My Inor Experiment

Barking Monkey

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I'm not a huge fan of ASL Campaign games, but I do enjoy large scenarios. Some time ago it occurred to me to try converting the 'initial day scenario' from HASL campaign games to SASL missions. I tried this with one of the Red October campaign games and it worked reasonably well using the replacement tables for Red Barricades from Journal 1.

I bought a copy of LFT's recent Bois D'Inor HASL and decided to try the same thing with the "Pride of the Foreign Legion" campaign. Attached are the files for the mission if you decide to give it a go. I've only played it twice and it may still need a few tweaks and polish, but I think it mostly works.

Two words of warning:
  1. Again - this is NOT a full campaign game - only a single mission based on the initial campaign game scenario.
  2. There is a LOT of setup & putaway for a single mission (something like 300 S? if you set up every one including areas you won't reach in the mission) that only lasts 6 or 7 turns. I don't doubt this will be too tiresome for many players. On the other hand it's a large mission, on the order of 3x the size of a standard mission so it's not like there's no return on time investment.
If you decide to try it out I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. The French and German replacement tables are for BDI generally, not specific to CG1, I did this intentionally (despite it requiring more MSR for CG1) b/c I thought this might allow others to use them for their own self generated BDI missions.
 

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mburskey

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This is a nice piece of SASL work. Really appreciate you putting this together. I am going to order Inor in the near future. Would like to try a play thru of this in SASL.

Thanks for doing this! I believe HASL is an unchartered piece of ASL. Wondered about other HASL modules.

(I have the RB SASL and Cholm SASL. Always felt like those two were thrown together w/o playtest.)

Mike
 

Barking Monkey

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On balance I like the RB SASL stuff I've played from Journal 1; I though r1 was a blast to play but I'm skeptical that it's winnable and r2 was solid. I thought r3 was tiresome though - for me, huge scenarios as the defender seem to bog down during the ENEMY turns. I've not gotten around to playing r4 yet.

My favorite HASL missions are the two that come with Onslaught to Orsha2. The one on the HASL map is tough but very fun to play, while the one on geoboards is the best 'historical' SASL mission I've played.

I think I'm pretty forgiving on the level of playtesting from publishers on SASL stuff in HASL modules - we're a fairly niche group and they're right to focus their limited playtest resources on the two player scenarios that will get the most play. Also, I suspect SASL by it's nature is more 'swingy' than even normal ASL, so playtesting can be extra hard. The good thing is since it's solitaire if you think a mission has balance or mechanics issues you only have to negotiate with yourself to modify the mission. (I've even taken to doing this with some of the 'standard' missions now that I've played most of them multiple times.)

Sadly the trend seems to be moving away from including SASL content in HASLs so I believe we'll have to fill in the gap ourselves as a community.
 

mburskey

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Question: RB Mission r1 SASL... It states that S? placement is to follow SASL rule 4.1 cases a and c. Does that mean that every building hex on the map should have a S? counter?

I set up a board to play but it looked ridiculous with all the S? counters on it. I feel at times SASL requires some house rules. To follow the rules to a tee would require an absolute knowledge of the SASL rules. Some of which are very abstract.

Have you seen the SASL MGP and SASL ++ located on facebook by Andrea Fantozzi? He refined the SASL rules and has a few SASL missions. It is worth taking a look at. I have PDF files of it if you want a copy. I think SASL still has a big following. We are a small community but very committed to the cause. I view SASL as a sandbox. Much like your Inor SASL. (Just spent 150 on Hollow Legions and another 150 on Prokhorovka.)

Not sure if you have Brevity Assault from Advancing Fire (Italian ASL group). That is worth picking up. It added an operational component to the campaign which I think makes ASL campaigns much more interesting.

I am currently playtesting a future release of A Bridge Too Far. I want so bad to do a SASL component to this. The actual final product will include AbtF, Primsole Bridge, Pegasus Bridge and a new HASL, Pointe Grande Bridge. This will be a huge HASL, exclusively for British Glider and Airbourne operations.
 

Dr. Metal

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Have you seen the SASL MGP and SASL ++ located on facebook by Andrea Fantozzi? He refined the SASL rules and has a few SASL missions. It is worth taking a look at. I have PDF files of it if you want a copy.
I am interested in those pdf files. Can you send me a copy or post them here?
 

BigAl737

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Have you seen the SASL MGP and SASL ++ located on facebook by Andrea Fantozzi? He refined the SASL rules and has a few SASL missions. It is worth taking a look at. I have PDF files of it if you want a copy. I think SASL still has a big following. We are a small community but very committed to the cause. I view SASL as a sandbox. Much like your Inor SASL. (Just spent 150 on Hollow Legions and another 150 on Prokhorovka.)
I'm not on Facebook. If Andrea has made these readily available, it'd be great if you could post them to GS. I'm one of those closet SASL'ers and definitely interested to see what Andrea has done. Thanks!
 

Barking Monkey

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Question: RB Mission r1 SASL... It states that S? placement is to follow SASL rule 4.1 cases a and c. Does that mean that every building hex on the map should have a S? counter?

I set up a board to play but it looked ridiculous with all the S? counters on it. I feel at times SASL requires some house rules. To follow the rules to a tee would require an absolute knowledge of the SASL rules. Some of which are very abstract.

....
I am currently playtesting a future release of A Bridge Too Far. I want so bad to do a SASL component to this. The actual final product will include AbtF, Primsole Bridge, Pegasus Bridge and a new HASL, Pointe Grande Bridge. This will be a huge HASL, exclusively for British Glider and Airbourne operations.
It's been awhile, but to the best of my memory I played it as literally following 4.1 a&c, but in compliance with the limiting provisions of 4.11 and 4.12 - so none within 3 hexes of the FBE and using table A9e for which building locations get S? Since this would be pretty excessive for setup die rolling I roll once per "block" and place S? accordingly. (Admittedly this can lead to somewhat weird empty & congested areas, but I consider the time saved worth it.)

I'm looking forward to the eventual release of the expanded ABtF HASL. I have Pegasus Bridge but missed ABtF back when it came out.
 

mburskey

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It's been awhile, but to the best of my memory I played it as literally following 4.1 a&c, but in compliance with the limiting provisions of 4.11 and 4.12 - so none within 3 hexes of the FBE and using table A9e for which building locations get S? Since this would be pretty excessive for setup die rolling I roll once per "block" and place S? accordingly. (Admittedly this can lead to somewhat weird empty & congested areas, but I consider the time saved worth it.)

I'm looking forward to the eventual release of the expanded ABtF HASL. I have Pegasus Bridge but missed ABtF back when it came out.
I backed off on the amount of S? on the board. Rule S 4.12 is the key, Appreciate you pointing me in the right direction. Thanks man!

Have been playtesting ABtF for the past couple months. Came up with some good balanced scenarios. Finished playtesting one this morning. I wasn't part of the Pegasus Bridge group. We are moving onto Pointe Grande soon. Some really good stuff! Final module will have ABF, Pegasus Bridge, Primsole Bridge and Point Grande.

Glad I was able to be part of this.
 
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