Ian of Wall Advantage posted an excellent overview of the new Friendly Fire scenario pack on his blog today.
One point he raised about the use of counters from Blood and Jungle along with board FrFA got me thinking. MMP obviously cannot really utilise TPP boards and counters in their scenario offerings, and so it really is up to the TPP scenario publishers to take advantage of the wider array of ASL resources at their immediate disposal. Sure some will grumble, as Ian points out, however in my experience BFP would be one of the more widely known and obtained of TPPs these days, particularly for those who are aware of Friendly Fire in the first place.
There are some excellent TPP boards and overlays out there that could be helpful in avoiding new mapboard overkill, as happened with board 10, Croix de Guerre and to a lesser extent Doomed Battalions and Armies of Oblivion. Now admittedly the pace of release of official boards from MMP has been quite astounding, and Action Packs looks to be continuing that ray of sunshine, but even Critical Hit has produced some excellent SK style boards in products such as Total Axis pack 1, Finland at War, 1st Ed/Boxed Ed Dien Bien Phu.
Personally I think it's been well overdue for at least one or two scenarios in a pack to go somewhat off the heavily trodden path of official mapboards and countermixes. Sure some won't have access to the products but in todays smaller active ASL community, the print runs are such that for the most part you're working with an audience and userbase who can now utilise more of their collection.
When I was last looking at some scenario designs, I tried to make use of the various Time On Target counters and rules, particularly those from ToT2 and ToT3. Maybe it's time to revisit this concept in the form of a ASL Grognards pack, targeted firmly at those who have access to most TPP materials. All I know is that for some TPPs, their strength of scenarios is derived from the freshness of the designs rather than the actual tactical situation.
Fair enough Pete.
ReplyDeleteBut I think that MMP also had an opportunity to expand various national orders of battle (OB) before they reprinted a second or third edition core module. As evidenced by the variety of new vehicles and ordnance fielded by third-party publishers (TPP), there is a wealth of untapped ASL material vis-a-vis WWII.
The Dutch forces in the Far East, for example, are not modeled well by the Allied Minor counter set. As you will see when you get your hands on the scenario card, the Dutch units are represented by Axis Minor counters! Moreover, had the scenario designers waited until MMP had produced the requisite vehicle counters, we would be waiting very long indeed for this particular scenario.
In this respect, I think that the designers correctly gauged the interest in their subject, as well as their target market, which you alluded to above. Many grognards will have access to the counters from BFP (available in either Blood and Jungle OR Crucible of Steel). Those without, can still play on VASL.
In the end, the success of our hobby is largely predicated upon the kind of "amateur" enthusiasm witnessed in the latest Friendly Fire pack, and across the TPP scene as a whole. Without these enthusiasts, MMP product would have dried up long ago. And without the creativity of these enthusiasts, we may not have progressed much beyond the ten-turn behemoths of yesteryear.
The viability of a "Grognard" pack is nevertheless open to debate. Would folks buy it? Sure. Would MMP publish one? I cannot see it. At the moment, the most likely torch-bearer for such a product is, as you intimate, BFP. Do we need such a pack? Probably not. The wealth of material currently available is enough to bury even the most ardent grognard six feet deep in TPP cardstock.
But it is nice to dream. ;)
Now don't you have some counters to clip. :D
Chris, in respect of my piece, I was actually supportive of Friendly Fire and their latest pack. I wish more TPP would make more use of other TPP assets/releases in their scenario designs.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, a "grognard" pack would by necessity have to be released by a TPP or on the web.
As for counters to clip, don't remind me. All I have to really do now is grab some Raaco/Hozan and Box-Box so I can reorganise my existing original ASL sets before I start clipping the new set. The new set will be in a nice new shiny storage system (probably Hozan)
Nice post, I would be more than happy to see more TPP use other TPP boards and counters in their designs, as well as use their own from older sets. BFP lead the way with this as many of their releases use boards from a previous set. The B&J city boards in CoS happen to have one of the best scenario's I have ever played and look forward to playing it yet again. But Friendly Fire seem to be catching on quickly. Another company who make good use of Historical maps is LFT and again this is great from my point of view but then again I have every official map board and map sheet so I am one of the lucky ones. I love what BFP, FF and LFT are doing and if I am 100% honest I would prefer to see MMP stop producing ASL than BFP (well once Budapest is out LOL). I mean no disrespect to MMP as I love their stuff and it gets heavy play from me and I hope all keep up the ASL output. The only way MMP would use unofficial boards and counters is if they get absorbed into an official product. I think they have come a long way since first releasing TPP scenario's in the Journal and the BftB pack was a great tribute to a great mag. It's why many including myself feel we are in the golden age right here and now.
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