Saturday, February 28, 2015

Episode 135: Don't Sleaze Me (Oh Yeah, Like I Sleaze You)

We spend a lot of time touting the friendly character of ASL players. A finer group of gentlemen (and ladies) you will not find among gamers. And yet we are not above taking every possible advantage when opportunity arises and the heady promise of victory wafts in our nostrils. And so it is in the highest spirit of sportsmanship and esprit de corps that we uncover the seedier side of the rules -- these are the kind of loopholes you love to employ on your tax return, but hope no one will question.

After that it's time for Terrain Time. A time when we take the time to talk terrain. And today's Terrain Time takes a lot of time because this time there's lots of terrain to talk about.

SHOW TIMES
Banter - Mostly NOT about ASL but still absolutely fascinating.
13:00 - ASL Sleaze
37:00 - Terrain Time
1:09:15 - Total Running Time

SHOW LINKS
Three Moves Ahead podcast
The Big Black Book of ASL Sleaze courtesy of Zeke's ASL Paradise

Download this episode (right click and save)

11 comments:

  1. "Sleaze Is the Word"
    Song by Bee Gees
    I saw my problem and now I see the light
    I got a sleaze thing, gotta play it right
    There ain't no danger I can go too far
    I start believin' now get that dice jar - sleaze is the word
    They think my play is just a growin' pain
    Why don't they understand? it's just an ASL game
    Their lips are lyin', my sleaze is unreal
    We stop the game right now, I ain't playin' "Let's make a Deal" - sleaze is the word
    Sleaze ain't immoral or corrupt, it's got meaning
    Sleaze is the time, is the place, is the motion
    Sleaze is the way I plan on winning
    I take the pressure, and I throw away conventionality, look in the rulebook
    There is a chance that I can make it so far
    You start believin' now when I roll no boxcars - Sleaze is the word

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad you covered gully terrain. A large gully will be coming into play for my defense in our Purple Heart Draw CG. Good info!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Regarding the "I'm still good order CC Sleaze".... A ? defender has the option to decline to attack and thereby maintain ? status. It is not necessary to win the ambush to do this (though you lose ? if you lose the ambush)... The attacker will attack the ? defender at 1/2 FP. If the defender survives CC he is allowed to maintain ? in the hex and there is no melee. Both the attacker and defender coexist in the hex in good order.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Regarding the "Disappearing Tank Sleaze"... This appears to be a relic of ASLRB v1 and is now outdated and illegal. Thanks to JR Tracy and Gunner Scott at GameSquad for the clarification I'm including below...

    [The Platoon Movement rules used to allow the platoon mover to perform several "actions" in one impulse before the defender was allowed to DFF. The crab-walk was one example. The platoon could change CA, move a hex, then change CA again before the defender could use DFF. If the defender had a weapon on the flank of a platoon, the Platoon could start with its front turned to the flank (i.e. front toward the weapon), turn in the direction they wanted to go, move a hex, and turn their front back toward the weapon before the weapon could DFF.

    The stuff you describe was another way of exploiting old-style platoon movement rules.] JR Tracy

    [The change came in Doomed Battalions 1st edition along with a new set of HW rules. Ole Boe was the guy that worked out the revised rules for both HW and Platoon movement.] Gunner Scott

    ReplyDelete
  5. Although I have read the sleaze article more than a decade ago, listening to your podcast is the most entertaining way to revisit it.
    Your humorous presentation is top notch.

    Erwin Lau
    from Hong Kong

    ReplyDelete
  6. These are some great comments clarifying things we get a little fuzzy on, thanks and keep them coming.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Heya Jeff & Dave

    How are you??

    I have recently used the "I am still good order" CC sleaze to good effect and I especially like the sleaze that involves a deathstar firing in Prep and then a tank in bypass smoking the hex and protecting the deathstar from Def Final before moving off. Will definitely look to use that even if merely for the spiritual satisfaction of it all!!!

    Thanks

    Warm regards
    Jackson Kwan

    ReplyDelete
  8. Note that a Concealed ATTACKER also decline to make a CC attack and keep "?" - can also be useful sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  9. To help track grain MF cost use the word "and." As in: "and 1 and," move one hex, "2 and 3", move a hex, "and 4 and"... It helps me at least.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Back in episode 120, Dave was going through ASL annual 95. In that review, he mentioned an article on routing that I was interested in catching up on sometime. Today was the day to do that, I brought the annual with me to work. Just prior to reading the article I was listening to this episode, 135. In this episode, Dave is quizzing Jeff on rules about Marsh. He asks Jeff if you can low crawl into Marsh which Jeff says yes. Dave reminds Jeff that Marsh is ankle to waste deep water, at which point immediately Jeff realizes the error and says no, unless you have one of those hallowed out reeds you can breathe through. Nice little chuckle, now I go on lunch and read the routing article. On the first page of the routing article, under the section called how to route, 9 is about low crawl. A few lines in it says," that the only additional restrictions are that it cannot be used to leave an enemy location, or to enter marsh, water obstacles, non-dry streams (no snorkeling allowed)." So I guess that Jeff ain't the only one to think of that!

    ReplyDelete
  11. That is hilarious. We are glad to know that these older shows still have value. As well as knowing we aren't the only ones who re-read our older Annuals. Good reference material!

    ReplyDelete