Why is ASL the best game ?

[Treadhead]

(Thanks, Ron. I still don't see any smilies on the "Reply" screen... I see icons... I checked the FAQ to learn about the smilies...)



Regards,
Bruce Bakken

 

[byouse]

I don't think there is a "best game". ASL is my favorite game, most of the time. I prefer ASL over other tactical level games because of many of the things others have pointed out.

Also, I can post here or the ASLML or CSW that i'm going any in the US (and most everywhere else it seems, too) on a trip and i'll have someone offer up a free meal and a game.

Sure there are real dicks in this niche hobby, people i'd rather not get a free meal from nor play a game against, but tell me what aspect of your life -doesn't- suffer from that problem? Work? Church? Softball team? etc. No group of people pulled together because of a common interest will be all hugs and kisses.

 

[Dr Zaius]

(Thanks, Ron. I still don't see any smilies on the "Reply" screen... I see icons... I checked the FAQ to learn about the smilies...)

In your User CP, you had the toolbar turned off. :shock: I've turned the full WYSIWYG toolbar on for you so you should be seeing them now.

 

[paulkenny]

I don't think there is a "best game". ASL is my favorite game, most of the time. I prefer ASL over other tactical level games because of many of the things others have pointed out.

Also, I can post here or the ASLML or CSW that i'm going any in the US (and most everywhere else it seems, too) on a trip and i'll have someone offer up a free meal and a game.

Sure there are real dicks in this niche hobby, people i'd rather not get a free meal from nor play a game against, but tell me what aspect of your life -doesn't- suffer from that problem? Work? Church? Softball team? etc. No group of people pulled together because of a common interest will be all hugs and kisses.

I would have to say chess or even checkers is the greatest Wargame, simplicity incarnate yet incredibly difficult to master.

 

[Treadhead]

In your User CP, you had the toolbar turned off. :shock: I've turned the full WYSIWYG toolbar on for you so you should be seeing them now.

Ta. And it is so...

BB

 

[Robin Reeve]

I would have to say chess or even checkers is the greatest Wargame, simplicity incarnate yet incredibly difficult to master.

But : no place for errors, no link with realty, no risk calculation...

 

[GVL]

.

If you have to ask us why ASL is such a fantastic game, then I daresay you do not love it enough yet!

Not true. I never loved a game so much as ASL. But more people find more arguments to convince other people.

Thanks to every one for the replies.

 

[Pitman]

Chess is not a wargame.

 

[Aries]

Chess is not a wargame?

Hate to break it to you, but it is indeed a wargame.

Now it is not the same as Squad Leader or Strategic Command.

But it is not far from a game of Tactics II either for that matter.

 

[Pitman]

Hate to break it to *you*, but it is not. A wargame is a game that attempts to model/recreate historical, counterhistorical, contemporary, or future warfare.

Chess makes no attempt to model any conflict, any more than Stratego does. It is merely a completely abstract strategy game that uses some martial iconography.

 

[Aries]

I will remember that the next time someone tries to burn ME at the stake for saying what you just said

 

[paulkenny]

Hate to break it to *you*, but it is not. A wargame is a game that attempts to model/recreate historical, counterhistorical, contemporary, or future warfare.

Chess makes no attempt to model any conflict, any more than Stratego does. It is merely a completely abstract strategy game that uses some martial iconography.

Says who? who says Chess doesnt do such a thing? Chess models a mideaval warfare where knights and Kings ruled the land, Bishops fought side by side with warriors, castles provided defense and pawns were used as fodder to the gods of war and Queens, well as most men know, they are the most important in thing in the world.

 

[Treadhead]

Hate to break it to *you*, but it is not. A wargame is a game that attempts to model/recreate historical, counterhistorical, contemporary, or future warfare.

Chess makes no attempt to model any conflict, any more than Stratego does. It is merely a completely abstract strategy game that uses some martial iconography.

In the modern sense of "wargame", you can argue that chess is not a wargame. I'm not sure I agree with your definition; surely a wargame can be any game that attempts to display "war", or armed conflict of some nature?

In its earliest incarnations, the beginnings of what became modern chess can certainly be seen as attempts to "simulate" battle. I am no expert, but I have read on the subject, and I found this quote rather quickly:

A great deal has been written about the origins of the modern Chess variants and there is still a lot of debate on the subject. The earliest clear ancestor of Chess is Shaturanga or Chaturanga which was invented by a 6th century Indian philosopher. It was a battle between four armies each under the control of a Rajah (king), two players being loosely allied against the other two and and each containing 4 corps - Infantry, Cavalry, Elephants and Boatmen. The board of 64 squares used for Shaturanga, was borrowed from an earlier game called Ashtapada, which was a race game played in Ancient India. The pieces of Shaturanga were represented viz.:

• Infantry - 4 Pawns which moved as pawns do in Chess
• Boatmen - A ship which could only move 2 squares diagonally but could jump over intervening pieces
• Cavalry - A horse which could move like a Knight in Chess
• Elephant - An elephant which could move like a Rook in Chess
• Rajah - A human figure which could move like a King in Chess

The game started with the four armies in each of the four corners, in a double row, like Chess, the four main pieces behind the four pawns. Other than the fact that it was a game for four players, the other main difference was the use of dice to decide which piece moved each turn.

http://www.tradgames.org.uk/index.html

Boy, that sure sounds like a wargame to me.

At any rate, I have played Xiang Qi, which is Chinese chess, and I prefer it to European chess.

As far as chess being "merely a completely abstract strategy game that uses some martial iconography." ...

Sheesh.

Regards,
Bruce Bakken

 

[sgtono]

Hate to break it to *you*, but it is not. A wargame is a game that attempts to model/recreate historical, counterhistorical, contemporary, or future warfare.

Chess makes no attempt to model any conflict, any more than Stratego does. It is merely a completely abstract strategy game that uses some martial iconography.

Wow, I will remember that the next time I castle.

Keith

 

[paulkenny]

Wow, I will remember that the next time I castle.

Keith

ANd the next thing Mark does is mess with STRATEGO!!! Come on where do you think the minefield rules came from!

Next thing you are gonna say is Battleship isnot a Wargame!!

You Sank My Battleship!!!!!

 

[Johnny Canuck]

I'm a dabbler in ASL, and I enjoy various types of 'wargames' of different formats such as:

- Board games
- Computer games
- Turn based games
- Real Time Strategy
- First person shooters

A few of the titles I've enjoyed over the years:

- Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Wolf:ET
- Total Annihilation
- UNIX based Empire
- Falcon 4
- Harpoon 1 & 2 & 3
- Blitzkrieg (AH boardgame and Nival PC game)
- Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40K
- Rome: Total War
- Panzerblitz
- Advanced Squad Leader
- Age of Empires (various flavours)

Is ASL the best? I can't say, but it certainly has a number of things going for it that I haven't found elsewhere.

EDIT: Oh, and I'm no good in any of them.

 

[Priest]

My favorite board game (ASL) and my favorite computer game (TOAW ACOW) both have the same thing in common, that is you can simulate a whole lot with them. With ASL I can play any battle that occured from France 1940 to Rerlin 1945 and with ACOW I can fight any battle that occurred during the 20th century.

 

[paulkenny]

My favorite board game (ASL) and my favorite computer game (TOAW ACOW) both have the same thing in common, that is you can simulate a whole lot with them. With ASL I can play any battle that occured from France 1940 to Rerlin 1945 and with ACOW I can fight any battle that occurred during the 20th century.

Slight corrction, with ASL from Poland 1920 through Jeruselem 48 or even later with DBP.

 

[Pitman]

I am *quite* familiar with the early history of chess, and it is my familiarity with that history which leads me to my conclusions. Paul Kenny, above, for example, says that "castles provided defense." However, in none of the early versions of chess was the "castle" actually a castle. It was variously an elephant, a chariot, or even a flying chariot. It didn't matter *what* it was called. It didn't represent anything. It was just a playing piece that moved a particular way.

Chess was never intended to model warfare. And it never did.

 

[RobZagnut]

Why do I like ASL? The PEOPLE. If it wasn't for the people I probably wouldn't still be playing.

Twice a year I go to Seattle/Portland just to see Sam Belcher, Dade Cariaga, Clayton Queen, Bruce Billett, Jeff Newell, Jim Roche, Keith Siverson, Rick White, Will Fleming, Richard King, Dave Haasl, etc. I look forward to playing a game with them, going out to dinner with them and drinking a beer after the games (sometimes during).

When my boys get older I'll return to ASLOK to see and play Phil Pomerantz, the Ginnard brothers, Perry Cocke, Mike McGrath, Russ Bunten, Andrew Robin, Bob Bendis, Mark Nixon, etc.

My best friend is an ASL player (Jess Ward) and we try and play whenever we can on Friday nights in Spokane. We first met because of ASL when he taught me how to use AFVs (Blazin Chariots) when we met at the Spokane Game Faire in 1991.

I'm a social person. I like to play games with people. I don't play solitaire and computer games bore me after a couple of hours. ASLers share a common interest and speak the same language. Ever wonder what other people in a reasturant think of 4 or 5 of us when we're sitting down at the restaurant and start relating out experiences of what happened so far during the tourney? We speak our own LANGUAGE and nobody else knows what we're talking about!!

"I rolled a 3 and his Sniper came over and KIA'ed my 9-2, but during the Leader Loss Morale Check one of my squads Heat of Battled creating a Hero and Battle Hardening while the other broke and failed it's ELR."

"I've got one better than that when my 50L maintained rate..."

Say what?!?!

Who cares about the cost, the number of scenarios, the flexibility, the involvement, etc. Those are good, but they're secondary. It's about the PEOPLE. That is what sets ASL apart from other wargames. There are lots of us all over the world and we like to get together at tournaments to play the game, enjoy the game and each others company.