Tactical Wargames | Monthly Debrief S4E11 | November 2024 | The Players' Aid

[@ecmo1226]

I love ASL, but I completely understand what you're saying. Once one gets past the initial learning phase, the mechanical feeling fades, and the gameplay experience changes. But it takes a big commitment to get to that point, and it isn't for everyone. Love your channel!

[@bibu5650]

I totally agree. I play ASL for 30 years. Yesterday I played a scenario in Stalingrad controlling Germans and tried to take control of three factories occupied by Russians and today I played a scenario controlling USMC infantry in the jungle of Cape Gloucester in New Britain and had to capture some pillboxes at a stream controlled by Japanese infantry with machine-guns. There is a totally different feeling when playing these two scenarios. The units with their abilities, the support weapons with their stats and rules and the terrain are so different, that you as the player feels this when playing. ASL is all about the things You mentioned at the start of Your video about tactical games. The game mechanics support this. They don't hinder this. For example, the Marines cannot use their 60 mm light mortar in dense jungle. So they have to put it elsewhere. When the Marines use the mortar versus Japanese in jungle Air Bursts occur, because of the trees. The Russian Commissars rally troops in an other way than their non-political leader comrades, etc. So, yes, it is a very complicated game. But it dos not feel mechanical or gamey. Yesterday a lone German squad advanced in the German's last turn into one of those factories and initiated a Close Combat versus two Russian squads and a leader. So the ratio for the German player was very bad. The German squad was reduced to a half-squad but simultaneously managed to eliminate all three Russian units by rolling low enough, so the factory was captured by the surviving five German soldiers. If things like this do not produce stories with a feeling coming up while playing such games, I don't know.

[@charles-henridestrumeaux8477]

My favorite tactical (below platoon) tactical game is ASL, but I have been playing it since 1985, so it's been a long time I don't bother any longer with the rules overhead. This game has provided me with my most memorable wargaming experiences in 40+ years, so fun! Second would be the medieval series Cry Havoc / Guiscard, one man or one horse per counter. Very beautiful and so fun as well. Did you hear about these? No third favorite at this scale, all my other favorite tactical games have a larger scale, full blown battles at company/battalion/regiment/brigade scales. Such as Zucker's LNB, CWBS, Blind Swords, GBoH, etc.

[@MattWhiteWargames]

Great selection of wonderful games - you are going to be busy!

[@steveoh9285]

Great show, guys! Some games I already have, some games that are on my radar. The variety of available titles these days is just wonderful. A second “Golden Age” for our hobby!

[@richardkerr4458]

Thx guys great vid very entertaining and informative.

Clicked very fast when I saw ASL in the thumbnail. My favourite by far.

[@ThePlayersAid]

I put it in the thumbnail on purpose, because I knew it'd pique interest 😅

[@davidthompson7233]

So much great stuff here, fellas. And thanks for the kind words.

[@jameshiers9679]

Armageddon War ROCKS!! I believe the next expansion is due in 2025 on KS. Great debrief and topic -- Cheers!

[@RichardFay]

The first "Tactical" games I learned were the old Avalon Hill Panzerblitz series games. From there I moved to Squad Leader and the sequels, then ASL Of course doing that now would require a lot of time and probably a lot of money.

[@shadowblaster124]

Thanks for telling me about Cube4Me!

[@ThePlayersAid]

@@shadowblaster124 use the affiliate link in the video description for 5% off!

[@clockmonkey]

Greatly enjoyed reading "The `Nam" in the Nineties.

[@willburton6622]

Unconditional Surrender is excellent - played the Barbarossa scenario recently.

[@mikeb4085]

Great show ! Enjoyed the tactical game reviews

[@henriwhitehead]

Great video! Great banter!

[@bigNick_AK78]

Nice! I'm super excited to try Red Dust Rebellion too, it arrived recently. My fav tactical games: 1) Old School Tactical (I've got just about everything...missing the bonus cards for Vol 2 and the strategy guide, literally the only things left to track down. Otherwise I've got it all, soo cool). It's really incredibly good in my opinion. I love the art, props to Shayne Logan. Combined arms is treated well, nice complexity level, maps look great. I'm fortunate to have a huge gaming table so the giant sized maps aren't an issue. OST Vol 5 is going to be Poland '39 and France '40 per Flying Pig's recent interview with Shayne, so I'm very excited for that. I'm hoping for a Norway expansion...(how come there are so few wargames for invasion of Norway? Anyway it would fit the time frame and theme on this one) I saw Shayne's got an evolution of OST for more modern settings coming, in partnership with VUCA simulations. Can't wait. Supposed to cover Vietnam through Afghanistan, and maybe near future. That'll be an insta-buy for me. 2) Assault: Red Horizon. Really like this one too, with the formations, map building and scenario potential, early eastern front setting, and most of all the cool dice system. The game has been maybe more complex than I was expecting, but in a good way. I do prefer the wrecked counters of vehicles in OST, vs them being reduced like they are here. But it's a really fun system and I enjoy following the designer Woflgang and company. Looking forward to Assault: Sicily, arriving soon! 3) Armageddon War. I'm not sure, this might be my #2 but going to put it here. Different mechanisms with the rolling activations. I really like the art, and the disparity of forces in terms of equipment/tech levels. Old Soviet stuff ranging up to advanced tech for Americans, Russians, Israelis. There is a holding page called "Rising Dragon" on FPG website, and sounds like East Asia will be setting of this sequel. I'm hoping Burning Lands gets a reprint so I can pick that up. It looks like I really like Flying Pig's stuff. Gotta admit, I haven't tried the squad battles series. I'm thinking of picking up Afghanistan '85. Thanks for all the work you guys put into your channel. You helped me discover all the above games which have become near and dear to me. I appreciate all your effort. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and holiday season, and happy New Year! cheers, Nick

[@Ebbor4]

great episode, thank you

[@picton101]

I too tried ASL essentially just to say I tried it. Honestly, didn't dislike it but certainly bounced off it. I'd played LnL Tactical, Nations at War, Combat Commander, Tide of Iron, Panzer Grenadier and Heroes of Normandie beforehand and preferred all of them to ASL.

[@Grumble_Jones_ASL]

Starter Kit ASL is not ASL. So much that I want to say in defense of the game in direct contradiction to your obvious dislike of the game. But if you enjoy Combat Commander and Heroes of Normandie, then you really won't enjoy ASL. I recently played the assault on Pointe du Hoc as the attacking 2nd Rangers. It was immersive and we relived the historical assault through ASL and it was absolutely amazing. My higgins boats racing to the cliffs, my Rangers scaling the cliffs and engaging the Germans in fierce close combat to clear their trenches and bunkers. Just an amazing experience. I suspect that you just haven't had the opportunity to see the game at its best with other players who love the game and play it passion. In a game earlier this week, I had a single German hero behind a stone wall. the remainder of the units in his sector had been broken and routed. This single German Hero was all I had to hold the line. A Russian T-34/85 rolled up next to him. He fired a Panzerfaust and destroyed it. Then three separate Russian squads charge at him. He broke 2 of the squads and pinned the 3rd with Final Protective Fire. A fourth squad engaged him in Close Combat. He was KIA'd, but took 5 of the 10 attackers with him. This is epic stuff in ASL with a Defensive Fire system which absolutely second to none. Starter Kit can't give you that visceral, immersive experience that you noted was lacking. I'll aways advocate for this game, because it truly is amazing fun.

[@BwfVid]

I have been using Retro from Minden games with my ASL stuff and it is really fun! It's much easier to learn and works very well solo.

[@armandosignore3120]

Retro is an awesome way to use all the detailed OOB that are available in ASL.

[@enterprise9001]

I'm 100% with you guys on ASL. I almost view it outside the realm of most board wargames. You don't have to dedicate your life to Combat Commander or Band of Brothers to get a lot out of it, but with ASL I don't think you can get *anything* out of it unless its the only thing you play. Couple that with rules that still have 40 year old exploits in them and I don't really see the point in bothering.

[@robertmoffitt1336]

#1. Old School Tactical #2. Heroes of Normandie/Stalingrad #3. 65' Most realistic: Ranger by Omega Games

[@charleslatora5750]

Good Sunday morning gentlemen.

[@travisoke4683]

Alexander, you keep mentioning how much you enjoy Unconditional Surrender, and I keep thinking that you should try Axis Empires if you haven’t already! It seems right up your alley!

[@ThePlayersAid]

@@travisoke4683 I have it on the shelf. One day I’ll get to it.

The SAS game sounds like the board game version of Commandos the PC game

[@piratemacfan]

at 29:57 - Rick - from southern Indiana. I'm from Madison, IN. Hope to meet you some time. Wes K

[@ThePlayersAid]

one of these days, when we have time, we'll host a large gaming day for locals, or something.

[@alanshackelford6450]

Fields of Fire, anyone? Great episode. Learn Squad Leader and then ASL as a teenager. That pretty much leaves you undaunted by game complexity. But today, I prefer some of the newer more "fast and furious" systems.

[@ThePlayersAid]

@@alanshackelford6450 I looooove Fields of Fire, and that would top many lists, but I tried to keep solo games to a minimum in this one.

[@billyriley492]

Great video as usual guys thanks. But - I don't know whether it's you defining the adverts or KZbin - but there were a **** ton in this video.

[@andrewheim9481]

Top 3: Combat Commander Conflict of Heroes Last 100 Yards

[@gerblitz1971]

Hello everyone So my TOP3 is: 1.Old School Tactical 2. Last Hundred Yards 3. (What you unfortunately forgot) Panzer Grenadier Series from Avalanche Press. But I also like playing LNL Tactical and Nation at War and Warfighter. Greetings from Germany Klaus

[@tednovy7762]

Definitely HoF!

[@Dangerous27Dave]

You missed TCS which is surely more crunchy than most of the games mentioned. Even Goose Green which has minimal counters and 1 map is pretty crunchy. In addition, and I have seen it on your shelves...... you need to play Fighting Formations to compare it to Combat Commander. There are loads of tactical games out there.......

[@ThePlayersAid]

@@Dangerous27Dave we have both TCS and Fighting Formations, both unplayed 😅

[@ryanhuard7301]

I totally get what you are saying about asl. It’s not for everyone but in terms of story, I think asl is my favorite because it has so much detail. That said you have to pay the upfront cost to learn the rules to play it. Also starter kit misses some of the things that help generate story (heat of battle, snipers etc) so full asl tends to be better. But my first game of full asl was a classic scenario the guards counter attack. Main idea of scenario it’s Russians counterattacking Germans in Stalingrad. There are all sorts of stories that happened in that game, but the main easy to tell one is the central building is one of the objectives. There were several German squads and a leader holding the building. The other objective buildings fell and ultimately the squads slowly were getting picked off in that central building was surrounded. however Russians continue to fail to make it across the road like they did with other buildings so they were unable to assault in and get a foothold. Toward the end of the game the squad manning the machine gun on the second story got routed, the leader ran up and took control of the machine gun and kept firing, eventually getting a wound and a heat of battle turning him heroic. Ultimately the scenario ended with him being the last surviving German in that building. Surrounded but alive despite the amount of attacks sent his way. LNL and ost both can have similar stories, but I find asl tends to produce richer ones. But you have to get through the cruft of the rules first. Which is not worth it for everyone. For me the campaign games were one of the driving forces to learn asl. I don’t know any other tactical games which have that sort of game play mode

[@gerardturpin-t8y]

pourquoi les sous titres ne sont pas disponible on vous regardent aussi de l'europe

[@ThePlayersAid]

Hmmmm. I'm not sure if that's a setting or not, typically they are available, I believe. Let me look into it.

[@wartable]

Even on 2x speed way too long😂

[@toddalancox]

So I think people should try all of these. I will say "Band of Brothers", and "conflict of heroes" were both misses for me. For ASL, I'd say you can't enjoy it as a casual game once in a while. You have to play it enough for some of the complexities to recede into the background.

[@georgehiotis]

For me the "nitty gritty" of tactical wargames are all encampassed by Advanced Squad Leader with outcomes to situations that make sense due to way the system is designed. Having said this "Starter Kit" is a far cry to ASL. Also for Grant's sake SK4 may be erroneous compared to full ASL. Having said this I also own two games of Combat Commander (Europe/Med) and although I would also like to have a riot I found more people playing ASL than CC.

[@snowfcukinwhite]

Pertamax gan

[@christophersmith3301]

You're covering tactical level games but don't have Compass Games "Combat" and/or "Combat 2"? I appreciate you can't cover everything in a 2 hour video 🤣but they are superb (solitaire) tactical games.

[@ThePlayersAid]

We left off a lot of solo tactical games (Ambush, Combat, Fields of Fire, Phantom Fury, etc) because that's a whole other video, I think!