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Squad Leader
Squad Leader
was published by The
Avalon Hill Game Company in 1977, and was instrumental in
introducing unique concepts into squad-based tactical games.
Considered one of the most complex wargames of its time, Squad
Leader was the natural extension of the trend towards greater
realism (and hence complexity) initiated by several earlier games,
including Avalon Hill's own PanzerBlitz and Panzer Leader.
Those two earlier games were larger in scope, with pieces
representing platoons and map hexes measuring 125 metres across,
compared to Squad Leader's 40 metre hexes and squad sized
units.
The original Squad
Leader was produced in time to debut at ORIGINS '77. The
original print run of 2500 copies had purple boxes which have become
in and of themselves a prized collector's item.
Pieces in Squad
Leader represent squads, weapon and vehicle crews, individual
leaders, support weapons, and vehicles. The original game contained
counters representing the German, Soviet and American armies. In actual fact, the
name of the game is a misnomer in the military sense, as in some ways the player assumes
the role of a company commander (i.e. he gives orders to platoons and
squads). The squad leaders in Squad Leader are actually
"factored in" to the squad counters, and only exceptional leaders
are portrayed separately, by their own counter. Most scenarios give
each player, generally speaking, enough simulated men to make up a
company, though order of battle is not precise and most scenarios
only give a flavour of what the real life battles were like rather
than a direct simulation.
The mapboards were
divided into hexagonal grids with each hex representing 40 metres of
terrain. Time was said to be two minutes per turn, though the
developer, John Hill, admits that this is "fudged" and that each
game turn should be considered a "module of time, such that the
(game's) events can occur and interact with one another."1
The Semi-Simultaneous
system of play developed in the mid-1970s can be seen in Squad
Leader's sequence of play. Each turn consists of two player
turns, each of which is broken into 8 "phases"
-
Rally Phase in which
"broken" units attempt to rally and malfunctioning weapons are
repaired,
-
Prep Fire Phase in which the player whose turn it is
may fire on enemy units; any units that Prep Fire cannot move or
fire again for the rest of the player turn,
-
Movement Phase in
which the player may move his units on the board,
-
Defensive
Fire Phase in which the other player may fire on units that just
moved,
-
Advancing Fire Phase in which any units that did not
fire in the Prep Fire Phase may fire,
-
Rout Phase in which any
"broken" units must flee for cover,
-
Advance Phase in which the
player whose turn it is may move every unit one hex,
-
Close
Combat Phase in which opposing units ending the
turn in the same hex engage in close combat.
One aspect of the game that added greatly to its popularity
were the
generic isomorphic mapboards, each of which could be aligned to any
edge of the same length to any other mapboard. This allowed for an
almost unlimited number of combinations to create any terrain
situation, including player designed scenarios. The original game
contained mapboards mounted on heavy durable cardboard, which was
expensive but a design feature long associated with Avalon Hill
games. Each mapboard measured 10 columns of hexes high by 32 hexes
wide, numbered from hex A1 in the top left corner to hex GG10 in the
lower right.
The design philosophy
that John Hill brought to Squad Leader was "design for
effect." He rightly hypothesized that no matter what kind of fire
you might bring on a squad of infantry, be it a flame weapon, a
grenade, a machine gun, or an artillery shell, there could only be
three outcomes; the squad would be eliminated by killing/wounding
the men in it; the squad would be "discomfited" to some degree; or
there would be no effect. Using this principle, he was able to
employ a single table to create combat results of the various
weapons systems used in the game.
Innovative in Squad Leader is the idea
of representing heavy weapons separately from the squads...The use
of separate counters for heavy weapons allows for some interesting
rules. Weapons can be captured and used by the enemy, for example.
Each machinegun counter has a fire-power and penetration factor, and
a range printed on the front. The penetration factor is the number
of additional hexes along a line-of-sight that a machinegun can
project its fire. This nicely simulates the cross fire effect of
machineguns, especially the heavies, and makes a difference in the
tactics of the attacking units. The counters also have a breakdown
number on them...2
Moves printed a
prediction of Squad Leader's success in their December 1977
issue:
Squad Leader (John Hill for Avalon
Hill - no relation). I would like to say more about this at a later
date (my men are still stuck in the Tractor Works' sewer system),
but suffice to say that AH will have a big winner with this. It's a
lot of fun, if rather clumsily written and a bit overwrought in
places. It is also unusual to see squads hit by fire and, as a
result, lose all their money. (The word on the counter should be
"Broken," not "Broke"!) And there is a lot of did rolling, but that
is the nature of tactical games. John always does a good job in
terms of playability and sheer gaming, and AH has backed it with
some of their better graphic work. The only thing the gnaws at the
back of the mind is the question of "realism" (whatever that is).
You could argue forever on that, however.3
Squad Leader
is a game system by design rather than just one game. The game
itself came with 12 different scenarios, each one introducing more
complicated rules in a system called Programmed Instruction. Each
scenario card included historical information, victory conditions
and play balancers for each side. However, Squad Leader also had a
Design Your Own system where forces were selected by drawing playing
cards from a standard 52 card deck and comparing the result to a
table where different forces were described. There was also a point
purchase system for "buying" opposing forces. New scenarios were
published in Avalon Hill's gaming magazine, The General, as well as
additional scenario packs (the Rogue Scenarios, for example, see
below). Third parties also produced scores of SL scenarios.
Strengths
Squad Leader
attempted to simulate many types of battlefield phenomena not
addressed before in a tactical board game, and enjoyed a cosmetic
treatment unmatched then and afterwards. Some of these strengths
include:
-
The effects of
leadership on morale is elegantly handled, with extraordinary
leaders (only) having direct effects on the ability of men to
move, shoot, and resist enemy attack.
-
The rigid turn
sequences of war games up to that point in time was dispensed with
in favour of the unique eight-phase turns described above. Units
could interact with enemy units during the other player's turn.
-
Some weapons could
fire multiple times in a phase, and machineguns had "penetration"
ability which modelled the advantages of automatic weapons.
-
The system was
flexible and open-ended; the geomorphic boards could represent
reasonably well many types of terrain, and the use of "Scenario
Special Rules" expanded these possibilities even further. Victory
conditions were also flexible and imaginative, not being confined
to mere shootouts between opposing forces, scenarios could
simulate all manners of military missions (especially in the
follow-up modules), such as successfully escorting convoys
(Scenario 15), parachute and glider assaults (Scenarios 33 and
46), the deliberate assault on prepared positions (Scenario 9),
the ambush (Scenario 13), the meeting engagement (Scenario 20),
the hasty attack/defence (Scenario 7), the passage of obstacles
(Scenario 27), the withdrawal under fire (Scenario 40), and even
such things as hostage situations (Scenario 26). In other words,
missions that real life company commanders would have trained to
perform.
-
The quality of the
physical components has rarely been equalled by other games;
counters were functional, evocative, well designed (free of
clutter), and attractive. Unique components included the red
"berserk" counters which added much flavour to the game;
Cross
of Iron added striking white-on-black counters to represent
the Waffen SS. The mounted mapboards (both in Squad Leader
and the gamettes) were a hallmark of Avalon Hill and were also
photo-realistic, with an attractive top down view that was also
functional, with line of sight (LOS) drawn from hex centre to hex
centre and blocked only by terrain depictions on the artwork itself, not the entire hex as
in other games.
Weaknesses
Some of the
weaknesses that keep Squad Leader from being a true simulation of
the decisions that a Second World War commander would make are well
known and attempts were made to address them; others were simply
ignored for the sake of "playability". Some of these include the
following:
-
Despite some rules
for "concealment" and "hidden initial placement", most of the game
is played where each player can always see what forces the enemy
has and precisely where they are placed, even if out of LOS of his
own units. There is little "fog of war." Attempts to redress this
- some have suggested using multiple copies of the game and a
third party to act as "umpire" - are cumbersome and in some cases
book-keeping intensive.
-
Play is not
simultaneous but done in predictable turn sequence, one player
getting a turn, and then the other. An attempt to redress this was
the use of "track" counters introduced in the first section of the
rulebook, and the optional rule of "semi-simultaneous movement and
defensive fire" which later became standardized in Advanced Squad
Leader.
-
There are no
partial casualties to either men or vehicles. Squads are
considered to be at full strength until destroyed, and vehicles
suffer no damage aside from weapons malfunctions or
immobilizations; partial penetrations, panicked crews, and other
battlefield phenomena are ignored in Squad Leader. (However, the
concept of the "half squad" was introduced in Crescendo of Doom,
though not as a battlefield result, and further developed with the
introduction of special half squad counters in GI: Anvil of
Victory).
Nick Stasnopolis,
writing in
Fire & Movement (Number 73, May/June 1991) made
the following comparison:
Few tactical
games during this period (mid 1970s) are comparable to Squad
Leader,...which is quite popular and is of a similar scale (to
Search & Destroy (SPI, 1975) and Firefight (SPI,
1976)), but has a needlessly complex combat system, leadership
rules that would be more appropriate for 18th century combat and
ridiculously simplistic casualty rules. It also displays the
typical American fascination with gadgets while ignoring war's
social, political, and logistical aspects. The wargame industry
has basically ignored the more accurate portrayal of company level
combat in (Search & Destroy) for the more glamorous version
portrayed in Squad Leader.
Redmond A. Simonsen
prefaced an analysis of the game sytem in
Moves issue 48
with the following:
Folks that know
better than I have said of Squad Leader: 'It doesn't have
anything to do with the realities of tactical combat, but it's a
hell of a game.' Others have said that it feels so much
like a realistic simulation that it's immaterial that it really
isn't (and doesn't pretend to be). Perhaps it could be said that
Squad Leader benefits from a kind of Kodachrome 'realism'
that doesn't let history stand in the way of having fun and
exciting your imagination.
Expansion
Three expansions
(called gamettes by the publisher) were produced,
Cross of Iron
(COI) in 1979, Crescendo of Doom (COD) in 1980 and G.I.:
Anvil of Victory (GI) in 1983.
Early plans
(evidenced by the advertisement pictured at right, published in the
July-August 1978 issue of Campaign Magazine) called for at least
four gamettes. The first was Cross of Iron, set on the
Eastern Front and with new rules focused on AFV combat. The second
was A Rising Crescendo, set in the early campaigns of the war
(Poland, Norway, France and the Low Countries). Promising that "armor
once again takes a back seat to the infantry" the plan was to
include rules for booby-traps, partisans, scouts, prisoners, and
advanced movement rules (presumably Infantry Bypass). The ad
mentions including Board 6 but not 7. Two additional gamettes
planned at that time (and due to published in 1979...) were
Cassino and Airborne. These were described as "fill(ing)
out the American AFV ranks, introduc(ing) paratroops & gliders, and
present(ing) our most varied terrain boards yet: mountains and
rivers." This may refer to Board 7 in addition to Board 8, the
former of which was actually introduced in the second gamette,
re-titled Crescendo of Doom for release. The mountain board
likely refers to Board 15, eventually issued with what became G.I.:
Anvil of Victory.
Cross of Iron
expanded the German and Russian orders of battle, including also
Axis Minor infantry types. The original handful of vehicle and
ordnance types in Squad Leader were expanded to include just
about every type that saw service on the Eastern Front. Even before
Squad Leader debuted, plans were being made to expand the
initial release; these expansions would be called "gamettes" and
concentrate on particular eras or theatres, all the while developing
the basic game system with additional rules, new weapons types, and
different terrain. Cross of Iron expanded the armor and artillery
systems considerably. The "design for effect" philosophy that had
guided Squad Leader's development gave way in the case of tank
combat to "actual data" taking priority over "effect data." An
initial intention to simply provide a few extras not contained in
Squad Leader, such as SS troops, the Tiger tank, and the
T-34/85, gave way in the face of requests by playtesters to what
amounted to a complete order of battle for both nationalities for
the entire war, including dozens of different models of SdKfz 250
and 251 halftracks and PzKpfw I through VI tanks. John Hill and Don
Greenwood admitted afterwards that the project got away from them,
Hill sensing that he was too easily persuaded by playtesters who
probably had a higher threshold for complexity than average gamers,
and Greenwood saying that had he known from the beginning that the
gamette would end up so large, he would "have broken it into two
expansion kits - it simply is too much for one."4
Series 100 was
released soon after COI's debut, consisting of 10 additional scenarios for
Cross of Iron, direct from Avalon Hill.
Crescendo of
Doom provided blanket coverage to the Western Front of
1939-1941, including French and British infantry, vehicles and
ordnance, as well as infantry for Finland and the "Allied Minors"
including Belgium, Norway, Poland and the Netherlands. Like COI, a
complete order of battle of British and French armor and ordnance
was included, though American built vehicles in British service
were not included (which was consistent with the pre-1942
timeframe of the gamette). Whereas COI had expanded the armor and
artillery rules, COD gave new capabilities (or debilities) to the
infantry, including such things as cowering and pinning, while
introducing Scouts and rules for early war infantry facing off
against tanks (COD felt that these troops should be at a
disadvantage as far as morale went). Additionally, many new
terrain types were introduced on the two new mapboards, including
marsh, river, large bridges, and orchards, as well as no less than
three kinds of boats to cross the river with.
As COD was
finalizing its playtesting, new plans were announced for two further gamettes; the September-October 1979 issue of The General Magazine
announced that G.I.: Anvil of Victory would include both
American and Italian forces, and that a fifth and final gamette
covering the Japanese would be released a year after that.
Lorrin Bird
described the current state of the armor game after COD's release
in an article in
Campaign:
While the
original Squad Leader game was a work of art with regard to its
fine balance of playability and detail...the gamettes are coming
to represent the "masterpieces" of wargamedom due to the
unbelievable trivia that is included. From radioless AFV's to
the benefits/handicaps of having the commander exposed, the
expanding Squad Leader system is investigating and providing
rules for many features of WWII armored combat that were
previously overlooked in other boardgames and even miniature
systems...The end result of the amazing efforts being made to
make the SL system as complete as possible is that one is
presented with tanks which act pretty much like they did in real
life...
GI: Anvil of
Victory provided expanded coverage to American forces, as well
as US-manufactured equipment as used by the British in the last
half of the war, as well as certain British equipment like the
PIAT that was not included in COD. The rulebook for Crescendo of
Doom suggested that this game would not be available before
February 1981; Squad Leader fans still recall that with irony, for
the game wasn't released until 1983. The "gamette" was actually
bigger than Squad Leader, with 856 more counters and one more
mapboard, as well as three more scenarios than the original SL. As
well, two sheets of terrain overlays were included in the box. The
modelling of infantry was again increased in level of detail, with
squads now able to "break to green", or be replaced by lower
quality units when morale checks didn't measure up to their
Experience Level Rating. Many players were upset that the ELR
restrictions were almost always applied to American forces and not
to other nationalities as a rule. (ASL would remedy this by
applying the restriction to all forces of all nationalities).
Point values for US forces were also omitted from the game,
restricting DYO (Design Your Own) scenarios to non-American
forces. Other restrictions on US troops not present in the earlier
SL game also angered some players (the original SL had a rule
whereby American troops were not subject to "Desperation Morale"
penalties, for example, while GI dispensed with this.) And the
Italian forces promised as early as autumn 1979 did not
materialize (indeed, would not, until the Hollow Legions module
for Advanced Squad Leader was released in 1989.)
Nonetheless, the
game system did go forward in many ways; according to James
Collier in his history of Squad Leader printed in Issue 34 of
The
Grenadier:
Like
(Crescendo of Doom) before it, GI brought mostly rules changes,
including some rather drastic revisions of some of the most
fundamental system mechanics. For example, in COD a provision
was made to allow whole squads to be deployed into half-squads,
but without providing special half-squad counters...GI brought a
profusion of half-squad counters and also provided a mechanism
where a squad could take half-squad casualties... Some of these
changes required a reissue of many of the original infantry
counters with new parameters (and a distinctly less dynamic
counter art). Many AFVs had to be retrofitted with new
parameters, but without counters (the player had to remember
which changes applied to which vehicle). Many of the parameters
chosen for US components proved to be controversial. The outcome
was that GI was a very disorganized game, difficult to play
"correctly". Trying to synthesize all the many rules into a
coherent whole was virtually impossible, a fact tacitly conceded
by (Avalon Hill) in that the GI (rulebook) index was not
cumulative and did non cross-reference with the previous rules
manuals.5
The end result was
that German AFV counters did not represent some of the new
changes, such as inferior turret armour, and German squad counters
did not have accurate representations for such things as smoke
making capability or other abilities introduced in GI. As far as
the game system had come, it was clear that much of the foundation
on which it was resting had to be redone and/or reorganized. In
fact, GI: Anvil of Victory had already reached a point where most
of the counters from the original Squad Leader game had been made
obsolete, as German, British, French and American infantry
counters were redone (with controversial "static" artwork
depicting soldiers at rest rather than in action poses) with new
information for smoke-making capability, and special weapons and
morale characteristics (these characteristics carried over to
Advanced Squad Leader.)
Three sets of
"official" scenarios were released by Avalon Hill directly. Series
100 was designed for Cross of Iron and released Series in
1979, consisting of ten new scenarios designed by Courtney Allen
(SL playtester and designer of Storm Over Arnhem). Series
200 (scenarios 201-210) was designed for Crescendo of Doom,
and Series 300 for G.I.: Anvil of Victory (scenarios
301-310).
A rare case of
third party scenarios being done by license as an "official"
product was the scenario pack released by
World Wide Wargames in 1982,
offered by The Wargamer, containing Scenarios 81-90 for
Crescendo of Doom and released in 1982. The artwork was poorly
done on this offering, which was also done on flimsy paper, in
booklet style, rather than the separate card stock scenarios
normally associated with Avalon Hill SL products.
The Rogue Scenarios
were available only by direct mail-order to Avalon Hill, and were
so called because ownership of three non-standard boards (also
available at that time only via mail-order) were used. The artwork
on these boards were of low quality (they were later redone for
ASL products to the high standards previously established), and
the low hill mass on Board 11 in the earlier version was actually
rendered in bright red, indicating it could be simulating either a
Level One height, or possibly some other type of terrain such as
ground level mud, wheatfield, etc.
Rendered Obsolete?
Advanced Squad Leader and VASL
By 1983 and the
release of GI, there were four separate rulebooks with sometimes
contradictory or poorly integrated rules. For one example, US
forces with lower morale were penalized by the fact that morale
ratings were used to determine at random the ability to push
ordnance through snow or mud. Logically, morale should not have an
effect on such an attempt.
James Collier, in a
piece entitled "Glass Anvil: A Dissenting View of GI: Anvil of
Victory", presented in Volume 20, Number 1 of The General
Magazine, described the situation:
By now it
should be recognized that the Squad Leader series is virtually
unique among WWII board games by being a game in evolution. The
succeeding gamettes have not been mere additions to the
original, but instead have introduced substantial revisions to
the original parameters. This is even more true with GI where
the bulk of both components and rules represent revisions rather
than new material. There are, for example, only 300 more
counters than provided with CRESCENDO OF DOOM, and well over
half the GI counters represent replacements for counters
previously introduced (only a handful of the original SL
counters are still usuable (sic) in their printed form)...
Though one must pay the price of forfeiting obsolete materials
above and beyond the purchase price, the loss can be accepted as
the cost of progress. There are few who would quibble with the
appropriateness of the added dimensions of the revised vehicle
and ordnance counters presented in CROSS OF IRON. That process
is, of course, carried forward in COD and GI to include the
relevant nationalities. Now GI introduces a similar order of
revision for the infantry counters in addition to a number of
new maneuvers and capabilities. As this evolution continues, one
is eventually compelled to ask where it is going and why?
It was clear that
the system had grown in ways never dreamed of in 1977; large
amounts of "nutmail" arriving at Avalon Hill convinced the
developers of the need to streamline the rules. Originally this
was anticipated as being a simple compilation of the rules in
existence, possibly redoing the "To Hit/To Kill" system used to
simulate armour protection and penetration in tank combat. In the
March-April 1983 issue of Fire and Movement, developer Don
Greenwood stated that he saw the next project as being a hardcover
or loose-leaf version of the rules, with the "entire game system
... rewritten and revised where necessary" to make one combined
"advanced" version. Greenwood also, in one of the replies to
Collier in the Volume 20, Number 1 issue of The General, described
this project as "...a rewritten, succinct and complete compilation
of the entire game system in one rulebook."
Greenwood
envisioned the new rulebook as not being available before 1985,
and thought it would be followed by a gamette featuring the
fighting in North Africa (and allowing a redo of the German armour
counters while also introducing the Italians), followed by a
Russian Front gamette redoing the Russians, and a final gamette
featuring the Far East, with Chinese and Japanese troops. After
that, it was expected to release historical offerings with maps
modelled after actual locations. In Volume 20, Number 1 of The
General, he also anticipated "the Advanced SQUAD LEADER Rulebook
will be a major publishing event greater than any of the previous
gamette releases."
Greenwood's
prediction was correct as far as time frame; in 1985 the Advanced
Squad Leader system debuted. Greenwood had stated the following in
the Introduction to the GI: Anvil of Victory rulebook:
During the
past two years in which G.I. has been under design, I have been
simultaneously making copious notes for the project which must
ultimately follow it: THE ADVANCED SQUAD LEADER RULEBOOK. Don't
let the title fool you. It will not be an even more complex
version of what you already have, bound together between two
covers. Rather it will improve the final game system by
simplifying, cutting, and rewriting. The end result will be both
a more comprehensive and a much shorter set of rules.
However, the
Advanced Squad Leader Rulebook became much more than just a
simple rewrite of the rules, it in fact became a complete
replacement of the games of the original SL series. Even during
playtest, it wasn't clear just how the system would eventually
look in completed form. Volume 21, Number 3 of
The General
described it as "the most ambitious project The Avalon
Hill Game Company has ever undertaken" but suggested that in
addition to the four basic chapters on Infantry, Terrain, Ordnance
and Armor, two other sections on Airpower and Miscellaneous would
round out the basic rulebook, with "many auxiliary chapters to
augment this enormous system" and plans at that time (1984) called
for chapters on "A Basic Squad Leader Training Manual", complete
TO&E listings (what later became Chapter H), tactics and strategy
analysis (which never came to pass), "Design Your Own" procedures
(also combined into Chapter H), campaign games (which also did not
come to pass to date in the form discussed, though a different
form did appear with the historical modules), a "Desert War"
chapter (which was released as Chapter F), a chapter on Deluxe ASL
and at "some point in the future, an additional chapter will be
added for the Japanese." This latter was actually released in two
parts and covered the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO), with
rules for terrain, Chinese, Japanese and USMC and early-war
American/Filipino troops.
The initial reaction to ASL by our
playtesters range from surprise to muffled groans over the
extensive nature of the changes to the game system. However, those
reservations have given way to rising excitement as virtually all
have embraced the new system with enthusiastic praise for the
improvements. We think your reaction will be similar. Nobody wants
more rules, but ASL is not more rules - it is a better system with
a sounder formation, finely organized with far less verbiage than
the four gamettes which preceded it. The new counters will allow
us to improve the game system with a free hand and insure that
everyone will finally have matching colored counters designed and
printed at the same point in the evolution of the game system.
The actual rulebook
appeared in 1985, and like the playtesters, some fans were
much taken aback by the wholesale changes, certainly the financial the need to replace the four modules they had
spent so much money on. Only the mapboards of the earlier series
would be compatible (indeed, necessary) to play the new games.
Squad Leader alone had 520 1/2-inch counters and 192 5/8-inch
counters rendered obsolete by the new system (in fact, many had
already been made obsolete by the time GI was introduced. GI:
Anvil of Victory had 1568 counters all of which were rendered
useless by anyone wishing to continue on with the Advanced
version. Greenwood's earlier predictions on future gamettes were also
inaccurate given the need to redo every counter in the system from
scratch; twelve "core" modules would be needed to introduce the
wide range of nationalities in ASL. The historical gamettes (called
"modules" now) did evolve as predicted.
The new game was
also a minimum purchase of two components, the Advanced Squad
Leader Rulebook, and an initial module, either Beyond Valor,
which contained a brand new counter mix for the German, Russian
and Finnish armies, as well as all necessary system counters, or
else Paratrooper, which contained a limited counter mix for system
markers, US paratrooper units and their German opponents in
Normandy. Either initial module also required ownership of boards
from SL in order to play the included scenarios. Future modules
also made use of mapboards previously released only with SL.
The new game did
not feature Programmed Instruction, requiring a thorough reading
of at least four chapters of the ASL Rulebook in order to play a
game with ordnance and/or vehicles in it. Even the most basic ASL
components were no longer introductory in nature, though
Paratrooper masqueraded as such. (This would be redressed in 2005
by the introduction of the ASL Starter Kits).
Status
Squad Leader
remained in print after ASL was published, presumably as a
learning vehicle for the new game system; it was also a necessary
prerequisite in order to obtain four of the mapboards necessary
for Beyond Valor, starting a complex system of
inter-dependencies that would continue during the life of the
system. The ASL Annual also continued with support to the
original game by publishing six scenarios in the first two issues
specifically for original Squad Leader, as well as a
campaign game variant. When Hasbro purchased Avalon Hill, and
Multi-Man Publishing acquired the rights to ASL, Squad Leader
was printed no more. Paratrooper had already been released
as an "introductory" module for ASL in the interim.
Nonetheless, many
aficionados continued to prefer the simplicity of the earlier
design to its more complicated offspring. Projects similar to Virtual Advanced Squad Leader (VASL) for the
original game system allow for live online play of Squad
Leader in a virtual environment. At least one programmer is
working on an
Artificial Intelligence (or AI) for the virtual
version of SL. As home publishing software and hardware gets more
sophisticated, it is possible to produce high quality "unofficial"
game components ranging from scenario cards to custom mapboards to
personalized leader counters, and a small but dedicated band of
third party enthusiasts still exist for the original game. The
Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kits have removed any hope that
the original Squad Leader might one day see print in its
original form. There are enthusiasts working in an unofficial
capacity, via online means such as at least one
yahoo group, to synthesize the
four rulebooks into their own simplified Squad Leader
rulebook.
Articles
|
The
General |
|
Vol.14 No. 5 |
Jan-Feb 1978 |
►"Squad Leader Historical
Commentary: 'The Evolution of Small Unit Tactics'" by John
Hill (Analysis)
►"Squad Leader First Impressions" by Bob Medrow
(Analysis)
►"Game Design: Art or Science" by Don Greenwood, John
Hill, and Hal Hock (Analysis/Comparison) |
|
Vol.15 No. 1 |
May-Jun 1978 |
►"Squad Leader Replay"
(Strategy) - replay of SL Scenario 1. |
|
Vol.15 No. 3 |
Sep-Oct 1978 |
►"Squad Leader Simultaneous
Movement" by Mike Chiappinelli (Variant) |
|
Vol.15 No. 4 |
Nov-Dec 1978 |
►"Squad Leader Play by Mail"
by Bill Farone (Variant) |
|
Vol.15 No. 5 |
Jan-Feb 1979 |
►"True Line of Sight" by
Robert Corbett (Variant) |
|
Vol.17 No. 5 |
Nov-Dec 1980 |
►"An Alternate Movement
System: Semi-Simulaneous Movement in Squad Leader" by Courtney
Allen (Variant) |
|
Vol.17 No. 6 |
Jan-Feb 1981 |
►"Getting the Lead Out" by
Steve Powlesland (Humour) |
|
Vol.18 No. 5 |
Nov-Dec 1981 |
►"Squad Leader Survey: How the
Public Perceives the Scenarios" by Joe and Mike Suchar
(Analysis) |
|
Vol.18 No. 5 |
Jan-Feb 1982 |
►"Basic Arms and the Man:
Squad Leader Theory as it Applies to the Man on the Street" by
Mark S. Swanson (Analysis) |
|
Vol.19 No. 2 |
Jul-Aug 1982 |
►"Blind Squad Leader: An
Extremely Realistic Blind System for SL" by Ed Rains and David
Pope(Variant) |
|
Vol. 22 No. 6 |
1986 |
►"Holding the Ridge: An
Analysis of Scenario 5" by Martin Shaw (Analysis) |
|
Vol.24 No. 6 |
1988 |
►"Holding Hitdorf: Another
Way to Rally" by David A. Schaffer (Humour) - sometimes listed
as a variant article, the piece is more of an illustration by
fictional prose of the importance of medics on the
battlefield, but no rules are presented. |
|
Campaign |
|
No. 85 |
|
►"On the Path of the
Rational Tactical Wargame" by Lorrin Bird (Analysis) |
|
No. 87 |
Sep-Oct 1978 |
►"The Weapons and Tactics of
Squad Leader" by Lorrin Bird (Analysis) |
|
Special Issue #2 |
1981 |
Reprints of various articles from
earlier magazines, including:
►"On the Path of the Rational Tactical Wargame" by
Lorrin Bird (Analysis)
►"The Weapons and Tactics of Squad Leader" by Lorrin
Bird (Analysis) |
|
Moves |
|
Nr. 48 |
Dec-Jan 79/80 |
►"The Chrome-Plated Machine
Pistol: A Look at the Squad Leader System, Part I" by Jeff
Geisler (Analysis) |
|
|
|
►"The Chrome-Plated Machine
Pistol: A Look at the Squad Leader System, Part II" by Jeff
Geisler (Analysis) |
|
The Dragon (TSR) |
|
Vol.IV, No.10 |
Iss.36 - Apr 1980 |
►"Squad Leader #1: Fighting
in the Streets" by Bryan Bullinger (Analysis, scenario) |
|
Vol.IV, No.11 |
Iss.37 - May 1980 |
►"Squad Leader #2:
Large-scale Streetfighting" by Bryan Bullinger (Analysis,
Scenario) |
|
Vol.V, No.2 |
Iss.40 - Aug 1980 |
►"Squad Leader #3 and 4: The
Battles for Warsaw" by Bryan Beecher (Scenario) |
|
Vol.V, No.5 |
Iss.43 - Nov 1980 |
►"Squad Leader #5: The Fall
of Sevastopol" by Bryan Beecher (Scenario) |
|
Vol.V, No.7 |
Iss.45 - Jan 1981 |
►"Squad Leader #6: Skirmish
in Austria" by Bryan Beecher (Scenario) |
|
Vol.V, No.9 |
Iss.47 - Mar 1981 |
►"April 1945: The Russians
reach Berlin" by Bryan Beecher (Scenario) |
|
Vol.V, No.11 |
Iss.49 - May 1981 |
►"January 1945: Will the
German garrison leave?" by Bryan Beecher (Scenario) |
|
Fire &
Movement |
|
No. 9 |
Nov-Dec 1977 |
►"Close-up: Avalon Hill's Squad
Leader" by Raymond Lowe (Analysis)
►"After Action Report: Hedghog of Piepsk, Russia '41"
(Review/Replay)
►"Designer's Notes" by John Hill (Analysis) |
|
The
Wargamer |
|
No. 30 |
Mar 1984 |
►"Blood and Sand" by Bill Wilder
(Variant)
►Scenarios P4, P6, P9 |
|
ASL Annual |
|
ASL Annual '89 |
►"The Evolution of Small Unit
Tactics: A Historical Commentary on Squad Leader" by John Hill
(Analysis)
►"Comprehensive Index: Squad Leader Through G.I." by Jon
Mishcon (Play Aid)
►Scenarios A1, A2, A3 |
|
ASL Annual '90 |
►"Giving it Your Best Shot: A
Checklist for Direct Fire in SL" by Ron Shirtz (Analysis)
►Scenarios A4, A5, A6 |
|
ASL Annual '92 |
►"The Commando Campaign Game: A
New Challenge for SL" by Rex A. Martin (Variant/Scenarios) |
Additional Articles
Notes
-
Squad Leader
Rulebook, Designer's Notes (p. 32 in the Fourth Edition
rules).
-
Geisler, Jeff "The Chrome
Plated Machine Pistol: A Look at the Squad Leader System, Part
I" (Moves
Nr. 48)
-
Editorial,
Moves Nr. 36.
The truncated use of "Broken" on the counters was noted again in
Moves Nr. 48 when Jeff Geisler wrote about the use of
"the irritating pidgin "Broke" (for "Broken')..."
-
"Designer's
Notes" by John Hill,
Fire and
Movement #16, quoted in MacGowan, Ibid.
-
"Advanced Squad
Leader: The Phenomenon", by James M. Collier,
The
Grenadier, Issue 34 (J. Tibbetts & Son, 1988). Collier's
pique at the US representation in GI was voiced in a scathing
critique of the GI: Anvil of Victory gamette published in The
General Magazine, which is also quoted on this page. Collier had
been one of the playtesters of that game and was unhappy with
many of the eventual design decisions taken. Avalon Hill
published several lengthy rebuttals in that issue (Vol. 20 No.
1) attempting to address Collier's concerns.
|
|
Squad Leader |
|
Developer: |
John Hill |
|
Publisher: |
Avalon Hill |
| Date
of Release: |
1977 |
|
Scale: |
Squad level |
|
Players: |
2 |
|
Campaign Type: |
Personal Campaign Game |
|
Components: |
► 4 isomorphic
mounted 22" x 8" maps
► 36 page rules book
► two 6-sided dice
► 6 cardstock scenario cards
► 2 cardstock reference cards
► 520 1/2" counters
► 192 5/8" counters |
|
Sequels: |
► Cross
of Iron
► Crescendo of Doom
► G.I.: Anvil of Victory
► Advanced Squad Leader |
|
Early print ad.
Sequel "gamettes"
Listing of Official
Scenarios
(including re-releases for Advanced Squad Leader)
|
No. |
Name |
ASL No. |
Location |
|
1 |
The Guards Counterattack |
A |
Gen 22:6* |
|
2 |
The Tractor Works |
B |
Gen 22:6* |
|
3 |
The Streets of Stalingrad |
C |
Gen 22:6* |
|
4 |
The Hedgehog of Piepsk |
D |
Gen 23:2* |
|
5 |
Hill 621 |
E |
Gen 23:2* |
|
6 |
Escape From Velikiye Luki |
H |
Gen 24:1* |
|
7 |
Buchholz Station |
I |
Gen 24:4* |
|
8 |
The Bitche Salient |
J |
Gen 24:4* |
|
9 |
The Cannes Strongpoint |
K |
Gen 25:2 |
|
10 |
Hitdorf on the Rhine |
L |
Gen 25:2 |
|
11 |
The St. Goar Assault |
O |
Gen 26:1 |
|
12 |
The Road to Wiltz |
P |
Gen 26:1 |
*Also included in "ASL
Classic" scenario release
Squad
Leader Clinic
In addition to the
articles in The General listed at the end of this article, there
was a regular feature entitled "Squad Leader Clinic" devoted to
analysis of how to play the game. The articles dealing with the
original system included:
|
Vol.17 No. 6 |
"The Advance Phase" by Bruce Degi |
|
Vol.18 No. 1 |
"Discussion Panel" by Bill
Nightingale |
|
Vol.18 No. 2 |
"Bunkers" by Jon Mishcon |
|
Vol.18 No. 3 |
"Minefields and Booby Traps" by
Jon Mishscon |
|
Vol.18 No. 4 |
"Wire" by Jon Mishcon |
|
Vol.18 No. 5 |
"Entrenchments" by Jon Mishcon |
|
Vol.19 No. 3 |
"Quiz on Basic Infantry Tactics"
by Bill Nightingale |
|
Vol.19 No. 4 |
Quiz on Basic Infantry Tactics
(cont.)" by Bill Nightingale |
|
Vol.19 No. 5 |
"Origins COD Scenarios" by Jon
Mishcon |
|
Vol.19 No. 6 |
"Rubble and Roadblocks" by Jon
Mishcon |
|
Vol.20 No. 4 |
"Concentration of Force" by Jon
Mishcon |
|
Vol.20 No. 5 |
"Have Your Own Scenario Published"
by Jon Mishcon |
|
Vol.21 No. 2 |
"Smoke" by Jon Mishcon |
|
Vol.21 No. 3 |
"Gambit" by Jon Mishcon |
At left: original squad artwork (an SS
squad from COI).
At right: 'passive' squad artwork, showing the additional features
that necessitated them (a smoke exponent and an individual ID
letter). |
