Beginners Guide to ASL

From ASLWiki

Killing Those Pesky Broken Squads

This is just a little tip for when you have a broken retreating enemy in front of you and you would like to start taking those counters off the map.

Imagine the following situation:

It is the German's MPh. The 468's would like to eliminate those broken squads in front of them, but are unable to get a unit to S2 to cut the rout path which will make them both surrender. For the sake of this example, imagine that the move V0->S1 with CX is not desirable for some reason (ie. it would expose that unit to fire).

Many new players would do this...

assault-move forward and DM the broken squads. In the AFPh, the Germans will get shots at half firepower (doubled for being ADJACENT, so either one 8(+1) or two 4(+1) shots) and in the rout phase the survivors will escape and run a few hexes away...and the situation will repeat itself in the next 1-2 turns. In the DFPh, the Germans will probably have no targets.

There is an alternative to keep in mind which offers a much better chance at getting those broken units off the board once and for all.

In the MPh...DON'T MOVE! Prep Fire those guys if they have anything else to shoot at. At the end of the MPh, the broken units will not be DM since you didn't move adjacent. They still think they're safe.

When the rout phase comes along, the Russians will not be permitted to rout.

In the APh, you advance the Germans forward to DM the Russians.

But now instead of getting shots at half-firepower as was the case in the previous example, the Germans will get full value shots during their DFPh - either one 16 (+1) or two 8(+1) atatcks - with a much better chance at getting a decisive result.

Coming To Odds With The Odds

A lot of newer players have trouble assigning their attacks in the PFPh and DFPh so that the maximum amount of damage is inflicted on the enemy.

A little but very basic shortcut that you can use is to assume that 7's will be rolled for everything (the IFT attacks, the resulting MCs and PTCs). Since 7 is the most probable roll and occurs at the middle of the probability curve, by doing this you are evaluating what the average return of your attack is likely to be.

Comparing two different sets of shots quickly in your head this way is a nice easy way of comparing how effective they are likely to be. It also gives you practice at internalizing the IFT table making it more intuitive.

Move Order

Is there any difference in the order that units are moved? Definitely. While not always the best way, a nice rule of thumb is to move units which are the furthest away from the enemy first.

The reason is that units which are closest to the enemy pose the greatest threat. At the beginning of the MPh, those units all still have their full movement capability and have therefore a momentum which the defender must be prepared to meet and account for.

By saving the units closest to the enemy for movement later in the MPh you achieve two goals:

1) The defender may have taken some shots at units further back and has thus reduced his ability to react to the moves which will occur nearby.

2) The defender may have held back some shots on the backfield which he would have like to have taken, because he was forced to wait and see what you would do with the closer units.

Exceptions to this rule of thumb occur when:

• the enemy sniper number is high, and you want to be guaranteed of getting a specific move in. Then you would perform it earlier in the MPh.
• You have to make room near the front to avoid overstacking penalties for other units moving up into position.

General Tactical Tips

1. Gain concealment as much as possible. Even when it looks like you won't need it, such as when you have a unit that is well out of the fighting, DO IT ANYWAY. It is a good habit to get into.

2. Learn to skulk. You will use this technique incredibly often.

What is skulking, you ask? At its most basic, it is assault moving a unit back and out of LOS of the enemy, then advancing it forward again in the advance phase. It sure cuts down on how much fire the unit is subjected to. Basically, you are trading th e value of firing the unit that turn for the value of ensuring that it is alive and in place at the beginning of the next turn. Taken to its highest art form, skulking involves moving unconcealed front line units back, and leaving them back, while second line concealed units advance forward to man the positions again. The ones that fell back then gain concealment and are ready to do the same thing next turn. It also provides the opportunity for the defensive player to play a "shell game" with his units to confuse the attacker.

[a nice graphic showing how it works would be great here...hint, hint]

3. Don't move in stacks.

It should be mentioned that there are exceptions to this rule. Sometimes you simply must get your troops there as fast as possible, and the leader bonus is crucial. But remember the dangers and make _dang_ sure there are no -2 shots with your stack's name on them.