ASL Action Pack #17 Unboxing

The 1st Cavalry Division rode in the Louisiana Maneuvers of 1940, where it became pretty clear that the horse’s days in war were numbered. The “First Team” spent 1942 patrolling the Mexican border and retired its last horses in February 1943. It shipped out that summer as dismounted cavalry, with the saddles left behind and the regimental names kept.

Its first fight came in the Admiralty Islands in 1944. Six years later, it was rushed from occupation duty in Japan straight into Korea. ASL Action Pack #17, MMP’s Oktoberfest XXXV pack, follows the First Team through both wars.

Getting It

This one came out of the blue in 2021. There was no pre-order. It just showed up on MMP’s site, and if you ordered fast enough, it was at your door in two days. MMP still sells it for $34, and Ritterkrieg has it in stock at $30.60. As usual, the links are at the bottom of the article.

Contents:

• Two 8″ x 22″ geomorphic mapboards, boards 87 and 88
• 16 scenarios, AP175 to AP190

It isn’t a complete game. You’ll need the ASL Rulebook and a lot of boards, from 2 and 3 up to 88, plus the Deluxe ASL boards b and d for one scenario. The Korean War scenarios use the Forgotten War rules and counters. Pete Shelling designed almost all of them, and Kevin Meyer did A Celebratory Mood.

MMP’s playtesting is always solid, and the credits page is packed with names. Most of these scenarios run 6 to 8 turns. That feels a little like the old days, when long scenarios were the norm in the original modules.

Two Wars, One Division

Three scenarios are World War II in the Pacific, and the other 13 are Korea. The map shows where each one happened, with the scenario table right under it.

Blue markers are fights where the Americans or the UN attack, and red ones are where the Japanese or Communists do. The Korean scenarios follow the war in order, from the retreat to the Pusan Perimeter in the summer of 1950 to the Yalu and back, and on into 1951.

Island Hopping

Hold Your Horses opens the pack on Los Negros on March 3, 1944. The cavalrymen had grabbed Momote airdrome a few days earlier, and now the Japanese wanted it back. Always Ready sends the 12th Cavalry across a mile of open harbor to take the Papitalai Mission plantation. Its motto, Semper Paratus, gives the scenario its name.

A Celebratory Mood is Leyte, October 21, 1944. The 7th Cavalry pushes into Tacloban while the Filipinos celebrate in the streets, with Japanese engineers holding out against them. It plays on Deluxe ASL boards. I’ve played on those a few times and had fun, but it’s been a while.

Holding the Perimeter

Five years of occupation duty left the First Team soft. Each regiment had only two battalions, and the division had lost hundreds of noncoms and junior officers to the 24th Infantry Division before it shipped out. Walker’s Orders has it relieving the battered 24th at Yongdong on July 22, 1950. Garry Owen! is the 7th Cavalry at Kumch’on a week later, trying to do better than Yongdong.

Then General Walker issued his “stand or die” order. The army would hold along the Naktong River. East Bank and No Dunkirk are the fight against the North Korean 10th Division’s crossing west of Taegu in August. Sabres Crossed is the push at Waegwan, with North Korean armor across the river against the 5th Cavalry and its tanks.

The lines held. That’s a 7th Cavalry machine gun squad firing across the Naktong on August 26, about two weeks after East Bank.

North to the Yalu, and Back

After the Inch’on landing, the breakout was on. Patton’s Ghost is Task Force Lynch racing to link up with X Corps at Osan in late September. The Order of War is the 5th Cavalry and a ROK regiment chasing toward P’yongyang in October. It has a really funky board layout.

Then the Chinese came in. Unsanity is the 8th Cavalry caught at Unsan on November 2, after intelligence swore the Chinese were only a few volunteers. In The Horse They Never Rode, the 3rd Battalion is left behind as a rearguard at Yongbyon. Chaplain Emil Kapaun stayed with the wounded and later earned the Medal of Honor. Home by Christmas? is the 5th Cavalry at Samso-ri in late November, as the Chinese Second Phase Offensive hit. So much for Christmas.

The last three are 1951. The Cost of a Cross is Task Force Crombez fighting through to the besieged 23rd Infantry and the French Battalion at Chip’yong-ni in February. Bona Fide Effort sends Rangers and the 7th Cavalry across the Hwach’on Reservoir in assault boats, to get at the dam.

We Are Sparta closes the pack in October 1951. The Greek Sparta Battalion and the 7th Cavalry attack together on the Wyoming Line, the only UN team-up besides the ROK one. It runs 8 turns on board 5b.

Boards 87 and 88

The two new boards go together. Board 87 has a village tucked against a large hill, and board 88 is the other side of that hill. Add some orchards, a depression, roads and gullies running along the back side, and it looks like Korea.

Here’s the catch. The hill runs off the edge, so these two won’t match up with most other boards. Use them as a pair, or use one as an end board with the hill looking over the rest of the battlefield. Either way, whoever owns that hill is going to be insufferable.

Where to Buy

MMP: ASL Action Pack #17

Ritterkrieg

Debriefing

Action Pack #17 follows one division across two wars, from Los Negros in 1944 to the Wyoming Line in 1951. Thirteen of the 16 scenarios are Korea, which makes it a real gift for Forgotten War players. The two new boards are one big hill you’ll either love or curse.

If you’re new to Korea, start at the Pusan Perimeter. Walker’s Orders and No Dunkirk are 6 turns each on a board or two. Save Unsanity for when you’re ready to get swarmed.

Academy Out!

GET TO THE CHOPPA…!!!

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