I hope you'll give the FW scenarios a play through and then go back and add to your initial impression review.
 
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