Advanced Squad Leader Tutorial # 13 - Lets Play! The Guards Counterattack, Turn 1

Gameplay of turn 1 of the classic Squad Leader scenario, The Guards Counterattack. With fully annotated rules references/notes, step by step mechanics of rally, fire, terrain, movement, sniper, and close combat ... AND discussion of my errors during play (we all do it!!). A human wave is thrown in just because ... RUSSIANS!!
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Advanced Squad Leader Tutorial # 13 - Lets Play! The Guards Counterattack
0:00 - Intro
0:09 - Housekeeping
4:19 - Scenario setup discussion
10:43 - Sniper setup discussion
13:43 - Russian Turn 1
21:30 - Russian Human Wave
43:47 - HOB during FPF
1:08:04 - German Turn 1
1:28:50 - End of Turn 1
1:31:32 - Outro
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The goal of ASL Boot Camp is to present rule and tactical discussions for new and veteran players. New Boot Camp Exercises posted ... well, when I make them (hint: there's no schedule!). Also, if I screw up a rules interpretation (we all do) in any of my videos, PLEASE post in the comments so we can correct it!!!
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#advancedsquadleader​ #gaming #tacticalgames #tacticalgaming​ #wargaming #hexandcounter #boardgames #worldwar2 #ww2 #ww2games #vasl

[@reubenjames7779]

Terrific turn 1, and an awesome video. I think the call outs and rules references are great. I am looking forward to the next one!

[@WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

Holy cow, the HoB when the squad fired TBF! And then they go Berserk! Makes sense in the narrative of the situation. So awesome.

[@leafrancher6832]

Great timing! I just started watching your (excellent, btw) boot camp videos since I’m getting back into ASL after a break. I was going to start with Guards so this video couldn’t have come at a better time.

[@nielsskaaningludvigsen8431]

Maybe the human wave slowed things down, but it was great. This is in fact just great - keep up this fantastic work👍

[@miadchi]

Really awesome video, I appreciate the time you take to do the annotations! I've been diving into ASL and your videos (particularly the Boot Camp series) have been such a tremendous help. Thank you and keep up the excellent work!

[@LucasCastroJ]

Excellent work! I like a lot the rule tips and comments, this is the way to learn. I'm a returning player and this helps a lot! I'll keep watching your videos! Thanks!

[@johnpayne498]

Great job . I think these vids are a goldmine for people starting out and a fun refresher for returning players. Much needed. Was happy you chose to experiment with the human wave. It could have gone better but it could have gone worse. I say try it out. You do a great job of catching your own mistakes and illustrating the correction. Leaving all that in is helpful I think because newer players can see how often we all make mistakes. One that you didn't catch (made no difference as it was) is in the initial Russian Prep you fired the three 6-2-8 from F3 to G-6 without halving the FP for long range. No biggie.

[@johnpayne498]

@@ASLAcademy My bad. You did add an annotation that I didn't catch. See, I told ya you are doing a great job.

[@hekk2566]

Awesome video that is extremely helpful for those of us learning or re-familiarizing themselves with ASL rules.

[@edcarter1019]

Your videos have been awesome for re-familiarizing myself with ASL! I was particularly happy to see the human wave mechanics! Much thanks!

[@ASLAcademy]

Awesome, thank you!

[@InikoMonkoya]

That's a great idea to put everything together in an actual game turn, after all the lessons! It puts all in perspective and include the concepts in an actual flow! Thanks a lot for taking the time to do this, can't wait to dig into it :)

[@InikoMonkoya]

@@ASLAcademy Enjoyed every second of it ! And the annotations are great also, it may takes you a lot of time to put them in, but it helps tremendously !

[@WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

Very detailed. Nice work.

[@WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

i love the work that goes into VASL - it’s pretty amazing, but i do wish the DMs would show up on the counter you clicked on.

[@gogol1st]

thank you ! tips for you (i owe you that 😂) ; you can use keyboard arrows up and down to move your DM counters (and others) down and up the stack

[@toddalancox]

Thanks for your Vassal charts, I use them all the time

[@ASLAcademy]

You're welcome.

[@squirejames9227]

Hey mate, I really enjoy your vids. My personal preference is for vids with boards and counters over the vasl ones but at the end of the day I watch them either way. I applaud you for your effort and hope you keep it up. Best vids on asl, cheers from Australia 👍

[@ASLAcademy]

I understand, but sometimes it's simply a matter of production speed. Often it's more convenient (and easier to film) by doing it on VASL.

[@hrfepo1]

Thanks. I believe you are correct. It is my computer. The volume using my iPhone is fine.

[@StewsReplay]

YES !!!!! the CONTROL Markers!!!! are LIVE. Nice 22:55 Hex Grain must include the enemy unit chosen and close as possible to a HW unit that has LOS to it. If all units in the HW have LOS, then they all could generate a potential Path. Usually LOS obstructs the other units. 6 MMC's needed....could be Halfsquads...but that's problematic at times for the Russians whom may not deploy. Units can move as they wish in HW, just have to abide by the minimal restrictions of Range and entry into enemy locations.

[@tomj.7599]

A big THANK YOU..again :)

[@WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

Geez, those morale rolls during the HW!

[@wademoore2061]

I laughed out loud during the human wave MC.

[@scottrowland2989]

Interesting to see that it's not just when you're playing me that you make crap Morale rolls at the worst times...😁 Great video btw, should really help players new to the system as well as returning players needing a refresher.

[@markc8401]

Another excellent video Neal! Isn't VASL amazing? I started using it a few years ago, but it became almost indispensable during the pandemic. BTW, that human wave was crazy! I'm sure the "NKVD platoons" behind the front lines are executing their own Soviet soldiers now for fleeing the battlefield in droves! And this crazy HW led to a crazy rout phase. I kept thinking that Schmidt (9-1) could have jumped out of his building via hex E7 and then conducted a counterattack himself by charging all of those broken Russian squads and DMing them at the very least....and contesting the control of the Russian building. As for "Skulking", my gaming buddies and I have outlawed it. I see this practice going something like this in "real" life: "OK men, we are going to vacate our fantastic defensive positions and move 50 meters behind them. Then, we are going to wait one minute, because that is when the enemy will fire. After that, we will crawl back to our original positions because they cannot engage us anymore!" Yup, sure. And then the officer was fragged :) Yes, skulking is not outlawed by the current rules system, but we do know that every game system ever made has gone through its aches and pains and changes, and I truly believe that this needs to be fixed. I like the squad level game called "Old School Tactical" (OST), where units can only advance to an adjacent hex if an enemy unit(s) is present and thus close combat occurs. This completely eliminates skulking as a form of stinky cheese! Thanks again for another great video - I think your videos force even veteran players to re-think tactics or view a rule in a different light.

[@ASLAcademy]

Thanks Mark. I understand why people "skulk", I'm just not a fan of using it myself, especially against Scott my ASL gaming buddy. I've used it a few times when I'm really desperate (he has too), it's pretty rare. We rarely use vehicle bypass "freeze" sleaze either.

[@markc8401]

@@ASLAcademy sounds like we play a very similar type of game!

[@brucejoray4284]

When the leader breaks in the human wave, does the unbroken unit in the stack have to do a leader task check? And also does his breaking affect the other human wave units not in the stack?

[@stevenrugge6707]

Nice explication of the HW process, but can Guards be part of an HW? My read of A25.23 indicates they can not. "No unit in the HW chain can be Guard, PRC....". Am I missing something?

[@ASLAcademy]

Yeah, that's kind of weird wording as "Guard" is an elite type of formation and should have no problem doing HW. But in this case I'm almost 100% certain "Guard" refers to any unit that is guarding prisoners. See A20.

[@stevenrugge6707]

@@ASLAcademy I was thinking that maybe the Russians did not use their elite formations for human wave attacks, but instead used their lesser formations as that kind of cannon fodder. But I guess Ken Dunn would be the one to have the final say on what this particular rule means and why they have singled out both Guards and PRC for exclusion from Human Wave attacks. I'll see if I can get an answer from him on one BGG or Consimworld.

[@stevenrugge6707]

Looks like you were right that it is prisoner Guards and not Guards units. Got this on Consimworld: >>> Does Guard refer to the Russian Guards elite units, or does it refer to prisoner Guards... The latter. (I know it's subtle, but a prisoner "Guard" is singular; an elite unit is a "Guards" unit, plural.) >>> And what is the rationale for excluding Guards and PRC from making HW attacks? A Guard is busy guarding prisoners; PRC are in vehicles (it's called "Human" Wave).

[@HistoricalConflict]

Hows does your vassal look so different? Like the die roller on the right? Also can you "ping" a hex in vassal to show your opponent what your are talking about?

[@ASLAcademy]

Toggle the "Dice-over-the-map" feature. Click the orange icon of the guy throwing the grenade in the upper left of VASL. You can change the look of the little dice windows under File -> Preferences -> Dice over the map tab

[@laurencekelly8858]

mics the cup dice roll

[@gabrielcanario1368]

Newbie here with a question. Could the two units that needed to be surrender/eliminated (in the 59-minute mark of the video) have gone upstairs via regular movement or low crawl to escape their fate?

[@ASLAcademy]

The only stairwell in that building is in hex F7, denoted by a white square as its center dot. That ground level hex was occupied by German units. If a multi-story building doesn't have a white square for a center dot then it has inherent stairwells in every hex, which is not the case for most of the large buildings on board 1. See the 9:58 mark.

[@gabrielcanario1368]

Thanks!@@ASLAcademy

[@jonjaramillo629]

Why did the unit in the first attack break on a roll of 9? You said they had plus 1 to their morale of 8.

[@abrickwo]

Hi Neal , where in vasal are the Russian, German building markers ? Thx

[@ASLAcademy]

@abrickwo This is a custom mini-control marker extension (that I should finish). You can find it here (hopefully the link works). If not email me at "aslplayers(at)gmail(dot)com" YT is weird about links in comments. asl-players.net/downloads/mods/mini-control-markers-0.4b.vmdx

[@jonjaramillo629]

Russian concealment gains

[@ASLAcademy]

This comment is intact.

[@hrfepo1]

Great video, but again, the volume is too low.

[@hrfepo1]

The demonstration is too fast, and the volume is too low. I recommend that this scenario be repeated at 1/2 the speed and make sure the volume is high.

[@ASLAcademy]

Feel free to set the KZbin video speed at 0.5, or pause it from time to time. Also the video volumes are fine on my end. KZbin usually normalizes video volume so i suspect there's something amiss on your end.

[@markbrooksjr6330]

Volume is fine.