Posted by Curt Shilling on the ASL Mailing List.
 

I think I have offered it before, but there seems to be alot of newer players dropping in and I hate to not give them this little caveat given to me by Russ Bunten along time ago (Not that long actually but just prior to my crushing of his Chinese forces in Jungle Citadel).
 
ALWAYS REMEMBER..NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE IN THE RULEBOOK, NO MATTER WHAT RULE YOU ARE TRYING TO LEARN....REMEMBER THIS!
 
The ASL Rulebook is made up of about 20 pages of rules on how you actually PLAY the game. How to move, how to shoot. The other 1.8 million pages are filled with the 'what ifs'.

Moving? EASY! An MMC has 4 MF, 6 if you want to run. An SMC has 6 MF, 8 if you want to run. A board consisting of open ground hexes is easiest to work it out on. Your MMC can move 4 hexes, exhausting itself it can move 6. SMC gets 6 and 8 respectively. NOW, combine the two and move them together and you begin to get intagibles, more pages more rules. The foundation of the rules for move and shoot are very very simple. Now put terrain into the mix, more pages. Now put Smoke, more pages. Now a wounded SMC, more pages. The rules beyond simple movement either add another dimension to the basic movement capabilty (i.e., smoke adding MF) or take away (wounded SMC gets 3MF no matter what). You want that MMC to 'exhaust' itself? Cool you get 2 more movement factors, but there are reprecussions on your next move as well as penalties if that MMC wants to shoot after 'running', more pages.

This is how I learned ordnance and armor. Had a hexgrid over an open ground board, two tanks, with normal guns at 6 hexes. Fire them at each other CE. Fire them at each other BU. Now to 7 hexes, same variables added. Got comfortable quick. Now move them back to 6 hexes and place a 1 hex grain or orchard overlay between them, now begin working and understanding hinderance/LOS at various ranges. Now move them back t0 6 hexes and put smoke in the target hex. Then start at 6 hexes with smoke in the firers hex, quickly I understood the effects of smoke to both, in both hexes. Variables you can add throughout, * Gun, LL Gun, Stun, ROF, ACQ, etc. Then read about point blank, which affects point blank status? Target or Firer?

How many times you look at what appears to be a point blank shot and stupidly realize in your fire phase that it really is not point blank? Simple rule but misunderstood by beginning players 'cause of the variables. You're point blank begining at 2 hexes right? Sure you are! Chart says so. Rule should be a half a line right? Yep, but add movement by either and things begin to change, rules added, pages added.
Now you can work out MP mechanics by taking one of each type of vehicle (Wheeled/Halftrack/Fully Tracked) and moving them in the open ground and understand MP expenditure of different types. Add a road, move them on the road. Add a hill (available overlays in AP#2:) and move them up the hill, one at a time understanding how MP expenditures change according to the type of vehicle moving. You can actually (in a real short time) do manhandling and hooking/unhooking this way. I did this to iron out the Nimbus rules to myself.

It's a very elementary process, probably too simple for most of you, but it's how I teach new players and how I taught myself. You can spice it up, but the bottom line is when it's laid out this way it's pretty easy for the newbie to replicate alone and easily remembered.

Curt