Strong Memories or Reaction to a Certain Board?

Jude

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Having played a few scenarios lately using some early boards, it made me curious if any boards out there invoke a strong memory for any of you as soon as you see it. This could be anything from a scenario that instantly comes into mind when you see it, a love or loathing of a particular board, something incredible (or bizzare) happened on it, or something completely different.

For example, board 1 without question will always be The Streets of Stalingrad to me. My friend and I battled over the two sides of that board and then the whole board over and over in our SL days. Others that come to mind is The Chateau de Quesnoy for board 6 and Gavin’s Gamble and The Dinant Bridgehead for board 7. We have played many other scenarios with those boards but those are the ones that always pop in my head as soon as I see them.

As for other reactions, whenever I saw board 4, I knew someone was going to get slammed because that was basically the only open ground board in the early days. In fact, I still kind of don’t like that board to this day because it seemed like it was so overused. Board 3 meant you either had to take building 3M2 or have it packed with guys to defend the hell out it since it was so dominating in those early scenarios.

As you can see, my strong memories come from the earlier boards. With such slim pickings back then, those boards got etched in my mind.

Now that my friend and I are one and done scenario players, the newer boards just don’t evoke the same memories for me. So what about you? Any boards that instantly remind you of something? If so, what and why?
 

Honza

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Board 6 and Chateau de Quesnoy. Board 25 and Sea of Tranquility. Board 49 and First Day at Fuchin.

Boards 22 and 5 are also very evocative but I cannot remember the particular scenario that used them.
 

asloser

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I was fed up with board 10 and especially the village end of it around 2005 or so- it was so overused back then. Nowadays it has eased off as there is more boards and you do not see that one too often.

Board 49 has seen a lot of use as well the last 15 years or so seeing it on a scenario card is not a positive thing for me nowadays.

I cannot win a scenario if board 41 is involved. I cannot play on that thing.

I like playing board 3. So many fond memories of gaming on that one. It does not appear too much these days.

Also you got to admire the versatility and utility of board 2. Even though there have been multiple hill boards since it was released still to is in core module scenarios, latest in Hakkaa Päälle and Forgotten war.

I have a special place in my heart for board 52 as I had my ideas on how that should be and these were taken into account.
 
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M.Koch

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Boards 1-4 because everything started with them...
 

Michael Dorosh

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Board 6 and Chateau de Quesnoy.
I think I played Chateau de Quesnoy once in junior high - memorable for not revealing one of my HIP French 75s when an enemy unit passed through the hex, and then having it materialize in a later turn. Opponent - who I think was just playing to humor me, he was not a hardcore wargamer - rightly called me on it and I recall pulling my 75 off the board since the mistake was clearly mine. What I find strange is that despite having played Strayer's Strays at least 2 or 3 times with different opponents, the "chateau board" always invokes the memory of de Quesnoy.
 

dlazov

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Red Barricades

Every time I see it I think of two things:

  1. Mike MacIntyre
  2. 3 years of CG III The Barrikady
I got so many memories of the things we did and saw there and then to last me a lifetime. We lived in ASL Stalingrad for THREE years! We saw or exeripenced everything you can imagine in ASL....
 

Yuri0352

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Boards 1, 3, and 4.
Too much time spent playing on these back in the early days of SL and ASL, and far too many alternatives available nowadays.
Any scenario using these boards is automatically on my 'Do not play' list.
 
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JRKrejsa

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Boards 1, 3, and 4.
Too much time spent playing on these back in the early days of SL and ASL, and far too many alternatives available nowadays.
Any scenario using these boards is automatically on my 'Do not play' list.
I was there for a while with 3, 4 and 12. But I avoided them for a while, and can now stand to use them again!
 

Jude

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Boards 22 and 5 are also very evocative but I cannot remember the particular scenario that used them.
Board 5 screams COI to me every time I see it. A gamette that totally revised the entire German and Soviet OB and it only included one board. But man did my friend and I salivate over its inclusion!

I was there for a while with 3, 4 and 12. But I avoided them for a while, and can now stand to use them again!
Board 24 was one I didn't like. I could understand hills just fine, but for some reason, the concept of a valley just gave me fits. Don't even get me started on the split level building and LOS! I figured it out now - I think!
 

Paul M. Weir

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Board 5 as it had more than token woods. Board 6 due to it's unusual subject seemed more real, as opposed to generic, than any board till then and for many years afterwards.
 

bprobst

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My first exposure to Squad Leader was when a guy that I had just met (who later became a good friend) had just purchased Crescendo of Doom and wanted to show it off to his friend (who I was visiting at the time). Most of my wargaming experience back then was with SPI games, and I had never seen anything quite like it. In particular board 6 captivated me, with the "realistic" artwork depictions and the "story" that the board was displaying -- the big central building, the long avenue leading up to it, and so on. It would be some little while after that before I got to actually play the game, and of course board 6 didn't feature all that frequently in those early days before even GI:AoV was released (let alone ASL), so every opportunity to bring it into play was a little moment of pleasure in itself.

I don't think I "hate" any boards, although as noted above board 10 grew tiresome after a while. Oddly the older boards don't bother me in the same way; I guess that they're just inherently better-designed boards. That being said, some of the ASLSK boards are pretty dull -- just miscellaneous terrain thrown around randomly, boards 'z' and 'r' in particular.
 

Futbol

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Having played a few scenarios lately using some early boards, it made me curious if any boards out there invoke a strong memory for any of you as soon as you see it. This could be anything from a scenario that instantly comes into mind when you see it, a love or loathing of a particular board, something incredible (or bizzare) happened on it, or something completely different.

For example, board 1 without question will always be The Streets of Stalingrad to me. My friend and I battled over the two sides of that board and then the whole board over and over in our SL days. Others that come to mind is The Chateau de Quesnoy for board 6 and Gavin’s Gamble and The Dinant Bridgehead for board 7. We have played many other scenarios with those boards but those are the ones that always pop in my head as soon as I see them.

As for other reactions, whenever I saw board 4, I knew someone was going to get slammed because that was basically the only open ground board in the early days. In fact, I still kind of don’t like that board to this day because it seemed like it was so overused. Board 3 meant you either had to take building 3M2 or have it packed with guys to defend the hell out it since it was so dominating in those early scenarios.

As you can see, my strong memories come from the earlier boards. With such slim pickings back then, those boards got etched in my mind.

Now that my friend and I are one and done scenario players, the newer boards just don’t evoke the same memories for me. So what about you? Any boards that instantly remind you of something? If so, what and why?
dont link board 14 I think it is the one with the random sunken and elevated roads
 

Robin Reeve

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The first existing boards carry with them a lot of memories, as I stepped into the SL world in 1982, then ASL in 1986 (that is, asap in Europe).
I still like those older boards - just played Triumph on Taraldjiksfjell and I found how pleasing and immersive it was to play that hill mass.
I love board 3 with those hills surrounding a village...
I have nice memories of board 6 (Château de Quesnoy comes to mind), but I tend to shun it now, because it is so wrong when it comes to the scale : you have the impression that it is a Manoir with gardens around it... but the thing is 200 meters long and the "trees" are woods hexes. Larger than Versailles...
I hated the 20-23 boards fo BV: the open ground green was nearly fluorescent, the browns were reddish. Good for a postapocalyptic, nuclear irradiated environment. Less for WW2. And the buildings were too spaced one from another.
Not speaking of the gigantic wooden multistory building : such a massive construction could hardly be wooden... My suspension of unbelief is strained here about as much as with board 6.
Their SK version has partly reconciled me with them.
But more recent urban maps are far better, including narrow roads, etc.

What we are all missing now, is the memories linked to specific boards, as many newer ones appear only in a minority of scenarios.
The advantage is not having tested their LOS to death, thus leading us to a more "what would I do when confronted to a new situation" impression.
Most starter kit boards are bland - but that is partly due to their featuring very basic terrains.
 
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