6 Remarkable Ways Advanced Squad Leader Is The Perfect Retirement Hobby

Advanced Squad Leader: A Quick Dive into WWII Squad-Level Wargaming

Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) is a highly detailed, tactical-level wargame that focuses on infantry combat during World War II. First released in 1985 by Avalon Hill, ASL evolved from the earlier Squad Leader series, expanding and refining its rules into a fully modular system. Its goal was to create the most comprehensive and realistic simulation of small-unit warfare ever designed for tabletop gaming.

ASL’s origin reflects years of community feedback and a desire for deeper realism. The designers rebuilt the earlier rules from the ground up, integrating new mechanics, historical research, and expanded national characteristics. Today, ASL is supported by official modules, third-party publishers, and a dedicated global fan base.

Advanced Squad Leader (ASL), published by Multi-Man Publishing (MMP), is the heavyweight of tactical WWII board wargames. It’s a detailed, scenario-driven system where players command squads, support weapons, guns, and vehicles across geomorphic mapboards representing battlefields from Poland in 1939 to the Pacific and even the Korean War.
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Known for its complexity, ASL features hundreds of pages of rules, numerous terrain types, detailed weapon characteristics, and scenario-specific conditions. While the learning curve is steep, players often find the depth rewarding, offering unparalleled tactical nuance and historical immersion.

Rather than a single “game in a box,” Advanced Squad Leader is a system: a central Rulebook plus a family of modules that add nationalities, maps, scenarios, and campaigns. The result is almost limitless replayability, but also a famously steep learning curve.

Advanced Squad Leader Scope and Scale

Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) operates at a tactical, man-to-man scale, meaning every playing piece and map element is designed to represent the smallest practical elements of World War II combat that focuses on small engagements like platoon or company-sized firefights.. Here’s how its scale breaks down:

Unit Scale: Infantry counters represent squads (usually 8–12 soldiers), half-squads, or single leaders/individuals/snipers. Support weapons such as machine guns, mortars, bazookas, and flamethrowers are represented individually. Vehicles (tanks, trucks, armored cars) are depicted as single vehicles.

Time Scale: Each game turn represents about 2 minutes of real-time action, capturing the rapid decision-making and chaos of close combat.

Map Scale: Hexes on an ASL map represent 40 meters of ground. Terrain is depicted with fine granularity: individual buildings, patches of woods, walls, gullies, orchards, rubble, and more. The game maps range from 8″ x 22″, 22″ x 34″, to 30″ x 32″ in size and can be placed side by side as needed

Why Advanced Squad Leader Is The Perfect Game for Retirees

Advanced Squad Leader is more than a board game—it’s a hobby, a community, and a lifelong learning experience. For retirees, ASL can be the perfect rewarding pastime for several reasons.

Reason 1: Mental Engagement and Lifelong Learning

ASL’s depth keeps the mind active. Its rich rules system, tactical decision-making, and endless variety of scenarios provide continual mental stimulation:

Analytical thinking—Combat odds, movement choices, and risk assessment keep your brain sharp.
Historical learning—Each scenario is based on a real battle, encouraging exploration of WWII history.
Skill progression—There’s always something new to master: infantry tactics, armor engagements, smoke usage, leadership management, and more.

For retirees looking to maintain cognitive sharpness while enjoying a fun and immersive hobby, ASL fits perfectly.

Reason 2: A Flexible Hobby That Suits The Retired Lifestyle

ASL is highly adaptable to a retiree’s lifestyle:

Enjoy solo study or practice, or meet across the table with a friend or community group
Play short infantry-only scenarios for a quick session.
Play longer multi-player campaign games over days, weeks, or months.

There’s no pressure—everything happens at your own pace. Many players enjoy setting up a scenario and playing a turn or two each day, turning the game into an ongoing project.

Reason 3: Rich Social Connections

One of the biggest draws for all ASL players is the community. Advanced Squad Leader has a friendly, welcoming player base across the world, and retirees make up a significant portion of it. Retirees find ASL especially rewarding because:

It offers regular social interaction, both online and in person.
Many players enjoy helping newer or returning gamers learn the system.
Most game groups are relaxed, patient, and focused on the enjoyment of play rather than competition.
Regular game nights, club meetups, and play-by-email or VASSAL games make it easy to build a network of friends who share your interests.
ASL conventions—often simply called “cons”—are some of the hobby’s greatest experiences. For retirees with more flexible schedules, they are a perfect combination of travel, camaraderie, and gaming.

There are several Advanced Squad Leader social media support groups you can join. Here is a short list:

Reason 4: Advanced Squad Leader Is A Hobby That Can Grow With You

ASL is uniquely satisfying because it offers depth without requiring constant purchases or upgrades. Once you have a few core modules and the rulebook, you can play for years without running out of material.

What exactly do I need to start playing Advanced Squad Leader? Thats easy. To begin playing the Advanced Squad Leader system you need two game components.

First thing you need is the Rule Book. The second is the Beyond Valor module. This introduces you to ASL. It features the German and Russian orders of battle from 1939-1945 and includes 10 mapboards and 24 scenarios. For the casual gamer this may be all you ever need or want.

And if you want to expand and play different nationalities and Pacific, North African, or the Mediterranean theatres, the ASL ecosystem is massive and offers you many choices to pick from.

Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) Core modules

Beyond Valor – Germans, Soviets, and Finns; lots of system markers and essential counters. Often the starting point after the Rulebook.
Yanks – U.S. Army in Europe, plus mapboards and scenarios.
Hollow Legions – Italians and North African content, updated to include some additional material in recent editions.
Croix de Guerre – French order of battle which includes not only the 1940 French forces but the Vichy French and Free French.
For King and Country – British and Commonwealth forces in Europe and the Mediterranean.
Armies of Oblivion – is the Axis Minors extension comprising the forces of Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakians, and Croatians.
Doomed Battalions – is the Allied Minor extension comprising the forces of Poland, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece and Yugoslavia.
Hakkaa Päälle – A dedicated Finnish module with expanded Finnish OB and new boards.
Twilight of the Reich – is the final stages of the war in the European theater. It concentrates on the Allied advance from the borders of Germany in 1944, to the final struggle in 1945 for the heart of the Reich itself—Berlin.
Rising Sun – Japanese, U.S. Marines, and Chinese, combining and updating the old Code of Bushido and Gung Ho! PTO modules.
Forgotten War – Korean War module with new nationalities and terrain.

Each of these modules contains the nationality counters, map boards, charts, as well as nationality vehicle and gun notes. You want Polish tanks, get Doomed Battalions! You want to romp all over North Africa, get the Hollow Legions & For King and Country modules.

Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) Historical modules

What can I say about the ASL historical modules? These are AWESOME! Rather than cover a theatre or nationality, they focus on specific battles/campaigns

Drop Zone: Sainte-Mère-Église is a Historical Advanced Squad Leader (HASL) module covering the first two days of the battles around the important Norman town of Sainte-Mère-Église.
DROP-ZONE: CHEF-du-PONT 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.
HATTEN IN FLAMES focus on the first five days of the fighting inside of Hatten, as panzer units sought to break through to the open terrain of Alsace that lay beyond Hatten and Rittershoffen.
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,
Red Factories, Red October, Valor of the Guards are 3 HASL modules that cover the Battle of Stalingrad. Does it get anymore EPIC than this?
Festung Budapest, the eighth Historical ASL module, takes players to the western side of the Hungarian capital. Seventeen scenarios and three Campaign Games cover the fighting on the Buda side of the Danube just west of the Castle Hill area during the period from 1 January through 10 February while representing the bitter struggle for the heart of the city.
Sword and Fire: Manila is a Historical Advanced Squad Leader (HASL) module covering the month-long American effort to wrest control of “The Pearl” from the Japanese.
Hell’s Corner – Battles along the Matanikau River was originally included in Operations Special Edition Issue 3.

There are more Historical Modules, some of these were produced by Avalon Hill before MMP took over. If you got to have them, you’ll have to search eBay or some game stores to find them. They are:

Red Barricades: ASL Historical Module 1: The battle of Stalingrad around the “Red Barricades” factory has 7 scenarios, and 3 campaign games. Two historical mapsheets. Red Barricades has been incorporated into the new Red Factories HASL by MMP. Requires ASL RB and Beyond Valor.
Kampfgruppe Peiper I: ASL Historical Module 2: Recreating the fighting between US and German SS during the Battle of the Bulge. 2 historical mapsheets, only 4 scenarios and a campaign game. Requires ASL RB, Beyond Valor and Yanks.
Kampfgruppe Peiper II: ASL Historical Module 3: Recreating the destruction of the German SS during the Battle of the Bulge. 2 historical-accurate mapsheets, 6 scenario campaign game, and requires ASL RB, BV, Yanks and Kampfgruppe Peiper I to play.
Pegasus Bridge: ASL Historical Module 4: the battle for Pegasus Bridge on D-Day. Includes one 22″x32″, Chapter Q of the ASL rule book (which introduces new terrain types and contains the rules for the Pegasus Bridge Campaign Games), Chapter H notes for all the new vehicles introduced, two campaign games, and six scenarios. Also included is Day 7 of the Chapter K Squad Leader Training Manual. Requires ownership of ASL RB, BV, Yanks, and For King and Country.
Blood Reef: Tarawa – ASL Historical Module 5: Recreating the invasion of the US Marines in Tarawa. 2 historical-accurate mapsheets, 7 scenario campaign game, and requires ASL, Yanks, Code of Bushido and Gung Ho!
A Bridge Too Far: ASL Historical Module 6: recreating the struggle of British 1st Airborne Division to hold the bridge in Arnhem during the operation Market Garden. A historical mapboard, 9 scenario campaign game, and requires ASL, BV, Yanks and For King and Country to play. I do believe both A Bridge Too Far, Pegasus Bridge, & possibly Primosole Bridge (this was released in ASL Journal 6) will be released in a new HASL by MMP in the future

Third-party Products And Scenario Packs

Everything ASL is built around scenarios. Scenarios are the battles depicted in the game that you can recreate. Some ASL gamers are “official MMP products only” people, and then we have the folks who enjoy third-party products. Third-party produce ASL content often faster than MMP does and they provide more geographical diversity in the game if you want to call it that. Meaning if you want to game in Monte Cassino, Hurtengen Forest, Canadians in Italy, or other famous battles, third-party content producers are marketing products just for that.

Here are a few of the more popular third-party producers: Broken Ground Design, Advancing Fire, Bounding Fire Productions, Le Franc Tireur, Lone Canuck Publishing and Critical Hit. I am a huge fan of Lone Canuck Publishing and I just love their stuff. There are more ASL content producers, but you’re going to have to look them up.

Reason 5: Player aids and accessories

Man.. I can’t begin to thank all the folks who over the years have contributed some incredibly helpful player aids to help us in the Advanced Squad Leader community play and enjoy the game. In my opinion the best online resources for player aids is the Desperation Morale website followed by Texas-ASL. You can download whatever aids you need. Do as I do, print them out and laminate them

Reason 6: DIY For Advanced Squad Leader

It’s a hobby that can be as simple or as expansive as you choose. If you can’t find a scenario you want to play, then create your own. There are enough resources out there to help you do just that.

Scenario design begins with selecting a compelling situation—whether it’s a real engagement, a “what-if” clash, or a small skirmish drawn from personal interest. From there, you choose a map, combine boards, or make your own map, then set the terrain conditions, and determine each side’s order of battle, balancing historical accuracy with enjoyable gameplay.

Designers then craft the victory conditions, special rules, and time limits, ensuring the scenario feels tense, fair, and tactically interesting. Playtesting—often multiple rounds—is key to fine-tuning difficulty and making sure both sides have meaningful options. In the end, creating ASL scenarios allows players to bring their own creativity and passion to the system, adding fresh experiences to an already deep and immersive game.

Final Thoughts on Advanced Squad Leader

For retirees seeking a mentally stimulating, socially rich, endlessly rewarding hobby, Advanced Squad Leader is a perfect fit. It combines history, strategy, community, and travel into a single lifelong passion. Whether playing at home, joining a local club, or traveling to ASL cons, retired players find that ASL offers purpose, challenge, fun, and friendships that last for years.

If you’re looking for an easier version of ASL, There are the Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kits. Check out my 2 Reasons Why Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kits Are Great For Old Guys! article for more info on the Starter Kits.

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