The 2 Half-Squads

Welcome to Tanks University. Here's our university level course on tanks. We're happy to welcome visiting Professor of Tankology (PhT) Bob Holmstrom for a lesson on Vehicle Overrun. Strap on your thinking helmets and be prepared to take copious notes as Dr. Bob leads us through this oft-avoided -- but oh, so fascinating -- territory. We also discuss Platoon Movement of tanks, discuss the ASL Open, and lots more.

Show Links

C4 Corner Cutter by Counter Culture

Contact Alex Key: [email protected]

Le Franc-Tireur: http://www.lefranctireur.org

Schwerpunkt: http://mysite.verizon.net/resvy9ue

The Texas ASL club celebrates publication of their 50th issue of Banzai! http://texas-asl.com/

Newbie-Do is a mini-series designed specifically for the new ASL player. In this first installment, Jeff and Joe play through two turns of Starter Kit 1's first scenario, "Retaking Verville". We cover victory conditions and setup, and then walk step-by-step through each phase -- explaining in each event in detail as we progress. If you never played ASL before or are confused by the phases and such, grab out your Starter Kit and follow along.

We have fixed the problem with this episode and re-posted it. The missing final minutes have been added back in. Sorry about the error. Thanks for listening, everyone!

It's business as usual in the broadcast foxhole, which means our carefully laid plans to talk in-depth about Phases in ASL quickly fall apart amidst a lot of other monkey business. Still, we do finally get down to a good discussion of the pre-game sequence. We'll be covering the rest of the phases (hopefully) next time. We hope you enjoy this one. Thanks for listening!

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In this Extra Episode Mike Stubits plays Dave K. in AP 44 The Burial Mound. Set up your boards and follow along if you dare. Rich Spilky provides the neutral commentary in this after action report of a scenario that is on the ASL Open list. Hope you can learn something from this scenario analysis.You need boards 56,57,and 58 or look them up as VASL. Thanks to Mr. Waller you can hit the link to the Archives in the comments section and viola! Instant map viewing! That is so amazing!

It's Spring! A time when a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of . . . mortars? Well, that's where our thoughts have turned. It's too early (at least here in mid-western North America) to bring out the gardening tools, so instead we celebrate the season by hauling out another handy tool -- the mortar. Test your knowledge (and endurance) with our mortar quiz show.

Also in this episode:

After too long a break, we are back with the next exciting installment. And here we are very happy to announce The 2 Half-Squads t-shirts!

We can't remember what made us think anyone would want to admit -- let alone advertise -- they listen to this podcast, but here they are, and to tell the truth, they're pretty darn nice shirts. If you want one, here's how to order.

We also have a little conversation with Keith Dalton from MultiMan Publishing to see what's up in 2009 for ASL.

There's also a "What's in the Box" segment, covering Action Pack 5: Eastern Front.

Dig it!

Join us for a great game of scenario A103 MAYHEM IN MANILA. Two excellent and well respected players give us a glimpse of their thought and strategies as Bob Holmstrom's Japanese try to defend a stone building or two from Bob Miller's attacking Americans. You need deluxe boards a-d to follow along (or just a good imagination, or go on VASL and look at the boards there). Addendum: Click on the link on Will's name in the comments section. It is a link to the board set up.

Happy New Year to all from The 2 Half-Squads!

It’s going to be a great year for ASL, thanks in part to the efforts of our guest today, Rich Spilky. Rich is a long-time ASLer with a passion for finding better ways to play the game. And to him that means simplifying the decoding of complicated rules and complex circumstances. Available for download at the link below, Rich has created a variety of tables and charts that clearly present results for common situations that might otherwise cause lengthy and abstruse delving into The Rule Book. So download Rich’s Player Aid Pack and read along as Rich discusses the utility of these great player aids. It’s ASL smarter, faster, better. It’s ASL The Spilky Way. (Rich Spilky's email address is [email protected])

We also have a great book report from Dave, who just finished reading not one, but TWO ASL scenario builders handbooks (generously donated to us by a listener from Anchorage, Alaska). There's also listener feedback AND we announce the soon-to-be-available T2HS t-shirts.

Oh yeah. It's going to be a GREAT year for ASL!

Links for this episode

You can now get to this web site with the simple URL http://www.the2halfsquads.com

Rich Spilky's Player Aid pack

The Official War Journal of the Philippines Historical Boardgamers Club

Scenario Designer's Handbook by Michael Dorosh

Scenario Designer's Guide by Mark Pitcavage

Mark Pitcavage's Desperation Morale web site

Dave King's C4 Corner Cutter

Jay Richardson's excellent ASL Starter Kit tutorials, parts 1 through 5 on BoardGameGeek.com

Triple Point Blank Fire

Just in time for the holidays, our gift to you is our biggest episode yet. It has to be BIG because the topic is . . . TANKS! Tis the season to give TANKS and we're right on track. We take 'em apart and put 'em back together to bring you better understanding of these oh-so-amazing armored fighting vehicles. There's a lot to cover so we call in a guest armor leader, Joe, who scopes out vehicle counter symbols. Jeff then deftly breaks down tank movement rules, and Dave dispenses a wealth of knowledge about vehicle smoke dischargers.

Oh, and there's so much more! You won't want to bypass this one, so pour yourself a cup of cheer, gather your family and friends close and tune in to this roaring, fully-tracked adventure. You'll go to bed with visions of turrets dancing in your head.

Once again this episode is not for everyone. It is a scenario analysis and after action report. ASL Scenario AP 29

RAFF'S DILEMMA (from Action Pack #4) is the chosen one for this extra episode and Rich Spilky plays a tenacious German defense against Dave's attacking Americans. Break out boards 11 and 54, set up the pieces with us, and follow along if you wish. Or perhaps you just want to have a listen.