Prelude to War HASL Preview

You can now order the new Prelude to War: Marco Polo Bridge historical ASL (HASL) module, for both the full ASL and ASL Starter Kit system. The module is named after the famous incident that occurred in China in 1937, which eventually led to full-scale war between China and Japan…the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).

Since the differences between the two versions are small, this article will specifically talk about the Starter Kit version, but also serves as an introduction to the full ASL version.

Scroll past the historical perspective if you want to see info on the module …

The Marco Polo Bridge Incident

So what happened in July of 1937 and what was the “incident”?

Leading up to the incident tensions between China and Japan had been high since the Japanese seized control of Manchuria for its resources in 1931.  On the east side of the bridge was Beiping (also known as Peking, and as Beijing today), which was controlled by Japanese forces all the way to Manchuria in the northeast. The west side of Marco Polo Bridge (this is its western name, it’s also known as Lugou Bridge) was controlled by the Chinese who had not previously resisted the takeover of Manchuria with much muster. But that all came to a head at the Marco Polo Bridge.

Late on the evening of July 7th, 1937 Chinese and Japanese soldiers exchanged light fire, the cause of which may have been unannounced Japanese military exercises. In the aftermath the Japanese found that one of their soldiers was missing and demanded they be allowed to cross the bridge and search the walled city of Wanping for the missing man.

The Chinese commander flatly refused, and both sides began to mobilize. Later that night the Japanese attempted to infiltrate Wanping but were driven back. This lead to further escalation, and despite efforts and negotiations to stem the constant skirmishes that followed, on July 9th the Japanese began deploying light armor and shelling Wanping across the bridge.

This led to further skirmishes. Battles began to break out up and down the Yongding River, eventually spreading to the nearby city of Tianjin and beyond.

Thus the first shots of the Second Sino-Japanese War (7 July 1937 – 2 September 1945) were sparked over Manchurian tensions and the misunderstanding of a missing soldier who only happened to wander off from his unit … that soldier was later found alive and well.

But What About the Module?

Well, there’s not a lot of official information available other than it’s a historical campaign game based on the escalated aftermath of the incident detailed above, and that it’s a Starter Kit product … so SK fans rejoice! No longer will you have to think about dropping $100+ for a used copy of Decision At Elst (2014) to play a historical CG.

Contents

• • 22″ x 34″ map
  • 5 scenarios played on various parts of the map
  • 1 campaign game
  • A campaign booklet, with special rules (rivers, railroads, bridges, hedges, roadblocks, offboard artillery, night combat, and special broad-sword equipped Chinese Volunteer units)
  • 2 sheets of counters (1 sheet for the ASL version)
  • 1 data card

Below are some photos highlighting the module …

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If there are any updates I’ll be sure to post up some news about it.

Academy Out!

GET TO THE CHOPPA…!!!

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