Introduction

As a mostly casual wargamer, more inclined to "beer and pretzels" titles than to anything remotely serious, I regarded Advanced Squad Leader as a sort of "forbidden fruit". While I was indeed curious about it, the sheer size and cost of the rule book made me think that it would be rather difficult for me to learn it, let alone find an opponent with the same degree of dedication.

I finally made the jump with Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit 1, as it promised a solution for my two biggest concerns: complexity and price. What follows is a brief review of how I went from complete ASL ignorant to fan of the series in an hour.

The box

The presentation of ASLSK#1 is extremely elegant, and I was pleased with the quality of the material included. The cardboard counters are thick and look durable, and I intend on clipping their corners to further increase their durability. The dice are large, hard to misplace and easy to read. the rule book features well-printed color illustrations and a wealth of examples. The maps are also well printed and made of relatively thick cardboard instead of the flimsy paper some other wargames sport. The same goes for the player aid charts and the scenario sheets, which are also printed on cardboard and very well presented.

The rules

Without doubt the greatest concern for a newcomer, and sadly also one of the weaker points of this edition. Do not misunderstand me, ASLSK#1 is several times easier to learn and play than the full-blown 200-page rule book of the second edition. The game has been scaled rather effectively, explaining only the minimum of rules needed to play a series of well-balanced and engaging scenarios before moving on to more serious matters. Still, this downgrade was only made in rule density, and not in obscurity.

Even though the starter kit teaches the player a manageable number of rules, these are mostly taken straight out of the full version without further introduction, and are sometimes not too well explained. If people new to the game were the target group of this edition, the rules should have been written in a friendlier, less complex tone.

Instead, the rule book feels as a series of out-of-context snippets out of a larger book and is sometimes confusing in key aspects of gameplay, such as the turn sequence.

Getting started

As any Advanced Squad Leader fan will claim, a hundred rule books will never be as useful as a single veteran walking you through. Most of the doubts that will no doubt arise while reading the rules of ASLSK#1 would be solved easily by a seasoned player.

Still, thanks to the nature of the starter kit, you also have all the counters, charts and maps you need, so a good alternative is just setting up a simple scenario as soon as you open the box and acting out the rules as you read them. I found this to be a great help, and in an hour I had read through the instructions actually playing every single aspect of the game they described.

EDIT: BGG member Jay Richardson ("richfam") has written a number of absolutely brilliant tutorials centered on the starter kit. As of now, they contain marvelous explanations of all the rules presented in kit #1 and of the additions offered in kit #2 (ordnance fire from large guns and anti-tank support weapons).

The first tutorial can be found by clicking here and will no doubt blow you away. It is amazingly written, explains everything with a good dose of background and provides lengthy examples. If you want to follow them (and I recommend it wholeheartedly), do the following:

1) Keep your box handy. The examples are brilliant, and executing them on the board with your own counters will help you understand them better.

2) Imagine you are in the battlefield. Most of his explanations attempt to link each rule and modifier with the real situation they represent, so be prepared for this sort of prose.

3) Read on! Just do the moves as he instructs and enjoy the ride. In a matter of minutes, the scenarios in the starter kit will not seem as threatening. You will be playing before you know it.

Game content

The scenarios included in ASLSK#1 are engaging, well thought out and mostly well balanced. They are flexible enough in their setup guidelines and special rules to allow for a good degree of replayability, and I found that even after completing one with a friend I felt like playing it again to see what could have happened differently. The set does leave you longing for more in the sense that you soon begin wondering how heavy guns or vehicles would play (making you curious about the other two starter kits), but then you realize that, with the depth of the rules and the number of scenarios included (six), you really have enough in your hands to hold for quite a while before taking another leap.

Closing thoughts

To me, the Advanced Squad Leader franchise sells itself. It is a formidable wargame, with deep and detailed rules that are a joy to play. The sense of involvement you get in each game is well worth the time investment to learn the rules, and ASLSK#1 just makes it easier on your schedule and budget to jump into the action. In my opinion, for the price, this is a must have for any ASL beginner. It covers all you need to start playing, and leaves out more than enough material to keep you wondering.