"Guide to deciphering ASL scenarios?" Topic

I'm doing more skirmish WW2 gaming, and I've often read about ASL being the apex of skirmish board gaming. I've found some interesting ASL scenarios online, but have no idea how to decipher the force summaries (the counters, I assume). Is there a quick overview out there somewhere that would provide some clues?

Thanks,

- Bob

ASL scenarios are typically company sized forces. You can look at the pictured counter and tell what forces are what. The counters are pictured, under each counter is a number which gives you the number of that type of counter in the scenario. The map boards used and their configuration are listed at the top. You can probably find a list of what the boards mostly have on them for setup purposes, like board 5 is woods, board 8 is a river, etc.

Anyhow, look that the counters. If there is one guy on it, he's an individual leader, rated for morale and leadership bonus. If there are two guys, it's a half squad or a crew. Crew look like they are crouched over a weapon. If there are three guys on the counter, it's a full squad. Ratings are firepower-range-morale, higher numbers being better of course.

Also listed are the various weapons toted around by these guys. Machine guns, bazookas, mortars, etc. These are typically operated by the squads. Crew served weapons are on a larger looking counter. Vehicles are on a larger counter. These weapons and vehicles are individual, not groups.

As above, elements are typically squads or individual leaders and crewed support weapons. SLs treatment of infantry weapons is a tad bizarre, as not every LMG etc is represented, so you may have to fill in some gaps. I wouldn't describe any SL scenarios as skirmishes, they range from weak company up to reinforced battalion size.

To have a idea of the map set up in a scenario , you can find pics of the ASL maps in this French ASL website:

asl.histofig.com/-Cartes-.html

I will some ASL scenarios for my Skirmish battles . If there ar too much troup I just divided all by 2 or 3 to get more or less , a platoon

my 2 cents

I do a fair amount of WWII skirmish gaming. I've purchased and used several of the Skirmish Campaigns books and own ASL as well. Some of the scenarios in SC's "Normandy '44: First Hours" are similar to ASL's "Paratrooper" module. The difference being that, as mentioned above, ASL is written on the Company-sized formation (with supports) and Skirmish Campaigns is written on the Squad/Platoon-sized formations (with supports). You can just shrink things down by looking at the number of Leader and Squad units. ASL may have 3 Leaders and 9 Squads plus supports. This would be a Company-sized unit. To go down to Skirmish level change this down to a Platoon-sized unit (1 Leader & 3 squads) plus supports. Don't forget to also scale back your supports as well or you could end up with unrealistic, large armor or weapons support groups. Instead of a handful of AFVs you should use one or two per side. Mortar & Artillery support should mostly come from off-board representation. Best of luck, have fun…

interesting..i frequetly asked myself similar questions
but in order to adapt ASL scenarios to miniature scenario i suppose that one needs those maps…and are they many…?…are they foundable on the net or should i buy them?

Folgore , You have the answer in my post above ;)

The maps are all over the net and on the SL and ASL yahoo groups. For scenarios: 1 infantry counter = either a single man, squad or platoon as your game system dictates. Hexes should become the unit of measurement of your miniature rules whether it is 5 meters, 25 meters or 50 meters. Vehicles should be one for one!

Thanks, guys. It all makes a bit more sense now that you corrected me on the size of the units represented!