[Aslml] Complete Beginner

[Chas Argent]

Hi Charles; Chas here!

  CHam628781 at aol.com wrote:
>I'm a complete newbie to ASL (something of a rarity these 
>days I believe) and 
>will be pestering the list for questions to dumb 
>questions on a regular 
>basis.

Go baby!

>First off what is the best scenario for two absolute 
>beginners to play in 
>order to begin to get a working grasp of the rules?

Wow, tough question, but there are several small 
all-infantry scenarios that might serve. Two suggestions:

-Gavin Take (T1); awesome leaders for the Americans, but 
they have two separate groups that are hard to coordinate

-Defiance On Hill 30 (ASL11); the Yanks have one Light 
Mortar, and this is an excellent all-infantry scenario; 
they have to be careful & not give too much ground, but 
not expose themselve to too much fire in the proces 
because their small force is somewhat brittle until the 
reinforcements arrive

>Secondly could someone explain infantry smoke placement 
>in simple terms to 
>me. I'm OK with the MF involved and the fact it takes 
>place in the MPh but I'm 
>mightly confused by the "exponent" part of A24.1. To me 
>exponent means "raise 
>to the power of" but that makes little sense in the 
>context the rule uses it 
>since, if I'm reading it correctly, only a single die is 
>rolled and for the MMC 
>I have raising their firepower to the power of the 
>exponent results in numbers 
>well above six. Thus MMC can always place smoke but ends 
>its MPh if it rolls 
>a six. Is that true or have I completely misunderstood? 

You have misunderstood; the exponent is not related to the 
FP number in any way. So if a squad has a smoke grenade 
exponent of "3", that means it rolls one die and on a 1,2, 
or 3 it may throw smoke; a 4 or 5 is no result; a 6 means 
the squad has to end its MPh right where it is.


>Thirdly do people tend to use the IFT or IIFT? Personally 
>I lean towards the 
>IFT at the moment due to its simplicity but if the IIFT 
>is in common use I 
>guess we should use that.

I would say most use the IFT for the same reason you do; 
but both tables are commonly used. Just agree ahead of 
time with your opponent on which you will use.

>Fourthly is the "cowering" rule widely enforced or do 
>folks tend to ignore it? 

Cowering is most definitely NOT ignored and is a crucial 
part of the game, so you should get used to using it.

>Just in case it's helpful I have ASL v2, Beyond Valour, 
>Yanks, Paratrooper 
>and Solitaire and will be PBEM using VASL (at least until 
>we get a better grasp 
>of the rules - then we might venture onto the server)

Come on to the server anyway and watch a game, or ask for 
someone to play with you & guide you through some 
situations.

>Cheers
>Charles

Adios!
-Chas