Its uniqueness, surely.
What was your "moment?"
- Thread starter Pitman
- Start date
I started in 1977 with SL, while technical training at Keesler AFB. Got to my active duty station of Malmstrom AFB (MT), and drove the hobby shop crazy waiting for COI {as well as Generals}.
COD came next, then after I got out of active duty; came GI. Trying to keep up with FOUR different sets of rules gave me headaches. When ASL was announced, I waited [not so patiently]
for the ASL Rulebook and BV. With just one set of rules to try and master, I still get headaches, but they are enjoyable ones.
COD came next, then after I got out of active duty; came GI. Trying to keep up with FOUR different sets of rules gave me headaches. When ASL was announced, I waited [not so patiently]
for the ASL Rulebook and BV. With just one set of rules to try and master, I still get headaches, but they are enjoyable ones.
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In 1980, during summer holidays in Cornwall, the day before we took the ferry back to France, I purchased Panzer Leader in a game shop, and spotted Cross of Iron - which I never had heard about.
Back home, some months later I saw in a French new game magazine (Jeux & Stratégie) and article about SL, which whetted my appetite,
My personal, existential path leading me to Christian faith made me question my playing wargames and it took me some more time to weigh the positives and the negatives about that hobby - the former won the contest.
In 1982, I purchased SL, then quite fast aferwards CoI and CoD.
I ordered GIAoV as soon as it was available.
I was hooked from the first day I tried SL: the scale and the feel of a real narrative developing offered so much more than my other wargaming experiences.
I remember having made quite a number (20 or 30) of scenarios for myself...
When ASL came out, I managed to round up the necessary money to purchase BV and the rulebook from my usual French retailer - I was living in Switzerland, where there were no wargame retailer that I knew of.
I remember that it cost me 1000 French Francs (something like 250 nowadays dollars).
It was in spring, 1986.
I remember coming back home with the package strung to my moped...
I delved in the rules and I was immediately hooked by the depth of the system.
What was my "moment"?
I cannot separate the SL pre-experience from the ASL one.
It is like a series of steps, leading one to the other.
My deep motive was more affective than intellectual: I wanted a game which would make me feel like I was living an adventure, with a lot of fun.
And ASL has given that to me more than enough.
That is also why I do like playing solo as much as against an opponent: different experiences, the first giving me the same type of feel as when I watch a good movie or read a good book, the second generating the tension of competition...
Back home, some months later I saw in a French new game magazine (Jeux & Stratégie) and article about SL, which whetted my appetite,
My personal, existential path leading me to Christian faith made me question my playing wargames and it took me some more time to weigh the positives and the negatives about that hobby - the former won the contest.
In 1982, I purchased SL, then quite fast aferwards CoI and CoD.
I ordered GIAoV as soon as it was available.
I was hooked from the first day I tried SL: the scale and the feel of a real narrative developing offered so much more than my other wargaming experiences.
I remember having made quite a number (20 or 30) of scenarios for myself...
When ASL came out, I managed to round up the necessary money to purchase BV and the rulebook from my usual French retailer - I was living in Switzerland, where there were no wargame retailer that I knew of.
I remember that it cost me 1000 French Francs (something like 250 nowadays dollars).
It was in spring, 1986.
I remember coming back home with the package strung to my moped...
I delved in the rules and I was immediately hooked by the depth of the system.
What was my "moment"?
I cannot separate the SL pre-experience from the ASL one.
It is like a series of steps, leading one to the other.
My deep motive was more affective than intellectual: I wanted a game which would make me feel like I was living an adventure, with a lot of fun.
And ASL has given that to me more than enough.
That is also why I do like playing solo as much as against an opponent: different experiences, the first giving me the same type of feel as when I watch a good movie or read a good book, the second generating the tension of competition...
1992!!!
I dabbled in SL, COI and COD (never owned GI:AOV) when it first came out. Somehow, I lost all the counters during one of my moves in my college days. But, I didn't really care as I HATED the Penetration, Sniper/Scout and placing Acquisition counter rules for Defensive Fire! Hated them. When ASL came out I bought the Rulebook and BV. The Rate of Fire rules and Defensive First and Final Fire rules sold me on the system. I sort of tried to teach myself infantry and did some DYO.
In 1992 five significant things happened that changed it all for me.
1. I met my best friend Jess Ward at The Spokane Game Faire. We were watching a game of Civilization being play as we both missed out in getting signed up for it. Eventually, the talk switched to ASL and I told him I knew the infantry rules, but had no clue how AFVs worked. He said he would run home and grab his ASL stuff and teach me AFVs. So, we played a game of Blazing Chariots right then and still finished before the Civilization game. He introduced me to Pete Dahlin (worked on the Korean War module) and we played weekly with Christian Daughtery, Darrel Lembke and a few others. I still play games with Jess, Christian and Darrell.
2. I joined the ASL mailing list on GEnie. I talked shop and played ASL by email (PBEM) with Phil Pomerantz, Russ Bunten, Brian Sielski, Curt Schilling and Bob O'Connor. Curt and Bob would call me a wuss when I said I needed to go to bed at midnight Pacific time when they were on the East coast! Learned a lot using PBEM as you could play 3-5 games at once, study your moves and read the rules.
3. I discovered Code of Bushido. OMG!!! The absolutely amazing job that Avalon Hill did with the PTO and the Japanese! OMG! I was hooked. Eventually, I did nothing but play PTO for a whole year then wrote an article for the Journal; Welcome to the Jungle. Still to this day I marvel at how well the PTO and the Japanese turned out. I got that same feeling when I read thru The Forgotten War rules this year.
4. Freakin Red Barricades. Just an absolutely shocking and gorgeous mapsheet. The campaign rules were mind blowing and are still being used to this day. Played the campaign three times. 28 years later my preferred way to play ASL is a scenario on a historical map.
5. ASL tournaments. Heard about AvalonCon on GEnie and decided to go. 130 guys all playing the same game and speaking the same language. I was in heaven. Played Eric Givler in my first ever tournament scenario and beat him in Bread Factory #2 (on the Red Barricades map). Thought I was hot stuff when I started 2-0 and then got matched up with Bill 'Fish' Conner in the third round. Major league a$$ whuppin! Finished 5-2, learned so much from each game and proceeded to kick the locals butts, until they got better by learning all the new stuff I was taught.
After the tournament some of the guys; Bob Bendis, Fish Conner, Louis Tokarz and a couple other Chicago guys saw I was alone and asked if I wanted to go to the Aberdeen Tank Museum with them. Fish knew about an open hatch under the IS-2 (or the JS-2, don't remember), so we all crawled inside 2-3 at a time as we couldn't all fit inside at the same time. Cool beans! They were all puzzled/weirded out when I started following lightning bugs around. Awesome! I had never seem them as I'm from the dry west coast. So, I followed them around like a little kid.
After that I went to 2-3 ASL tournaments a year for 20 years. All the guys you meet and play makes you want to go back for more. It's amazing how much you learn playing 4-5 scenarios in a weekend. And you get to see everyone's dice towers, storage systems and dice preferences. OMG! Truly, OMG!!!
I dabbled in SL, COI and COD (never owned GI:AOV) when it first came out. Somehow, I lost all the counters during one of my moves in my college days. But, I didn't really care as I HATED the Penetration, Sniper/Scout and placing Acquisition counter rules for Defensive Fire! Hated them. When ASL came out I bought the Rulebook and BV. The Rate of Fire rules and Defensive First and Final Fire rules sold me on the system. I sort of tried to teach myself infantry and did some DYO.
In 1992 five significant things happened that changed it all for me.
1. I met my best friend Jess Ward at The Spokane Game Faire. We were watching a game of Civilization being play as we both missed out in getting signed up for it. Eventually, the talk switched to ASL and I told him I knew the infantry rules, but had no clue how AFVs worked. He said he would run home and grab his ASL stuff and teach me AFVs. So, we played a game of Blazing Chariots right then and still finished before the Civilization game. He introduced me to Pete Dahlin (worked on the Korean War module) and we played weekly with Christian Daughtery, Darrel Lembke and a few others. I still play games with Jess, Christian and Darrell.
2. I joined the ASL mailing list on GEnie. I talked shop and played ASL by email (PBEM) with Phil Pomerantz, Russ Bunten, Brian Sielski, Curt Schilling and Bob O'Connor. Curt and Bob would call me a wuss when I said I needed to go to bed at midnight Pacific time when they were on the East coast! Learned a lot using PBEM as you could play 3-5 games at once, study your moves and read the rules.
3. I discovered Code of Bushido. OMG!!! The absolutely amazing job that Avalon Hill did with the PTO and the Japanese! OMG! I was hooked. Eventually, I did nothing but play PTO for a whole year then wrote an article for the Journal; Welcome to the Jungle. Still to this day I marvel at how well the PTO and the Japanese turned out. I got that same feeling when I read thru The Forgotten War rules this year.
4. Freakin Red Barricades. Just an absolutely shocking and gorgeous mapsheet. The campaign rules were mind blowing and are still being used to this day. Played the campaign three times. 28 years later my preferred way to play ASL is a scenario on a historical map.
5. ASL tournaments. Heard about AvalonCon on GEnie and decided to go. 130 guys all playing the same game and speaking the same language. I was in heaven. Played Eric Givler in my first ever tournament scenario and beat him in Bread Factory #2 (on the Red Barricades map). Thought I was hot stuff when I started 2-0 and then got matched up with Bill 'Fish' Conner in the third round. Major league a$$ whuppin! Finished 5-2, learned so much from each game and proceeded to kick the locals butts, until they got better by learning all the new stuff I was taught.
After the tournament some of the guys; Bob Bendis, Fish Conner, Louis Tokarz and a couple other Chicago guys saw I was alone and asked if I wanted to go to the Aberdeen Tank Museum with them. Fish knew about an open hatch under the IS-2 (or the JS-2, don't remember), so we all crawled inside 2-3 at a time as we couldn't all fit inside at the same time. Cool beans! They were all puzzled/weirded out when I started following lightning bugs around. Awesome! I had never seem them as I'm from the dry west coast. So, I followed them around like a little kid.
After that I went to 2-3 ASL tournaments a year for 20 years. All the guys you meet and play makes you want to go back for more. It's amazing how much you learn playing 4-5 scenarios in a weekend. And you get to see everyone's dice towers, storage systems and dice preferences. OMG! Truly, OMG!!!
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BattleSchool
Elder Member
The ASLRB is an exemplar. It is the foundational text upon which engrossing narratives are built.
It leaves little and yet a great deal to chance. Its wealth of detail allows players to build (in)credible facsimiles of historical engagements. The ASLRB is a procedure manual for those who would gamble the lives of their cardboard men on the roll of the dice.
The tome's great breadth and depth belies an underlying simplicity: an age-old struggle not only between men, but more tellingly between their rational and emotional selves. Better than any wargame I know, ASL replicates Clausewitz's friction, events that happen during the course of a scenario that make even the simplest of tasks difficult.
The ASLRB is a beacon, a guiding light for those who desire and demand more from a wargame. It is an exemplar for wargame designers and developers of the future.
hongkongwargamer
Forum Guru
It is .. it's the seeing a copy of ASLRB in corner of a tiny little bookstore that got me in to ASL. "This thing is going to last me forever!". All the while the bookstore owner was trying to sell me on a couple of pretty Lock N' Load modules.
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bendizoid
Official ***** Dickweed
I think it was a KV w/ the 76, I got claustrophobic in that thing, lol. That was a great field day ! There is a picture of us pushing Anzio Annie.
Pitman
Forum Guru
Get a room, you two.
And Jesus said unto them, 'Who do you say that I am?' And they replied, 'You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma in which we find the ultimate meaning of our interpersonal relationship.'
And Jesus said: 'What'?"
Sorry, I agree with everything you wrote, but it just reminded me of the above, and I couldn't resist.
hongkongwargamer
Forum Guru
The ASLRB is the intellectual construct upon which shared hallucination is possible, all the while using cardboard bits as medium.
Michael Dorosh
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Mmmm, nice writing, but 35 years of history suggests otherwise. Has anyone else done anything similar? I see the Flames of War stuff at the Sentry Box and think they've probably been as extensive as far as breadth of coverage vis a vis nationalities, but nothing like the ASLRB.
I flat out disagree that it is an "indelible mark on the gaming scene." holdit is right about its uniqueness, but I can't ever see it being a model for something similar. More like a colossal accident - it built on those four original rulebooks, and then kept a hold on all of us here, but I doubt it could ever be repeated. Moreover, no one else has even wanted to try.
Michael Dorosh
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Okay, but you just described every wargame ever produced.
BattleSchool
Elder Member
We're all talking about Advanced Snakes and Ladders, right?
Fixed it.
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The ASL system is a much more powerful stuff.
The hallucination comes to life and mixes with reality, where other wargames are just having a slight effect of coffein.
hongkongwargamer
Forum Guru
Hahahah ... with ASL I can see the events unfold in my head and when I communicate it to the other chap, it's evident that he's seeing the same thing (or better in his head). It's the best/most ridiculously cool thing.
That reminds me of @Carln0130 and @witchbottles who never fail to make the funniest sounds/voices or running commentary as events unfold!
'Ol Fezziwig
Repressed Dissident
With Carl, those noises are only that accursed SBoD (Sugar Bowl of Death), the infuriating semi-mobile artificial cataract PTC generator from Hell.
'Ol Fezziwig
Repressed Dissident
Interestingly, one of my moments was against Carl, shit, 25 odd years ago. My first FtF game at the Olde BAASL stomping grounds at Bob Walden's house in historic Wayland MA. We played A Stiff Fight and Carl gave me what remains one of my most treasured compliments: "for someone who's only played solitaire, you know the rules really well and are one heck of a player"
My ASL life has taken some turns, some sabbaticals, some periods of indifference...but I always wander back to the fold. Forty years of countless moments...the pull of this amazing system always draws me back.
My ASL life has taken some turns, some sabbaticals, some periods of indifference...but I always wander back to the fold. Forty years of countless moments...the pull of this amazing system always draws me back.
'Ol Fezziwig
Repressed Dissident
Will probably get banned for language...
Michael Dorosh
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Is that European for covfefe?