From Blood and Sand to Rising Sun: The Pacific Theater in Advanced Squad Leader

By David Garvin

In 2019, released Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #4, Pacific Theater of Operations. With it, players new to Advanced Squad Leader could learn how to play the various forces that fought in the Pacific Theater in the Second World War.  Players new to the system, or even just new to the Pacific Theater and its nuances, could learn such things as how the Japanese Squad would stripe when it failed a morale check, or how to conduct a banzai. Due to the nature of the fighting, players also learned how to use concealment, a first for the Starter Kit system. Other new concepts focused mainly on the unique terrain of the Pacific, such as jungle and kunai.

Where it begins for many in the Pacific

Even though the 2019 release was geared to players new to the Pacific, this theater – the PTO – was anything but new to the Squad Leader universe.  Advanced Squad Leader was released in 1985 and within 5 years, the universe had expanded to the PTO with the release of Code of Bushido. This module introduced Chapter G Pacific Theater, specifically rules to include the nature of the Japanese army as well as terrain specific to the PTO: jungle, bamboo, palm trees, huts, kunai, swamp, rice paddies and panjis. As any ASL player can tell you, playing in the PTO is a unique experience, and this is thanks in great part to the rules and how they interact in the game. Upon opening Code of Bushido, one will find that there are not any battles with the USMC or even the Chinese. Instead, there are 2 scenarios against Soviet troops and the rest are against the British, Australians, the US Army and even Muslim Partisans in the Philippines.

Code of Bushido – The Japanese

But the thing is this: although Code of Bushido is the first official foray into the PTO in the ASL universe, the previous game upon which ASL is based, Squad Leader, had an unofficial foray back in 1983, shortly after GI: Anvil of Victory had been released. As I have noted elsewhere, even by this time, the designers of the system had already started working on ASL. As such, any official development into a new theater wasn’t going to happen until the base game had been developed.

That said, “Wild” Bill Wilder had developed and released Blood and Sand, a Squad Leader variant. This was released in 1983 and by all accounts, was quite popular. The problem was that it wasn’t an official product and let’s face it: in 1983, unofficial products were more difficult to market than say even 15 years later. But even today, many years since the official foray into the PTO, Blood and Sand remains reasonably popular for those players of the original system.

Going back to the release of Beyond Valor and the ASL Rule Book in 1985, many players of the Squad Leader System were put off, since they expected an official release of the PTO. As stated previously, it would be another 5 years before players would be able to venture into that part of the war. But even though Code of Bushido didn’t have the USMC, players would only have to wait another year for the release of Gung Ho! the module that contained the USMC as well as the Chinese. Most importantly for players, rules expanded to include how to conduct landings and had rules for Seaborne Assaults. So, by the end of 1991, the ASL universe had expanded from the Eastern Front to include every major theater of operations.

 

Finally, ASL included the USMC

So, with that, the ASL universe was pretty much complete in terms of theaters.  Time marched on and the unthinkable happened: Avalon Hill collapsed in the mid-1990s! Alas, ASL was saved by the fledgling Multiman Publishing. It has been the official publisher of all things ASL for over 20 years now, and has done a great job in maintaining the hobby.

In fact, one of their first major publications was Blood Reef Tarawa, an historical module focused on the fighting at the Betio Atoll in 1943. To call this publication a success would be a massive understatement. Not only was it popular, it remains a well-sought component even today, with some copies fetching upwards of three hundred dollars for an unpunched copy. Though I’ve yet to play this module, I do recall at a Winter Offensive a few years ago as I watched 2 US Marines setting up a battle. One was a vet of Desert Storm, the other a new graduate of Annapolis and about to set out on Infantry Officer training.

Blood Reef Tarawa by Multiman Publications

By 2013, Multiman Publications had realized that the long out of print Code of Bushido and Gung Ho! were more and more difficult to find, so they decided to merge them into one module and release it as . It was released to much fanfare and renewed interest in the PTO. The previously-mentioned ASL Starter Kit 4 exposed a new breed of gamers to the beauty of the PTO. As such, with Rising Sun long out of print, it was time to re-release it.

So, that’s how we got to October 20th, 2021, when I came home from work and found a birthday gift on my door step: the 2021 version of Rising Sun.  It was put on a P500 and it sold like hotcakes.  Over 800 copies were sold for the P500 price! And with that, things have come full circle. From 1983’s foray by Wild Bill Wilder to 2021, players of Advanced Squad Leader can experience all there is of the PTO, from tank-hunter heroes, DC heroes to Banzai Charges. The rules are subtle in their differences from the European and Desert Theaters, but quite significant.

 

how ASL is adept at portraying the various squads of the various nations of World War Two, but to play the PTO is a unique experience, even for the ASL player. Tactics, Techniques and Procedures that may work in Stalingrad probably won’t work in Manila. In my opinion, this reflects reality. Every country developed its army to fight in a manner that worked as they wished.

The German method wouldn’t work for the Soviet, and the American method wouldn’t work for the Chinese. And of all games I’ve played, none captures the unique nuances of each nation as well as ASL does. And with the 2021 re-release of Rising Sun, players of ASL were able to experience for themselves the novel and exciting method of the Art of War as it played out in the PTO.