Advanced Squad Leader
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Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) is a wargame that simulates small unit actions (individual counters represent single vehicles, men and squads) in World War II. It is not simply a game, but rather a detailed game system. There are approximately 200 official scenarios, and players can create their own. Between the ASL starter kit (12 page-rulebook) and a complete set (14 boxed modules) is a wide range of possibilities covering every theater, period and nationality of the war.
The game was originally published by Avalon Hill in 1985 as a successor to the award-winning Squad Leader series whose supplements/sequels had made the system difficult to play by introducing numerous rules that often 'overwrote' parts of previous rules. As the first of Avalon Hill's 'advanced' games (the others were Advanced Civilization and Advanced Third Reich) it used the same boards as as Squad Leader, and rules with similar concepts, but was otherwise effectively a new game. Today it is printed under license from Hasbro by Multi-Man Publishing, a gaming company started by Curt Schilling and his partners to preserve ASL and other Avalon Hill games.
There exists a large and active world-wide hobby community around ASL, including tournaments, community websites, clubs, and fanzines. An active trading and auction community enables participants to buy and sell used ASL modules. ASL can be played over the Internet using a system called "VASL". A number of third-party developers publish modules and scenarios for ASL.
Modules
- 1—Beyond Valor, German and Russian forces, eastern front
- 2—Paratrooper, Normandy airborne invasion, Jun 6-8, 1944
- 3—Yanks, American forces
- 4—Partisan!, Axis Minors and resistance fighters
- 5—West of Alamein, British forces, North African theater
- 5a—For King and Country, British forces
- 6—The Last Hurrah, Allied Minors
- 7—Hollow Legions, Italian forces
- 8—Code of Bushido, Japanese forces, Pacific theater
- 9—Gung Ho!, U.S.M.C. and Chinese forces, amphibious operations
- 10—Croix de Guerre, French forces
- 11—Doomed Battalions, Allied Minors Vehicles & Guns
The West of Alamein module requires additional explanation: while undergoing a second edition update, the module has been split into two parts: For King and Country has the British forces, and an updated West of Alamein will have only the North African theater
External links
- ASL page from Multi-Man Publishing (http://www.multimanpublishing.com/ASL/asl.php)
- VASL is ASL over the Internet (http://www.vasl.org/)