The Story of O - a review of Advancing Fire’s Orsogna
Full Disclosure
I spent a lot of time playtesting and received a free copy.
I have not provided a description of everything in the module – there are enough unboxing videos already. And I have not looked at or discussed the CGs.
I’m a firm believer that life is too short to play on geoboards, I prefer to play with the rules that exist but are rarely implemented. Give me mud, give me LV, give me combat engineering!
The Problem with ASL Reviews
The only good ASL review would be a review of a product that has been out for years, and that the reviewer has played against countless opponents, innumerable times. Otherwise, it’s just one dude’s opinion, based on feel and experience.
So, by that frank admission this is a bad review. However, if you wait ten years until every known errata and tactic for playing Orsogna is uncovered and put into this review then Orsogna will be out of print.
(But, as one of the 16 play testers, that does make me more qualified than the other 8 billion people on earth to write this review).
So once again, get ready for my bad review.
Touching The Package
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I don’t know why, but there are some box fetishists out there. This section is for you.
I throw away most of my boxes, I keep a couple for overlays and extra counter sheets but in general they go straight into the recycling. I like to think there’s another ASLer working at a recycling centre somewhere who appreciates my taste.
The only other box I kept is the Prokhorovka box as the maps are so chonky they don’t fit in my normal map storage.
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The Orsogna box is the same size. It’s probably some standard European, well researched, golden rectangle, hyper efficient storage ideal, that consequently won’t fit on American shelves.
Mine arrived, like me, well packaged. In terms of toughness, I would imagine that it would stop a tennis ball dropped from a few centimetres (about an inch y’all) but it wouldn’t stop a 5.56 (home defence) round.
Once again, like me, it would look pretty on a shelf, but as soon as I’m done writing this, it’s going in the bin.
I’ll leave the box art review to Jeff and Dave, but there is no egregious spelling error on the front cover. Good Job Sebi!
Stroking The Map
ASL players, being a small subset of a larger deviant population, can complain about anything. So maybe it’s best I don’t even mention the maps. I mean you can keep some of the people happy some of the time, but at the end of the day Jazbutis is still around.
The Orsogna maps are 170gsm, the Biazza Ridge maps, which, like me, were beautiful but very fragile, were 80gsm.
To put this into ASL terms Biazza Ridge is about as thick as the free sheets of coloured paper you get in each MMP module, but Orsogna is a beefed up KGP map thickness.
I’m genuinely surprised that the people who complained that BR was too thin did not
also complain that Prokhorovka was
too thick.
So that’s the
substance of the maps covered.
In terms of
content, you get 4 maps. Each map is clearly marked 1-4 on the upper fold of each sheet, so you don’t need to open each map to identify the number.
Each map is 235.5cm by 79.5cm (or for any Imperial readers - 0.0012 Nautical Miles by 45000 twips).
In ASL terms it’s 6cm shorter than two sets of RB, and just to trigger
someone, about 5mm wider. This excess is a lovely blue strip that I presume designates an entry area but could be cut off if you’ve only got a feeble gaming table.
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Overall, it’s a wee bit smaller that DAK, so if you have a DAK table somewhere use that. If you don’t have a DAK table, then bro, you gotta ask yourself do you really game?
The maps, together, are 118 by 47 hexes. That’s 5546 hexes. In terms of terrain it covers about the same area as the DZ:SME map.
It’s a good playable size. Not too wide, so if you can play the Germans in RB and whilst reaching for the Volga your gut doesn’t knock down your kill stacks, you’ll be fine here.
There are 10 levels. Colour differences are clear and there is a key at each end of the map. Crest lines are clear.
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There are very few place names, those that are picked out in a pleasant blue, which stands out from the terrain.
There are some buildings which are not on the centre dot, similarly there are a few combination terrain hexes. I know some people don’t dig this, but it’s covered in the first rule of Chapter B. It creates more interesting LOS, so I’m down with it.
One new, to me at least, feature is the use of different coloured hex numbers to delineate two of the maps into separate CG areas. This sometimes negates the need for masking the map during play.
The map is beautiful. Gloomy enough to evoke a winter’s day in a cold and dark December, but variegated and bright enough to facilitate play. The VASL map is the same, during PT I never had a question about the map.
What does the map show? A long plateau dropping off to the North and East into vineyard and olive covered valleys. The head of the plateau looks suspiciously like a frogfish.
At a very rough count about 250 of the hexes are buildings so it’s about 5% buildings. The rest of the map is brush, woods, orchards, vineyards, olive groves.
New terrain types are reedbeds, haystacks, cobblestoned hexes, craters and hillocks.
I can hear the sharp intake of breath when I mentioned hillocks. Well, I got a few things to say. There are very few on this map, in fact it’s a few hex sides that kind of act like hillocks. They cost only a bit extra to move up and don’t block los. Easy eh?
The second thing I got to say about hillocks is that they’re extremely difficult to grok from the ASLRB, but straight forward in this context. The third thing I got to say about hillocks is that they’re a really cool terrain feature akin to slopes that adds some extremely interesting LOS possibilities to maps.
And,
another thing, hillocks are here to stay (possibly disguised as embankment railroads) but here all the same.
There are also slopes. This Advancing Fire mix of hillocks and slopes will be discussed in a separate article. Having said that there are
very very few slopes or hillock crest lines.
This is as far away from BR complexity as you can get whilst still containing slopes and hillocks.
Downtown Orsogna
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What does deserve special mention is the depiction of Orsogna village. The villages and old town centres of Europe are not at all well depicted in ASL. Narrow streets make an effort, but they don’t tell the story.
(I’d recommend spending a bit of time in Google Street View in Orsogna to see the actuality of what AF is trying to represent).
The small dense village built around the central boulevard is a defender’s dream. Rowhouses surround the central road, forcing the Kiwis to attack
along the row houses or to try their luck on the boulevard. They could of course just outflank the town to the West, except there is a massive on map minefield preventing that.
There’s a limited tunnel system, similar to the tunnel complex in Fortress Cassino.
Constricted, claustrophobic village terrain, with Paratroop infantry moving through the village via breaches. The roads into town are mined, or even cratered
and then mined.
The contrast between the wide-open terrain of most of the map and the tight cluster of stone buildings making up Orsogna guarantees two very different kinds of fight.
Ruddy Counters!
Two full colour counter sheets. White core, the same quality as supplied with Prokhorovka.
The “British” counters provide a phat boost to any counter tray. 45 regular 457s!
There is also a smaller Māori infantry OB, identical to the regular Brits save an identifying symbol. (Māori are stealthy, can use H2H and can leap across shallow streams). In total I count about 104 squads with associated SMC, HS and SW.
Two dozen colour Shermans – the wreck side is very well done (best get used to seeing that side).
The Germans have about 60 squads representing Parachute infantry, their HS and SMC also. There are a few of the shorter-range FSJ 81mm mortars also. I guess that these shorter-range mortars have never been needed in ASL before, but in Orsogna, where even your normal 60 hex range GrW 34 will often be out of range, I can see why the newer Kz GrW 42 are needed. There are a few counters to represent units of an Italian Paratroop unit which fought also.
And naturally both sides get a few assault engineers.
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One highlight is 4 beautiful, individually illustrated sniper counters per side, two for each side, for each sector.
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In terms of system counters, there are some burnt out woods/orchards counters, debris, haystacks etc.
There is a stack of control counters, which unlike everyone else’s control counters are 5/8” and brightly coloured, good decisions.
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The counters are gorgeous, but do we really need them? (In the spirit of transparency, I hate new counters).
They’re certainly hard to avoid, it seems that nearly every new HASL has counters.
There are certain counters that are needed in greater quantity than are provided for in the prerequisite modules – here clearly there is a need for more 457’s than are in FKAC.
There are counters needed to differentiate similar troops on the same field (Maori, NKVD, British Airborne troops). Then there are new types of troops that the designer feel must be portrayed.
As much terrain, and many battles were unique, then we need to accept that designers, whilst representing these battles through new maps and SSRs, also introduce new counters. New counters are a necessary evil, but in this case at least, a beautiful necessary evil.
May We See Your Papers Please?
A quick word about the scenario sheets and CG charts. There are 14 scenarios. They are full colour on good quality glossy heavy paper. Some are printed on one page, some back printed and some back printed on different pages.
Other charts are a CG roster, a FPP chart (if I want to purchase a blazing haystack I can), CG organiser, CG purchase charts, a terrain chart which gives MP/MF costs for combinations night/mud/elevation change etc. The same size paper is used as Prokhorovka so it will fit in Letter and A4 page protectors. I didn’t know such diplomatic paper existed…
The Rules are bound in a magazine style. This is far, far easier to handle and read that separate punched pages. I applaud this decision.
A Fair Complexion?
I’ve stated before that complexity in an ASL module is measured by how the designer implements some of the less well know rules and how he introduces new rules
.
Well Advancing Fire introduce a third aspect to this complexity – tweaking and as any Floridians know, tweaking is an acquired taste.
So, in the triumvirate of complexity is Orsogna complex?
A resounding yes. Let’s look at how.
In the little or less used rules corner we have
mud,
rain,
night (including lots of vehicles at night) barbed wire fences,
hillocks, slopes, narrow streets,
olive groves and
vineyards.
In the new rules corner, there are Artillery Observer Teams, rules for close urban terrain including cobblestoned areas, craters, haystacks, reed beds and rules for remaining HIP.
The rules in red are the rules that have been tweaked.
Is this a good thing? I believe so, let me example.
1.12A “Ok, wind, nothing. Rally”
The Wind Change step of the ASOP can be the most mundane stage of a game, useful mainly to chide your opponent that he’s lost his reinforcements because he rolled the wind before he set them up. Or it can completely change the face of the game as Chad (the good looking one from Hazmo) recently argued.
In Orsogna, as in Prokhorovka there is a bit more that goes into the WC.
Rain is often the kiss of death for an attacker. (Old Man Shouts at Cloud moment) Each WC there’s a 17% chance that all of your smoke will disappear, and often more importantly, you’ll need to pay 1 MF extra for an elevation change. Now if you’re playing in mud and in an environment with slopes then suddenly your movement expenses are
massively increased
for the rest of the game! All this for a measly mist modifier that doesn’t even cancel FFMO. Stoopid rain.
Advancing Fire have tweaked the weather rules to be more fun and less devastating. So now rain does not eliminate smoke, but it does diminish it faster. Rain does not automatically increase the cost for moving up and down slopes, only if it rains a lot.
This adds a tiny bit of complexity but is well worth it.
There are minor tweaks – German HMGs that move from their at start position become MMGs. It’s more difficult to remain concealed and advance into CC in a building hex.
There are also systematic, under the hood tweaks which form an AF tradition. HMGs are very rare and there are no leaders in the CG or scenarios that start better than a 9-1.
Some of these tweaks are annoying outside of Orsogna. For example, after months of playing only Orsogna, my regular opponent and I started an OVHS CG. We kept having to relearn the regular rules (“Is that base rules or Sebi rules?”).
So, whilst the commitment is worth it to fully get down in the mud at Orsogna, there is price to pay.
And before anyone pipes up with “too much chrome” remember ASL is a game that represents the thermodynamics of white phosphorus smoke in cave systems. We’re way past the stage of complaining about chrome.
To summarise the complexity. If you’re going to play the majority of Orsogna the extra complexity is a worthwhile investment. If you’re going to buy it and play one scenario, then you’ll struggle with the investment/reward ratio.
Game, play
Orsogna fits a niche. With the exceptions of Crossing the Moro, Casa Beradi, Fortress Cassino and Primosole Bridge (all small) there aren’t any other HASL set in the Italian theatre.
Orsogna is at an interesting point in the war. The Kiwis still have red TH numbers, but the Germans don’t yet have panzerfausts. So, the Shermans struggling through the mud and the mines are very easy targets to the PAK 40s 36 hexes away, which are in turn largely invulnerable.
Weather and ground conditions are an overriding factor in the scenarios.
In terms of visibility, there are many hindrances, combined with rain, it’s often not an easy battlefield to see. One thing worthy of mention is how many of the scenarios allow the player to change the battlefield by using PFZs, haystacks and craters. Like rubble placement in Hatten, it allows the defender to change the battlefield. I like this aspect a lot.
In terms of movement, with the exception, I think of the first scenario, it’s muddy. So, vehicles lose their mobility, if you want to see a Sherman flip over, try driving over a crestline in the mud.
The poor infantry really become foot sloggers.
The most comparable product I’ve seen is FC, where similarly, an outnumbered German force uses the terrain and fortifications to hold off a far superior force. (The same formations fought again at Cassino).
Things I don’t like?
I’m struggling to find things that I dislike in Orsogna. I really am. I know what other people don’t like. But I don’t agree that back printed scenario cards, complex rules and shadows on buildings are important or negative. I’m not too interested in the interviews (I know others will be) but I’m not really a historical player. I do appreciate the bibliography and the clear care and attention that went into this module.
There will be errata. There will be errors. I’ll put my cards on the table and say there’s nothing I don’t like about Orsogna.
Do I Enjoy It?
As I mentioned upstream, I’m not a historical player. I couldn’t tell you the differences between a PzIVJ and a PzIVH in real life. But I’m enthralled by how designers take historical environments and units and turn them into DRMs, terrain costs and VCs.
I think this module is fantastic. It’s the best module that I own. It adds immense depth at a small cost in complexity. It pushes and augments my rules knowledge whilst introducing me to a battle that imposes different challenges on both sides. It demands a style of play I have not found in other modules.
Excellent job Advancing Fire.
Will You enjoy it?
Here we have the reason I’m writing, here we have the reason you’re reading.
Will you enjoy it? I think this is simple. If you’re the kind of player, that 30 years after slopes were introduced into the system, is still moaning that they’re a bit too complex, and that you don’t really like them, then this module is not for you.
If you don’t want to play FW as it’s not real ASL, you won’t enjoy Orsogna.
In short, if you’re happy with what ASL
is, then you won’t enjoy.
However, if you’re interested in seeing what ASL
can be, then this is a perfect module.
.
