Coming Soon:

Inor Player’s Guide

The definitive French Campaign game produced by Le Franc Tireur is back featuring 56 pages of goodness including the Blitz at the Albert Canal, 12 new scenarios and a brand new Campaign Game. The logistics getting this into the country is quite incredible as DHL and UPS have stopped shipping to the United States so I will be making a 2,000 mile round trip to Canada to pick up the goodies for you sometime in mid October. I will release more content and samples as they become available to us.

Green Hell of Inor and Player’s Guide combo Super Sale:

New Since We Last Spoke:

Pocket Historical Rulebook

Now all your historical rules (Campaign Game Rules) can be found in one place. When it arrived I was shocked to see how thick the book was. Easily the biggest of the three pocket books. Even though our margin on these is half of other MMP products, I am offering them for a limited time at 10% off with free shipping. Be kind and throw something in the basket with it if you find something else that interests you.

Included are:

Chapter O (RED FACTORIES);

Chapter P (KAMPFGRUPPE PEIPER I and II);

Chapter Q (PEGASUS BRIDGE);

Chapter R (A BRIDGE TOO FAR);

Chapter T (BLOOD REEF: TARAWA);

Chapter V (VALOR OF THE GUARDS);

Chapter FB (FESTUNG BUDAPEST);

Chapter DN (DINANT);

Chapter HF (HATTEN IN FLAMES);

Chapter SF (SWORD AND FIRE: MANILA);

Chapter SM (DROP ZONE: STE-MÈRE-ÉGLISE);

Chapter SaP (SLAUGHTER AT PONYRI);

Chapter CdP (DROP ZONE: CHEF-du-PONT);

Chapter Z (KAKAZU RIDGE, EDSON’S RIDGE, RILEY’S ROAD, PRIMOSOLE BRIDGE, SINGLING, SUICIDE CREEK, SAND AND BLOOD, SWEDISH VOLUNTEERS, SPARROW FORCE, plus HELL’S CORNER)

Drop Zone: Chef du-Pont

Great unboxing video from The Scouting Report:

DROP-ZONE: CHEF-du-PONT (DZ: CdP) is a Historical Advanced Squad Leader (HASL) module covering the first three days of the battles around the important Norman bridge at Chef-du-Pont and the heights of Hill 30. Itis the second in a series exploring Airborne operations on D-Day and shortly thereafter in Normandy as part of Operation OVERLORD. It focuses on the key actions to control the bridge across the Merderet River just west of the French village of Chef-du-Pont, whose capture was assigned to the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR). Matched against the Americans were the German infantry of Grenadier-Regiment 1057, Luftlande-Infanterie-Division 91, assisted at times by the re-purposed French armor of Panzer-Ersatz-Abteilung 100.

DROP-ZONE: CHEF-du-PONT comes with an historically accurate map of the town of Chef-du-Pont and its surrounding environs jointly crafted by designer Ken Dunn and artist Charlie Kibler. There are six individual scenarios each recreating a portion of the battle, as well as a Campaign Game of the full three-day battle.

DZ: CdP follows in the footsteps of the successful DROP-ZONE: SAINTE-MÉRE-ÈGLISE (which is not required to play DZ: CdP), but it is a much different experience. It is much more compact, with only one mapsheet, one simplified Campaign Game, and no new counters (and no cows). It requires no box and is much easier to access. Slope rules (from earlier HASL modules) are introduced, but their use is limited, and a comprehensive LOS Example of how slopes interact with bocage on the historical map is included. The only other ASL modules needed to play are BEYOND VALOR and YANKS.

Contents:

• 1 22″ x 34″ Map Sheet
• 6 Scenarios
• Campaign Game
• 1 Chapter CdP
• 1 Chapter Divider

ADVANCING FIRE Teaser:

Although I am not allowed to spell it out, something incredible is just around the corner (hopefully landed before the end of the year) and I can honestly say it is even better than 45 bowls of cold goulash (send in code-breakers here).

Supply Chain Problems:

To say that getting shipments in from our overseas suppliers is chaotic is an understatement. That being said, I will be picking up the restock of LFT10 as well as Green Hell of Inor along with the Inor Player’s guide in early October in Canada if all goes well. This will be our first products that arrive with possible new tariffs so the price of LFT, Advancing Fire, Lone Canuck Publishing may have a proportionate increase. In the meantime, the price of in-stock inventory will remain the same. I thank you all for your patience and understanding.

Puzzle #127

Super simple puzzle here… What does the mortar need to hit and at least Immobilize the PzIB. Grain is in season and LOS does cross the Grain artwork in 5 separate hexes (Q5, V5, W5, W6, X5 of Board 4). The British Crew is CX, the Range is 17, and the PzIB is in Motion in Bypass of J4 .

Solution to Puzzle #126

In order for the America player to win, he must find another 2 VP and not have any of his Infantry eliminated in the last Player Turn (US) of the game. Although extremely unlikely, the way this could be done is to voluntarily Break all 3 remaining units and Rout them all to E10 as this is both out of LOS of all German units for safety and Self Rally one of the Crews hoping for a 2 followed by a 1 or 2 on the Leader creation table (8-1 Leader for 2 CVP). Of course there is no reason to try to Self Rally the other two units as Leader Creation only occurs during the first Self Rally attempt of a turn and a 12 would Eliminate the unit.

Beyond Valor has returned to our shelves and we are giving $20 off and free shipping for a limited time.

Beyond Valor

At the Printers:

LFT’s second instalment in the Perimeter Series, Task Force Faith will be hitting the shelves in a bout a month with 11 new scenarios and a new 2 sheet Historical map depicting the Chosin Reservoir campaign.

If you missed the first part to the Perimeter Series included in FTC 10, you can pick up both of these fine products at a reduced rate and before the tariffs kick in.

https://ritterkrieg.com/product/basic-training-starter-kit-magazine/ASL Starter Kit Basic Training Magazine

Hi everyone, as of April 22nd, Ponyri has arrived here and shipping. Amidst still more bugs in the system, all the pre-orders for Ponyri were flagged ‘completed’ without sending anyone an invoice. I kindly request one more time that anyone with a pre-order for Ponyri disregard your pre-order and order the product from the link below instead. As your new order comes in we are deleting your original pre-order from our system. The cost remains at the pre-order price and will be honored now and forever at the promised price for all those that were waiting on this fine product. For those who have yet to order Ponyri, we are still offering it at the reduced price for a few more days. NOTE: If you have already paid for Ponyri, do not order it again as this notice does not apply to you. If you are unsure if you paid for it or not or if you have any other questions, please call me at 336-462-4035 from 10am – 9pm EST any day of the week and I will check for you. Thank you for your understanding and again, my sincerest apologies, Derek

Slaughter At Ponyri – MMP | HomePage

We are currently facing a firewall issue regarding our Mannerheim crossing pre-orders that has caused the orders to be marked as completed all though we have not sent invoices or received the game to ship

If you have placed a pre-order for this game we ask that you re-place the order (still at pre-order cost).

Mannerheim Cross:

MC has begun shipping and will land on our doorstep in about a week. We are sending out the invoices for your pre-orders today. Please check your spam folder if you don’t see your invoice in your email folder.

From the Cellar 13:

30 incredible scenarios that were pulled out of the cellar of long out of print LFT magazines. Rewritten and updated.

Slaughter at Ponyri:

Ponyri is now on pre-order. Hopefully this will be released this month.

Winter Offensive Bonus Pack 16:

ASL Journal 15:

From the Cellar 10 – Back in Stock

With it’s Korean War Map and scenarios for Fox Hill and BRT.

Talking to myself: Hatten in Flames CG Logfile:

Puzzle #126:

It is the German Turn 5 of 5 end of Advance Fire Phase in a 5 Turn Scenario. To win, the Americans must have at least 7 CVP worth of Friendly Infantry within 2 hexes of G10. The German player says it’s impossible, the American says there is a way. What is the American player thinking?

Solution to Puzzle #125:

Here is an ASL Classic for you: The poor Italians, finding themselves in yet another jar of pickles deep inside the Soviet Union, are facing down a terrifying Human wave of “Oorah” yelling Mongol hordes sporting PPSH’s. Unfortunately after the first MF impulse of the wave, the HMG fires and Cowers, yet as a saving grace they manage to break one entire stack. Although the right move would be to hold fire until Adjacent or in hex, the leaders panic and give the command to fire now. They did however use a classic trick that increased the odds of survival substantially (hints: there are two subtle clues, one in the previous sentence and one you have to be an ASL fanatic to spot).

The Solution lies in the fact that multiple small attacks have a greater chance of having an effect where the DRM is low (in this case -2) than one large attack. According to the odds charts found in the Classic ASL Magazine, if each Italian stack would split their inherent and MG firepower between the two Russian stacks, they would have a slight advantage. So instead of one stack attacking one opposing stack with a 8 down 2, if each squad attacked one Russian stack and each machine gun attacked the other stack they would have 4 x 4 down 2 attacks. The odds difference is:

2 x 8FP attacks have a 59% chance of a Breaking each unit in a stack

4 x 4FP attacks have a 66% chance of Breaking each unit in a stack

Farewell to Rodger B. MacGowan. Feb 21st, 2025

As a middle schooler, I used to walk down St. Catherine st. to Alexis Neon Plaza, a large three story mall/apartment building across the street from the Montreal Forum. In the mall was a small hobby store (Kangaroo Hobbies; back in the days when we had the right to have an English named store) that I would stop at almost every day before hopping on the subway to get home. This is where I saw my first Macintosh computer loaded with the original Castle Wolfenstein, all the model kits I would one day build, and of course Wargames. I would stare at the box art for over an hour per visit without ever having the money to buy anything. Back in those days of first generation wargames the interior graphics of the components were as horrible as the box art was great. I honestly don’t think I ever would have gotten hooked into the hobby of wargaming had it not been for Rodger’s incredible artwork which threw me right into the battle. I owe him countless hours of fun and friends since then. Thank you and I hope you are watching from above as many of us still stare timelessly at your creations.

Due to recent technical complications, I will only be able to use the following email going forward. Please update this for your records.

Dr********@***il.com

phone number: 336-462-4035

The long-awaited Kursk Historical Module is now up for PRE-ORDER at 25% off.

Operation ZITADELLE was the German attempt to cut off the Kursk salient and surround five Soviet armies. While Army Group South attacked the southern end of the salient in what would lead to the massive tank battles around Prokhorovka, Army Group Center, led by General Walter Model’s 9. Armee, attacked from the north on 5 July. Lying directly in the path of this assault was the village of Ponyri.

SLAUGHTER AT PONYRI is a Historical Advanced Squad Leader (HASL) module that portrays the fighting around Ponyri during the three most crucial days, 7-9 July, on a beautiful historical map designed by Don Petros from Luftwaffe aerial photographs, supplemented by on the ground review, and executed by Charlie Kibler. A wide range of 12 individual scenarios, each recreating a portion of the battle on part of the map accompany the Campaign Game that covers the battle in six CG Dates over the three days featuring a familiar CG system covering the battle that was to become known as the “Stalingrad of Kursk.”

SLAUGHTER AT PONYRI includes special rules and counters for German sappers, elite Russian Airborne troops, mine belts, and fanatic outposts with rules kept simple to allow players of all levels to easily pick up the game, leaving the challenge as how to deploy and maneuver combined-arms forces over the large campaign game map. Three map sheets join to cover the battlefield, with a separate fourth sheet covering a central area where two of the main maps join. Included are enough additional counters to conduct the full Campaign Game with nothing other than BEYOND VALOR.

Contents:

• four maps
• eight countersheets
• one Chapter SP rules
• 12 scenarios
• one Campaign Game
• three Chapter Dividers
• one box and lid

Winter Offensive Bonus Pack 16

20% off retail price. We don’t know when our stock will arrive but I am hoping for January. Please add another item to this order to break the $30 threshold for free shipping. Thanks and Happy New Year!!!

ASL Journal 15 is a 36-page magazine for Advanced Squad Leader and features articles, the latest errata and scenario updates in the Debriefing, 11 new scenarios printed on cardstock, and three overlay sheets (to replace the versions with no center dots that came in DOOMED BATTALIONS 4th edition). 

ASL Journal 15 articles include:

Pete Ponders Ponyri whereinPete Shelling provides some Designer Notes on the upcoming HASL SLAUGHTER AT PONYRI.

My Bags Are Packed, I’m Ready To Go  hasJim Bishop discussing what to take to an ASL tournament.

One Long Hillock Jim Bishop examines LOS and Embankment Railroads (EmRR) in HATTEN IN FLAMES.

Brian Plays In The Polder Scenario Analysis of AR2 Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing from the Arnhem 2024 Pack by Brian Youse.

De Haut En Bas (Up And Down) Jonathan Kay traces line of sight between different vertical levels. 

Die Panzerwaffe im Angriff Inspired by Panzer Gegen Panzer, Jim Bishop crunches some numbers looking at tanks on the attack.

ASL Hall Of Fame Report by MMP about first six inductees.

Warriors Needed, in Haste! Andy Hershey discusses U.S. Marines in the first months of the Korean War.

Debriefing Errata for ASL rules and scenarios and the scenario updates for DOOMED BATTALIONS 4th Edition 

ASL Journal 15 has 11 ASL scenarios:

J257 In Min’s Gang Rumble (North Korean vs American, 12 August 1950)

J247 Kicked To The Curb (Russian vs Polish, 28 September 1939)

J248 Danish Crossroads (Danish vs German, 9 April 1940)

J249 Guerra Relampágo (Ecuadorian vs Peruvian, 25 July 1941)

J250 Priests At St. Cloud (Vichy vs American, 8 November 1942)

J251 Desperate Try (Vichy vs American, 9 November 1942)

J252 Hill 424 (American vs German, 17 September 1943)

J253 Melting Pot (German vs Allied, 31 January 1944)

J254 Hoppers And Hardy (Allied vs German, 21 June 1944)

J255 Not Much Of A Soldier (German vs American, 25 July 1944)

J256 Mortal Wounding (German vs American, 26 February 1945)

Scouting Report 54

Sorry for the short notice but this hit really quickly. Xavier just informed me that my copies were already crossing the pond. This is a project that we have all been asking for as these scenarios have been out of print for over a decade and now are available in English and reformatted. At a little over $1 a scenario, this is a great bargain. Unfortunately the print run is unusually small so please order as soon as possible.

From The Cellar 13

Editors Note: Hello to all the loyal readers of Le Franc Tireur! At a time when all ASL products are drastically increasing in price, we have decided to release From the Cellar issue Number 13 (FTC#13). There are several reasons for this. Given that we will soon be celebrating more than 20 years of existence, most of our early publications have been out of stock for a very long time; for instance, only a few hundred copies of our first magazine, Le Franc-Tireur issue Number 5 (LFT#5), were ever published back in 1999. Same goes for FTC #1 and 2, a few years later. When our buddy Jean “5+2” Devaux passed away, we were working on LFT#9, on the topic of Yugoslavia; that was also the year we decided to give up on the use of the French language and publish LFT in English. Likewise, only a few hundred copies of LFT#9 were released. As a matter of fact, all these scenarios are little known to the vast majority of ASL players that were not living in France. No cheese, no wine, no LFT scenarios to play? Some French people like Sgt. Baguette or Cpl. Camembert would say “What a miserable life!”

These four LFT publications contained 35 scenarios. Thus, we have now updated them, applied some changes in order to improve the balance as well as incorporating the few existing errata and changing all the counter forms to incorporate our LFT counter artwork. We have also added to the scenario cards, thanks to a wise suggestion from Philippe Duchon (a.k.a Phil_D on the French ASL Forum), the Chapter H Note Number of each Gun and Vehicle in use below the counter itself. Our old eyes are starting to require some help, and this is one way to ease the sorting out of the necessary counters for playing a scenario. At a price of roughly 1€ per scenario (more or less USD 1 $ as well), we think it is a very good opportunity for new comers or people who do not know LFT to get quite a solid bunch of scenarios at a very attractive price. Nothing more to say but… enjoy this issue of From the Cellar, and roll low!