Matrix Games Forums

All right been playing around with this game.

So it’s a computerised subset of ASL. And no I don’t play ASL . I cannot be bothered with players chasing the rule book every move.


Some points with TOTH:
Squads and the LMG:
Squads, be it US, UK , Russians or German all had LMGs as a squad weapon. Why the need to assign these to a squad? Garbage.
A half squad may not have had the LMG but the other half squad did.

Halftracks:
Halftracks carry squads; they are not by nature a totally offensive units as portrayed. All had MGs. The MGs were either shielded or not nation dependent.
With Germany the HT:
The mittlerer Schützenpanzerwagen (3.7 cm Pak) (Sd. Kfz. 251/10) was used as platoon leader’s vehicle for Panzergrenadier units and Sturmpioniere units.

The Sd.Kfz. 250 and Sd.Kfz. 251 were troop carrying vehicles. The Sd.Kfz. 250 though to its smaller size had a less carry availability.

The US half-tracks are similar. They have a carry capacity of about a squad or Platoon HQ units.

So bluntly, units should be able to be loaded in to some of these halftracks.

Squad leaders:
With USA, UK, Germany and to some extent USSR each squad had a built in leader. Be it Cpl or otherwise.
Also most nation run with 1 leader, be it Lt or Sgt, and 3 squads under that leader. There were very few squads running rampant with out a formal leaded. So why is that happening in TOTH?

With TOTH, and I suspect ASL, there can be a large amount of squads with no leader. WOW!!!
To my knowledge this did happen in 1940, with the UK, Belgium, Netherlands, French forces, but why propagate this state of affaires.
Oh I forgot its ASL. Garbage!

Fine make a computer game based on the rules of ASL but things seriously need adjusting.

Before you all go bonkers, yes I do I play games.
A small summery:

• SPWAW
  winSPWW2
  winSPMBT
  TheProSIM series:
  • Battle Group Commander, Episode One
    Air Assault Task Force
    The Star and the Crescent
    The Falklands War: 1982
    Raging Tiger
    Armored Task Force
    BCT: Brigade Combat Team
  TacOps V4
  HPSSims Series:
  • POA2.5
    Tigers Unleashed

Plus games I bought and ditched and have no recollection of this wasted money..

Also I have writer various editors for some of these games. Yes that means a deep dive into the code. Tough!

DO I have other comments?
You bet, but later.
This game has a lot of potential; I would hate to see it wasted.

What do you think of Valor and Victory - another almost ASL game ?

Simply put, ASL is an abstraction, not a simulation. ToTH is the closest that the ASL rules have been translated to computer code, but is not complete. The makers of ASL wanted a game that gave you the feel of being at squad level without the tedious accounting of single men, rounds, grenades, who's MG is working, whose isn't, etc.

Leaders in ASL are the leaders that make a difference and get results on the battlefield. Not having a leader within every squad that can rally gives one the feeling of helplessness and despair that can happen on the battle field. Leading lower quality troops can feel like herding cats in ASL. Side note, the Finnish squads in ASL have the paper TO&E Sgt. Rock built in and can rally the squads themselves.

I agree on the half track issue but I am not a programmer to say why bringing the transport rules from ASL to ToTH wasn't done. All I can say is ASL treats halftracks in the manner that the OP mentions, along with varying carrying capacity based on the size of the vehicle.

I have all but quit playing ASL because of the copious amount of rules. Again, although ASL is not a simulation, they packed staggering quantities of details into the game that makes one think its a simulation. That being said though, if you can get your hands on a copy of the rules, they pack alot of commentary about design choices and limitations into both the rules and the footnotes.

Thank you genesismwt for your explanation.