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Keith Medlin
United States
Holly Springs
North Carolina
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[This was originally published in my blog on August 2nd, 2010 at Gamesquad.com, but I'm moving it here as I'm using the BGG system.]
So you've put together your ASL collection. You've read the rules. You've pushed some counters around and now you're ready to set up a game to try your hand at actually playing ASL. Congratulations, you've made it to the promised land. Even all infantry and SW scenarios offer a lot of fun. Each new skill and additional rule will add to your enjoyment, but now you've got to figure out the scenario card!
For this blog entry I'll be looking at The Guards Counterattack since it's such a well known scenario, is freely available from the MMP website ( http://www.multimanpublishing.com/Support/ASLASLSK/tabid/64/...) as a part of the Classic ASL Scenarios download, and it's likely the first scenario most new players will tackle.
The first thing to know about ASL Scenario Cards is that they're generally all the same layout. So once you've learned the layout for one you'll instantly recognize the others. This is good and bad of course because you may recognize a layout and gloss right over a hint or important detail.
The scenario title and identifier are at the top of the page to make things easy. The next thing you'll want to check out is the year and month which are always featured in ASL scenarios because they have effects on things like orchards and fields which may or may not provide a hindrance modifier depending on the time of year. The scenario descriptions are worthwhile to read in nearly every case because they give you the context of why the units that you're playing with were selected and in some cases how they might be used.
I like to, at this point, skip to the bottom of the scenario card and read off the Aftermath for the scenario. Again, sometimes there are some tactical tips or warnings. In this case there is no aftermath, but it's generally found at the bottom right corner of the scenario card.
This is also a good time to examine the Special Scenario Rules (SSRs) located in the bottom left corner of the card. These rules are often complex and lengthy for larger scenarios and can change how you approach a scenario just as easily as a victory condition or order of battle. In this case, the Environment Conditions are Moderate with no wind at the start. So smoke could potentially be a factor with the German 4-6-7 squads who can pop the smoke if the Russians try to soften them up before their assault (this is unlikely given the German's firepower advantage), but it can be used and therefore the EC is important in this scenario.
Next look at the board configuration which shows not only the direction the board should set up, but also the playable hexes if there are restrictions. In this case Rows A - P are playable. This is, as you look at your Map board 1, half the map.
The next part you'll want to look at is the Victory Conditions. Don't just glance at them either, your understanding of what you have to do in the allotted time is often the difference between success and failure. Consider that the official ASL scenarios have been playtested and many feel like they're on tight timelines for the attacker or require the defender to hold out a turn longer than they might think possible.
Here we've got:
The Russians win at game end if they Control 2 or more buildings initially occupied by the Germans than they lose of their own initially-held stone buildings to German control and/or have a favorable 3:1 (Russian to German) of unbroken squad-equivalents.
That's a mouthful, so let's break down the win conditions for the Russians:
 At the end of the game the Russians control 2 or more initially held German buildings than Germans control of the Russian initially held stone buildings.
 At the end of the game the Russians have a 3:1 (Russian to German) ratio of unbroken squad equivalents.
I have highlighted the terms you want to pay special attention to in these victory conditions. So let's break those down:
At Game End - This means when the turn marker is finally advanced in to the END block on the turn record chart.
The Russians Control - This means building control, not hex in a building control. So those Russians need the whole building in their possession. Remember that even a broken squad can block control of a building!
 Initially Held German Buildings - This has no other restriction than control of the buildings the include hex F5, K5, I7, M7, & M9. Any of those buildings will suffice for this victory condition.
 Initially Held Russian Stone Building - The Germans will only be counting the stone buildings the Russians initially controlled. Those little 1 hex wooden buildings don't count.
 3:1 Russian to German Ratio & Squad Equivalent: So here's where you'll want to break out the rulebook and review what a squad equivalent is in cases of combat reductions or voluntary HS creation.
So....
Let's start with the first building control Victory Condition and look at what we know and what we can glean from it. We know that the Russians will be headed to any German Initially controlled building. So the Germans have to figure out how to control what they've got with intersecting CAs where possible. The Russians, have the advantage here in knowing that they really only have to protect the Stone buildings they initially control which is much simpler given their overwhelming initial force advantage.
The second Victory Condition about ratios should always perk your ears up about the mathematics of ASL. Let's look at what this will take to accomplish. The Germans start the game with 13 full squad equivalents regardless of how they exchange them. The Russians start the game with 21 full squad equivalents regardless of how they exchange them. This isn't quite a 2:1 ratio to start with. It's more like a 1.4:1 ratio, so the Russian player would essentially have to break or eliminate half the German full squad equivalents while sustaining no broken squads themselves at the end of the game. I don't know about you, but looking at the German's overwhelming firepower advantage I think that might be pretty tricky without some excellent DRs.
Once we've reviewed the Victory Conditions we can move on to the force distribution and look at it for clues about how the game may go.
This one is pretty simple to sum up: Russian numbers vs. German Firepower. The Germans may not have a lot of squads, but they do have a ton of SW firepower. I7 alone offers them 18fp - 2 when firing the whole stack. Now...get lucky with a 1 on your colored die and you're still firing 6fp - 2. That's pretty potent stuff given that the Russians are moving first.
So what can the Russians bring? Let's see...overwhelming human odds. Set up in a wavy pattern on the north edge of the board. Human Wave! Re-read the rules for human wave if you didn't check them out the first time because it's one of the fun things to give a try in this scenario and without even seeing
Finally, let's look at the SAN. It's 6 for both the Germans and the Russians so remember to not get too overly excited about those double 3s until you deal with any non-leader directed fire cowering that might occur. Be sure to review the sniper setup rules as well because as the Russian you're going to want to account for the fact that the Germans are more likely to try to hold onto those bigger buildings since they can stuff them with more firepower and still have easy covered "routing routes" for squads that break. Likewise, the Germans will need to account for the fact that the Russians are likely going to be aggressive. A SAN of 6 also means that you're going to see it roughly 14% of the time. So in a game with 50 rolls eligible for triggering the sniper you should see it 7 times. Of those 7 times 1 or 2 are bound to be a sniper activation.
So there you have it! A scenario card that's been reviewed and the process that I'm finding is handy. I'm sure there are some other tips about how to handle this part of playing a scenario and I'd love to hear them. Add a comment if you're finding these blog posts handy or interesting. And, of course if I've made a mistake just let me know so I can correct it!!!
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