Alternative Titles/Edition History:
aka "Sand & Snow"
Publisher/Date:
Le Franc Tireur (2021)
Product Type:
HASL/Historical Module
Country of Origin:
France
Contents:
1 33" x 23.5" historical map, 20 pages rules, 8 scenarios on glossy color cardstock
Look, it’s not easy maintaining an ASL website. Buying tons of products, cataloguing them, chasing down publication dates or scenario records, fighting off hordes of adoring fangirls–it’s not just glamour, it’s real work. Which is why Desperation Morale officially deplores when ASL publishers make uncategorizable products. You invented an edible ASL scenario? GTFOH.
Which brings us to From the Cellar Pack 10. Le Franc Tireur’s “From the Cellar” is a line of scenario packs, typically featuring actions from across the width and breadth of the Second World War, or even beyond. That’s, like, an established fact. Which is why it was such a surprise to open From the Cellar Pack 10 and discover that it is not a scenario pack at all. It is actually a small historical module–something not even mentioned on the front or back of the product. Well, it’s not even really just a historical module, but some sort of bizarre chimera, like when you decide “I like rye bread and I like peanut butter, so I am going to make a peanut butter on rye bread sandwich.” When you open the product, you discover that the real but secret name of this product is “Sand & Snow” and that it is not a scenario pack–DESPITE HAVING “PACK” IN THE DAMN TITLE, GO AND LOOK FOR YOURSELF–but rather a small Korean War historical module somehow fused together with four scenarios for an entirely different historical module in a different war and published by a different company. How does one even categorize this? Two Desperation Morale interns have already committed suicide rather than having to face pondering this situation.
Ahem. Okay. Let’s just, well, let’s just call it a small historical module and let it go at that. From the Cellar Pack 10 is…a historical module. Yeah, that’s it.
So the “Snow” in “Sand & Snow” is the historical module part of this product, aka “Fox Company at Toktong Pass: A Perimeter of Necessity,” which is certainly a mouthful, so I can see why they went with “Snow.” It depicts fighting around Fox Hill at the Toktong Pass during the U.S. retreat from the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea in November/December 1950. Critical Hit actually released a historical module on the same topic some years ago, long before the publication of the “official” Korean War module, Forgotten War, by Multi-Man Publishing. The designers of this product, Andrew Hershey and Keith Spurlock, are rather snarky about the accuracy of the Critical Hit map, claiming that its alleged shortcomings were one of the reasons for their attempting the “Snow” project. Desperation Morale is agnostic on that debate, as the maps of most ASL historical modules have to be taken with a grain of salt when it comes to accuracy.
The LFT “Snow” Toktong map is large, at 33″ x 23.5″ (though it has generous top and bottom borders), depicting the terrain in “winterized” fashion with hues of gray (the later versions of the Critical Hit module also took the “winterized” approach). The map is printed on a thick matte stock, which is sturdy but produces a dimmer look than the glossy paper used in the Critical Hit version. The graphics are not that great. Much of the map is covered with brush, which is portrayed with artwork that looks like golden palm trees, while some of the details and lettering on the map don’t show up well–something not helped by the relative lack of color in the map.
“Snow” comes with no counters but rather uses counters from Forgotten War and other official products. It has a 20-page rulebook, but don’t worry: only 4 of those pages are actual rules. There is no campaign game; just the included four scenarios. None use the entire map, but three of the four scenarios use most of it.
The scenarios include:
FT300 (Fox in the Cold). Uses most of the map. Night scenario. Chinese attack with 42 mixed squads against approximately 12 USMC squads in four different positions. The Chinese have to control two of the American positions, and not go over a CVP cap.
FT301 (Chinese Machinations). Uses most of the map. Night scenario. Chinese attack with 41 mixed squads in five different forces against approximately 11 USMC squads in four different positions (plus OBA). Chinese win by inflicting casualties on the Americans.
FT302 (“We Will Hold”). Uses most of the map. Night scenario. Chinese attack with 32 mixed squads, plus a 4-squad “Feint Force;” defending USMC have 8 squads in four different positions. The Chinese win by clearing Americans from two positions (and not going over a CVP cap).
FT303 (Ridgeline Rendez-vous). Uses 30% or so of the map. NOT a night scenario. USMC attack with about 13 squads (plus air support) against 11 Chinese squads. The Americans must get units near a specific position, while also achieving one or more of two other goals (basically, getting CVP or getting near a second position).
Given that the scenarios are Korean War actions and most are Night, these may not get a ton of play, although they may be a draw for USMC fans. However, as of 2024, ROAR has recorded very few playings of these scenarios (the secret or hidden nature of the historical module probably doesn’t help). Some of the scenarios, though, portray pretty interesting situations.
The other four scenarios of From the Cellar Pack 10 have nothing to do with Toktong, or the Korean War, although they do involve Marines. They are for scenarios designed for use with one of MMP’s very first products, Blood Reef: Tarawa. BRT is not one of the more popular ASL historical modules, but it does have a sort of cult following. Those Blood Reefers are likely to appreciate these added materials for that module.
One scenario is set in the northwest corner of Betio, while two others are set in the central portion. The fourth scenario actually uses the “Eastern Extension Map” created years ago by Italian ASLers Marco Oresto and Mario Lombardi, which features the long thin tail of Betio that was left off of the original Blood Reef: Tarawa map. It was originally hosted by Openground.it, but is no longer there. However, Desperation Morale has hosted a backup copy of the extension map as a jpg file here, while Le Franc Tireur has also made it available as a pdf file here. [see also these associated rules]
This product may well fall under the radar screens of a lot of ASLers, with neither Korean War, USMC, or Tarawa fans realizing that these resources exist. That would be a shame.
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