Unboxing ASL Journal #17

Multi-Man Publishing’s ASL Journal 17 arrived on shelves recently, and it’s worth saying upfront: this one doesn’t play by the usual rules of an ASL Journal. Where past journals aimed for broad appeal — a mix of scenarios and articles meant to interest most Advanced Squad Leader players — Journal 17 is, with maybe one exception, a ~90% Twilight of the Reich (TotR) supplement wearing a Journal’s cover.

Getting It

The pack retails for around $48. You can wait for it to show up (maybe) at a local game retailer (unlikely), or you can order it directly from Ritterkrieg and save $20 over ordering it directly from MMP, which charges $8 more, plus $12 shipping:

Ritterkrieg ($40 + $0 shipping = $40)

Contents:

• 44 pages
• 14 scenarios
• One 19″ x 28″ map for scenario J282

A Journal For Everyone?

The Umpire’s View article draws a comparison to Journal 14, the Aussie Special Edition — but the comparison only goes so far. Journal 14 was themed around the ANZAC/Pacific theater, but it wasn’t tied to a single product; it pulled in Japanese, Australian, and New Zealand scenarios and articles from across that broader theme. Journal 17 is different. Nearly everything inside is built specifically around Twilight of the Reich’s dense, complicated city-fighting module — its SSRs, its orders of battle, its purchase tables.

That’s the core gripe with this release: it’s marketed as a Journal, which implies mass appeal, but it would’ve made more sense as a standalone Twilight of the Reich supplement — something like MMP’s Tarawa supplement, which was clearly labeled as an add-on for a specific product rather than presented as a general-interest release. Players who buy every journal without checking the contents first might be surprised to open this one and find it isn’t what they expected.

The Articles

View From the Box — roughly ten pages working through Twilight of the Reich’s module-level SSRs. This reads less like a magazine article and more like a gamer’s guide for players already deeply committed to the TotR.

How Did the Grognard Cross the Road? — covers dash and street fighting, which comes up in most urban scenarios, but it particularly relevant to TotR city fights. It has some crossover value for general ASL play, but it’s clearly written with ToTR in mind.

Stalin’s SS: The NKVD in ASL — a historical piece on the NKVD, and about the only article in the issue that isn’t directly tied to TotR content, even though NKVD units do appear in the module. Unit types, historical formations, and a sizeable bibliography round out the historical material.

Three pre-combat checks — pre-play breakdowns covering SSRs, orders of battle, setup, and limitations for specific scenarios. Two cover scenarios already in the original TotR box; the third covers the new headline scenario in this journal, “Paths of Vengeance” (J282).

A Player’s Approach to J282: Paths of Vengeance — a meaty standalone article walking through strategy for that one scenario, backed up with detailed play examples.

Roadblocks in ASL — a surprisingly long article, seven or eight pages, on a rule that plays a critical role in Twilight of the Reich’s city fighting.

The Scenarios

Of the 14 scenarios in the journal, roughly half carry Twilight of the Reich’s purchase tables and SSR-heavy setups; the rest are general ASL scenarios, though even those tend to run on the larger, more complex side.

The Twilight of the Reich scenarios themselves are exactly what you’d expect from that module: big, nasty, fortified city fights — not beginner-friendly, not quick-play. One early scenario, J270, uses 14 (yes, 14) overlays. That’s a lot even by ASL standards, and overlays — along with long, complicated SSRs — are consistently two of the biggest turn-offs for average players. Several scenarios also spread across multiple scenario sheets, another thing that tends to scare off casual players. If you’re not already a Twilight of the Reich devotee, this journal gives you plenty of reasons to hesitate, especially considering the price if ordered directly from MMP (~$60, including expensive shipping).

The Showpiece: J282

The new map is built specifically for one scenario: J282, Paths of Vengeance. It’s a 19″ x 28″ board with a blown-up, Fortenberry-style scale — hex sizes measure roughly 1.4 inches — and it’s dense with multi-level stone buildings, stairwells, factories, and rail yards.

Playing Paths of Vengeance is a project in itself. It requires laying out four separate scenario cards, runs roughly five and a half turns, has extensive SSRs (on top of all the TotR SSRs), purchase tables, and uses a point-tracking mechanic for victory. It looks built primarily for two players, though a scenario this large could probably be adapted for a multiplayer session if a group wanted to split it up.

Debriefing

If you’re a completionist who buys every ASL product (or Journals) regardless of contents, buy Journal 17 — you’ll want it on the shelf either way. If you’re specifically into Twilight of the Reich’s brand of dense, dug-in city fighting (some players love it!), with heavy SSRs, elaborate orders of battle, and purchase tables, this one’s squarely for you, and you’ll get real value out of it.

But if you’re a general ASL player who isn’t drawn to that theme, isn’t chasing every release, and doesn’t want to pay around $40-$60 (depending on where you buy it) for content you’ll rarely touch, skip it. There are a handful of general-appeal scenarios buried in here, but not enough to justify the steep price if the rest won’t see the table.

It’s a shame, honestly, because a journal should be something that pulls every kind of ASL player into the game, not just the hardcore players, and this Journal is targeted at those hardcore in my opinion. Make no mistake, though, Journal 17 is a well-produced Twilight of the Reich supplement. But it probably doesn’t have mass ASL player appeal like a traditional ASL Journal.

Academy Out!

GET TO THE CHOPPA…!!!

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