Publisher/Date:
Avalon Hill (1992)
Product Type:
Periodical
Country of Origin:
U.S.A.
Contents:
80-page magazine, with 15 scenarios included as pages of the magazine
ASL Annual ’92, the fourth in Avalon Hill’s series of yearly magazines devoted to ASL, is also the second-longest of the magazine’s nine issues.
Despite its length, the article content is not very good, with much of it devoted to “historical” material rather than to gameplay material. Worth mentioning, though, is a Series Replay of A41 (OP Hill), a scenario that itself appears in this issue. Unfortunately, a great deal of space is taken up by a “commando campaign game” for the long-since-obsolete Squad Leader.
The 15 scenarios include another Red Barricades scenario, HASL A2 (The Commissar’s House), as well as 2 DASL scenarios: DASL A9 (Royal Marines) and DASL A10 (The Tiger of Toungoo). A39 (Showdown at Tug Argan Pass) is a desert scenario, as is A50 (…And Here We Damned Well Stay).
The mix of actions represented include Soviet Union 1941 (Soviets vs. Germans), 1942 (Soviets vs. Germans), 1944 (Soviets vs. Germans); Somaliland 1940 (Indians vs. Italians); France 1940 (British vs. Germans); Burma 1942 (Chinese vs. Japanese), 1944 (British/West Africans vs. Japanese); Dutch East Indies 1942 (Australians vs. Japanese); Crete 1941 (British/Australians vs. Germans); New Guinea 1944 (Americans vs. Japanese); Poland 1939 (Poles vs. Germans); India 1944 (Gurkhas vs. Japanese); Albania 1943 (Greek Partisans vs. Germans); France 1944 (British vs. Germans); and Egypt 1942 (British vs. Germans). The five scenarios involving the Japanese show that scenario designers had had some time to digest the new Code of Bushido.
None of the scenarios in Annual ’92 are classics; indeed, the majority of scenarios in the magazine are unfortunately unbalanced. However, DASL A9 (Royal Marines) and A39 (Showdown at Tug Argan Pass) are worth trying.
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