Desperation Morale

Contact

  • World of ASL
  • Play Aids
  • Scenarios
  • ASL Museum
  • Misc
  • Blog
Home > Products > Red Barricades

01.1990 Red Barricades

Alternative Titles/Edition History:
1st Edition, 1990; 2nd Edition (included in 2nd Edition Beyond Valor), 2001; 3rd Edition (as Red Factories), 2019

Publisher/Date:
Avalon Hill (1st Edition, 1990); MMP (2nd Edition, 2001; 3rd [Red Factories] Edition, 2019)

Product Type:
HASL/Historical Module

Country of Origin:
U.S.A.

Contents:
1st Edition: 2 historical maps; 2 countersheets; 7 scenarios; rules (Chapter O); Chapter O divider

2nd Edition: Above plus Beyond Valor contents

3rd "Red Factories" Edition:  See entry on Red Factories.

Commentary:

Avalon Hill broke new ground in 1990 with the release of the first “historical” ASL module, Red Barricades (RB).  This experiment, designed by Charlie Kibler (one of the most important innovators in ASL), easily answered the question “where can ASL go after all the core modules are completed?”  Red Barricades leaves the generic geomorphic mapboards behind and takes players directly to the rubble-strewn streets of Stalingrad.  A huge, incredibly detailed 2-sheet map, derived from aerial photographs, depicts the actual terrain of the area of Stalingrad surrounding the Red Barricades factory.  The seven included scenarios allow players to move and fight in the historical Stalingrad, though somewhat stylized.  One of the scenarios, “The Last Bid,” is a true monster scenario.

If this weren’t enough, Kibler also introduced a new way to play ASL:  the campaign game (Red Barricades includes three).  Campaign games are a series of linked scenarios; each new scenario takes place where the previous scenario left off.  Although players can purchase a variety of reinforcements, they primarily fight with the forces left over from the previous scenarios, introducing an element of conservation of forces largely absent in ASL.  The campaign games allowed ASLers to experience an entirely new level of strategic thinking; the largest Red Barricades campaign game includes 30 campaign dates, and even though most campaign games are decided before the final date, a Red Barricades campaign game can take months to play and is highly suitable for team play.

It may not be too much of an exaggeration to say that Red Barricades has been the most popular ASL module ever.  There are a number of ASLers who play Red Barricades campaign games over and over, rarely venturing into other areas of ASL.  Even people not so fanatic about campaign games will surely appreciate what they have to offer.

If Red Barricades has a flaw, it is that its campaign games play fast and loose with history.  It is hard to reconcile the forces available to the players with the actual units fighting in the area at the time.  Later HASL modules had more attention to historical detail (some would argue, with correspondingly less attention to quality of play).

A 2nd Edition of Red Barricades (with little substantive change other than the incorporation of some errata and a change to a slightly larger font size) was incorporated into the 2nd Edition of Beyond Valor.  However, it was NOT incorporated into the 3rd Edition of Beyond Valor.

Red Barricades is out of print, sadly but probably not permanently.  Charlie Kibler is working on a sequel to the game, which can be played separately or mated with Red Barricades to form a humongous section of Stalingrad.  It would not be surprising if Red Barricades were reprinted to coincide with the release of the sequel, or shortly thereafter.  Many newer ASLers will be eagerly awaiting its reprinting.

2019 Update:  In 2019, MMP finally re-released Red Barricades as part of Red Factories, the sequel module referred to above.  Please see the Red Factories/Red October entry for this edition and, presumably, any future editions.

Back to Top

Tagged: Campaign Game(s), City-Fighting, DM High Recommendation, East Front-oriented, Historical Map(s), Monster Historical Scenario, Official Rules Pages, Red Barricades materials, Stalingrad

Leave A Reply Cancel reply

Search Site

All Categories

  • ASL Newsletters
    • Newsletters with Scenarios
    • Newsletters without Scenarios
  • Avalon Hill Products
  • MMP Products
    • Unofficial Periodicals
  • Official Publishers (Avalon Hill & MMP)
    • "Core" Modules
    • Accessories
    • Foreign Language ASL
    • Miniatures
    • Non-WWII Expansion Modules
    • Official ASL Starter Kit Products
    • Official DASL Modules
    • Official Historical Modules
    • Official Mini-Scenario/Map Pack
    • Official Periodicals
    • Official Rulebooks
    • Official Scenario & Scenario/Map Packs
    • Official Software & On-Line Products
    • Official Solitaire ASL (SASL)
  • Third Party Publishers
    • Abdicated Despot Company
      • Periodicals
    • Action Terrain
      • Accessories
    • Advancing Fire
      • Historical Modules
    • ASL Cards
      • Accessories
    • ASL News
      • Periodicals
    • ASL Sweden
      • Periodicals
    • Battleschool
      • Accessories
    • Bill Wilder/First to Fight Variants
      • Counter Supplement
      • Scenario Packs
      • Solitaire Rules
    • Bounding Fire Productions
      • Historical Modules
      • Scenario & Scenario/Map Packs
    • Break Contact
      • Scenario Packs
    • Broken Ground Design
      • Counter Sets
      • Mini-Scenario/Map Packs
    • Countersmith Workshop
      • Accessories
    • Critical Hit
      • Accessories
      • Campaign Games
      • Counter Packs/Counter Sets
      • Historical Modules
      • Map Packs (no scenarios)
      • Periodicals
      • Rulebooks
      • Scenario & Scenario/Map Packs
    • Dare-Death
      • Periodicals
    • Derek Ritter
      • Accessories
    • Desperation Morale
      • Manuals
    • EastSide Gamers
      • Scenario Packs
      • Zombie Stuff
    • ELR
      • Scenario Packs
    • Encircled Productions/Kansas City Irregular ASLers
      • Scenario Packs
    • Fanatic Enterprises
      • Accessories
      • Scenario & Scenario/Map Packs
    • Flying Pig Games
      • Periodicals
    • Friendly Fire
      • Friendly Fire Scenario Packs
    • Front Line Productions
      • Historical Modules
    • Heat of Battle
      • Historical Modules
      • Periodicals
      • Scenario & Scenario/Map Packs
    • JagerSoft Games LLC
      • Historical Modules
    • Kinetic Energy
      • Counter Pack
      • Periodicals
      • Scenario Packs
    • Le Franc Tireur
      • Accessories
      • Historical Modules
      • Periodicals
      • Scenario & Scenario/Map Packs
    • Lone Canuck Publishing
      • Historical Modules
      • Scenario Packs
    • Minden Games
      • Rulebooks
    • Mister T
      • Accessories
    • New England Volunteers
      • Scenario Packs
    • New England Volunteers & Yankee ASL
      • Scenario Packs
    • North Texas ASL
      • Scenario Packs
    • Panzer Press
      • Scenario Packs
    • Partisan Publishing
      • Scenario Packs
    • Sherry Enterprises (Schwerpunkt)
      • Periodicals
      • Scenario Packs
    • Southern California ASL Club
      • Periodicals
      • Scenario Packs
    • Southern Cross
      • Scenario Packs
    • Stavka Archives
      • Scenario Packs
    • Struijf-Mazzei (Death to Fascism)
      • Scenario Packs
    • Swedish Volunteers
      • Scenario Pack
    • Tactiques
      • Periodicals
    • Taktyka I Strategia
      • Periodicals
    • Texas ASL Club
      • Periodicals
      • Scenario Packs
    • The Tactical Wargamer
      • Periodicals
    • View from the Trenches
      • Campaign Games
      • Periodicals
      • Scenario Packs
    • War-Oboe Publications
      • Scenario Packs
    • Windy City Wargamers
      • Periodicals
      • Scenario Packs
    • Winnipeg ASL Club
      • Periodicals
      • Scenario Packs
  • Wargaming Magazines with ASL Scenarios

All Tags

  • A Bridge Too Far material
  • Action Pack
  • Advanced
  • Afrika Korps Series
  • AFV Cards
  • Airdrop/Glider
  • Alternative Counter Color Scheme
  • Alternative Map System
  • Alternative Rules System
  • Alternative Use of HASL Map
  • Amphibious
  • Arab-Israeli Wars
  • ASLSK
  • Battle of the Bulge
  • Blood Reef Tarawa materials
  • Bonus Pack
  • Burma
  • Campaign Game(s)
  • Chaco War
  • Chapter H Pages
  • Chinese Civil War
  • Chinese-language
  • City-Fighting
  • CONSUMER ALERT
  • Contains material for Hatten in Flames
  • Counterfactual/Fictional Scenario(s)
  • Critical Hit Normandy Series
  • CWASL
  • DASL
  • DASL Boards
  • Desert War: 1941 series
  • Desert-Oriented
  • Design-Your-Own
  • Dice
  • Digital
  • DM High Recommendation
  • Downloadable
  • Dutch-language
  • East Front-oriented
  • Exceedingly Rare Shit
  • Extra Stuff for 3rd Party HASL
  • Extra Stuff for Official HASL
  • Extra-Large Counters
  • Festung Budapest materials
  • Fog of War Scenarios
  • France 1940
  • French Language
  • Gary-style geoboards
  • Genesis III series
  • Geoboard Campaign Game(s)
  • God Save the King materials
  • GWASL
  • historical
  • Historical Map(s)
  • Indochina-Vietnam Wars
  • Introductory
  • Irish Wars
  • Italian-language
  • Italo-Ethiopian War
  • Japanese-language
  • Kakazu Ridge materials
  • Kampfgruppe Peiper materials
  • King of the Hill materials
  • Korean War
  • Kursk
  • Linked-Scenario Campaign Game
  • Magazine
  • Manuals
  • Market-Garden
  • mini-HASL
  • Miniatures
  • Misc Conflicts 1920-1929
  • Misc Conflicts 1930-1939
  • Misc Conflicts 1941-1955
  • Misc Conflicts 1956+
  • Misc Conflicts Pre-1920
  • Module-Specific Manual/Guide
  • Monster Historical Scenario
  • Monster Product
  • Newsletter
  • Nhpum Ga materials
  • Nomanhan
  • Non-DASL Large Hex Map/Board
  • Non-Geomorphic Generic Maps
  • Non-historical/contemporary map
  • Nonstandard Geoboards
  • Normandy
  • Official Geoboards
  • Official Overlays
  • Official Rules Pages
  • Operation Veritable materials
  • Operational Subsystem
  • Partially-geomorphic board(s)
  • PBDYO
  • Pegasus Bridge materials
  • Platoon Leader Campaign Game(s)
  • Polish-language
  • Postwar Anti-communist Partisans
  • PTO-Oriented
  • Rare Vehicles
  • Recon Leader
  • Red Barricades materials
  • Requires GWASL components
  • Russian Civil War
  • Russo-Polish War
  • SASL
  • Satire
  • Software
  • Spanish Civil War
  • Spanish-language
  • Squad Leader Scenario Conversions
  • Stalingrad
  • Strategy Manual
  • Third Party Counters (Not CH)
  • Third Party Geoboard(s)
  • Third Party Overlay(s)
  • Three Player Scenario
  • To the Volga series
  • Tournament Friendly
  • Tournament Prize Pack
  • Unit Study
  • Uses ASLN1 Geoboard from ASL News
  • uses aslsk
  • Uses ASLSK geoboard(s)
  • Uses Berlin Fall of the Third Reich Components
  • Uses Beyond the Beachhead 2 boards
  • Uses Beyond the Beachhead 2 rules
  • Uses Beyond the Beachhead components
  • Uses BFP A geoboard from Into the Rubble
  • Uses BFP H geoboard from High Ground 2
  • Uses BFP I geoboard from High Ground 2
  • Uses BFP J geoboard from High Ground 2
  • Uses BFP M geoboard from Crucible of Steel
  • Uses BFP N geoboard from Crucible of Steel
  • Uses BFP-B geoboard from Into the Rubble
  • Uses Blitzkrieg in the West: North Campaign components
  • Uses Blood and Jungle counters
  • Uses CH W# Boards from Fire and Ice
  • Uses CH1 geoboard from Gembloux II
  • Uses CH2 geoboard from A Few Rare Men
  • Uses Chosin/Chosin Few Components
  • Uses components from Forgotten War
  • Uses Components from Kampfgruppe Scherer
  • Uses components from Poland in Flames
  • Uses counters from Poland in Flames
  • Uses Critical Hit Afrika Korps Map(s)
  • Uses DASL geoboards from LFT's Deluxe Pack #1
  • Uses Desert War: 1941 components
  • Uses DW-1a/1b geoboard(s) from Blood and Jungle
  • Uses FE1 geoboard from Budapest Pack
  • Uses Festung Budapest map
  • Uses Festung Budapest rules
  • Uses Finland at War Counters
  • Uses Forgotten War components
  • Uses Friendly Fire Geoboard
  • Uses geoboards from Blood and Jungle
  • Uses geoboards from Crucible of Steel
  • Uses geoboards from Deluxe Pack #1
  • Uses geoboards from High Ground 2
  • Uses geoboards from Into the Rubble
  • Uses geoboards from Into the Rubble 2
  • Uses Guerra Civil Components
  • Uses High Ground geoboard(s)
  • Uses Into the Rubble overlays
  • Uses Into the Rubble rules
  • Uses Kampfgruppe Peiper I Map
  • Uses Kampfgruppe Peiper II Map
  • Uses Kampfgruppe Peiper rules
  • Uses Kursk: Devil's Domain maps
  • Uses LFT1 geoboard from LFT11
  • Uses LFT2 geoboard from LFT12
  • Uses Nhpum Ga map
  • Uses Operation Cobra counters
  • Uses Operation Merkur components
  • Uses Operation Veritable map
  • Uses Pegasus Bridge map
  • Uses Pegasus Bridge rules
  • Uses Recon by Fire #4 counters
  • Uses Red Barricades map
  • Uses Red Barricades rules
  • Uses Red October/Red Factories components
  • Uses SCW2 geoboard from Condor Legions
  • Uses Special Forces! counters
  • Uses St. Nazaire map from St. Nazaire
  • Uses Swedish Volunteers components
  • Uses Sweet 16 geoboards from CH
  • Uses Sweet 16 Winter geoboards from CH
  • Uses Total Axis Pack I Components
  • uses Valor of the Guards counters
  • Uses Valor of the Guards map
  • Uses Valor of the Guards rules
  • Valor of the Guards materials
  • winterized
  • Winterized Boards/Maps
  • Zombies

World of ASL

  • World of ASL Main Page
  • This Year's Releases
  • Avalon Hill Products
  • MMP Products
  • Third Party Publishers (all)
  • Recommended

Play Aids

  • Mini-IFT and Setup Sheets
  • Reminders/Checklists
  • Terrain Related
  • Subject Specific
  • HASL Aids
  • AFV Aids
  • SW Aids
  • OBA Decks
  • Sniper Reminders
  • Contributor Section

Scenarios

  • WCW Scenario Pack
  • Michicon Scenarios
  • Tactiques Scenarios
  • Southern Cross Scenarios
  • Gun Duel Scenarios
  • Sir Roger Mercenario

ASL Museum

  • Dice Towers/Cups
  • Rulebooks
  • Counter Storage
  • Play Aids
  • Clothing
  • Mapboards
  • Miniatures
  • Prizes/Trophies
  • Travel Kits
  • Misc.

Misc

  • About this Site
  • Scenario Designers Guide

Blog

  • Quality in ASL: A Reconnaissance in Force
  • ASL and the Pandemic: Social Responsibility and Board Wargaming
  • ASL Gear and the Systainer System: An Introduction
  • The Top 20 ASL Communities by Country
  • World of ASL major update

Contact

  • I welcome all comments & feedback.