Wargames 23 MAR 07
Monday, April 9th, 2007Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit, or better known as ASLSK among wargamers is an introductory game to its parent - the full ASL game.
I got ASLSK#2 for the longest time as a basic intro to wargaming. An entry pass to the world where cardboard chits rather than wooden cubes are the norm. The 16 pages of rulebook was complex beyond hell despite being a ’shortened’ version of the encyclopediac full rules. The full rules, according to the people who bought it, was the size of an encyclopedia, no kidding.
So what’s a eurogamer accustomed to simple rules and multiple examples to do? Why join a wargames meetup and get someone to teach, of course!
With General Chua supervising, Lieutenant Nick led private Heng (myself) and the US squad against Major Castor leading the opposing private Jeff and the Germans.
We played with a simplified setup and simplified rules. The scene: a number of US squads trying to reinforce a position under siege from German squads.
Here we are pushing chits around, simulating squads under stress and bullet hail. To General Chua’s credit, the rules taught were as simple as can be. However, the overall picture is still a blur. The consolation I get is that I’m confident enough to want to try out a scenario in my copy of the game.
Of course General Chua made it clear that raw recruits like us can only learn so much in our first game and he had to leave out a lot of subtleties in the proper game. The demo/learning game ended with the US squad in disarray and getting wiped out by the more organised Germans. Oh well, try again another time.
On the other end of the table, Edwin here can be seen teaching a newbie in the Art of War in the Memoir ‘44 game. Our end traded insults with their end over their ‘plastic toy soldiers’ and our ‘cheap cardboard chits’ LOL 
A close up of the ‘plastic toy soldiers’ in Memoir ‘44. A eurogame-wargame hybrid, with the rules much much much more much simpler than ASLSK.
