News archive July 2005
July 30 - New stuff on the site
News admitted by : Skye
Today Reid Hutchinson was kind enough to email me the latest version of his ASL armory.
The Armory is off course also known as "Chapter N" and usefull for looking up where each and every counter in the ASL game system originates from. I made good use of it when I had to sort out three "West of El Alamein" core modules that got mixed up. Nice litte job that was, turns out there where a bit more counters in those boxes that I originally thought.... can you spell 'Carpal Tunnel Syndrome' ? :-)
Anyway, Reid has also included his latest "Counter Errata" and "Overlay/Map" PDF files. This is all MUST HAVE stuff if you want to buy (parts of) a used ASL kit, or are planning to. Also , have a look at this to see what the upcoming game boards 48-58 will contain for terrain... Can't wait until those new Action Packs arrive :-)
All this can be found in de "ASL stuff" section in the main menu. Thanks for your contribution Reid Hutchinson!
If anyone else thinks he knows a good addition to this site then please don't hesitate to mail.
July 28 - Matrix Games acquires VASSAL engine
News admitted by : Skye
Matrix Games , known to make good computer based wargames has bought Rodney Kinney's excellent VASSAL engine which allows 3rd party users to create their own on-line version of a favorite boardgame. Of course the best known of these is VASL (the online ASL game).
So is this for the good or bad? Word has it that Matrix Games has only bought a non-exclusive licence for parts of the product , and not the entire product as a whole. Future will tell if all of this benefits the online ASL gaming community I guess.... Read the full story here.
July 27 - New stuff on the site
News admitted by : Skye
You may have noticed there is no news news here the last couple of weeks, yes, we know... It's a drag but there really isn't much news on the horizon these days. It seems everybody is patiently waiting for the mailman to come by and deliver the new games and modules MMP put out the last few weeks and months.
But... There is some new stuff on this site, head over to the "ASL stuff" section in the menu and you will find a (hopefully more or less complete) collection of errata for the most common ASL scenarios, and a section with some of the rules from the ASLRB one always forgets.
A good opportunity also to read up somewhat on the rulebook and teach ASL by means of Starter Kit to new people. I recently played scenario S8 "Ad hoc at Chef-du-pont" and "S7 Prelude to Festung Brest" a couple of times with friends new to ASL and found them very suited to the task.
"S7 Prelude to festung Brest" : American forces try to push through the northern part of the german liine
"S8 Ad Hoc at Chef-du-Pont" : My pet rabbit 'Rommel' examines the post game situation (german win)
July 13 - FireFights #2 details & preorder
News admitted by : Skye
Heat of battle now mentions its "FireFights #2" product on their website for the first time as a preorder, although I have no idea what there is to gain to actually preorder it. There is a scenario listing is mentioned here on de forum with some more details.
The scenarios seem a bit more complex then in the first FireFights pack (night, guns, armor, airdrop , desert, 9 original boards, overlays) and I think that is a pity. Heat of Battle claims "Firefights" targets an audiance that likes to play "quick, fast and small" scenarios and adding all these exotic componets is not gonna help much in that department. The first Firefights pack made it to my luggage now and then when I went away with some friends for the weekend ; two dozen counters or so, one of the small FF maps, a (easy to play!) scenario card and no rulebook (!) tucked away in a corner of my bag.
I don't see that happening here, I don't know about other players but I need a big heavy rulebook to do a nightly airdrop :-)
And 33% of the six scenario's plays in a night enviroment? I mean hello? What where they thinking ? Add all of this to the whopping price of $31 , that is 6$ per scenario (incl. P&P overseas) and I might just skip this one...
July 5 -MMP launches games at Origins
News admitted by : Skye
MMP made good its promises at Origins and launched the three expected games they had in production. They posted the following on ConsimWorld:
"The ASL Starter Kit #2 was very popular (retail $28). Fire in the Sky was almost as popular, very nice considering its retail price ($48) is 75% higher thab SK#2. The reprint of the ASL Rulebook 2nd Edition was well-received, but at its $80 retail price it wasn't quite flying out. "
July 2 - Dispatches from the bunker
News admitted by : Skye
I got a copy of "Dispatches at the Bunker #14" from Jose Serrano this week (thanks!), and were pleased to read this small but fun club magazine from the Yankee ASL group. It is nothing much in the way of layout, but it has some fun scenarios and a interesting article or two. For 4$ a pop I just might try to get some of the other issues as well.
Be sure to check out the Yankee ASl groups website. It has some nice downloads and a very nifty database feature for finding particular scenarios.
July 2 - Upcoming releases from "Heat of Battle"
News admitted by : Skye
Soms news from Heat of Battle, unfortunatly not all good. It seems that everyone who deals with any data ASL related is hit by technical troubles or data loss these days.
For those not familiar with HOB's products; FF2 is "FireFights #2' and RBF is their fine magazine "Recon by Fire" which qualitywise I rank right up there with MMP's "Journal" series.
"FF 2 is nearly ready and we expect to release this in July or August depending on how things go at the printers. The concept of the small, fast playing scenarios continues. One major difference in the pack is that all the maps act as half board overlays, and work for boards 1, 14, 19, 26-31, 33. The pack contains 6 scenarios and 6 maps.
Cost is $24 US/Can, $31 overseas (same as FF1). We plan to get this up on the website in the next week or so and start to take preorders.
My 21 month old broke my memory stick off in the computer. Took it to a repair shop but all data lost. In a nutshell lots of data for RBF 3-5, several HASL, and two mapboard packs gone. Have gotten RBF 3 scenarios back online as well as others, and completely restored on map pack. This, combined with time issues by all of us at HoB will 'probably' mean we wont be releasing the new products we had planned at Aslok. Based on this as well, I hate to even try and establish a timeline. I dont know if this means we will then have a bunch of releases in 2006 or not
RBF 3 component wise is still going to be the same, and will be very meaty with components. RBF 4 will be much more basic probably with no additions, and will feature numerous designers who have submitted scenarios.
Map pack wise, especially since restored, looks like the next release will be in first half of 2006 unless other products like RBF 3 delay and cause this to get pushed back.
On a completely different note, Heat of Battle will now also be selling the French FT stuff. We expect to have those products in a month or so, and will update our website with information on this. As well, Xavier Vitry will be selling Heat of Battle products to European ASLers. -Chas"
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