Grumble Jones June Scenario GJ148 Patrol to Contact

Look at that...we are already at the halfway point of this year's scenarios. I'm always amazed at how quickly the year goes by. I have already played 61 games so far this year and am on pace to hit 120 by year end. Dan Best and I have been averaging nearly 12 games a month, which is a fantastic pace. Starting this Wednesday we will playing 6 scenarios in a row from the new Starter Kit Basic Training.

There are some really great looking scenarios in this newest addition from the fine folks at MMP. One of the things I enjoy about Starter Kit is the absence of the Snipers, concealment, VBM Freeze, Bypass movement, and Heroes. The vagaries of the dice often create imbalanced situations with the Sniper and the Heat of Battle Heroics. 

Starter Kit takes you back to more of the Squad Leader days. 

But, I do like to take Starter Kit in small doses as it is not ASL and you do struggle to unlearn certain tactics that are muscle memory in ASL. 

I much prefer ASL to Starter Kit. It's frankly a much better way to enjoy the game.  But now and again, the less intense game play of Starter Kit can be a nice palate cleanse.

This month's scenario is of course courtesy of the Osprey Library of amazing WW2 tomes.

For a long time now, I have wanted to do a meeting engagement between patrols. I've played a couple MMP scenarios with this same theme, but wanted to try my hand at it.

In the Kaladan Valley, British and Japanese patrols met frequently as the British gradually gave up control of the valley.

I went with cloaking movement as the rule mechanic to allow for the two patrols to close with another and still maintain some level of uncertainty.

The Victory conditions are similar to running drills you did when you played basketball. Run up and touch the line and run back. The side that does this first and fastest wins the scenario. 

Otherwise it's a pretty short and sweet scenario between two balanced teams.

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)