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| City: | Wynne, Arkansas  | | Personal Data: | Male, born: November 26 1954 | | Membership | 22years 93days ago. | | Last Login | 4years 323days ago. | | Last Move | 4years 312days ago. | kduke is currently  | Send a mail to kduke |
| Message header | Area/Game: | Other Games | | Topic: | Scenarios | | Subject: | Re: Squad Leader by Avalon Hill, and Advanced SL | | Posted by: | kduke  - 18years 325days ago. |
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| Message text If you compare ASL with the original, base game of Squad Leader, I think it is considerably more complicated.
They added some more stuff for Cross of Iron and a lot more for Crescendo of Doom and a lot more for GI-Anvil and, by that point, had so bogged things down that they felt the needed to overhaul the engine.
SL was the game we played more than any other, and I was part of the playtest group from CoI on. (In Crescendo you will find a Sgt. Duke, also a McDonnell (both Brits) and a Glankler (minor allies) and in Cross a Cornaghie (axis allies.) That was "us" and it was, at the time, a pretty big charge to have "us on a counter."
But the complexity, with reindeer sleighs and prisoners/escaped prisoners/scrounging for weapons just got way out of hand, I thought. I was there for the first ASL, wrote a report, and dropped out. I have seen a couple ASL tournaments going on at Nashcon and any time I'm in the room, it strikes me how little counter pushing and die rolling is going on and how much page flipping. To each his own.
I remember the co-designers (Hill and Greenwood-- and Greenwood was called "developer" but deserves co- title for all he did) original notes in which they said-- this is on the base game-- that they were aware that everything they added got in the way a little bit, and that if people really wanted a good time, they would play only with squads, leaders, and MGs. That's still pretty good advice.
If you can find a base game of SL, I'd say jump on it and enjoy it as it is right there. They never did make the tanks look as good as those originals. (I still have my purple box.)
Pleasant memories.
The closest I have come to SL, in terms of replay value and joy, have been Commands and Colors and Wings of War. Wow, that sure is a difference!
But the community part of YPI is pretty amazing too, especially for people like me with limited FtF time... so this ends up being the game I spend more time with than any other.
Happy gaming. |
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