It’s been two years since my last confession. I’ll rephrase. It’s been 807 days since I last confessed my desire to create a pack of Advanced Squad Leader scenarios. I’ve been fine tuning the cards ever since. I want them to be worthy of the time and effort playtesters and proofreaders have invested in them. Though if I’m being candid, I haven’t been as diligent in my self-appointed task as I might have wished.
It’s tempting to blame others for the pace of progress. I mean, they can’t possibly have better things to do with their free time than play (test) ASL, can they? Maybe it’s just life getting in the way of pushing cardboard. Nothing personal. I hope.
Or was it something I said? Am I guilty of an ASL vice or three? Read on MacDuff!
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| Me-eple in the Steeple |
Lust
Is my yearning for ASL acclaim and accolades as obvious as an unconcealed 10-3 in a steeple? Hidden Initial Placement isn’t forever, it would seem. I can nonethless assure you that any desires I may harbour for wider recognition, the “ASL Hall of Fame” isn’t one of them.
But I get it. I’ll go so far as to admit it. I’d like my freshman foray to be well received. If anything, it’s fear of infamy not a hunger for fame that has had me second guessing my creations. My fears aren’t unfounded. History hasn’t been kind to certain scenarios of a certain age. Moreover, what could be forgiven as naive exuberance then is unpardonable today. Anyone with an intense longing for recognition from the ASL fraternity should keep in mind that old adage: be careful what you wish for.
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| Scenario N Soldiers of Destruction (1989) |
Gluttony
I’m a glutton. There, I said it. I’ve got a sweet tooth, or at least I had one until sugar got the better of the tooth. Willy Wonka level chocolate fiend. A fully subscribed member of Chocoholics-R-Us. C’est moi. What I’m not, is a glutton for punishment. And I don’t wish that on other players. Hence my abiding interest in scenarios that lead to paths less travelled.
Don’t get me wrong. I like vanilla. But I’m probably not alone in saying that I can only stomach so much. Forty years on, I’d prefer to gorge on something completely different. Within reason, that is.
Despite an avowed interest in arcane passages of the ASL Rule Book, I haven’t always practiced what I preach. I’ve zero interest in rooting Japanese out of caves, for example. There are only so many red lines I’m willing to cross. Until recently, the Korean War was another of those lines. (It goes without saying that the 38th parallel is a line I’d rather not physically cross either, though for different reasons.) And yet I was recently dragged down into the bowels of that wicked beast aptly labelled Chapter W. The scenario that emerged consumed months of precious me time. But vanilla it ain’t. Stay tuned. I’ll be calling for players to test 2 RCR in the Rain shortly.
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| 2 RCR MG Team, Korea 1951 |
Greed
I know what you’re thinking. I’m in it for the money too. Well, no. I could earn more panhandling. I’m talking about something else. In fact, most of you are guilty of the same sin. Hoarding.
How much is enough? We all know someone, even if it’s only that geezer in the mirror, who has more ASL paper and paraphernalia than he could possibly utilize in his remaining lifetime. Somehow that hasn’t stopped this fella from pre-ordering more stuff.
That’s not the same thing as being a Scrooge. Many in the hobby give some of their stuff to others. Still, outsiders cannot help but think that we’re mad. Why do we need so much stuff? We don’t.
Granted some of us over do it. But that’s hardly cause for the men in white coats and a straitjacket. We buy and collect ASL stuff, because it interests us. We also buy it to support those who dedicate their time to creating new stuff for the likes of us. That may strike some as excessive consumption. But it isn’t driven by a frenzied desire to own more than we need.
In an ideal world—where ASL was as popular as chess—patrons of The Game would sensibly confine their purchases to what interested them the most. However, billions haven’t even heard of ASL. Only a tiny slice of humanity has ever given it a second glance. And so we generously support ASL publishers with our wallets. Many are also generous with their time. Hundreds in the hobby devote countless hours to playtesting and proofing new material. Others design scenarios, maps, and historical modules. Still others tend to VASL, write blogs, or produce podcasts and videos about the hobby. But most contirbute simplying by buying ASL publications, heaps of them. That can’t all be bad.
My scenario project is another way that I can support the hobby. Last year, I submitted a Starter Kit scenario to MMP. Over the years, more than a dozen novice players have taken it for a test drive. Should Delta Force encourage even one wouldbe fan to stick with the hobby, it will have been well worth the hours expended to develop it.
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| Starter Kit Scenario - Delta Force |
Sloth
Four decades have passed since I first set eyes on a big orange binder so full of promise. With the rich ASL bounty available to us today, it’s easy to become complacent, or worse, dissatisfied with what the system has become. War-weary wargamers are a thing. Players often take a break from ASL. Some return to find that The Game isn’t what they remembered. Rules change. Publications go out of print. Opponents drift or pass away. Is it so surprising that many of us develop a sense of ennui, a feeling that ASL no longer excites or provides a sense of belonging or purpose? I have.
Sloth is essentially a sin of avoidance. Difficulties become easier to avoid the more you avoid them. It takes effort to play ASL. It takes perservance to play well. It takes humility to seek out new opponents and learn from them. Fine. But what’s your excuse for not grabbing a scenario card, pulling some counters, and setting up a defence? Or how about organizing your ASL gear or optimizing your counter storage system? Too much effort? What about installing VASL and watching others play or listening to an ASL podcast?
Better yet, get involved. Take on the things that bug you about the game. Create, lend a hand, or offer advice. But don’t moan endlessly about the current state of ASL or your disillusionment with it.
It seems that every time I despair, someone—who’s been there all along, steps out of the shadows to thank me for some modest contribution that reinvigorated their interest in ASL or kept them engaged. Feedback can motivate. It can motivate you to stick with it and it can motivate you to do more. Even negative feedback can spur you to improve. Never underestimate your potential impact on the hobby as a whole.
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| Scenario - 2 RCR in the Rain Board Layout |
Wrath
Ever witness an ASL board flip? I can’t say I have. I was present when a Squad Leader board, counters, and dice went airborne. The Guards were counterattacking. The fellow who’d introduced us to the purple box had moved a large group of guardsmen to the same street corner. Seizing the moment, Sgt Stahler’s Landsers annihilated the stack, sending our host into a teenage rage. The moment became etched in my brain. The newb who’d been playing the Germans coined the phrase “gorrock platoon tactics.” It’s stuck with me. You may know it as: “Don’t stack!”
Unlike Monopoly or Risk, players invest considerable time and effort into preparing for let alone playing ASL. The stakes are higher, though not because of any dire financial reprecussions. Egos are on the line. Fears of making a bonehead move fray nerves. Some obscure piece of errata you’ve never heard of until now? You’re done. You’ve lost. I get it. You’re pissed.
We’ve all been there. Recently, one of ASL’s caretakers half-jokingly related how he’d come close to launching a virtual playtest into low orbit over Maryland. Brian Youse went on to lament the absence of a board-flip option in VASL. If a playtest can trigger an apoplectic fit in someone for whom ASL is his daily bread, what hope is there for mere congregants of the faith?
The archetypal ASL player is many things. He, and he’s usually almost always a he, can be analytical, detail-oriented, methodical, routine-focussed, a perfectionist, or quietly studious. But who among you isn’t a Control freak?
It’s easy to lose control of your senses when you fail to control a situation, often one of your own making. You can blame the enemy Sniper or you can blame the convoluted rules for gaining Control. But the fact remains that you can’t control for everything in ASL. Certainly not as a designer. That said, you frequently have control over what you play and with whom.
Therefore, if you’re one of those lower-case control freaks, you may want to pass on a design that I submitted to MMP last month. It has an SSR that removes one element of player control. Faced with more than one marauding Flammpanzer, the British must first pass a “PIAT Check.” You can take some comfort in the fact that the HASL map the scenario uses is flip resistant.
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| Scenario - Pass the PIAT SSR 2 |
Envy
Let’s get something out of away straight off. What follows isn’t a tirade against those who covet another’s ASL collection, counter-storage system, or dice-rolling thingy. It isn’t envy for players blessed with unholy good fortune either. It’s about acceptance. Accepting who you are and what you are not.
You are a member of a hobby with an exclusionary bar to entry. The fact that you can (presumably) afford to buy everything needed to partake without your spouse filing for divorce is not nothing. You’re also more fortunate than most to possess the minimum level of literacy and numeracy needed to grasp the fundamentals of ASL. (I struggle daily with this.) Chess and Go, two arguably more difficult games to master, have far lower barriers to entry. Yet, even the more brilliant minds among us struggle to decipher this rule or that victory condition. Somehow, we muddle through. We play and co-write stories to tell our ASL grandchildren.
You may (think you) suck at ASL. You may swear on the orange bible that your dice are cursed. (Those cubes that came with your copy of Beyond Valor may well be.) But don’t fall into the trap of hating ASL because it’s hard. It’s but one reason why success tastes so sweet. Winning, however, is only the end of the story. Don’t dismiss what precedes a victory. Reflect on the crazy shit that happened, the face palms, the set backs, and the minor coups. Savour those humourous moments and shared laughs. The battle was with The Game as much as it was between mortals. Envy not your opponent’s ability. Take no lasting pleasure in another’s misfortune. Fate is fickle. Above all, find solace in the knowledge that you’re damn lucky to be playing ASL at all. And yes, playtesting is playing.
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| ASL Envy QRDC |
Pride
Pride gets a bad rap these days. Remember when we were told to take pride in our work, to be proud of our accomplishments? At some point the zeitgeist shifted in my native land. “Don’t be a Tall Poppy! You’re making the rest of us look bad.”
My first encounter with Tall Poppy Syndrome (TPS) was in New Zealand over two decades ago. The seeds of criticizing and resenting high achievers have since found fertile ground in Canada. In my view, this behaviour is a perversion of equalitarianism, a utopian desire for equal outcomes. My wife experienced TPS firsthand while working as a biochemist in an Auckland laboratory. Its deleterious effects on the entrepreneurial spirit in New Zealand remain the subject of much debate. The Globe and Mail—Canada’s “national” newspaper—reported in 2023 that TPS was “wreaking havoc on corporations and their ability to promote, retain and engage top talent,” and that “its impact [was] being felt globally.” Wait for it!
Hard work and pride in a scenario well won aren’t the hallmarks of hubris. Hubris smacks of excess, arrogance, and overconfidence. That virulent strain of pride has been rightly condemned as the deadliest sin for millennia. But that’s what I’m concerned with here, considering that ASL can humble the best of us on any given day.
I don’t want to overstate the case. However, I’ve noticed a troubling undercurrent of contempt for projects and their proponents whose methods and goals don’t align with the sensibilities of the ASL intelligentsia. It’s perfectly fine to criticize. Well-intentioned feedback is integral to the creative process, not least because no one can claim to be an expert on all facets of ASL. That doctoral thesis has yet to be written.
It’s okay for members of the hobby to experiment with the system and to come up with novels ways of deriving enjoyment from ASL. You don’t have to agree with an ASL scenario that portrays a clash between “cowboys and Indians.” But it benefits no one to cast dispersions on the person who designed it.
As I outlined earlier, ASL has relatively few adherents. The number of active creators fewer still. Past schisms have diminished our numbers. Squad Leader players who declined to make the transition to ASL were the first to part ways. During the past forty years, an unknown number of disaffected enthusiasts have moved on. Some left of their own accord, possibly alienated by a palpable cliquishness within the hobby. Others were ridiculed or ostracized until they left. We have no way of knowing what these former fans may have bequeathed to The Game had they stayed. Nor can we predict what those stalwarts challenging the current orthodoxy may yet accomplish.
Humility is the antidote to hubris. The next time someone challenges your assumptions about The Game or proposes rearranging the ASL furniture, consider holding your tongue. There’s nothing wrong with offering advice and assistance. But “knock it off with them negative waves!”
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| Made in Canada Oddball |
An immodest commandment
With the sermon out of the way, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and roll some dice.
I’m offering a person who has yet to publish a scenario help in playtesting his or her design. I’m committing to play it twice, switching sides, and with an opponent I haven’t played before. No solo shortcuts!
I’m asking that you do the same.
Help give new talent a leg up. Encourage wider engagement too by seeking out new opponents.
I’ve no clue how many ASL players have never playtested a scenario. I’m guessing a lot. Testing isn’t difficult. If you can play ASL, you can testplay it. Plus, you’ll be helping yourself as much as the designer. I’ve learned heaps from participating in past projects, and I’m certain you will too. It needn’t be for MMP (or me), as long as it’s for a designer in need.
Again, I’m urging you to commit to playtesting at least one scenario (twice) this year, preferably with someone you haven’t played before. Me, myself, and I don’t count.
Designers: Tell me how to get in touch with you by leaving a comment at the end of this post or sending me a private message on GameSquad.
Playtesters: There are any number of threads on the ASL GameSquad forums with designers desperately seeking scrutinizers. If you can’t find a worthy cause or you’re feeling generous, I won’t say no to help with any number of my creations below. (Headed to Montréal this May for the Canadian ASL Open? Please consider giving Booty Call a test drive.)
“Crazy... I mean like, so many positive waves... maybe we can’t lose, you’re on!”
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| Scenario - CC10 Booty Call CASLO 2026 |
Final Playtest
Chop Suey! - Japanese vs Chinese - China 1938
Dying Breed - German vs Polish - Poland 1939
Tag Team - German vs French & Belgian - Belgium 1940
Tug of War - Rhodesian vs Eritrean - Somaliland 1940
Fog of War - Italian vs Greek - Albania 1941
Day of the Jackals - British vs Vichy French - Syria 1941
Electronauts - Russian vs Finnish - Karelia 1941
Huns of Wheels - Hungarians vs Russian - Ukraine 1941
Tin Omen - Japanese vs Dutch - Java 1942
Booty Call - Germans vs Partisans - Russia 1943
Early Playtest
Smothered Hope - German vs Polish - Poland 1939
Allah Akbar! - Vichy French vs Indian - Syria 1941
Parry Séez - French vs Italian - France 1940
War Dance - Russian vs German - Belarus 1941
Black Op - Partisans vs Bulgarians - Montenegro 1943
Blood Count - Hungarian vs Romanian - Transylvania 1944
Coming soon
2 RCR in the Rain - Canadians vs CPVA - Korea 1951
In development
Suicide Stand - Japanese vs American - Luzon 1945
Race to the Finnish - Finnish vs Russian - Finland 1940
Rott in Rain - German vs American - Germany 1944
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| It takes a team. Thanks so much for your ongoing help! |
