It has been a while since I have written anything covering ASL. I have been busy finding and buying a house, preparing to return to the US. In addition to that, I attended ASO in Copenhagen and I have been busy editing the next product from one of the third party producers. By far, the amount of paper work and putting my affairs in order to return the US has eaten a lot of my time. But I still like writing about ASL. This short article stems from a conversation taking place on the ASL Discord server. I hope you find it interesting.
The Situation
Refer to the image on the right. Anyone who has ever played against an American force has surely seen this stack. Two American squads, two American MMG, and a leader. It is the typical 20 FP attack. It is so ubiquitous it is almost a cliche.
In game play, I have seen many of these stacks attacked. An Final DR applies an effect with Random Selection. The owner pulls out his dice and dutifully rolls three die and applies the result. But is this correct?
Rules Dive
This article focuses specifically on A.9 (A “dot” 9), one of the rules at the beginning of chapter A. This rule covers Random Selection. The first paragraph reads “… Random Selection of one or more units in a hex, a dr is made for each such unit therein. The unit with the highest dr is the one affected by that event …“. This is how most people think of Random Selection. But there is a difference between these two stacks when resolving Random Selection: Concealment.
The second paragraph of A.9 reads “Random Selection among concealed units … to select which units are revealed must include a dr for every counter beneath the top “?” counter in a stack; any Dummy unit selected is eliminated and the Random Selection process continues using the next lower dr of the same DR until a non-Dummy unit is revealed. If a SW is picked to be revealed, reveal its possessor instead. If the SW is unpossessed, use the next lower dr of the Random Selection DR.“
First, note we make a dr for EVERY counter in the stack, not just the units. Second, if there is no real unit in the stack, we remove the Dummy Stack. Finally, if the dr selects a SW, reveal its possessor instead, keeping in mind that ties are all resolved equally. Referring back to the first image, resolve a SAN against the Unconcealed stack by rolling three die. To resolve against the Concealed stack, roll five die.
The Exception
This is ASL. There is almost always an exception. This rule is no different and this is what makes it confusing. By far, SAN attacks are the most likely application for Random Selection against a Concealed stack. There is an exception in A.9, paragraph two states we resolve SAN attacks per A14.23.
Per A14.23, the owner states the number of eligible targets and rolls Random Selection normally against those eligible units. Referring back to the first image, roll three die when resolving a SAN against EITHER stack.
Sniper Resolution
There is one final twist in resolving a Sniper attack against a stack with mixed Concealed and Unconcealed units. Again, we refer to A14.23 and therein it states when making an Original Random Selection against such a stack, the Concealed units are ALL treated as one unit for Random Selection purposes. If the dr selects the Concealed units, make a second Random Selection against just the Concealed units.
Referring to the image on the left, the initial Random Selection dr applies to two “units”, the leader and the Concealed stack of half squads. If the dr selects the stack of half squads, make a second Random Selection among the three half squads. Recall from earlier, we only count only eligible targets to determine how many die to roll in this selection process.
Conclusion
Well that wraps up this article. I hope this helps you as you play your games. If you think this is a little more complex than it needs to be, I tend to agree but it does preserve the power of Concealment and cut down on player omniscience but at a cost of increased complexity, particularly when resolving SAN attacks. I would simplify it if I were in charge but alas I am not.
The link to the ASL discord server in the first paragraph is an invitation code. Stop by if you want to chat or participate in the community. I hope you all have a great week! Until next time.
Nice one, I have probably been playing this wrong for some time.
So if I get this correctly, and only count sniper attacks: having an important unit concealed in a stack with unconcealed units is not, by itself, protection against Sniper attacks. What does add protection is having the important unit concealed, with another concealed unit, and at least one unconcealed unit; that way, the Sniper has to “win” two times.
Also, in the case of ties in a random selection, the Sniper player gets to pick the target (and then reroll a SA dr for tied units). I assume the process applies in this “staged” selection process: if there is an unconcealed unit with one or more concealed units, and the RS results in a tie, the Sniper player picks between concealed and unconcealed, and if an attack is made on the concealed substack, then another RS is made, possibly with ties?
What you explain is how I would resolved ties. What is interesting (and I don’t know the answer to without looking) is does the player have to reveal all selected units BEFORE his opponent selects which unit to affect with the SAN. I would presume yes, but that is just an assumption.
You are correct. Ignoring ties. Image 2X counters Concealed and 1 Unconcealed. One of the Concealed counters is a leader. The odds of hitting the Concealed leader is .25 (.5 X .5). If everything is Unconcealed, the odds of hitting the leader is .33 (one in three). Ties muck this up some so the odds are probably a little narrower than that.
Never realised this Jim, thanks for pointing it out.
ASL Mindblown.
Again.
Thanks Jim.