The more I read, the more I realized ATS was the compromise I wanted between playability and depth.
I saw that the full game had a 60 page rulebook while still maintaining enough tactical detail. I saw they had a basic intro kit as well as an intermediate kit.
I looked into ATS, saw that every box was its own complete game. For a true ASLer, I understand that’s part of the appeal.
While I was listening to an ASL podcast from two fairly longterm players, I realized they spent a hell of a lot of time with their noses in the rulebooks or realizing after the fact that they forgot something. The starter kits may introduce you to the very basics of ASL, but that’s it. The starter kits feel like a great placement for the original Squad Leader, but jumping to ASL is still a monstrously huge jump. I think the same can be said of wanting to make the jump from ASL from the starter kits. Thought, what the hell, lets try some ASL and made the jump blindly. Squad Leader was great with its programmed instruction and I messed with that and Cross of Iron. Panzer Grenadier isn’t quite the right scale (but it’s rather easy to pick up for the grognard). After reading up on Lock and Load, I ruled it out. There are a ton of heated comparisons with ASL there.Īt the time I was making my decision, my choices felt like ASL, Squad Leader, Lock and Load, Panzer Grenadier, and Advanced Tobruk System (ATS). I am a little biased because this is the system I have chosen to learn (still learning it), so take what I say with a grain of salt and definitely check out BGG for more info.