What makes a Good ASL Product?

[Petros]

To start a thread which departs a bit from Evan Sherry’s post about ‘which way for designers?: Here’s a question that come out of that thread which would be good to discuss:

What Makes a Good ASL Product :?:

I think a good ASL product begins with choosing the right topic. I think the right topic is one that is fresh in terms of Subject Matter and/or Types of Battle. A knowledge of what has already been produced helps. For instance, let’s consider HASLs/HSASLs. For now, we already have enough representative battle(s) of:
- (after VotG!) Stalingrad (RB, VotG)
- Battle of the Bulge (KGP I,II)
- Reichswald (OVHS)
- ETO British Airborne (ABTF / PB)
- PTO beach landing (Gavuto, BRT)
- PTO cave/hill complex (KR)
- PTO night fighting (OWT)
So let’s not do any more of those for a while. That still leaves a fairly wide open field of new HASLs/HSASLs. Plenty of big-name and not-so-big name single battlefields which would lend to a new HASL including:
- Kohima (Brit / Japanese fight for the ridgeline)
- Ponyri (microcosm of Kursk – massive OB & map )
- Manila (American / Japanese city fight)
New HSASL themes taking place over a wider area could include:
- Kursk (incorporate Ponyri HASL, extend into larger theme)
- Cassino (maybe something more comprehensive than HOBs ‘Fortress Cassino’ – new series of games maybe)
- Normandy / St.Lo breakout
- Market Garden (with historical overlays on geoboards – tie together with ABTF)
- Caen and vicin breakout
There are other criteria for what makes a good ASL product of course. Innovative ideas (post-WWII titles, styles of scenario design), new AP subjects, etc., I just wanted to start the ball rollin..

 

[pferraro]

It must have a high repetitive Drool Factor. Take RB for instance. At any given moment, I can Drool Over any part of RB. The map. Chapter O. The Annual replay. Drool.

Drool.
Drool.
Drool.

 

[Hubbs5]

It must have a high repetitive Drool Factor. Take RB for instance. At any given moment, I can Drool Over any part of RB. The map. Chapter O. The Annual replay. Drool.

Drool.
Drool.
Drool.

You will definitely want to get your RB mapboards laminated. :wink:

 

[chris olden]

Hi Don,
Well, something that hasn't been done before, or is under-
represented in ASL, SO FAR.(Axis Minor stuff, cool AFV's...)
However, that's not always true;
I thought the GI Dozen scenario pack was cool. And it was
just reprints of GI:AoV.(updated of course)
TOT#2 was an EXCELLENT ASL product; great idea that was
unique, well done, and A LOT of fun to play through.
New boards!!!! Always a bonus.
Just some ideas.
Chris Olden

 

[Matt Shostak]

I agree that we need some fresh areas to explore. However, the games still have to be fun, balanced, and have a high replay value.

I'd really like to see something like, what was it called, Achtung Panzer? Didn't somebody do a campaign in France 1940? That would be cool. I'd like to see it be more official.

 

[Brian W]

Terrain Changes

One thing that does not make a good ASL product is one with lots of scenarios that have massive terrain changes -- e.g. All hill hexes besides Hill 456 are palm trees. Recent products seem rife with them. I don't mind the occasional, treat all x as y, but when you have, treat all z as y except hex h, it gets damn confusing. It puts a scenario on the "played last" list.

Strangly enough, this does not mean I dislike overlays; to the contrary, I love overlays. I guess I am saying I am a visual man and need my palm trees to look like palm trees and not hills.

 

[mglouie]

Well designed/developed, Balanced, replayable scenarios that don't take more then 6 hours to play. A couple long ones, isn't bad if there are 12 or more scenarios.

 

[Pitman]

I think a good ASL product has to have, first and foremost (since "good designing/good playtesting" is a given), is some sort of novelty.

There are lots of sorts of ASL novelty.

1. Novelty in the rules. Interesting SSRs, interesting OBs (See the Melee Pack for an example of this), etc.

2. Novelty in the tactical situation. Not your usual meeting engagement or what-have-you, but something a little different. OWT's "Government property," perhaps is an example of this. I even give "Subterranean Quarry" an A for effort, if not for results.

3. Novelty in the maps (if any new ones; novelty in use of overlays/configurations--"Water Foul"--if no new ones). Another city map is not that novel...

4. Novelty in the historical situation. My god, we have seen enough HASLs featuring elite SS units, airborne units, USMC, and the like for a long, long, long time. World War II was a lot bigger than that. I'd love to see a Shanghai 1937 HASL, a Polish Armored Division scenario pack, a partisan HASL of some sort, a 1940 Calaise HASL, an Odessa 1941 (Rumanians vs. Russians HASL), a Bataan HASL, an Aleutian campaign HASL, an Imphal or Kohima HASL, a Antwerp approaches HASL, a 7th Armoured Division scenario pack, and so forth. There is so much of World War II that ASL can work with.

5. Novelty in conception. Maybe an HASL doesn't have to have a "standard" campaign game--maybe it can have some other sort of mini-campaign game or linked scenarios. Maybe there could be a scenario pack of scenarios designed for Three Players. Und so weiter.

 

[mglouie]

I think a good ASL product has to have, first and foremost (since "good designing/good playtesting" is a given), is some sort of novelty.

"A given"? :roll:

 

[Pitman]

By that I meant that the need for that was given and I wouldn't list it.

 

[Keith]

In a new ASL product I like to see variety. In variety I mean that I like to see small and large scenarios (not like Journal 4 with ALL small). I like to see some unique units or situations. I don't want to see 10 scenarios that are all infantry with the units pretty much inter-changeable. I would like to see some Jagdpanzers or Hetzers or some other unit that does not get out of my counter tray very often. I like to have several nationalities represented (this comment is more towards a Journal type of product). I don't like to see a lot of special rules and I am not real crazy about overlays but a couple are okay. Personally, I love the big scenarios and RB is the greatest game I have ever played but a nice change of pace would be some nice Armies of Oblivion scenarios with small tinker tanks and different nationalities. New game boards never hurt either.

 

[da priest]

I think a scenario with various Axis Minors AFVs would be nice--

Errr--AoO now?