What's in a name (or game description)

[MrsWargamer]

I ditched my ASL. Might be regretting letting it go if only because I got rid of over 100 maps in the process.

I am not regretting letting go of the manual. Or the charts.

I could have kept the counters I suppose, because I had it all.

I'm not concerned about the scenarios as most of mine were digital from outside of modules. And were somewhat case specific.

I'm looking at the box for Squad Leader. The Game of Infantry Combat in WW II. I think the moment they released Cross of Iron, the emphasis on Infantry combat died. I obtained a set of old Squad Leader modules recently (in a condition that is appalling to a point). I'm pondering ripping out most of the 'not infantry combat' from the experience.

I really liked Steel Panthers. I've played it all in some capacity. But the name was a dead give away. It wasn't about leading Squads. It was focused on driving tanks, and there were infantry units present.

I have not gotten Tigers on the Hunt yet and sadly will miss the sale dang it. But the name, I wonder how it impacts the game play. Is it closer to Squad leading, or tank driving. And why the desperate need to always refer to German nomenclature. Yeah I realize Shermans weren't as awesome, but unless you had an 88 in 1940 a Matilda was a problem. And a Churchill was not an easy target. And a T34/85 was no easy meat target either.

I got distracted there I think.

I wish the market would go back to trying to give us a good war game that wasn't always tank dependent. Up Front is one of the best war games I have ever played. There's armour in it, and I rarely see them used.
Yes it was a war greatly influenced by the tank. But artillery was no small thing either. And so what.

When playing Steel Panthers (any flavour) I found it often a tedious gaming experience moving a zillion forms of vehicle each turn. The only time I really liked the game, was during moments like the Mega Campaign Screaming Eagles. You didn't have a large map or scores of tanks. I found the desert Mega Campaign often a boring process of moving too many vehicles. Not as much need to think. "oh well I still have 100 other vehicles". Every last unit mattered in Screaming Eagles.

I think infantry combat can be more exciting, if our game makers would just make it the focus.
And no, I don't want some real time doodle, I want a board game like feel, not an arcade game experience.
Combat Mission never did it for me.

If I can make the idea work, I'm just going to re write the Squad Leader series manuals, and downplay most of the not infantry combat needs and lessen the need to have a counter for every single permutation of vehicle ever even vaguely considered. I plan to go through the counter mix and just stick all the oddity vehicles and highly unlikely large gun types in a bag as not worth the space in the counter trays.

I'm also going to hand draw some boards that have not a sign of a road on them. Too many roads on the boards some times. I'm going to make some of the boards double wide and some double long. So that you can actually get the feel for actually driving out in the middle of the vastness of Russia. Because the roads are often a bit silly. And yes, it is indeed handy that I have artistic talents.

This ties in with Tigers on the Hunt and the sometimes talked about Steel Tigers (you guys need to let go of the obsession with Tiger tanks and Panther tanks). Because I'm hoping the game is able to escape the terrain bias ASL ended up with. Near the end of my ownership of ASL they had finally tried to generate boards that worked with isomorphic boards, but gave them new configuration possibilities (the end cap boards).

There needs to be more to the game than driving tanks along predictable roads. There needs to be more wilderness, less urban. Yes I realize some parts of Europe are a town every short walk away. What about the parts that are not?

And why do all scenarios need to be saturated in armour. Armour wasn't always present eh.

[shaddock]

I remember fondly when I first got Squad Leader. I found the pure infantry combat to be really fun. My interest waned considerably with afv and ordnance combat. They are a force multiplier, but certainly not necessary.

With this game, I see no reason why you couldn't make a map with nary a road upon it. Be it cities or towns and villages, deep dark forest or fields and meadows. Then create a scenario with only infantry and support weapons. The battle of Monte Cassino, for example.

[DoubleDeuce]

The ASL Scenario Archive has like 6500+ scenarios listed last time I checked so there should be plenty of ASL scenarios that are infantry only one could convert. Of course getting copies of many of the scenario cards might be a problem.

[MrsWargamer]

Well no, it's 2016, getting anything that was ever printed, is child's play really.

Getting the boards might take more effort. But then, if I really wanted the boards bad enough, they too are just a simple download process.

I scanned all of mine at one point. I suppose I could always colour copy them. I've mastered doing it for PanzerBlitz/Leader.

I'm not missing the Pacific though. I don't think I ever once played anything Pacific (even though I bought all the stuff). And recreating desert boards won't give a person much of a challenge. There's a lot of maps and a lot of terrain rules and a lot of counters I couldn't care less if they never make it into the digital realm.

But what I am of course aiming for, is infantry centric situations. And then they have to be within reach of my current physical materials, which is a LOT less than what I had. But then, I have to confess, I was never overly excited by scenarios with nations I barely cared about. I tend to be Yank/Russian/German/British devoted with a bit of French interest. The Italians are hard to get excited about. They're even boring for models.

I'm guessing that TotH might be ideal potentially. Easier to use an editor than my art supplies

I sure wish Hasbro didn't have a vice lock on Up Front. I've seen some interesting things since the original release. But it would be nice if it was possible to get legal fresh content for it easier.

[DoubleDeuce]

Have you ever checked out VASL? There is an SSR feature that allows you to alter boards like changing all stone building to wooden one, remove roads, etc. The print them out at full size and play on those copies.

For example, I took board the small village with hills board and in about 5 minutes converted the original map (top) to the bottom map. . .

[kylania]

ORIGINAL: Double Deuce

Have you ever checked out VASL? There is an SSR feature that allows you to alter boards like changing all stone building to wooden one, remove roads, etc. The print them out at full size and play on those copies.

Wow, that's a really cool feature. Turned a city map into a wooden village in snow! Unfortunately the image saves out at a mostly unprintable resolution (1200x430). Any way to bump that up?

[DoubleDeuce]

Was just using it as an example for MrsW so unfortunately its was an "extremely" scaled down image to save forum load time. I deleted the original already, sorry. It was mainly to show how with VASL, you can create TotH compatible boards (by using SSR's to replace/remove the terrain that is in ASL but not in TotH) and then export that image to a screenshot to then use it as reference to create TotH map manually in the editor.

[DoubleDeuce]

Here is the same map , I think its the same, might have missed a few settings, but with VASL snow terrain added to it.

[Freyr Oakenshield]

ORIGINAL: MrsWargamer

. . . And why the desperate need to always refer to German nomenclature. . .

Marketing, you know. It evokes associations with Panthers, and in consequence with Steel Panthers, which was (is?) a very popular game. So it sounds a bit like it was a successor. Besides, there's an aura of coolness surrounding Tigers, which are regarded as effective killing machines, with stories telling how a single Tiger took out several Shermans, and so on and so forth. Well, just listen to this: Shermans on the Hunt; why, it doesn't sound cool at all [:D]

[MrsWargamer]

Hmm I'm familiar with VASL but it seems I was not familiar enough

Thanks for that insight. I might have found a way to generate fast easy maps. My current obsession is a sort of DYO with a much scaled back selection of unit types, emphasis on infantry action, disregarding anything outside of European theatre. But the maps were something I presumed would take some work.

This could be the trick for my own pet project.

[DoubleDeuce]

VASL also has overlays, the official ones and iirc, there are individual hex overlays so you can place a 1 hex open terrain hex over a building hex and vice versa. I used to create all my Steel Panthers maps this way. Take the base ASL maps in VASL, lay them out and edit the terrain as much as I could so they looked about how I wanted them to so they fit my scenario idea. Then dump the image file, print it out for reference and manually build it in the SP editor. It was time consuming but not so mush once you got a system down.

[MikeMarchant_ssl]

ORIGINAL: Freyr Oakenshield

ORIGINAL: MrsWargamer

. . . And why the desperate need to always refer to German nomenclature. . .

Marketing, you know. It evokes associations with Panthers, and in consequence with Steel Panthers, which was (is?) a very popular game. So it sounds a bit like it was a successor. Besides, there's an aura of coolness surrounding Tigers, which are regarded as effective killing machines, with stories telling how a single Tiger took out several Shermans, and so on and so forth. Well, just listen to this: Shermans on the Hunt; why, it doesn't sound cool at all [:D]

How about 'Waltzing Matilda'? That's got a ring to it. We could even give it its own theme tune.


Best Wishes

Mike

[MrsWargamer]

Well then it would be waltzing Matildas plural

[DoubleDeuce]

Well, we would need to have the Matilda in the game for that to be appropriate. [8D]

[MikeMarchant_ssl]

ORIGINAL: MrsWargamer

Well then it would be waltzing Matildas plural

Quite right, Mrs Wargamer; I stand corrected.


Best Wishes

Mike