Episode 201: An ASL Oddity

Open the ASL Rulebook Hal.

Sorry HAL 9000, it had to be done.....and we had a lot of fun doing it.
Do you think a HAL  unit would have its line of sight blocked to the interior of the ship if you held the ASL Rulebook up over it's little red eye?  You will learn the answer to that question as we explore rule 6, LOS. It is a bit of a "quiz show" so sharpen your mind and prepare to listen.  See if you can beat Jeff to the right answers.

Dave Ginnard (photo credit to D. Garvin)

You new ASLer's can learn alot about the history of the game from our interview with the very famous and most wise, Dave Ginnard.  You older players will enjoy hearing about the good old days. He hails from Ohio and was there at the genesis of Advanced Squad Leader.  He's also a lot of fun to listen to in his own right. So give it a listen. Rich Spilky connected us at the ASL Open. Thanks, Rich.

Remember to not run into any trees everyone.


SHOW TIMES
0:2 Comedy Bit
4:40 Bantero
16:45 LOS Rules
43:48 Interview with Dave Ginnard
1:24:16 Total Running Time

SHOW LINKS
Kirk Pfan's LOS aid
Open the Pod Bay Doors Hal, 2001: A Space Odyssey
Deactivating Hal, 2001: A Space Odyssey
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EPISODE 200: Totally Twisted 200

Our own Dave and Jeff celebrate 200 episodes

Boy, that number 200 does look odd in the title.  We hope you don't have your hopes up too much this one. Doing that almost always guarantees disappointment and we give you enough disappointment even without our listeners having an unusually high expectation for this podcast.

Following the usual format Jeff presents a look at BFP-78 Operation Wheatfield from Bounding Fire's (ding-ding) Crucible of Steel, after the usual banter of course. If you didn't know that Dave went to Ireland, well, you will after this show.

Jeff's almost completed
defense for BFP-78

Episode 200 is saved from its own banality by the marvelous interviews that we snagged at the 2018 ASL Open, right here in Chicagoland. You will learn some history of the game while you get to meet some of these wonderful people in the ASL community.  ENJOY!

SHOWTIMES
0:02 MASH Parody Song (lyrics by D. Donovan, Performed by The 2 Half-Squads Singers)
3:34 Greetings and a conversation about dummies and concealment
10:00 Wonderful, Glorious, Banter (hey, it's 200, let us dream)
13:00 Pathetic Request for Support
14:00 Good Ideas for Life
16:00 Not More Banter!.....Please No!
25:00 What's The Plan for the Next 30 Shows?
27:00 What Have You Been Playing Lately?
44:30 Dave Goldman and Zach Emberton interviews
1:03 John McDermot and Chris Edwards interviews
1:26:30 Callers (Larry, Alan and Jackson)
                                                    1:30:28 Total Running Time


M*A*S*H  KOREA SONG
Lyrics by Dennis Donovan, performed by The 2 Half-Squad Singers

Chris Edwards and John McDermott

The Forgotten War is here you see
A new venture for MMP
It’s Post World War 2, you see
The Korean War in the ‘50s

[REFRAIN]:

In Forgotten War the scene is
The UN, ROKs and Marines

Versus the KPA and the Chinese

The Chosin Few designers know

They put into it heart and Seoul

If they screwed up module 15

That they’d be in some deep kimchi

[REFRAIN]:

There are new rules pages
Updated Chapter H is
Included with 16 scenarios

Dave Goldman and Dave Kleinschmidt

The 4 new maps have rough terrain

Which Chapter W explains
There’s 7 brand-new counter sheets

The jet aircraft are pretty neat!

[REFRAIN]:

Forgotten War will cost us
About one hundred dollahs
And I will take three copies if you please

I brave man once asked Perry

To tell us “When will it ship, please?”
Is it to be or not to be
Why oh why ask me?

[REFRAIN]
Did you see the new box?
Papyrus font really ROKs
and you can figure the rules out with some ease.

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Episode 199: All Swears, All the Time

Do you like my mustache?

Welcome back our friends to the show that never ends!  Well, maybe never ends.  Well, of course it will end. BUT IT WILL GO BEYOND EPISODE 200.  Sorry to be the bearers of bad news.  Anyway, we open with quite a bit of boring banter, then many rather interesting letters, a detailed look at Scenario 176: The Only Way Out, then finish up with a look at Critical Hit's Dutch Trucks III. This product has some limited use for existing ASL scenarios but is a lot of fun.



SHOWTIMES 
2:20 Boring Banter
23:00 Letters
46:30 I Played This Scenario
55:59  What's in the Box?
1:07:25 Total Running Time

SHOW LINKS 
Restoring a Panther Youtube
Another 

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Episode 198: Total Quiz Show

We had so much fun last time that we thought we would invite Rich Spilky, Bob Brown and Dan
Dolan back into the broadcast foxhole for some more Advanced Squad Leader discussion.  Bob gives us his gaming background, we discuss attending tournaments, and then we begin a rousing rendition of ADVANCED QUIZ SHOW (yes, these questions are tricky).  Get your bell ready to use to buzz in and play along with us from the comfort of your own home. When you have Rich playing, you know you are going to get some great rules advice.

SHOW TIMES
3:10 Bob's Gaming History
11:00 Quiz Show
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Episode 197: RB CG III w/ RS, BB and DD

Photos courtesy of Dan Dolan Studios.

Break out your Red Barricades map and follow along as Rich Spilky and Bob Brown discuss campaign game III with the author of an article that provided Rich with a winning strategy. Dan Dolan's article was published back in 1993 in a fanzine called Fire for Effect that was published by Marc Hannah. It is fun to hear the three of them discuss the game and the fact that Rich was using his "radio" to stay in contact with Dan (who provided the wonderful photos, by the way).

PHOTOS ARE HERE ON OUR FLIKR STREAM

The 2 Half-Squads is brought to you by Bounding Fire Productions and Ritterkrieg and of course, kind donations from you.  Please subscribe to us on Patreon.

SHOW TIMES 
59:59  Total Running Time 
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Episode 196:The Doughnut and the Urinator

Not a picture from WWII

Join Dave and Jeff as they bring you some banter about growing old and health issues.  Eeew, no one wants to hear about that.
In Dave's discussion of ASL Scenario 177: Anabasis you will get some insights and playing ideas. Jeff played Scenario SP 247:Deaths Head Debut from the great designer Evan Sherry. Schwerepunkt has had some confusing info about it's whereabouts lately but as far as we can tell you can order them from some game stores but it is hard to find a home page with a web search.  You can set the world on fire after you listen to our Terrain Time in which we cover rule 25 FIRE.

We are burning down the house, baby.

The 2 Half-Squads is brought to you by Bounding Fire Productions and Ritterkrieg and of course, kind donations from you.

SHOW TIMES
0:10 New Bounding Fire Productions Ad
2:00 Banter
12:30 What Have You Been Playing Lately?
34:00 Terrain  Time
59:18  Total Running Time

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