Grumble Jones May Scenario

 

I'm always surprised at how fast the months go by. Sometimes, I'm ahead on my scenario designs and then suddenly discover...dang...I don't have one ready for the next month. Generally, I like to have 2 or 3 already in the can. This scenario was done a few weeks ago and reviewed by my buddy Dan, before going to PDF version. Next month's scenario has already been reviewed by Dan and I'm editing it based on some of his recommendations. Next month's scenario will take Grumble Jones into new territory. World War I is on deck for next month. Set in East Africa, it will be a straightforward fight that will remind you of some of the Ethiopian scenarios in the new Hollow Legions. This particular scenario has been in work since last year. I started it twice and was nearly done at one point and just didn't like the available maps. So, I shelved it and thought it wouldn't see the light of blog. But then LFT's new pack came out with a great selection of desert themed boards. And oh yeah...I had my boards for the scenario. But I digress.

Now before we move on to the May scenario, I have to acknowledge an issue that came up on Game Squad regarding GJ098 Narrow Streets. It appears that Alan Hume and another gentleman were setting up to play the scenario and noticed that the American Setup referenced an SSR and this would be an SSR which didn't exist. So, yeah not great.

Yep, the verbiage from a previous scenario had remained in the set up instructions. I reuse my templates and 

I also had three working versions of the scenario and uploaded the one that was incomplete. 

I am pretty much a single man outfit and errors will occur. I work hard to eliminate them, but over the years, I have definitely seen one or two creep up on me. 

The other bad part was that I didn't even see the post on Game Squad for over a week. In fact, I would not have seen at all if Dan hadn't let me know about it on Saturday. It was an easily fixed problem and I certainly hope not to duplicate that kinds of gaff in the future. The corrected version of the scenario is available on The ASL Scenario Archive.

As you no doubt guessed, this month's scenario was born from an Osprey Publication. Turning their color plates into scenarios has been so much fun over the years. 

This particular book came out in March and I have to say is one of the best books they have put out. It's full of relevant photographs and provides detail about the Italian campaign that is not always well documented.

I did not rely solely on this particular book though. And I'm glad that I didn't. The Osprey book details the action as depicted on the front cover, but another good source gave a little bit more detail and stated that the Germans did in fact have a pair of self-propelled guns.

The biggest challenge in putting this scenario together was finding the right maps to adequately capture the unique situation that the Americans would find themselves faced with.

The other source material was found in Michael Dorosh's Indescribable Ordeal about the German 65th Infantry Division. 

I had recently posted about this book on Facebook ASL page. But...unfortunately, another member of our community decided to use my post as a means of communicating negatively about the author and by extension the book itself. I promptly deleted the post as I will not tolerate that kind of stuff. 

Our community is aging and some of the angry rhetoric we aim at other members of this very special community shames us and diminishes our greatness. Other creators have also been criticized on my posts and deletion of those comments quickly followed. 

We are all human...we all make mistakes...we all fail to be the best we can be both within and without the ASL Community. That said, we can control the rhetoric and come together just a little bit more to keep our community one that is envied by every other gaming community. 

On the American side of this month's scenario are the men of the 91st Infantry Division. 

Here now is the May scenario.

As always, these monthly "Basement Quality" Scenarios are offered for fun only and as a thank you to the readers of this blog.

Remember to open pictures in a new window in order to maximize the size. 

All Grumble Jones scenarios are available from the ASL Archive website. 

(Just search on Grumble Jones)