Hi friends,
Yesterday I received my copy. What to say? I am very pleased!
The Annuals/Journals are the best overall ASL products of the last years. Modules are cool and good, but those magazines are just the spice of a hobby that has already lots of hardware. And this Journal is especially good. Tons of scenarios. All kinds of. And a lot of biggies. I love big scenarios. Those tournament ones are nice but the biggies are what make usually the best battles.
A good mix of articles. Of course as widespread as they are, they cannot satisfy everyone (e.g. I do not play SASL) but it is cool that so many aspects are covered - every ASL player will find his pets. There are scenarios or lots of different maps, the new KR, RB, PB, even DASL!
Kudos to Dan Dolan, the new KR is cool. BTW, a Q: Again I have problems with crest lines:
I assume that the crest line that is in S5 should be in S4, i.e. the drop of height should be in S4? Is there LOS from S4 to P4 crest units?
Another thing not really clear on my copy of the map: There runs a crest line along N5-O5-P4. A crest line of the same elevation runs along O2-P2- Q3. What about Q4? Is this lower? The Q3 crest seem to run into Q4. I cannot see how P4 crest is meant. R4 seems to be the same color of height as O3, but that cannot be true, as there is a single drop from S4 to R4, and S4 is as high as O6 which is one level higher than O6. The only solution seems to be that Q4 is of same height as Q3 and P4, so the crest runs in Q4 to connect. True? That means that R4 is just a bit dark on my map, but if the crest runs P4-Q4-Q3, everything seems to be OK here.
A rule-Q (I might not understand the crest rule thoroughly): Can a unit IN R4 gain crest status? I think not, as there are only depression and cliff hexes. True?
Otherwise the map is a beauty and the scenarios look funky. Well done Dan. How about a nice HASL with french? I think they need much more coverage. Some scenario with lots of crap tanks could be nice. Dan - this is no provoccation, I seriously think you are the man to do it.
Kudos to Jim Stahler. "Capture of the BAlta" was one of my pet scenarios of the roots of SL. Funny, all those new things and the scenario I want to play most and first is this one. I simply cannot bypass it. I'll read the analysis after playing it.
Seeing some scenarios of Chas Smith is also nice. I have HOW, and sseing it in the Journal just nicely shows the difference of the initail artwork and classical SL/ASL look - it looks absolutely fantastic. "Merzenhausen Zoo" is a biggie I have still on my list to play. Good to see the input here.
Tom Repetti failed a bit. Such a nice example and he did it with russians/germans. Hey Tuomo, you should have done it with russian/finns! :-) Just joking. A Q here: It says that only the area pictured here is in play :- I assume that means whole hexes only? The hexes partly shown are out of play? Otherwise I wwould have some Qs. Awwesome Example. How long did you need to compose it? I guess MMP made a 4MC when they had to check it !
Nice article about Air drops. Simon speaks about six scenarios featuring it. 6 (SIX?) can anyone name them? I seem to miss something here. How about some more MMP? This needs definitly more coverage.
JR (our NY list-member) wrote a cool cave complex assault primer. Nice work. This and Dan's work will cost me a lot of time relearning the rulees. KR definitly needs to be played.
Plus counters, errata (cool idea to be able to print them on sticky paper), some chapter K rules plus lots of more stuff roundd up a very well product. Gee, this was very expensive - it cost more than a module some time ago - but it was worth it.
MMP: I don't want to whine, but I paid $16 postage and handling. On the envelope was an US mail stamp that says $7.20. Does this mean that it costs more to bag it ($8,80) than to haul it over from Baltimore to Vienna? TAHGC had outrageous mailing costss (30%), but the Journal has more than 50%? I like getting it airmail, so it costs what it costs, but the difference is a bit hard.
Please guys - no discussion or flame thread about MMP squeezing our purses. I just wanted to ask them to think if the difference for us oversea fans isn't too much.
OK, what is missing in the Journal? Well actually it is a cheek to want more. There was simply no place to put it, as it is crammed full with very good ASL stuff. But please: Take care that Mark Nixon can speak again in the next issue. Don't let the addicts suffer from cold turkey. Then how about the step-child of ASL? RIVERCROSSINGS. All you guys out there - jobless TPMs, professional scenario designers: How about some funky RIVERCROSSINGS? Maybe even a small CG a la PL (Yes, I mean Platoon Leader - but do it in a way it works!) that covers the effort to cross a river, get a beachhead on the other side and break out from it? But some single play RIVERCROSSING scenarios would do it.
So the watchwords are RIVERCROSSING, AIRDROP. Maybe an Annual with Schwerpunkt "weirdie"? Not all of them, but some extreme environmental conditions. I like it when my boys wade in the mud up to the hips, or the land is frozen or the tanks cannot leave paaved roads without the risk of sinking. Plus a bit rain. Like "White Tigers".
Good work! Long live the annu...errrh the Journal!
