03.2025 ASL March Madness 2025 Scenario Pack: Snake Eyes

Alternative Titles/Edition History:
aka March Madness 2025 Tournament Pack I

Publisher/Date:
Encircled Productions (2025)

Product Type:
Scenario Pack

Country of Origin:
United States

Contents:
6 scenarios on cardstock

Commentary:

The Snake Eyes pack is the 15th scenario pack put out by what is now Encircled Productions (Dan Best, Dave Mareska, Paul Works) in conjunction with the March Madness ASL tournament in Kansas City; certainly an achievement in stick-to-it-iveness.  According to the designer notes in this product, though, that long continuous run will be interrupted, as they do not plan to release a March Madness pack in 2026 so that they can concentrate on finishing an ASL “World War I module.”  Desperation Morale takes a dim view on trying to use ASL rules to simulate the quite different combat of World War I (where only a couple of countries very late in the war had tactical doctrines, practices and organization similar to those of the World War II era).

The March Madness packs typically are patterned around a theme, either subject matter-oriented or otherwise, and this one is no different.  This pack is an otherwise pack.  The theme for the 2025 pack is tournament-suitable scenarios; the pack consists of 6 such actions (making it smaller than most other March Madness packs).  Encircled Productions is refreshingly open about the reasons why they decided on this theme: 1) they realized their packs tended to have quite large and involved scenarios (something Desperation Morale has remarked upon); 2) large scenarios were more difficult to find playtesters for; and 3) to quote them, “Our editing process suffered with last year’s pack…with us making several glaring [errors] that should have been caught.”  It is nice to see an ASL publisher owning up to shortcomings (which doesn’t happen often).

With this pack, according to its publishers, “the scenarios…play quickly, the force sizes are limited, overlays are needed in only one scenario, and few SSRs are used.”

This is a good thing; there has been a trend in recent ASL products towards large, even unwieldy scenarios, often additionally laden with bulky SSRs and complicated victory conditions.  While such scenarios may themselves be quite good, they require more time and effort simply to play, and that is a burden on players.  Some scenarios like that are great, but when the proportion of such scenarios out there becomes too high (either in a single product or generally among all recent releases), playing ASL can seem a bit more like work than recreation.  Ideally, “beer and pretzel” ASL scenarios should proliferate as well.  Look for an upcoming Desperation Morale rant opinion piece on this subject.

The scenarios are a mixed bag of actions from different theaters and periods.  Included are:

• MM98 (Hucisko Ambush). Poland 1940 (Poles vs. Germans). 7.5 turns (!). Uses ASLSK boards u and o.  Small.  Depicts a German attempt to eliminate a group of Polish Army holdouts who refused to surrender in 1939.  Both sides have the possibility of immediate wins.
• MM99 (Harckocsi Assault). Soviet Union 1941 (Soviets vs. Hungarians). 5.5 turns. Uses board 66. Small. Twelve Hungarian squads with 5 AFVs have to kick a group of 8 Soviet squads with an AT gun off of Level 2 hexes.
• MM100 (A Limited Offensive). Soviet Union 1942 (Soviets vs. Germans). 4.5 turns. Uses boards 42 and 75. Small. Depicts a slice of the endless fighting around Rzhev in 1942, with 6 German squads, along with 4 tanks and 2 halftracks, attacking 7 Soviet squads with an 82mm MTR. The Germans primarily have exit-related victory conditions.
• MM101 (Makin Crossfire). Makin Atoll 1943 (Americans vs. Japanese). 5.5 turns. Uses board 37. Small. A lot of ASL publishers seem tempted to extract an action from this minor Pacific action. This version features 7 (seemingly overrated) U.S. squads with two Stuarts attacking 5 Japanese squads with fortifications. The Americans win by getting 30 VP, with VPs given for almost anything.
• MM102 (Villa des Verges). Italy 1944 (Canadians vs. Germans). 6.5 turns. Uses boards 5a, 11a, and ASLSK board v. Medium-sized. The Canadians have 12 squads and 3 AFVs (and a bit of OBA) with which to attack 5 well-armed German squads with an AT gun, fortifications, and a reinforcing Tiger tank. The Canadians must get more VP than the Germans, with VPs given for a bunch of things.
• MM103 (Return to Noville). Belgium 1945 (Americans vs. Germans). 6.5 turns. Uses boards 17z and 70. Medium-sized. In this late-Bulge scenario, a powerful elite U.S. combined arms force (inc. 12 squads and 4 AFVs) attacks 9 German squads with 2 tanks and 2 halftracks. Seems a bit unwieldy to be a tournament scenario.

 

Like previous March Madness packs, this one features a primarily black-and-white design (with color used only for a few things like nationality/unit graphics next to OB forces).  There is no map artwork on the scenario cards, nor any counter artwork.  AFVs are identified solely by vehicle name, with no gun sizes, MPs, MGs, or Vehicle Notes to help identify them.  Guns have gun name, caliber, and gun type.  Nothing has really changed in 15 years; it’s about time for a design upgrade.

It will be interesting to see if the emphasis on smaller, more playable scenarios results in more playings on ROAR, although as of this writing it does not even appear in the ROAR database (which has not been great in keeping up-to-date with new ASL products in recent years).  It would be nice to see other ASL producers emulate this attempt to get some quick-playing ASL fare on the table.

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