ASL Scenarios converted over to Battlegroup (Edited/Updated)

[Elbows]

As a kid I was give the old ASL binder by my father - and while it was far too "deep" for my high school self...I remember fondly the scenario cards.  So, as a current Battlegroup player I took it upon myself to make some rough-and-ready conversions of ASL scenarios for use with the game.

I've included a link to a PDF that includes a dozen or more Soviet vs. German scenarios (because those are the forces I currently own/play with).  I may do more in the future.  To convert these I simply broke down the ASL cards, found the ASL maps online to get an idea of the setting and whipped up some victory conditions.

Notes:
1) ASL is more realistic in scale, so the map boards will be too big for the Battlegroup games - the boards are provided solely to show you the type of terrain you should recreate, be it rural, city, farmland, etc.  As with all Battlegroup games the size of your table is entirely up to you - but 6'x4' is probably the minimum.

2) ASL is also more realistic in scale, so the ASL scenarios feature 15-20-40 squads...which have been pared back to 2-3 platoons in most cases, in order to make a Battlegroup game feasible.  Artillery and vehicles are generally one-to-one facsimiles. It is interesting that the forces generally match up pretty close with regard to points/battle rating.  In some instances where huge discrepancies existed I added some additional rules or benefits to put a little balance in.

3) Victory conditions and some special rules are simply derived from the instructions and special rules of the ASL cards.

4) I have not play-tested these myself, so by all means feel free to adjust/change things as needed.  When playing these scenarios, simply consult the closest book for available air support, etc.  So, 1945 should be from Fall of the Reich, 43-44 from Kursk or Beyond the Beaches, etc. It is player discretion.

5) The scenarios range from 1941-1945 and scale from 150 points per side to around 1,000 points per side.

UPDATE: May 2
Revised these scenarios and bunched them into sets of 8, each set addressing a certain combination of forces.  Added historical background/aftermath sections from the ASL scenario cards.

Set 1: Germans vs. Soviets
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5u4kcfkaq1t80n2/ASL%20Scenario%20Conversions%20Set%201.pdf?dl=0

Set 2: Germans vs. Soviets
https://www.dropbox.com/s/i16aictx5ovou85/ASL%20Scenario%20Conversions%20Set%202.pdf?dl=0

Set 3: Germans vs. Americans
https://www.dropbox.com/s/t7l93gyq6u7d6le/ASL%20Scenario%20Conversions%20Set%203.pdf?dl=0

Set 4: Germans vs. Americans
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6e1suqlycvdr4wj/ASL%20Scenario%20Conversions%20Set%204.pdf?dl=0

Set 5: Kursk Trilogy by Pete Shelling (Germans vs. Soviets)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/eczikca20kgv1pu/ASL%20Scenario%20Conversion%20Kursk%20Trlogy.pdf?dl=0

[Ragnar]

This is great work.  I had often thought that SL scenarios would be convertible to BG but of course, never got around to doing it.

[Elbows]

Thanks.  I'm looking forward to trying them out.  There are some cool, crazy, and desperate scenarios on there.

[meyer]

That's great!

[robh]

Thanks for doing this, very useful, some tough scenarios among them.

[Hincmar]

Thanks from me too for this.   I have used various converted SL and ASL scenarios over the years for Battlegroup (and previously, Rapid Fire) games.   They are an excellent resource.  As you say, the biggest issue is the size / scale of the map boards, but this can be overcome with some judicious tweaking and simplification.  For instance, smaller and/or more linear patches of woods I tend to convert to hedges or areas of rough ground / bush, and clusters of buildings can be whittled down by, say, a 1-2 or 1-3 ratio.   Will read with interest!

[steders]

Excellent, Thanks for that, I've downloaded them. I used ASL scenarios years ago for rapid fire. (and the panzer leader/Panzer blitz ones)

[Elbows]

Thanks from me too for this.   I have used various converted SL and ASL scenarios over the years for Battlegroup (and previously, Rapid Fire) games.   They are an excellent resource.  As you say, the biggest issue is the size / scale of the map boards, but this can be overcome with some judicious tweaking and simplification.  For instance, smaller and/or more linear patches of woods I tend to convert to hedges or areas of rough ground / bush, and clusters of buildings can be whittled down by, say, a 1-2 or 1-3 ratio.   Will read with interest!

Yeah, there is a lot of end user work required on these to make them fit peoples tables, and Battlegroup in general.  I've just found a mother lode of additional ones and will be working on a lot more.  I expect people will be tweaking a lot of them.

[Elbows]

Updated - been revising and adding more scenarios.  Many more to come.  See original post for new links.

[Elbows]

Updated with another seven scenarios in Set 4.

[Elbows]

Been doing a few more of these conversions.  Added a Kursk trilogy from Pete Shelling.  These are meant to be played in order, but have no impact on subsequent games.  They feature the final push at Prokhorovka.

[BillK]

Really appreciate your efforts.
Nice to see someone just steppng-up and contributing to the hobby.

[fred]

Thanks for taking the time to convert these and share them

We’ve not played Battlegroup for a while, but will try to remember these the next time we do!

O Group is our current flavour of WWII rules - and while these don’t port directly across force ratios might work quite well

[TacticalPainter]

I don’t want to take anything away from all the work that has been put into this, but having played ASL for many years and designed a number of scenarios I would approach these with a degree of caution. Here’s why:

ASL uses no historical organisation at all. No military structure above a squad exists, as a result there is no requirement to replicate those in any form whatsoever for a scenario. The orders of battle don’t reflect anything other than the designer’s desire to find a suitable force in ASL terms.

This is significant because nothing matters more in the world of ASL than scenario balance, which means during playtesting the designer will freely tweak the orders of battle to suit the scenario (not the history). ASL is always ‘game first, history second’.

I know from personal experience and discussion with other designers the usual premise is to start with a good concept for a scenario, design it and then find a historical situation to shoe horn it into.

Are the scenarios balanced? On the whole the answer is yes (the ASL community maintains an online record where players upload results so that players can see how ‘balanced’ scenarios are. They are obsessive about it).

So if you don’t mind an order of battle made from ASL pizza (‘let’s add a little bit of this and a little bit of that’) and a scenario design that puts balance before all else then there is a rich vein to be tapped for scenario ideas.

[Elbows]

Sure, but I could say the same about...well, almost any historical game I've played (Battlegroup included).  I mean, I have my limits, so you wouldn't catch me playing something like Flames of War, etc.

While I tend to enjoy assymetrical scenarios myself...I don't find those particularly useful for mass consumption, as the general feeling is that people want a balanced game.

Now, conveniently, a lot of these ASL scenarios - when transferred end up around the same point values and battle ratings (again, a fictitious and arbitrary way to go about playing a wargame, but...that's what we do), so in theory most of these scenarios could be plopped down on the table with little to no information and should provide at least a modicum of decent combat for the players.

If anything, the somewhat bizarre orders of battle for ASL games are something of a refreshing break from the two things I encounter most in Battlegroup: the dreadfully boring, and the dreadfully powerful.  I generally find myself playing against a German platoon with a platoon of Pz IVs or StuGs (yawn)...or find myself playing against a few too many Tigers and Panthers (with a shocking number of 'Aces' driving them).

These scenarios give me dozens and dozens of weird match ups to enjoy, without having to list build before a game.