News archive June 2005
June 29 - Fire in the Sky, ASLSK2 & ASLRB shipping
News admitted by : Skye
Very good news: we can finally expect some games in the mail soon! The following was posted on Consimworld by MMP:
The truck finally arrived, the folks at the office are adding countersheets to the Fire in the Sky , ASL Starter Kit #2 , and Target Arnhem which are being taken (tonight) to Origins.
We already have several hundred collated and shrinkwrapped rulebooks along with other MMP goodies headed out as well.
While Perry, Dean and crew are out at Origins, the office will continue to collate rulebooks. Once Perry is back and we can remove the people who picked up their preorders from the database and we will begin billing/shipping.
The order of the billing/shipping is:
a) ASL Rulebooks
b) Fire in the Sky
c) ASL Starter Kit #2
June 29 - VASL 5.0 out
News admitted by : Skye
ASL players who play online will be happy to know that VASL 5.0 is online and no longer in beta.
Go check it out here .
A word of warning : there is word that some VASL4.x savegames have compatibility issues , so try to get those finished before updating.
June 27 - MMP summer 2005 catalog out
News admitted by : Skye
MMP has put a new copy of their gamecatalog on its site, click here to see the PDF file. It shows some decent colour info about the complete line of games they offer and some more hints about the production schedule:
* Shipping in July:
ASL Rulebook Second Edition reprint
ASL Starter Kit #2
* In the pipeline:
Armies of Oblivion - August 2005 (Tentative)
Beyond Valor reprint - August 2005 (Tentative)
Operations #48, and #49 - Summer and Fall 2005
* Projected for Preorder in 2005/ early 2006:
ASL Journal #7 - December 2005/January 2006
ASL Action Pack #3 (Normandy)
ASL Action Pack # 4 (Eastern Front)
Valor of the Guards (ASL Central Stalingrad)
June 25 - Summertime...
News admitted by : Skye
No real news the last two weeks , it seems even the average ASL players is on vacation and enjoying the summertime. There is even hardly any chit-chat on the ASL forum and mailinglist!
Good time to try out my new dicetower(s) in a game or two. I ordered two on Ebay from the USA after I saw these things on a tournament a while ago and was suprised by how clever these worked. After breaking someone elses dice cup on the table (a whiskey glass "on loan" from the hotel) while playing a game of ASL I knew the time had come to find an affordable one of my own.
Keep an eye out for the summer releases from MMP to be released next week though (rulebook, ASLSK2, Fire in the Sky), I'll post news about them as soon as it arrives. Should anyone get a copy at "Origins" in the USA then please drop me a line about the contents or your thoughts , because it should take a while before my preorder gets all the way to Europe!
June 14 - HOB's "FireFights #2" close to release
News admitted by : Skye
Gamers-for-Gamers , the Aussie ASL shop has a newsflash on the "FireFights #2" product from Heat of Battle.
This is starting to become a real expensive summer... I really like the first FireFights issue, even though the price may seem a bit steep it's a great product to have. These puppy's come with a unique map for each single scenario included! Off course the scenario's are real fast to play so this is one product sure to see some actual play time.
"HoB will be releasing FireFights #2 in July/August and we are taking Pre-Orders for it. The Retail price will be $29.95. More details to come soon"
June 14 - Big status update on MMP releases
News admitted by : Skye
A BIG update on the impending releases from MMP As posted on consimworld (by MMP):
The busiest period I can ever remember at MMP is finally wrapping up.
I have dropped the last parts of Fire in the Sky, ASL Starter Kit #2, and
Target Arnhem: Across Six Bridges off at the printer this morning thanks to
the tireless efforts of Perry, Ken, Adam, John Clifford, Kevin Valerien,
and Darren Emge. Now we just have to hope they come back quickly enough to
build some games in time for Origins.
We should be OK, since so much of the work is already in progress and the
last bits are all done locally so there are few surprises on that front,
but you never know. Throw in the ASLRB, TME and Bloody Ridge, and the MMP
booth should be a pretty good place to drop a few dollars at Origins. :smile:
Things will definitely be hopping at the office come the end of the month
and for the next month with four essentially new products coming in to be
collated and shrinkwrapped (Bloody Ridge being completely built/wrapped at
this point) - so please be patient if we're taking some time getting back
to you. As usual, phone calls are the most efficient way of reaching us.
Next in the production queue this summer should be Beyond Valor, Shifting
Sands, and Armies of Oblivion, in no particular order - different folks are
working on all three projects so they are all being done in parallel.
The Shifting Sands card-printing experience will put us in position to
offer up for preorder Crimelords a pure card game by Aaron Silverman on
20th century organized crime and Eisenhower's War (title not set in stone)
another pure card game on the West Front of WWII by Jeff Spanner based on
Ben Knight's Atlantic Storm. Also, let me chat with Perry and Andy, we may
be ready to put Up Front on P# as well.
A quickie breakdown on other "firm" titles...
Devil's Cauldron is moving ahead nicely and will garner more of Adam's time
now that FITS is complete.
Valor of the Guards layout will be keeping me busy over the next month or
so, up for P# once AOO is entirely at the printers this summer.
Afrika, Strike them a Blow, and Guadalajara will get put into production as
they reach P#. Each is moving ever closer (thanks guys!)
Anders has been on us about the latest NBS game, when Dean says its a go it
goes on P#.
Not quite sure what else Dean has up his sleeves for this year, i'm sure
he'll chirp in if he's got an update.
Black and Tan is getting a Yousehouse playtesting right now, based on these
playings we'll decide if it's P# ready/worthy. So far it looks good.
Ken, Perry, and I have started discussing ASLSK3 boards, once rough boards
are ready (a month?) we'll be soliciting scenario designers. First guess is
3 maps for ASLSK3, 8 scenarios (probably), 2 countersheets.
IGS is ready to spring forth with three more titles on P# this year -
(translated titles are) Manstein (GameJournal), Feudal Lord (Sunset Games),
and Russo-Japanese War (Japanese Command Magazine). Expect Manstein next,
which had a very nice review on Lou Manios' webpage which I think is DOA
but if not i'll get a URL. Matt Boehland will have Feudal Lords at Origins
if you're interested in a peek or playing.
June 12 - Journal 3 sold out
News admitted by : Skye
Following Journal 1 & 2 the 3rd issue of ASL Journal is now sold out at MMP's. So if you want a copy and don't wanna pay 200$ for it (see Journal 2) than see if you can find a copy. While you are at it , consider buying the remaining stock and selling them in a year or to so... you can send your kids to colledge from the profit you'll make in a few years :-)
If you are looking for a internet shop that sells any, try the "links" section, or have a go at Ebay.
June 10 - Site hits new daily visitor record
News admitted by : Skye
Nothing much going on this week in ASL country, the ASL 2nd edition rulebook had a delay at the printers (yes again) it seems, but only a few days and that's about it.
I would like to take the opportunity though to say thanks to all the nice words mailed to me and written on the forum(s) about this website. There is offcourse only a small audiance for boardgaming as a whole and ASL is a fringe market at best, but still about 800 people a month visit this site and the number is growing fast (116 visited yesterday alone).
If my new hardware holds out I'll post some pictures of King Tiger #213 (it actually fought in La Gleize with KGP Peiper and was put out of action there), and some more interesting landmarks from the KGP campaign modules soon.
June 8 - Site content added : Cheneux Bridge
News admitted by : Skye
After 2.5 months of not being able to change any content at this site (except news) due to hardware troubles things are now looking a bit better and I've added some stuff on the "Cheneux Bridge" scenario and campaign from the ASL historical module "Kampfgruppe Peiper". Go and check it out in the (revised) menu under "famous battlegrounds".
Sorry for the delay about all off this , but just to give you an idea about the troubles I've had... strange gremlins (?) and solar flares (?) have taken out three power supplies, four motherboards, one VGA card and one HDU (kindly erasing 80% of my HDU content including all mail and the sourcefiles from this site) in the last few months. Most of this within warranty , but still no fun.
June 2 - MMP releases 'Bloody Ridge' - more to follow
News admitted by : Skye
Multiman Publishing announced that the preorders for the "Bloody Ridge" game have been sent to customers. This in a game in the TCS series (Tactical Combat Game) which personally I have never played before. I like its counter work though, but consider the map board(s) a bit dull. However, a good game is not about pretty pictures so I'd welcome a opportunity to play a game some time.
This latest standalone game in the TCS series portrays the fighting that occurred around “Bloody Ridge” on the island of Guadalcanal from 12-14 September 1942 between US and Imperial Japanese forces.
Further good news: The "ASLSK2" (ASL Starter Kit #2) and "Fire in the Sky" are on the way or allready at the printer so we should see a release at the end of june if all goes well. This in gonna make a major hit on my credit card balance as a have both games in pre-order :-)
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