One of them is the Friendly Fire ASL Tournament, held each year in Linköping, Sweden, a small city about 120 miles southwest of Stockholm.  In 2005, the organizers of this tournament surprised the ASL world by suddenly starting to publish original material.  The surprise turned out to be a pleasant one.  Each year since then, Mattias Rönnblom and Martin Svärd have put out a pack each year, which have been well received by the ASL audience and have created a reputation for themselves of containing interesting and well-balanced scenarios.

Commentary:  The Friendly Fire Pack 1 (FF1) was a small pack of tournament-sized scenariös most of which were originally designed for use at the Friendly Fire ASL tournament in Linköping, Sweden (one scenariö was used in the 2003 tournament, while five others were used in the 2005 tournament; the remaining two were apparently designed for the scenariö pack itself).  The scenariös were designed by Mattias Rönnblom and Martin Svärd.  Because the Friendly Fire ASL Tournament is a rather small affair (only 16 players in 2005), the pack's practical, as opposed to technical, debut was shortly thereafter at ASL Oktoberfest (ASLOK), the world's largest ASL convention, held each year in Cleveland, Ohio.  A number of Scandinavians attended, including Rönnblom, and they brought the scenariö pack with them, where it was met with considerable fanfare.  That week, Friendly Fire scenariös were highly visible among the ASLers gathered in Cleveland. 

The Friendly Fire pack is quite well done.  Technically, it is in "color," although the only places where colors appear are underneath counters (as per official artwork) and in national flags (one wonders why they didn't go all the way and color the counters as well).  Although the pack is of Swedish origin, all the text is in English, and the editing, punctuation, grammar, spelling, and syntax is superior to the majority of ASL products published in the United States.  In the Schwerpunkt tradition, historical sources are offered for each scenariö as well.  The physical presentation is quite impressive.

The scenariös themselves are billed as tournament sized, though some of them seem too large for convenient tournament play.  Three of the scenariös are small, two more are medium-sized, while three can be considered large.    The actions portrayed range widely:  Spain 1937, Poland 1939, Finland 1940 (with Swedes, naturally), Soviet Union 1941, Soviet Union 1942 (featuring Italians), Soviet Union 1943, France 1944 and France 1945 (Operation Nordwind). 

In general, the scenariös are quite good.  Several feature interesting situations or fun units.  FrF2 (Maczek Fire Brigade), for example, is a fun Polish-German early war armor clash (the novelty value has helped make it the most popular Friendly Fire scenariö).  One of the most fun scenariös is FrF8 (Second Thoughts), which pits a determined SS force against a not always determined US attack.  Despite its small size, there are options for both sides and the scenariö is quite replayable. 

Overall, the pack is of high quality and a worthy addition to any ASL collection. 

Commentary:   Friendly Fire Pack 2 is the second publication released in conjunction with the Friendly Fire ASL tournament, held each September in sunny Linköping, Sweden.  The first Friendly Fire Pack was a very well-received publication, consisting of well-balanced tournament sized scenariös that were fun to play.  As a result, many people looked forward to the release of the sophomore Friendly Fire effort.

Like its predecessor, Friendly Fire Pack 2 consists of 8 unthemed scenariös printed on cardstock in black and white (although there is red numbering and colored nationality symbols).  All scenarios were designed by either Martin Svärd or Mattias Rönnblum.  The scenarios are mostly small to medium-sized, designed for tournament play, although FrF10 (Assault on Wielki Dział) is a massive 1941 East Front action.  Other scenariös take place in France 1940, Russia 1942 (3 scenarios), Sicily 1943, and eastern Germany 1945 (2).  In two scenariö packs, the Swedes have yet to visit the PTO or the desert. 

In its American debut at ASLOK 2006, the most popular scenariös seemed to be FrF14 (Patton Breaks Loose), although FrF11 (Rostov Redemption), FrF12 (The Fields of Black Gold), and FrF15 (Kampfgruppe 1001 Nacht) all saw a fair amount of play.  The latter scenariö, though seemingly balanced, offers a very gamey situation.  It features a variety of late war Soviet AFVs with strong frontal armor trying to exit 4 AFVs down the long end of a mapboard.  Because the defending Germans cannot easily penetrate the Soviets' frontal armor, their setup will feature many units positioned unrealistically "backwards," so that they can get rear shots at the Soviet vehicles. 

Overall, however, it seems to be another quality effort by the Friendly Fire duo of Martin and Mattias.  It is worth noting that the scenariö cards feature better writing and proofreading than most third party ASL products published by people for whom English is their native language.  It is well worth getting.

Commentary:   The "action packed scenarios" of Friendly Fire Pack 3 follow the formula that the Friendly Firers established in 2005:  8 varied scenarios (no themes), well playtested and mostly of tournament-suitable size.  The look and layout of the scenario cards is the same as in previous packs, as is the attention to proofreading (sadly lacking among far too many third party publishers).

The one innovation that Friendly Fire Pack 3 introduces is the inclusion of a new counter for a German anti-tank gun, the PaK 41, which appears in one of the scenarios.  The creators made a limited number of hand-made mounted versions of these counters, which were given or sold to a small number of people, but most copies of the scenario pack will not have them.  Players must rely on pictures of the counter for the counter details, or must create their own.

In this third scenario pack, the Friendly Firers finally reach out to include the Japanese, including a 1937 Sino-Japanese War scenario, FrF17 (The Marco Polo Bridge Incident), and a 1945 Russo-Japanese action in Korea in the last days of the war, FrF24 (Forging Spetznaz).  The latter features the equivalent of Soviet commandos, and has a very interesting tactical situation with divided Soviet forces sandwiching a Japanese force, plus a Japanese counterattack. 

FrF18 (Through Fire and Ice) pits Soviets against Finns near the end of the Winter War in 1940. The remaining 5 scenarios, however, are all East Front actions.  FrF20 (Adolf's Amateurs) features what may be the poorest quality SS troops in any ASL scenario.  FrF22 (Wunderwaffe) is the scenario with the 2 PaK 41s, a rare German AT gun that had a tapered bore and has a TK# of 24.  This scenario is also the largest scenario in the pack (14 Soviet squads and 7 tanks attacking 11 German squads, 2 AFVs, and 2 AT guns).  All the scenarios in Friendly Fire Pack 3 are playable in a tournament environment.

Overall, Friendly Fire Pack 3 seems to be just as good a value as its predecessors and is well worth getting.

Commentary:   In just a few years, the Friendly Fire Pack series of scenarios have vaulted to the forefront of the "must get" scenario packs of the ASL world, achieving a very high reputation for quality, historicity, playability, and even proofreadability alike.  In other words, Friendly Fire Packs have become synonymous with quality and that's high praise.  If that doesn't get us free product, nothing will (Editor's Note, 2009:  alas, it did not get us free product).

As Friendly Fire's reputation has grown, so too has grown the number of people interesting in working with them or helping them.  "Proudly produced in a whole bunch of countries," announces the Friendly Fire cover sheet, and they are right.  Although the two main honchos remain Mattias Rönnblom and Martin Svärd, there are more scenario designers and a whole host of new playtesters from several continents.

As with previous packs, Friendly Fire Pack 4 (FF4) contains a mixed bag of scenarios:  Poles vs. Germans (Poland 1939), Japanese vs. Soviets (Manchuria 1939), Poles vs. Soviets (Poland 1939), French vs. Germans (Luxembourg 1940), Italians vs. Canadians (Sicily 1943), Germans vs. Soviets (USSR 1944, Poland 1944, Germany 1945), Greek/New Zealanders vs. Germans (Italy 1944), and Finns vs. Germans (Finland 1944).

Because the pack is released annually at a Swedish ASL tournament, a number of the scenarios are suitable for tournament play.  Overall, the scenarios are a good mix of small, medium, and larger sizes, with none of the scenarios being particularly large.  One scenario uses some Desert rules, and two scenarios use OBA.  One scenario, FrF26 (A Polish Requiem), uses ASLSK board t.  Most of the scenarios have overlays.

Several scenarios spark interest.  FrF25 (Yasuoka's Tank Experience), a Japanese-Soviet clash on the Manchurian border, offers the novelty of Japanese-Soviet action as well as a manageably sized Manchurian scenario.  FrF26 (A Polish Requiem) is a nicely balanced early war combined arms action with victory conditions that can add suspense to the last couple of turns.  FrF29 (Sting of the Italian Hornet) is a meaty and balanced scenario despite a 1 ELR for the Italians!  It is one of a number of good scenarios involving Italians that have been released in the past few years.  FrF30 (Bidermann's Escape) is a tiny, balanced scenario that can be played very quickly. 

FF4 is a product with great play value and belongs in the scenario collection of all ASLers.

Commentary:   Half a decade since their debut, the reputation of the Friendly Fire scenario packs is perhaps second to none.  Though Friendly Fire's scope is limited--it doesn't do maps or counters or HASLs, just geomorphic map scenarios--what it does choose to do, it does very well.  Each year, hardcore ASLers eagerly look forward to a new batch of scenarios by the Friendly Fire brain trust.  The two main Swedish noodles are, as they have been all along, Mattias Rönnblom and Martin Svärd, but in this edition there are also scenarios designed by Chris Mazzei and Peter Struijf.  The playtesting and proofreading has been done by an international cavalcade of characters.

The scenarios are printed on 5 glossy pieces of cardstock (European-sized), without counter artwork.  For attendees at the ASLOK ASL tournament (and presumably the Friendly Fire tournament in Sweden as well), the Friendly Fire producers created a "freebie" counter of a rare AFV that appears on one of the scenarios.  These homemade counters are attractive, but unavailable unless one obtains one by finding and purchasing a used copy originally purchased at one of those tournaments.  In other words, ordered copies of the pack do not come with the bonus counter (and no, they don't have extra counters left over, so don't bother to ask).

As before, the Friendly Fire scenarios feature a wide variety of actions (though, also as before, the PTO tends to get short shrift).  This time around, scenarios include Finns vs. Soviets (Finland 1940), Polish partisans vs. Soviets (Poland 1940), Indians vs. Japanese (Burma 1942), Germans vs. Soviets (Soviet Union 1943, Soviet Union 1944, Poland 1945, and Berlin, Germany, 1945), Americans vs. Germans (Sicily 1943), Soviets vs. Rumanians (Rumania 1944), and Bulgarians vs. Germans (Hungary 1945).  The emphasis in Friendly Fire Pack 5 is overwhelmingly on East Front action.

Most of the scenarios are medium-sized, with a few small and large ones thrown in to round them out.  There are no scenarios that use OBA, Air Support, or Night Rules.  Two scenarios, FrF40 (Sporck's Eleven) and FrF43 (Forest Devil) use ASLSK board u. 

One of the scenarios, FrF5 (Skiing in Laponia) features a truly unusual play situation.  The scenario has two separate boards, which represent separate playing areas.  In this Finnish-Soviet scenario, the goal of the Soviets is establish a link-up between a group of four squads and one of two separate forces (one on each of the two boards).  The Finns must divide their forces between the boards and an off-board reserve.  However, when the Soviet four-squad group enters the playing area (all on one board), play is discontinued on the other board.  Thus the Soviet player can attempt to judge which board he is more likely to experience success with, and "negate" the other board.

Some of the other scenarios are also interesting, for various reasons.  FrF37 (Crossing Swords at Kyaukse) is a fast playing, tournament sized PTO scenario.  FrF41 (Romania Mare) is a rare late-war Rumanian counter-attack against the Soviets (with armor support); early results seem to favor the Soviets.  FrF42 (Kiss of Fury) is as odd as its name, featuring what is essentially a German half-track attack against a small Soviet force.  It may have novelty value.  FrF44 (Anhalt Pandemonium), a late war tournament-sized combined arms city fight, is likely to prove quite popular, if balanced.

Friendly Fire Pack 5 is another quality product that ASLers will enjoy.