Your all time top 10 scenarios

[Yuri0352]

In no particular order of preference:

DB 121 Grave Situation - a sort of Custer's last stand involving SS paratroopers trapped in a cemetery by Tito's partisans. At night.

BFP 85 Churchills at Kursk - a very evenly matched all armor battle. I've managed a win as either side.

ASL 159 White Tigers - 1944 Ghurkas vs the Japanese. Every bit the cardboard blood bath it sounds like.

BFP 98 Place of Honor - very exciting portrayal of the 9th guards airborne's defense at Kursk. Inspired me to read Zamulin's 'Demolishing the Myth'.

BFP 104 Flying Turrets - best and biggest armor/combined arms clash in ASL period.

U27 A Winter Melee - Eastern Front winter clash between the wehrmacht and a mixed Soviet force of partisans, cavalry and paratroopers. An old favorite from the COI days.

ASL 74 Bloody Red Beach - USMC amphib assault on Guam with all the bells and whistles.

DB 130 Tigers and Flames - 1943 Ost front combined arms. Despite the Tigers, seemed very evenly matched.

J116 Brigade Hill - ANZAC's vs Japanese. Seemed very well balanced. A good scenario to teach the value of movement over prep fire.

ASL 73 Hell or High Water - 1943 USMC amphib assault against an all-HIP Japanese defense. My best recommendation for an introduction to amphibious operations.

Honorable Mention:
The 'Line in the sand' linked scenario CG from Journal 5 (J79 through 81) depicting the actions during first Alamein. I enjoyed these very much, I just didn't want to use up 3 of the 10 slots on the list.

 

[Eagle4ty]

Many of these have been listed twice, but if I'm counting correctly, AP62. Shouting into the Storm is the only one listed 3 times so far.

And with good reason. Almost made my list as well (but ya gotta draw the line somewhere ).

 

[Roy]

ASL 159 White Tigers - 1944 Ghurkas vs the Japanese. Every bit the cardboard blood bath it sounds like.


Honorable Mention:
The 'Line in the sand' linked scenario CG from Journal 5 (J79 through 81) depicting the actions during first Alamein.

White Tigers with 3 entries. That makes me happy.

Played "Line in the Sand" Had a great time with it, had a little trouble visualizing the broken terrain though. Still a good time.

 

[Jeff Sewall]

A68/135 Acts of Defiance
AP57 Kleckerweise
AP60 Nishne, Nyet
DR4 Seizing Sidi Rezegh
J19 Merzenhausen Zoo
FrF23/J118 Elephants Unleashed
SP73 Seregelyes Slug-Out
SP115 The Five Pound Prize
VOTG24 Raid on Rodimtsev
WCW10 Stand and Die

 

[Sparafucil3]

A68/135 Acts of Defiance
AP57 Kleckerweise
AP60 Nishne, Nyet
DR4 Seizing Sidi Rezegh
J19 Merzenhausen Zoo
FrF23/J118 Elephants Unleashed
SP73 Seregelyes Slug-Out
SP115 The Five Pound Prize
VOTG24 Raid on Rodimtsev
WCW10 Stand and Die

Nishne Nyet is another good one. I forgot about that one. -- jim

 

[Roy]

And I believe that is 3 for Kleckerweise.

 

[GeorgeBates]

OK, I'll bite.

Elite (in no particular order):

• J59, "Friday The 13th"
• A7/129, "Slamming Of The Door"
• A70, "Wintergewitter"
• A80/126, "Commando Schenke"
  
• J103, "Lenin's Sons"
  
• J53, "Setting The Stage"
• DASL A3, "Back To School"
• J104, "Flanking Flamethrowers"
• A59, "Death At Carentan"
• HS23 (fmr DASL A12), "Tussle At Thomashof"

First Line:

• 77, "Le Herisson"
• J98, "Lend Lease Attack"
• 122, "Extracurricular Activity"
• VG14, "Pavlov's House"
• AP22, "Ghost Riders"
• VG15, "Perfected In Battle"
• AP08, "A Bloody Harvest"
• AP52, "Into Vienna Woods"
• J65, "Brave Little Emchas"
• 102, "Point Of The Sword"
• HC1, "First Matanikau"
• J94, "Kempf At Melikhovo"
• J50, "The Cactus Farm"
• VG18, "In Sight Of The Volga"
• RB3, "Bread Factory #2"
• J116, "Brigade Hill"
• AP54, "800 Heroes"

 

[Thunderchief]

I have played 570 scenarios in 24 years of ASL and don't think I really have a top 10.
Over 400 of my scenarios have only been played once.
About 70 have been played more than once with my most frequently played scenarios being:

Liberation of Tulle = 3
Armored Probe = 3
Confusion Reigns = 3
Taylor Made Defence = 3
Defiance on Hill 30 = 3
Under the Noel Trees = 3
Silence That Gun = 4
Kurhaus Clash = 4

Many of these top ones are quick and easy to play, especially when introducing others to the game and I have played many new ASLers in my time - so that might be part of it. Many are also 15-20 years old and have been played by just about everyone who has been around for a while (a generalisation, but a reasonable one I think).

I hope to get to 1000 games by the end of 2023 (big goal I know), so with a few more playings I'll have formed more opinions by then.

 

[ChrisM]

10: Bucholz Station (ASL I) GIS in a chow line as the German Bulge offensive breaks over them....get that .50 on the hill and try to slow up the juggernaut - still fun after all these years.

9. Acts of Defiance (A68): Have won and lost it twice with both sides - just so much late war fun and in none of my splayings have the Goliaths taken out a bridge. I'll play it again any time

8. White Tigers (A47) Gurkhas, rain, IJA armor, one hero charging with an ATR across the rice paddy - just an absolute Burma Blast and one of my favorites.

7. Cobra Kings (J124) I have come to enjoy Deluxe ASL quite a bit in the past couple of years - and this Bulge scenario with GIs attacking Germans in a stone building and daring 88s while passing Roadblocks is a fave of mine.

6. Liberation Day (WO15) A balanced and bloody East Front clash that I thoroughly enjoyed, even though my Soviets came up short.

5. Tasimobko Road (A97 but reprinted in Operation Watchtower) Colonel Edson and some Air Support launch a violent attack on the Japanese on Guadalcanal. Great USMC v IJA scenario without it being a bug hunt or where Marine firepower just dominates the field. The Japs can do some damage as well.

4. Rage Against the Machine (J157) biderman is in trouble again as a Russian armored columns storms the little town he si holding. Wounded leader, desperate defense - one of the more enjoyable East front assaults I have played in the past couple of years.

3. The Bushmasters (ASL 66) A large and flavorful PTO scenario with US Native Americans trying to break a well constructed IJA defense. Meaty and challenging it really will help you grok a lot of the PTO rules kills. Love this one.

2 Totsugeki (ASL 153) An acknowledged classic and PTO staple. I love hunting for those Guns as Chiang's boys do their best to hold back my persistent samurai. Would play again any time.

1. Die Gurkha Die! (SP80) My all time favorite scenario. Both sides attack, both sides defend. Chinese, Gurkhas, a hidden gun a village to take, a position in the rear to hold - I just love this one. The only TPP on my list and it comes in at #1, strangely because I am pretty close to an official only player/buyer. I just love this one though an often reflect on it.

 

[Xavier 658]

In no particular order;
http://www.jrvdev.com/ROAR/VER1/ShowScenario.asp?ScenarioID=129
Swamp Cats AP11
Hill 621 E
Bread Factory #2 RB3
Eye of the Tiger WCW7
Hube's Pocket G
Commando Schenke 126
Kampfgruppe at Karachev J23
Brutality Alley ESG72
Valhalla Bound (X11 repub.) A74
The Awakening of Spring G33

I could add ASL Scenario C as well....

 

[Doug Kirk]

OK, I am burning some vacation days before the end of the year so I had some time to kill. I thought I would take a stab at my favorite scenarios. This is a really tough chore to get it down to 10. In short, I couldn’t do it, couldn’t even get close to 10. After reviewing my 1000ish scenarios played my first pass left me with 50 or so scenarios on my list. I whittled some more off the list, but try as I might, getting it down to 10 was impossible. I struggled with balancing the old and the new scenarios. What I kept coming back to, was my favorite scenarios should be the ones I want to play again, but some of the older true classics I have had enough of and really have no desire to play again. So I decided to create two lists, one published in 2000 or before (true classics), and those published after 2000 (recent favorites). Nothing magic about the year 2000, it was just a round number and convenient breaking point. So here goes the top 11, I still couldn’t pick which one to cut to get to 10. In no particular order.

66 The Bushmasters
A68 Acts of Defiance
A59 Death at Caretan
A70 Wintergewitter
SP2 Holding the Hotton Bridge
SP11 Pomeranian Tigers
J1 Urban Guerillas
AP11 Swamp Cats
PBP25 First and Inches
WCW7 Eye of the Tiger
NQNG6 One Eye to the West

Now the newer stuff (although some of these are still fairly old), I would play these tomorrow before resorting to the pre 2000 list above if looking for a game tomorrow.

FrF2 Maczek Fire Brigade
FrF26 A Polish Requiem
FrF19 About His Shadowy Sides
FrF64 No Time to Bleed
AP62 Shouting into the Storm
AP93 Best Think Again
J157 Rage Against the Machine
J141 Riding with the King
SP95 Burn Gurka Burn
SP103 For Whom the Bells Toll
SP115 The Five Pound Prize

The second list was far tougher to pare down, lots of good scenarios being put out recently.

 

[Roy]

White Tigers with 4!

And thanks for biting, George.

 

[Roy]

The second list was far tougher to pare down, lots of good scenarios being put out recently.

And some very prolific designers.
Thanks for the effort Doug. Sorry if I made your head hurt.

 

[Spencer Armstrong]

Oh, alright. I can't guarantee these are my all-time faves, but they stick out in memory and I would happily play any of them again anytime as either side.

No particular order:

FrF2/J113 Maczek Fire Brigade - early war, weird stuff, demands a lot of both players and has options.
WCW1 (*not* G40) Will to Fight...Eradicated - attack/counterattack, my favorite style of scenario. Just infantry, but a lot going on in a small package.
FrF48 Bad Moon Rising - use *all* the Night rules, for once. Also interesting and has options for both players.
A25 Cold Crocodiles - It's just excellent start to finish. A lot going on and neat toys.
AP42 Frontiers and Pioneers - Neat, multi angle game, some fun vehicles.
DB020/J43 Third RTR in the Rain - looks like nothing on the card, but a great little fight.
ESG74 Scorpions in a Bottle - Many angles and makes great use of probably my favorite board in ASL.
J121 Schloss Hemingstein - Terrain and situation is challenging and interesting for both sides. Also happened to introduce me to one of my all-time favorite opponents.
BtB4 Firestorm in St Manvieu - Creeping barrage, boss troops on both sides, bocage. I don't normally favor this flavor of elite on elite smashmouth, but when I feel like it, this nails it.
FrF45 Totensonntag - All infantry, fighting withdrawal, very technical. One of those with simple rules, but actual depth. And features FrFA, an amazing board (I so hope to see it become an official board in BOF2).
AP23 Agony at Arnautovo - Multiple directions, I actually love ground snow, great scenario.

That's 11. Oh, well. The cuts already hurt (Ceramic Factory, Shumilino, One Last Mighty Hew, Battlin' Buckeyes, Pavlov's Dogs, Belated Christmas....) and I'm not making any more.

(Note: my *most played* scenario is Gavin Take, but that's strictly for instructional purposes).

 

[burniefox]

Ooh! I wanna play!

In no particular order:

• Merzenhausen Zoo (J19)
• Storming the Station (VotG7)
• Hueishan Docks (BFP29)
• Flying Turrets (BFP104)
• The Second Belt (BFP83)
• "Mad Mike's" Finest Hour (ESG46)
• Hill 621 (E)
• Texas Flood (AP77)
• Kleckerweise (AP57)
• Coiled to Strike (BFP74)

 

[ChrisM]

@ Spencer: J121 Schloss Hemingstein nearly made my list as well. One of my favorites of the past decade. i just couldn't get the pillbox setup correct and the US player rolled my SS - but the Terrain and the situation are fascinating. Surprised I don't see it on more lists.

 

[Spencer Armstrong]

@ Spencer: J121 Schloss Hemingstein nearly made my list as well. One of my favorites of the past decade. i just couldn't get the pillbox setup correct and the US player rolled my SS - but the Terrain and the situation are fascinating. Surprised I don't see it on more lists.

Glad I’m not alone. The play count was lower than expected when I looked on ROAR. I played it for a VASLeague game and we did something wrong enough that we agreed to toss my win, switch sides and play it “for keeps.” Both playings were great fun and went to the wire.

 

[djohannsen]

ASL 74 Bloody Red Beach - USMC amphib assault on Guam with all the bells and whistles.

Holy crap! This one involves Co. I, 3/3, my first Company (I was in 1st. Plt.)! As soon as I am ready for Chapter G, this will be my first PTO scenario!

 

[jrv]

Holy crap! This one involves Co. I, 3/3, my first Company (I was in 1st. Plt.)! As soon as I am ready for Chapter G, this will be my first PTO scenario!

Although you may if you want, it probably shouldn't be your first. You need to learn caves, beach landings, landing craft, & aircraft as well as the Japanese and PTO terrain to play it. You might save it for your second PTO scenario.

JR

 

[djohannsen]

You might save it for your second PTO scenario.
JR

I'm sure that by my second PTO scenario I will have mastered the necessary rules. ;^)