By Mitch Reed with Dave Garvin
I have been a gaming junkie since my early teens; perhaps even before if I include Hi-Ho Cherrio and Rock-Em Sock-Em robots. Like many of us with gray hair, I cut my teeth on the wargames produced by the now defunct companies called Avalon Hill and SPI. One game that stood out from my teens was Squad Leader, a game by Avalon Hill that dealt with small unit tactics in WWII. Out of all the games I played back then, for some reason Squad Leader always seemed stuck in my mind and when I started playing Flames of War 4 years ago, I was once again reminded of this great game I played in my youth. In reality, Squad Leader and FoW are worlds apart in many ways besides one being a board game and the other being a miniatures game. They both cover the sharp end of war; company level combat in close quarters and teach the player how combined forces work in a tactical situation. I feel the comparison ends at that point; and Squad Leader takes the player into a deep immersion of the subject.
I want to first be clear of my history of the game; I played
Squad Leader (SL) a John Hill design which came out in 1977. The basic game was a smash hit in 1977 and Avalon Hill expanded the game over the next 6 years by adding modules that expanded the rules and nations that were not included in the original game. In 1985 Avalon Hill doubled down on the series and created Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) which was designed by Don Greenwood. While many hard core grogs would say they are two entirely different games I would argue that if not for SL, you would not have ASL. In all fairness I never played ASL when it came out, by 1985 sports and rejection from women were more important in my life than gaming.
Throck with the full rules binder
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By Anthony "Anfernee" Mason
