Let’s dive into The Advanced Squad Leader Companion No. 2. If you caught the first issue, you might remember the missing “D” in “Advanced” on the cover. Well, the folks at Le Franc Tireur (LFT) found it, and they definitely poke a little fun at themselves in the intro of this one. We also get some reassurance directly from the publisher: they are fully committed to printing all of Jim Stahler’s companion work. We can expect at least three 100-page issues per year, which is great news for those of us eager to see the whole massive project completed.
Before getting into the pages, I want to clarify my approach here. I’m not a professional reviewer. To truly and fairly review an ASL product, you’d have to play every single scenario in it—and with the sheer volume of cardboard out there, we all know that’s impossible unless you play 24/7. Instead, think of me as an informer doing an overview. I’m here to show you what’s inside so you can decide if it’s right for your shelf.
Onward!
Contents
Chapter 3 – The Lay of the Land :
- Mapboards
- Anatomy of a Hex
- Mapboard Terrain
- Overlays
- Terrain Counters
- Key Terrain
- Line of Sight
Chapter 4 – The Play of the Game (part I) :
- Scenarios
- Scenario Setup
Chapter 3: The Lay of the Land
The first half of this 100-page issue dives into Chapter 3, covering map boards, the anatomy of a hex, and terrain. One crucial note right out of the gate: everything Jim discusses here is strictly official MMP product; there’s no third-party stuff included.
The beginning is incredibly basic. It breaks down exactly what a hex is and identifies the center dot. Experienced players will likely gloss over this, but it lays the necessary groundwork. When the book moves into the terrain section, it covers everything from inherent terrain to specific and obscure module features like coal piles, retaining walls, and wrought-iron fences.
If you are currently an ASL Starter Kit player, this section might be a bit overwhelming to read through. It really showcases the massive jump in chrome, terminology, and complexity from the Starter Kit to full ASL. There is an incredibly impressive index showing all the different terrain types across MMP modules and exactly which boards feature them, which clearly took an insane amount of work to compile.
Line of Sight
Around page 50, the issue hits its stride by tackling Line of Sight. This is the absolute engine of ASL; if you can’t see it, you can’t shoot it. The companion provides a wealth of visual examples covering blind hexes, building levels, subterranean units, and weather effects. This is exactly what experienced players have been waiting for: exhaustive visual examples that the official rulebook sometimes lacks.
However, a quick word of caution: do not treat this companion as a rulebook. It interprets the rules in plain English, which sometimes leads to generalizations. For example, the text makes a blanket statement that amphibians and water do not affect LOS. In the strict ASL rules, an amphibious vehicle blown up in a stream or stuck on a submerged reef absolutely presents a hindrance, and those terrain features fall under the blanket term “water”. Use this book as an easy-reading guide to grasp concepts, but always defer to the official rules for exact mechanics.
Chapter 4: The Play of the Game
The next section gets into the scenarios themselves, which are the actual heart of the game. After all, without scenarios, you just have a bunch of components laying around. Jim has compiled some wild statistics regarding official MMP scenarios, breaking down the geography, the timeline, and the most common mechanics. This data must have taken an insane amount of time to cross-check and compile, so Jim definitely deserves a massive salute for the effort.
Looking at the numbers, the distribution of where scenarios take place is fascinating. For instance, there are around 230 scenarios set on the East Front in Russia, followed closely by the Western Front. He also breaks down scenarios by month and year, and even maps out which rules come into play during specific timeframes. When it comes to the map boards themselves, you can clearly see what designers favor. While there are setups using half boards, single boards, or massive three-board layouts, the sweet spot for a standard game is solidly set at two boards, with nearly 500 scenarios using that layout. Deluxe boards and historical maps understandably have much smaller numbers since they are so specialized.
The data also highlights some interesting trends in turn length and unit quality. The optimal length for a modern scenario sits right around six to seven turns. If you see something creeping up higher than that, it usually represents older ASL designs from early modules like Beyond Valor or Yanks. There is even a mysterious three-turn scenario floating around out there. For unit quality, an Experience Level Rating, or ELR, of three is the absolute standard, though there is apparently one elusive ELR zero scenario. As for the most common matchups, German versus Russian takes the number one spot, followed by German versus American, German versus British, and Japanese versus American rounding out the top four.
The chapter wraps up part one of “Play of the Game” by covering scenario setup. It goes over initial setup restrictions, stacking limits, and deploying units. It serves as an excellent refresher for all the little actions you can legally take before the first turn even begins. You can remind yourself of the rules for substituting commissars for regular Russian leaders, deciding whether to set up support weapons dismantled or assembled, placing guns, or attempting to roll for hull-down status for your armored fighting vehicles on a hill during setup.
What’s Next
Overall, Issue #2 is significantly more informative and useful than the first one. As we get into the real meat of the rules and see these complex examples mapped out, this companion series is really starting to show its true value to the community.
Looking ahead, Issue #3 is slated for the June or July timeframe. It promises to conclude Chapter 4, dive into Chapter 5 (which covers the role of fate and dice probability), and tackle the ins and outs of infantry stacking.
If you want a copy of Issue #2, grab it soon because the print runs are fairly limited. North American players can grab it from Ritterkrieg, while European players can order directly from LFT in France.
Academy Out!
GET TO THE CHOPPA…!!! 
Article © 2026, Neal Ulen. All Rights Reserved. Copyright & Fair Use Notice.
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