That’s right. Black Friday got me again. I’d gone nearly the whole day until I happened upon a blog that mentioned the MMP Black Friday sale around 10:30 pm. A sucker for MMP sales, I discovered that they were offering Valor of the Guards at a nice discount. Now yes, I know I haven’t played Advanced Squad Leader since my youngest was born, but I just love the system. I know I’ve forgotten more of the rules than I actually learned, but I just get all tingly thinking about the counters and kick-ass maps. I know that I’ve never clipped any of my ASL counters, but that didn’t stop me from buying A Bridge to Far 3 years ago and Pegasus Bridge the year before that (most likely from one of their Black Friday sales).
I want to relearn the system and get back into playing. I don’t know how active the community is anymore. I used to follow the ASL mailing list which was always quite active, but I haven’t checked on its existence in quite some time. I know this is a pipe dream for me to get back into the system, considering all my side projects I’ve been in and out of and those I haven’t even started. But nephew #4 has shown interest in it in the past and I have resolved to introduce him to the system.
Valor of the Guards really struck a cord for me because I was always interested in Red Barricades but it was out of print by the time I got into things. VotG has the same sort of rubble strewn map of Stalingrad, but there’s no giant multi hex factories with interior building hexes. 2 beautiful map sheets come in the box which make for a massive city battleground. 5(!) sheets of counters, special rules, campaign games, and a bunch of scenarios. Looks like some nice infantry only scenarios in there, so that may make getting some counters on the map a little more likely, if I can wade back into the rules.
To address a glut of unclipped ASL counters, a plethora of other unclipped wargames, and to prevent any further shoddy clipping on my part, I have ordered the C4 Counter Cutter. So, I may be able to do some accelerated clipping over my Christmas vacation.
Only 8 more days of work and I’m done for the year. I’m really getting stoked about that.
On this day…
- 2008: Stories of the Day — Proof that there’s still hit internet sites just waiting to be coded. Is it me or is the only way [...]