Historical Advanced Squad Leader

Squad Leader: Where it all began

By David Garvin

With the 1977 release of , the wargaming world experienced an earthquake. The virtual tectonic plates didn’t just rattle; they shattered the gaming world!

The late , designer of Squad Leader, had developed a game like none other. Now gamers could re-fight various battles of the Second World War at such low tactical levels like never before! Not only did players get to move squads around, but also some individual and even key leaders!

Squad Leader spawned three successive games, (called gamettes by the designer); , and . These were later supplanted by Advanced Squad Leader, developed in great part by and .

By 1986, Advanced Squad Leader had released its revolutionary rule book as well as the first module in the system, . With the 2013 release of , pretty much every nation that fought in the war had a module covering its actions. And in 2017 with , the ASL universe had expanded into the Korean War.

Korea: forgotten no more!

From the jungles to the desert, from the steppe to the bocage and from the Arctic to the Balkans, pretty much any battle could be re fought by using the ASL system. The geomorphic mapboards, of which over 80 have been released, are generic depictions of any terrain that could be imagined. To supplement the maps, the designers also used overlays to put on the map to alter the terrain. These innovations were all well and good and every one of them revolutionary in their own right; however, the greatest leap in the ASL system came in 1989 with the release of .

Red Barricades is known as an module. It is not quite stand alone in terms of components (ownership of Beyond Valor was a requirement), but it certainly stood alone in terms of its status. With Red Barricades, players could not only fight a single historical battle, but also a series of battles over a series of days in a Campaign Game. As well, the battles were played out over an historical map, based on contemporary from the autumn of 1942.

The historical map offered up a unique look at the battle. No longer did players have to rely on the generic geomorphic maps to play. As well, the hexagon sizes were larger at 1 inch as opposed to ¾ inches of the geomorphic maps. Further to that, new specific terrain types were introduced, including debris, railway embankments, culverts, storage tanks and single hex two-story buildings. Red Barricades also introduced modified rules for gullies, factories and cellars. Many of these rules were retro-fitted into the full ASL rule set.

Red Barricades in play.

Perhaps the greatest advancement of the ASL experience was the introduction of the campaign game. The campaign game allowed the players to play the game at the tactical level, but the between-game sessions allowed for players to plan at the operational level. With the random ending of scenarios, no longer could players know when the current battle would culminate. Also, after each scenario played out, players would conduct the critical Refit Phase. It was here that the operational level of planning came into the fore.

If you want Assault Guns, you better plan for them!

In a campaign game, players receive their initial order of battle and start points. In the subsequent Refit Phase, it was up to players to make decisions on what to bring in next. As well, players could also keep pressing the attack, day after day, only to see their side’s ELR start to wane. All too often a German player could be ever to close to victory, see the scenario end randomly and then try to press the attack the next day, only to see his exhausted forces collapse. Others may choose to remain idle only to see the Soviets launch a counter attack at night, forcing their lax defenders back several blocks, forcing them to have to try to take those very same buildings back. Again. For the third time. As many of us know from reading about the battle of Stalingrad, this was a common experience and Red Barricades delivers that experience perfectly.

Wanting a day off can lead to a Soviet Night Attack. Choose carefully!

Between and , no less than 13 HASLs have been released, including the latest, Dinant, released in 2020 with the updated Croix de Guerre. Notable are the number of HASLs released by Third Party Producers (TPPs). Numerous HASLs have been released, from 1997’s by to 2021’s release by of . There are dozens of HASLs from various TPP and almost all of them include historical maps over which players could now fight several components of a larger battle.

Dzerzhinsky Tractor Works: site of the classic scenario, “The Tractor Works”

With the concept of the Campaign Game established by 1989’s release of Red Barricades, the Advanced Squad Leader player could now play a tactical game with operational level oversight. The decision to bring in tanks today could lead to victory tomorrow, or the choice to remain idle today in order to rest and refit forces could backfire with an enemy counter attack at night, long before you’re ready. Such is the thrill – and agony – of command of your forces in Advanced Squad Leader, an experience in the HASL that one can find nowhere else in the gaming world.

Winning or losing depends entirely on your long game.

David Garvin lives in Nova Scotia, Canada and is an avid Advanced Squad Leader player.