[Aslml] Complete Beginner

[Bruce Probst]

On Thu, 30 Oct 2003 13:49:45 EST, 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.

Welcome to the madhouse, Charles.

>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?

Hie thee as quickly as thee may to the ASL FAQ, address to be found in my
.sig below.  Amongst pages of other useful advice, you will find a list of
"beginner scenarios" to choose from.

>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? 

Uh, it's just a number on the counter Charles, and that number is called the
"Smoke Placement Exponent" of the squad.  Check out the counter
illustrations on the inside front cover of the ASL Rules.  You don't need to
read anything deep and mathematical into it, and yes it basically operates
exactly as you've described.

>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.

Answer cancelled due to newbiness of questioner.  Never ask that question
again.  Read the FAQ.

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

Why on earth would anyone want to ignore it?  Do you ignore the movement
rules?  Do you ignore the morale check rules?  Do you ignore the concealment
rules?  It is an integral part of the game, not some whimsical option.

>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)

An excellent start.  The hook seems securely lodged.  Start reeling him in
....

----------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Probst              bprobst at netspace.net.au
Melbourne, Australia      MSTie #72759
"Ah, Mr. Claus -- you have a nasty habit of surviving."
ASL FAQ              http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/mantis/ASLFAQ