Alternative Titles/Edition History:
Orig. designed as part of Operation Watchtower (2001), but not included with that product. Released in 2010 as part of Operations Special Issue #3. Re-released, with larger map, in 2021 as part of the "second edition" of Rising Sun, and also offered for sale as a standalone product (this entry).
Publisher/Date:
Multi-Man Publishing (2021)
Product Type:
HASL/Historical Module
Country of Origin:
United States
Contents:
38" x 25" historical map on semi-gloss paper, 5 scenarios on cardstock, 1 page rules.
Hell’s Corner is a small historical module (one map, five scenarios, no campaign game) depicting actions on Guadalcanal along the Matinikau River in the second half of 1942. The product has a long history, starting as material designed for, but left out of, 2001’s Operation Watchtower. Years later, Desperation Morale highlighted this “lost” material, creating a stir and interest within the ASL community that moved MMP to release the Hell’s Corner materials as part of Operations Special Issue #3 in 2010. Fast forward a decade, and Hell’s Corner appeared again–this time included with the 2021 “second edition” of MMP’s PTO core module, Rising Sun. This inclusion appears to have been part of a strategy on the part of MMP in the 2020s to include “extra” materials in their core module re-releases (the 2020 Croix de Guerre re-release, for example, included the Dinant HASL, while the 2021 re-release of Hollow Legions included a re-print of the 1994 third party scenario pack Soldiers of the Negus). The reasoning behind this strategy is presumably both to put added value into the products and make re-purchasing them more attractive to owners of older editions. However, in contrast to the Dinant or Negus materials, which were only available through purchasing their core modules, the Hell’s Corner materials were also made available by MMP for purchase as a separate product–thus the creation of this entry.
The “pre-history” of Hell’s Corner is discussed in more detail in the Desperation Morale write-up for Operations Special Issue #3. In that write-up, the newly-released Hell’s Corner materials were described thusly:
The Hell’s Corner map is a very attractive and nicely done map (by Charlie Kibler), better looking than the map that appeared in Operation Watchtower. It has one drawback and one potential drawback, though. The drawback is that it is printed on glossy paper (though at least the paper seems somewhat sturdy), which is disliked by many ASLers both for glare and durability reasons.
The potential drawback is that the Hell’s Corner map has unusually small hex sizes, slightly smaller than hexes on geomorphic maps (10 geomorphic map hexes are about 11 Hell’s Corner map hexes). In general, this is not likely to be a true problem in practice, because only one of the Hell’s Corner scenarios has any guns or vehicles (which, as 5/8″ counters, take up more space). Thus for four of the scenarios it is not likely to have much of an impact at all. The fifth scenario, though, HC5 (The Sand Spit), features 10 vehicles and 2 guns (in addition to 6 fortification/entrenchment counters), and it is possible that in this scenario players might feel a bit squeezed for space.
The 5 scenarios are a mix of small, medium and large scenarios. Three of them take place, more or less, in the same area (the mouth of the Matanikau River), while the other two take place further out (leaving a good chunk of the map still unused). Two scenarios use Night rules; one of these also has OBA.
As mentioned, three of the scenarios previously appeared as geoboard scenarios in Operation Watchtower. HC1 (First Matanikau) has essentially the same SSR (taking into account the map differences). The VC are very slightly changed, and the OBs of both sides are changed (the Japanese get two extra squads, an extra LMG, and two additional concealment counters; the USMC get two extra squads, a leader demotion, and have some MMG undismantled).
HC2 (Bailey’s Demise) has slightly changed VC and the OBs of both sides are changed (the Japanese have two squads promoted to elite, get their SAN raised from 3 to 4, and get some foxholes; the USMC get an extra 8-0 leader). In addition, there are some noteworthy SSR changes. In the new version, only American leaders are Stealthy (as opposed to all Americans), Kindling is allowed, Boresighting is allowed, and the Japanese may use the bridge on Turn 1.
HC5 (The Sand Spit) essentially keeps its predecessor’s VC, and also maintains the earlier Japanese OB. However, the USMC OB is reduced by a half squad, by a halving of its minefield factors, and by a reduction of Wire counters from 5 to 3. An SSR change, though, bumps the Marines’ Majority Squad Type from Normal to Stealthy.
The map of the 2021 version of Hell’s Corner is different from the 2010 version in that it is enlarged and printed on semi-gloss paper. The 2010 map had dimensions of 21.5″ x 32.5″, with unusually small hexes. The map in this version, however, is considerably larger–at 38″ x 25″–and the hex size is more what ASLers would expect in an HASL. The map is printed on semi-gloss paper, which reduces the glare inherent in the 2010 map, but the paper stock of the 2021 version seems to be thin, making map seem rather fragile, especially given the map’s large size.
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