01.1989 Hollow Legions

Alternative Titles/Edition History:
1st Edition (Avalon Hill), 1989; 2nd Edition (MMP), 2000; 3rd Edition (MMP), 2021.

Publisher/Date:
Avalon Hill (1st Edition, 1989); Multi-Man Publishing (2nd Edition, 2000; 3rd Edition, 2021))

Product Type:
Core Module

Country of Origin:
U.S.A.

Contents:
1st and 2nd Editions:  2 8" x 22" mounted geoboards (30-31); three countersheets; 8 scenarios; Chapter H rules (Italian).

3rd Edition:  8 8" x 22" unmounted geoboards (25, 25e, 26-31), chapter divider, 5 sheets of die-cut counters (3 x 1/2" countersheets with 840 counters and 2 x 5/8" countersheets with 352 counters, for a total of 1,192 counters), 3 sheets of overlays, 53 scenarios on cardstock, 44 pages rules (Chapter A pages: A55-A62, Chapter F pages F1-F20, Chapter H pages H77-H88D).

Commentary:

Hollow Legions brings the Italians to the world of ASL, including a wide mix of squad types and AFVs.  The boards included with the module expand the range of desert terrain, but the scenarios include a variety of actions with Italians on a number of different fronts.  Overall, Italians are represented well in ASL, with the exception of their elite troops, who are probably under-rated (the Italian Alpini units were pretty elite).

The 2nd Edition, published by MMP, is essentially the same as the first, except that the text font in the Chapter H pages is slightly larger than in the original version.

3rd Edition (2021) Notes:  It’s a little embarrassing to note that Desperation Morale spent only a single paragraph describing the Italian core module Hollow Legions, compared to rivers of ink this website has spilled on other ASL products, but in defense, it must be noted that the original version of the World of ASL compendium had to complete hundreds of descriptions in a short period of time and it was highly likely that most ASLers at that time already owned Hollow Legions.  However, in 2021 Hollow Legions came back, in a way that was anything but hollow, so it is worth spending some time examining and reflecting on this new edition.  In contrast to the 1st and 2nd editions of Hollow Legions, which came in a thin bookcase-style box and contained modest contents, the 3rd edition of the module is massive, expanded in every conceivable way, deserving of its much thicker box.  ASLers will pay for that expansion, though. As of this writing (in 2024), Hollow Legions costs a remarkable $172 when purchased direct from MMP. Though, as will be seen, the play value is definitely there, that’s still a big expense, and some players will probably put purchasing this core module more towards the bottom of their core module “to buy” lists.  It’s worth pointing out, however, that it took more than 20 years from the module’s 2nd edition and this 3rd edition, so if you don’t purchase it when you can, it might be a lot pricier later, when it goes out of print.

The first question to ask is why is the new Hollow Legions so massive?  One of the main reasons is that the latest edition is a bit of a hybrid product.  The original Hollow Legions, published in 1989, was essentially a follow-on product to 1988’s West of Alamein, a large module that introduced both the British/Commonwealth forces and the desert rules to ASL. Hollow Legions simply added the Italians and a couple of additional boards.  Fast forward to the next century, when the new producers of ASL, MMP, decided to revamp the core module line to consist of fewer (but bigger) modules.  As part of this re-imagining, the British and the desert rules were separated.  The British appeared in the new module For King and Country, first released in 2003, while the desert rules were slated to appear in a new Hollow legions that would also feature the Italians.  Obviously, though, this was not MMP’s highest priority, as Hollow Legions would not appear for almost two more decades.  As intended, the new edition contains the Italian OOB as before, but also contains all of the DTO rules, overlays, and geoboards that originally appeared in both West of Alamein and 1st Edition Hollow Legions.

The new Hollow Legions has been made larger still by the inclusion of a number of out-of-print ASL scenarios featuring the Italians that were originally published in publications such as The General, the ASL Annual, and the ASL Journal, adding a lot more play opportunities to the product (nor were these actions limited to the desert).  MMP also added all 12 scenarios from 2007’s Action Pack #3: Few Returned, which featured Italian forces on the East Front in 1942-43 and in Rome 1943, including classics such as Village of the Damned and Agony at Arnautovo (full disclosure: all of the Few Returned scenarios were designed by Your Humble Author).  Note that MMP marketing copy incorrectly states that 8 scenarios from Few Returned appear in Hollow Legions; actually, all 12 do.  All of these reprinted scenarios were updated as needed to incorporate any rules errata or balance errata (i.e., changes to the scenario to improve the play balance from the original printed version).

Finally, MMP also incorporated into Hollow Legions an entire third-party product, the first time MMP has ever made a third-party product part of a core ASL module (although Action Pack #15: Swedish Volunteers did incorporate a third-party product as a “Chapter Z” supplement).  What product received this unusual blessing?  One of the very first third-party products ever published, the 1994 Soldiers of the Negus, a scenario pack that provided rules, counters, and 8 scenarios depicting Ethiopian forces and the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935-36. Though crudely made (the counters were not die-cut, for example, but printed on paper), the pioneering nature of this product made it well-regarded at the time. Two years later, a Critical Hit reprint of the pack became one of the earliest third-party products to include actual die-cut counters, and this version was popular as well.  The creators of SotN did not sell the rights to Critical Hit, though, so that company was unable to reprint it (although 20 years later it released what was essentially an unauthorized reprint).  That left open an opportunity for MMP to acquire the intellectual property, which it did, announcing as early as 2011 that it would be including the pack’s contents in the next edition of Hollow Legions.  Few ASLers expected then that it might be a full decade before they would actually see it.

The SotN contents appear as Chapter A nationality rules additions to the Italians (for their Eritrean allies) and the Allied Minors (for the Ethiopians), including the tank-tipping rule from the original pack, as well as a Chapter F alternate terrain rules addition for candelabra trees.  A new countersheet depicts the Ethiopians and their four squad types, represented in Allied Minor green, while the Eritrean troops–represented in Italian colors–are stuck in among the Italians. The eight scenarios of SotN appear in Hollow Legions seemingly virtually unchanged (except to update the SSRs to conform to MMP SSR language and style conventions).  While ASLers love to get more stuff, including more counters, it’s probably not too likely these scenarios will be played all that much (the original scenarios, in their various versions, were not played very much, for several reasons).  One also has to wonder if the research that went into the 1994 product is up to the research standards MMP typically requires for its own core and historical modules.  MMP essentially accepted on faith that this was the best way to represent the Italo-Ethiopian War in ASL.  In any case, it’s a done deal.

All together, all of these periodical, Few Returned, and Soldiers of the Negus scenarios, added to the original Hollow Legions actions, comprise a mammoth 53-scenario collection. Just viewing the combined thickness of all these scenarios stacked together is very impressive.  They represent a tremendous amount of play value.

As mentioned, Hollow Legions also comes with 8 8″ x 22″ unmounted geoboards, which include the 7 geoboards from West of Alamein and the original Hollow Legions, as well as a new board, 25e, which simply incorporates the old “escarpment” overlay, which was designed to fit on board 25, into a new board–a smart decision, as the escarpment was practically as big as an entire geoboard anyway.  The artwork for all the boards is the usual MMP high quality, including subtly textured hexes for the basic desert open ground.  The five countersheets included the updated and larger artwork used with modern MMP products and, importantly, do not have the irritating side-nibs of the original Hollow Legions (and other ASL products of that era).  The die-cutting is rather deep, so players should be careful not to unintentionally detach any counters prematurely.

Other than the addition of the Eritrean troops, there are no changes in this edition of Hollow Legions in how the Italians are portrayed.  Their standard squad-type is still a 3-4-6, while their elite squads are 4-4-7s. The 3-4-6 squads are reasonably accurate in portraying the masses of poorly-motivated Italian troops sent to fight meaningless wars of conquest in Africa, the Balkans, France, and the Soviet Union, but Italy also had some troops (including special forces) that were legitimately elite and are not very well-represented by mere 4-4-7 squads. However, it is clear there was no interest on the part of MMP in revisiting the Italians in World War II the way they did the Finnish forces.  One might have thought that MMP would have at least added Italian “assault engineer” counters, as they have for so many other forces in products published in recent years, but this was not done.

It should be noted that the DTO rules have also not undergone any re-imagining, but are essentially the same rules that appeared in 1989. This is not a criticism, just an observation.

Third Edition Hollow Legions is certainly a must-buy for new ASLers, though it is not necessarily the highest-priority purchase out there. For long-time ASLers who have the 1st or 2nd editions of Hollow Legions, and have purchased other ASL products (Annuals, Journals, etc.) as they have come out, there is probably no great need to get this product, unless they never purchased the ASL Map Bundle (which included the unmounted desert boards) and would like the unmounted geoboards with their new art.  However, those who do make the purchase are likely to be pleased with what they get.

 

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