The (re)Start
I was an avid wargamer 30 years ago even though I wasn’t a particularly skilful one. I was an Avalon Hill Game Company fan. I was into Panzer Blitz, Panzer Leader, Squad Leader (and all the gamettes), Tobruk, Firepower, Wooden Ship and Iron Men and Third Reich. Somewhere in there life intervened and my hobby got lost along the way.
30 years later I found myself looking at a copy of Squad Leader on eBay. I learned that Avalon Hill is no more but Squad Leader and Advanced Squad Leader is very much alive under the stewardship of Multi-Man Publishing and a global core of diehard fans.
I bought that copy of Squad Leader (4th ed). (Ahh .. the counters, the mapboards, the rulebook and the smell of cardboard .. long lost friends ..)
I couldn’t stop there. I waded into the world of Advanced Squad Leader (ASL). It is the best tactical game system in the world but better yet, is the global player community. This visual blog of After Action Reports (AARs) is a chronicle of my blunders and my reflections. I also want it to be a directory to some of the best ASL resources from around the world. I hope my learning experience will help you.
Warm regards,
Hong Kong Wargamer
2013
GameSquad ID / BoardGameGeek / Discord / VASL: hongkongwargamer
Twitter: @HWargamer Facebook: Hong Kong Wargamer Email: hongkongwargamer [at] disroot [dot] org Global ASL Discord Server : Advanced Squad Leader | Central
2022 Aug Credited as a Proofer for Sword & Fire Manila
2021 Dec Credited for my dice design ideas at BattleSchool
2021 Oct Interviewed by The 2 Half Squads
2021 Sep Credited as a Playtester for LFT From the Cellar 10
2021 Jan Joined AHIKS : The Avalon Hill International Kriegspiel Society
2020 Dec Translated Dzerzhinskiy Cheng’s “C4KISR”
2020 Nov First Korean War scenario – 204 Human Bullets
2020 Nov Credited as a Proofer for AP15 Swedish Volunteers, Best of Friends 2
2020 Apr First Cavalry scenario – FT228 Last Charge at Umbrega
2020 Apr ASL Discord server “Advanced Squad Leader|Central” broke 700 people!
2020 Feb Credited as a Playtester for MMP Croix de Guerre (2nd Ed)
2020 Jan Translated Dzerzhinskiy Cheng’s “Radiation Dust: Fall of the Soviet Union”
2019 May Translated “Race to Tokyo”
2019 May Credited as a Proofer for MMP ASLSK4 PTO
2019 Apr Started my first DTO scenario 42 Point of No Return
2019 Apr Translated Yasushi Nakguro’s “A Step to Victory: Bougainville”
2019 Feb Credited as a Proofer for MMP Red Factories
2019 Feb Credited as a translator for “Glory Recalled: Hong Kong 1941”
2019 Jan Worked as promoter for Malaya Madmen 2019 in Singapore
2018 Sep Completed playtesting of BFP Objective Schmidt‘s CG1 “Crushed at Kommerscheidt”
2018 Mar Apprenticed under Allan Cannamore to learn the fine art of creating VASL counters. Started with CPVA counters for MMP Forgotten War
2018 Mar Credited as a Proofer for MMP Forgotten War
2017 Nov Took a month long Data Visualisation / SQL course. My first break from ASL.
2017 Jul Attended Angkorfest 2017 in Siem Reap
2017 Mar First non playtest CG, Gavutu-Tanambogo with Dan Dolan
2016 Sep Credited as a Proofer for MMP Yanks2
2016 Jul Attended Mayhem in Manila
2016 Jun Wrote the Preface to Chinese ASL magazine, Dare Death (issue 3) “What ASL is to me”
2015 Nov Started promoting Mayhem in Manila 2016
2015 Nov Started promoting Deathwish 888
2015 Oct First Cave scenario with Dan Dolan
2015 Sep Cut a couple of videos for the Chicago Counterattack 2015
2015 Jul Started getting into an ASL design project with Witchbottles
2015 Mar Started play testing my first campaign game with Witchbottles
2015 Jan Started promoting Deathwish 777
2014 Dec Visited & cut a video for New York State ASL Championship
2014 Oct Started my first playtesting with Stanley Neo & Vlad See
2014 Sep Co-Tourney Director at Gin Drinkers’ Revenge (Hong Kong)
2014 Aug BattleSchool accepted my idea for the Starshell Usage die!
2014 Sep First Seaborne Assault scenario with John Knowles, “A55 The Cat Has Jumped”
2014 Aug Mentioned in the article “Our Man in Hong Kong”, BattleSchool‘s blog
2014 Aug Introduced Advanced Squad Leader to history buffs via “Iacta Alea Est!” on Peter Harmsen’s blog China in WW2
2014 Mar First Night scenario with John Knowles, “A19 Cat and Mouse”
2014 Feb 2nd Runner up at Malaya Madness (Singapore)
2013 Dec First AFV scenario with Witchbottles, “WCW8 The Last VC in Europe”
2013 Oct Got my complimentary “Nationalist Chinese” dice pair from BattleSchool
2013 Aug First PTO scenario with Witchbottles, “AP54 800 Heros”
2013 Jul Helped with the Chinese characters on BattleSchool’s “Nationalist Chinese (aka Dare Death) dice
2013 May Played my first VASL game with Don Lazov “RPT1 Ferenc Jozef Barracks”
2013 May Witnessed my first FtF game “S21 Clash at Borisovka” at Tiger Room.
2013 Apr Joined the ASL Forum in GameSquad
2013 Mar My first post on HongKongWargamer.com
2013 Feb Bought a copy of the “Advanced Squad Leader Rulebook, 2nd ed”
2013 Feb Found and bought back a copy of “Squad Leader“
Advanced Squad Leader AAR Blog / Advanced Squad Leader After Action Reports 
Greetings, I too have been playing board war games since about 1976, I started with the classics (AH) and then worked through some SPI titles but fell in love with SL, in 1986 I switched to ASL and have been playing it ever since. You’re blog has inspired me to get off my rump and start (slowly) working on my wordpress blog. Cheers and thanks! If you need any good ASL or VASL links let me know.
Don
My first one was the “坦克大戰 (Tank Battle – not sure if it is the right translation)”, and then the Chinese version of Russian Campaign. I recently begin to learn the rules of Panzer Grenadier. It appears that I need to think about ASL as well
Jackson, I have just read your article on the Singapore tournament in View from the Trenches and was thoroughly inspired. I have been playing AH products since the late 1980s when I was also introduced to ASL. It’s only recent though that I have become a more serious student of the game. Your article has encouraged me to work harder. I am also reading your BLOG.
G’day Jackson,
Nice site mate. I’m new to ASL and the exciting world it holds. I have the ASLSK1, but now I’m looking to getting into ASL proper; although, I can’t find a copy of Beyond Valour anywhere. I have read on the MMP site blog that it should be back in stock soon (FYI).
All the best mate and please keep up the great work!
Cheers,
Sean (an Australian in France).
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