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.