Game: Valor of the Guards - ASL Historical Module Number 7

Thread: Re: How difficult would it be to play with SL/COI rules?

dude163 — 2008-11-15T20:28:01+00:00

bk_otj wrote:
Ya just stop it with the SL series already and pick up a starter pack.

Well said!

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Antz — 2008-09-21T19:50:43+00:00

Sheet 5

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Antz — 2008-09-21T19:48:42+00:00

Sheet 4

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Antz — 2008-09-21T19:44:45+00:00

Sheet 3

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Antz — 2008-09-21T19:43:18+00:00

Sheet 2

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Antz — 2008-09-21T19:41:56+00:00

Sheet 1

Thread: Re: How difficult would it be to play with SL/COI rules?

Scoobysnacks — 2008-09-12T17:58:34+00:00

I don't think the jump from SL to ASL is nearly as big or tough as the jump from (insert any other game here) to the Starter Kits. I found the jump pretty easy. Granted their are more potential rules, but if you take out chapter E, the A-D chapters are not that bad to pick up. Especially if you learn ASL in the same manner the SK series was set up. Learn chapter A first, B is no different just more possibilities. C and D will be the tough one's. The good thing is I believe their are a number of VotG scenario's without any or a lot of vehicles.

Thread: Re: How difficult would it be to play with SL/COI rules?

bk_otj — 2008-09-12T16:29:21+00:00

Ya just stop it with the SL series already and pick up a starter pack.

Thread: Re: How difficult would it be to play with SL/COI rules?

Rindis — 2008-09-09T18:25:01+00:00

Also, a few things like MG factors changed (I remember they had to change the number of German LMGs in "The Guards Counterattack" for ASL because of that).

I believe there's a certain amount of thought being given to an SK-based historical module, though it'll be years before anything like that comes out (face it, HASLs are big projects), if it does. I'll bet that we'll at least see an SK Action Pack at some point though.

At any rate, even if you could get VotG to work with COI, it is complex enough it might start bending your limits.

Thread: Re: How difficult would it be to play with SL/COI rules?

gamer-stu — 2008-09-09T17:26:54+00:00

Thanks James. So it sounds like the balance would be way off. If it would be a matter of my choosing between ASL and SL/COI/COD/AOV, then I agree... I might as well go ASL. Which is why I was just hoping to get by with SL/COI--the pinnacle of my complexity tolerance. I assume that it wouldn't work with the starter kits either. I've played the SKs, but I don't want to go further down the ASL path than that.

Thread: Re: How difficult would it be to play with SL/COI rules?

Rindis — 2008-09-09T16:06:20+00:00

I don't think it would work.

There's a number of terrain types in VotG that aren't in SL/COI, but aren't new to RB/VotG either. The good news is that if have the ASLRB, those would probably transition fairly easily.

The night rules, as I recall them, are very different. Cloaking is a big deal, and without it the night counter attacks would be a lot tougher on the Russians.

And the standard bits with all the extra factors--smoke grenades, spraying fire, assault fire, and ELR.

In fact, without the ELR/Battle-harden effects, a number of the special points of NKVD troops won't mean as much.

ASL treats machine guns and defensive fire very differently--in fact I consider the change over to ASL to be worth it just for how much better those are. With the difference in how those are handled, I would expect the balance would be way off.

COI is a very good system, but it's still a somewhat light system, and not really up to the heavy lifting of the typical HASL. However, I do think that ASL is both a heavier system and a better system, especially if you want more varied types of actions, and a fuller range of options than Russian/German on the east front (with some Americans thrown in). I certainly think it is simpler and better than the full SL/COI/COD/GI mix.

Thread: How difficult would it be to play with SL/COI rules?

gamer-stu — 2008-09-09T10:53:03+00:00

After an aborted attempt to take the plunge in to full frontal ASL, and a realization that Squad Leader/COI is more my sweet spot... can I have my cake and eat it too? How much might be lost in the translation of the scenarios?

Thread: Re: Medal on side of box MMP Valor of the Guards

autumnweave — 2008-08-14T19:00:02+00:00

Les Haskell posted the wikipedia url when I uploaded the photo of the box side back in February. I asked the question because I didn't know what the medal was for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_for_the_Defence_of_Stalin...

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Thread: Re: I must be mad...

StAtiC9 — 2008-06-09T14:48:19+00:00

Devon Harmon wrote:
It's not like other games where the game must remain setup the entire time. A bit of record keeping is needed, but the game can certainly be broken down between games.

My friends and I have taken to using VASL to save our games, rather than trying to write down where our forces are on the map. It seems a lot quicker and you also have a little visual aid when you're rebuilding the map.

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cscottk — 2008-06-08T16:34:38+00:00

Rocky Mountain Rumble 2007 Tournament in Aurora, CO

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cscottk — 2008-06-08T16:31:53+00:00

VotG3 Late in Under Murderous Fire

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cscottk — 2008-06-08T16:30:10+00:00

Late in VotG3 Khopka's Crossing

Thread: Re: Do You Think This Will Replace Red Barricades?

Scoobysnacks — 2008-06-07T12:02:07+00:00

Its not a replacement if you have Red Barricades. If you never had RB then yes it can be an adequate replacement because yo get similar situations. VotG is actually better overall for a new player because it has far more scenario's and CG's which makes it more then worth the cost. RB is probably at legend proportions and the cost on Ebay reflects that.

Thread: Re: Do You Think This Will Replace Red Barricades?

medievalbanquet — 2008-06-07T11:40:21+00:00

Agreed Justin.

Andy

Thread: Re: Do You Think This Will Replace Red Barricades?

dogmatix — 2008-06-07T08:25:50+00:00

JG53_Jaguar wrote:
Gladius76 wrote:
I would like to get the "sense" of some veteran ASL grognards.

Do you think this will replace Red Barricades?

That's a silly thing to ask. Nothing will ever replace Red Barricades, it's a benchmark of what can be done when you have a great designer making a great historical module and especially about Stalingrad.

I don't think it's that silly a question to those of us who haven't laid eyes on, let alone played, HASL 1. Red Barricades, like the entire British and IJA OOB [and perhaps the entire PTO at this point], are almost pure myth to those of us new to ASL.

Thread: Re: Medal on side of box MMP Valor of the Guards

Flamin_Jesus — 2008-05-18T17:05:10+00:00

Huh? Where did that come from? O_o

Thread: Medal on side of box MMP Valor of the Guards

marcseverson — 2008-05-18T04:57:17+00:00

It is the Defense of Stalingrad medal:

http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad

Marc Severson

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TwirlingTF — 2008-05-14T00:30:02+00:00

Valor of the Guards - The monster scenario First Bid, being played by designer Tom Morin and others

Thread: Re: Reference to ASLRB chapter B31 and B32

Rindis — 2008-05-13T07:12:51+00:00

Actually, believe it's Doomed Battalions. CdG had 1st Ed replacement pages for chapter A (Fire lanes and Cavalry).

I've been meaning to ask a friend of mine if the Chapter B versions are much different than the original versions from RB (railroads) and Pegasus Bridge (narrow streets).

Thread: Re: Reference to ASLRB chapter B31 and B32

Devon Harmon — 2008-05-13T04:31:08+00:00

I think these were included with module 10, Croix de Guerre, as supplemental pages.

Thread: Reference to ASLRB chapter B31 and B32

Lamskiy — 2008-05-13T04:22:25+00:00

Guyz,
My ASLRB is 1st edition from AH. There are no rules for B31 and B32(respectively for narrow streets and railroads) which is mentioned in VOTG. I have written to MMP and yet to receive a reply after 4 weeks. Can anybody help me here?
Really appreciate it.
-Lamskiy-

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MerricB — 2008-04-30T06:07:09+00:00

VotG Scenario sheets

Thread: Re: I must be mad...

MerricB — 2008-04-22T21:43:57+00:00

tppytel wrote:
Tompy wrote:
I don't think you are insane. I've read your session reports for the various games you play. You'll do fine.

But you will not be able to jump into even a scenario until you have played at least a dozen ASL scenarios (not SK), and at least one of those should contain OBA that has a chance of landing.

I agree on both these points.

Good to know! Thanks guys!

And, yes... I'm not getting into a campaign game until I've played quite a few ASL scenarios.

Cheers!

Thread: Re: I must be mad...

dude163 — 2008-04-22T19:09:07+00:00

Campaign Games are great fun!! I dont think you are mad at all

Im in the middle of 3 at the moment , and we are playing with the SK3 rules (heresy!) and amending the rules as we go along depending on the players involved ( Night rules, glider landings etc)

a good HASL to start out with is the Pegasus Bridge one , which is on sale for 15 bucks at the moment ,

BTW Im playing CG1 and CG II of PB and CGII of Kampfgruppe Peiper II ( that one we will be trying full ASL as its my wargamer brother)

the eerie part is you play for like 3-4 hours and then when you are done you write down where your troops are for the next game/scenario and its all cleaned up in 10 minutes

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Thread: Re: I must be mad...

tppytel — 2008-04-22T18:28:41+00:00

Tompy wrote:
I don't think you are insane. I've read your session reports for the various games you play. You'll do fine.

But you will not be able to jump into even a scenario until you have played at least a dozen ASL scenarios (not SK), and at least one of those should contain OBA that has a chance of landing.

I agree on both these points.

Thread: Re: I must be mad...

Tompy — 2008-04-22T14:37:29+00:00

The CGI from VotG is a "small" CG. It uses a quarter of the map (less than that actually). Still, it will have a decent number of units.

No counterattacks? Well, there will be counterattacks, and these should be Night scenarios if the Russians want a chance to win.

I'd say the CGI is more like 50 to 60 hours. If you play CGIV, you could probably triple or quadruple that.

Also, I highly advise you to play some vanilla ASL before even attempting a scenario from VotG. There are a lot of additional rules with multiple locations, different terrain, not to mention concealment with all that entails.

I don't think you are insane. I've read your session reports for the various games you play. You'll do fine. But you will not be able to jump into even a scenario until you have played at least a dozen ASL scenarios (not SK), and at least one of those should contain OBA that has a chance of landing. Hill 253.5 should give you a nice intro into about a third of the rules used in VotG. Maybe make that your graduation scenario.

Good luck!

Thread: Re: I must be mad...

bk_otj — 2008-04-22T14:13:56+00:00

CG's really add a whole new ASL experience. CG add some elements that you just can't get in a scenario. Planing your own objectives from CG day to CG day to accomplish the CG objective at the end. building your line is fun, barb wire, trenches, FH's, mines, etc and then watching your opponent's surprise as he enters your self made fortress. Having to manage your forces instead of that last turn dash for VP's or objectives. The list goes on. I think they are great and VASL makes them manageable in terms of space and time.

Thread: Re: I must be mad...

b5mith — 2008-04-22T13:55:08+00:00

MerricB wrote:
The first campaign game is small, though. At most eight days, each "day" being about 6-7 Turns (assuming no counterattacks). I guess that would take all of... err... 16-24 hours?

Must find out!

Cheers!

I've never played an ASL CG but I do know that a 6-7 turn scenario (or day in this case) with 20 squads a side can take a very long time to play; much, much longer than the equivalent SK scenario. In fact I wouldn't be at all surprised if each day took a minimum of 8 hours including purchasing. Myself and Alpha are very quick players but it took us 7 hours to get through a 7 turn large ASL scenario on the weekend.

But I hear most CGs end early when one player gets hosed in the first day or two

Thread: Re: I must be mad...

keethrax — 2008-04-22T13:32:38+00:00

Devon Harmon wrote:
I have no idea how long a campaign game takes. I've asked around, and from what I've gathered, the only people that get to play the campaigns are those lucky few who have next door neighbors who play ASL. I have also heard that ownership of a cat precludes the play of a campaign game, unless you leave it set up at the aforementioned neighbor's house

Seriously though, I don't have any plans on playing the CG anytime soon, but there are so many scenarios here to keep me occupied even if I never try the campaign. So far I've only played Eviction Notice (VotG 9). I felt it looked like a good starter scenario. I liked it so much I'll be playing it again next week.

I don't know if the new one is different, but the campaigns I've played really amount to linked scenarios. It's not like other games where the game must remain setup the entire time. A bit of record keeping is needed, but the game can certainly be broken down between games.

Thread: Re: I must be mad...

keethrax — 2008-04-22T13:30:43+00:00

Keen in mind with 2nd Edition Beyond Valor, it came with the Red Barricades campaign. So many of us had the nothign more than the rulebook and BV, before jumping into a campaign.

Thread: Re: I must be mad...

Scoobysnacks — 2008-04-22T10:55:46+00:00

I'm VASL'ing my first CG so I don't have to worry about storage. I also know it will not happen, nor do I want it to happen in one sitting, so the map and units can be used again.

Thread: Re: I must be mad...

LordStrabo — 2008-04-22T07:36:42+00:00

One good thing about ASL campaign games is that the map can be torn down between campaign dates. You have to write some stuff down detailing the status of the map at the day end, but it may still be more convinient that having to leave the map set up for many weeks.

Thread: Re: I must be mad...

MerricB — 2008-04-22T07:17:17+00:00

That looks like a really nice scenario. (Not too many units or turns!)

The first campaign game is small, though. At most eight days, each "day" being about 6-7 Turns (assuming no counterattacks). I guess that would take all of... err... 16-24 hours?

Must find out!

Cheers!

Thread: Re: I must be mad...

Devon Harmon — 2008-04-22T06:56:21+00:00

I have no idea how long a campaign game takes. I've asked around, and from what I've gathered, the only people that get to play the campaigns are those lucky few who have next door neighbors who play ASL. I have also heard that ownership of a cat precludes the play of a campaign game, unless you leave it set up at the aforementioned neighbor's house

Seriously though, I don't have any plans on playing the CG anytime soon, but there are so many scenarios here to keep me occupied even if I never try the campaign. So far I've only played Eviction Notice (VotG 9). I felt it looked like a good starter scenario. I liked it so much I'll be playing it again next week.

Thread: I must be mad...

MerricB — 2008-04-22T06:22:24+00:00

Well, I've now got Valor of the Guards in my hands. How insane do you think I am for getting it... someone who had never played ASL before last year, and has really only played most of the ASL SK scenarios solo?

But it was so shiny!

How long does a campaign game take anyway?

Cheers,
Merric

Thread: Re: Valor of the Guards now shipping to pre-orders!

alexisW — 2008-04-12T14:56:06+00:00

They sent me an e-mail stating that they have trouble sending it to me in Singapore. But did not state, what that reason is.

I wrote back 2 weeks ago. No reply till date..........

Thread: Re: Valor of the Guards now shipping to pre-orders!

kfritz — 2008-02-27T01:49:02+00:00

Ugh.. still waiting..

Thread: Re: Valor of the Guards now shipping to pre-orders!

presence — 2008-02-22T23:14:11+00:00

I just received mine. I love MMP. Now they better release Up Front 200X to keep in my good graces.

Thread: Re: Do You Think This Will Replace Red Barricades?

JG53_Jaguar — 2008-02-21T14:23:03+00:00

Gladius76 wrote:
I would like to get the "sense" of some veteran ASL grognards.

Do you think this will replace Red Barricades?

That's a silly thing to ask. Nothing will ever replace Red Barricades, it's a benchmark of what can be done when you have a great designer making a great historical module and especially about Stalingrad. Valor of the Guards complements RB, I would say for me RB and VotG are equal...great quality very rich on content historical ASL modules. MY CORE ASL grear: ASLRBv2, BV 3rd edition, Red Barricades, VotG and SASL. The rest I can live without...

PS: Red Barricades - takes place in Northern sector of Stalingrad - Red Barricades Ordnance Factory (17 October - 15 November 1942). Valor of the Guards is about capturing/defending Central Railway Station in Central section of Stalingrad (14 September - 27 September 1942)

Thread: Re: what counters are in this?

MerricB — 2008-02-20T03:40:42+00:00

You know I still haven't played ASL against a real person?

I don't have enough online time to play on VASL, and we get involved in a lot of 4+ player games during our BGDs. Oh well. Randy will play me, if we can ever organise another 2-player session.

Cheers!

Thread: Re: what counters are in this?

dude163 — 2008-02-20T02:49:02+00:00

Thanks Merric

Im going to have to break down and get this , my new ASL group is chomping at the bit for a CG game with 4 players!!

Thread: Re: what counters are in this?

MerricB — 2008-02-20T01:15:14+00:00

Here you go:
http://www.desperationmorale.com/worldofasl/worldofficial2.h...

Cheers!

Thread: Re: Valor of the Guards now shipping to pre-orders!

wwscrispin — 2008-02-16T11:27:06+00:00

Just got mine yesterday. It is a thing of beauty. What a lot of scenarios! The production values are very high. The latest ASL offerings continue to fine tune this. I have been waiting for this for a couple of years and I was not disappointed.

Thread: Re: Valor of the Guards now shipping to pre-orders!

kfritz — 2008-02-15T01:54:39+00:00

If it is 7 pounds and shipped via UPS.. mine just shipped today.

Thread: Re: Valor of the Guards now shipping to pre-orders!

autumnweave — 2008-02-12T18:47:24+00:00

Received mine today.

Thread: Re: what counters are in this?

dude163 — 2008-02-12T18:03:31+00:00

NKVD apparently

anyone have any pics?

Thread: Stalingrad photos , a link from another forum

dude163 — 2008-02-11T22:40:01+00:00

http://www.katardat.org/marxuniv/2002-SUWW2/Images/images06-...

Thread: Valor of the Guards now shipping to pre-orders!

kfritz — 2008-01-25T17:24:33+00:00

According to MMP's website, VOG started shipping on January 24..

http://www.multimanpublishing.com/news_text.php?nw_id=131

Thread: ITS ALIVE!!

dude163 — 2008-01-17T23:37:07+00:00

2 pics from Winter Offensive by MMP

1 has Tom Morin holding it, another has the contents

http://mmpwinteroffensive.blogspot.com/

Thread: Re: Any idea on release date ??

richfam — 2007-11-25T00:18:09+00:00

I haven't seen any specific target date mentioned, but it should be getting close.

Chas Argent posted this status update on the GameSquad ASL Forum on 17 Nov 07:

Chas Argent wrote:
A quick Valor of the Guards update from Brian:

-box layout 80% complete, waiting to import map
-map layout is about 80%+ complete
-countersheets are at the printers waiting for proofs
-scenarios are being corrected after first round of proofing
-rules are being proofed by Perry, Tom and crew

Thread: Any idea on release date ??

RED RICK — 2007-11-24T21:08:20+00:00

Any idea when this will be published ??

Thread: Re: what counters are in this?

dude163 — 2007-11-08T23:24:36+00:00

no one knows?

Thread: what counters are in this?

dude163 — 2007-11-08T19:47:24+00:00

just like it says

I am looking to see what units are in this , as for only 48 its a good deal

Thread: Re: Do You Think This Will Replace Red Barricades?

medievalbanquet — 2007-09-27T00:50:28+00:00

I couldn't agree more!!

Thread: Re: Do You Think This Will Replace Red Barricades?

tppytel — 2007-09-27T00:39:26+00:00

Rindu wrote:
What's the RB mythology?
Sorry, I didn't mean anything particularly complex or anything. Just that RB being the first HASL and it being set in Stalingrad will always make it special to people. Lots of memories of summer-long CG's (since it was the only CG) and so forth.