ASL Historical Module 2: Kampfgruppe Peiper I

Here it is at last: the second ASL Historical Module. Kampfgruppe Peiper I deals with the desperate fighting between U.S. and German SS forces around the village of Stoumont, Belgium - ultimately the high-water mark of the infamous kampfgruppe - during the Battle of the Bulge. Similar in concept to its predecessor Red Barricades, Kampfgruppe Peiper I contains a huge, full-color, two-piece map depicting the village of Stoumont and its surrounding environs. The terrain has been painstakingly researched to ensure a maximum of historical accuracy, with the area´s buildings, roads, streams, etc., shown as they were in the latter half of December 1944. Elevations run from Level -2 (the Amblève River) to Level 9 to represent the hilly nature of the Amblève valley.

Kampfgruppe Peiper I also includes Chapter P of the ASL rules, which introduces several new terrain types such as pine woods, barbed-wire fences, narrow village streets, and slope hexsides (which allow a unit not in a Crest Line hex to fire across a Crest Line to a lower elevation, thus minimizing the "plateau effect" of normal ASL hills). Rules Section 8 - the bulk of Chapter P - provides for a three-day (December 19-21), eight-scenario Campaign Game covering the entire battle. This Campaign Game is designed for play exclusively on the new map, enabling the ASL gamer to create an ongoing series of interrelated scenarios which tomorrow´s victory conditions are as important to think about as today´s. Since surviving units and equipment are retained for the next Campaign Game scenario, a critical tactical dimension - conservation of force - is added. Gone are those last-turn suicidal charges so commonly employed in standard scenarios.

Besides giving starting forces and some Campaign-Game-specific rules, Section 8 mainly details a special between-scenario series of steps known as the Refit Phase (based generally along the same lines as the Refit Phase in Chapter O of Red Barricades) to "tidy up" the map and purchase additional forces for the next scenario. For instance, all ongoing Melees are resolved, wounded leaders may be evacuated, units may become Battle Hardened, Fortifications/Wrecks may be removed, etc. Each side stakes claim to the Strategic Locations it controls, in order to determine the next scenario´s setup areas. Later, each side secretly purchases sections/platoons of reinforcements (from a table of historically available units) to supplement its current force; e.g., the German commander might buy an SS-panzergrenadier platoon, a section of King Tiger tanks or Wirbelwind SPAA guns, 150mm artillery fire, and/or more Fortification points - to name but a few. Since neither the nature nor the strength of reinforcements is known to one´s opponent, the Campaign Game provides much more "fog of war" than most standard scenarios.

Two new countersheets provide Location-Control, Burnt-Out-Wreck, Out-of-Gas and Known-Minefield markers, among others - plus many extra U.S. and German Personnel, Support Weapon, Gun and Vehicle counters for use in the Campaign Game (including the new SPW 251/21 AA halftrack with three coaxially mounted 20mm guns). Four standard scenarios using small portions of the Stoumont map are included as well.

Following Kampfgruppe Peiper I will be Kampfgruppe Peiper II, a companion module that will expand upon Kampfgruppe Peiper I (without adding any additional rules) by covering, in both scenario and Campaign-Game form, the concurrent battles for the nearby villages of Cheneux and La Gleize.

Scenario List

ASL Scenario KGP1 Shadows of Death
ASL Scenario KGP2 Festung St. Edouard
ASL Scenario KGP3 Panthers in the Mist
ASL Scenario KGP4 Chapelle Ste Anne