Saving Private Ryan module by WBW (LONG!)

rdw5150

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Quality of the components aside, I just do not like stuff where the designer clearly does not play nor understand ASL. I have never even thought about buying a WBW pack and would not pay $5 for one (because of the aforementioned reason).

Peace

Roger
 

Michael Dorosh

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If MMP can't sue him, maybe Spielberg can.
MMP has no reason to sue.

Amblin Entertainment and Dreamworks SKG may have cause to invoke breach of copyright for use of their intellectual property, however. I recall that either Hanks or Spielberg were unhappy when a 1:6 scale action figure of "Captain Miller" was proposed - it was felt it was glorification of war - and so while a number of prototype heads did make it out onto the market, no official figure was ever released by the action figure companies as an approved movie tie-in. Dragon later issued a figure with Tom Hanks head as well, but again, it was not an official movie tie-in (they had several other "unofficial" movie tie-ins for Cross or Iron, Enemy at the Gates, The Longest Day, The Green Berets but always with the names of the figures changed - being based in Asia, they seem to get away with a lot).

Suing this guy would probably just serve to consume money, make Mr. Spielberg look like a big corporate bad guy, and in the end, one would ask how these games that are destined to exist in the dozens - not thousands - can represent any kind of tangible harm to the original property. At the end of the day, it's a form of "fan fiction." Don't get me wrong, I don't think that is a legitimate defence, but it would be more trouble than it is worth.

That changes if Amblin/SKG decided it wanted to produce its own ASL tie-in product. It could then either sue to remove the illegal competition, or just partner with MMP or whomever and produce a superior product and blow this out of the water with production value.

I don't know. What would you do?
 

Spencer Armstrong

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Quality of the components aside, I just do not like stuff where the designer clearly does not play nor understand ASL. I have never even thought about buying a WBW pack and would not pay $5 for one (because of the aforementioned reason).

Peace

Roger
I agree with Roger here. A hallmark of ASL is the squad-type structure and good ASL design uses the underlying structure of that and the rest of the system. The weird varietal squads and constant inclusion of novelty pieces are the #1 put-off for me on WBW stuff.

That said, Mark/thedrake, I really enjoyed reading this. It was nice to see another person's take that wasn't just a rant. I understand Mark P.'s treatment and aversion to overspending on more of these, but I've not really read anything from anybody besides him that had actually had one of these items in their hands. Multiple reviewing voices are always welcome. Thanks!

S
 

Michael Dorosh

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I've not really read anything from anybody besides him that had actually had one of these items in their hands. Multiple reviewing voices are always welcome. Thanks!

S
Several owners of WBW's modules have posted about these products. If you follow the tag at the bottom of this page, you will find several threads with similar review comments.
 

Tuomo

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Overall this is a poor effort,which I expected given the history/quality of past ASL products from WBW.I think this module could have been done much better and even wrote to the producer of these modules (Tom Tietz) not only asking him to consider making improvements but offering to assist in improving the quality of his modules.No response.Not surprising given that folks buy his modules at ebay for a nice chunk of change (and I am guilty of this as well,as this is my 4th item I have purchased but also the one I paid the most for due to curiousity of what the quality of it may be as well as the subject matter.)
Not to throw too big a rock here, but you realize that this your continuing to purchase this stuff, even after previous experience let you down, is the kind of thing that encourages WBW from improving his quality?

I don't understand why you'd do that.
 

sarfs

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Purchased a copy of Wild Bill Wilder's "One Out of Four:The Saga of Saving Private Ryan" and thought would post some initial thoughts on this module.

First off the module comes with a cover sheet describing the product contents on the front side and the reverse side is an ad for more of WBW's ASL mods that he sells on ebay.The next page is double-sided description of this product,part of the Great Movie Series,talking about the movie itself,which 5 scenarios are in the pack,and then the counters and maps. Paid a few dollars for it but am interested in this one as I did design a scenario on the last battle scene (which Michael Dorosh used in his Scenario Design Guide.):

http://www.freewebs.com/heavymetaldrake/SPRscenariocard.pdf

There are 106 counters of varius types included.One of the attached pic shows some of the informational markers (which there are 36 of in this pack) one of which is the French family shown in the film which appear in scenario SPR03 "The Square."

Overall the counters breakdown as follows:
36 info markers
24 SS (4 SMC, 4 1-3-7 Crews, 8 6-5-8 squads,and 8 3-4-7 hs)
36 US (3 7-5-8 para squads, 5 3-5-7 para hs, 7 7-5-9 ranger squads, 3 3-4-8 ranger hs, 3 3-4-9 engineer hs and 15 SMC)
10 5/8 counters

Since can only attach 6 pics per post I will post the other later on tonite along with more of my first impressions of this module.

Mark
What a maroon! Ryan was airborne not a Ranger!
 

Michael Dorosh

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If he does then he needs to sue CH for the Band of Brothers rip-off.
First of all, suing one person doesn't then imply an imperative to sue a completely different person for the same thing, so your statement is non-sensical.

Secondly, even if it did, he wouldn't have a case with that one. The characters in Saving Private Ryan were fictional and subject to copyright.

The personalities in Band of Brothers were historical. Their names aren't protected by copyright - they are historical figures.
 

Roadtogundagai

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You can see that these WBW packs are half baked blends of SL / ASL as soon as you see the 1-8-8 sniper counters. These came with COI and did not survive to ASL. Has WBW ever actually read the ASL rulebook? :hmmm:
 

Psycho

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You can see that these WBW packs are half baked blends of SL / ASL as soon as you see the 1-8-8 sniper counters. These came with COI and did not survive to ASL. Has WBW ever actually read the ASL rulebook? :hmmm:
How would you like it if Hitler read the rules? :angry:
 

Pitman

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You can see that these WBW packs are half baked blends of SL / ASL as soon as you see the 1-8-8 sniper counters. These came with COI and did not survive to ASL. Has WBW ever actually read the ASL rulebook? :hmmm:
I think there is considerable circumstantial evidence to suggest that he has the ASLRB but does not play ASL--that he has only played SL.
 

jemb

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Mark,

Great effort with the multiple posts. Maybe when I get back from Djibouti we can try this stuff out in a couple of evenings.
Gotta love your compulsion to have anything and everything ASL.

Cheers,
John
 

thedrake

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John,

Good to hear from you.
Yeah we can try out the 3 WBW mods I did buy if you want.Think we will have some interpretations to make on a few things though......
Any chance you making HoB next month?????

Mark
 
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