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Why this vs. ASL - 3/23/2016 4:49:33 AM   
robarrieta

 

Posts: 39
Joined: 5/30/2004
From: Boston, USA
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Can someone give me a good reason why I should purchase this when I can play ASL online vs a human opponent?
Post #: 1
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/23/2016 5:16:58 AM   
kylania

 

Posts: 155
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Because you can play this vs the computer anytime you want.

(in reply to robarrieta)
Post #: 2
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/23/2016 1:35:27 PM   
decaf

 

Posts: 91
Joined: 8/1/2008
Status: offline
The flow of TOTH is much faster. Stack management and status counters are great.
Takes up less space than the physical ASL. Costs much less than the comparable modules.
TOTH resolves LOS, and does it to the pixel level(!).

The best is that Fog of War is honest-to-God hidden units. No stacks with concealment
masking and dummy counters. If you don't have a LOS, you see nothing at all. Enemy stacks can disappear.


< Message edited by javafiend -- 3/23/2016 1:38:55 PM >

(in reply to robarrieta)
Post #: 3
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/23/2016 2:30:49 PM   
rico21


Posts: 2990
Joined: 3/11/2016
Status: offline
Because we would like you to join our hard-core wargamers community...
Welcome,

(in reply to robarrieta)
Post #: 4
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/23/2016 3:56:17 PM   
DoubleDeuce


Posts: 1247
Joined: 6/23/2000
From: Crossville, TN
Status: offline
I don't think it should be a choice between one or the other if that is what the OP is implying. I have played SL and ASL since they were were first released. Many, many years ago, Steel Panthers was hailed as the PC version of ASL, it's not and to this day, I still play it as well. TotH is clearly based on 'SL/ASL' but I don't think its meant to be a replacement, it just fills a PC based ASL Player vs AI void for those of us who would like to see something like that.

_____________________________


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Post #: 5
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/23/2016 8:31:42 PM   
MrsWargamer


Posts: 1655
Joined: 6/18/2014
Status: offline
Well with ASL you fight the manual as much if not more the opponent. With a program, well you can yell but nothing happens.

I know how fun it is to store a complete collection of ASL. TotH is kinda easy to store.

Yes ASL has that tactile thing going. It's not infinitely thrilling though. Like knocking the board.

I can shake my laptop and nothing happens.

ASL has a lot of interesting qualities, but really, I sold mine. Many reasons. One that I have pondered some lately, is ASL can be described as a woman with a pound of make up on. It's just not going to look great.

I scrounged up some old Squad Leader stuff. I'm going to take a few aspects of CoI and CoD and maybe GI, but I'm planning to just play it as mostly Squad Leader. The game became famous via Squad Leader, not ASL.

Sometimes historical accuracy is just a disguise for 'bloated beyond practical use".

In the fullness of time, I can see myself maybe playing TotH vs an old buddy of mine (the one who bought the ASL actually. He's in Texas and it won't matter. He might even buy me my copy if I ask him real nice.

If you already own ASL, and play it at least once a month, you might find TotH unnecessary.
I owned all of ASL and have not been able to play it really this century.

All the greatness of ASL didn't make any difference. And VASL is not the great thing a lot want to believe. You still need the physical game. And all the hassle of using the physical game. You might as well be playing TotH if you plan to be in front of a computer.

_____________________________

Wargame, 05% of the time.
Play with Barbies 05% of the time.
Play with Legos 10% of the time.
Build models 20% of the time
Shopping 60% of the time.
Exlains why I buy em more than I play em.

(in reply to DoubleDeuce)
Post #: 6
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/23/2016 9:02:41 PM   
genesismwt


Posts: 176
Joined: 2/25/2016
From: The middle of flyover country
Status: offline
To what everyone above has said, AMEN!

I have played Squad Leader(SL) since 1978. My only regret is that I don't have a Purple box SL(original print run).

This has 85-90% of ASL. But, it contains the parts that matter. TotH lets you play Squad Leader(SL) at any time of your choosing.

Here goes my rant: I am finding that I am in idjester's camp in that what has been left out is mostly unnecessary complexity. SL and ASLSK play fine without snipers. Walls, hedges, gullies, smoke, bypass movement, fire lanes, heroes, manhandling, overruns, infantry overruns,dash, street fighting, cavalry, motorcycles etc. all add flavor, but at a huge cost in complexity. However, the lack of these items in TotH does not prevent one from playing a game of SL. I have yet to play a game of SL that involves climbing. I figure one in three successful foxhole attempts actually provided value. That's something like a ten percent success rate for having dug a foxhole in game. Or, in other words, I could just have just done something else productive.

I would like to point out what TotH has going for it:

Convenience: you can play at any time that you can be at your computer. Set up is done in a handful of minutes, instead of an hour. Heck, once familiar with the editor, you can make a scenario in the time it takes to dig out maps and pieces, and set up. You don't have to bone up on any esoteric rules that are specific to the scenario that you are playing. If its in TotH, the computer pretty much takes care of that for you. If you can't finish in one setting, there's a quick and easy save game feature(as any computer game should have).

Focus: TotH lets you focus on what matters, fire and movement. Rallying and repairs are automatically done by the computer. Attacks and the resulting effects are resolved by the computer. Some complain about the lack of information provided by the game. At first, I lamented that I felt that half of the fun was looking at the charts and fretting over the odds before I throw the dice. In the end though, the odds don't matter when you only have one action available. You do what you have to do, or die trying. I don't need a chart to tell me that running in the open in front of a heavy machine gun(HMG) that has not yet fired has a low chance of success. It doesn't matter whether the HMG as 6, 7 or 8 FP, you still have a low chance of success running in the open in front of that HMG. If you have to try, you try. I don't need the charts to know that the only chance that my Sherman tank has to kill a King Tiger is to flank it. TotH lets me focus on the fire and maneuver, not on the math and the dice rolling it takes to complete the fire and maneuver that's required in SL.

Cost effectiveness: For the $50.00(add $10.00 if you also want a hard copy) you are effectively getting all of the ASLSK's, Beyond Valor, Yanks, and For King and Country(with the Desert boards added, El Alamein now too!). With a little imagination, the flavor of the other modules can be captured also. A prior poster in this thread made an excellent Pacific scenario, Makin Atoll Raid, simulating Marine raiders by using elite US Army, and using the British for the Japanese.

Thanks for letting me rant. I am in no way dissing ASL, I wouldn't be here if I didn't love ASL. Should some of my previously noted unnecessary features of ASL show up in future TotH updates, will I embrace them? Of course! I am just saying that I don't need a wall or smoke to cover movement, I will find another way. Sometimes you don't have those things when or where you would like them in your game of ASL. I appreciate TotH for what it is, SL on the computer(finally! Thanks Peter!).



< Message edited by genesismwt -- 3/24/2016 3:23:52 AM >


_____________________________

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Post #: 7
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/23/2016 9:07:54 PM   
gregb41352

 

Posts: 198
Joined: 10/5/2013
Status: offline
+1

(in reply to genesismwt)
Post #: 8
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/23/2016 9:40:04 PM   
Sigma8510

 

Posts: 167
Joined: 4/15/2006
Status: offline
+2

(in reply to gregb41352)
Post #: 9
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/23/2016 9:46:33 PM   
waltero


Posts: 202
Joined: 1/24/2008
From: Alaska
Status: offline
Well said.
I think I shall make a purchase...I hope the AI keeps me entertained

I was thinking about it- Hot seat might work out better than ASL...eliminating the Rule book will save a lot of time!

Sorry if It seemed like I was lambasting da game. I was pushing for Multiplayer(that's all)...I will settle for hot seat.
If you are an ASL fan, you should buy this game.

Keep up the good work.


_____________________________

"WELL ~ Mrs. LIncoln,
other than that, How was the play?

(in reply to gregb41352)
Post #: 10
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/23/2016 10:32:52 PM   
baloo7777


Posts: 1190
Joined: 5/18/2009
From: eastern CT
Status: offline
+1

_____________________________

JRR

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Post #: 11
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/23/2016 10:44:37 PM   
Peter Fisla


Posts: 2503
Joined: 10/5/2001
From: Canada
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: genesismwt

To what everyone above has said, AMEN!

I have played Squad Leader(SL) since 1978. My only regret is that I don't have a Purple box SL(original print run).

This has 85-90% of ASL. But, it contains the parts that matter. TotH lets you play Squad Leader(SL) at any time of your choosing.

Here goes my rant: I am finding that I am in idjester's camp in that what has been left out is mostly unnecessary complexity. SL and ASLSK play fine without snipers. Walls, hedges, gullies, smoke, bypass movement, fire lanes, heroes, manhandling, overruns, infantry overruns,dash, street fighting, cavalry, motorcycles etc. all add flavor, but at a huge cost in complexity. However, the lack of these items in TotH does not prevent one from playing a game of SL. I have yet to play a game of SL that involves climbing. I figure one in three successful foxhole attempts actually provided value. That's something like a ten percent success rate for having dug a foxhole in game. Or, in other words, I could just have just done something else productive.

I would like to point out what TotH has going for it:

Convenience: you can play at any time that you can be at your computer. Set up is done in a handful of minutes, instead of an hour. Heck, once familiar with the editor, you can make a scenario in the time it takes to dig out maps and pieces, and set up. You don't have to bone up on any esoteric rules that are specific to the scenario that you are playing. If its in TotH, the computer pretty much takes care of that for you. If you can't finish in one setting, there's a quick and easy save game feature(as an computer game should have).

Focus: TotH lets you focus on what matters, fire and movement. Rallying and repairs are automatically done by the computer. Attacks and the resulting effects are resolved by the computer. Some complain about the lack of information provided by the game. At first, I lamented that I felt that half of the fun was looking at the charts and fretting over the odds before I throw the dice. In the end though, the odds don't matter when you only have one action available. You do what you have to do, or die trying. I don't need a chart to tell me that running in the open in front of a heavy machine gun(HMG) that has not yet fired has a low chance of success. It doesn't matter whether the HMG as 6, 7 or 8 FP, you still have a low chance of success running in the open in front of that HMG. If you have to try, you try. I don't need the charts to know that the only chance that my Sherman tank has to kill a King Tiger is to flank it. TotH lets me focus on the fire and maneuver, not on the math and the dice rolling it takes to complete the fire and maneuver that's required in SL.

Cost effectiveness: For the $50.00(add $10.00 if you also want a hard copy) you are effectively getting all of the ASLSK's, Beyond Valor, Yanks, and For King and Country(with the Desert boards added, El Alamein now too!). With a little imagination, the flavor of the other modules can be captured also. A prior poster in this thread made an excellent Pacific scenario, Makin Atoll Raid, simulating Marine raiders by using elite US Army, and using the British for the Japanese.

Thanks for letting me rant. I am in no way dissing ASL, I wouldn't be here if I didn't love ASL. Should some of my previously noted unnecessary features of ASL show up in future TotH updates, will I embrace them? Of course! I am just saying that I don't need a wall or smoke to cover movement, I will find another way. Sometimes you don't have those things when or where you would like them in your game of ASL. I appreciate TotH for what it is, SL on the computer(finally! Thanks Peter!).




Wow, thank you for your support genesismwt! :)

(in reply to genesismwt)
Post #: 12
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/23/2016 11:22:30 PM   
shaddock

 

Posts: 192
Joined: 9/18/2013
Status: offline
One word... CAT!

_____________________________

save the carrots; eat a vegan!

(in reply to Peter Fisla)
Post #: 13
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/24/2016 1:41:59 AM   
kylania

 

Posts: 155
Joined: 1/2/2015
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: shaddock

One word... CAT!


There's no escaping the cat!


(in reply to shaddock)
Post #: 14
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/24/2016 10:17:11 AM   
Paullus

 

Posts: 1058
Joined: 6/9/2015
From: Sweden
Status: offline
FOBA = Feline Off Board Artillery

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For my part, I shall do my duty as a general; I shall see to it that you are given the chance of a successful action. /Lucius Aemilius Paullus

(in reply to kylania)
Post #: 15
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/24/2016 12:22:54 PM   
MrsWargamer


Posts: 1655
Joined: 6/18/2014
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: genesismwt

To what everyone above has said, AMEN!

I have played Squad Leader(SL) since 1978. My only regret is that I don't have a Purple box SL(original print run).

This has 85-90% of ASL. But, it contains the parts that matter. TotH lets you play Squad Leader(SL) at any time of your choosing.

Here goes my rant: I am finding that I am in idjester's camp in that what has been left out is mostly unnecessary complexity. SL and ASLSK play fine without snipers. Walls, hedges, gullies, smoke, bypass movement, fire lanes, heroes, manhandling, overruns, infantry overruns,dash, street fighting, cavalry, motorcycles etc. all add flavor, but at a huge cost in complexity. However, the lack of these items in TotH does not prevent one from playing a game of SL. I have yet to play a game of SL that involves climbing. I figure one in three successful foxhole attempts actually provided value. That's something like a ten percent success rate for having dug a foxhole in game. Or, in other words, I could just have just done something else productive.

I would like to point out what TotH has going for it:

Convenience: you can play at any time that you can be at your computer. Set up is done in a handful of minutes, instead of an hour. Heck, once familiar with the editor, you can make a scenario in the time it takes to dig out maps and pieces, and set up. You don't have to bone up on any esoteric rules that are specific to the scenario that you are playing. If its in TotH, the computer pretty much takes care of that for you. If you can't finish in one setting, there's a quick and easy save game feature(as any computer game should have).

Focus: TotH lets you focus on what matters, fire and movement. Rallying and repairs are automatically done by the computer. Attacks and the resulting effects are resolved by the computer. Some complain about the lack of information provided by the game. At first, I lamented that I felt that half of the fun was looking at the charts and fretting over the odds before I throw the dice. In the end though, the odds don't matter when you only have one action available. You do what you have to do, or die trying. I don't need a chart to tell me that running in the open in front of a heavy machine gun(HMG) that has not yet fired has a low chance of success. It doesn't matter whether the HMG as 6, 7 or 8 FP, you still have a low chance of success running in the open in front of that HMG. If you have to try, you try. I don't need the charts to know that the only chance that my Sherman tank has to kill a King Tiger is to flank it. TotH lets me focus on the fire and maneuver, not on the math and the dice rolling it takes to complete the fire and maneuver that's required in SL.

Cost effectiveness: For the $50.00(add $10.00 if you also want a hard copy) you are effectively getting all of the ASLSK's, Beyond Valor, Yanks, and For King and Country(with the Desert boards added, El Alamein now too!). With a little imagination, the flavor of the other modules can be captured also. A prior poster in this thread made an excellent Pacific scenario, Makin Atoll Raid, simulating Marine raiders by using elite US Army, and using the British for the Japanese.

Thanks for letting me rant. I am in no way dissing ASL, I wouldn't be here if I didn't love ASL. Should some of my previously noted unnecessary features of ASL show up in future TotH updates, will I embrace them? Of course! I am just saying that I don't need a wall or smoke to cover movement, I will find another way. Sometimes you don't have those things when or where you would like them in your game of ASL. I appreciate TotH for what it is, SL on the computer(finally! Thanks Peter!).




Nice post.

_____________________________

Wargame, 05% of the time.
Play with Barbies 05% of the time.
Play with Legos 10% of the time.
Build models 20% of the time
Shopping 60% of the time.
Exlains why I buy em more than I play em.

(in reply to genesismwt)
Post #: 16
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/24/2016 1:19:56 PM   
SteveD64

 

Posts: 570
Joined: 10/26/2006
From: Shaker Hts, Ohio, USA
Status: offline
quote:

There's no escaping the cat!


How did you get your game board to go full screen?

(in reply to MrsWargamer)
Post #: 17
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/24/2016 1:50:52 PM   
kylania

 

Posts: 155
Joined: 1/2/2015
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: CLEVELAND

How did you get your game board to go full screen?


Oh I didn't, that's just poor photoshopping. :)

(in reply to SteveD64)
Post #: 18
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/24/2016 9:10:18 PM   
shaddock

 

Posts: 192
Joined: 9/18/2013
Status: offline
My wife (whom knows nothing about war games) loved the pic

_____________________________

save the carrots; eat a vegan!

(in reply to kylania)
Post #: 19
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/28/2016 11:24:37 PM   
Wolfe1759


Posts: 798
Joined: 1/20/2008
From: Shropshire, UK
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: genesismwt

To what everyone above has said, AMEN!

I have played Squad Leader(SL) since 1978. My only regret is that I don't have a Purple box SL(original print run).

This has 85-90% of ASL. But, it contains the parts that matter. TotH lets you play Squad Leader(SL) at any time of your choosing.

Here goes my rant: I am finding that I am in idjester's camp in that what has been left out is mostly unnecessary complexity. SL and ASLSK play fine without snipers. Walls, hedges, gullies, smoke, bypass movement, fire lanes, heroes, manhandling, overruns, infantry overruns,dash, street fighting, cavalry, motorcycles etc. all add flavor, but at a huge cost in complexity. However, the lack of these items in TotH does not prevent one from playing a game of SL. I have yet to play a game of SL that involves climbing. I figure one in three successful foxhole attempts actually provided value. That's something like a ten percent success rate for having dug a foxhole in game. Or, in other words, I could just have just done something else productive.

I would like to point out what TotH has going for it:

Convenience: you can play at any time that you can be at your computer. Set up is done in a handful of minutes, instead of an hour. Heck, once familiar with the editor, you can make a scenario in the time it takes to dig out maps and pieces, and set up. You don't have to bone up on any esoteric rules that are specific to the scenario that you are playing. If its in TotH, the computer pretty much takes care of that for you. If you can't finish in one setting, there's a quick and easy save game feature(as any computer game should have).

Focus: TotH lets you focus on what matters, fire and movement. Rallying and repairs are automatically done by the computer. Attacks and the resulting effects are resolved by the computer. Some complain about the lack of information provided by the game. At first, I lamented that I felt that half of the fun was looking at the charts and fretting over the odds before I throw the dice. In the end though, the odds don't matter when you only have one action available. You do what you have to do, or die trying. I don't need a chart to tell me that running in the open in front of a heavy machine gun(HMG) that has not yet fired has a low chance of success. It doesn't matter whether the HMG as 6, 7 or 8 FP, you still have a low chance of success running in the open in front of that HMG. If you have to try, you try. I don't need the charts to know that the only chance that my Sherman tank has to kill a King Tiger is to flank it. TotH lets me focus on the fire and maneuver, not on the math and the dice rolling it takes to complete the fire and maneuver that's required in SL.

Cost effectiveness: For the $50.00(add $10.00 if you also want a hard copy) you are effectively getting all of the ASLSK's, Beyond Valor, Yanks, and For King and Country(with the Desert boards added, El Alamein now too!). With a little imagination, the flavor of the other modules can be captured also. A prior poster in this thread made an excellent Pacific scenario, Makin Atoll Raid, simulating Marine raiders by using elite US Army, and using the British for the Japanese.

Thanks for letting me rant. I am in no way dissing ASL, I wouldn't be here if I didn't love ASL. Should some of my previously noted unnecessary features of ASL show up in future TotH updates, will I embrace them? Of course! I am just saying that I don't need a wall or smoke to cover movement, I will find another way. Sometimes you don't have those things when or where you would like them in your game of ASL. I appreciate TotH for what it is, SL on the computer(finally! Thanks Peter!).




Another +1

TotH feels (particularly with the graphics mods) like a cleaned up SL (with the good bits of CoI and CoD and GI), yes there are some details that have been left out but I don't really feel that they are missing.

_____________________________

"In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Goodwill." - Winston Churchill

(in reply to genesismwt)
Post #: 20
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/29/2016 1:59:46 AM   
Alejo1968


Posts: 101
Joined: 10/22/2006
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: waltero





Waltero... You have stolen my avatar!! I knew it would happen one day.

Back to post, +1 to all answers.



(in reply to waltero)
Post #: 21
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/29/2016 2:54:40 AM   
waltero


Posts: 202
Joined: 1/24/2008
From: Alaska
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Abbeville_01


quote:

ORIGINAL: waltero





Waltero... You have stolen my avatar!! I knew it would happen one day.

Back to post, +1 to all answers.





Doh! Not exactly the same (mine is better). I don't remember seeing you until about a week ago, I think you copy meee
How come Yor profile shows your most recent post- 2014?

< Message edited by waltero -- 3/29/2016 2:55:55 AM >


_____________________________

"WELL ~ Mrs. LIncoln,
other than that, How was the play?

(in reply to Alejo1968)
Post #: 22
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/29/2016 3:07:48 AM   
Alejo1968


Posts: 101
Joined: 10/22/2006
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: waltero

quote:

ORIGINAL: Abbeville_01


quote:

ORIGINAL: waltero





Waltero... You have stolen my avatar!! I knew it would happen one day.

Back to post, +1 to all answers.





Doh! Not exactly the same (mine is better). I don't remember seeing you until about a week ago, I think you copy meee
How come Yor profile shows your most recent post- 2014?


Nah, can`t be possible.

(in reply to waltero)
Post #: 23
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/29/2016 8:01:31 AM   
waltero


Posts: 202
Joined: 1/24/2008
From: Alaska
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Abbeville_01


quote:

ORIGINAL: waltero

quote:

ORIGINAL: Abbeville_01


quote:

ORIGINAL: waltero





Waltero... You have stolen my avatar!! I knew it would happen one day.

Back to post, +1 to all answers.





Doh! Not exactly the same (mine is better). I don't remember seeing you until about a week ago, I think you copy meee
How come Yor profile shows your most recent post- 2014?


Nah, can`t be possible.



No really. I go to your Profile page and For some reason do not see any of your recent posts?

Last Post 10/23/2014 4:36:40 PM
Last Login 3/29/2016 3:07:52 AM

You are an anomaly. You don't exist


_____________________________

"WELL ~ Mrs. LIncoln,
other than that, How was the play?

(in reply to Alejo1968)
Post #: 24
RE: Why this vs. ASL - 3/29/2016 8:34:16 AM   
DoubleDeuce


Posts: 1247
Joined: 6/23/2000
From: Crossville, TN
Status: offline
It's like that on a lot of user accounts. Mines here shows the last post as being back sometime last year. On the Wargamer site (linked to the same login here) my account says 1969).

_____________________________


(in reply to waltero)
Post #: 25
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