Post Korean War ASL from MMP

[jrv]

Untrue. Anyone who is even primarily interested in ASL for WW2 is ill-served by this.

This does not follow. If I am primarily interested in WWII but secondarily interested in {WWI,early Viet Nam, India-Pakistan, whatever} I will not be ill-served if MMP (or someone else) develops ASL for those conflicts. I will be well-served instead, and I will probably buy those products.

JR

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Fans of ASL such as Mark describes are only ill-served if MMP stops publishing World War II products.

I see nothing here that says they will.

And even if they did, tomorrow, the replayability factor of everything that has already been published is so high, it would scarcely matter.

 

[Brian W]

Mark, if you do not want MMP to work on mASL you should ask them politely not to do so. Then, do not buy their mASL, do not include it in your website, nor help them work on their mASL, and finally discourage anyone from buying their mASL. Arguing about its relevance in ASL is not going to do anything except galvanize people into buying into mASL to spite you.

Meanwhile, I will not be buying mASL as I do not care about M48s knocking out T-55s at 63 hexes, nor playing a deadlier version of Jabo! I am also canceling my KWASL pre-order, just to make it clear that I do not want MMP to spend precious ASL time working on those things.

 

[Mister T]

A few thoughts:

- the announcement is only the very first step of a very long process so don't expect anything soon;

- no problem in principle with extending the system outside its initial comfort zone;

- no problem with pre-ww2 stuff like SCW as it requires probably less adaptations to the system than post-ww2; anyway these products had been already announced so nothing new here;

- there's a rub however; with already a well-endowed product pipeline there's a risk diluting forces which are obviously finite; so opening a new front cannot be done entirely without affecting the release of other game components;

- it could be argued that developing post-WW2 ASL requires different types of ressources than developing, say, HASL (the non-fungibility assumption, i love this word LOL). It is true that developing post-ww2 asl will initially require heavy conceptualisation works and not so much the more mundane skill set needed for, say, an Action Pack. This is likely to mitigate the trade-off MMP may face. But then i see one type of MMP product that may lose out if analytical ressources are directed "toward the future": the development of ASLRB3. Of course not all people would view such a product desirable but this is where a zero-sum game may cause "victims", which would be regrettable IMO.

In summary potential drawbacks from expending ASL in post-WW2 lie in the finite ressources at the disposal of MMP. The impact on the existing pipeline may be minor yet not nil. Existing rules management/development may be more at risk.

 

[Brian W]

A few thoughts:

Thank you for a very well reasoned and presented post.

 

[Mister T]

Thank you for a very well reasoned and presented post.

You are welcomed.

 

[Pitman]

I think the history of the game shows pretty well that big ASL projects pretty much always have an effect on other big (or even not so big) ASL projects. Basically, if MMP does an ASL Vietnam, you're going to see some juicy WW2 product pushed back about five years.

 

[jrv]

I think the history of the game shows pretty well that big ASL projects pretty much always have an effect on other big (or even not so big) ASL projects. Basically, if MMP does an ASL Vietnam, you're going to see some juicy WW2 product pushed back about five years.

While you're waiting for this other, hypothetical, big (or even not so big) ASL project, you can play ASL Viet Nam. That is, if you are one of the core audience that likes ASL covering many periods. If you are not one of the core audience, you may be distressed by the news of course.

JR

 

[Gunner Scott]

Try playing CH Hue, that looks like its gonna be alot of fun. ASL goes to Vietnam.

I think the history of the game shows pretty well that big ASL projects pretty much always have an effect on other big (or even not so big) ASL projects. Basically, if MMP does an ASL Vietnam, you're going to see some juicy WW2 product pushed back about five years.

 

[hongkongwargamer]

Meh .. I will buy/play anything from MMP that is ASL.

Go Brian/Perry Go!

 

[daniel zucker]

It seems to me that this just might be the start of MMP's long term investigation into capturing a new demographic. In the respect that younger people than what I think is the medium age of current ASL players (somewhere around 50 to 55) are more interested in more modern conflicts at the squad level. It may seem that Vietnam is a older conflict now but I believe there is interest in it.

I myself am not interested in anything much past the British invasion of the Suez Canal 1956 and I don't think that I'll be buying anything past that conflict

 

[Nineteen Kilo]

I'd rather they stayed where they were - focused on WWII.

...What concerns me a bit is how MMP will handle 'core' components in regard to this:

Provided, that I am in the camp that Korea, whatever after, the Spanish Civil war does not much interest me for purposes of ASL, would I have to buy the modules to keep up to date with regard to rules, boards, etc.?

Would someone who takes an interest in Spanish Civil war or post Korea stuff have to buy all the components of an era he might not be interested in? I.e. if you don't care about WW2 and want a hypothetical 'Vietnam' module, where would you get your Prep Fire and DM counters from? Would you have to buy BV3?

What I believe we don't need is further interdependencies that involve other eras. It makes it an ever greater pain to 'maintain' the system or to catch up with it when you enter the hobby. ASL is already vast only covering WWII. IMHO, MMP should make a cut somewhere....


von Marwitz

Excellent point. As I have zero interest in Vietnam I really don't want to buy the game just to gather in some boards that may be used in a future ASL Journal scenario. Or buy a Journal that has 4 scenarios from the Falkland Islands in it, just so I can score the 6 scenarios that feature WWII.

However if there were a "bright line" dividing ASL from "mASL" in which the components of one are never used in the other system...well then the "mASL" really has no impact on me does it? If that is the case knock yourself out and make "mASL".

 

[Brian W]

While you're waiting for this other, hypothetical, big (or even not so big) ASL project, you can play ASL Viet Nam.

Hypothetical?
eASLRBv3
Ortona
Manila
Kursk
YAS (yet another stalingrad)
STGITMME (stalingrad the glimmer in the milk man's eye)

Please, please, please, I want to play Jabo! with F-100s!

Edit: I actually only care about the eASLRBv3, once that's done, they can do ASL-Chainmail Edition.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Hypothetical?
eASLRBv3
Ortuna
Manila
Kursk
YAS (yet another stalingrad)
STGITMME (stalingrad the glimmer in the milk man's eye)

Please, please, please, I want to play Jabo! with F-100s!

Ortona if you please.

Also Dinant and the post-Bulge winter one that was in the Journal.

Looking forward to Korea and would love to see Vietnam and other modern subjects.

 

[Brian W]

Looking forward to Korea

Yeah, I forgot Korea, too. Hypothetical until it hits the shelf.

 

[Brian W]

Canadian ASL player waiting for the publication of Ortina.

 

[echack]

I sure do wish they'd publish an eASLRB.

They have said it is being worked on. I expect that the problems include which publishing format to use so it is as platform independent as possible, the effort to put in hotlinks among topics, and getting the graphics into a good format for ebook use.

 

[Bob Walters]

It seems to me that this just might be the start of MMP's long term investigation into capturing a new demographic. In the respect that younger people than what I think is the medium age of current ASL players (somewhere around 50 to 55) are more interested in more modern conflicts at the squad level. It may seem that Vietnam is a older conflict now but I believe there is interest in it.

I myself am not interested in anything much past the British invasion of the Suez Canal 1956 and I don't think that I'll be buying anything past that conflict

I think this is a good point.

 

[Roy]

No thanks.

 

[chris_olden]