News archive March 2005
March 30 2005 - Reprint of "Beyond Valour" to include Finns
News admitted by : Skye
MMP decided to keep Finnish counters in the 3rd edition of "Beyond Valour" (same as in 1st & 2nd edition), up for reprint early this year. The original plan was to take out the Finns and put them in their own new and yet to be released module "Haaka Paale" together with board 52.
Hopefully this will allow a quicker release date for "Beyond Valour", as the whole ASL game is almost impossible to play without it. The "Haaka Paale" module will still be released someday according to MMP, but we're not getting our hopes up on that one yet :-)
March 29 2005 - Server trouble
News admitted by : Skye
Two days ago the server that houses the data and development-software for this site crashed with a broken power supply. No data was lost but it took a while to shuffle some hardware around to get things going so I could update the site again. Things are back on track and within a week you should see some more content on the site (about the KGP "Bridge at Cheneux" campaign game).
March 23 2005 - Site content added
News admitted by : Skye
Three more locations from the KGP campaign maps have been added to the "Famous Battlegrounds" section of this site, so go and take a look what those buildings on your ASL map really look like :-)
March 21 2005 - Heat of Battle announces new products
News admitted by : Skye
Heat Of Battle company announces several new ASL products for the coming year, among these "Firefights 2" and "Recon under Fire 3". Also a reprint of the SS1 and SS2 packs is announced, a good thing as these products costs about 120$ on Ebay each these days...
See the Warfare HW forum for more info , and keep a lookout for those products on the Heat of Battle website (listed under "links" on this website). Good news this is , as I really like their "Firefights" line of products, it's real easy and fast to play and each scenario comes with it's own map!
March 21 2005 - MMP Closeout sale postponed for 1 week
News admitted by : Skye
Following news from MMP regarding the closeout sale was issued:
On this topic, the sale is on hold for right now because, due to circumstances beyond our control, we will be short-staffed this week. We will use the time this week to catch up on pending orders and resume the sale asap.
While on the subject; it really seems that MMP is NOT reprinting "Pegasus Bridge" or "Blood Reef: Tarawa" ever again after this sale , so get them while you can. If you want to earn some easy money, then buy a load of these modules and sell them as "mint" on Ebay when MMP runs out.
Especially "Pegasus Bridge" is a fantastic product to own, and great to play as the first campaign to play for beginning players. Also , and if you ever want to learn thoso rules for 'slopes' I suggest you learn them from this module and not the hard way with horribly written rules included in "Kampfgruppe Piper" (KGP).
March 20 2005 - MMP Closeout sale
News admitted by : Skye
Just got back from a week vacation and it seems that MMP is ditching their surplus supplies again, they always seem to start their sales then I'm somewhere on a trip :-|
The name of the sale is a bit scary though "closeout sale".. Will this mean no more reprint of the products involved? Sure hope not. Either way this is a fine chance to buy the campaign "Pegasus Bridge" for 15$ , "Blood Reef : Tarawa" for 20$, or a few map boards for 2-3$.
http://www.multimanpublishing.com/sale/closeout.php
March 20 2005 - MMP update on ASL Rulebook Reprint
News admitted by : Skye
The following was announced on the Warfare HQ forum :
We are in the final push for proofing the reprint of the ASL Rule Book 2nd edition. Pretty soon it will be too late to preorder this, but you will get warnings before that happens.
As part of this reprint, we will be including corrected dividers and charts and a comprehensive list of other published errata to the ASLRB 2nd edition.
Sets of corrected dividers and charts will be available for purchase separately later.
We had previously said that this would be a straight reprint of the ASLRB 2nd edition, correcting none of the errata that has surfaced over the last few years. Correcting all the errata would have been a daunting layout task. Publishing that would have been seen as an attempt to create a 3rd edition of the rulebook, forcing many ASL players to buy it. We wanted to avoid both those problems.
On the other hand, we think that errata on dividers and charts are more difficult for players to deal with on their own. Correcting it in the reprint is a manageable task for us and does not require most players to buy another complete rulebook. We therefore decided to change our announced policy and correct the errata on the dividers and charts.
A comprehensive list of errata to the ASLRB 2nd edition will be going up on our website shortly, as well as (thanks to Ole Boe) a version of the errata published in ASL Journals 4-6 that is suitable for printing out on adhesive paper and sticking in your rule book (to complement the existing sticky errata published in Journal 3).
-Keith Todd
March 10 2005 - New ASL Starter Kit scenario due in next "Operations"
News admitted by : Skye
The following was announced on the Warfare HQ forum :
Forgot to mention that there will be another ASLSK Infantry only scenario in the next Operation magazine also. If you don't know, Operations is the MMP house magazine that covers the majority of the MMP game line.
- Kenn Dunn
For those who don't know "Operations Magazine", it's the magazine that MMP publishes with lots of stuff about their entire line of games. This was done in the past with the magazine "The General" but that magazine is no longer among us unfortunately .
The last issue Operations #46 already contained a new scenario for ASL Starter Kit 1 , now it seems there will be another one in "Operations 47" but no word on the date of release yet.
March 09 2005 - ASL StarterKit 2 status update from MMP
News admitted by : Skye
Just caught the following on the Warfare HQ forum :
ASLSK 2 (Gunz!) Has a few playtest issues to work out. There seem to be one or two scenarios that refuse to balence out no matter how hard I try. I'll get them to work out but they have been time intensive especially since Playtest time is at a premium. Rules and examples need to be finalized. Rules are close, examples a little further out but equally important. Player aids need finalization as well. Box back and lid are very close to being complete including the over the top advertising on the back (my favorite), you can see examples of the lid on the pre order page. Maps are finished.
All in all, I'm reasonably satisfied with the effort. Would like to be able to report all scenarios completed by now but it ain't so.
- Kenn Dunn
Wouldn't surprise me if it took till Q2/Q3 for Starter Kit 2 to hit the shelves , judging this news.
We can take a peek at the box cover art of Starter Kit 2 though, and there is also a sneak preview of the new maps available here.
March 08 2005 - Sticky errata out for ASL rulebook 2nd edition
News admitted by : Skye
Olle Boe has posted sticky errata for the 2nd edition rulebook on his site. Also his very handy IIFT has been redone (a must have).
For those out there who wonder about errata for their ASL rulebooks in 1st/2nd edition:
-All the errata that came out AFTER Journal 3 are NOT in the 2nd edition rulebook.
-All errata from Journal 3 and the ASL Annuals ARE in the 2nd edition version (but not in the 1st edition version off course).
So get out there and start fixing thy rulebooks with the stuff on..... http://home.no.net/oboe/
March 06 2005 - Site launch
So here it is. Something some people know I've been planning a long time finally made it to the web - a internet site just for Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) , the best tactical warfare boardgame ever made. A game that you can play a thousand times and no two games would be alike.
I've been contemplating what to add to the already quite lively ASL scene on the web, considering I'm no way patient enough to make beautiful things that other people offer as downloads to the community. But it took me not too long too see what was missing though.
First; I think the ASL community is aging fast.. In the present digital age not a lot of people will sit down days at a time to learn a boardgame, no matter how good it is. Go to a tournament and you'll find that 90% of the contestants are about the same age - around 35-45. Where have all the 20 year old guys gone that started it all?
So... This site will try to get some people to start and enjoy the game in a fun pace, offer some stuff to help and show where the good stuff is on the web.
Second; there is no news site for ASL. Even MMP (the makers of the game) post their news updates on obscure forums that nobody reads. Cardboardwarriors.com will try to keep you informed and up to date about ASL - but we need your help. Got some news? Use the link on the mainpage to report it!
Third; We over here in Europe have got all the good stuff just around the corner, I noticed this when several times in a row I stumbled upon all kinds of historically important sites and buildings when on holiday. I began looking up some of the places featured in the game after a while when traveling and decided that all the people overseas who will never be able to afford a long trip to Europe should have a chance to look at some of the stuff that is depicted on all those game boards.
So there you have it - there is little content on the site right now, but it will grow soon with all different kinds of neat things. But not before I'm back from skiing trip next week :-). And don't forget - we need your help to keep this site alive, so mail us news and things to offer on the site.
- Skye
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