Advanced Squad
Leader Rulebook
The Advanced
Squad Leader Rulebook
was published by The
Avalon Hill Game Company in 1985 as a further development of the
Squad Leader
game system, though in actual fact,
ASL replaced the earlier game
system in its entirety.
Like ... Stoker's Renfield begging for spiders, the squad leaders were kept
in agony of anticipation awaiting the publication of Advanced
Squad Leader. Originally announced as a mere compilation of all
the still valid rules that had come before, (Avalon Hill) coyly
made it known that this would (instead) be a complete remake. This
may have caused a few more defections, but to men who had
physically worn out their Squad Leader games anyway, such
titillation was transporting. It transported them to the Avalon
Hill booth at every Origins, where they would be disappointed to
learn the Second Coming tarried another year.1
A description of the
rulebook was provided in Volume 21, No. 3 of
The General
:
Physically, this
product will be second to none. The rulebook will be lavishly
illustrated (with) full color diagrams and charts and be fully
indexed. Each chapter will be color-coded and separated from the
others by a two-ply, fold-out fiberboard divider containing both a
chapter table of contents and duplicates of all charts contained
therein. The inevitable errata and a listing of questions/answers
will be furnished free of charge in the form of replacement pages
to be inserted into the binder and sent out yearly to those buyers
requesting same with the coupon provided in each set. It is by far
the most ambitious project The Avalon Hill Game Company has ever
undertaken and we hope it will set the standard by which all
future work of this type is measured.
The rulebook was
reviewed in Issue 34 of
The
Grenadier:
Overall, the
book has an impressive and attractive appearance. It has no peers
among board game rules manuals and can only be rivaled by some
Dungeons and Dragons manuals and some miniatures works. But its
intent is to be functional and effective. It is quite successful
at this. The loose-leaf format serves two purposes. First,
additional chapters are provided in some of the successive
modules...These are simply inserted into the binder. Second, in an
effort to suppress the chaos wrought by past evolutionary and
corrective changes, pages which become substantially changed in
the future can be replaced by new pages, preserving the textual
flow of the material. A coupon is provided to remit for the first
errata package when it is published.
The chapter
organization brings the long awaited and desperately needed
organization to the rules. For example, the pertinent material on
tank crews is in the inherent crew section of the vehicle chapter.
The organization of the rules is logical, functional, and
comprehensive. Unfortunately, it is at a price. The SL gamettes
all presented their rules in a Programmed Instruction format. A
section of rules was presented and then play of a specific
scenario using those rules was recommended. A player thus learned
the rules in a step-by-step, play-as-you-go fashion. while the PI
format certainly made learning the rules easier, it also kept the
rules in a patchwork with some vehicle crew rules in one section,
some in another, and successive rules modifying some, but not all,
of the preceding rules.2
Original Edition Rulebook
Chapters |
Chapter |
Contents |
Sold as part of: |
Chapter A |
Infantry
and Basic Game Rules |
ASL
Rulebook |
Chapter B |
Terrain
Rules |
ASL
Rulebook |
Chapter C |
Ordnance
and Offboard Artillery |
ASL
Rulebook |
Chapter D |
Vehicles |
ASL
Rulebook |
Chapter E |
Miscellaneous |
Yanks! |
Chapter F |
North
Africa |
West of
Alamein |
Chapter G |
Pacific Theatre |
Code of
Bushido (pp.1-18) |
Gung Ho!
(pp.18-42) |
Chapter H |
Design Your Own |
ASL
Rulebook (pp.1-30) |
Yanks!
(pp31-48) |
West of
Alamein (pp.49-76) |
Hollow
Legions (pp.77-88) |
Code of
Bushido (pp.89-100) |
Gung Ho!
(pp.101-112) |
Croix de
Guerre (pp.113-130) |
Doomed
Battalions (pp.131-142) |
Chapter I |
Campaign |
Never released |
Chapter J |
Deluxe ASL |
ASL
Rulebook |
Chapter K |
Squad Leader Training Manual |
Paratrooper
(pp.1-24) |
Pegasus
Bridge (pp.25-32) |
ASL Journal
(pp.33- ) |
Chapter L |
Postal ASL |
Never released |
Chapter M |
ASL
Analysis |
Never released |
Chapter N |
ASL Armory |
ASL
Rulebook (pp.1-6) |
Yanks!
(pp.7-10) |
West of
Alamein (pp.11-14) |
Hollow
Legions (pp.15-16) |
Code of
Bushido (pp.17-18) |
Gung Ho!
(pp.19-20) |
Croix de
Guerre (pp.21-22) |
Chapter O |
Red
Barricades HASL |
Red
Barricades |
Chapter P |
Kampfgruppe Peiper HASL |
KGP I |
KGP II
(updates to KGP I) |
Chapter Q |
Pegasus
Bridge HASL |
Pegasus
Bridge |
Chapter R |
A Bridge
Too Far HASL |
A Bridge
Too Far |
Chapter S |
Solitaire
ASL |
Solitaire
ASL |
Chapter T |
Blood Reef:
Tarawa HASL |
Blood Reef:
Tarawa |
The flow of errata pages were not able to keep
up with the demand; the need to amend sizable tracts of the
rulebook became acute, according to one reviewer.
The 1st edition rulebook of a true ASL
grognard could be identified by an accompanying bundle of
printouts of errata and Q&A that was nearly half as thick as the
rules. The bocage rules were still dreadful despite an extensive
attempted rewrite and some of the errata pages were only
available in modules that not every beginner would have access
to. Nationalities added late to the system had guns in their OB
that did not have an entry on the C7 TK# tables and some parts
of the book were just too awkward to use in the heat of play.
All in all, a bit of a mess. So, MMP took the bold decision to
delay re-publishing the RB until they had given the basic rule
system a much overdue overhaul, re-write and modernisation. I
say bold, but in reality it must have seemed to be the only
rational way to proceed.3
2nd Edition Rulebook
Chapters |
Chapter |
Contents |
Sold as part of: |
Chapter A |
Infantry
and Basic Game Rules |
ASL
Rulebook 2nd Edition |
Chapter B |
Terrain
Rules |
ASL
Rulebook 2nd Edition |
Chapter C |
Ordnance
and Offboard Artillery |
ASL
Rulebook 2nd Edition |
Chapter D |
Vehicles |
ASL
Rulebook 2nd Edition |
Chapter E |
Miscellaneous |
ASL
Rulebook 2nd Edition |
Chapter H |
Design Your Own |
ASL
Rulebook 2nd Edition (pp.1-30)* |
Armies of
Oblivion (pp.143-172) |
Chapter I |
Campaign |
Not yet released |
Chapter J |
Deluxe ASL |
ASL
Rulebook 2nd Edition |
Chapter K |
Squad
Leader Training Manual |
ASL
Rulebook 2nd Edition |
Chapter L |
Postal ASL |
Not
yet released |
Chapter M |
ASL
Analysis |
Not
yet released |
Chapter O |
Red
Barricades HASL |
Red
Barricades 2nd Edition |
Chapter S |
Solitaire
ASL |
Solitaire
ASL 2nd Edition |
Chapter V |
Valor of the Guards HASL |
Valor of the Guards (pp.V1-V32)
Red Barricades (O1-O6)** |
Chapter Z |
Miscellaneous |
Kakazu Ridge SSR (ASL Journal
2 pp.1-2)
Edson's Ridge CG (Operation Watchtower pp.3-20)
Riley's Road CG (Operation Veritable pp.21-38)
Primosole Bridge CG (ASL Journal 6 pp.39-58)
Singling CG (Operations Special Issue #1 (pp.59-62) |
*Includes additional pages H28A through
H28J
**Reprint of Red Barricades rules
included in VotG
Notes
-
O'Toole, John T. "Back to
Basics: A dissenter's thoughts on Advanced Squad Leader"
The
Grenadier (Issue 35)
-
Collier, James M. "Advanced
Squad Leader: The Phenomenon"
The
Grenadier (Issue 34)
-
Edwards, Trev. "The 2nd
Edition ASL Rulebook" View From The Trenches Issue 36
(Mar-Apr 2001)
|
Advanced Squad Leader Rulebook |
Developer: |
Don
Greenwood, Bob McNamara |
Publisher: |
Avalon Hill |
Date
of Release: |
1985 |
Scale: |
Squad level |
Players: |
2 |
Components: |
► 2" 3
ring binder
► cardboard sleeve
► double sided, full colour rules chapters A, B,
C, D, H, J, and N.
► full colour, fold-out card-stock dividers
► two fold-out Quick Reference Data Charts |
Predecessors: |
►
Squad Leader |
Advanced Squad Leader Rulebook 2nd Edition |
Publisher: |
Multi-Man Publishing |
Date
of Release: |
2000 |
Scale: |
Squad level |
Players: |
2 |
Components: |
► 2-1/2" 3
ring binder
► double sided, full colour rules chapters A, B,
C, D, E, H, J, and K.
► full colour, fold-out card-stock dividers
► two fold-out Quick Reference Data Charts |
Predecessors: |
►
Squad Leader |
The ASLRB 2nd Edition binder was redesigned in 2007. |