April 20, 2009
Newbie-Do Part 1
Newbie-Do is a mini-series designed specifically for the new ASL player. In this first installment, Jeff and Joe play through two turns of Starter Kit 1’s first scenario, “Retaking Verville”. We cover victory conditions and setup, and then walk step-by-step through each phase — explaining in each event in detail as we progress. If you never played ASL before or are confused by the phases and such, grab out your Starter Kit and follow along.
We have fixed the problem with this episode and re-posted it. The missing final minutes have been added back in. Sorry about the error. Thanks for listening, everyone!
CPL UHL said,
April 21, 2009 @ 8:24 pm
Hi Jeff and Joe!
Great lesson! Even old hands at ASL can get something out of it. I was able to follow along even without setting up the scenario itself.
Thanks!!
(I got the first comment in!)
Danny Secary said,
April 22, 2009 @ 5:40 am
Great job and even though I have been playing forever (yes I did relearn some stuff)at least now I know there are two other people in the world who can roll dice like me…
keep up the great work!
-Danny
Danny Secary said,
April 22, 2009 @ 1:50 pm
Forgot to add, might want to put something at the end saying… this is the end of part 1 instead of going into a stop… just a suggestion
John Boone said,
April 23, 2009 @ 10:11 am
Nice job guys! Looking forward to part 2.
Agree with Danny’s suggestion of indicating the end of the podcast. I thought the batteries died on my ipod when the podcast ended abruptly.
- John
Heiko said,
April 23, 2009 @ 10:57 am
Hi everybody,
as a new player i’got a little question on the rules. does a +1DRM apply to a self rally attemt of a leader according to rule 3.1 e of the sk#1 rulebook? as you rallied your 8-1 leader with the snake eyes probably you just forgot to mention that DRM over the tasty cookies. i don’t want to be too pointy but in a lot of situations that would make a difference so i like to be sure.
best regards Heiko
Heiko said,
April 23, 2009 @ 11:13 am
…and don’t forget to celebrate todays day of beer in honor of the Reinheitsgebot!
John Boone said,
April 24, 2009 @ 11:24 am
On units with the Assault Fire Bonus don’t you round fractions up?
Stephan Rasmussen said,
May 3, 2009 @ 10:42 am
VERY much appreciated this episode. It ended very abrup but I can see that it has been reposted with the ending. Have to give that a listen. There were a few minor mistakes I think but all in all it was very helpful and well done indeed!
I hope that you will do more of these as they are a great learning tool to get into the game once one has read the rulebook but still feels a little lost.
thanks from a happy and wiser newbie
Kevin A said,
May 4, 2009 @ 1:09 am
Hey guys, nice episode. I think you made 2 mistakes though. First, when Jeff’s Para dudes broke and ran to U6, that hex is closer to P1 then the hex the units started their rout in. I think that is illegal, since those guys know those troops in P1. Also, when Jeff rolled the snake eyes to rally the ldr, why no Heat of Battle. I didn’t look to see if HoB isn’t in the SK rules. I’m not trying to be a know it all, I just thought newbies might miss those.
Terry Chase said,
May 4, 2009 @ 4:04 am
This was great. Ive been trying to figure out the SK rules and have played a few solo games, but still felt a little lost. I sat down late at night, with the iPod in my ears and followed the podcast through. I’m happy to say i was playing it all correctly, except I had forgotten about residual fire.
You guys did a good job, and Im hoping the concluding podcast to this comes soon, as my better half is getting ‘edgy’ with the game being a permanent feature on the table in the lounge room.
Keep up the good work, your podcast is greatly appreciated.
theSandmanCymru said,
May 4, 2009 @ 4:08 am
Excellent work - please keep them coming - this is the podcast us newbies have been asking for, and boy did you deliver!!!
Cheers
Phil
Stephan Rasmussen said,
May 4, 2009 @ 5:54 am
It would be nice with a clarification/answer to the rules questions that have been raised in some of the comments
There were some times you rolled a double which I thought means a column shift but not sure for instance ( I am a newbie afterall). Also the +1 to the selfrally attempt on the leader was that forgotten or played correctly?
Finally I think the leader routed from the wrong hex. But that was probably just a case of the counter having slipped to the wrong hex. (I think it was supposed to rout from the s row instead of the r row).
Cheers
The 2 Half-Squads said,
May 4, 2009 @ 9:47 am
Joe and I appreciate all the great feedback on this first installment. As we were editing the episode — and there was quite a bit of editing necessary — we noticed some of the errors mentioned here, but not all of them. Thanks to all of you for correcting us. In the next episode we’ll start with a reading of the corrections so generously donated here. We’re going to change our method in the next installment to a) speed things along a bit, b) obviate errors, c) construct varied and interesting situations. We’ll get on it as soon as possible, so stay tuned!
Jeff and Joe
Joe Pellam said,
May 4, 2009 @ 7:46 pm
# John Boone said,
April 24, 2009 @ 11:24 am On units with the Assault Fire Bonus don’t you round fractions up?
Hi John,
You are correct, fractions are rounded up for Assault Fire.
A good example would be a 5-4-8 firing during the Advance Fire Phase. 5 FP halved to 2.5, plus one for Assault Fire = 3.5, then FRU = 4)
Thanks for pointing this out to us.
Regards, Joe Pellam
Joe Pellam said,
May 5, 2009 @ 6:50 am
Stephan Rasmussen said,
It would be nice with a clarification/answer to the rules questions that have been raised in some of the comments There were some times you rolled a double which I thought means a column shift but not sure for instance ( I am a newbie afterall). Also the +1 to the self rally attempt on the leader was that forgotten or played correctly? Finally I think the leader routed from the wrong hex. But that was probably just a case of the counter having slipped to the wrong hex. (I think it was supposed to rout from the s row instead of the r row).
Hello Stephan,
You are correct on all three points.
Rolling doubles without leadership direction does result in cowering (Elite and 1st line British squads are exempt from this rule). The penalty for cowering is that your attack is resolved on the next lower column on the Infantry Fire Table (IFT). A unit that cowers is automatically marked with a Final Fire or Prep counter as appropriate (including all its support weapons).
All “personnel” units (which includes leaders) whose morale level is enclosed with a square have the ability for Self-Rally but with a +1DRM. The Self-Rally attempt for the leader should have had the +1 DRM applied.
Its very possible that we misstated the wrong hex number as the game had been reassembled a couples times during the process of recording the episode back in December but I would have to blame Jeff’s dog “Charlie” for bumping the table numerous times during our recording session. (Sorry Jeff)
Thanks for keeping me on my toes regarding the rules and I am thankful for the many good comments received for this show. It is good to know that other players are benefiting from this stuff.
Cheers, Joe
trebormills said,
May 11, 2009 @ 5:05 pm
Followed along using VASL…great listen + useful tips and comments re this show.
Might help with my replay of s1 face to face
Ill be playing with a mate i bluffed into giving it a go…he wants a rematch sometime. I think he enjoyed winning on the last die roll of the last turn in the last CC phase. Broken squads dont win you see so I’m 0-2 on this module so far. Keep teaching the rules rather than playing the game…well thats my excuse
The 2 Half-Squads said,
May 11, 2009 @ 8:48 pm
Trebormills, teaching is the best way to learn yourself. And winning isn’t everything . . . or so I keep telling myself!
Thanks for listening and participating.
Jeff, Dave and Joe
Dave K said,
May 15, 2009 @ 6:33 am
When Joe moved into the building on his left flank, he assault moved which he can not do because he forgot that he had to move into the open ground half hex before he could get to the building near the edge of the board. FYI
Cam said,
May 19, 2009 @ 6:19 am
Thanks for this episode, guys. Looking forward to the continuation of this one, and would love to hear one from ASLSK3 with tanks, which would fit in nicely with the Tanks 2 U series.
Thanks for all the time and effort you put into these podcasts!
Joe Pellam said,
May 19, 2009 @ 7:27 am
Hello Cam,
I think the plan moving forward after we finish this scenario (recorded part two a few days ago) is to discuss a particular situation in detail such as how to effectively use a heavy machine gun, anti tank gun, tank etc instead of an entire scenario. Concentrating on a particular rule/situation will allow us to cover it in much better detail.
Thanks, Joe
Stephan Rasmussen said,
May 19, 2009 @ 2:24 pm
I think playing one more scenario would be very helpful. I know I had great fun and learned alot from the first episode. I wish the next one will be scenario 2 from the Sk1 pack
I also like the idea of explaining specific situations and the rules & tactics that relate to that.
So I hope you will do a mix of those two approaches.
Cheers
theSandmanCymru said,
June 4, 2009 @ 2:09 pm
Newbie-Do Part Two, where are youuuuuuuuuu?
Sorry … couldn’t help it
Now where are my Scooby Snacks???
Cheers
Phil
Jesse Walker said,
June 15, 2009 @ 12:53 pm
Hi Guys, Just want to let you know that this episode is much appreciated for us noobs. I was doing some thing incorrectly and this helped immensely. Can’t wait for the next installment.
theSandmanCymru said,
July 2, 2009 @ 2:05 pm
Hi Guys,
Just listend to this again - only this time I did take the time to set up play along.
It really is worth doing this. Listening is fine - but you get so much more out of moving the units along with the podcast. Highly recommended.
OK - please can we have part 2
Thanks again
Phil
Bryan Martin said,
July 4, 2009 @ 11:24 am
Hey Guys,
Just listened this to this again last night, and played along to it with my girlfriend. She enjoyed it as much as I did, and is looking forward to all the coming installments as much as I am.
Everybody involved with the podcast does a great job with all the episodes and specials. Keep ‘em coming!
Thanks,
Bryan
Nelson said,
July 17, 2009 @ 9:48 pm
at 53:32 - orchard is Inherent Terrain ‘just like grain’
In full ASL, grain is NOT inherent terrrain (B15) - see B Terrain Chart - Grain does not have the filled-in black box. Rule is ambiguous in ASLSK.
It would be a great quiz Q - name all 9 items in which the whole hex affects LOS without looking at the Terrain Chart.
Keep up the great efforts!
Will Marrero said,
July 29, 2009 @ 12:16 pm
I caught another little thing. In American turn 2, a 747 moves into S7 and takes fire from one squad in P1with no effect. Although he decides not to, Joe says he could fire at the 747 with his other squad. In fact, he could not. He would have had to form a FG and fire them together in the first place.
Jon White said,
July 30, 2009 @ 9:28 pm
Fantastic…PLEASE continue this series. As a true newb I learned/had reinforced many things while playing along. I too would second the request for an SK3 episode with tanks or guns. Thanks for your work in putting this together.