Average Dave

Like most popular web sites, the one I own at my place of work has grown into a fair size. Now it needs to be localised. I’ll define Localisation as “The steps needed to translate to another language”, rather than worry right now about presenting date, currency and general formatting to the international user.

So, where do we start?

A quick look at Sun’s implementations tells us that we can go one of two routes, we can pop the translated strings into a properties file (called a resource bundle) or a coded class file called a ResourceBundle. heh.

Ok, why any developer would store translated strings inside a java class file, albeit that locale’s own translated class file, is beyond me. The last thing a developer wants to do is cut and copy from another source - and then maintain a bunch of class files is just crazy. Then factor in that java files can’t really contain non-escaped Unicode characters (my version of Eclipse certainly won’t let me try that one) and that translators don’t want to receive a java class file to translate, I think the best option is to go for a properties file.

The next problem is that Sun expect all resource bundles stored in property files to be in Latin-1. sigh. Why bother at all? Well, you get some nice stuff for free based around the Locale class - making it easy to add a fall back down to the most appropriate property file for the user if you do go for ResourceBundles but you have to fight the Latin-1 issue.

Sun’s solution is to use the <i>native2ascii</i> program. Bah. Running dos apps to convert stuff to escaped unicode isn’t that much fun and it doesn’t help the readability of your files once ready, so the answer for me is to go for UTF-8 property files and hack the ResourceBundleStore class.

I started doing this and then came across someone who’d already done the same thing. Here’s his page on the topic.

Make sure you use your ResourceBundleStore object as a Singleton, otherwise you’ll be creating hashmaps for every user on the site, per page!

I use a link or two on the home page, simply linking to the site’s first page with a request variable setting the locale. That in turns sets a session variable which is read subsequently to look up the correct string through the <i>getString</i> method.

I modified the ResourceBundleStore to go look in the English hashmap. This means that your localisation effort can lag behind your English pages and not give your reader a set of NULL strings to read.

Here’s the ResourceBundleStore:

package com.iasb.utils;import java.util.Enumeration;import java.util.HashMap;

import java.util.Locale;

import java.util.MissingResourceException;

import java.util.ResourceBundle;

import javax.servlet.ServletException;

public class ResourceBundleStore {

private String strBaseName;

private HashMap localeDataHash; // The top level hash containing

// the second-level

// hashes for each Locale. The top-level key is

// the Locale object.

public ResourceBundleStore() {

 	localeDataHash = new HashMap();

}
public ResourceBundleStore(String baseName) {
 	localeDataHash = new HashMap();
this.strBaseName=baseName;

}
public void setBaseName(String strBaseName) {

this.strBaseName = strBaseName;
}
// If the key is not found in the bundle, this method will return null if it

// can’t also find the corresponding english result.
public String getString(String strServletName, String strKey, Locale locale) throws ServletException {
strServletName=strServletName.substring(strServletName.lastIndexOf(”.”)+1);
// Check to see if the PropertyResourceBundle for this Locale has
// been loaded.
if (!localeDataHash.containsKey(locale)) {
try {
loadLocale(locale);
} catch (final MissingResourceException mre) {
System.out.println(”WARNING: The attempt to locate a resource file failed. “+locale.getCountry()+”-”+locale.getLanguage());
}
}
final String result = (String) ((HashMap) localeDataHash.get(locale)).get(strServletName + “.” + strKey);
if (result==null && (!locale.equals(new Locale(”en”))))
{
System.out.println(”WARNING: Couldn’t find: “+strServletName+”.”+strKey+” in “+locale.toString()+” resource.”);
return getString(strServletName,strKey,new Locale(”en”));
}
else
return result;
}

// This will load the resource bundle and add the data it contains
// to our top-level hash.
private void loadLocale(Locale locale) throws MissingResourceException {
System.out.println(”Loading: “+locale.getCountry()+”/”+locale.getLanguage()+” resource”);
final ResourceBundle bundle = Utf8ResourceBundle.getBundle(this.strBaseName, locale);
final HashMap secondaryHash = new HashMap();
final Enumeration en = bundle.getKeys();
while (en.hasMoreElements()) {
final String strKey = (String) en.nextElement();
secondaryHash.put(strKey, bundle.getString(strKey));
}
// Now add the newly-created hash to our top-level hash.
localeDataHash.put(locale, secondaryHash);
}

}
And UF8ResourceBundle is simply:
import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;

import java.util.Enumeration;

import java.util.Locale;

import java.util.PropertyResourceBundle;

import java.util.ResourceBundle;
public abstract class Utf8ResourceBundle {
public static final ResourceBundle getBundle(String baseName) {

ResourceBundle bundle = ResourceBundle.getBundle(baseName);

return createUtf8PropertyResourceBundle(bundle);

}
public static final ResourceBundle getBundle(String baseName, Locale locale) {

ResourceBundle bundle = ResourceBundle.getBundle(baseName, locale);

return createUtf8PropertyResourceBundle(bundle);

}
public static ResourceBundle getBundle(String baseName, Locale locale, ClassLoader loader) {

ResourceBundle bundle = ResourceBundle.getBundle(baseName, locale, loader);

return createUtf8PropertyResourceBundle(bundle);

}
private static ResourceBundle createUtf8PropertyResourceBundle(ResourceBundle bundle) {

if (!(bundle instanceof PropertyResourceBundle))

return bundle;
return new Utf8PropertyResourceBundle((PropertyResourceBundle) bundle);

}
private static class Utf8PropertyResourceBundle extends ResourceBundle {

PropertyResourceBundle bundle;
private Utf8PropertyResourceBundle(PropertyResourceBundle bundle) {

this.bundle = bundle;

}
/*

* (non-Javadoc)

*

* @see java.util.ResourceBundle#getKeys()

*/

public Enumeration getKeys() {

return bundle.getKeys();

}
/*

* (non-Javadoc)

*

* @see java.util.ResourceBundle#handleGetObject(java.lang.String)

*/
protected Object handleGetObject(String key) {

String value = (String)bundle.getString(key);

if (value==null) return null;

try {

return new String (value.getBytes(”ISO-8859-1″),”UTF-8″) ;

} catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {

// Shouldn’t fail - but should we still add logging message?

return null;

}

}
}

}

Property files are simply <servletname>.<key> = <value>, they live in the WEB-INF/classes directory and are simply named <app_name>.en_us, <app_name>.fr, etc.

You should note that the first line in the property file will not be read correctly, thanks to the ResourceBundle.getKeys method not expecting the UTF-8 byte order mark flag. Rather than fight the fight there, I simply add an empty line to the top of each property file.

Popularity: 33% [?]

A common entry into ASL begins with a newbie stumbling across either the starter kits or reminiscing from old SL days. They perhaps find this forum, or a club where there are some established players. They set up a game.

Perhaps a couple of starter kits games later, they’re ready for full ASL, and after a couple of simpler scenarios (Gavin Take/Puma Prowls/Ranger Stronghold/Pouppeville exit/Guards Counterattack) they’re released into the wild to sink or swim.

Some jump straight into a full game after reading the examples of play, and get the hang of it within a few full scenarios. They learn the rules like this but miss out on learning the basics. Not the basic rules, but the basic building blocks of tactics.

The tournament scene often shows that what generally happens is if newbie comes in they’ll go 0 or 1 - 5 for the first year, and similar for the next 2 or 3 tournaments. Then they start to find their feet and depending on ability/regular playing partners/dedication they’ll slowly be able to compete on a kind-of-even keel and with a few exceptions, up to an average ability.

What got me thinking was that there’s obviously a real pull to get into the funkier scenarios as quick as possible. They’re interesting - tactically challenging, they’re new, people are talking about them but they are difficult to win!

When I look back at the older scenarios many of them have quite prescriptive set ups, relatively simple VCs and straightforward OoBs. Pouppeville Exit is a good example. It’s a fixed defensive setup so if the newbie is taking the Germans here they won’t lose the game in the set up phase (something that is very easy to do on the more advanced scenarios). I don’t see many AARs about it though, perhaps because it’s not that fashionable - or it’s seen as a bit old in the tooth.

When you begin your game on the early scenarios, I think they’re actually subtlety teaching you tricks that you’ll use throughout your career. Guards Counterattack is teaching you how to firegroup effectively, how to use multi-level buildings, how to cross a road. Later on it’s teaching you how to conduct Human Waves, the value of smoke, rout paths, etc.

Gavin Take is there somewhat to show you how to manoeuvre past a defensive position, residual fp, the value of leadership, assault fire, and subsequently entrenching attempts and firelanes. I’m not talking about simply the rules references and the mechanics here, I mean the actual value of the item, the strengths - the decisions behind whether to leave resid or keep rate - that kind of thing.

Without this grounding in place, larger scenarios can be daunting during the play because they are formed of many small subsets of larger tactical problems that experienced players have broken down before. Newbies can’t see the patterns, so can be overwhelmed by the task at hand. Even though they can play the scenario competently; tactically it can seem beyond them.

Maybe it’s just me - but I think I’ve experienced this, with my asl career, so perhaps others have too.

I know there’s the programmed instruction, which goes a long way to showing the way tactically it all fits together, but I can’t help thinking there’s a better way to accomplish a better grounding for newer players, in the form of a beginners tactical scenario pack.

I’ve been kicking around some ideas and have the beginnings of some scenarios that try to teach the basics. The idea for some of these scenarios is that the newbie takes one side - which is an “un-losable” VC (Take That Building!) which has reinforcements trickling in every turn, and no turn limit, against a set defensive OoB, and plays until they win. Then the sides are swapped and the “winner” is determined by how quickly the VC can be achieved. The pack will have 14 scenarios which slide all the way up from infantry only, through to OBA, vehicles, Night and even a glider landing.

Popularity: 31% [?]

The Guards Counterattack is an ASL Scenario that began life as the very first Squad Leader scenario 30 years ago. It made the transition to ASL relatively unchanged and remains a classic today. Every player should play it as both sides just for the fun of having some really bit fire attacks and huge close combats. To win, the Russian must take at least two more buildings from the Germans than he loses, or satisfy a 3-1 squad advantage at the game end. It puts the onus on the Russians to move and fire, and with only 5 turns to get the job done you don’t have the luxury of sitting back for too long.

It won’t be uncommon to be rolling some 24, 30 and even occassionally the giddy heights of the 36 firepower column on the fire table, as you mix the best of the Russian Elite infantry against some first line German squads, but in the end, Close Combat will generally decide the result.

I played Martin tonight via live VASL and the game hinged on a sniper roll that took out one leader, but broke the two squads in the same hex following a loss-leader MC. This stack was pretty much holding the German flank, and without it the remaining defenders just had too much to do.

Martin conceded on the last turn, but he’s a great opponent and it was a really enjoyable game.

Here’s the screenshot of the final battlefield.

Popularity: 40% [?]

For the ASL Scenario Archive that I host, I wrote a review for the ‘89 Annual, the first that was developed by Avalon Hill, god rest their soul.

It’s a it wordy, but in case you don’t frequent the archive, and happen to want to know all about it, here it is:

A Closer look at: ASL Annual ‘89

Published: 1989 by Avalon Hill, this 64 page magazine was the first of its kind for ASL. It retailed for $10 and although now it can be tricky to find on ebay it commands very modest prices - the most recent one sold, went for just $6.50.

The cover features the same moody American squad as on the box of Paratrooper. They’re still walking through the dusty forest road and they’re still looking mean.

So, what can we expect to find inside, bags of action featuring the paratrooping Americans mooching through the woods? Not quite - we do get an article about logistics and statistics for the American Infantry and its modelling in ASL and an article about the Russians too. The focus is of the scenarios is split between Gliders, American/British/Russian vs. German combined arms, a smattering of deluxe and some oh-so-out-of-place-now Squad Leader action too.

We shouldn’t forget ASL in this year was still a teenager. Not in the “I’m now a gothic/i hate you dad/life’s not fair” teenager way; but the “I’m still growing up and finding my feet stage”. 18 years was a long time ago. I was starting out life with a new girlfriend, unaware of the 10 years of struggle to follow and eventual replacement-to-a-nicer-model, leading to marriage and happiness. Sorry, I’m lost there between SL and ASL analogies again.

So, back to the Annual.

We kick off with a special mention to a contents page that features an Italian officer(?) in the most camp gun firing posture possible. You know the one where you hold a pistol up a bit too close to your eye, to get a *really* good shot. A bit like the way a child might hold a ruler taped to a pencil pretending it’s a gun. They generally squint with the wrong eye too and it wouldn’t surprise me if this chap’s doing it too. Seriously, I know it’s only clip art, but it looks weird to me. Of course, perhaps it is military doctrine, to prevent over stretching or something. Or maybe it just fits in better with the shape of the image cut-out.

Skipping past the adverts for Hollow legions (oh for the days where a product only has a required module ownership list that fits on the back of a postcard) we have “A Nation of Workers” a six page (small font, no pictures, some tables) study of ‘Utilization of American Manpower and Material in ASL’. If ever an editor set the desire for things to come, this article’s placement says it all. To me, despite its well written, researched and interesting subject matter, to have this article as the first piece in the first annual speaks volumes for the direction the guys at AH wanted to take the publication. The article is so prominent and so detailed that I feel almost bad that I want to skip it and get to the scenarios. It is relevant to ASL and it does merit a read, so I shouldn’t be too harsh on it.

I wasn’t playing ASL in ‘89, so it’s unfair of me to criticise this decision and perhaps with the release of Yanks, 2 years earlier, maybe there was still a hankering for details about just how the US did fit into the grand design of all things ASL, but it’s all just a bit dry. Knowing that the American troop had 1 SW every 1.69 squads, compared to that of the German figure of 2.13 and Soviet value of 3.06 is interesting, but I’m unlikely going to change my tactics for this, or even think about scenarios differently. Sadly, I’m not likely to ever read the article again.

My idea of a good articles for this type of publication are ones that I’ll come back to every year or so (”Smoke gets in your eyes”: Journal 1, “What to do if you have a tin can” again from J1), scenarios that I can play at some time perhaps with an esoteric theme- much like the cavalry ones that would appear later on in the ‘97 Annual, series replays that I can learn from and some good old fashion rules explanation/detailed breakdowns. If I wanted to know the relative merits of the 7-4-7 vs. the 8-3-8 I’d…, hmm, well, really, I’ve not ever thought about it. It’s kind of like trying to decide the difference between the French and Swedish Olympic hurdling teams. I’m sure there are differences, but let’s just race them and see who comes first.

There’s a nice intro from Rex Martin who tells us the purpose for the Annual and then finally we get to some scenarios!

Tavrontis Bridge. A1
Despite the appearance of Gliders, this scenario is just plain dull. It’s set in Crete, during some kind of bizarre weather which makes it impossible to tell if there’s a dust storm, a snow storm or small nuclear explosion ahead based on the scenario graphic. 5 British squads, a handful of foxholes and presumably good books to read, face off against 9 elite German squads arriving generally everywhere except where they want to be in their Gliders. It has a strangely worded SSR that even now I don’t actually understand the English of (”… may make one 4-FP attack at each of two Arial gliders during the first turn…) Each of two? Er, ok. Now, I know I’m being harsh on this scenario, it’s deemed good enough to be reprinted in the newly reprinted For King and Country, and it receives high praise. It wasn’t really my cup of tea when I played it though.

Bofors Bashing. A2
A little more adventurous for those insomniacs who stayed awake throughout the playing of A1, we’re treated to a completely new and wonderful scenario. Oh, except it’s in Crete again, and it’s the British, obviously still fighting those Germans, attacking in Gliders, again. Still, at least it’s on two different boards. And those AA guns we pretended we had in the last scenario have turned up now. I like the Victory conditions that tell us to win the German must eliminate the AA guns, adding a helpful hint: “by any means”. The Germans don’t have a lot of interesting equipments to achieve many means, so it looks like they’ll be capturing guns, and destroying them the same way squad leaders have been doing for years without demo charges, AT/HE of any type (save for the tried and tested “roll low with the mortar”)

Descent from Hell. A3
You’ve played through A1, you used each and every means possible when tackling A2. You didn’t even sneak a peek at A3 because you knew it had to get better. You took a look at the scenario. It got bigger, but somehow there was a feeling of deja vu. Was it the same boards as the last two scenarios, just bolted together. Wait a minute! These counters are still warm, we’ve only just put them away… That’s right. Take everything you loved about the last two and stitch them together. They called it “Descent into Hell”, I call it “More of the Same!”. Oh, hang on, that’s what they meant to do. It is actually supposed to be like that. Well, permission to skip this one if you’ve played A1 and A2 already - and sorry to all those OCD types that wanted to play these all in order. Again, I’m being harsh. This scenario does make an excellent team based game and was a pretty clever way of joining two previous scenarios together.

L’Ecole Normale. Deluxe Scenario A1
so, spot the weird naming convention here. It’s as if they never wanted the wife and the mistress to meet each other. It’s (D)ASL at its most anarchic - a victory condition that wants you to start fires! 10 Molotov cocktail toting Partisan squads search a couple of deluxe boards for a match, over 7 turns in and amongst concealment counters that occasionally reveal a well equipped 2nd line German squad. It’s not that thrilling, more tense, but I think that When ASL is televised, this one won’t be Pay-Per-View.

We take a break from the scenarios and have an interesting look at two separate viewpoints from playtesters of “To the Square”. They both contradict each other in their analysis of where the balance lies, but the article doesn’t go on to say whether any changes were made, or in anyway try to dispute the reasoning given. So, whilst it’s an interesting read, I kind of shrug it off and wonder why they didn’t just fly out both play testing teams to the Avalon Hill towers to duke it out until they figured out the real answer.

A quick topology list. Perhaps unnecessary then, and more so now, lists the first 33 boards - telling you what map board comes from what set, (quick test: What board from that bunch can be described as”Village; rowhouses, path, pond” - and for a bonus point what module was it from? - Answer later on.)

Last Act in Lorraine. Deluxe Scenario A2
Deluxe Scenarios are at their best on big boards with plenty of space to give yourself some elbow room for the high-density scenarios that the boards attract. VASL is at its worst with really high density battles that all the action seems to take place on the board joins. It’s a nice scenario, medium tanks bottlenecked and attacking some heavy German armour along with some conscripts who frankly can’t be trusted to do anything except disrupt. Great scenario, but play this one ftf if you get a chance.

Beyond the Blue Beach. A4
1943, 10 turn US vs. German, in Italy. Interesting situation, featuring towed guns coming on as reinforcements and a quirky SSR that forces the German tanks to regroup on a board should an AFV be destroyed.

Holding the Rear. A5
1943, 9 turn US vs. German, in Italy. Large German force (20 squads, 4 Pz IVH’s) attempt to run past 15 US squads over 3 boards. Popular enough to feature in an analysis in a later publication and a cross-fire series replay too. Possibly a little pro-German.

The Price of Impatience. A6
1944, 6 poorly equipped but hidden Partisan squads try to stop a highly scripted German convoy going about their business, on a village board with rowhouses and a pond. Board 10, of course (from Partisan). Only 7 turns - this one was the “play in an evening”’s scenario that Rex Martin probably eluded to in his introduction. To me these scenarios often become “Advanced Driving school instructor” - where often the convoy owner can forsake Prep fire and advancing fire, and just put the pedal down to try to get off the board. Sure, they help themselves by scoring some VP, but when you can win a game of ASL without firing a shot, you can be entitled to wonder what’s the point.

I’m going to ignore the evil SL scenarios and Historical Commentary of Squad Leader, as this stuff is a bit like the boring blurb underneath the cool dinosaur skeletons in the museums. Sure, I should read all about it, but really, I just want to look at those teeth! Move on..

Piper’s Lament, a new SMC for ASL.
Now, here’s another mini-rant. This stuff just isn’t funny. It’s kind of funny, if your only world is ASL and there is no other possibility for comedy in your life. Really though, it’s just stupid. I don’t mind the fact it only takes up less than half a page, it’s the fact that it’s laying the ground for Mine Dogs and Feline OBA. I’d have preferred a half page cartoon or caption competition, anything other than high-brow humour where I’m supposed to giggle at a “piper”, legs in the air, because he’s failed his MC.

The Letters page is cool enough - I love the comment from one guy that he’s an average player, playing 14-16 hours a week, requests for an official Play-by-Mail system - and deep in there there’s even a thought around how to go about creating an introductory module to get new players involved. Heh, who knew it’d be with us in only 15 years’ time…

Mark Nixon turns his hand to humour and writes a great “adventure” about West of Alamein - still as good a read now as it was then. I’d love to see more Series Replays written in this style. Mark has a great way with words and a keen sense of humour that really seems to come across in the article. It was also printed in the General, so real enthusiasts might have been disappointed to see the same article appear there too though.

Two more scenarios, “Slamming of the Door”, a fairly non-descript German/Russian medium size scenario and then “The Agony of Doom”, the infamously unbalanced scenario which holds the dubious honour of being the most unbalanced scenario (with more than 50 playings) logged on Roar. Still, it looks cool and I do want to play it regardless.

Men of Company A is an interesting filler; a list of people who are potential players in your state or country. Flicking through the names you still see some familiar ones pop up: Vic Provost, the late Gordon Reid, Scott Holst, Scott Romanoski… Hats off gentlemen, although you probably caused a few strange phone calls throughout the 90’s to your poor namesakes, you can say you were there from the start!

Midnight Massacre. A9
A night attack on a pretty much set defence on half of boards 17 and 18. Mildly pro American and you can see why. 9 German squads and a couple of half tracks must take over 3 pillboxes defended by 7 1st line US squads.

Man and Superman: Utilization of Russian Manpower and material in ASL. If you liked the American article earlier on, you were probably ready for the Russian version. If you grumbled at it 30 pages back, you’ll be forgiven for flicking through it and maybe coming back to it later. Once. Maybe.

We’ll whiz past another Squad Leader scenario, even if it was a night one, and then to add insult to injury they put the Comprehensive Squad Leader index in our Annual. Well strictly speaking the Annual was subtitled “For Squad Leader enthusiasts” - so probably the SL players were more aggrieved than the ASL players, to be fair. Let’s skip past the lip service of keeping up support for the SL series too and quickly past another dirty SL scenario.

“How to Win an ASL tournament” didn’t recommend paying Mark Nixon to play on your behalf, but actually reading all the rules, playing some scenarios and finishing in the top 4. Oh and play some DYO. Sigh. That’s my chances of the ASLOK gone for another year.

Next is a little optional chart that people in a parallel universe probably skipped past without a second glance. If Rex wanted to ensure world peace and happy ASL players everywhere he might even have dropped the piece all together. Perhaps he only put it in there because it was a nice filler “The Incremental Infantry Fire Table”. Is it another one of those humour pieces? Ha - We should be so lucky! Step forward one of the most controversial (internet forums/mailing list only - I’ve never actually seen anyone display the slightest animosity to either table in real life) components of the ASL system. The IIFT arrived in ‘89 and perhaps oblivious to the flames it will spread begins its life, sits smugly towards the end of the first Annual. It is to be modified a couple of times and subsequently discussed ever onwards, to the consternation of forum moderators and mail readers everywhere. Not a month will go by without someone getting all emotional over their favourite table. Anyway, it began here, on page 48.

Back to school, Deluxe scenario A3
This is a very short (4.5 turns) smallish scenario featuring flame throwing Germans running past a concentrated deployment of top drawer Russian defenders. One of the most played scenarios in the publication, it comes with a strong Russian bias, allegedly due to the Russians can form a strong hedgehog defence for a last-stand.

The Borders are Burning. A10
The Finns arrive back on the scene after debuting in ASL1/Fighting Withdrawal. This time the tough Scandinavians are asked to stop over twice their number of first line Russian squads and 5 AFVs. The Finns don’t need any Guns to do the job, and the Russians only get 14 turns to cross the two boards. Only the Finns could manage this one, and still have the scenario favour them. Which it does, 60-40 for the Finnish.

“Updating the Oldies” a 3 page article which is more interesting if you know the 3 scenarios they discuss back from SL. Nowadays this article is less relevant, but still an ok read.

Silent Death. A11
If there’s a scenario featuring the Finns, my advice is don’t go against them. This time they’re kicking the Russians around over 6 turns of a snow covered board 3. 15 hopelessly outclassed first line squads Russian are wishing they weren’t having to take on the stealthy, Sledging Finnish skiers - and who won’t take prisoners. The Russians start this scenario asleep and with a pro 75% pro-Finnish outcome, they wish they never woke up.

Savoia! A12
Can you say quirky? Italians, cavalry, desert boards, cavalry charges, steppe terrain vs Russians in foxholes. It all adds up to a nicelty balanced 10 turn game, fighting over what little protection the scenario offers. If there’s one stand-out scenario for uniqueness in the bunch - it’s this one. It doesn’t get much play but it’s not for the want of trying.

Closing out there is a number heavy article on mortars and it really highlights the change in analysis and discussion that I perceive over the history of ASL publications. Early on it seems there was much in the way of statistical based articles, highlighting an author’s point around the various uses of the components of the game. As time goes by we see more and more tactical advice and analysis with practical examples. It makes this article feel a little old and dry, but the great thing is it as relevant now as it was almost two decades ago.

Rex then says goodbye for a couple of columns and we have a cute chronology of war, with a list of scenarios that almost reads like a tournament play list for some players these days. 117 scenarios made up that first Chronology. Highlighting the game’s infancy, the Germans feature in more than 100 of them.

Summary.

The journals and annuals should form part of any ASL player’s library. There is something here for everyone, and with the exception of the SL stuff, almost everything for everyone at some point of your ASL ‘career’.

The scenarios don’t stand out, and there aren’t many classics in here, Back to School is a little unfashionable these days although there have been 3 reprints of these scenarios in reprinted core modules, so they will see some more play.

The Crete scenarios, although I’m harsh on them earlier on, do stand out as good scenarios and receive favourable comments from many players. They are certainly recommended and will suit different requirements based on your own ability and time available to play.

The articles are too stats heavy and due to the immaturity of the system, the scenarios are a little constrained - again solely to do with really what the system had to offer at the time I think.

It should be noted that often the attacker is seen to be favoured in these early published scenarios. Newer publications containing the Schwerpunkt style scenarios encourage swifter, more aggressive tactics which has honed players attacking instincts. It is often the case when players revisit these older scenarios that the attacker has the luxury of time, which given his improved tactical armory will suit a bolder player. Defenders beware!

All in all, despite its average collection of scenarios, its minor space concession to Squad Leader and its wordy articles it was a good first attempt at a periodical publication and undoubtedly paved the way for further Annuals, Journals and third party imitations. For this it should be given adequate recognition.

I score the ‘89 Annual 7/10.

Popularity: 42% [?]

It’s not often I get to see John and Mike, two buddies from school.  What with the family, job and now distance considerations, what used to be an every weekend lan party/board game session has now lapsed into a once a year social weekend trip.

We did however manage to squeeze in quit e a lot of gaming in a couple of days. First up, friday night, 5pm: Tide of Iron

I’d eagerly awaited the release and had hoped that my copy would arrive before I had to set off to Norwich - in the end ToI arrived with 3 days to spare and so I had a chance to read most of the rules.

Mike had also arrived on the Friday, which worked well as ToI suits 2-4 players, the side with multiple players simply splits forces and pretty much play is unchanged other than some minor rules on transferring troops, etc.

We picked “The Crossroads” in as much of a random choice as was possible.  It took us the best part of 2 hours to set up, get the rules down and ready to start. That’s the trouble when you haven’t seen each other for so long - the chat gets in the way of the setup, no bad thing, but you tend to be less focussed on both the setup and the conversation.

Mike had the defending Germans, John and I took the role of the attacking American troops.  The scenario gives the Americans a large set of troops (12 Shermans and a bunch of infantry) to capture 3 main objectives and the Germans barely enough to defend a couple of them - they do have a rather mean Tiger tank, but he’ll only fire once a turn.  Mike chose to defend the location at the forefront of the attack which meant his screening force met with the majority of our attack very early on and was quickly decimated by it.  It was tough going on the beleaguered Germans, as true to form the Americans could bring down sufficient artillery and had the luxury of ignoring the ability to bring on reinforcements to win the game 3 hours later.

Tide of Iron is a nice game, it’s a little fiddly and sometimes counter-intuitive - for example, you roll the same number of dice irrelevant of range, scoring hits on different numbers  which are affected by the range (4,5,6 short range, 6’s for long range).  The mechanic, whilst perfectly functional goes against what I seem to expect - I seem to want to roll half the number of dice for long range shots (perhaps it was my early warhammer days or my expectation to half the firepower from ASL for long range shooting) - but you certainly have to keep focused to remember what each unit has in terms of attack dice, adding some for height advantage, checking the target type to get the total number to roll.  Nothing too taxing, but it’s a little long winded.

Anyway, we had a good time, although Mike had thrown in the towel before the game had even started when John commented on his setup.  That was enough to put him off his game and awaiting the coup de grace, from turn 1!

I’d like to play it again sometime, but not sure when I’ll get the chance. It’s certainly bigger in game time and space requirements than Memoir’44, and although I think it’s the better game, it may suffer from its size.

Popularity: 36% [?]

Tonight I talked Vicki into a game of Wings of War. I’d recently picked up 4 miniatures and two sets of the game (’Fighter Aces’ and ‘Watch Your Back!’) so we gave it a try.

We faced off with me as the Germans, with a Fokker (Fritz) and an Albatross (Ernst) vs her Allied fighters in a Sopwith Camel (Jan Oli) and the Spad XIII (Ricken). The kitchen table was the setting and we fought like novice fighters thrown into the mix for the first time. Manuever cards were mixed, cards laid for the wrong planes were planned for, most turns we wondered what our actual pilots were doing as we followed our carefully thought out moves in amazement as to exactly what we were thinking, seconds ago.

In that respect the game feels a bit like RoboRally, play out your moves in secret and watch how they turn out - but obviously there’s no-one you can even blame for why your plan goes horribly wrong. At the end of the day, the game is pretty luck driven. Our planes headed towards each other in close proximity and we had to take two damage cards each. I drew a flame and a 5 pointer, Vicki drew a 0 and another 0. On the next turn my plane exploded thanks to the explosion card that we drew. The rules do mention taking it out, but to be fair to Vicki I said we’d keep it in to try to ensure a short game.

So, I lost (we decided to play to the first death), but it was a fun game. I look forward to playing it again (next week at our first games weekend for over a year) and also with some mission based scenarios (bomb this, escort that, etc)

What would be really cool is some time lapsed photography of a game session going on. I think you’d really get an idea for the swirling nature of the battle. I’d like to try to do something like this one day.

Popularity: 36% [?]

I’m a sucker for flight sims. I love the idea of flying, ever since I couldn’t join the RAF because I was told I’d probably be too tall to fly fighters (something about legs staying in the cockpit when you eject).

IL-2 and Flight Sim have been my sims of choice for the last 5 or so years - although I really should get back to Falcon one day. I longed for my buddies during lan parties to play a dynamic campaign but bugs and general difficulty meant that their predictions always came true.

A typical falcon 4 lan party mission (years ago when I could persuade them to try it):

Ok, all ready to go?

sigh… I suppose so.

Booting up…

urg - need the CD

[10 mins goes by]

Ok got it. You host, I’ll join.

I don’t see your game

Oh, what patch should we be at?

1.08 I think

Where can I get that from?

[..20 mins later]

Ok, all ready to go?

Yep, which campaign

It won’t matter

Why?

Because we’ll be dead in 5 mins.

Hmm

Ok, all on the runway?

No - Mike’s crashed out - he has to reboot.

Ok, we’ll wait on the runway. How do you start the engines?

Why wont my wheels steer? What button is the tail lock?

Check me out.. [pulls alongside on the runway]

[Crashes into AI trying to land] - Damn - I’ll come back in again

Ok, Mike’s back in, all ready to go? Let’s take off

What’s the waypoint keys?

[5 minutes of bliss, looking at sun glare effects and sneaking a glance at everyone else’s pc to see who has the best frame rate. Complaints are leveled by the ’server’ because his PC runs slower now so the graphics aren’t as smooth.]

[beeeeeeeep] - SAM launch detected…

Where’d that come from. Damn! What’s the flare button, what’s the chaff button… Jeez I’m dead.

Hey - can you see my ‘chute?

Damn - Mike’s PC’s hung.

Ok, I’ll quit - who fancies quake?

Popularity: 33% [?]

When I say ‘arrives’, I actually mean it was brought home yesterday. A Nintendo branded stalk dropping it off over the garden fence wasn’t an option and I should consider myself lucky a full 6 months after launch that there was 1 remaining console in Game. Crazy. I picked up Zelda, an extra controller with an extra nunchuck and Cooking Mama - it was the game I thought I’d have the best chance of wooing the girls with, given their love of cooking.

So far Grace has taken to the boxing and the bowling - tennis was a bit too tricky for her, her disappointment was more than made up for by knocking both Alice and myself out in the boxing. To add insult to injury she knocked me out whilst looking the other way and poor Alice didn’t stand a chance! It was left to mum to show who rules this particular roost, flooring the previously undefeated reception classer in a little under 2 minutes! Zelda and Cooking Mama must wait, taking a back seat to Big Brother - the flip side of the console living in the lounge.

To date, I’ve only suffered a minor wii-injury (tennis related) whilst serving a particularly devilish overhand shot, forgetting that the lightshade has been there for just a day less than the time that we’ve been in this house (a little over 4 years). A bruise (it was tougher than I thought) and some dented pride was the only damage done, thankfully I’d remembered to pull the curtains before play begun.

Popularity: 34% [?]

Advanced Squad Leader, published by MMP, is often referred to as not a game but a way of life or a lifestyle game - dramatic and also a bit of a put down in terms of a definition for a game. I think when people think of games they think they should be fun, elicit a social experience, not take things too seriously and most of all don’t want it to be an effort.

I often see people ask on forums about whether they should jump into Squad Leader, ASL, Combat Commander, Memoir ‘44 or the upcoming Tide of Iron and invariably the answer is to avoid ASL. The odd grognard will occassionally mention some fleeting argument for why ASL deserves a look-in; but for the most part the newbie will be suitably scared off and will retreat back into their hiding place, usually with a copy of Memoir ‘44 or Lock ‘n’ Load in their hand. I’m certainly not suggesting you avoid the others in favour of ASL - each of them has their strengths and I’m looking forward to picking up Tide of Iron, but still…

Here’s why ASL is the game for you:

It’s a thing of beauty. The rule book is something you’ll cherish, hand down to your grandkids and talk endlessly with other ASL romantics about how best to preserve, present and protect it. Bind it (spiral or book bound)? Page Protectors? Scan and reprint? (Transfer to PDA?) The list is endless and you’ve not even begun to read it yet!

It doesn’t read like any instructions you’ve proabably come across and it’s not for the feint of heart. It’s certainly comprehensive. Hundreds of pages, examples, exceptions and acronyms, across 3 binders make up my rules (I have the complete system) - I can tell you about Archer tanks and T32s, one man tankettes and 81mm mortars. If it played a somewhat significant part in the war, ASL has a counter for it.

You can take one page or even one column (sometimes even one paragraph) of those rules, re-read them several times and already you’ve probably learned something new or that you’d forgotten before. You’ll curse the way they’re written to start with, but later on when you’re hunting for that all important rule, the rules are structured in such a way to be the most helpful at that point.

The investment: When you invest time and a serious amount of money (assuming you get at least the Rule Book and the first module Beyond Valour, you’re already down £100 or so and you’re just scratching the surface of the official stuff out there), you expect a return. To warrant the outlay you naturally spend more time trying to get to grips with it, effort I generally won’t make for games in similar complexity. For me this was going out of my way to meet strangers (and invite them to my house too) to play, and routinely beat me, in scenarios of their choice. I still find today that I generally have no preference for a scenario to play. I’m not good enough to be able to look at a scenario card to picture how it will play out, but no other game would make me leave my comfort zone like ASL does and did back then.

I’ve made more friends in ASL than almost any other walk of life. When you think about friends outside of work, family and old school acquaintances where else will you meet someone who you can share a beer with on a cold day in Blackpool, or a vitual cup of tea across a VASL battlefield! I regularly see posts on forums saying things like “Hey, I’m driving past Berlin anyone around for a game?” - and suddenly there are virtual invites to stop over, have dinner, marry their eldest daughter…

ASL rewards dedication, you play, you learn, you study, you can analyse - you will get better. Not only that, but you have to think about the situation. A good understanding of the rules help, but it’s more tactical than rules based.

For about 4 years I was into the chess scene, playing for a club (at an average level, nothing more than once winning a very minor tournament - mainly because I happened to fall right at the top end of the rating bracket for that particular event). The thing I loved about chess was the ability to study an opening and go into a game with a real advantage. That’s not relevant to ASL - I can’t go away and become a “routing master” (although God knows I’ve had enough practice!) but it does feel good knowing that I can be rewarded for the study and investment.

I recently played in a tournament game (don’t read more into that than there was - ASL tournaments are just an excuse for guys to get together to play the game, rarely more than 10% of the attendees take it seriously and even the winners are generally there to have a good time). I was playing a scenario where the tactical situation meant I had to keep two Tiger tanks from being taken out by two Achilles tanks positioned at the front of the battle, but needing them up front to help with a push towards some ‘victory condition’ buildings. Do I hold back, or smoke the Achilles, rush them with panzerfaust toting half-squads, skulk around them, head towards them head on and hope my front armour will save me? The “rules knowledge” isnt going to save my Tigers, my tactics have to. (Incidentally, the tigers tried to skulk around after the half squad rush, but my wiley opponent braved the HS rush to save the shots for the Tigers, and destroyed them both in return for losing one tank. I lost the game a little later!) Of course better understanding of the rules makes you a better player, but a tactically astute player can and will beat better ASL “rules lawyers”.

The starter kits are doing a great job! Contrary to what I worried about - leaving the game for a few years doesn’t hurt as much as it might have done. I left the game for 5 years whilst the kids were younger and came back to it through the starter kits. Within a scenario or two I was back to my old level of incompetance and still loving every minute of it! There are 3 starter kits available now, one starts off with the basics, two adds Guns and three adds Vehicles. Each one is able to stand on its own, but there’s really no excuse not to get one of these if you’re somewhat interested. They’re less than £20 and generally available on ebay (click for a quick search) or at your local game store.

It’s not that hard! I know, 200 pages of rules, 10,000 counters, yada yada.. I recently played a scenario called “An Arm and a Leg”, simulating the German hold against a US attack. The germans are holding a hill with 3 and a half squads, plus a mortar, against 4 US squads. It has around 4 turns and will play in about 90 minutes. I could teach anyone how to play this scenario over VASL, with about a 10 minute walkthrough of some rules handling the rest when it came to it. Feel free to take me up on the challenge - get in touch and we’ll do it!

At the tournament in Blackpool a poker game broke out and some of the best players I’d come across that weekend had problems with main and side pots. For experienced poker players it’s second nature - the same for complex situations in ASL. It’s not mentally tough, it’s just knowing what the rules allow in that given situation.

The support network: Forums and 3rd parties (Heat of Battle, Schwerpunkt, etc) support the game with a level of enthusiasm unmatched for any game I’ve come across. Campaigns, scenarios, magazines are all producing material at a level of professionalism that is hard to beat. The legality of what they do is sometimes questioned - but it certainly provides a valuable service to the community, hungry for anything ASL.

Tertiary interests: You know that gardeners like to read gardening books, poker players will watch poker on tv - it’s about extending your enjoyment of a hobby outside of the physical activity that the hobby can offer. For ASL away from the rule book there’s the storage systems! Sort counters, clip them, arrange them. They don’t organise themselves you know! Read After Action Reports from other players, read the Journals or the old Annuals, or just immerse yourself in purusing scenario cards.

Where else will you find a game that players can dump ammo to make guns easier to manhandle, at the same time as scaling cliffs, watching berserk leaders charge across open ground, whilst tanks, fighter bombers, assault boats and bridge laying support vehicles rumble along in the background?

Of course you don’t get that in most games, but what you will get is a fine tuned engine, capable of running any scenario as smoothly as if the game was made exactly for that theatre, situation and combatants.

What I’m saying is don’t write off the game because of what you’ve heard, what you fear, or what you suspect it’s like. Underneath that hard exterior is a big soft game just waiting to be loved!

Popularity: 36% [?]

Before I start on this post, I should mention what a beautiful site this is - stunning pictures and great writing. If you have children (as you’ll see from my blog a lot of what I’m talking about here is games I play with mine) please read this post. It’s certainly thought provoking that we really only do get them until they’re 18; that’s not many years of game time when you add it all up.

Back to ASL, Martin (my semi regular ftf playing partner) and I finished up a scenario we started last week; Burn Gurkha, Burn. Not the most tasteful of titles, but it simulates a Japanese attack with flamethrowers against some Gurkha’s entrenched on hills in Burma, 1942.

It was Martin’s first time with the Japanese, which handle very differently to normal troops. The essence is they don’t break, rout and return like the standard nationalities. They tend to whither, but continue to press ahead, slowly being whittled down by fire, but decreasing their range to get into deadly melee with the generally more static defenders.

The Japanese are certainly an art form when played correctly and of course in one’s first game using them you can’t be expected to treat them any differently to how you would standard troops, which meant my steady Gurkhas held on to the last remaining hill for the victory.

If it wasn’t hard enough for Martin as it was, my dice were red hot - which pretty much compounded the misery for him, but he took it all in his stride and seemed to enjoy the game. Here’s a position at the end of the game when it was apparent that the Japanese wouldn’t have enough time (2 more turms) to evict the Gurkhas from the hills (the victory conditions require no Good Order Gurkhas to be present on level 2 hexes).

Popularity: 36% [?]