sasl cg red barricades

serpico

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SASL Red Barricades CG

Hi,
I'm new to the forum and had a question about the SASL CG...the way the rules are written, it suggests the Germans are the real player and the Russians as the S?s, can you play as the Russian? ;)

Or is it just better to play the German side? My only experience with Red Barricades is playing "The Last Bid" as the Russian. Great scenario. :alien:

Thanx, Paul :whist:
 

peterk1

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I haven't played it yet but yes, it is written for a German human player. Probably wouldn't be too hard to flip it around so you could play the Russians. Playtesting your changes....that's another story.

The single shot SASL Red Barricades scenarios in Journal 1 howvere are playable from either side.

Seems to be a lot of interest in RB SASL these days. We should probably all just get together and play the real deal by e-mail!
 

alanp

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Hi,

yes, I've set it up and played through two CG days.

I feel very out-numbered, but there seems to be a chance to concentrate one's forces and make some headway. VASL is needed to make placement of '?' counters easier. Board can be kept set up indefinitely. . .

SASL isn't something I do that often and these rules--the SASL RB CG--are new to me so I'm sure mistakes have been made.

My VASL5 files are not the correct file-type to dl here. :(

There seems to be some lessons you can learn about playing RB against a human by SASLing, but many things won't be helpful. Humans are much more devious than the mindless SASL system. Fog of war is excellent, however, with SASL. I've lucked out, for example, and have had no RE# DRs yet. My rear area is vacant and having some Russians pop up back there would put a wrench in the works.

Alan
 

peterk1

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Hi Alan,

If you could email me some of those logs - I'd love to look at them. (or just change the file extension by hand, so you can attach them here)

After 2 hours of placing ?'s I think I'm ready for Day 1.

The author forgot to mention that his rules go over the Journal 1 SASL - that confused me at first trying to figure out how a ? could possibly go on a roof.

Just curious how many days does a turn take for you? :)
 

peterk1

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One more question?
In a FTF game of RB, the German player is going to be under some pressure to cause big damage early on...but in the SASL version?

It looks like the ? placement and AC number are the same for all days so is there anything preventing the German from just sitting tight, minimizing losses until he has a big force and THEN attacking.

Just wondering how this works out in the SASL version.
 

alanp

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I play on VASL for 15 minutes here and 15 there so it's hard to say how long it takes; seems to me my initial goal was a phase per real day but I don't keep that up. Other stuff gets in the way. . .

will get you some files soon. (believe I just have saved games not log-files; I found the typing in of all my actions tedious after a couple of turns.)
 

peterk1

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In case any other adventurous newbies are wondering what this little bit of Stalingrad SASL goodness looks like....

A VASL5 save of the map right before turn 1 of the first game.

Check out all those counters!!!!

I just finished a 12 month SASL US campaign and I'm used to maybe having 9-12 squads to work with. This very looks nasty in comparison. :)

Going to play it very conservatively in Day 1, expanding at the corner. Probably won't even bring the Pioneers on board until I get a setup in the factory line...no sense moving those expensive units up to the front in the open at all. Basically, trying to conserve strength until I can build up a force of 6 full companies or so...that will let me keep a nice reserve just off the front lines. No sense expanding like crazy and then not having enough guys to defend the gains. I doubt that my skills as a player will let me expand like crazy anyways. :)
 

Fred Ingram

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peterk1 said:
In case any other adventurous newbies are wondering what this little bit of Stalingrad SASL goodness looks like....

A VASL5 save of the map right before turn 1 of the first game.

Check out all those counters!!!!

I just finished a 12 month SASL US campaign and I'm used to maybe having 9-12 squads to work with. This very looks nasty in comparison. :)

Going to play it very conservatively in Day 1, expanding at the corner. Probably won't even bring the Pioneers on board until I get a setup in the factory line...no sense moving those expensive units up to the front in the open at all. Basically, trying to conserve strength until I can build up a force of 6 full companies or so...that will let me keep a nice reserve just off the front lines. No sense expanding like crazy and then not having enough guys to defend the gains. I doubt that my skills as a player will let me expand like crazy anyways. :)

What software package are you intending us to use to view this image ?
 

peterk1

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It's VASL 5. I had to change the extension to TXT so I could attach it....but it loads fine in VASL, just save it somewhere on your drive.
 

peterk1

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If anyone else plays this, don't make the same mistake I did and try to NOT get your guys killed. Your at start forces are about as big as your OOB gets, all you get to buy afterwards is to replace losses in those starting forces.

So go ahead and be suicidal. You can lose about half of your forces on each day without really being penalized for it.
 

daniel zucker

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Peter K
I just now looked at the set up you posted and the first thing that I noticed was that you have S? setup in cellers in factorys. There are no cellers in RB Factorys.

O6.1 by tell you where cellers are it is excluding all other locations, remember COWTRS.

Also I noticed that you have more then one S? in some locations. How did this happen? there is a special A9e chart that came with the missions in J1. Actualy there are 3 pages that came with J1 that are added to the SASL rules pages S23,S24 & S25 that convert SASL to RB or the other way around.

The 4 missions that came with J1 are just that only missions. I'l starting to p[lay mission r4. It's the big one and it looks like I'll be playing fo ra long time.

Daniel
 

peterk1

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Hi Daniel,

You sure about the cellars? I just checked it again. Those are rooftops in the factories. That table from Journal 2 tends to generate a lot of ?'s on roofs because all the cellar/level1/level2 results become roofs in factories.

I found the Stukas are the best way to clear them off with strafing attacks. It's an easy Sighting task check for them too.

There might be a few illegal cellar ?'s in 1 hex buildings but I caught them right before starting play. This is my first RB experience (after having the game for many years), so I'm using it to learn the rules. I wish the VASL map had LOS checking enabled (grrrr). There's some tricky LOSes with the rooftops in play.

The multiple ?'s happen when there are > 1 rule used for setup. In the RB SASl campaign you do 4.1 a) first to get ?'s in most buildings and rubble and then there's 4.1c) to get even more ?'s in all stone locations which are the VPOs. So basically there's 2 rolls being made on A9e for a lot of places. Mission r1 fron Journal 2 is also setup this way.

This happens in normal SASL missions like The Fortress as well.

In the RB SASL campaign, you can only have multiple ?'s in ground/roof level factories though.

I would recommend playing the campaign rather than the missions actually. You get the fun part of unit purchases between scenarios (which are fairly short compared to the stand-alone missions). It's a pretty rough draft but works very well for SASL. I can't imagine a human player doing Day 1 much differently than the way this one turned out with SASL.

I'm in turn 6 of Day 1 and a couple of observations from a new player:

RB is really not all that hard! I'm mad at myself for putting it off this long! I just learned guns/ordnance about 2 months ago and have just started touching on vehicles and I think I'm doing fine. I expect most vehicles will be pretty static in this one anyways - one bog check/move into good defensive terrain and then fire away the rest of the day...so not too, too many vehicle rules come into play (I hope).

Doesn't take that long either. I started Day 1 on Friday and there's a 50% chance of it ending today after maybe 4-5 hours of play (6 turns)

It's a lot more fun than a small scenario because of all the weird stuff that happens. The map is nervewracking to play on.

I've been congratulating myself on avoiding casualties through the first 4 turns but now all hell is breaking loose. Very nicely placed T-34 just appeared and landed a critical hit on its first shot. 3 Stukas dropped all their bombs much earlier and I don't really have any good way of dealing with it. The meatgrinder is starting to kick in and my guys are falling. Russians are also about to launch a very small counterattack to regrab some lost locations that I really don't want to lose control of, since they will be my launchng pad for the pioneers on Day 2.

Hoping for a quick day end on turn 6.

AAR coming soon for Day 1 with all logs!
 

daniel zucker

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peterk1 said:
Hi Daniel,

You sure about the cellars? I just checked it again. Those are rooftops in the factories. That table from Journal 2 tends to generate a lot of ?'s on roofs because all the cellar/level1/level2 results become roofs in factories.
Yes I'm sure about the cellers. ASLRB O6.1 RB Cellers
By telling you where cellers can be; it is excluding them from all other locations, remember COWTRS.


I found the Stukas are the best way to clear them off with strafing attacks. It's an easy Sighting task check for them too.
Someday I'll get around to buying Stukas. It's just that I like the Infantry game and so that means that I don't usaly play with the extras.


This is my first RB experience (after having the game for many years), so I'm using it to learn the rules.
long ago I played a RB campaign with 5 other guys in my basement it took about 8 months to play and that was just CGIII. lots of fun and I'd like to do it again some time, ftf that is RB is almost too big for VASL.

I wish the VASL map had LOS checking enabled (grrrr). There's some tricky LOSes with the rooftops in play.
Yes lots of trickey LOS but the real thing about it is remembering Longe Range Activation. SASL is not something that you can blast through IF you want to learn the rules to either ASL or SASL :laugh:

The multiple ?'s happen when there are > 1 rule used for setup. In the RB SASl campaign you do 4.1 a) first to get ?'s in most buildings and rubble and then there's 4.1c) to get even more ?'s in all stone locations which are the VPOs. So basically there's 2 rolls being made on A9e for a lot of places. Mission r1 fron Journal 2 is also setup this way.
This happens in normal SASL missions like The Fortress as well.
In the RB SASL campaign, you can only have multiple ?'s in ground/roof level factories though.
I was just woundering because I did not see the RB SASL CG game rules that you are using.


RB is really not all that hard!
Grasshopper you are still young and the pebble only looks small

I expect most vehicles will be pretty static in this one anyways - one bog check/move into good defensive terrain and then fire away the rest of the day...so not too, too many vehicle rules come into play (I hope).
There is a German tactick call the 'Armored Blitz' that has been used in ftf RB CG. :devil: You'd be suprized at how those AFV can get around and really chop up the Russian def.


sounds like you are haveing a grand time. The CG that you are playing would need to be worked on and playtested to make it so that the player could play either side. Because that is what it would need (IMO) in order to make it something thatMMP would publish.

I did some of the playtesting on the missions that appear in J1. I played r1 and r2 a few times from both sides.
In revisiting it now I realize that there is something that is really missing. That is to give the Russian, as the ENEMY, a MOL-PROJECTOR activation cheek.
When I playtested I never put any AFV on board and never had a RE bring them in. In the game I'm playing now I bought a plt. of Stug's and noticed that you can run them up to 2 hexes away from the Russian S? and not worry about AT capability.
So I've divised a house rule, just like Long Range Activation I'm giving the Russian S? a DR when a German AFV is in LOS and <= 3 hexes, if it's a DR2 then the S? activats as a 127 with MOL-P and a one time TH DRM of -2. Any other DR nothing happens, the S? stays where it is.
I'll let you know how it goes but so far I'm keeping the AFV's back that extra hex, just in case.

Daniel
 

peterk1

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No I meant in my game setup, those red things are not Cellars, they're rooftops. I did it right. :)

I don't know - I don't ever see myself setting this thing up face to face. I would almost argue that it's too big for face-to-face play with all the counters. Much faster in VASL if your computer can handle it. And some of those stacks in buildings get monstrously high. I'd be scared to touch them playing the old-fashionned way.

Longe Range Activation isn't going to happen all that often (maybe at all???) because there's almost never any FFNAM. So many shellholes and debris available I find myself never touching open ground and it needs to be a -2 shot for the long range AC.

For the SASL RB campaign game, go to the downloads section on this site...it's being kept archived.
The link is near the top of this topic.

I think it definitely is publishable as is. They've also said they will publish a Pegasus Bridge SASL campaign (eventually) that is only playable as the British so I don't think having it playable from both sides is a total must.

It wouldn't be that hard to do though, but honestly how many SASLers would choose the Russians in RB?

I'm looking forward to doing up some SASL rules for Valor Of The Guards when it comes out.

Continuing story of my game.....we got an extra turn so are now in turn 7...should be the last. Doing some little mop-up operations.

Stuka got a critical hit on the T34 with MG's and the crew is now stunned. Helps a bit. Now to do it again and get that damn thing recalled.

Haven't touched the factories yet, but got almost all the warehouses on the other side of the train tracks. Should be a nice perimeter to setup in for Day 2.
 
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peterk1

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It's the normal RB CG scenario length. Between 5-8 turns. Starting at turn 5, you roll one die at the end of the game turn. If it's less than or equal than the small number on the RB map for that turn it's game over.

Statistically, 6 turns is the most likely length.
 
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